ASUS P5N32-E SLI Plus motherboard (nForce 680i SLI)

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What do you think guys - thinking of getting this board - what do you think
ASUS P5N32-E SLI Plus motherboard (nForce 680i SLI)

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ASUS has been launching new motherboard SKUs left, right and center recently and we sometimes find out with some surprise that a new model is already available before its predecessors have really had the chance to penetrate the market. This is the case with their brand new P5N32-E SLI Plus, another NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI based motherboard. However, unlike the Striker Extreme that was reviewed awhile back, the P5N32-E SLI Plus is not part of the ASUS Republic of Gamers (R.O.G.) series, but of their long standing AI Life line. Although more 'modest' by design, there is no mistaking the P5N32-E SLI Plus for what it is - a high-end premium motherboard for enthusiast level users.

Like other ASUS nForce 680i SLI motherboards, the P5N32-E SLI Plus is of its own design and not one of NVIDIA's OEM clones. It carries signature hallmarks of the AI Life series with its no-nonsense black PCB, Stack Cool 2 layer and passive heat-pipe chipset cooling. Unlike the elaborate maze of the Striker Extreme's heat-pipes, the P5N32-E SLI Plus carries a more simple split pipe system, one for each chip with its own radiator. However, they still form a square around the CPU socket, so users should be certain that any third cooler has sufficient clearance. An 8-phase cap-less PWM design ensures stable power to the CPU, which should further help with heat buildup and overclocking at adverse voltages.

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If the P5N32-E SLI Plus looks familiar, it is because the board is a spin of of the originally announced P5N32-E SLI, also an nForce 680i SLI board. From what we can surmise by look at their technical specifications, this new 'Plus' variant is exactly the same as the P5N32-E SLI, except for one visible difference.The P5N32-E SLI Plus comes with a full set of solid capacitors, while the older P5N32-E SLI has mixed capacitors. After Gigabyte started their solid capacitor campaign, which is designed to increase the durability and lifespan of a board, more manufacturers have jumped on, releasing PCB updates and new products with the same intent and ASUS is well on the bandwagon too. To this end, the P5N32-E SLI Plus is certainly the better choice for overclockers and enthusiasts.

top3a.jpg

More and more, ASUS is offering their SupremeFX audio add-on card with premium boards instead of traditional onboard audio. While the chipset used is the same (Analog Devices ADI 1988B) HD Audio system in all Intel LGA775 boards, putting the chipset on a separate add-on card is supposed to reduce analog interference. The one downside to this though, is that ASUS has to cede one possible expansion slot up for the proprietary audio card. And with a chipset such as the nForce 680i SLI and its triple PCIe x16 slots, the board is already setup for extreme graphics configurations with very few expansion options left. The rest of the board is typical nForce 680i SLI fair; six SATA 3.0Gbps ports with NVIDIA's MediaShield RAID capabilities, native IDE support, ten USB 2.0 ports and native dual Gigabit LAN MACs (paired with Marvell 88E1116 PHYs). The board also sports two FireWire-400 ports through a VIA VT6408P controller
 
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Exibit said:
What do you think guys - thinking of getting this board - what do you think
ASUS P5N32-E SLI Plus motherboard (nForce 680i SLI)

top.jpg



ASUS has been launching new motherboard SKUs left, right and center recently and we sometimes find out with some surprise that a new model is already available before its predecessors have really had the chance to penetrate the market. This is the case with their brand new P5N32-E SLI Plus, another NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI based motherboard. However, unlike the Striker Extreme that was reviewed awhile back, the P5N32-E SLI Plus is not part of the ASUS Republic of Gamers (R.O.G.) series, but of their long standing AI Life line. Although more 'modest' by design, there is no mistaking the P5N32-E SLI Plus for what it is - a high-end premium motherboard for enthusiast level users.

Like other ASUS nForce 680i SLI motherboards, the P5N32-E SLI Plus is of its own design and not one of NVIDIA's OEM clones. It carries signature hallmarks of the AI Life series with its no-nonsense black PCB, Stack Cool 2 layer and passive heat-pipe chipset cooling. Unlike the elaborate maze of the Striker Extreme's heat-pipes, the P5N32-E SLI Plus carries a more simple split pipe system, one for each chip with its own radiator. However, they still form a square around the CPU socket, so users should be certain that any third cooler has sufficient clearance. An 8-phase cap-less PWM design ensures stable power to the CPU, which should further help with heat buildup and overclocking at adverse voltages.

top1a.jpg


If the P5N32-E SLI Plus looks familiar, it is because the board is a spin of of the originally announced P5N32-E SLI, also an nForce 680i SLI board. From what we can surmise by look at their technical specifications, this new 'Plus' variant is exactly the same as the P5N32-E SLI, except for one visible difference.The P5N32-E SLI Plus comes with a full set of solid capacitors, while the older P5N32-E SLI has mixed capacitors. After Gigabyte started their solid capacitor campaign, which is designed to increase the durability and lifespan of a board, more manufacturers have jumped on, releasing PCB updates and new products with the same intent and ASUS is well on the bandwagon too. To this end, the P5N32-E SLI Plus is certainly the better choice for overclockers and enthusiasts.

top3a.jpg

More and more, ASUS is offering their SupremeFX audio add-on card with premium boards instead of traditional onboard audio. While the chipset used is the same (Analog Devices ADI 1988B) HD Audio system in all Intel LGA775 boards, putting the chipset on a separate add-on card is supposed to reduce analog interference. The one downside to this though, is that ASUS has to cede one possible expansion slot up for the proprietary audio card. And with a chipset such as the nForce 680i SLI and its triple PCIe x16 slots, the board is already setup for extreme graphics configurations with very few expansion options left. The rest of the board is typical nForce 680i SLI fair; six SATA 3.0Gbps ports with NVIDIA's MediaShield RAID capabilities, native IDE support, ten USB 2.0 ports and native dual Gigabit LAN MACs (paired with Marvell 88E1116 PHYs). The board also sports two FireWire-400 ports through a VIA VT6408P controller
it looks good ,but do you need the extras? i think the 680SLI is a fine board,don,t really need a plus :rolleyes:
 
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From reading around a few forums and checking Asus's website it appears that the only difference is that the Plus version has different (possibly improved) capacitors and comes with a full version of 3DMark2006. Other than that, they are both exactly the same.
 
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james32 said:
did you need to quote it again

I agree - the first line with ... would have done

james32 said:
very distrubing news its not an 680i
very bad marketing with asus, and its also known as fraud

No, I don't think ASUS have ever claimed the Plus version is a 680i board. What they are claiming is that it uses the same C55 Northbridge as the 680i boards, but then, so do the 650i boards. What the P5N32-E SLi Plus is, is a P5N-E SLI with 16x SLi, 6 SATA ports and a bundled SoundFx card. For an extra £70. What ASUS are saying is that if you want the full 680i spec you have to buy the Striker Extreme.

What most prospective/current purchasers are complaining about is that the initial product specifications pages for the P5N32-E SLi clearly listed it as a 680i, which it appears to be, but many of the BIOS options are missing. So they thought they were going to get a £180-£250 motherboard for £150. Surely past experience should have taught people that if something looks too good to be true, it probably is. And it is here as well. I think the route is quite clear. If you want a decent clocking honest workaday ASUS motherboard with SLi, buy the P5N-E SLi board, if you want 6 SATA ports and 16x SLi and better sound, buy the P5N32-E SLI PLus and if you want to empty your wallet on a product that's not yet finished, buy a Striker Extreme.
 
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just looks a dodgy board to me
Nvidia 650i NorthBridge and Nvidia 570i SouthBridge
yet its the same price as the 680i motherboard :confused:
 
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james32 said:
just looks a dodgy board to me
Nvidia 650i NorthBridge and Nvidia 570i SouthBridge
yet its the same price as the 680i motherboard :confused:

Well, yes... it does have the same C55 Northbridge as the 650i, and it has the same C55 Northbridge as the 680i so they all have the same Northbridge. The features that differentiate them are in the Southbridge.

The Striker Extreme 'pure' 680i board has the C55 Northbridge and the newest '680' Southbridge and it costs £250!
The P5N32E-SLi has the C55 Northbridge and the newest '680' Southbridge and they've stopped making it. It did cost £180.
The P5N32E-SLi Plus has the C55 Northbridge and the same Southbridge as the old 590 chipset boards. This is what everyone is complaining about. The fact that they relaunched a board with almost the same name but slightly down-specced. It costs £145.
The P5NE-SLi has the C55 Northbridge and the same Southbridge as the old 570 chipset boards. It costs £85.

I don't see what's confusing or dodgy about any of these. They all have separate price points and different levels of features. Just like Intel, Gigabyte, MSI etc. all have very slightly different boards at slightly different price points.

Admittedly, I would have to struggle to justify the additional cost of the 680i Southbridge as it just gives access to about an extra 4 or 5 voltage adjustments and a wider range of voltage adjustments on the adjustments the other boards do have, however ASUS seem to like to have a full and rich range of boards to play with ;)
 
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I can't deny what that CPUz shot says, and I can see where people are getting their information from, but it has to be wrong. The P5N32E Plus SLi has 6 SATA ports. The 570 Southbridge only allows 4. It has 16x SLi, the 570 Southbridge only has 2 x 8x SLi. There are other spec. differences that are not possible with the 570 Southbridge. For these features you require the 590 Southbridge.

I did check my own P5N-E SLi and EVGA 680i boards they report 650i SPP/650i MCP and 680i SPP/680i MCP respectively so there is something very odd about the P5N32-E SLi Plus setup for sure. I doubt it's as awful as everyone is making out though.
 
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techmonkey said:
I must admit that I find the idea of a 650i/570 hybrid a little odd. Still, all the capabilities of this new board and the none Plus version appear identicle to me.

It's not really if you think about it. The motherboards are almost identical from one generation to the next. NVidia would have sold a certain number of manufacturing licences to ASUS to make 570/590 chipsets and they would have made them in a decent sized production run. Rather than crush/landfill all those processors, why not build a range of bastardized boards using the known effective C55 Northbridge with the existing southbridge chips?

I think that makes good manufacturing sense, actually.
 
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I thought the PLUS was 650I and 570i, if this is the case we should have a board that does 16 x 8 x 16 over the 2 chipsets for unofficial SLI and have none of the SATA issues we see with the i680 chipset.

Does Asus ship an SLI bridge with this board?
 
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