Which motherboard?

Hi.

I'm doing my first build and have everything picked out except for the motherboard. I have it narrowed down between two <i>very</i> similar boards offered by Asus:

ASUS A8N-SLI <b>Deluxe</b> Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

And

ASUS A8N-SLI <b>Premium</b> Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

They are pretty close in price so cost isn't an issue. When reading the specs, they appear almost identical in regards to features. So what is the difference between the Deluxe and Premium versions of this board and which would be better for a system primarily used for gaming? Is it even worth it to spend the extra 15 bucks for the premium (which is always on backorder)?

Oh, and just in case you need it, here is what I plan to run on it:

Geforce 7800GT graphics card (Just one for now, I will add another in six months or so.)
Athlon64 4000
2 gigs memory
500W power supply (I'll upgrade when I add a second card)

Any sugestions/comments are appreciated. Thanks.

 

Well the only difference i see are additional sata ports and 2 more USB ports on the deluxe. The regular one has 4 sata II and the deluxe has 4 sata II and 4 sata 150 ports. If you are planning on hooking up more than four sata harddrives than go for the deluxe.

 

Premium has "AI Cool-Pipe" not normal chipset fan. A good thing and since I "enjoy" noisy MSI chipset fan I would say worth 15$. Look models up at Asus site, download manual for details.

Both have Dual RAID it seems.

May be differences in "Accessories"? Cant be much.

Why not find a good and SLI approved psu today instead of upgrading in 6 months time? They are available.

 

Ya, I saw the "cool pipe" thing but wasn't sure what it was exactly or what benefit it would serve. Sounds good to reduce the noisy fans though. That alone is proabably worth a lousy 15 bucks. I'll probably got that direction if I can find one in stock.

The case I have comes with a 500W psu. It should do fine until I get the whole Sli show on the road. I'm hoping that more reliable Sli approved psu's are released my that time. Most of the reviews I've read of existing ones have been pretty disapointing.

 

I'm doing this from memory,

The Premium is based on the Deluxe, but it's the improved version.

For example, the switch on the board for swapping between SLI and 1 video card was fiddly and is now accessed in the Bios.

The Cool Pipe is certainly quieter than having a chipset fan, but it requires good case ventiliation for it to work properly.


If cost isn't an issue, I would go for the Premium.