Impressions,ASUS P5N32-E SLI

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magoo

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Well, take it or leave it, but since the Striker was berated earlier this week, I thought someone might want to know what the "poor-mans" version does.
I wanted a 680i board for the SLI and the third PCI-e if there ever comes a time when physics is a more obvious option. I've had an A8N-SLI Deluxe for 16 months and it is a sweet board. I bailed on AMD for the C2D and have a 6700 on my new board.
I am an ASUS fan, so I backed away from the evga board. I was sorry to change from AMD but the temptation at present was just too great.

First blush..........bundle is typical; two ribbon connectors,4 SATA connectors,firewire and USB modules,Q connector which is very nice,and a sound card that connects to a PCI-e 1x (I have an X-Fi so that wasn't a big seller for me)
Board itself is laid out very well. Giant space between the SLI card slots,easy for two double cards to fit.
Plenty of room at the top to place a large HSF. I had no trouble placing an ArcticCooling Freezer 7 Pro.
Room at the bottom for my X-Fi card to easily fit.
The little Q connector thing makes easy work of the front panel and USB connections for the front of my case.
There are 6 SATA connectors all facing at right angles in three pairs,this is pretty nice and avoids conflict with the GPU cards. The IDE connector is a little tight placed right next to the PSU connector, but it works out ok. You can plug in a 4 pin or 8 pin AUX power, it doesnt matter. My PSU has an 8 pin. There is no molex connector to the board for SLI power like on the NF4,5 and even the evga 680i board. For that reason an 8 pin AUX power connector may be a good idea. I'm not sure why ASUS left this off the board.

No problem in boot-up. I used 2 GB Corsair XMS2 6400C4 and the board liked them just fine. Rated at 2.1V the bios shows them operating at 1.88V and quite happily.
The bios is very simple and typicalof ASUS. All the OCs are under ExtremeTweaker heading and pretty easy to navigate.
I read the nVidia OC guide to the 680i and this bios was pretty true to that for a non reference board.

I have the 6700 currently at 3Ghz with just a simple increase in FSB. I havent seen any stability problems at that OC and the temp is a cool 35 degrees. I am going to push the envelope a bit tomorrow to see what the board will do, but tonight I wanted to play some games to see what my new 8800GTX could do.............HL2 EP1 was beautiful 19x12 4xAA smooth as butter, FEAR Expansion widescreen, 19 x12 awesome.

I'm very satisfied with this board and the memory/GPU combination I currently have. I'm not an extreme OCer, but I suspect the board will give me all I want. The package is solid, the board has run smooth as silk since I installed it this morning. Not one problem as of yet, not even a hiccup. Installed windows in less than one hour, fresh install,completely updated. Video,sound,games all working flawlessly.

I think this is a great board. :D
 
Hey

Thanks for that, the p5n32-e-sli is a pretty new motherboard, and ill be purchasing it very soon (december 19). I read the qfl (qualified vendor list) for memory for this board and it states that your memory is compatable (the corsair xms2 6400c4 4-4-4-12).

What im getting:
Mobo: p5n32-e-sli
ram: CORSAIR TWIN2XPRO 2048MB 240-PIN DDR2 XMS2-6400 RAM
Gfx: Sparkle G8800GTX
PSU: Silverstone st60f modular
cpu: e6600 (hopefully at 3.4ghz)
heatsink: thermalright ultra 120
fan for heatsink: Scythe S-FLEX 120mm 63.7CFM / 28.0dBA

When i do my build, ill post lots of pictures :D
 
I am tempted to get one, is either this or the asus striker. How much does this board go for? are u hitting 3ghz with stock fan or aftermarket? and will this board support SLI on the new 8800gtx? difference is in my setup I plan to use a E6600. How much juice it takes to power all this? will 500watt, 520, 600, 630watts do? I looked a power supplies and everyone tells me that asus power supplies are not that great, some company called seasonic makes the really good ones that asus sells. People recommended me to opt for a seasonic or a consair PSU.
 
I think any psu will support this motherboard, its what you stick on it that takes up most of the juice.

It will work with 8800gtx sli yes
 
I mean how much power should get me by? I have no plans for SLI at the moment, want the option open.
How do you compare ASUS P5N32-E against the Asus striker?
 
The p5n32-e-sli is like 30% cheaper, and the only difference i can see is the lcd, leds and onboard power buttons and some other non-performance related things


True 500w should do you good for now. Spend above $100 on a psu, dont skimp on power.
 
hmboy said:
The p5n32-e-sli is like 30% cheaper, and the only difference i can see is the lcd, leds and onboard power buttons and some other non-performance related things


True 500w should do you good for now. Spend above $100 on a psu, dont skimp on power.
Click to expand...

Technically crap u don't need
 
ellover009 said:
Technically crap u don't need
Click to expand...

From what i can see, yep. Crap you don't need at all.....

The p5n32-e-sli is also non reference, and apparently doesnt have these resistors on the bottom of the motherboard around the cpu that block some heat sink mounting brackets, thats what i've heard.
 
Your a life saver, I've been going to asus, and they have this a little hidden because they have an gamer button with the 680i chips and they didn't have this. I found it in it's socket area.
 
Can you run your memory "unlinked" like on the eVGA? I think that's a 680i feature across the board, but I just wanted to make sure.
 
kirbyrj said:
Can you run your memory "unlinked" like on the eVGA? I think that's a 680i feature across the board, but I just wanted to make sure.
Click to expand...

Yes. The BIOS is a little vague, but essentially you enter extreme tweaker, AI OC set to manual and the you can tweak essentially any setting you like. The manual on this board is available on the ASUS site now.

To answer some other questions:
I am OC my CPU on air cooling using an Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro 7. I chose this cooler because 1) Ive used it in the past on my AMD boards, and 2) it does not require any revisions to the bottom of the MB; my 9 year old could install it.

Does this board support SLI, yes it does. Hence the name P5N32-E SLI.

Power: I have a PC Power and cooling 850 watt PSU. I just read an article on PC Perspective about 8800 GTX SLI power requirements, a basic system with a e6800 C2D and 2 GB Ram with 2 8800s used about 450 watts......but again its more about amps on the 12V rail..........I'd make sure you had at least 60. Plus for my SLI I need 4 (count 'em 4) PCI-E connectors. I had to find 4 lonely molex connectors to supply my second card enough juice. Its kind of a pain in the butt. Id recommend the PC P&C 1Kw models if you have the cash, they have 4 PCIE connectors.
If you're strapped for cash, and dont have a really long case(20" at least) that will fit the giant PSUs, look at the PC P&C Silencer 750. It should give you all the power you need.

If I can help with questions, just keep 'em coming. :D
 
hmboy said:
what? that didnt make sense
Click to expand...

what I meant was in Asus website the information of the P5N32-E SLI has been a little disclosed when I visited last time
 
Les say I plan to stick to a single setup with a 8800gtx would I waste more power if I get a 1,000watt model compared to the 630watt?
 
ellover009 said:
Les say I plan to stick to a single setup with a 8800gtx would I waste more power if I get a 1,000watt model compared to the 630watt?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure about wasting power. I'd think it would be more about wasting money.
 
Thanks for the info, I was hoping the little brother would pull through for Sli, as for the Striker what a mess and a price to go with it. Doin't get me wrong I have read the Striker is a good board as long as you just use it and not try to OC it, I only hope Asus can somehow save it, at that price it better do some good clocking or word of mouth will surly turn of the folks.
 
Oldman said:
Thanks for the info, I was hoping the little brother would pull through for Sli, as for the Striker what a mess and a price to go with it. Doin't get me wrong I have read the Striker is a good board as long as you just use it and not try to OC it, I only hope Asus can somehow save it, at that price it better do some good clocking or word of mouth will surly turn of the folks.
Click to expand...

This is because the board barely made it off shelfs, like most boards it takes a few months and a few bios updates to iron everything out regardless the brand. Even the xbox 3600 needs a system update after you take it out of the box.
 
Well, my Evga 680i that cost me $239 at Mwave has allowed me to OC my E6700 to 3.6Ghzwith no hickups at all on air cooling with the original release bios and Asus wants $400!!! :eek: :eek: for the striker extreme hell no!!!! even though I have been a long time Asus fan and customer, I will pass on the P5N32-E SLI and Striker boards and stick to my Evga board.
 
What's the layout like around the chipset cooling? Will a large HSF fit like a Scythe, Noctua, or Thermalright? I can't infer this from pictures.

This is the board I am seriously considering. I like the Striker, but the price is ridiculous. the MSI P6N is intriguing however. I just want a 680i board so I can tweak my c2d.
 
I too like the striker, well mostly the rear lcd, if they added that to this board it will be king. One question did this board make your x-fi sound card pop or crackle during games?
 
I think there is a driver update for the X-fi problem.

As for the Striker, I think the p5n32-e is more robust, and the whole $400 for a mobo - OBSCENE.

$250 -$ 300 for the p5n32-e is damn well enough, and this is coming from a man with 2 $5000 rigs. Sick of upgrading all the time, not paying $1000 for another cpu again.

Anyway, Magoo was running at 3? That is nothing. The multi on the 6700 I think goes up to 9, so he would be running around 333. I run my current p5w-dh at 355 to get 3.2. The 680 is an overclocker albeit a fussy one - just not as fussy as 975. Higher clocks are a definite for this board.
 
The X-Fi problems were mainly with the reference mobos. Far as I know the ASUS versions dont have the problem. And there was a patch for those. If you are planning to run a single 8800GTX a 600w range psu would do fine. Corsair and Seasonic both have a model that'll handle it and run quiet. The Corsair 620 and the Seasonic S12. For those wanting to run 8800GTX in SLI you dont need a 1kw psu. A 800w-850w psu will do the job. However you will need four (count them, 4) PCIe connectors to run 8800GTX in SLI. So you will need to find a psu that has four PCIe connectors. Not all psu have four connectors. Some only have two. Look for a psu that also has at least a total of of 54amps. The 850w units usually have 60amps or more. The good ones do anyway.
 
FlimFlam said:
What's the layout like around the chipset cooling? Will a large HSF fit like a Scythe, Noctua, or Thermalright? I can't infer this from pictures.

This is the board I am seriously considering. I like the Striker, but the price is ridiculous. the MSI P6N is intriguing however. I just want a 680i board so I can tweak my c2d.
Click to expand...

I have an ArcticCooling Freezer Pro 7......it fits on this board like a charm. I cant answer about the others but I am sure thet will fit ok.
 
FlimFlam said:
I think there is a driver update for the X-fi problem.

As for the Striker, I think the p5n32-e is more robust, and the whole $400 for a mobo - OBSCENE.

$250 -$ 300 for the p5n32-e is damn well enough, and this is coming from a man with 2 $5000 rigs. Sick of upgrading all the time, not paying $1000 for another cpu again.

Anyway, Magoo was running at 3? That is nothing. The multi on the 6700 I think goes up to 9, so he would be running around 333. I run my current p5w-dh at 355 to get 3.2. The 680 is an overclocker albeit a fussy one - just not as fussy as 975. Higher clocks are a definite for this board.
Click to expand...

The 6700 multiplier is 10. I'm currently ay 3 GHz easily, and just havent had time to go higher. I'm sure this board has it in it.
I have SLI and X-Fi and no sound problems.
 
This board deserves more attention. Why are peeps so obsessed with the Striker? $100 extra bling bucks? I don't think so! It would be great if the P5N32-E SLI got a review.
 
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