ASUS is again the first manufacturer to deliver the ATi CrossFire Express 3200 platform ahead of its competitors. A8R32-MVP, based on the ATi RD580 chipset gives users another choice of dual graphics cards solution with Dual 16X slot similar to NV SLix16.

In our test, this board performs pretty well in most tests. In fact, we chose to compare with an almost equivalent setup using boards based on NF4 SLI and ULi m1697 paired up with dual 6600GT. In the performance section, A8R32-MVP experiences very good stability with aggressive timings. From the benchmarks, it can be seen that it took the other platforms pretty well not only in 3D but also in PCmark which measures system performance.

Features wise, this board has load of features which sometimes i find it an overkill. Dual GbE, 1394, eSATA, RAID, you name it you will find it. The WiFi could have found its way into this Deluxe edition but I think they removed it as it probably adds up more cost to the board. The other features include Peglink, auto overclocking which I think I would prefer overclocking the board myself then to let the system decide how it should o/c, These features are disabled in our testing anyway.

Overclocking is probably the most talked about. In our case, we tested for the max stable HTT. This is done by lowering the CPU multiplier to a low of 6x and increasing the HTT to anything beyond 300MHz, HT multiplier is set to 3x (600MHz). We reached a max of 340HTT (window allows up to 400MHz) using our old FX_53 processor. This is done using default CPU voltage, DDR memory set at 2.8v and running ASync DDR266 mode.

Although the board is fine with our FX-53, it seems to have issue with our 4800+. I think a BIOS fix should be able to get it right. Another thing is the odd positioning of the PCie Sil3132 controller to support 1 external SATA and 1 internal SATA. I was wondering who would want to do a RAID 0 with one HD inside and one outside the case? If we are talking about RAID 1, perhaps that would have made more sense.

Overall, this board is feature packed and cost would be a consideration factor for most. One would be paying a premium for this board.

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