[sak28wa]

After a (very) Long time of waiting and holding off on upgrading for just the right parts, the Mother of Mobo's has come to the door.

This Mobo will Rock your socks off baby!

A8N-SLI DeluxeSupports AMD Socket 939 Athlon 64FX/Athlon 64 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI
PCI Express Architecture
SATA 3Gb/s
Dual RAID
Dual Gigabit LAN & AI NET2
NV Firewall
AI NOS™
AI Audio (8-channel Audio)

SLI stands for (Scalable Link Interface) a technology that enables two PCI-Express cards on this motherboard which will greatly increase your gaming experience.

Among it's suite of goodies you'll find:

Support for up to 10 USB 2.0 ports, two IEEE 1394 interfaces, and an S/PDIF-out on the back I/O panel.

SATA 3Gb/s storage specification. The chipset has two dedicated SATA controllers delivering more scalable performance and doubles the bus bandwidth for fast hard drive data retrieval and saves.

It also has an integrated dual Gigabit LAN design, allowing a PC to serve as a network gateway. This ensures a rapid connection flow from WAN to LAN without any added arbitration or latency.
Along with the dual Gigabit Lan is ASUS's AI NET2 which remotely detects cable connection the second you turn on the system, any faulty connections are reported back up to 100 meters at 1 meter accuracy.

AI NOS™ (Non-delay Overclocking System) technology intelligently detects system load and automatically boosts performance for the most demanding tasks. Unlike other dynamic overclocking techniques, AI NOS™ reacts much faster to satisfy your unending need for speeds

8-channel audio output with Coaxial and optical S/PDIF connector designed to maximize your auditory experience. AI Audio also provides "Jack Sensing" and "UAJ" functions. "Jack Sensing" automatically detects and notifies user of any inappropriate connection. "UAJ" function enables both input and output functions each jacks, thus eliminates the confusion of Line-in, Line-out and Mic jacks.

CrashFree BIOS2 feature now includes the BIOS auto-recovery function in a support CD. Users can reboot their system through the support CD when a bootable disk is not available, and go through the simple BIOS auto-recovery process. The BIOS is also multi-language, allowing you to select the language of your choice. Helping you configure your system easier and faster.

Anyhoo... Here's the full specs without me babbling on about them..

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 duel 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 increments
- PCIe Frequency: allowing PCIe frequency from 100MHz up to 200MHz
at 1MHz increments.
and also:
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 FeaturesPost 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 BIOS4 Mb Flash ROM, AWARD BIOS, PnP, DMI2.0, WfM2.0, SM BIOS 2.3 Back Panel I/O Ports1 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 connectorSupport CDDrivers
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) AccessoriesSLI 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 FactorATX Form Factor, 12"x 9.6"(30.5cm x 24.5cm)


BTW: At the time of this posting, it has not been released for retail yet. Though Asus has said that it'll be out before Christmas 2004. So you can be what'll be on My Christmas List!!

http://www.asus.com/products/mb/socket939/a8nsli-d/overview.htm

[Chikitta]

Am I the only one who thinks SLI is a total waste of time at the moment?

The Asus A8N-E Premium nForce4 Ultra is looking nice though

[The_Neon_Cowboy]

Originally Posted by Chikitta

Am I the only one who thinks SLI is a total waste of time at the moment?

The Asus A8N-E Premium nForce4 Ultra is looking nice though

Yep it's a waste

What really sucks? Nforce4 = slower then Nforce3 ultra / KT800 PRO
But in fairness KT880 is slower the kt800 Pro....

WTF?? Other then being newer and haveing newer features newer support thier performance has went down???? thats messed up

[ToP3koms]

Looks interesting,tho I won't be looking to go SLI anytime soon.I will be waiting to see what offerings Abit will have in the Nforce4 solution before going PCI express.

[Vampyromaniac]

Originally Posted by The_Neon_Cowboy

What really sucks? Nforce4 = slower then Nforce3 ultra / KT800 PRO

Can I have a link for that info, I'm curious.

But in fairness KT880 is slower the kt800 Pro....

There is no "kt800" chipset.
There's a K8T800, but that is an Athlon 64 chipset, which obviously can't be compared to the KT880 (an AthlonXP chipset.)

[krips]

In all the compatisons Ive seen NF4 beats NF3 (by very very little mind you).

[tEckniks]

does this board support amd fx-55?

[tastyweat]

Originally Posted by Chikitta

Am I the only one who thinks SLI is a total waste of time at the moment?

The Asus A8N-E Premium nForce4 Ultra is looking nice though

Yeah waste of time with NV cards... if only we could have dual X800XT PEs!