Sony, Apple, HP, Compaq, Palm, Alienware, and Falcon Northwest all have one thing in common and its the company that provides them the components for their best selling products. That company is ASUS. This Taiwan based corporation is a bull in the industry that has been delivering the goods since '99 and they continue to provide enthusiasts with more toys than Santa Claus.
Making sure every possible niche is covered, ASUS has provided AMD users an SLI capable motherboard with several unique features. The ASUS M3N-HT Deluxe dishes out goodies like the brand new 780a chipset, 3-way SLI capability, Hybrid SLI, ESA, HyperTransport 3.0, PCIe 2.0 and the sexy Cool Mempipe. Is this the motherboard you've been waiting for? HardwareLogic straps the M3N-HT onto the test bench and drops the knowledge on you, raw and uncut.
| PRODUCT | |
| CPU SUPPORT | Socket - AMD Socket AM2+ Phenom FX / Phenom / Athlon / Sempron
- 5200 MT/s HyperTransport 3.0 interface for AM2+
- 2000 / 1600 MT/s for AM2
|
| CHIPSET | |
| MEMORY | - Four DDR2 Dual Channel Memory Slots (supports max. 8 GB)
- DDR2 1066/800/667/533 Memory
(supports NVIDIA® SLI™-ready technology)
*DDR2-1066 is supported by AM2+ CPUs only
**Refer to www.asus.com or user manual for Qualified Vendors List.
|
| VGA | - Integrated NVIDIA GPU
- Hybrid SLI Support (Vista only)
- 512MB maximum shared memory
- Supports HDMI Technology (1920x1200 max resolution)
- Supports DVI (1920x1440 max resolution @ 60Hz)
- Supports D-Sub (1920x1440 max resolution @ 75Hz)
- HDMI/DVI/RGB Support
- Supports Microsoft DirectX 10, OpenGL 2.0, Pixel Shader 4.0
- Supports PCIe 2.0/1.0 architechture
|
| EXPANSION SLOTS | - Three PCIe x16
(NVIDIA 3-way SLI @ dual x16 mode or triple x8) - One PCIe x1
- Two PCI 2.2
|
| STORAGE | Southbridge - One UltraDMA 133/100/66/33
- Six SATA 3 Gb/s ports
- NVIDIA MediaShield™ RAID
- Support RAID 0,1,0+1,5,JBOD span cross Serial ATA drives
Marvell® 6111 SATA controller - One External SATA 3.0Gb/s port on back I/O (SATA On-the-Go)
|
| AUDIO | - ADI AD1988B BH 8-channel HD audio CODEC
- Supports Jack-Detection and Multi-Streaming
- ASUS AI Audio 2
- Coaxial/Optical S/PDIF Out ports at back I/O
|
| LAN | - NVIDIA Gigabit MAC
- Atheros F1 Gigabit PHY featuring AI NET2
- LSI FW322 controller supports 2 x IEEE 1394a connectors
|
| REAR I/O PANEL | - One PS/2 Keyboard
- One External SATA
- One HDMI
- One D-Sub
- One LAN(RJ45) port
- Four USB 2.0/1.1
- One Optical S/PDIF Output
- One Coaxial S/PDIF Output
- 8-channel audio I/O
|
| INTERNAL I/O HEADERS | - Three USB connectors support additional 6 USB ports
- One Floppy disk drive connector
- One COM connector
- One IDE connector
- Six SATA connectors (use SATA 1-4 for IDE mode)
- One CPU Fan connector
- Two Chassis Fan connector
- One Power Fan connector
- Two IEEE 1394a connector
- Front panel audio connector
- One S/PDIF Out header
- Chassis Intrusion connector
- CD audo in
- 24-pin ATX Power connector
- One 8-pin ATX 12V Power connector
- System Panel (Q-Connector)
|
| SYSTEM BIOS | - 8 Mb Flash ROM
- DMI 2.0
- PnP
- WfM 2.0
- SM BIOS 2.5
- Award BIOS
- ACPI 2.0
- ASUS EZ Flash 2
- Multi-language BIOS
|
| FORM FACTOR | |
| WARRANTY | |
| CURRENT PRICING | |
Bundle
| ACCESSORIES | - Cool Mempipe
- Q-Shield (I/O shield)
- HDMI-to-DVI converter
- Q-Connector Kit (USB, 1394, system panel)
- 3-way SLI bridge connector
- SLI bridge connector
- ASUS Optional fan
|
| CABLES | - One SATA power cable for two devices
- Six SATA signal cables
- One Ultra DMA 133/100/66 cable
- One Floppy disk drive cable
|
| APPLICATION DVD | Asus Motherboard Support DVD
- Drivers
- ASUS Express Gate
- ASUS AI Suite
- ASUS PC Probe II
- ASUS Update
- Anti-virus utility
|
| DOCUMENTATION | - ASUS M3N-HT Deluxe Series User's Guide
|
I've come to expect a generous bundle when I open an ASUS product and the M3N-HT did not disappoint. It comes with everything you would expect and then some. One of my favorite accessories, the Q-Connector kit, saves you time and effort when you need to hook up your front panel connectors. The Q-Shield is ASUS' specially designed I/O plate that protects the board against static electricity and electronic magnetic interference (EMI). The bundle also includes a small fan to provide airflow over the chipset area when using a watercooling or passive air cooling CPU block. There are also a pair of SLI bridges for your choice of SLI or 3-way SLI configurations.
The support DVD comes with the usual suspects and an interesting new feature. The drivers are accompanied by several useful utilities like the AI Suite, PC Probe II and ASUS Update. This is the first time I've seen ASUS Express Gate which is an instant-on environment that allows you to surf the internet and use Skype without entering the operating system environment first. The program stored on the mobo so it can be utilized even with no hard drive installed. Neat!
ASUS knows enthusiasts and the fact that we love the bling. Here you see the Cool Mempipe which is a system of copper heatsinks, heatpipes and heatspreaders that cool the memory modules and allows for more overclocking headroom. You fasten it to the northbridge heatsink using four screws and secure the memory by tightening the included nuts. This feature only supports two modules in the A1 and B1 sockets but still allows the installation of memory in the remaining two slots.
