Dual-Gigabit LAN, more hard drives and RAID alternatives, a bit better audio, more bits in the box and more flexibility in the BIOS!
That’s basically what the more expensive versions offer that the standard entry level doesn’t. Specifications can be confusing, can’t they? Let’s look at the various versions in more detail, so you’re better informed to make your choice.
Asus A8n-SLI
Even the basic version of the A8N-SLI motherboard offers you the capability of having up to 4 SATA2 hard drives fitted, in addition to the two IDE channels for optical drives and IDE hard drives. You can have drives configured as a RAID array for either speed or redundancy, and ordinary SATA1 drives can be used also. That’s plenty enough hard drive storage options for most people. The basic version of the motherboard also offers Gigabit network capability. That means you can have 10/100/100 megabits per second traffic, depending upon the other equipment in your network.
Like all the versions of this board, the included SATA controller is what is called a ‘native’ controller. That means the drives are fully controlled in hardware and BIOS (apart from their RAID functions of course) and there’s no need to muck about installing drivers when you try to install Windows XP on a SATA drive. If you start off with just a single SATA hard drive it’s simply a matter of plug it in to the first SATA port and install Windows just as you would with an IDE hard drive.
What you don’t get with the standard version, though, is flexibility in the BIOS setup routine. There are a lot fewer ‘advanced’ options available, so if you try to overclock your system, for example, your potential will be limited by a lack of available settings.
A8N-SLI Deluxe and A8N-SLI Premium
In most regards these are the same motherboard. Both offer an additional SATA controller which allows more hard drives to be fitted and a wider range of RAID configurations to be used. Both offer an additional Gigabit LAN controller to allow more flexibility with networking options. Both offer a comprehensive range of BIOS settings to allow more comprehensive control of overclocking and of system configuration. Both offer a more comprehensive range of bundled ‘accessories’ to enable you to set your system up as you wish it to be configured. You pay the extra to get a motherboard which has more capability of meeting your computing needs as they grow over time, basically.
The ‘Premium’ version is, to all intents and purposes, simply a replacement for the ‘Deluxe’ model. There are only two differences between them. Firstly, the Deluxe version has a chipset fan on the chipset heatsink to cool it, whilst the Premium version uses a passive heatpipe arrangement to cool the chipset. Secondly, the Deluxe version uses a small card called an ‘E-Z Selector card’ between the two graphics card slots to configure the board for SLI, whilst the
Premium version uses a software tool for configuration. With the Deluxe you have the E-Z Selector fitted in one direction for single card operation or for using two cards independently, or turn it over and install it in the other direction for SLI operation.
When the Deluxe board was first released it was fitted with a very fast chipset fan. Many people complained that it was too loud and that it was prone to failure. Later releases of the board replaced the unit with a different heatsink and fan for the chipset, which overcame these problems. A visual inspection will quickly determine whether the Deluxe board is an earlier or later release. On the initial release the chipset heatsink was mounted parallel to the CPU socket, whilst the improved version has the chipset heatsink turned 45 degrees and mounted in ‘diamond’ layout in comparison with
the CPU socket.
If the vendor who is offering that Deluxe board at a cheaper price is prepared to open the box and confirm that the board is the later version with the diagonally mounted chipset heatsink I’d personally choose it rather than paying
extra for the Premium model. The heatpipe on the Premium offers no greater cooling efficiency, and the E-Z Selector card on the Deluxe model is no big deal to turn around for SLI configuration. If you can save money why not do so?
A8N32-SLI Deluxe
There is an additional version of the board as well. The A8N32-SLI Deluxe has become the ‘darling’ of hardware enthusiasts because of the extra bandwidth available for graphics processing.
In ordinary SLI motherboards the two PCI-E x16 graphics card slots drop back to x8 bandwidth when SLI is enabled. On the A8N32-SLI Deluxe, when two display cards are used in SLI configuration both graphics slots still operate with PCI-E x16 bandwidth. That’s basically the only difference between this board and the A8N-SLI Premium.
I’d not recommend anyone pay the extra to get one, to tell the truth. To my understanding even the ‘latest and greatest’ in video cards don’t use the maximum available bandwidth of PCI-E x16. To be quite honest even systems with the best available AGP 8X display card are quite competitive with a PCI-E x16 system with a comparable card still. It’ll be quite a while yet before this extra bandwidth is actually needed and used, and I’d expect that by that time we’ll have updated our systems again anyway. I can’t see the point in paying extra for something which is merely a ‘paper benefit’.
I hope that helps explain it to you. If you can afford to get it the more expensive version gets you more flexibility for the future. If you can only afford the ‘basic’ version of the board then you still have a quite capable, stable and reliable basis to build your system upon. And if you can get hold of the ‘revised’ release of the ‘Deluxe’ for cheaper than the ‘Premium’ then it’s every bit as good as the more expensive alternative.
Cheers,
Terry O'ShanassyTerry O'ShanassyPosted: 05/04/2006
re: Which A8N-SLI motherboard?
First in response to Jasper
Mate. I suggested that AGP 8X was 'competitive'. 'Kicks butt' is a bit of a stretch from there, I'd have thought. PCI-E certainly gives an advantage, but it's currently a small one rather than the large advantage many people think it is.
Nick,
I've a Deluxe board (revised version) in my own private system and it's been there since late October last year. I purchased it after a fair bit of careful research, and there's still no Socket 939 board to match it for quality, stability and reliability in my opinion and in light of the reading I've done since. That's not just 'reports'. I monitor numerous online user groups of various types, and have seen no complaints other than the intial one about the first chipset fan used, and some more recent comments from some people who've had a few problems trying to get big overclocks on their RAM. But I figure those people should have purchased better RAM to start with. My own Corsair XMS PC3200 RAM does 500MHz in the board with just a weensy voltage increase and slightly relaxed timings.
The recommendation is based upon a fair bit more than just a review sample which has been in a testbench for a short space of time, I can assure you. It comes from the comments of satisfied users, myself included.