Specifications and initial thoughts
Going solely on the information and pictures provided on ASUS's website, what we have here is one feature rich enthusiast motherboard... and another on steroids. Before we give each an individual examination, let's get their specifications up, side-by-side.
| ASUS M2-CROSSHAIR | ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe Wireless Edition | |
|---|---|---|
| CPU support | AMD Socket AM2 Athlon 64 X2 / Athlon 64 FX / Athlon 64/ Sempron | |
| Chipset | NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI (two chip, MCP+SPP) | |
| HyperTransport speed | 2000/1600 MT/s | |
| Memory support | 4 DIMMs, dual-channel, DDR2-800/667/533, ECC and non-ECC, un-buffered memory, 8GB Max | |
| Expansion slots | 2 x PCI Express x16 1 x PCI Express x4 3 x PCI 2.2 | 2 x PCI Express x16 1 x PCI Express x4 1 x PCI Express x1 2 x PCI 2.2 |
| Storage | NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI MCP: * 1 x Ultra DMA 133 / 100 / 66 / 33 * 6 x Serial ATA 3.0Gb/s RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5 and JBOD Silicon Image® 3132 SATA controller: * 2 x External Serial ATA 3.0Gb/s port on back I/O (SATA On-the-Go) * Support RAID 0, 1, and JBOD |
NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI MCP: * 1 x Ultra DMA 133 / 100 / 66 / 33 * 6 x Serial ATA 3.0Gb/s * RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5 and JBOD Silicon Image® 3132 SATA controller: * 1 x External Serial ATA 3.0Gb/s port on back I/O (SATA On-the-Go) * 1 x Internal Serial ATA 3.0Gb/s * Support RAID 0, 1, and JBOD |
| Networking | Dual Gigabyte LAN with DualNet pairing support | |
| Audio | SupremeFX Audio Card With ADI 1988B 8-channel High Definition Audio codec * ASUS Array Mic * Noise Filter | ADI 1988B 8-channel High Definition Audio codec |
| FireWire | 2 port TI 1394 controller | |
| USB | 10x USB2.0 | 8x USB2.0 |
| External connections | 1 x PS/2 Keyboard port 1 x PS/2 Mouse port 1 x Optical + 1 x Coaxial S/PDIF Output 2 x External SATA 2 x LAN (RJ45) port 4 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports 1 x IEEE 1394a port 1 x onboard LED switch 1 x LCD Poster | 1 x PS/2 Keyboard port 1 x PS/2 Mouse port 1 x Optical + 1 x Coaxial S/PDIF Output 1 x External SATA 2 x LAN (RJ45) port 4 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports 1 x IEEE 1394a port 1 x WiFi-g antenna jack (Wireless Edition only) 1 x COM port 8-channel Audio ports |
| Internal connections | 3 x USB 2.0 headers for 6 USB 2.0 ports 1 x Floppy disk drive connector 1 x IDE connector for two devices 6 x SATA connectors 1 x CPU / 7 x option Fan 3 x thermal sensor connector 1 x IEEE1394a connector 1 x S/PDIF output connector Chassis Intrusion connector Front Panel Audio connector 24-pin ATX Power connector 8-pin ATX 12V Power connector System panel connector 1 x EL I/O Shield Connector | Wireless Edition: 2 x USB 2.0 headers for 4 USB 2.0 ports 1 x Floppy disk drive connector 1 x IDE connector for two devices 7 x SATA connectors 1 x CPU / 4 x Chassis / 1x Chipset / 1 x Power Fan connectors 1 x IEEE1394a connector 1 x Parallel connector 1 x S/PDIF output connector 1 x ADH connector Chassis Intrusion connector Front Panel Audio connector CD audio in 24-pin ATX Power connector 4-pin ATX 12V Power connector System panel connector |
| Warranty | ASUS 3-year warranty | |
The only down-side to reviewing enthusiast mainboards is having to trawl through a spec sheet longer than your arm. Both boards on test today are based around NVIDIA's nForce 590 SLI core logic, which is currently NVIDIA's top chipset solution for AM2. As such, both boards have very similar feature sets. However, there are still a number of differences.
For starters the CROSSHAIR board has a different expansion slot configuration, with one less slot than the M2N32-SLI Deluxe. This is to give room for the CROSSHAIR's audio card; a separate daughter-board. Our Wireless Edition M2N32 also features, believe it or not... WiFi. Aside from a difference in USB count, the other main differentiation is in the Silicon Image SATA controller's ports. On the CROSSHAIR, both are eSATA, whereas on the M2N32-SLI Deluxe, one is internal.
We've saved a few more... visual... differences for a little later, but the spec table covers the tangible features.
