DH Review: ASUS A8R32-MVP Deluxe and HIS Radeon X1900 Crossfire

***Zardon*** · Mar 22, 2006, 06:54 PM

Our review on the Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe was held off for a while, as our regulars will know we were working closely with Asus in fixing some rather major clock issues and due to our intervention Asus allowed us to host and release a beta bios last week. So while other sites published reviews with the faulty bios, we waited until we could deliver an accurate and indepth look at this rather impressive board from Asus. This review is a double whammy as we are also testing a HIS X1900 Crossfire setup.

read the review here

Blacklash · Mar 22, 2006, 11:44 PM

Nice review guys. I am thinking about trying a Sapphire RD580 board and another XT for Crossfire. If I do that I will skip the next generation.

BTW where is this "overclocking guide" you fellows reference by Macci located?

Sandok · Mar 23, 2006, 01:11 AM

Very nice review as usual! I was quite surpirsed with the crossfire resluts and must say, that ATI card may be big, buly, loud and ugly but blisteringly FAST!

***Veridian3*** · Mar 23, 2006, 03:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blacklash

BTW where is this "overclocking guide" you fellows reference by Macci located?

It was a document provided to reviewers by ATI and is specific to the RD580's bios.

brutusmaximus · Mar 23, 2006, 04:00 AM

very thorough and a fantastic read. Also like the fact you held off a while until you got the issues sorted, rather than review a product with a poor and ill performing bios.

Asus seem to be releasing products lately however with substandard bios - I wonder are they just trying to be the "first out" to get more money, rather than wait like everyone else until they iron out the bugs.

bananaman · Mar 23, 2006, 04:46 AM

as ever great review guys!

Also another thanks for putting your weight into helping out the wider community getting a bios out of ASUS quickly to sort out the issues, although I don't have the board it is great to see.

IvanV · Mar 23, 2006, 07:18 AM

A fine review! The new ASUS/ATi motherboard is truly impressive (I think, if I were to upgrade now, that I'd take it).

Still, as a usual, I have to nag a little:
1) You could have included some southbridge specific tests (HDD performance, LAN and USB performance anc CPU utilization, as I've seen in some reviews that differences among chipsets and mobos can be pretty big in this department).
2) I know that low availability of nVidia's products is not your fault, and that you have tried, but still I wish you somehow managed to get their top of the line cards for the review, which 7800GTX is not for a long time.

Chaos · Mar 23, 2006, 08:44 AM

nice review Stu, it's good to see the effort that you put into working with Asus to address some nasty issues

SLI · Mar 23, 2006, 11:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Veridian3

It was a document provided to reviewers by ATI and is specific to the RD580's bios.

So does this mean we cant get it (somewhere) or be given it? Just got mine running yesterday and so far no whistling from the memory. :-)

Judas · Mar 23, 2006, 12:12 PM

i'll wait for REV 2.0

germanjulian · Mar 24, 2006, 01:10 PM

very good review!!!!
must say prop best one on here and best one on the net I have read for a while

***Veridian3*** · Mar 24, 2006, 01:58 PM

thx

tastyweat · Mar 29, 2006, 03:39 PM

Hey hey... just bought an A8R32-MVP... what do I have to watch out for... will I need to update the bios to this latest version or have they sorted it out in the latest retail models?

Mar 22, 2006, 06:54 PM	#1
*Zardon* lifeless Join Date: May 2002 Location: Driverheaven Posts: 31,957 Rep Power: 3148	DH Review: ASUS A8R32-MVP Deluxe and HIS Radeon X1900 Crossfire Our review on the Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe was held off for a while, as our regulars will know we were working closely with Asus in fixing some rather major clock issues and due to our intervention Asus allowed us to host and release a beta bios last week. So while other sites published reviews with the faulty bios, we waited until we could deliver an accurate and indepth look at this rather impressive board from Asus. This review is a double whammy as we are also testing a HIS X1900 Crossfire setup. read the review here

Mar 22, 2006, 11:44 PM	#2
Blacklash Che cazzo stai dicendo? Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Old Vizima Posts: 105 Rep Power: 37 System Specs	Nice review guys. I am thinking about trying a Sapphire RD580 board and another XT for Crossfire. If I do that I will skip the next generation. BTW where is this "overclocking guide" you fellows reference by Macci located? __________________ AMD Phenom II 940 @ 3.60GHz (1.40v)\|Mushkin XP2-8500 (2x2GB) Foxconn A7DA-S (790GX)\|Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 1Gb\|DoubleSight DS-263N WD VRaptor 150GB HD (x2)\|Pioneer DVR-2920Q\|LG GH22LS30\|Klipsch ProMedia 2.0 SilverStone OP1000-E\|SilverStone TJ10-B\|Xigmatek HDT-S1284EE\|VISTA HP x64 SP-2 Last edited by Blacklash; Mar 23, 2006 at 12:00 AM.

Mar 23, 2006, 04:46 AM	#6
bananaman banana muncher Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: London Posts: 1,255 Rep Power: 45	as ever great review guys! Also another thanks for putting your weight into helping out the wider community getting a bios out of ASUS quickly to sort out the issues, although I don't have the board it is great to see. __________________

Mar 23, 2006, 07:18 AM	#7
IvanV DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 3,077 Rep Power: 63 System Specs	A fine review! The new ASUS/ATi motherboard is truly impressive (I think, if I were to upgrade now, that I'd take it). Still, as a usual, I have to nag a little: 1) You could have included some southbridge specific tests (HDD performance, LAN and USB performance anc CPU utilization, as I've seen in some reviews that differences among chipsets and mobos can be pretty big in this department). 2) I know that low availability of nVidia's products is not your fault, and that you have tried, but still I wish you somehow managed to get their top of the line cards for the review, which 7800GTX is not for a long time. __________________ Feed the porkers and don't touch the buttons!

Mar 23, 2006, 08:44 AM	#8
Chaos Number Nine Join Date: May 2002 Location: Nova Scotia Posts: 5,140 Rep Power: 92 System Specs	nice review Stu, it's good to see the effort that you put into working with Asus to address some nasty issues __________________

Mar 23, 2006, 01:11 AM	#3
Sandok DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 9,501 Rep Power: 53	Very nice review as usual! I was quite surpirsed with the crossfire resluts and must say, that ATI card may be big, buly, loud and ugly but blisteringly FAST!

Mar 23, 2006, 04:00 AM	#5
brutusmaximus DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 524 Rep Power: 59	very thorough and a fantastic read. Also like the fact you held off a while until you got the issues sorted, rather than review a product with a poor and ill performing bios. Asus seem to be releasing products lately however with substandard bios - I wonder are they just trying to be the "first out" to get more money, rather than wait like everyone else until they iron out the bugs.

Mar 24, 2006, 01:10 PM	#11
germanjulian Back in London Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: London Posts: 1,794 Rep Power: 0	very good review!!!! must say prop best one on here and best one on the net I have read for a while __________________ /\|\ Asus P5W DH Deluxe, Intel C2D E6600, 2GB Corsair XMS2-6400C4 DDR2, E-VGA GeForce 7800 GT, Creative X-Fi Extreme Music, 500GB Seagate 7200.10 SATA, Lian Li PC-V1100 Aluminum Case Black, etc. http://germanjulian.com /\|\

Mar 24, 2006, 01:58 PM	#12
*Veridian3* Administrator Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Cloaked Posts: 2,997 Rep Power: 72	thx

Mar 29, 2006, 03:39 PM	#13
tastyweat Lurking Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: The void Posts: 4,776 Rep Power: 57 System Specs	Hey hey... just bought an A8R32-MVP... what do I have to watch out for... will I need to update the bios to this latest version or have they sorted it out in the latest retail models? __________________