ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe WiFi
Board Layout:
The ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe motherboard was exceptionally well designed. Even with the number of extras on this motherboard we had not run into anything extraordinary in the way of spacing problems. There was an area or two that could be improved upon but for the most part the design was excellent. Running horizontal along the top of the motherboard are four DDR2-800/667/533 memory slots while below that is the AM2 CPU socket. The motherboard does support AMD Cool 'n' Quiet as well as being AMD Live! Ready. While there are small heatsinks on two of the sides there should not be anything in the way of CPU heatsink mounting problems.
The innovative cooling system with the M2N32-SLI Deluxe cools the Northbridge, Southbridge, and MOSFETS. ASUS' cooling system reminds us of Abit's Q-OTES with its silent Northbridge cooling system after the ever-popular Abit IC7-MAX3, which had first delivered a new level of cooling to the Canterwood motherboard. Heatpipes run between the Northbridge and Southbridge as well as to the heatsinks, which are positioned on top of the MOSFETs around the CPU socket area. Next to the CPU socket area is also the IDE ATA-133 slot, 24-pin ATX power connector, and FDD connector.
Moving our way down the motherboard are two 3-pin fan headers positioned next to the CMOS battery followed by six Serial ATA 2.0 connections. Depending upon the length of the graphics card, it may interfere with two of the six SATA ports. The Chipset used by the ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe is the NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI MCP. In the corner of the motherboard are another two fan connections, system front panel header, and ITE IT8716F-S ASIC. The ASUS Q-Connector is designed to make it easier to plug in the front panel connectors. Nearing the back edge of the motherboard are two USB 2.0 headers, and one IEEE-1394a Firewire header. As the Firewire interface is all the way at the rear of the motherboard it may prove to be difficult in some situations for having the cables reach thus far, but in a standard desktop setup the cables should have an adequate reach.