The PC Perspective Podcast is your weekly stop for the latest PC tech news and reviews! Give it a listen!

Introduction and Specifications

Note: You may also want to read our review of the Asus A8N32-SLI as it is the updated version of this board with a newer chipset and passive cooling.

Introduction

NVIDIA's SLI technology has been hyped enough already, so I won't get too much into that here again, just to say that SLI is what a lot of our readers have been waiting for since its announcement months ago.  The Asus A8N-SLI motherboard is the first motherboard to reach my testing lab to support this new multi-GPU technology and so it has a lot to live up to, not to mention that the standard motherboard analysis has to be done on the product as well. 

We'll start off with the Asus board specs:

Specifications (from Asus.com)

	CPU - Socket 939 for AMD Athlon 64FX / Athlon 64 - AMD64 architecture enables simultaneous 32- and 64-bit computing - Supports AMD Cool 'n' Quiet Technology Chipset NVIDIA nForce®4 SLI™ Front Side Bus 2000 MT/s, 1600MT/s Memory - 4 x 184-pin DIMM Sockets support max. 4GB DDR400/DDR333/DDR266 ECC/ non-ECC un-buffered DDR SDRAM memory - Dual Channel Memory Architecture Expansion Slots - 2 x PCI Express x16 slot *SLI mode : x8 , x8 *Default(Single VGA) mode : x16, x1 - 2 x PCI Express x1 - 3 x PCI SLI - Under SLI mode : support two SLI-ready graphics cards* - Under Default(Single VGA) mode: supports all PCI Express graphics cards - ASUS EZ Plug - ASUS SLI Warning LED - ASUS EZ Selector - ASUS two-slot thermal design - ASUS PEG Link for dual PCIe graphic cards Storage/ RAID nForce4 Storage: - 4 x SATA 3Gb/s - 2 x UltraDMA 133/100/66/33 - NVRAID : RAID0, RAID1, RAID 0+1 and JBOD span cross SATA and PATA Silicon Image 3114R RAID controller: - 4 x Serial ATA with RAID0, 1, 0+1, 5 (RAID 5 software patch available, no WHQL) LAN nForce4 built-in Gbit MAC with external Marvell PHY : - NV ActiveArmor - NV Firewall - AI NET2 MARVELL PCI Gbit LAN controller : - AI NET2 Audio Realtek ALC850, 8-channel CODEC Audio Sensing and Enumeration Technology Coaxial/Optical S/PDIF out ports on back I/O IEEE 1394 TI 1394 controller supports 2 x 1394 ports USB Max. 10 USB2.0 ports ASUS AI Proactive Features AI NOS(Non-delay Overclocking System) AI NET2 network diagnosis before entering OS Overclocking Features AI NOS? (Non-delay Overclocking System) AI Overclocking (intelligent CPU frequency tuner) ASUS PEG Link for single/dual graphics cards Precision Tweaker: - vDIMM: 9-step DRAM voltage control - vCore: Adjustable CPU voltage at 0.0125 increment - SFS (Stepless Frequency Selection): allowing FSB tuning from 200MHz up to 400MHz at 1MHz increment - PCIe Frequency: allowing PCIe frequency from 100MHz up to 200MHz at 1MHz increment Adjustable FSB/DDR ratio. Fixed PCIe/PCI/SATA frequencies. ASUS PEG Link for single/dual graphics cards ASUS C.P.R.(CPU Parameter Recall) ASUS Special Features Post Reporter ASUS EZFlash ASUS CrashFree BIOS 2 ASUS Q-Fan ASUS MyLogo2 ASUS Multilanguage BIOS ASUS Instant Music ASUS SLI warning LED ASUS EZ Selector ASUS EZ Plug BIOS 4 Mb Flash ROM, AWARD BIOS, PnP, DMI2.0, WfM2.0, SM BIOS 2.3 Back Panel I/O Ports 1 x Optical + 1 x Coaxial S/PDIF Output 1 x PS/2 Keyboard 1 x PS/2 Mouse 1 x Parallel 2 x RJ45 1 x 1394 4 x USB 2.0/1.1 8-Channel Audio I/O Internal I/O Connectors - 1 x SLI selector card connector - 3 x USB 2.0 connector supports additional 6 USB 2.0 ports - 1 x IEEE1394 connectors - 1 x Paraller connector - 1 x COM connector - 1 x GAME/MIDI connector - CPU Fan / 2x Chassis Fan/ Power Fan/ Chipset Fan connectors - Front panel audio connector - Chassis Intrusion connector - CD audio-in connector - 24-pin ATX Power connector - 4-pin ATX 12V Power connector Support CD Drivers ASUS PC Probe - PC Health Monitoring Software ASUS LiveUpdate Utility ASUS AI Booster ASUS Cool ' n' Quiet Utility NVIDIA nTune Utility Anti-virus software (OEM version) Accessories SLI connector 1 x 1-port IEEE1394 module 1 x SLI retention bracket 8 x Serial ATA cables 1 x SATA Extension module for external devices 4 x 2-port SATA power cable 1 x 2-port USB2.0 / Game module 1 x 2-port USB2.0 module 1 x COM Port module 1 x UltraDMA 133/100/66 cable 1 x IDE cable 1 x FDD cable 1 x I/O Shield User's manual Setting Sticker WinDVD Suite Form Factor ATX Form Factor, 12"x 9.6"(30.5cm x 24.5cm)

Next Page - Board Layout and Features

Review Index:
- Select - Summary Introduction and Specifications Board Layout and Features SLI Setup Included Extras and Software BIOS Features BIOS Features (cont'd) Overclocking and System Setup Synthetic: SiSoft Sandra, AIDA32 and Cachemem Gaming: Quake III and Unreal Tournament 2003 Gaming: X2 and 3D Marks Gaming: Doom 3 and Far Cry 1.3 Application: Business and Content Creation Winstones Application: DivX and MP3 Encoding, WinRAR and PC Mark Professional: Cinebench 2003, KribiBench 1.1 and SPECviewperf Scientific: ScienceMark 2.0 Beta Conclusions