ASUS P5N-D LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 750i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard

Pros: I just got this board today and set it up, and everything was smooth as butter... I'm typing this review from the computer using this board. It's got all the features of the P5N-E SLi, with a few extra features, including the 750i chipset, support for 45nm dual and quads (quads aren't currently supported, will be in a BIOS update soon - probably before Intel's mainstream 45nm quad line comes out)... In addition, the chipset heatsink is larger and all copper, and it has an additional fan to attach to keep it cool (which is surprisingly silent)... Good for those with custom fans/passive/water cooling, whose northbridges would usually fry. Furthermore, it's actually got a heatsink on the southbridge (Yay). It's got an Energy Processing Unit which changes the CPU multiplier when it's not active and instantly sets it back up when it's working. Also, it has dual x16 PCI-E for SLi. The website claims it's hardware ready for it, and will likely be fully supported in a future BIOS update.

Cons: CONTINUING WITH EXPLANATION OF PROS: Anyway, until the update for the BIOS comes out, it's x8,x8 SLi, which has no impact on performance for any card out right now - Not even the 8800Ultra. The update to support this will almost certainly be out way before the need for x16,x16 is actually necessary. Also, it has support for 7.1 audio with optical output onboard, and overall it's a huge upgrade over the P5N-E SLi (which I upgraded from actually). THE ONLY CON with this board so far is that the P5N-E SLi (650i) had 2 IDE slots, and this updated board with the 750i only has one. Beware if you have an IDE hard drive and IDE disc drive... Luckily for me, mine are both SATA.

Overall Review: Seems great so far, would recommend to people who can't afford the 780i... It's basically a matured version of the 650i without any noticeable bugs for me so far. It seems to have addressed every little nitpick I had about my old P5N-E Sli after 6 months of ownership. However, for most people with a P5N-E SLi, this isn't worth the upgrade unless you plan to get a 45nm quad core - the P5N-E SLi, as well as any other 650i or 680i board will still support the 45nm dual cores with a BIOS update.

Pros: Great Specs for a great price

Cons: Has cooling issues, which seems to be a running theme with ASUS products. The heatsink over the northbridge is not nearly good enough and there are no fans that will fit the heatsink. To add to the problems you can not directly see the temperature on the Northbridge, so all of the temperature sensors will read cool run temps except for the CPU which will seem to be running hot because of its proximity to the Northbridge chipset.

Overall Review: Couple these things with ASUS's terrible customer service and you come up with a product that should be awesome but ends up wasting more money on RMAs and diagnostics than the motherboard itself costs.