Closer Look:

Some of the ASUS P5N-E SLI Motherboard features are standard and some aren't. The SLI support is still x8x8 where as the 680i supports x16x16 full speed graphics. The performance difference is often negligible at standard settings for most users. Larger resolutions and graphics intensive programs seem to benefit the most from x16 speeds. The features that seem to be some of the most beneficial are the ASUS AI, O.C.. EZ Flash 2, Crash Free BIOS, and CPU Parameter Recall. Asus AI is currently the top best software based utilities for overclocking and tweaking for ASUS motherboards. The next best thing has been NVidia's NTune which has been pretty decent for my requirements. If any overclocking doesn't quite take, it's really nice to know that the board and BIOS will reset your previous CPU settings and bring you back up with just a system reset.

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Features

It's nice to see ASUS provide at least two SATA cables along with the standard Floppy and ATA cables. And though it may seem like a miniscule detail, I find the Q-Connector to be common sensible component to make end user installation much easier and helps guarantee greater success. There is also a 4pin to SATA power adapter if you happen to have a some what older PSU or lack of connectors. I have noticed as of late that many of the motherboards are omitting the once included floppy which has the 3rd Party NVidia Raid driver needed for installing your Windows XP edition. There are still numerous users still choosing Windows XP over Vista even though board is aimed for Vista performance.

Standard Bundle

Panel Q-Connector

To help you better gauge your choice in motherboard chipset features, you can use this link to narrow down what you need. The 650-SLI still has some good to better onboard features. However, keep in mind some motherboard manufacturers have decided to upgrade some of the features from the BIOS to the Audio to sweeten the pot and draw more users to buy. This is a very smart move and has resulted in some good options.

At first glance, the board doesn't appear too much different than stock motherboards these days. The PCB is, however, black with a large brushed aluminum chipset heat sink that matches the tops of the board's various capacitors. You probably also noticed that the board isn't strictly assembled using solid state capacitors. The more powerful capacitors have been replaced with solid state while the lesser powered ones use the traditional Japanese caps. Does this mean less stability? No. In fact, the solid states should help the board most where it requires the most power draw while the regular caps easily handle the rest of the motherboard more than sufficiently.

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The chipset heat sink is quite large. It's quite a bit larger than most any on the various 650-SLI platforms around. The Abit FP-IN9 has the second largest heat sink to cross the test bench. The stability and overclocking of the various 650-SLI boards seems dependant on the chipset cooling and voltage requirements. As mentioned before, the boards seem to hit a barrier of sorts possibly due to the BIOS and thermal issues. Previous tested boards all seemed to get a lot warmer when overclocked. At least the chipset cooler is doing its job. This will be one thing to monitor during testing.

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Support for the 1333 FSB processors was oddly listed as a feature on the box with the phrase, "Available when CPU is Supporting." Based on the website and features, the board was originally released supporting standard 533/800/1066 FSB processors with future support for 1333 FSB processors. You'll be happy to know that an earlier BIOS release ensures complete support if you find it necessary to purchase an Intel E6750 1333FSB Processor. This is also nice to see when the maker supports its products by finalizing details and providing updates. Let's have a look at how well these updates perform.

The P5N-E SLI uses the familiar SLI Card which has to be switched depending on the single or dual graphics card used. It comes set to Single by default and has to be flipped around to enable the SLI feature as well as install the included SLI Bridge in the bundle. This isn't too much of a problem for users to switch. However, when you see another board like the ECS NF650SLI-T come through completely jumperless, it seems a little unnecessary knowing it can be done otherwise.

ATA, SATA, USB, Front Panel

SLI Slots & SLI Card

Not all the 650-SLI boards offer an external SATA "On The Go" port, but ASUS has given you one here. There is also an onboard and external Firewire port which is sometimes omitted during design. Here you get the support for two ports rather than just one typical rear port. Audio enthusiasts that need their full 8-channel support may find the 6-channel audio (5.1) to be a bit lacking as you only get 3 ports in the I/O panel for connectivity. There is also no optical SPDIF, but rather you have a Coaxial SPDIF which will cut down some audio support for audiophiles. The Realtek ALC883 isn't too shabby a CODEC, but isn't much for High Definition audio either. It will be interesting to compare audio quality and support during the board's testing.

Serial, SPDIF, E-SATA, USB, Firewire, Gigabit LAN, 6-Ch Audio

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