Installation:

Hardware Used:

- ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe
- AMD AM2 3500+ (oc'd to 2.75ghz)
- 2x1GB OCZ PC2-8000 & 2x1GB SuperTalent DDR2-800
- Dual 7800GT OC Graphics Cards
- 74GB WD Raptor 10K HDD
-

   Doing a full system build using the board (as my main rig), you run into problems or situations you might not normally encounter with a quick review.

   The Q-connector I mentioned earlier comes in handy for sure. However Since I'm using the modded tech station, you just see my other quick front panel connectors connected to the ASUS quick connector.

   Overall everything went smooth on the system build. The layout of the board is great other than a couple oversights in my opinion. The first being the red SATA connections. As you can see in the above picture, the SATA 1 port is practically under my 7800GT video card. Luckily it's just off center enough to fit, but I mean 'barely' fits.

   You can also see that the 12v 4-pin connection is indeed buried between the wireless card and the video card. And speaking of video card, the onboard HD audio input port is directly under my Accelero cooler on primary video card. So to add or remove the audio plug, I need to had my video card removed. Luckily the audio cable is not something I'll need to be plugging and unplugging it.

   Those 3 minor issues is all I can really find wrong with the boards layout. Otherwise it's a pretty good layout for a board, but I wish it was more of a stunner in the looks department. The heatpipes might be sexy, but ASUS really should've went with something like DFI and their LanParty boards with bright yellow slots and socket bracket. I think bright on black is a nice contrast. But, that's just my opinion. ASUS has never really been known for their looks.

   I left out my Audigy2 ZS Gamers Edition sound card so I could see how the onboard SoundMax HD Audio performed. It's probably a good thing too, because using the last PCI slot under my dual video cards would be extremely tight. It would fit for sure and I still use that last PCI slot, but there would be practically no airflow between it and my particular 2nd video card.

   Here's some quick shots of the two different SLI bridges out there. Again, the flexible bridge comes with the M2N32-SLI Deluxe. The PCB (printed circuit board) one came with my old AUS A8N-SLI Premium. You can see both work exactly the same. So I guess all that means is the dual 16x PCI-e slots are the same distance apart on this board as my last board, heh.

Getting Started:

   Once the hardware was installed and ready to go, it was time to rely on my building skills once again, push the power button for the first time and hope for the best (for me and the hardware). Well, it fired right up and I was welcomed with a nifty animated ASUS Ai boot screen. *tapping delete button furiously* and I'm in the new BIOS o_0.

BIOS Screens:

   With just a short run around the BIOS, I can see this board means business. The wide array of options and settings is quite overwhelming at first. However I toughed it out and it's grown on me over the week (I've seen it enough lately!). Here's just a few screenshots of the many many options available.. 

DDR2 Speed Settings 533/667/800	CPU Frequency up to 425mhz
CPU Voltage up to 1.5625	CPU Multiplier 5x-11x
Ai Tuning

   A couple notes here: First I would've liked to see a higher CPU voltage setting than 1.5625v. I quickly used up all that juice overclocking my 3500+ and was looking for a bit more (up to 1.6v minimum would be nice).  Second, wouldn't it be great if the board (and chipset) supported 1066mhz? Ahh well, DDR2-800 is the top officially supported speed (like that will hold us overclockers back!). Finally, the Ai Tuning screen is THE most important screen to basically enable the ability to overclock. It'll default to "Auto", but a quick switch to "Manual" enables this beast to roar. There are many more pages and screens that'll help you get the most out of this board, however I'm not going to bore you to death with BIOS shots. If you need to use them, you'll see them eventually!

   Like I said, a few more extreme settings in the overclocking department would really bring this board into a category all it's own. However ASUS is all about stability too, so maybe they kept it just a hair conservative.