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ASUS P5N-E SLI

ASUS offers up an affordable motherboard from the new nForce 600 series family; the P5N-E SLI featuring the nForce 650i chipset. To put it plainly, this motherboard gave us awesome overclocking for the money spent.

Introduction

ASUS is a well loved component manufacture in the enthusiast as well as mainstream computer industry, delivering stable and well performing parts to the community at large. Time and again, they have released cutting edge products without sacrificing overall stability or product quality. Their latest Intel based boards are a testament to that trend, pairing up the newest NVIDIA chipset with their well proven LGA775 based designs.

The P5N-E SLI is among ASUS’ lineup featuring the NVIDIA 6xx series chipset, offering support for Intel’s current and future Core processor LGA775 based lineup. ASUS designed the board around the nForce 650i SLI MCP chipset, with built-in support for the following: all LGA 775 type processors, DDR2 DRAM modules operating in Dual Channel mode up to 800MHz, as well as dual PCI Express bases x16 graphics cards operating in x8 SLI mode. The P5N-E SLI motherboard is designed to be a feature complete solution, requiring a minimal number of additional components for a working system such as an Intel LGA 775 style processor, DDR2 memory, drives, and a PSU. The following components are integrated in to the P5N-E SLI: 2 ATA-133 IDE ports and 4 SATA II ports (RAID 0, 1, 0+1, and 5 capable) on the NVIDIA controller; 1 e-SATA port on the JMICRON controller; 8 USB 2.0 capable ports (4 in rear panel, and 2 onboard headers supporting 2 ports each); 2 IEEE 1394 capable ports (1 in rear panel, and 1 onboard header); 1 NVIDIA GigE Ethernet port in the rear panel; Realtek 6-channel audio codec featuring an S/PDIF component output port; and PS/2 and parallel port support in the rear panel.

Main Specifications Overview:

Detailed Mainboard Specification List:

Packaging

ASUS went with a simple, yet effective, design for the P5N-E SLI’s box cover, the board’s name, and supported CPUs and features prominently displayed. The following components are included with the P5N-E SLI board itself: ATA-133 and floppy ribbon cables; SATA drive and dual ended power cables; the rear panel shield; SLI video card interconnect cable; the normal complement of driver CDs and manuals; a rear panel bracket with USB 2.0 port support; and the Q-Connector modules. The Q-Connector modules allow for an easy interface for connecting in to the motherboard headers. You simply plug in your front panel jumpers in to the white connector and the USB 2.0 jumpers in to the blue connector block, and then plug both blocks in to the motherboard headers. It makes for a much easier install for those typically hard to reach header areas.

Board Layout

Keeping with their typical design habit’s, ASUS designed the P5N-E SLI with more than adequate space around all board components, including around the CPU socket area. The one odd thing is the lack of cooling on the Southbridge chipset. The board revision and serial number are clearly marked just above the DIMM slots, to the right of the Northbridge chipset cooler. The board used for testing was a revision 1.01G model. As for the board capacitors, ASUS chose capacitors from the following manufacturers: Rubycon (Japan) marked as MBZ; and United Chemi-Con (USA, Japan) marked as KMG and KZG. . The capacitors marked with an F, M, or TMZ type symbol come from an unknown source.

The area around the P5N-E SLI’s CPU socket is clear enough of obstructions to allow for even the larger heatsink or water block cooling units. All capacitors and power components directly around the CPU socket are of a low profile type to minimize obstruction with the CPU cooling device in use. To hold down the CPU cooler, ASUS used the LGA775 4 hole standard design. The passively cooled Northbridge chipset is to the left of the CPU socket. The Northbridge cooler is a massive aluminum heatsink, held to the chipset via 2 push-pins. Directly above the Northbridge are the CHA_FAN1 header and USBPW1-4 jumper. The jumper is used to control system standby operation based on activity from the 4 rear panel USB 2.0 ports. The ATX12V and KBPWR jumpers are located to the upper right of the CPU socket. The jumper controls system standby operation based on activity from the rear panel PS/2 ports. The 4-pin CPU_FAN header is located to the lower right of the CPU socket.

The board’s onboard DDR2 memory slots are located directly below the CPU socket and Northbridge chipset, arranged in a 2-by-2 configuration. Dual Channel memory mode is activated by placing modules in like colored slots across sets. Just below the DIMM slots is the 24-pin ATX power connector.

The NVIDIA Southbridge chipset is located directly below the secondary PCI Express x16 slot, with no cooling solution whatsoever. However, ASUS did include holes on opposite sides of the chipset should you desire an aftermarket cooler for the chipset. Directly below the chipset are the 2 onboard ATA-133 ports, with the ports themselves sitting parallel to the plane of the motherboard. The onboard SATA 2 ports are to the lower left of the chipset. The front panel, CHA_FAN2, and chassis intrusion headers, as well as the CMOS clear jumper and standby power LED, are located in the lower left corner of the board. Just above that cluster are on of the onboard USB 2.0 headers, the onboard IEEE 1394 header, and the USBPW5-8 jumper. This jumper controls system standby operation based on activity from the onboard USB headers.

The board comes standard with 2 PCI Express x16 slots, 1 PCI Express x1 slot, and 2 PCI slots. In between the 2 PCI Express x16 slots is the SLI EZ Selector slot and card, which is used to force activation of one or both of the PCI Express x16 slots. The onboard floppy port and COM header are located to the outside of PCI slot 2. Just above PCI slot 2 are the front panel audio and SPDIF_out headers, with one of the onboard USB 2.0 headers sandwiched between the 2 PCI slots. The CD header is located just above PCI slot 1.

The following ports are integrated in to the P5N-E SLI’s rear panel interface: PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports; 1 parallel port; 4 USB 2.0 ports; 1 IEEE 1394 port; 1 NVIDIA Gigabit LAN Ethernet port; 1 e-SATA port; 3 analogue audio ports and an S/PDIF component output port.