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ASUS M2N32-SLI Premium

The M2N32-SLI Premium board is ASUS’ latest addition to their AMD based AM2 line. With the performance seen in testing and the included accessories, this looks to be the next big thing in the AM2 world.

Introduction

ASUS is a well known and respected computer component manufacturer, due to their dedication to producing high quality and high performance parts. The company leads the way with technological innovation throughout all their product lines, constantly pushing the limits of the current technology to bring the utmost performance to the end user without sacrificing quality or stability.

Their latest AMD based socket AM2 board is a testament to this trend.

The M2N32-SLI Premium is the newest member of ASUS’ AMD AM2 processor line, with support for all current AMD AM2 style processors. ASUS chose to design the board using the NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI MCP chipset, which supports Athlon64 socket AM2 type processors, DDR2 style DRAM modules operating in Dual Channel mode at speeds up to 800MHz, and dual NVIDIA PCI Express x16 video cards operating at full x16 SLI mode. The board itself is a feature complete solution, requiring only an Athlon64 socket AM2 type CPU, DDR2 memory, drives, and a PSU for a fully working system. ASUS integrated the following components in to the M2N32-SLI Premium’s design: 1 IDE ATA-100 port and 6 SATA II ports (RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5 capable) on the NVIDIA controller; 1 SATA II port and 1 e-SATA port (RAID 0 and 1 capable) on the Silicon Image 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 support 1 port); 2 NVIDIA GigE Ethernet ports in rear panel; ADI 8-channel audio codec featuring S/PDIF optical and RCA component output ports; and COM and PS/2 port support in the rear panel.

The M2N32-SLI Premium is also a “Vista Edition” motherboard with some Vista-only features we will cover below. While we have been using Vista in some of our testing, we have yet to find the driver sets needed for testing to be up to par, so we are still using XP as our base for testing. We find it hard to penalize the motherboard for problems that are inherent in the driver and software sets.

Main Specifications Overview:

Detailed Mainboard Specification List:

Packaging

ASUS decided to use an austere design for the M2N32-SLI Premium’s box, featuring the board name and their Ai Lifestyle logo on the box front. Unfortunately, the supported chipset or processor types are not found anywhere on the front of the box. The following accessories are included with the M2N32-SLI Premium motherboard: ATA-133 and floppy ribbon cables; SATA driver and dual ended power cables; the rear panel shield; rear brackets for USB 2.0 and IEEE 1394 ports; a clip-on cooling fan for the integrated heat pipe cooler; the SoundMax Superbeam microphone; board remote control and USB wireless sensor; ASUS ScreenDUO visualization device and USB cable; and the normal complement of manuals and drivers discs. Note that the included driver disk is a DVD-ROM disk, not a CD-ROM disk. The included remote control unit offers remote based operation of several features including hibernation, computer sleep mode with active wireless connection, system power off and on, and audio app startup and control. The ScreenDUO device allows for viewing of important information via a secondary display module with the computer powered down. Note that in order to use this functionality, you must first synchronize data between the computer and the ScreenDUO device through the provided synchronization software.

Board Layout

ASUS seems to have come up with another winning design in the M2N32-SLI Premium. The board layout itself is well thought out, with no real tight areas. By rotating the entire CPU socket and DIMM slot area 90 degrees, ASUS opened a huge amount of room up around the CPU socket area, and alleviated the normal space contention between the primary video card slot and DIMM slots. While no clear-cut version was marked on the board itself, the board name is silk-screened on to the board’s surface to the left of the secondary PCI Express x16 slot, with the serial number clearly marked on a green sticker above the silk-screened name. As far as the onboard capacitors, ASUS chose to use high quality all metal solid state capacitors throughout the entire board.

The area around the CPU socket is completely obstruction free, allowing for use of the larger HSF or water cooling units. For CPU cooler hold down, ASUS chose to implement the standard Athlon64 AM2 style cage mechanism, secured by 4 screws to the board’s underside. The NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI chipset is located to the lower left of the CPU socket, covered by a good sized copper heat pipe cooler. The cooler is held to the chipset by 2 push-pins, with the heat pipe connecting to the Southbridge chipset as well as finely finned passive copper heat sinks to the left and above the CPU socket. Similar to the Northbridge cooler, the heat sinks are held to the board and power MOSFETS which they cover via push-pins. Directly to the right of the CPU socket are the board’s 4 DDR2 style DIMM slots, dual-colored and arranged in a 4-by-1 configuration. Dual Channel memory mode is activated by placing memory modules in adjacent like colored slots. Just above the DIMM slots are the CPU_FAN header and the Silicon Image SATA 2 port. The 24-pin ATX power connector, ATA-133 IDE port and floppy ports are located just below the CPU socket area.

The NVIDIA Southbridge chipset is just below the secondary PCI Express x16 slot, covered by a low profile copper cooler acting as one end of the heat pipe chain. Just below the Southbridge are its 6 associated SATA 2 ports, with the CHIP_FAN, and PWR_FAN headers along with the CMOS clear jumper and CMOS battery to the chipsets lower right. The chassis intrusion, CHA_FAN3 and CHA_FAN4 headers are located to the lower left of the Southbridge. The front panel header is located in the lower left corner of the board, with the parallel port and Trusted Platform Module (TPM) headers located just above it.

The M2N32-SLI Premium comes standard with a total of 2 PCI Express x16 SLI capable video slots, 1 PCI Express x4 slot, 1 PCI Express x1 slot, and 2 PCI slots. The onboard USB 2.0 and IEEE 1394 headers are located along the outside edge of PCI slot 2. The SB_PWR LED, which illuminates with an active power source connected to the board, is situated in between PCI slots 1 and 2. The front panel audio, CD_IN, and S/PDIF output headers are located just above the PCI Express x1 slot. The CHA_FAN1 and CHA_FAN2 headers, along with the ATX12V power connector, are located just above the primary PCI Express x16 slot.

The M2N32-SLI Premium’s rear panel includes the following integrated ports: PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports; 1 serial COM port; 4 USB 2.0 ports; 1 IEEE 1394 port; 1 e-SATA port; 2 NVIDIA Gigabit LAN Ethernet port; S/PDIF optical and RCA component output ports; and 6 analogue audio ports.

AiSuite

ASUS chose to include their newly redesigned AiSuite Windows based monitoring utility in with the board drivers. The version of AiSuite shown is 1.01.24. The AiSuite utility supports a variety of monitoring and configuration settings including real time display of system voltages, fan speeds, temperatures, CPU FSB and speed, as well as multiple supported overclocking methods. The NOS button allows you to activate the dynamic overclocking technology, which will manipulate system voltages and FSB speeds in order to push the system to the desired overclocking level when needed. The AiBooster button gives access to the AiBooster interface, allowing for automated or full manual control of CPU FSB and multiplier, and system voltages. The Performance screen allows for selection of a preconfigured overclocking level, where the system controls the voltages and various FSB settings, while the Advanced screen allows for full manual control. Note that for all voltage, CPU FSB and multiplier manipulation, supported options can be selected from a pull down master list. Note that the AiBooster interface allows for selection and saving of pre-configured user profiles as well. The Q-Fan button within the main AiSuite window allows for operational configuration of all fan headers through preset options.

ScreenDUO

ScreenDUO is a Vista-only application. We have been able to get it to somewhat work in XP, but not what we would call close to stable.

The included ScreenDUO software allows you to configure and synchronize the included ASUS ScreenDUO device for offline use. Note that the ScreenDUO device itself does not have an external power source, and must be connected to a system USB port in order to operate correctly. The ScreenDUO software driver is divided in to several sections – Gadgets, Preferences, and Update. The Gadgets screen determines which programs are currently loaded and active on the ScreenDUO device, with each program individually configurable via the Settings button. The Preferences screen is used to configure the ScreenDUO device behavior. The devices buttons can be customized with via the AP Trigger screen for a multitude of functions. Through the Off-line Setting option, you can custom configure how many items can be viewed or used on a per application basis, with items referenced as Gadget pages in the interface. The Update screen allows you to synchronize data between the computer and the ScreenDUO device for the currently active and configured applications present as gadgets on the ScreenDUO device.