¿¿¿ASUS P5N32-E SLI Plus vs. P5N-E SLI???

[alizee]

This is a two part question. The easy one to answer, is it safe to get Open-Box items from newegg? Do they sometimes not come with the extras? I bought an open-box video card and it came with everything, even though the site said it didn't come with any extras. But, with a motherboard, I want to make sure to get the I/O panel.

2nd part: I've been looking at the P5N-E SLI, partly because it fits my budget and partly because it seems to be a pretty good offering. But, looking at newegg again, I see that an open box P5N32-E SLI is essentially the same price ($130 vs $127). I haven't seen too many reviews, but bit-tech.net gave it a decent review. It has two full x16 slots and it also has a third slot for physics when the time comes (can I use two nvidia cards in SLI and my X1800XT for physics?).
Is this as much of a no brainer as I'd like to think? Or, is there good reasons to get the P5N-E SLI instead?

I'm also looking to make sure to get a motherboard with 1333 FSB support (which both of these purport to have). With either, will I be able to use the next-gen Core 2s?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131153R
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131142

 

[hotsoda]

Open box items on Newegg are returns. You'd probably be better off spending the extra cash and buy the P5N-32 at retail.

 

[Shimmishim]

The P5N-E should be sufficient enough for you unless you plan on gaming at resolutions greater than 16x12.

There have been many documented reports of 2 x 16x sli vs. 2 x 8x sli and the performance difference is quite minimal.

Seeing as it that you are going to be using an X1800XT, you don't even have to worry about SLi.

Other than SLi performance and a few ports here and there, these two boards are almost identical.

I say just get a new P5N-E.

 

[Pyrokinetic]

Open-box items are a gamble, you might get an I/O shield, and you might not. The P5N32-E Plus is a "better" in that it is basically the same board (other than the chipsets) as the Striker, and it has dual gigabit LAN (a feature I would find useful). Other than that the dual x16 lanes offer next to nil performance improvement over dual x8 (unless you had dual GTXs, but if you could afford those, you wouldn't be considering the P5N-E. Just depends on what you want.

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Open box on a motherboard? Never. It likely won't come with something you need, so I wouldn't ever risk it. Maybe with a video card or optical drive, but never a mobo.

I have a Asus P5N32-E SLI Plus, and I bought this motherboard for the purpose of running SLI and having a PCIe 8X RAID controller (Areca ARC-1220) in as well. Well, now I realize that this was foolish, as all of the stuff would never fit on the mobo, but it's a good motherboard (after RMAing the first one due to memory controller problems)...

 

[Madmanxer]

Just to add to the open box issue, I bought an Asus P5B Deluxe open box from Newegg. I knew I risked not getting everything. Well, I received ONLY the bare motherboard in a different static bag and box, and nothing else. No cables, manual, nothing nada. To top it off the box had an RMA sticker on it and wouldn't you know it, the board was DOA. I had to pay the restocking fee and shipping. Was an overall waste of $30.

Do not buy open box motherboards!

 

[SEAL62505]

So for open box, if you return it you have to pay restocking? I was looking at the same exact thing the OP was...

If it is DOA, can you RMA to the manufacturor instead? Or do you typically have to buy new to qualify for manufacturor warranty?

Once awhile back I had bought an open box mobo and it was like a brand new one (back in the nf2 days). I definitely don't want to take a big risk though!

 

[Shimmishim]

Originally posted by: RuffRyder1672
So for open box, if you return it you have to pay restocking? I was looking at the same exact thing the OP was...

If it is DOA, can you RMA to the manufacturor instead? Or do you typically have to buy new to qualify for manufacturor warranty?

Once awhile back I had bought an open box mobo and it was like a brand new one (back in the nf2 days). I definitely don't want to take a big risk though!

If it's DOA, then yes, you can RMA it to the manufacturer as long as you have documentation they need as evidence that you purchased.

I think sometimes, people are too lazy to RMA so they just return it to newegg who goes ahead and sells it as an open box item.