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this review, please use the pulldown below to browse sections or simply
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Features and layout
The A7N8X Deluxe comes with a virtual cornucopia of features, thanks to
it's nForce2 chipset. I'm not going to go into the ins and outs of the
nForce2 chipset, as it's been covered time and again on numerous other
sites. I imagine by now most of you reading this review have a good idea
of the technology behind this chipset. Suffice to say the board uses the
SPP North Bridge and the MCP-T South Bridge for a whole host of cool schtuff,
as you can see here:
Processor
Socket A for AMD® Athlon™ XP/ Athlon™/ Duron™ 600MHz
~ 2.8GHz+
Thoroughbred core CPU ready
Chipset
North
Bridge: NVIDIA® nForce2 SPP
South Bridge: NVIDIA® nForce2 MCP-T(Deluxe Model) / MCP
FSB
333 / 266 / 200 MHz
Memory
Dual-Channel DDR 400
3 x 184-pin DIMM Sockets
Max. 3 GB unbuffered PC3200/PC2700/PC2100/PC1600 non-ECC DDR RAM Memory
(Twinbank)
Expansion Slots
1 x AGP Pro/8X
(1.5V only)
5 x PCI
IDE Ports
2 x UltraDMA 133/100/66/33
Serial ATA (Deluxe Model)
Silicon Image® Sil 3112A Controller with 2 ports
Support RAID 0/1
Audio
Realtek® ALC650 6CH w/built in HP amplifier
Integrated APU (Audio
Processor Unit, Deluxe Model)
SoundStorm™
/ Dolby® Digital (AC-3) Encoder (Deluxe Model)
LAN
2 Ports
MCP integrated NVIDIA® MAC + Realtek® 8201BL PHY
MCP integrated 3Com® MAC + Broadcom® AC101L PHY (Deluxe Model)
1394
2 Ports MCP-T Integrated IEEE 1394a + Realtek® PHY 8801B (Deluxe Model)
Special Features
Post Reporter (Deluxe Model)
Power Loss Restart
Q-Fan Technology
STR (Suspend-to-RAM)
C.O.P. (CPU Overheating Protection)
CPU Throttle
Back Panel I/O Ports
1 x Parallel
1 x Serial
1 x PS/2 Keyboard
1 x PS/2 Mouse
1 x Audio I/O
4 x USB 2.0
1 x Surround L/R audio jack + 1 x CNTR/LFE audio jack (optional)
2 X RJ45 (optional, 2nd RJ45 is for Deluxe Model)
Internal I/O Connectors
2 x USB 2.0 connector support additional 2 USB 2.0 ports
CPU/Power/Chassis FAN connectors
Game Connector
20 pin ATX power connector
IDE LED connector, power LED connector
2 x 1394 Connector (Deluxe Model)
2 x SATA (Serial ATA) Connector (Deluxe Model)
WOR, WOL, Chassis Intrusion, SM Bus, SIR
Headphone (optional)
Front MIC
CD/AUX/Modem audio in
Front Panel Audio connector (optional)
BIOS Feature
4Mb Flash ROM, Award BIOS, TCAV, PnP, DMI2.0, DMI, Green
Industrial Standard
PCI 2.2, USB 2.0
Manageability
DMI 2.0, WOR, WOL, Chassis Intrusion, SM Bus
Support CD
Drivers
ASUS® PC Probe
Trend Micro™ PC-cillin 2002 anti-virus software with Windows®
XP support
ASUS LiveUpdate Utility
Accessories
I/O Shield
SATA Cable (Deluxe Model)
2-port USB 2.0(Deluxe Model) / Game port bracket
User's Manual / Quick Reference Guide
UltraDMA 133 cable
2-Port 1394 Bracket (Deluxe Model)
FDD cable
UltraDMA 133/100/66 cable
9-pin COM cable
Form Factor
ATX Form Factor
12" x 9.6" (30.5cm x 24.5cm)
Everything but the kitchen sink! The main things to pick out are the
following; Twinbank memory architecture, support for 333Mhz processors,
support for a 200Mhz FSB, SATA, SoundStorm audio, dual onboard LAN controllers
(great for internet connection sharing), Firewire, USB 2.0 and AGP 8X.
I can attest to the fact that the Twinbank memory architecture makes for
some awesome memory scores and my AthlonXP 2600+ CPU with the 333Mhz FSB
is purring along, completely at home in this motherboard. The only thing
that "let me down" was the SoundStorm audio. I was expecting
great things from this audio, but it didn't really seem to be any better
then the onboard Cmedia (8738) sound from my past motherboards. Sound
quality was only comparable, using both my Logitech Z-560 speakers and
my Koss UR-20 headphones. The only big difference I noticed between the
two audio solutions was that the Cmedia sound was louder at the same volume
setting and the NVIDIA solution had a much better control panel app for
the sound. Otherwise, the sound was comparable, whether I was in the middle
of a battle in UT2K3 or listening to CD's. I've read that you can take
advantage of the Dolby encoding the NVIDIA audio produces by decoding
it by running it through a Dolby receiver. While some users will find
this a great feature, I'm assuming that it will be useless for most of
us, unfortunately. It could be something to think about if you're building
yourself an entertainment PC though.
In addition to the features associated with the nForce2 chipset, you
may also notice a few Asus specific features listed above. These include:
Post Reporter - Provides voice messages and alerts during POST.
The messages inform you of boot status and causes of any boot errors.
The bundled Winbond Voice Editor software helps you customize the voice
messages and offers multi-language support.
Power Loss Restart - Allows you to have the system automatically
restart after power interruptions.
Q-Fan Technology - Allows the system to "smartly" control
the speed of the CPU fan based on the temperature of the CPU.
STR (Suspend-to-RAM) - Allows you to suspend the system into memory.
C.O.P. (CPU Overheating Protection) - Allows the system to automatically
be shut down if the CPU exceeds a preset temperature, as long as you're
using an AthlonXP processor.
CPU Throttle - While this is listed in the specs, I couldn't find
any information pertaining to this feature. I even emailed Asus, but to
no avail.
As you can see, the addition of these Asus only features only serves
to enhance an already attractive motherboard offering.
As I said earlier in the review, the board is relatively plain looking.
Aesthetics aside, however, the board has a great layout.
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Click any of the pictures below for a larger image
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The ATX power connector is out of the way of the CPU socket, so you don't
have your power cords restricting the airflow above the CPU. Also, there
is just enough room around the CPU socket that you can fit a nice 80mm
HSF combo like a ThermalRight AX-7. The only bad thing about the CPU socket
is that it's a little close to the edge of the board. Unfortunately, this
precludes the use of certain HSF combos in certain cases. The mobo DOES
include the 4 mounting holes that many enthusiasts crave, however, so
there is plenty of flexibility to this design. Another nice feature to
the layout is that the RAM slots are not too close to the AGP slot, so
even with my huge GeForce 4 Ti4600 card in my system, I can still take
out all of my RAM if needed. There is the usual green light between the
PCI slots that will tell you when the board is getting power and there
is also a red LED that will let you know if you have the wrong type of
AGP card installed. The nForce2 boards only accept 1.5V AGP cards, not
3.3V AGP cards, so this is a nice little addition IMO. You can also see
from the pics that DIMM slot 3 is slightly apart from DIMM slots 1 and
2. This is a good way to distinguish that if you want to use the Twinbank
Memory architecture, you have to have one DIMM in slot 1 or 2 and another
DIMM (of exactly the same size and type memory) in DIMM 3. I've read where
some people have gotten better speeds by using slots 1 and 3 as opposed
to 2 and 3, but I've tested the system both ways and it doesn't seem to
make a difference in either speed, overclockability or stability. I also
love the IO layout on this board. Unlike the Soyo board and many others,
it's not necessary to add in a bracket with the rest of the audio ports,
taking up a PCI slot to get full 4.1 and 5.1 sound. All the necessary
jacks are on the backplate. Plus you have both LAN ports available and
4 USB ports, in addition to your normal IO ports. I doubt seriously that
many people will miss the second serial port that was excluded, but if
they do, there's a serial port on one of the included brackets. I think
this board has as close to a "perfect layout" as any board I've
ever used. The only exception to this is there is no fan header close
to the front case fan(s). Instead the fan header is across the board.
Aside from that small problem, I have to give kudos to the engineers at
Asus for a very nice layout!
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