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ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe

ASUS further strengthens their nForce2 Ultra 400 position with the new A7N8X-E Deluxe. Can the enhanced motherboard for AthlonXPs keep pace with today’s speed champions? That’s what we are here to find out.

Introduction

It would be difficult to deny that ASUS continues to be an industry favorite and heavyweight. Any enthusiast could rarely go wrong by choosing a board from the large, diverse line that ASUS offers and the new A7N8X-E Deluxe surfaces with the features and history to maintain this reputation. By dusting off the older A7N8X motherboard and polishing it up with a few Deluxe qualities, ASUS strives to keep us nForce2 users happy.

The A7N8X-E Deluxe is an enhanced version of the A7N8X reviewed here over a year ago. Driven by NVIDIA’s nForce2 Ultra 400 chipset, the new ASUS board is primed to satisfy your AMD needs.

Standard is support for AGP 8X; Dual-Channel DDR400; Dual LAN (Marvell 1000Mbps GbLAN and NVIDIA 10/100Mb LAN); NVIDIA SoundStorm audio; and Serial ATA supporting RAID 0 and 1. The Deluxe brings in the ASUS WiFi slot to round out the base options.

Main Specifications Overview:

Detailed Mainboard Specification List:

Board Layout

The box containing the ASUS is typical of others from their current line and not much different really. Not really anything negative (it is just a box); just nothing to add.

ASUS always includes a good assortment of extras and the A7N8X-E Deluxe assortment maintains this level of quality. A Back Panel I/O Shield; an 80-conductor, 40-pin IDE cable; a 40-conductor IDE cable; a standard floppy drive cable; 2 SATA cables and power adapter; and a bag of jumpers are included. ASUS also throws in a 2-port USB module and a 2-port IEEE 1394 module. A Quick Setup Guide, User Guide (including Quick Reference Card), ASUS support CD, WinDVD Suite, a Jumper/Connector sticker, and a case badge round out the additions to the A7N8X-E Deluxe box.

This is a Revision 1.01 board and the layout is close to perfect, but any issues will be detailed shortly. A point of note is the missing ATX 12V that is usually included. We’ll see if that causes any problems.

Capacitors on this motherboard are from Illinois Capacitor, Inc (marked RLS from USA) and Rubycon (marked MBZ from Japan).

The area directly surround the CPU socket is practically free of any problems. My only area of concern is the row of 5 capacitors to the left of the socket. A large HSF or water block will come close to hitting these so keep that in mind. The preferred mounting holes through the motherboard are present should you need them.

Above the socket and at the right are two jumpers (on either side of a capacitor) labeled KBDPWR1 and USBPW12. These control the Wake on LAN functions. Another jumper below the parallel port (CPU_FSB) allows one to change from the default (400/333/266MHz) to 200MHz FSB support.

A passive aluminum HS dissipate the heat from the nForce2 Ultra 400 northbridge and does an adequate job under normal usage. It is held in place by 2 cross-corner push pins that, unfortunately, will require motherboard removal if a HS replacement is in order.

Beneath the CPU socket are the 3 DIMM slots support Single- or Dual-Channel configurations. The A7N8X-E Deluxe supports up to 3GB of PC3200, PC2700, PC2100, or PC1600 unbuffered non-ECC DDR DIMMS. ASUS suggests using DIMMS from their qualified vendors for better performance.

Just to the right of the bottom DIMM slot is the 3-pin CPU fan connector (labeled CPU_FAN1). The 2 IDE ports, floppy port, and the 20-pin ATX power connector are at the bottom of the board and are placed in a good position for cable management.

The A7N8X-E Deluxe is equipped with the NVIDIA nForce2 MCP-T southbridge. Along the bottom edge next to the IDE ports are the 4Mb BIOS and Super I/O chips. The COM2, GAME1, and IR_CON1 connectors are further to the left. At the corner is the color-coded front panel pin block. Above the COM2 connector is the additional USB connector as well as the jumper controlling its wake-on function.

Up the left side of the A7N8X-E Deluxe are the chassis intrusion connector and the 2 SATA ports. Just to their right is the SATA controller from Silicon Image and the CMOS battery. Falling between these is the SATA_EN1 jumper to enable (default) or disable the SATA controller. Finally, the Clear RTC jumper is just below the battery.

The ASUS proprietary Wi-Fi slot (Wi-Fi card is not included with this model) starts out the back-left of the board. In order across the top are the following connectors: MODEM1, AUX1, FPAUDIO1, CD1, IE1394_1, SPDIF1, and IE1394_2. Just before the IE1394_1 connector is the jumper to disable the Marvell Gigabit LAN controller. All other devices are enabled and disabled through the BIOS. Next to the AGP slot is the final two system monitored 3-pin fan connectors (labeled PWR_FAN1 and CHA_FAN1

ASUS provided the following Back Panel I/O connectors for this board: 1 each PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports; NVDIA 10/100Mbps RJ-45 port; 4 USB 2.0 ports; 1 parallel port; 1 serial port; Center/LFE audio jack; Surround L/R audio jack; S/PDIF out jack; Marvell Gigabit RJ-45 port; Line In jack; Line Out jack; and Microphone jack.