Audio
Overall it seems the ALC850 AC’97 codec was implemented well on this board. It provides a full 8.1 channels with SPIDF or coaxial digital outputs. While playing the CD Fast by Custom using Sony MDR-V600 headphones or using the provided SPIDF output through a Harman Kardon AVR130, audio reproduction was crisp with no noticeable distortion.
SATA Drives
Onboard there are two SATA controllers. One being the NVRAID controller on the nForce4 chipset supporting RAID0, RAID1, RAID 0+1 and JBOD spans across the SATA and PATA-IDE connectors. The other controller being the accessory Silicon Image controller and support RAID0, 1, 0+1, and RAID5. The single NVRAID controller generally would be more than enough capability for the average user, but Asus’ choice to add the Silicon Image controller with RAID5 capability is a great addition for those wanting to use this board in conjunction with a large hard drive array for file storage.
Sisoft Sandra Professional 2005 1.10.37 – File System Benchmark – A synthetic benchmark that yields a MB/s transfer speed of a Hard Disk. This test is useful for comparing the relative efficiencies of Hard Disk performance of two systems using the same Hard Disk type. Higher transfer rates are better.
SATA performance using the newer nForce4 NVRAID controller was a little disappointing. Transfer rates for the Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe are roughly 12% lower than that of the MSI Neo2 Platinum. This board is in definite need of a chipset driver update, and/or BIOS tweak. This is a clear sign of their infancy.
PATA Drives
There are two Parallel-ATA channels onboard that are color coded, blue for primary and black for secondary. The parallel channels can be striped in conjunction with the Silicon image SATA RAID controller.
Sisoft Sandra Professional 2005 1.10.37 – File System Benchmark
PATA performance with hard drives proved roughly 7% better on the Asus board than with the MSI and its nForce3 GB chipset. Good for those still using PATA drives.
Sisoft Sandra Professional 2005 1.10.37 – CD/DVD-Rom Benchmark – A synthetic benchmark that yields a kB/s transfer speed of a CD/DVD-Rom. This test is useful for comparing the relative efficiencies of Hard Disk performance of two systems using the same CD/DVD-Rom type. Tests were conducted with Ubisoft’s Far Cry DVD in the drive. Higher transfer rates are better.
Transfer rates were identical between both setups. So you shouldn’t have a problem in this area.
Memory
Using dimm’s A1 and B1 as labeled in the motherboard manual the Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe ran in dual channel mode without a hitch.
Sisoft Sandra Professional 2005 1.10.37 – Memory Bandwidth Benchmark – A synthetic benchmark that yields a MB/s bandwidth of a memory subsystem. This test is useful for comparing the relative efficiencies of memory performance of two systems using the same memory type. Or it can be used to compare performance differences of two different types of memory on the same system. Higher bandwidths are better.
You can see the Asus board has a very slight edge over the MSI in memory bandwidth. Nothing to write home about but it is good to see improvements over the nForce3 GB chipset with its more developed drivers and BIOS.
Everest Home Edition 1.10.106 – Memory Benchmark – A synthetic benchmark that yields a MB/s bandwidth of a memory subsystem for both reading and writing. This test is useful for comparing the relative efficiencies of memory performance of two systems using the same memory type. Or it can be used to compare performance differences of two different types of memory on the same system. Higher bandwidths are better.
Again, we see the Asus board with slightly better memory performance, and incrementally better during writing operations.
