ASUS always has something ready for themselves. The launch of the AM2+ socket and the AMD 770 chipset brings us another new ASUS motherboard to look at. This board comes with a lot of the familiar ASUS offerings that will make the ASUS user comfortable, but ASUS has also thrown in a few new additions that I think will make the enthusiast user very happy.

As you look at the Asus M3A32-MVP Deluxe the first thing you focus on is heat. They placed some on the memory, which is a first.

This board is a full sized ATX board that is built on a black colored PCB (a personal favorite of mine) and includes high-quality conductive polymer capacitors. The top right of the board is where the DIMM slots lie. The Asus M3A32-MVP supports 4 DIMMs up to 8GB of DDR2 memory at speeds of DDR 1066/800/667/533. 1066 given the currently high end AM2+ CPUs. When looking at it there’s one key problem. Cluttered. The bottom right is really damn cluttered and anyone can tell. On this part of the board, we have our one IDE connector as well as our SATA connectors. The southbridge controls the IDE and the four black SATA controllers and supports SATAII and RAID in 0,1 and 0+1 configurations. The two red connectors and eSATA port are controlled by the Marvell 6121 and 6111 controller, which also supports RAID 0 and 1.

Test Setup

· Windows XP2

· ASUS Board (Obviously)

· 3 gigs RAM DDR2 Corsair

As you look at the results of the Asus M3A32-MVP Deluxe motherboard compared to the AMD 690G chipset, we see that overall it performs better in most of our testing. There was not a huge difference in any of the scores, other than the ScienceMark benchmark where the Asus board shows a 14% increase over the 690G board. Overall, the Asus 790FX board looks to be a decent board for an upgrade of your system. We will have to see how this plays out with a Phenom CPU on each board.

Overall:

If: You like good spacing, Great I/O Slots, Decent BIOS settings

BUY IT

If: You hate limited capability in flexibility clocks.

MOVE ON

NVIDIA originally claims the 680i SLI chipset will support all 45nm dual-core and quad-core processors, but that came to an end when Intel made some changes on their latest stepping on their 45nm quad-core Yorkfield processors. NVIDIA has refined their BIOS for overclocking as they have added half multipliers to the mix, which allows you to better dial in your overclock. They have also some newer software revisions for NVIDIA control panel and system monitor. The new hardware features include 3-way SLI support with 3 full x16 lanes, which is great for those that have $1500+ to spend on three GeForce 8800 GTX or Ultra graphics cards. Finally the 780i is here.

Sadly, the NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI motherboard is an evolutionary advancement, not a revolutionary one. It adds features like support of 45nm Intel quad-core processors, which are not optional when you make a high end enthusiast board. NVIDIA is sure to sell many of these boards because they have an ace in their pocket that they love to have. When it comes to performance between the 680i and 780i our testing showed that a significant difference couldn’t be seen , but the 780i has the edge.

Long Simple Test

Sandra XII SP1 64-bit showed that the 780i motherboard held it’s own when compared to the Intel X38 Express and NVIDIA 680i SLI chipsets. The 780i SLI was king of the hill when it comes to memory bandwidth thanks on the 45nm Yorkfield based QQX9650 quad-core processor. When it came to the 680i and the 780i with a Core 2 Duo processor a significant difference could not be found.

When it comes to the actual chipset, it is amazing that NVIDA has been able to use the 680i/780i for so long. The NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI MCP is built on TSMC’s 90nm process technology, and contains the same exact micro-architecture as the NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI MCP. Eventually NVIDIA will have to design a new chipset to support even more features like 1600MHz FSB processors, DDR3 memory modules, and native PCI Express 2.0 graphics. Either way, let’s see what happens.

If: I like Speed..Decent Overclocking…Price

BUY IT

If: I hate slower clock times…lesser quality components

MOVE ON

OCZ has provided us with a power supply (via a sale at Best Buy). Duh. Presenting the OCZ PowerStream 520. OCZ made a name for themselves in the memory market by creating top quality products. It looks like they aim to do the same in the power supply market. OCZ has been releasing products that help modders, overclockers, and enthusiasts to tweak their computers for absolute performance. While their memory built the OCZ name its products like the DDR Booster that gave the electron crazed (me) something to drool over. The PowerStream 520 makes it to my short list of power supplies I would recommend to friends, but I do not want to spoil the ending so we will save final judgment until, well, the end duh. On to what makes this power supply stand out.

Features:

• OCZ PowerWhisper Technology
• OCZ PowerFlex individually adjustable power rails with LED indicators
• OCZ ConnectAll? Universal connector. (ATX, BTX, SATA, P4 and EPS12V)
• ATX12V 2.01 (600w only)
• OCZ PowerShield? power leads
• ActivePFC (International version only)
• 5 year warranty backed by OCZ’s exclusive PowerSwap? replacement program.

Specifications:

• Frequency input 47-63Hz
• Voltage Range 95-132VAC or 190-264VAC
• Current Range 12A @ 115VAC or 6A @ 230VAC
• Efficiency 63% max load
• Noise <32dB
• BTX, ATX, P4, AMD, SATA
• Mean Time Between Failure 140,000 hours

Most of the features and specifications will be talked about in subsequent paragraphs. What I want to look at here is the simplest to understand part of a power supply, its power. When people buy new cases they often get a cheap power supply included with the case, these end up lasting a few months to a year before they die. The other thing that often happens is the buyer, thinking that they got a really good deal on their 450w power supply, neglected to read the fine print where it says that its 450w peak power and they never notice that the combined power from the 3.3v and 5v rails is less than 200w. There are a few key items that help a person select a quality power supply: first, the weight; second, the combined 3.3v and 5v power rails; and third, the warranty.

Intel, along with Kingston and Asus held a webcast  to better explain a new concept called XMP, which simply stands for Extreme Memory Profiles.  The technology is designed to give the new and amateur overclocker the confidence that is needed to properly overclock his computer with compatible hardware that will guarantee a certain level of overclocking with DDR3 modules that are XMP compatible.  It also allows the enthusiast the opportunity to fine tune things even more and set their DDR3 modules to automatically start up a system in an overclocked state using one of two profiles that are available in the SPD of the modules.

Each DIMM manufacturer will be responsible to self-certify its parts with motherboard manufacturers and will be responsible to provide the results to Intel, who will then post an XMP compatibility chart on its website, so that the end user can have confidence that the parts that he is choosing will be a perfect fit, and give him the best chance at a maximum overclock of his system.  Intel says that it will periodically perform audits on the parts to make sure that quality and compatibility are maintained.

With the announcement of this technology, Kingston and ASUS both revealed parts that either are or soon will be XMP certified.

Conclusion:

XMP basically does three things:

1. It ensures compatibility between DDR3 modules and the motherboards they will be working in.
2. It allows the novice or new overclocker to have some security in their new venture into overclocking by providing a certain level of guaranteed success.
3. It allows the enthusiast to be able to set their DDR3 modules to a confirmed setting that the can easily and quickly switch to for maximum performance at any given time.

XMP stands to be a great help in the area of stability in overclocking DDR3 modules, and could open the door to other exciting things as it becomes mainstream on today’s motherboards.  For now, there are no plans to implement this on DDR2 modules, so if you will want to take advantage of XMP, you will have to invest in a pricey new system!

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