a8n-sli "premium" edition

[Deinonych]

I've decided to go ahead and get the Deluxe version, myself. On paper, the only advantages the Premium offers is a x4 PCIe slot (in lieu of one of the x1 slots) and the ability to switch SLI modes in software (which still requires a reboot). I can't imagine there will be any improvements in stock performance (I don't plan to overclock), as the nForce4 SLI boards, regardless of manufacturer, seem to have similar performance marks.

Plus, I've put off my system build long enough.

 

[Capt Caveman]

http://www.asus.com/news_show.aspx?id=973

 

[Waylay00]

I gotta have this board...

 

[teamride]

I found out why the board has not shipped, and im gald they waited

http://www.tomshardware.com/business/20050531/computex_day1-03.html

 

[Emultra]

What does onboard sound matter to gamers, anyway? Haven't we all got dedicated sound cards?

 

[Bar81]

The fanless heatsink is a *very* nice feature, especially considering the crappy quality of most fanned units.

 

[Makaveli Tha Don]

that's really sweet! Now let's just hope the damn thing really is "ready" to go. If anybody see's this board really pop up anywhere for sale, post it up ASAP

 

[Capt Caveman]

Found a couple of places that have it listed but not in stock:

http://keenzo.com/showproduct.asp?ID=521577

http://www.computerhq.com/ASUS_A8N-SLI_...emium/hardware/partinfo-id-533549.html

 

[Makaveli Tha Don]

Damn i want this mobo man

 

[Makaveli Tha Don]

patience is a virtue i do not have

 

[geogecko]

Yeah, this thing is going to be sweet. Don't think it's $300 sweet, but I wouldn't mind the $202 price...I'm sure we'll here more, now that ASUS has finally said yes, we have this board...

Picture

 

[Whitewolf]

You can find more info at this topic on xs: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=64351
If you see at the middle of the topic the guy claims that he has reached 320 HTT on 1:1/1T memory. So it appears that Asus has fixed the 1T issue that the Deluxe model had. This means (as we suspected from the beginning) the problem came from a hardware limitation and not from a bios one.

Voltages could be a problem though if Asus has the same with the Deluxe model. Bh-5/utt ram is really popular that many people need more vdimm. If only Asus has increased the vdimm (and/or the vcore) on the premium this could be the perfect board!

 

[stickybytes]

The heatpipe cooling solution looks cool but will it actually perform? Any hopes that such a design would be carried over to their nforce 4 ultra board?

 

[geogecko]

Hmmm...are we getting onboard video, or what?

Back Panel

We get a SATA external port too!

 

[Tanclearas]

Originally posted by: geogecko
Hmmm...are we getting onboard video, or what?

Back Panel

We get a SATA external port too!

I noticed that as well. Came to the boards to see if anyone knew anything about that. Not exactly sure how they could implement it. Also interesting is the PCIe x4 slot.

 

[Xenvu]

Man I can't wait for this mobo. I was so close to buying a deluxe this weekend but newegg was out of stock. Has Asus specified at all when we will see this board? I know they said "soon" but that was like 2 or 3 months ago.

 

[geogecko]

Originally posted by: Tanclearas

Originally posted by: geogecko
Hmmm...are we getting onboard video, or what?

Back Panel

We get a SATA external port too!

I noticed that as well. Came to the boards to see if anyone knew anything about that. Not exactly sure how they could implement it. Also interesting is the PCIe x4 slot.

Yeah, it's interesting that no one has speculated, or even asked ASUS, what that VGA port is doing on the back panel. I wouldn't have thought there would have been any room left.

Maybe it's a video BIOS diagnosis tool, you know, kind of like the current audio on the other ASUS boards that will tell you what is going wrong with the BIOS when it won't boot fully into Windows? Seems like the next logical step, maybe. That would be cool.

I also wonder how they got the extra SATA port on the back panel. The nForce4 only supports 4, and the common chip they use supports the other 4, so not sure where they get this 9th SATA port. Maybe it's a jumper on the MB that you have to select it either internal, or external.

 

[Devistater]

As for the fanless thing, I already made mine fanless. I ordered a tall passive chipset heatsink, removed the asus fan and put the heatsink onto my mobo. Was pretty easy. Of course since I did it before I installed the mobo into my case it was much easier. You pretty much have to remove the mobo to replace the chipset fan.

But that heatpipe thing does look pretty cool

 

[geogecko]

There is an even added benefit for me, as far as the fanless solution goes, is that I'm wanting to use this in an HTPC. The case is made by A-Tech Fabrication, and is basically, a fanless computer. It has heat pipe solutions that attach the CPU block and a GPU block to the heat sink sides of the case via heat pipes. I sent a Swiftech chipset cooler, and they said it was too tall to clear the heat pipes coming off the CPU. This seems to be the best solution, since it's low profile

 

[geogecko]

Ah, ha! That back panel that Anand took a picture of is not of the SLI Premium board. If you look closely at the overall motherboard picture, the sound jacks are divided into 2 metal boxes, not 1 like the back panel they show...now I wonder if even the SATA port on the back panel even exists...

 

[Makaveli Tha Don]

hmmm...nobody else has noticed that that picture also only has 1 ethernet port instead of 2...?

 

[Tanclearas]

Actually, I missed that. Probably because I only use one anyway. Interesting.

So....

[*]DB15 VGA connector
[*]External SATA connector
[*]PCIe x4 slot replaces one of the x1 slots
[*]one less ethernet port
[*]no SLI selector card
[*]passive chipset cooler

That seem about right so far?

 

[geogecko]

Actually not. What we are saying is, that AnandTech has a picture of a back plate that is not from the A8N-SLI Premium motherboard, right under the overall picture of the said motherboard. They must have got their MB's mixed up with all the picture taking frenzy.

So, on your list, 86 the VGA connector and external SATA connector, and now there are still 2 ethernet ports.

Here is a larger res picture of the board that I found today... The Big Picture

 

[Tanclearas]

So then only...

[*]PCIe x4 slot replaces one of the x1 slots
[*]no SLI selector card
[*]passive chipset cooler

... oh. and $$$.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Here's a pic of the back of the Premium from Asus's global site:
http://www.asus.com/news_show.aspx?id=973