Mini-review of Asus N4L-VM DH

[dougz]

...Overall the N4L-VM DH is an ideal motherboard for Intel ViiV-based HTPCs - it’s ultra-low noise, ultra-low power and can still perform on par with hotter, noisier dual-core desktops. Its power on/off feature is great if you intend to use the motherboard in a MCE setup, and 7.1 Dolby Digital audio, Gigabit LAN and eSATA make it a versatile all-rounder. The only downside is that there’s no DVI video output and there are faster motherboards for high-end gamers.
http://www.biosmagazine.co.uk/rev.php?id=473

N4L-VM DH
- Intel ViiV Technology
- Support Intel Coreâ„¢ Duo and Coreâ„¢ Solo Mobile CPU
- Support 65nm Dual-Core CPU
- Intel 945GM chipset
- Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
- Intel Gb LAN
- High Definition Audio
http://usa.asus.com/products4.aspx?mode ... l2=54&l3=0

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 1c3grabb3r

[smilingcrow]

Has anyone determined what size the CPU heatsink fan is on this board and whether it can easily be swapped out?

[dougz]

Has anyone determined what size the CPU heatsink fan is on this board and whether it can easily be swapped out?

That question is (somewhat imprecisely) dealt with in a new mini-review. Lots of great pictures. http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=232

However, the quoted Core Duo prices make the Intel Mac Mini a steal and a DIY Core Duo box unatractive. PriceGrabber quotes US$639-US$800...

[smilingcrow]

Thanks Doug, I’ve just emailed the author asking for the fan dimensions.

[smilingcrow]

I’ve just found another review that looks at the Heatsink/Fan performance and power consumption in more detail; quotes:

‘When Q-Fan is enabled, the fan speeds dropped to about 800 RPM…our temperatures rose to 108F/42C maximum’
‘The system used only 68 Watts at idle. When we kicked up the system to full load, the system still only was using 89 Watts of power’.

That sounds very promising with regard the CPU temps, as if the supplied fan is not quiet enough it shouldn’t be difficult to specify one that can cool this thing silently, especially when you consider the temps that mobile chips are built for. It’s just a matter of how big the fan is!
http://www.hothardware.com/viewarticle. ... =811&cid=3

[Mats]

A neat feature is that the mainboard supports instant on/off, and even installs a hardware driver for this ability. Instant on/off allows the system to go into a deep sleep mode, whereby the system is virtually turned off (fans don't turn, power consumption is dramatically cut). However, when the power button (or a remote control power button) is pressed, the system can wake from the sleep mode in just 2 to 3 seconds. This is a great feature for home theatre PCs as it allows you to use your system more like a television.

Can somebody tell me how this works, or give me a link? Is it like suspend to RAM or is it faster?

[SpHeRe31459]

A neat feature is that the mainboard supports instant on/off, and even installs a hardware driver for this ability. Instant on/off allows the system to go into a deep sleep mode, whereby the system is virtually turned off (fans don't turn, power consumption is dramatically cut). However, when the power button (or a remote control power button) is pressed, the system can wake from the sleep mode in just 2 to 3 seconds. This is a great feature for home theatre PCs as it allows you to use your system more like a television.

Can somebody tell me how this works, or give me a link? Is it like suspend to RAM or is it faster?

That is what is called "Away Mode" it is an Windows XP MCE 2005 Rollup Update 2 feature that some motherboards support. All Viiv certified motherboards support it, and the ASUS is Viiv certified.

[Mats]

That is what is called "Away Mode" it is an Windows XP MCE 2005 Rollup Update 2 feature that some motherboards support. All Viiv certified motherboards support it, and the ASUS is Viiv certified.

Thanks. Does this means it's OS dependant? I guess it won't work on Windows XP Pro?

[SpHeRe31459]

That is what is called "Away Mode" it is an Windows XP MCE 2005 Rollup Update 2 feature that some motherboards support. All Viiv certified motherboards support it, and the ASUS is Viiv certified.

Thanks. Does this means it's OS dependant? I guess it won't work on Windows XP Pro?

Correct, it is a feature added to MCE 2005 with the 2nd Rollup. Away Mode is seen as a media center PC feature.

[smilingcrow]

Abit Yonah board with HDMI:

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=2255

[Goldmember]

GamePC has a review of the ASUS N4L-VM DH.

[smilingcrow]

GamePC has a review of the ASUS N4L-VM DH.

It shows that the Asus N4L-VM DH consumes more power when using a VGA card than the AOpen I975Xa-YDG, which seems strange. It’s only a 4W difference, but I would have expected the tables to have been turned. Maybe that’s the price you pay when using a VGA card with a motherboard whose chipset includes on-board graphics. Other motherboards with on-board graphics have also shown higher than expected power consumption when using VGA cards. I wonder how typical this is.
The power consumption using the on-board graphics seems pretty low though.

The cooling figures for the review linked above are much worse than from this review: http://www.hothardware.com/viewarticle. ... =811&cid=3

One shows a Core Duo 2.0 with the fan at the minimal speed setting having a peak temp of 42C. The other, a Core Duo 2.16 at the same fan setting with a max temp of 54C.

[Mats]

That is what is called "Away Mode" it is an Windows XP MCE 2005 Rollup Update 2 feature that some motherboards support. All Viiv certified motherboards support it, and the ASUS is Viiv certified.

Thanks. Does this means it's OS dependant? I guess it won't work on Windows XP Pro?

Correct, it is a feature added to MCE 2005 with the 2nd Rollup. Away Mode is seen as a media center PC feature.

No! I think you're wrong....

Check out this Xbitlabs review, you can see the Away mode tab, and they're using XP Pro.

[smilingcrow]

What’s the deal with Away Mode! What does it give you that Standby doesn’t?

[ziphnor]

What’s the deal with Away Mode! What does it give you that Standby doesn’t?

In standby the PC is unable to perform any work, it has to wake up in order to, say, record a TV program. According to the articles screenshot of the Away mode can still perform work, see this image:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/mainboar ... gylake.PNG

[francishsu]

One shows a Core Duo 2.0 with the fan at the minimal speed setting having a peak temp of 42C. The other, a Core Duo 2.16 at the same fan setting with a max temp of 54C.

For the hothardware.com review, they had QFan set at "Optimal", which is not the quietest setting. I have an N4L-VM with QFan set to Optimal, and 42C under load is consistent with what I'm seeing. The fan starts is roughly 800rpm at idle at around 38C and it goes up to around 1100-1200rpm as the processor activity increases. I haven't played much with the quietest setting (called Quiet or Silent), because I did run into some kind of error once where the BIOS complained that it couldn't enable QFan or something.

Also, regarding questions about the Away mode. The motherboard support CD does include the software for it and it does install/get enabled on Windows XP Pro. ASUS posted some updated version for Windows MCE. When I tried installing the updated version, it would not install saying that I did not have the correct OS. Anyways, Away mode works fine but I could not find a way to get the computer to go into Away mode automatically like you can with Standby. Instead, I have to remember to press the power button. Maybe it makes more sense if you use a media remote.

Overall, I'm pleased with the N4L-VM, but I'm not trying to make my system as quiet as possible. For people who don't need to upgrade right away, I'd wait until more motherboards get released. In my case, I broke my old computer so I had no choice but to upgrade.

[frostedflakes]

I think it may be possible to fit a Thermalright HR-01 on this board. From the looks of it, all one would have to do is use the default heatsink clip, drill a hole in the middle, then install a rounded screw on the underside of the clip to fit into the HR-01's mounting dimple. One could increase mounting pressure if necessary by installing a few washers between the underside of the mounting clip and the screw head, although I'm not sure what would be the easiest way to decrease pressure if it ends up having too much.

Then again, there's probably something I'm overlooking that will screw up my plans. I'll let you guys know how (if?) it works out.

EDIT: Some pictures, one of the planed modification to the clip and another of the HR-01 mounting dimple.

[david25]

Hi, I have a Asus N4L-VM DH board, my 2Ghz Yonah idles around 35'c (internal temp, not mb diode) using optimal fan settings (800rpm).

I am planning on replacing the fan with a 7v 60mm NMB-MAT from
http://www.dorothybradbury.co.uk/ just need to find some longer screws.

Interesting, I think this board uses less power than the Aopen i975Xa-YDG which I also owned, I now idle at 77w compared to around 84w

[frostedflakes]

For anyone who's interested, the motherboard and HR-01 showed up today, and looking at everything in person, I'm 99% sure this is going to work. The HR-01 base is slightly taller than that of the stock ASUS heatsink, so I'm going to try and find a way to extend the "loops" on the motherboard to keep it from mounting w/too much pressure. Also, clearance between some of the heatpipes and memory in the slot closest to the CPU socket is tight, literally 1-2mm. But it should fit, and I'll just put a piece of tape or something on the heatpipe so that if things shift around and they come in contact, nothing will short out.

Still going to be a few days before the CPU shows up, but once I get it all figured out and mounted I'll snap some pics and let you guys know how it performs. HR-01 is probably overkill for this CPU, even passive, but I couldn't find any medium-sized tower heatsinks, they're all pretty massive. And unfortunately, the ASUS heatsink looked like it was just a bit too small to run without a fan, unless I wanted to do some fancy airflow management and ducting (which I didn't). Overall, HR-01 looks like the best solution to me if you don't mind using a bit of the ol' elbow grease to get it mounted.

[hmsrolst]

For anyone who's interested, the motherboard and HR-01 showed up today, and looking at everything in person, I'm 99% sure this is going to work. The HR-01 base is slightly taller than that of the stock ASUS heatsink, so I'm going to try and find a way to extend the "loops" on the motherboard to keep it from mounting w/too much pressure. Also, clearance between some of the heatpipes and memory in the slot closest to the CPU socket is tight, literally 1-2mm. But it should fit, and I'll just put a piece of tape or something on the heatpipe so that if things shift around and they come in contact, nothing will short out.

Still going to be a few days before the CPU shows up, but once I get it all figured out and mounted I'll snap some pics and let you guys know how it performs. HR-01 is probably overkill for this CPU, even passive, but I couldn't find any medium-sized tower heatsinks, they're all pretty massive. And unfortunately, the ASUS heatsink looked like it was just a bit too small to run without a fan, unless I wanted to do some fancy airflow management and ducting (which I didn't). Overall, HR-01 looks like the best solution to me if you don't mind using a bit of the ol' elbow grease to get it mounted.

frostedflakes, how did this turn out?

[frostedflakes]

I ended up not pursuing it. The ASUS heatsink mounting clip was too thin to drill a hole in. If somebody wanted to make a custom mounting clip, though, they should be able to make it work.

[hmsrolst]

I ended up not pursuing it. The ASUS heatsink mounting clip was too thin to drill a hole in. If somebody wanted to make a custom mounting clip, though, they should be able to make it work.

Thanks. I just grabbed a MSI 945GT to go with a cheap T2300 I picked up on ebay. Hope I have better luck than some have.

[mark.carline]

I have just got the ASUS N4L-VM DH board and would be very interested to know if anyone else has tried to use a different heatsink on the CPU to make it fanless.

I have one of the new Intel Core 2 Duo Merom T7200 CPUs which use alot less power than the original Core Duos that this board was designed for and I am sure its possible to make this board fanless.

Please post on here or get in touch if you have any luck!

Thanks

[email protected]

[frostedflakes]

You might be able to run the stock heatsink fanless if it was ducted to a caes exhaust fan.

[mark.carline]

You might be able to run the stock heatsink fanless if it was ducted to a caes exhaust fan.

I have a Silverstone ST30NF fanless PSU and the only fan I have is the one on the CPU. To be honest now the CPU fan setting is set in the BIOS to "SILENT" you can hardly hear it.

I am using the ASUS Probe II tool to keep an eye on the CPU temp and its floats around the 50C-52C mark.

I have opened a case with ASUS and asked them the question about running these new Core 2 Duo Mobile CPUs fanless and we'll see what we get back. see:

http://vip.asus.com/eservice/techmailst ... 1727486271

I am sure there must be a larger heatsink we could use or even maybe (as you say) just unplug the CPU fan.

[frostedflakes]

Looks like woodykak just screwed a 92mm fan into the heatsink.

Link

[Mats]

OMG, I don't believe this. Maybe you all knew, but I surely missed it.

The Quick Resume is not really a high tech feature.
I realize that the computer must somehow be on in order get the work done in this mode, but I didn't think it was this simple.

[mark.carline]

Does anyone here recon that this fanless CPU cooler may fit on this board:

Silverstone Nitrogon NT01 Fanless Heat Sink P4 skt478 - Heat Pipe
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductI ... tID=145579

http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-nt01.htm


Surely somebody must have managed to find a fanless CPU cooler for this board

[smilingcrow]

Surely somebody must have managed to find a fanless CPU cooler for this board

I believe it uses a proprietary heatsink fitting mechanism, which is why nothing seems to fit it.
The Gigabyte GA-8I945GMMFY-RH uses a stock S478 heatsink mechanism as far as I can tell. I installed a Scythe Katana on it with no problems. The downside is that the orientation of the socket is such that the fan will blow either upwards or downwards when using a side mounted fan. Sideways is usually preferable for most cases, although with the low power consumption of these CPUs I don’t see it’s really an issue.
It’s fairly similar to the Asus board in spec and in price, at least in the UK. Zero over-clocking though.

[NoiseFreeGuy]

I have just got the ASUS N4L-VM DH board ...
I have one of the new Intel Core 2 Duo Merom T7200 CPUs which use alot less power than the original Core Duos that this board was designed for and I am sure its possible to make this board fanless.

Hi Mark,

Your system sounds like a perfect fit for me.
How do you like your N4L-VM overall now that you've had it for a couple of weeks? Has it been stable with the Merom CPU? What memory did you go with?

I read on ASUS's site that the board has an internal LPT port, is this
correct? How would you connect a standard printer to it? Special cable required?

What case are you using for your system?
Are you happy with the Silverstone PSU?

Thanks,

Eric