|  Articles | ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Review | ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Review | NGO Review: ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Published on July 26th, 2005
Introduction
Today I’m lucky enough to get the chance to try out the new
A8N-SLI Premium motherboard from Asus. The A8N-SLI Premium board is
based on the popular nVidia nForce 4-SLI chipset. I think most people
know that Asus is among the world biggest supplier of motherboards,
shipping 40 million in 2004. That’s a very impressive figure.
Asus builds their motherboards with top quality parts and they tend to
be very overclocker friendly. As you all know, the PC industry is a
fast changing industry and Asus is a company that are usually among the
first to introduce the new technology to the consumers. There are 3
different versions of Asus A8N-SLI motherboards, the A8N-SLI, A8N-SLI-E
Deluxe and the A8N-SLI Premium. The biggest difference is that the
Premium boards now feature the Asus Heat Pipe technology which offers
better head room for overclocking. This board has so many features that
it should satisfy the most hardcore user out there.
The nForce4 chipset was released by the nVidia in October 2004 and the
nForce4 SLI is the top of the line. The unique low-latency architecture
of the nForce4 SLI MCPs offers one of the industry’s best
core-logic solution with outstanding performance and the latest
technologies such as: SLI, PCI Express, secure high-speed
networking, and
high-performance storage and ensures you that your PC is ready
for some serious gaming.
ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Specifications
CPU: Socket 939 for AMD Athlon 64FX / Athlon 64 /Sempron / Athlon 64 X2
Chipset: NVIDIA nForce4 SLI
Front Side Bus: 2000/1600 MT/s
Memory: 4 x DIMM, max. 4GB, DDR 400/333/266, ECC, non-ECC, un-buffered
memory, Dual Channel Architecture.
Expansion Slots:
2 x PCI-E x16
- SLI mode: x8, x8
- Default (single VGA): x16, x1
1 * PCI-E x 1/ 1*PCI-E x 4(x2 mode)
3 x PCI
Storage/RAID: nForce4: 4 x SATA 3Gb/s
NVRAID: RAID0, RAID1, RAID0+1 and JOBD span cross SATA and PATA
2 x UltraDMA 133/100
Silicon Image 3114R RAID controller
4x SATA with RAID0, 1, 10, 5
Audio: Realtek ALC850, 8-ch High-Definition Audio CODEC
LAN: nForce4 built-in Gbit MAC with external Marvell PHY MARVELL PCI
Gbit LAN controller
Other ASUS Special Features:
ASUS AI Cool-Pipe
ASUS AI Selector
ASUS AI NOS
ASUS AI NET 2
ASUS SLI warning LED
ASUS AI Overclocking
ASUS PEG Link for single/dule graphics cards
ASUS Precision Tweaker
ASUS EZ Flash
ASUS MyLogo2
ASUS C.P.R.
ASUS POST Reporter
ASUS Q-Fan2
ASUS Multi-language BIOS
ASUS CrashFree BIOS 2
ASUS Instant Music
ASUS EZ Plug
Back Panel I/O Ports:
1 x Parallel
1 x PS/2 Keyboard
1 x PS/2 Mouse
1 x Audio I/O
2 x RJ45
1 x S/PDIF Out (Coaxial)
1 x S/PDIF Out (Optical)
4 x USB
1 x IEEE1394
Internal I/O Connectors:
3 x USB connectors supports additional 6 USB ports
SLI selector card connector
CPU / Chassis FAN connectors
24-pin ATX Power connector
4-pin ATX 12V Power connector
Chassis Intrusion connector
3-pin PWR FAN connector
1 x IEEE1394 ports
4-pin EZ Plug power connector
GAME/MIDI connector
COM2 connector
Front panel High Definition Audio connector
BIOS: 4 Mb Flash ROM, Award BIOS, PnP, DMI2.0, WfM2.0, SM BIOS 2.3
Support CD:
Drivers
ASUS PC Probe
AI Booster
Anti-Virus Software
InterVideo WinDVD Suite
NVIDIA nTune Utility
ASUS LiveUpdate
NVIDIA nForce4 SLI Technical
Specifications (AMD)
Networking
Native Gigabit Ethernet technology
• The fastest Gigabit Ethernet solution in the market
• Supports 10/100/1000Base-T Ethernet
o RGMII or MII interface
Advanced networking features
• TCP segmentation offloads
• Jumbo frames
• Checksum offloads
• Interrupt moderation
• Traffic prioritization
• Remote wake-up
• Network management for easy set up, configuration, and monitoring
Security
NVIDIA ActiveArmor Secure Networking Engine
• Dedicated hardware engine
• Enhances network security
• Reduces CPU overhead
• Powers and accelerates NVIDIA Firewall
ActiveArmor Firewall technology
• Industry’s first true hardware-based firewall
• Unmatched performance and protection
o Instant-on and tamper resistant
• Advanced management features through user friendly interface
o Remote access, configuration, monitoring
o Command line interface (CLI)
o Intelligent application management
o Instant-on and tamper resistant
Storage
• RAID 0 disk striping support for highest system and application
performance
• RAID 1 disk mirroring support for fault tolerance
• RAID 0 +1 disk striping and mirroring support for highest
performance with fault tolerance
• Disk alert system provides a visual indication so users know
exactly which hard drive to replace during an array failure
• Morphing allow users to change the current state of an array to
another using one single step without reboot of the PC
• Cross-controller RAID uniquely supports both SATA and PATA disk
devices within a single array
Serial ATA
• Support for SATA 3Gb/s, 1.5Gb/s disk controller standards
• Dual controller architecture providing full 3Gb/s bandwidth to
each disk
• Features 4 integrated SATA 3Gb/s ports
Fast Ultra ATA-133 Disk Drive Controller
• 5V-tolerant primary and secondary channels, with support for up
to four devices
• Supports UltraDMA modes 6-0 (UltraDMA 33/66/100/133)
• Industry-standard PCI bus master IDE register set
• Separate independent IDE connections for 5V-tolerant primary and
secondary interfaces
Connectivity
PCI Express interface
• PCI Express high-performance, scalable interconnect. Rapidly
being adopted by the PC industry, designed to replace the AGP and PCI
interconnects currently in use.
• x16 PCI Express link has 4 times the total bandwidth of
today’s AGP 8X interface
• x16 PCI Express link for high-performance graphics cards
featuring the latest graphics processors with Microsoft DirectX 9
Shader Model 3.0 support
• Additional x1 PCI Express links for other add-in cards
• VC1 support on all links provide guaranteed bandwidth to CPU for
time-sensitive applications USB 2.0
• USB 2.0 Enhanced Host Controller Interface (EHCI)/dual and USB
1.1 Open Host Controller Interface (OHCI)
• Support for up to 10 ports
• Supports transfer rates at high speed (480 Mbps), full speed (12
Mbps), and low speed (1.2 Mbps)
• Dynamically configures slower devices for best utilization of
bandwidth
• Allows USB concurrency
PCI interface
• Integrates a fast PCI-to-PCI bridge running at 33 MHz. Includes
an arbiter that supports six external master PCI slots.
• Features of the PCI interface include:
o PCI 2.3-compliant, 5 V tolerant
o Supports six external PCI slots at 33 MHz
o Supports six bus master arbitration PCI master and slave interfaces
o Supports both master-initiated and slave-initiated terminations
o Bidirectional write posting support for concurrency
o Flexible routing of all four PCI interrupts
o Supports read ahead: memory read line (MRL) and memory read multiple
(MRM)
Performance
HyperTransport technology
• 16 x 16 link running at 1GHz for extremely high throughput
(8.0GB/sec)
• Differential lines with low voltage swings
AUDIO
AC ’97 2.3 compliant interface
• Supports 2, 4, 6, or 8-channel audio
• Dual AC-Link: supports up to two codecs
• Dual S/PDIF: supports two simultaneous digital outputs, handles
stereo PCM or AC-3 output
• 16-bit or 20-bit stereo, 48kHz output and 16-bit input streams
across AC-Link
• 24-bit, 96kHz stereo output on the secondary S/PDIF output
• Supports input, output, and general purpose input/output (GPIO)
channels for host-based modems
• Separate independent functions for audio and modem
Mobility
• Power management
• Full support for AMD PowerNow! technology
• ACPI 2.0 compliant
• Support for ACPI C3 state
• Low-power 0.15 micron process
• Maximizing real estate efficiency enabling small form factor
designs
o Single-chip solution
o Lower latency for higher performance
Scalable Link Interface (SLI)
SLI is a method for linking two (or possibly more) video cards together
to produce a single output. Back in 1998 3dfx introduced a technology
called Scan Line Interleave and was used in the Voodoo 2 line of
graphics technology. With the introduction of the NV40 nVidia
reintroduced the technology in 2004. With SLI, it is possible to
roughly double the amount of graphic power just by adding a second
video card. A single GPU is supported by an x16 PCIe slot, which can be
reprogrammed to two x8 PCIe slots to support two video cards in SLI
mode. The Forceware drivers distribute the workload in 2 ways, SFR
(Split Frame Rendering this splits the workload 50/50 between the 2
GPUs and AFR (Alternate Frame Rendering) in which one GPU processes the
current frame, while the next frame is processed by the second card.
The Package
- Users manual
- UltraDMA cable
- IDE cable
- FDD cable
- 2-port USB module
- COM Port module
- SLI connector
- SLI retention bracket
- 2-port USB / Game module
- I/O shield
- SATA Power cables
- SATA Extension module
- SATA cables
- 1 port 1394 module
- Asus Driver CD
- WINDVD Suite
The box comes in a neat looking package. Relevant information on the
back of the box and if you flip it up even more information can be
found. Once you slide the cover the inside of the box is all black.
This board is loaded with goodies, I honestly think that they
didn’t miss anything. You get 8 SATA cables and 6 SATA power
plugs. They have also provided a back plate so that you can connect
external SATA drives if you desire. Toss in 4 USB ports, 1 fire wire
port.1 serial port and 1 midi port.
Asus chose to remove the SLI connector between the PCI slots that lets
you switch between Single and Dual card modes, with this new
motherboard it’s completely automated. I honestly hope that other
motherboard makers learn from Asus how things should be done. This
decision also makes it easier to install 2 graphics cards. Currently to
my knowledge, Asus is the only manufacturer that has this feature. The
A8N has more room between the 2 PCI-E slots, improving on airflow,
which helps keep the dual cards cooler.
As you can see there is quite a bit room between the 2 PCI-E slots.
Notice the red light?? That is the onboard warning light if you choose
not to connect a 4-pin ATX power cable to the EZ plug when running SLI.
A closer look
As you can see the Asus A8N-SLI Premium board is loaded with features,
the board supports AMD Athlon 64, FX55/57, and the Dual Core AMD X2. It
supports 2000/1600 MT/s Hyper Transport Bus for fast communications
between the system components.
LAN support comes in 2 forms on the A8N, a built in nForce Gbit adapter
with the built in NV firewall, and AI NET2 and the Marvell Gbit LAN
controller. I think its great having a hardware firewall built into the
board. It should be safer having it onboard as compared to a software
firewall solution. The A8N audio is powered by the Realtek ACL850
codec. It offers 8-channel sound with both analog and SPDIF
connections. The A8N supports up to 10 USB 2.0 ports. The USB 2.0 ports
are backward compatible with USB 1.0.
When it comes to storage support, the Asus A8N-SLI Premium board offers
8 SATA connections and 2 UltraDMA connections. 4 SATA connections via
its native nVraid offers Raid 0, 1, 0+1 and JBOD spans across SATA and
PATA, the remaining 4 SATA connections incorporate the Silicon Image
3114R Raid offering Raid 0, 1, 0+1 and Raid 5.
Here you see the main power connector side by side with the floppy
connector and the 2 UDMA connectors.
This is a better view of the 8 SATA
ports.
The Asus A8N-SLI Premium supports up to 4GB of DDR400/DDR333/DDR266
ECC/ non-ECC and un-buffered DDR memory.
If you need standard PCI slots, you have 3 of them to fill with
whatever you desire.
As I mentioned before, the Asus A8N-SLI Premium board features AI
Cool-Pipe technology, now you don’t have to worry about the
chipset fan breaking (there was however a problem on the Asus A8N-SLI
and SLI-E deluxe, Asus replaced those fans with new ones though).
The AI Cool-Pipe includes a radiator that is placed on the chipset
which connects to another radiator located near the CPU. The second
radiator benefits from the airflow generated by the CPU fan for
additional cooling.
As you can see, the XP-90 fits easily on the Asus A8N-SLI Premium and I
believe that if you have an XP-120 it’s still going to fit
perfectly.
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