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The nForce 590 chipset is designed for the AMD Socket AM2 platform. AMD launched Socket AM2 in June of this year with a full range of CPUs from the low-end to the high-end. The M2N32 WS Professional board supports all current Socket AM2 CPUs including the Athlon 64 FX-62, the Athlon 64 X2 series (5000+, 4800+, 4600+ etc.), the single core Athlon 64 series (4000+, 3800+ EE) and the Sempron series.  CPU Socket nForce 590 supports a new feature called SLI-ready memory with Enhanced Performance Profiles (EPP). DIMMs (Dual In-line Memory Modules) are built using an Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM) that can hold up to 256 bytes of data. The SPD rating of the memory is stored in that EEPROM memory, giving information like the manufacturer part number, manufacturer name, timing parameters etc. EPP technology uses Bytes 99 to 127 to store memory configuration settings that are optimal for the memory module. You can use EPP memory in non-EPP enabled systems as the information is stored in the memory that isn't used by SPD. EPP memory is a new innovation that improves memory performance. The test memory we use is not EPP compliant (Crucial Ballistix DDR2 667Mhz).  DIMM slots The M2N32 WS motherboard comes with 4 DIMM slots for up to 8 GB of DDR2 memory. The board is certified to work with 800/667/533 , ECC and non-ECC memory. ECC Memory is another feature of the workstation environment, as it includes an extra bit for every 8 bits that non-ECC memory has to check for errors. Be aware that if you are going to use more than 4GB of memory in any motherboard, you also need a 64-bit OS like Windows XP 64-bit, or Linux as 4GB is the maximum that a motherboard can address under a 32-bit Operating System. The nForce 590 SLI chipset has a new feature to improve graphics card performance with supported video cards, called LinkBoost. LinkBoost boosts the PCI Express frequency from 100MHz default to 125MHz, increasing the bandwidth to the graphics CAD to 10GB/second versus the 8GB/second that the normal PCI Express bus offers. Note that this feature only currently works with the newer 7900GTX cards  PCI-X slots  PCI Express x1 slot  PCI Express x16 slots  Lock for video card The M2N32 WS has two PCI-Express x16 slots, allowing the user to use two NVIDIA video cards in SLI mode, improving gaming performance. As a workstation board it also holds two PCI-X slots. PCI-X slots are 64-bit, can clock higher than PCI (133MHz versus 33MHz), but are not to be confused with the PCI-Express slot. Various PCI-X devices are on the market including SCSI, 10-Gbit Ethernet controllers and the slot is compatible with the old PCI cards as well. Also on the board are two PCI Express x1 slots and a regular PCI slot.  6 SATA ports  3 SATA ports  FDD port  1st PATA port  2nd PATA port  Mediashield  HDD usage ASUS really went full throttle on their SATA ports on the ASUS M2N32 WS board. There are 9 ports on the board itself, and an additional port on the back panel (e-SATA), bringing the total SATA port count to 10. Six of the ports are controlled by the nForce 590 MCP South Bridge, with the other four controlled by a Marvell 88SE6141 chip which also controls a Parallel ATA channel. The second PATA channel is controlled by the NVIDIA SB, along with the FDD controller. Sound shots    Analog Devices Incorporated has been making audio devices for many years. Their CODECs have recently been showing up in a lot of motherboards, including the ASUS M2N32 WS board which sports a ADI1988B CODEC. The ADI1988B CODEC is HDA compliant, meaning that multiple audio streams, 7.1 Surround Sound, Dolby Digital audio are supported by the onboard audio of this motherboard. Rear Panel IO   The rear panel I/O on the M2N32 WS board houses the PS/2 Mouse, PS/2 Keyboard, Parallel Port, S/PDIF optical and coaxial ports, e-SATA port, 2 RJ-45 jacks controlled by two Marvell 88E1138-NNC1 chips, four USB 2.0 ports, and the six audio jacks for the integrated audio. A COM port is included via the bracket in the bundle, the external SATA connector is where the second COM port would reside on most motherboards. Contents: 
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