ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe Vs. DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 SLI-DR Expert [Archive]

mdzcpa

12-15-2005, 02:31 PM

Depends what you want from your system. DFI has more options to clock and much better layout. The Asus has "fair" overclocking options, has a few bad "hot spots", and the layout sucks (two dual slot video cards will prevent the use of any other pci/e slots).

I tried the A8N32-SLi and returned it after 3 days. It was a stable mobo with good quality. But the OC options were too limited and the spacing sucked. Some guys have resorted to voltage mods on the Asus which seem to work. The Expert, on the other hand, has all the BIOS options, voltage choices, and better spacing. That said, the DFI takes more tweaking to get high stable overclocks.

They are both good boards. DFI is more xtreme...Asus a bit more mild but a solid choice. If I did not have to contend with space issues of 2 dual slot video cards in SLI, I might have kept the Asus.

Kunaak

12-15-2005, 02:37 PM

Asus boards have never been a top choice when it comes to overclocking AMD hardware... for intel however, they are still king there.

for the AN32... it has the obvious bonus of dual 16 if you run SLI, but thats a very small advantage indeed.
the overclocking option from what I saw in reviews were impressive for a Asus board. the overclocking results were fair to good I would say.

it would make an excellent board for someone just looking for a decent board with solid reputation.

the DFI Expert, is well... for the total system tweaker.
theres really not much that isn't in that bios.
but with there being so much in those bioses... it can get intimedating trying to figure out what half the crap in there.
had it not been for Google, I wouldn't know half of what I know about whats in my Ultra D bios ;) (SLI Broadcast Apeture anyone?? haha)

ben805

12-15-2005, 03:05 PM

I don't think you can go wrong with either board, though I just wish the price for Asus would drop down to somewhere around $200. Also keep in mind that quite a few people were having a hard time to get the TCCD working on the Asus....

uOpt

12-15-2005, 03:12 PM

I didn't see much that would bring me to buy the Asus, much less at that price. The 2x 16 PCIe lanes are useless, too.

The only reason why I would buy the Asus is ECC memory support, but for my uses that require ECC the A8N-E premium will do as well.

I know people bash DFI a lot, but my SLI-DR is perfect, I would buy it again. The only reason why I don't have more of these boards is lack of ECC support.

CrashOv3r1De

12-15-2005, 03:51 PM

Both boards are great, the eXpert is more for those who live on the edge and want the absolute best. Depends on what you are trying to get out of your system. Unless you got crazy cooling to bring out the best in your hardware either one will suit you. The eXpert will be a cheaper choice since the A8N32 is sold out everywhere. I got mine comming in from Thailand and paid $100 for 3day delivery (384 total) however this bad boy is going for 500+ on ebay so you can see my logic :) [Not advertising bwt so dont ask me about anything]

A few people had probs with the eXpert and had dead cpus but that is very very rare, there is a beta bios to combat the problem and oskar wu and dfi are working to eliminate this problem asap. Having a dead cpu is just like winning hte lottery (more common to get struck by lightning) so you are in very good hands. Knowning Oskar the problem should be fixed in no time.

SamHughe

12-15-2005, 04:11 PM

... I got mine comming in from Thailand and paid $100 for 3day delivery (384 total) however this bad boy is going for 500+ on ebay...

What! I can't believe some ppl would be that stupid to actually pay 500 bucks for that mobo. You can get a server board with 2x PCI-e 16 lanes and U320 plus lotsa goodies with that kind of money.

And @ Rayman, I think DFI would suit you better. Two reasons: one I see you got an Opty and we all know why people prefer Optys right, overclockability. So, you need an overclocker's mobo which is DFI. Second: I also see you've got 6800gs's so, dual PCI-e 16x should mean nothing to you since your cards will work on pic-e 8x configuration just fine!

Honestly though, I woudn't spend money on neither of them since the both cards are new and buggy. Just wait after the new year and you'll get the same mobo's for at least $50 less (if not cheaper) with a new and improved, bug free bios.

Cisco

12-15-2005, 04:41 PM

Yup, yup...the DFI is for those who want to live on the edge..they are the best boards, blah, blah...
the known issue is that, rarely, the CPU will get over 3 volts sent to it, from a cold boot. the Issue is being worked on fast by DFI...
"Is that toast I smell burning, honey?"

Let's see what the story really is in a month or so after the initial release buggy BIOS from both.
Call me a wimp but I'd rather have a board where the initial BIOS is a :banana: to overvolt than one that feeds 3V to the CPU unasked :D

Yup...DFI sho has always been the bestest for AMD allright... those high OCs my old A7N8X-DX used to do for my old Barton 2500+? Why, I was just smoking too much loco weed... them was some of them there halucinations fer shure.

Rayman

12-15-2005, 04:43 PM

yea im on a dual 16x the p5n32 and see no difference well guess i will b gettin the dfi tonight thanx 4 the help everyone i almost went asus cause i thought oc jus as good

CrashOv3r1De

12-15-2005, 04:44 PM

Cisco im sorry but I cant understand your post after reading it 3 times and I was born in the US

Cisco

12-15-2005, 05:20 PM

Cisco im sorry but I cant understand your post after reading it 3 times and I was born in the US
I wasn't...maybe that's it? Otoh, it may be that :banana: that's confusing you? It's the default replacement for naughty words. <shrug>

re: DFI Expert 3V vCore issue...see thread here (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=83032)
re: A8N32 vCore not matching BIOS settings...see thread here ( http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=80491)
re: ASUS + AMD being a bad OC combo...well, you're own your own there...but it hasn't been my experience.

The initial BIOS for both MBs is buggy...let's wait for a stable BIOS and see which board overclocks better, shall we?

Anything else you can't understand...just ask away.

jinu117

12-15-2005, 06:21 PM

Asus + amd not a good combo? Maybe without v-mod. With v-mod they were best combo for me back in S754 days. Believe I was kicking happily around 2.8-3ghz depending on which CPU I was using with asus getting 50mhz more overclock out of cpu than DFI 754 offering using same components other than mobo. oh... which is in my component tray atm hacked up for nice switches, etc while that modded asus board is still playing happily after I sold it to one of my favorite [H]forum member. Asus 939 initial SLI offering indeed was major disappointment with major incompatiblities, etc. I had to stop using Asus with disgust back in january when I first tried my hand on SLI... boy was both OC-rookie and I bummed or what back than. I think we grabbed 5-6 6800gt for sli fun right when it came out and was bummed by asus SLI board when most our memories would give crap other than BH-5 with divider issues, etc. (well maybe not so much with him as he had many FX-55s)
Right now from my initial on look of asus vs DFI with their latest offering is quite simple.
Asus - Very stable good board. Want to play hard? Than time to get those 25k pots and soldering iron out.
DFI - Very robust with no v-mod necessary board. Want to play hard? Well, cross your finger something doesn't just spontanenously die.
Obviously some pros and cons there... For daily rigs, I say forget DFI until things are totally cleared up (which is another 3-4 months). For those who benches and don't mind killing H/W and can afford to or not willing to solder, why not? Makes overclocking life whole lot easier :)

Rayman

12-15-2005, 06:34 PM

the asus will b in stock 2morrow at newegg and now im confused again lol i feel like jus tryon both lol but dont have the time and money

QuikSilver

12-15-2005, 06:44 PM

FYI, the Expert is in stock at newegg now! Get it while it is still available! http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136166

calcal

12-15-2005, 06:54 PM

this thread should help u decide which is the better choice
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=83206

Rayman

12-15-2005, 06:59 PM

its definetly the dfi asus board sucks 4 a sli laid out board it automatically makes 2 pci slots useless in sli and i have 2 cards 2 use

Rayman

12-15-2005, 07:00 PM

FYI, the Expert is in stock at newegg now! Get it while it is still available! http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136166
yea it has been 4 5 hours lol i been watchin it 2day

Andrew LB

12-16-2005, 02:49 AM

The eXpert will be a cheaper choice since the A8N32 is sold out everywhere.

This place has it for $299

http://www.neximaging.com/product.asp?id=23543

... maybe. heh :p:

gundamit

12-16-2005, 03:54 AM

This place has it for $299

http://www.neximaging.com/product.asp?id=23543

... maybe. heh :p:And this place ... $309 ... AllStarShop limit of two - Usually ships next day. (http://www.allstarshop.com/shop/product.asp?ad=fg&pid=13080)

AllStarShop Resellerrating (http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1984.html)

uOpt

12-16-2005, 04:46 AM

OK, stupid question time.

Is there any indication that the A8N32 does overclock any better than the A8N-E premium?

From what I have seen they have about the same max voltages and the same controls. With the 32 apparently still having some messy edges in the BIOS?

I also didn't see anybody report a better overclock from an Expert than from a SLI-DR yet.

demonbane23

12-16-2005, 08:07 AM

I have been happily running the DFI expert for about a week,, now it is overclocking my opt 170 rather nice and am runnign dual prime stable at 2.68 so far and i did another burn in last night so we will see what I can hit when I get out of work,,,

I had the intel version of the asus 32 board and didnt care for it so when I switched back to AMD i went DFI,,,, since I went SLI and the XFX are pertty beefy cards im glad the DFI has lots of room I can actually use the other PCI slots ,,, the bios is easy to work with and there are a ton of options and settings to tweak,,,

Rayman

12-17-2005, 01:45 AM

yea i have the p4 version now and dont like it either

oqvist

12-17-2005, 03:15 AM

Asus do make great stuff and DFI is of course way overrated. For Socket 754 Shuttle made the best overclocking mobos. It´s An50R rev 1.3 was an absolute killer even though using the older 150 chipset my DFI Lanparty Nforce 3 250 GB UT mainboard got totally smoked by it. It was just not as stable really.

I had a DFI nforce 2 mainboard too though which was a bit better but still. I don´t see DFI being better then any other brand. Sometimes they make a hit but they miss very often too.

But the layout is the reason I am not getting the Asus. Really like the layout on the DFI boards though I do think I would get better clocks with the Asus.

k00lance

12-17-2005, 04:16 AM

How can you justify asus is better than dfi when 90% of user from XS use dfi :fact:

Asus do make great stuff and DFI is of course way overrated. For Socket 754 Shuttle made the best overclocking mobos. It´s An50R rev 1.3 was an absolute killer even though using the older 150 chipset my DFI Lanparty Nforce 3 250 GB UT mainboard got totally smoked by it. It was just not as stable really.

I had a DFI nforce 2 mainboard too though which was a bit better but still. I don´t see DFI being better then any other brand. Sometimes they make a hit but they miss very often too.

But the layout is the reason I am not getting the Asus. Really like the layout on the DFI boards though I do think I would get better clocks with the Asus.

CrashOv3r1De

12-17-2005, 08:31 AM

How can you justify asus is better than dfi when 90% of user from XS use dfi :fact:

Not taking any sides here but 90% users do use DFI but there is a reason.

When the Ultra-D, SLi-D,SLI-DR came out they were the best. The A8N32 was not available then. However now the A8N32-SLI DLx is avai and so is the expert, rdx200. However many people are still on their sli-dr/ultra d and have not upgraded.

Now out of the new mobos avail the A8N32-SLI DLx/eXpert/RDX200 the expert and a8n are pretty much even both have strengths and weaknesses.

However once dfi comes out with a statement and fixes the very rare chance of cpu death i think expert is a sure winner.

HeavyH20

12-17-2005, 09:01 AM

I tried to find the ASUS 32 for a while, and finally decided to try the Expert since it was more available and much cheaper ($199 on NewEgg). The DFI has a better layout, but I really liked the heatpipe set up of the ASUS. The Expert takes a little more to get going out of the box, but the OC tweaking is second to none. The PCI-E slot spacing is great on both, but the extra chipset on the ASUS moves everything down, so you lose PCI slots. If you put single slot video cards in the system, you can use 1 PCI card. If you install two of the 7800 GTX 512 cards, you're out of luck.

I am now glad the ASUS was out of stock. The DFI has been great. So much control.

k00lance

12-17-2005, 09:27 AM

Most people did not upgrade because I believe people are waiting for one finalized board.. don't get it wrong.. sli-dr/ultra-d are still great and many people are still using them.
Other than the fact and you want the bling factor using one so you could post on your signature.

Not taking any sides here but 90% users do use DFI but there is a reason.

When the Ultra-D, SLi-D,SLI-DR came out they were the best. The A8N32 was not available then. However now the A8N32-SLI DLx is avai and so is the expert, rdx200. However many people are still on their sli-dr/ultra d and have not upgraded.

Now out of the new mobos avail the A8N32-SLI DLx/eXpert/RDX200 the expert and a8n are pretty much even both have strengths and weaknesses.

However once dfi comes out with a statement and fixes the very rare chance of cpu death i think expert is a sure winner.

mouawad

12-17-2005, 09:43 AM

i think anyone with a working SLI-D cannot really justify a move to another board at this stage. the performance benefits of the expert or the a8n32 are marginal at best from what i've seen.

i don't really understand the appeal of the a8n32 either unless you just want a steady board......the 8 phase power is a half assed implementation & is a gimmick as is the heatpipe, i can't hear my chipset fan on the dfi board so what's the problem? :confused:

no doubt the expert is superior to the a8n32 for most o/c'ing ppl but in my eyes it's just a meal ticket for dfi before the next socket release, because they know a high majority of ppl with sli-d's will buy it just for kicks.

Pyr0

12-17-2005, 09:46 AM

i couldn't buy an asus, they limit the dual core voltage :(

craig588

12-17-2005, 10:05 AM

The Asus is better if you're ready to work. If you're lazy and just want to go with automatic things the DFI is better.

CrashOv3r1De

12-17-2005, 10:12 AM

Other than the fact and you want the bling factor using one so you could post on your signature.

Please dont think for me. I dont give a damn if people look at my sig and think that I am trying to show off or something. I just have a signature and post my sys specs in it like many users here. Just because I have new hardware and have it in my sig doesnt mean im showing off.

Having hardware in the sig is helpful because it saves you time when you ask for help or post ideas and wont have people asking you what your using. many times i saw record overclocks i wanted to ask what memory or what motherboard but i didnt have to because it was in the sig!

mouawad

12-17-2005, 10:14 AM

i couldn't buy an asus, they limit the dual core voltage :(

another reason the board is overated unless this is fixed .....doesn't the a8n have the same problem,and it's been out how long now?

Pyr0

12-17-2005, 10:17 AM

yeah it does, i had an a8n-sli deluxe
i gave it away (it was so crap) moved to DFI and haven't looked back :)

uOpt

12-17-2005, 10:22 AM

Ouch.

Anyone know whether the A8N-E Premium also limits DC voltage? To how much?

k00lance

12-17-2005, 10:41 AM

Just explain to me what is your gain using asus a8n32 over dfi?
pci-e lane dont make much difference.
In terms of OCing the cpu.. most people prefer dfi over asus:)

Please dont think for me. I dont give a damn if people look at my sig and think that I am trying to show off or something. I just have a signature and post my sys specs in it like many users here. Just because I have new hardware and have it in my sig doesnt mean im showing off.

Having hardware in the sig is helpful because it saves you time when you ask for help or post ideas and wont have people asking you what your using. many times i saw record overclocks i wanted to ask what memory or what motherboard but i didnt have to because it was in the sig!

Rayman

12-17-2005, 10:56 AM

the oy thingi seen better is higher 3dmark score whcih is kinda wierd to b almost 1000 point gain but the extra mhz on the dfi should make up 4 it but if the a8n32 was in i would just test them both thought it was comin in yesterday thats y i waited to make my order

phadeout

12-17-2005, 11:01 AM

Well, from what I've seen in reading a lot about the A8N32 and everyone's experiences, most people are getting at least the same OC with this board as the DFI's, and sometimes higher by 20-30mhz (with same/similar settings).

The only thing is, these are all guys that are not going above ~1.56V core on DFI or Asus.
(should mention I'm talking dual-core here)

Rayman

12-17-2005, 11:08 AM

i noticed the same thing but i havent heard anything from anyone going on phase change sayin it is a better board than dfi i think they all went back to dfi a matter of fact

Cisco

12-17-2005, 11:08 AM

Not taking any sides here but 90% users do use DFI but there is a reason.
I agree and the reason is very simple. Over the past 2 years, and even more so with nf4 MBs, DFI left ASUS in the dust. People here just happen to know quality when they see it..that would be the 90% story.

Flash back to 3 years ago and it was a different story. Kudos to DFI for pulling a mickey-mouse company up by the sox and beating ASUS at its own game.

ASUS is playing catch-up now. Will the A8N32 SLI (which I bought...and believe me, there was mucho soul searching deciding between the A8N32 and the Expert) do the trick for them? Stay tuned...

Oh yeah...why did I pick the A8N32 over the Expert? It made it to my retailer first and I didn't want to wait...that was it.

Rayman

12-17-2005, 11:11 AM

y cant we all just get both:cheer: :bday2: :eleph:

jinu117

12-17-2005, 11:30 AM

Oh I will get both once there is clear indiciation that this CPU death is resolved. Till than... not risking anymore components. As for DFI being superior... let's get a grip. It is becoming fan boyish thing now. Only about year and half ago AMD was not a strong contender with s478 P4 just doing great scaling overclock. This market has very heavy swings every other year or so. We might have to jump the ship to Intel again if 65mm product from intel shows superiority. Nothing new really if you think about past decade. Same goes for GPU (ATI king one year Nvidia king next year, bleh bleh), mobo, memory, etc (memory tend to being bit more stable wierd enough in my eye :P)
Only reason asus sucked starting early of this year was their very bad comaptibilities with memory, granny approach (even more than before) on things. It seems they lifted some of those off with new releases, but considering size of asus, I still think we are left playing with v-mod. Is it bad thing? Maybe maybe not.
As for one big gain Koolance, for me right now, peace of mind. I am not afraid the board is going to take my memory or CPU with it spontanenously. If that is not convincing enough to you oh well.. Everyone has different perspective... I don't mind v-modding, but I do mind component dying without valid reasons especially when it happens repeatedly over time.
And let me tell you... there were many DFI advocates who has recently lost their components and have moved away. I believe lot of them shares same view as me on this thing as it stands... Just don't make yourself too attached to one brand. It makes you awkward when time comes and something just bust up and trying to argue against what you siad previously. That is just my 2c. I can honestly say, I've had as much fun as I had headaches on Ultra-D and SLI-D though lol. I wish things were as simpe as it was back in days of IC-7G or P4C800Dlx time.

craig588

12-17-2005, 12:07 PM

i noticed the same thing but i havent heard anything from anyone going on phase change sayin it is a better board than dfi i think they all went back to dfi a matter of fact

I own a whole fleet of sub-zero units ranging from R134 to R1150 in temperatures and I used the A8N32 over any of the DFI mobos. The DFIs are stacked in a pile behind me.

mdzcpa

12-17-2005, 12:38 PM

I own a whole fleet of sub-zero units ranging from R134 to R1150 in temperatures and I used the A8N32 over any of the DFI mobos. The DFIs are stacked in a pile behind me.

LOL...its funny how things work out differently for different people. My situation is the exact opposite with a loooong trail of disappointing runs with Asus boards and much sucess with DFI. What's worse is that I have tried EVERY Asus mobo on the AMD side over the last 2 years, and each and every time they didn't last long. There was always some niggling issue that kept the board from excelling because Asus wants to play it safe.

Asus is an "okay" brand, but no matter how you slice it, they will always remain "vanilla" in the OC department. There is nothing aggressive about them at all. DFI may have thier issues, but I'd prefer to contend with whatever those issues are (yes even dead hardware) than deal with a plain Jane vanilla Asus board. Asus will never have the balls to have an aggressive feature set out of the box.

I'm not slamming Asus. I put quite a few of thier boards in the builds i do for family, friends, and clients. But, for an extreme OC board? Umm.....no.

jinu117

12-17-2005, 12:48 PM

LOL...its funny how things work out differently for different people. My situation is the exact opposite with a loooong trail of disappointing runs with Asus boards and much sucess with DFI. What's worse is that I have tried EVERY Asus mobo on the AMD side over the last 2 years, and each and every time they didn't last long. There was always some niggling issue that kept the board from excelling because Asus wants to play it safe.

Asus is an "okay" brand, but no matter how you slice it, they will always remain "vanilla" in the OC department. There is nothing aggressive about them at all. DFI may have thier issues, but I'd prefer to contend with whatever those issues are (yes even dead hardware) than deal with a plain Jane vanilla Asus board. Asus will never have the balls to have an aggressive feature set out of the box.

I'm not slamming Asus. I put quite a few of thier boards in the builds i do for family, friends, and clients. But, for an extreme OC board? Umm.....no.

So what can't v-mod fix on the A8N32? A8R MVP?
You are talking about extreme OC right? v-mod comes as granted on that arena...?
Anyways, I can't still figure out how you had not a single DFI board or dead memory from running one for so long :P Different luck for different people definitely.

mdzcpa

12-17-2005, 01:05 PM

So what can't v-mod fix on the A8N32? A8R MVP?
You are talking about extreme OC right? v-mod comes as granted on that arena...?

No it doesn't....not anymore. No one should have to mod their Asus board when other brands offer far better voltage features right out of the box. That goes for heat sinking the hot spots as well. Not to mention that Asus has never had cutting edge BIOS choices. Abit before, and currently DFI, have always offered better BIOS options.

I hard mod my hardware when I have to. Not because the manufacturer pulled up short compared to other offerings.

craig588

12-17-2005, 01:41 PM

DFI came up short in the chipset choice department.

You can't mod some more lanes into their chipset. You can always increase voltages.

oqvist

12-17-2005, 02:09 PM

But why do DFI have this reputation? I mean I hope I haven´t posted this over here I don´t think so but my Shuttle AN50R rev 1.3 stomped all over my DFI nforce 3 250 GB Lanparty UT... the DFI was simply not stable enough. Not even with looser timings and all it could keep up. The DFI nforce 2 mainboard I had before was good but not much difference from my earlier epox really.

Now I haven´t had any DFI mainboard fail on me yet so that seems great but I don´t see it like they make superior OC mainboards only because they have the most bios options.

I think that is the reason so many got them. more settings to tweak and try out. But they do seem flakey in stability from my experience...

Still I really hope the Expert is being fixed and it´s just a bios issue because I really do want that board to rock seeing it´s clever layout.

stone_cold_Jimi

12-17-2005, 03:03 PM

Oh yeah...why did I pick the A8N32 over the Expert? It made it to my retailer first and I didn't want to wait...that was it.

+1

But now I have it, I love it.

shadowing

12-17-2005, 03:51 PM

From my current experiences with Asus, I have to stick with DFI.

As mdzcpa said, the DFI has much more control and options.

There are a couple of reasons which I do not like about Asus:

A) Their bios are not very flexible.
B) Their support site is usually down whenever I try to download a specific bios.
C) It seems like they do NOT test their bios really well before release. I am only stating this as my K8N-E Deluxe had to be RMAed when I flashed it to latest "safe" bios.

My reasons for loving DFI is simple. It works. It has the best BIOS options ever. At the same time, DFI seems more devoted to helping out the ocing community compared to Asus.

Rayman

12-17-2005, 05:10 PM

^
^
^
u said that very well plus damn that layout stinks lol atleast i will only lose 1 pci slot with the dfi

Rayman

12-23-2005, 12:42 PM

im havin issues with the dfi was unstable changed ram timmings was running fine
then i noticed cpu was running at 800mhz (mulitplier was set to 4) so i restart to set to 11 system would hang on bios reen i cant figure out wats rong i try goin back to 4x still havin issues i think i have to flash the bios

uOpt

12-23-2005, 01:01 PM

There are a couple of reasons which I do not like about Asus:

A) Their bios are not very flexible.
B) Their support site is usually down whenever I try to download a specific bios.
C) It seems like they do NOT test their bios really well before release. I am only stating this as my K8N-E Deluxe had to be RMAed when I flashed it to latest "safe" bios.

My reasons for loving DFI is simple. It works. It has the best BIOS options ever. At the same time, DFI seems more devoted to helping out the ocing community compared to Asus.

As the owner of several Asus and a DFI board I high second these marks, all of them. I cannot count the number of hours the DFI saved me.

I needed two new boards and decided on a DFI Infinity SLI and an A8N-E premium. So I'll be in a good position to upgrade these views next week ;)

Aldy402

12-23-2005, 02:25 PM

DFI also seems to release bios support for new cpus (fx-60) much faster.
By the time x16 lanes matter, better boards will be out by then

Rayman

12-23-2005, 03:37 PM

fixed the prob the yellow dimm slots are defective had to put them in the orange looking for some good timings to try

oqvist

12-23-2005, 04:22 PM

What about the old Asus nforce 4 deluxe versus the new one? I am bidding on a computer which has the old version. It has the big advantage of offering one or more free PCI slots (which the expert also does). Anyway it´s preinstalled on the very nice computer I may be able to get my hands on.

So I am wondering how much worse it would be compared to the new expensive version which 8-phase power and da :banana::banana::banana::banana:?

Now since I must use at least my X-Fi but also my tv tuner I do need two PCI slots available on a SLI system.