Asus A8N SLI Premium - NF4 SLI For AMD Refined
A8N SLI Premium Specs & Bundle
We probably haven't stressed this often enough, whether to you our faithful readers or to our OEM contacts in the PR and Product teams at various companies we work with here at HotHardware. But let it be known unequivocally now, we LOVE board revisions. Don't get us wrong, we're not losing it on you. We'd rather a manufacturer get their product right, out of the gate (and likely, so would they) but when a board revision means taking an already impressive product and making it better, it's sort of like a Tech Editor's nirvana; fewer headaches in testing, more performance, better features and usability. Wait, that's what end users are interested in too, isn't it? Great minds think alike we would say...
So, Asus did what we've been hoping many others in their competitive arena would do, take what is an already killer nForce 4 SLI for AMD based design and make it better. Better you say? How so? Let's take a collective look at the new Asus A8N SLI Premium and help you decide if it's better than its predecessor the A8N SLI Deluxe. "Deluxe", "Premium", it all sounds good but is the second gen product better? Judge for yourselves in the pages ahead.
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| Processor •_Socket 939 for AMD Athlon 64FX / Athlon 64 /Sempron/Athlon 64 X2 •_AMD Cool 'n' Quiet Technology Memory •_Four 184-pin DIMM sockets •_Support 4 DIMM Dual DDR 400/333/266 non-ECC memory •_Support 4 DIMM up to 4GB Max. Chipset •_NVIDIA NF4 SLI •_1GHz HyperTransport Link •_8GB/sec •_Integrated NV and NV Firewall NVRAID and Silicon Image SATA Controller •_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 NV and Marvell GbE LAN •_nForce4 built-in Gbit MAC with external Marvell PHY •_Marvell PCI Gbit LAN controller NV Firewall •_Native NVIDIA Firewall via NF4 SLI IEEE1394 •_Support IEEE 1394 at 400/200/100 Mb/s transfer rate 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 |
Audio •_Realtek ALC850, 8-ch High-Definition Audio CODEC •_Jack Sensing and Enumeration •_S/PDIF out interface Internal I/O Connectors •_3x 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 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 Back Panel I/O •_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 Package •_User's 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 data cables •_1 port 1394 module |
A quick take at the above specifications versus those of the Deluxe version of the A8N SLI, show a few major differences to an otherwise very similar configuration. First, Asus' new "AI Cool Pipe" technology has been incorporated into the design, offering completely silent operation, at least at the motherboard level. More details to follow on this. Second Asus has refined their dual PCI Express SLI Graphics approach with a jumperless and software/BIOS configurable solution, that no longer requires you to pull out and flip around a PCI Express configuration PCB in between the slots. Again we'll take a closer look at the technology behind this in the pages ahead.
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One thing is for certain, Asus isn't cutting back on their hardware and software bundle for the A8N SLI Premium. As is standard with most high end boards from Asus, the A8N SLI Premium comes packed with cables, additional USB, Firewire, SATA and other IO expansion brackets along with an Asus motherboard only keyed version of InterVideo WinDVD Suite. Within this multimedia pack comes DVD Copy 2.5, Disc Master 2.5, WinDVD Creator 2 and PhotoAlbum 1.0. Finally, the Asus utilities and drivers disc, in addition to all the required motherboard chipset drivers and such, also includes Asus' proprietary utilities like "AI Booster" for overclocking, "AI Selector" for Windows-based SLI configuration and PC Probe, Asus' Health Monitoring software.
