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Asus M3N-HT Deluxe/Mempipe
A Closer Look:
The Asus M3N-HT Deluxe is a full ATX board that uses the new nVidia 780a chipset. Supporting an AM2+ processor, this motherboard can handle the latest of AMDs Phenom line, even with their 140Watt requirements. The processor/chipset allows for the use of DDR2-1066 ram. And can even support up to three separate graphics cards running in SLI (three nVidia based required for SLI).
Using strictly the onboard video, you are able to display up to two separate monitors, as there is a standard VGA and a HDMI output. The motherboard also comes with an HDMI to DVI adapter in case you wanted to use a DVI cable.
Motherboard rear panel:
- PS/2 keyboard connector
- Four USB 2.0 ports
- Coaxial and optical digital audio outputs
- VGA and HDMI connectors
- Gigabit Ethernet port
- SATA port
- 7.1 audio jacks
Being an AM2+ Motherboard, both the support for HyperTransport 3.0 and Dual Dynamic Power Management (DDPM) are present. Which are only features available when using an AMD CPU based on the K10 Core, like the AMDs Phenom processors. But these features not only require the processor to be an AM2+ socket, but also the chipset has to be compliant as well. In this case, the nForce 780a is. Since both the processor and the chipset both allow for the HyperTransport 3.0 to be used, the communication between the chipset and the processor can now perform at higher speeds, which the max speed is determined on the processor itself. Not that the latest AMD Processor (AMD Phenom X4 9950) can only transfer at a maximum of 7,200 MB/s which is not the full potential of the 10,400MB/s (5,200 MT/s).
PCI-Express and PCI Slots:
Another feature that the new 780a Chipset offers is the support of the new PCI Express 2.0 bus. The new PCI-E 2.0 technology doubles the speed and the bandwidth of your video cards. This increases the bandwidth from 2.5 GB/s to a whooping 5.0 GB/s. Sporting three PCI Express x16 slots, this motherboard is ready for all you can throw at it, in terms of graphical requirements. One thing to note is that there are two dark blue ports as well as a light blue, when using the 3-way SLI the black port will be used as a x8 and not an x16.
Also as you can see, aside from the motherboard supplying three PCI-Express slots, it also has one PCI-Express x1 slot and two standard PCI slots.
Accompanied by the Hybrid SLI, are two features that really stand out. These are the HybridPower and then GeForce Boost. With HybridPower, the chipset recognizes when you are not running any 3D intensive graphics and manually switches over to a low-power mode to handle your word processing and everyday use, where the extra graphical power is just being let to waste. This will help conserve power and ultimately result in a lower electricity bill. As this may sound like a great idea, it only works with the nVidia GeForce 9800 GTX and nVidia GeForce 9800 GX2. With GeForce Boost, the discrete graphics card combined with the onboard graphics to help turbo-charge your graphical performance. The downfall of GeForce Boost is that it doesn't work with all graphic cards, rather just the GeForce 8400GS and the GeForce 8500GT.
Please note that the Triple SLI is only available with the GeForce 8800GTX, 8800 Ultra, and 9800GTX Video Cards. While the Quad SLI support is only available through the GeForce 9800GX2.
Memory:
Being an AMD AM2+ motherboard, it supports up to a maximum of 8GBs of DDR2-1066 (PC-8500) memory.
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