Conclusions
While the Asus N4L-VM DH motherboard is not going to the best option for everyone, it definitely has the right features, performance and power consumption to find its way into a lot of unique situations.
Performance
First, though the X2 4800+ processor was still the fastest performing part in the majority of our benchmarks, the T2600 processor did quite well for itself and made a good showing. For a CPU that was meant only for the mobile segment of the market, the Core Duo is nearly there in contending for the desktop crown as well. I am certain that if we could have overclocked this processor just a bit, or Intel had a couple higher speed grades of the T2000 series, that we would have been able to topple AMD’s hold on the desktop market in this article.
That didn’t happen, so we have to face facts and tell it like it is: the AMD X2 processor just performs better. That doesn’t mean the T2600 performed like a slouch at all — it was quite comparable and even won a handful of the tests in various areas of testing. Even with the dramatic memory performance deficiencies we saw in our synthetic memory tests, the T2600 was able to hold on and play with the big boys.
As for the Asus N4L-VM DH motherboard, it performed its part of this performance comparison beautifully. All of the motherboard subsystem tests we ran showed the board to be comparable to other modern chipsets in storage and I/O performance, as well as networking.
Overclocking
This is pretty much a dead subject as you no doubt guessed based our BIOS analysis earlier in the article. From what I have seen on other motherboards, the Core Duo processors are just as fun and overclockable as their Pentium M brethren are. The Asus N4L-VM DH motherboard just doesn’t have the ability to play in that way, so you get the processor you pay for in this case.
Features
The Asus N4L-VM motherboard isn’t bursting at the seams with extras and features like some other Asus boards we see, but the board still has the necessities to make it a quality motherboard for just about any application. The audio support and storage support fit in well with the HTPC crowd, as does the super lower power consumption and quiet operation. Even most desktop users should be fine with this motherboard as the basis for a main PC, though there are other options available for a Core Duo motherboard if you require more features.
Pricing and Availability
As of this writing, the availability of the Asus N4L-VM DH motherboard is pretty tight, mostly due to Asus knowing this is a very niche market and not wanting to flood the channel with boards that will only seriously interest a relatively few people. The board is bit more expensive than other mATX boards you’ll find due to the cost of the Intel chipset and licensing that is required to support a Core Duo product.
Final Thoughts
The Asus N4L-VM DH motherboard is not for everyone that much is true. It is an alternative platform option that Asus is offering based on the Core Duo 479-pin processor that we already know isn’t going to be around much longer with the coming of the Core 2 products that use the LGA775 socket. If you are looking for a fast system, that is also incredibly quiet and uses very little power, the Asus N4L-VM DH and a Core Duo processor make a great choice. I think I hear some HTPC builders cheering in the background?
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