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Overclocking

First, I was really dissapointed by the absolutely terrible support for setting memory dividers (no support) and memory timings (no support).

That is simply inexcusable these days, especially since the memory controller is on the processor, and can easily be tweaked. Asus needs to fix this ASAP, as the board is currently crippled by its memory performance.

See update below, the problem may have been unique to the BIOS I was using!

The best overclock I was able to achieve was 13x240MHz, which is actually quite a decent score for a Socket AM2 processor.

In order to run at 3.12GHz, I set:

• Vcore at 1.475V
• Vddr at 2.1V
• "FSB" at 240MHz
• CPU muliplier at the default (13) value

I was able to POST at 13x245, but it would NOT run - not even at 12x245.

Power Consumption

I don't know why I took the readings - anyone contemplating SLI is not really worried about being green - but for those readers out there that care, yes, thats you two, here are the results:
At stock speeds, when idling, the Asus M3N-HT Deluxe based system uses 107 Watts, and 146 Watts when loaded.  At overclocked speeds, idling the Asus M3N-HT Deluxe uses 114 Watts, and 192 Watts when loaded.

Conclusion

I like what I read of the 780a chipset in the materials NVIDIA sent to us. It seems like an excellent IGP, with potential for building gaming rigs around it.

I was less than impressed by the memory performance on this board - fortunately I know it must be a BIOS issue, as another high end 780a board I am currently testing has far better memory performance. The options here are so limited, that I almost wonder if I did not turn off the integrated graphics (I am sure I did) or perhaps the memory performance is being deliberately limited for marketing reasons - which would be a damn shame, as otherwise I really like this board.

I really like the Hybrid SLI concept for totally turning off the gaming GPU's when not needed. It is kind of ridiculous to use monstrously powerful GPU's - single, SLI or triple SLI - for mere web surfing or watching a DVD - and in the summer we definitely do not need the extra heat and noise they produce.

Overall, other than the memory issue (which I am sure they will fix after reading this review), Asus did a really nice job making the M3N-HT Deluxe.

UPDATE: I have a number of reports of people being able to access the DRAM configuration under the CPU Configuration menu; perhaps the BIOS I loaded was corrupted? The benchmarks would have showed a marked improvement. Perhaps after I finish the three other motherboards I have in queue right now I will try a newer BIOS.

And I like what NVIDIA did - 730a based boards may just be ideal for high end HTPC systems.