Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe: ATI CrossFire Xpress 3200 Chipset Launched

Name: Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe: ATI CrossFire Xpress 3200 Chipset Launched - Page 3
Brand: Asus

by Marco Chiappetta — Wednesday, March 01, 2006, 08:30 AM EDT

To allow us the ability to assess the performance of ATI's CrossFire Xpress 3200 chipset, Asus sent over one of their brand new A8R32-MVP Deluxe motherboards. The A8R32-MVP Deluxe is a member of Asus' flagship "AI Life" line of motherboards, and incorporates a slew of sought after features, like dual-Gigabit LAN, HD audio, multiple RAID controllers and Firewire. Asus further sweetens the deal by throwing in a few proprietary features of their own, like Stack Cool 2 and AI Overclocking, among others.

Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe

Features & Specifications

CPU
Socket 939 for AMD Opteron / Athlon 64 FX / Athlon64 X2 / Athlon 64

Chipset
ATI CrossFire Xpress 3200
UliM1575

System Bus
2000 / 1600 MT/s

CrossFire
Support ATI CrossFire graphics cards (both at x16 mode)

Memory
Dual channel. max. 4GB, DDR 400/333/266, ECC and non-ECC

Extension Slots
2 x PCI Express x16 slot
1 x PCI Express x1
3 x PCI

LAN
Marvell 88E8053 PCIe Gbit LAN, featuring AI NET2
Marvell 88E8001 GbitLAN, featuring AI NET2

Audio
Realtek ALC882 High Definition Audio

Storage
UliM1575 South:
4 x Serial ATA 3.0Gb/s with RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5 and JBOD
2 x UltraDMA 133 / 100 / 66 / 33

SilionImage:
1 x Internal Serial ATA 3 Gb/s hard disk
1 x External Serial ATA 3 Gb/s hard disk
Support RAID 0, 1

1394
2 x 1394a ports

ASUS Features
ASUS PEG Link
ASUS Precision Tweaker
AI NOS
AI Overclocking
Stack Cool 2
ASUS Q-Fan2

Asus Extras
MediaOne Gallery
WinDVDCreator 2 Platinum
InterVideo PhotoAlbum
Disc Master 2.5 Platinum
DVD Copy 2.5 Platinum

Asus ships the A8R32-MVP Deluxe with a very complete accessory bundle. Included in the box were three case brackets, one with a pair of Firewire connectors, another with a pair of USB ports and a game / MIDI connector, and another with a single 9-pin serial port, along with a custom I/O shield, two IDE cables (one 80-wire, one 40-wire), and a single floppy cable. There we also three Molex-to-SATA power adapters included with the board, and a total of five SATA cables. Of course, a User's Manual and driver CD were included as well, in addition to another disc that contained a handful of useful applications, like MediaOne Gallery, WinDVDCreator 2 Platinum, InterVideo PhotoAlbum, Disc Master 2.5 Platinum, and DVD Copy 2.5 Platinum.

Tags: Asus, ATI, Fire, CrossFire, SSF, Chipset, Pre, Chip, XP, chips, launch, OS, IPS, 320, OSS, UX, CrossFire X, IP

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com