![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Wednesday, March 01, 2006
- Author:
- Daniel Dobrowolski
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
ASUS A8R32-MVP Deluxe
ATI's CrossFire Xpress 3200 motherboard chipset makes its debut in the form of the ASUS A8R32-MVP Deluxe. This is the first ATI-based motherboard we would consider using ourselves. ASUS has built a solid product with a well-engineered chipset.
Editor’s note: This review serves as a bit more than just simple motherboard review, it debuts ATI’s new motherboard chipset to the public. ATI has struggled with their motherboard chipsets for the past year and they are working hard attach a fresh image to their new “CrossFire Xpress 3200” chipset, previously codenamed “RD580.” Instead of delivering their usual reference engineering sample, ATI has selected ASUS to be the company that pushes the CrossFire Xpress 3200 into the enthusiast spotlight. This will be a “hard launch,” a term that you are likely as fond of as we are, that signifies immediate retail availability. To put it succinctly, the ASUS A8R32-MVP Deluxe motherboard sporting its ATI CrossFire Xpress 3200 chipset look to be the real deal. No smoke, no mirrors, just a damn good motherboard that does what it is supposed to do, plus a whole lot more.
HardOCP has beaten on ATI mercilessly for a while now, and it looks as if those days are over…at least on the chipset side of things. ATI and their engineers deserve some big kudos today for putting their money where there mouth is by correcting the errors of the past. The CrossFire Xpress 3200 is a true enthusiast’s chipset.
Introduction
ASUS is probably the most recognized of all the tier one motherboard makers, and for good reason. They have always had stability and quality at the forefront of their innovative and compelling designs. It hasn't been too long since the release of the A8R-MVP Crossfire motherboard. Neither ATI nor ASUS recognized the Xpress 200 chipset as a high end solution in the past, though many ATI enthusiasts had no choice but to use any Crossfire capable boards they could find as the building block for their machines. Now, ATI has finally released their long anticipated RD580 chipset. ATI's Xpress 200 chipset left a lot of room for improvement. ASUS certainly has seemed to fill the void with this new chipset. The board itself is closely modeled after the A8N32-SLI Deluxe. The ASUS A8R32-MVP Deluxe is simply a hugely feature-rich CrossFire platform solution.
The A8R32-MVP Deluxe is ASUS' latest update to their A8R series of Crossfire Ready motherboards. The A8R32-MVP Deluxe supports all current socket 939 processors including the AMD Athlon 64, AMD Athlon FX, AMD Athlon 64 X2, and AMD Sempron processors. The board supports full speed dual x16 PCI-Express graphics slots, memory up to DDR 400MHz speeds officially. Following industry trends, the A8R32-MVP Deluxe requires only a few additional components for a full system. Components needed include a socket 939 CPU, DDR1 memory, a PCI Express x16 video card, drives, and 24 pin power supply. ASUS integrated the following components into the A8R32-MVP's design: 2 IDE ATA-133 ports; 1 floppy port; 4 SATA2 ports on the ULI 1575 controller (RAID 0, 1, 0+1, RAID 5 and JBOD Spanning); 2 SATA2 ports (1 external and 1 internal) attached to the integrated Silicon Image 3132 controller: 10 USB 2.0 capable ports (4 in rear panel, and 3 onboard headers supporting 2 ports each); 2 IEEE1394a Firewire ports (via motherboard headers): 2 Marvell Gigabit Ethernet ports on the rear panel: Realtek ALC850 8-Channel Codec with Universal Audio Jack Audio Sensing and EnumerATIon TechnologyCoaxial / Optical S/PDIF out ports on back I/O; and of course, standard PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports.
Main Specifications Overview
Detailed Motherboard Specification List
Packaging
The A8R32-MVP Deluxe' box looks almost exactly like that of the A8R-MVP and A8N32-SLI Deluxe. The box is mostly dark grey, with a lighter grey stripe across the bottom. Logos for the supported CPU's appears in the bottom right hand corner. The ASUS logo is displayed at the top right, the bottom has the AI Life Logo as the A8N32-SLI's box did. The model number is across the very front of the box in red lettering and a red box with white lettering, spelling out "Crossfire Ready" is right beneath the model number. ASUS also lists the motherboards quick specifications at the bottom right just above the CPU logos. When the front flap is lifted on the front of the box, more details are revealed about the motherboard’s long list of ASUS features. There are also more of these features listed on the back of the box cover. ASUS included the following components in the box: User's manual, WinDVD Studio Software, 1 driver and utilities CD, 5 SATA cables, 2 SATA power cables, 1 ATA-133 cable, 1 floppy cable, 1 game port and USB rear panel combo bracket, 1 IEEE1394 rear panel bracket, 1 COM port bracket, and the standard I/O shield. The ATX I/O shield has holes for the motherboards standard PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports, SPDIF out, fiber-optic out port, 6 mini head-phone jacks, 4 USB ports, standard 9 pin RS232 port, and two RJ-45 network ports.
Board Layout
The layout of the A8R32-MVP Deluxe is well thought out. It is almost an exact copy of the layout of the A8N32-SLI Deluxe. As a result, most of my comments on that boards layout all stand. Fortunately the biggest and one of the most welcome changes was moving the clear RTC CMOS jumper away from the PCI-Express x16 slot retention clip and over next to the battery. You'll notice that the board is packed full of components. Due to the fact that this chipset is a two chip solution, certain concessions to the layout had to be made. Exactly like this boards NVIDIA counterpart, there is a bazaar implementation of the SATA ports. Only 5x internal ports instead of 8 like they did on previous "Deluxe" labeled models. The next concession is the slot design. There is ample room between the first and second PCI-Express x16 slots. This board does however lose the x4 PCI-Express slot above the top PCI-Express slot. The second PCI-Express x16 slot only has one regular PCI slot below it. This slot would be made useless if a video card with a dual slot cooling solution were installed there. ASUS has managed to keep the layout very functional and made only a few compromises overall. ASUS used capacitors from Rubycon (Japan) and United Chemi-Con (USA, Japan) marked KZG. The board revision we tested was v1.03G.
The CPU area is pretty crowded. Most heatsinks and even passive solutions should be fine, however extremely large coolers like the XP-120 and 120mm Fatal1ty FS-C77 may be a problem. Due to the proximity of the CPU socket to the DIMM sockets, larger coolers will not be able to be used with certain memory modules. Same as it is with the A8N32-SLI Deluxe.
The motherboard's 4 DDR1 DIMM slots are located just below the CPU area, in a standard 2x2 configuration. They are color coded, so that users can match the colors, to enable dual channel memory mode operation. The color scheme is typical ASUS blue/black/blue/black for DIMM A1/A2 DIMM B1/B2 respectively. The standard 24-pin ATX power connector, and extra 4 pin Molex connector (for CrossFire operation) is just below the DIMM area. The board is configured not to allow the use of older 20 pin ATX power supplies. So at the very least, a 20-24 pin adapter must be used for proper operation, although we highly suggest a newer PSU that is up to specification if you intend to run a CrossFire video card configuration.
The Northbridge is located just to the left of the CPU socket area, just as you would typically expect on any PC motherboard. The Northbridge is passively cooled by a basic black heat sink marked ASUS Radeon Xpress. To the lower left of the board is the motherboards Southbridge which is also passively cooled but by a much smaller silver heat sink. Directly in front of the Southbridge is the four SATA 3G ports.
The A8N32-SLI Deluxe has 2 PCI-Express x16 slots, not just mechanically x16 form factor, but each slot has full x16 lanes worth of bandwidth. There is 1 PCI-Express x1 slot, and three PCI slots.
The A8N32-SLI Deluxe includes the following ports on the rear I/O panel: 4 USB ports, 2xRJ45 ports, 6 mini-headphone connectors for the audio, 1 SATA 3G connector, Optical and SPDIF out connectors, as well as standard Parallel, and PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports.