Asus P5n32-E SLI MOBO

J

JamesHillyer

New Member
Hi guys, quick question, I was thinking of getting an Asus P5n32-E SLI Motherboard, but it looks like if I put it in SLI, Im not going to have that much room for my extra components. So does that mean I am going to have to sacrifice between a wireless card / Soundblaster X-Fi card?
 
Bigger cards

Ok I know theres two PCI slots onboard, but if Im running 2x 8800GTS, which have a cooling fan mounted on the side and the exhaust takes up a PCI lane, how would I go about mounting them, because it would sit right over the PCI lanes. So left to right

PCI1 - Taken up by 8800 Fan
PCIE1 - 8800GTS
PCI2 - Spare for Wireless / X-Fi card
PCIE2 - Not Used
PCIx1.1 - Taken up by 8800 Fan
PCIE2 - 8800GTS
PCIx1.2 - Maybe used for sound card

One of the solutions is to use the supplied sound card, thus leaving PCI2 for a wireless card, so one question is, is the supplied SupremeFX card as, or nearly as good as an X-Fi card?

Also, theres no way I can put a PCI card in a PCI-E slot is there heh???
 
For gaming you will want a good sound card. But the drawback would be trying to use an expansion adapter for more then one pci device there. SBs are known for demanding power when you put a good load on them. PCI-Express is strictly intended for video not sound cards even while you will find that there are PCI to PCI-E adapters being made. The article at the link here will show one there. http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=3774

To understand the differences between PCI-E and PCI you may want to review the information on this at http://www.directron.com/expressguide.html Another option for sound would be a usb card or finding a usb type wireless adapter over using the onboard. One Creative SB Live 5.1 surround model is seen at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102174
 
That's a good one to review there for this. Hopefully the usb type device by Creative gives you a working alternative. The problem seen with many newer boards only seeing two not three or more pci slots and being called SLI explains itself as you found out there. The larger the vpu the larger the cooler on each of a pair. But more usb and even some firewires devices are becoming more common.
 
Ok now I have a really stupid problem (based on Asus)

There exists a
(1) P5N32-E SLI Motherboard
(2) P5N32-E SLI Plus Motherboard

Now I can't find any articles on the differences, and google won't help, because any searches for (1) comes up with (2) heh, but it appears that (1) uses the n680i chipset, and (2) uses the n650i chipset.

Now the Plus edition motherboards are usually an upgrade, so how does going down in a chipset count as an upgrade??? And if anyone knows, does the n680i chipset run hotter / cooler?? I am mere days away from buying a P5N32-E SLI Plus motherboard, but now Im tossing up looking for a non-plus because it has the n680i. Am I worrying over nothing?
 
The easiest way to compare two different model boards by Asus or just about anyone else for that matter is simply taking notes on what chipset it has, the cpus it will support as well as the memory to add to that list, and other things like how many pci slots. usb ports, etc.. When buying the A8N-SLI model here last year I could have gone for the A8N-SLI Premium like a friend did due to some other features there. Both were nForce 4 models and my friend received two bad boards in a row? That's a little rare but...?

The actual differences between the first model and the Plus can compared by looking over the specifications on each as seen at the links here. For the P5N32-E SLI model seen at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131142
('P5N-E SLI'));P5N-E SLISupported CPUCPU
Socket Type: LGA 775 Quad-core / Core 2 Extreme / Core 2 Duo / Pentium
FSB: 1333/1066MHz Supported
Chipsets: North Bridge: NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI
Number of Memory Slots: 4×240pin Memory Standard DDR2 800 Maximum Memory Supported 8GB Dual Channel Supported
Expansion Slots: AGP Slot=None; PCI Express x16= 2 (SLI mode: x8, x8)PCI Express x1=1
PCI Slots:2
Storage Devices: PATA= 2 x ATA100 up to 4 Devices; SATA=1 x External SATA 3.0 Gb/s'));4 x Internal SATA 3.0 Gb/s
1 x External SATA 3.0 Gb/sSATA RAID
Onboard Video Chipset:None
Onboard Audio: Audio Chipset=Realtek ALC883 Audio Channels= 6 ChannelsOnboard
LAN Chipset: Marvell 88E1116Max LAN Speed=0/100/1000Mbps
Rear Panel Ports: PS/2; 4 x USB; 2.0IEEE 1394; PDIF Out 1x Coaxial Audio Ports=3 Ports
Onboard USB: 4x USB 2.0;
Onboard 1394 1x 1394a
ATX Dimensions: 12.0" x 9.0" Windows Vista Certified for 24 Pin
PackagingPackage Contentsdocument.write(neg_specification_newline('P5N-E SLI
Driver Disk
User Manual
Rear I/O Panel Shield
IDE/PATA Cable
FDD Cable
2 x SATA Cable
4-pin to SATA Power Cable
USB Bracket
SLI Bridge'));P5N-E SLI
Driver Disk
User Manual
Rear I/O Panel Shield
IDE/PATA Cable
FDD Cable
2 x SATA Cable
4-pin to SATA Power Cable
USB Bracket
SLI Bridge

For the P5N32-E Plus seen at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131153
Model: P5N32-E SLI Plus
Supported CPU Socket Type: LGA 775CPU Type: Quad-core / Core 2 Extreme / Core 2 Duo / Pentium
FSB:1333/1066MHz Supported CPU: Intel Quad-CPU Ready
Chipsets North Bridge: NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI
Memory Number of Memory Slots: 4×240pin Memory Standard DDR2 800 Maximum Memory Supported 8GB
Expansion Slots: PCI Express x16='2 x PCIe x16 support SLI @ x16, x16(blue); 1 x PCIe x16 @ x8 for GPU Physics card; PCI Express x1=1
PCI Slots: 2
Storage Devices: PATA=1 x ATA100 up to 2 Devices; SATA 3Gb/s=6; SATA RAID=NV RAID 0/1/0+1/5 JBOD
Onboard Video: None
Onboard Audio: ADI AD1988B Audio Channels=8 Channels
Onboard LAN: LAN Chipset=Marvell; Second LAN Chipset=Marvel; lMax LAN Speed=Dual 10/100/1000Mbps
Rear Panel Ports: PS/2; 4 x USB 2.0; 1 x IEEE 1394a; S/PDIF Out 1x Optical and 1x CoaxialAudio Ports=6 Ports by SupremeFX Audio Card
Onboard USB: 3 x USB 2.0 connectors; supports 6 portsOnboard 1394 1x 1394a
ATX Dimensions: 12.0" x 9.6"
Features:
Power Pin 24 Pin
Package Contents
Driver Disk
User Manual
Rear I/O Panel Shield
IDE/PATA Cable
FDD Cable
4 x SATA Cable
2 x 4-pin to SATA Power Cable
SLI Bridge
USB Bracket
IEEE 1394 Bracket
SupremeFX Audio Card'));P5N32-E SLI Plus
Driver Disk
User Manual
Rear I/O Panel Shield
IDE/PATA Cable
FDD Cable
4 x SATA Cable
2 x 4-pin to SATA Power Cable
SLI Bridge
USB Bracket
IEEE 1394 Bracket
SupremeFX Audio Card
 
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