ASUS A8N-SLI Premium

This nForce4 board was made for the tweaking power user, with a 9-step DIMM voltage control and a vcore modifier with a precision of 0.0125v.

This nForce4 board was made for the tweaking power user, with a 9-step DIMM voltage control and a vcore modifier with a precision of 0.0125v. These all greatly help in getting that perfect overclock, pushing your CPU as far as possible, pretty much right on the verge of collapse. Which is just damn cool, in a heated sort of way.

Speaking of which, the Northbridge on this board is cooled differently from the norm, with a heatpipe leading from the block on the Northbridge, right up and on to the MOSFETs next to the CPU. Here there is a small passive heatsink, designed to use the air from a CPU cooler to dissipate the heat.

SLI-compatible slots are generally close together, most measuring about 3.1cm of space between the two expansion slots. This is often too cosy, particularly when it comes to installing a 6800 Ultra setup. So instead the space here has been boosted to 5.3cm, reducing any problems with passing-on heat from one card to another and paving way for better airflow.

Overall, this is a more effective design, which allows for that extra bump in speed.

You also no longer need to flip around a PCB card on the board itself to enable SLI or Normal modes. Rather, it’s now all done via software, thanks to the beauty of electronics!

It’s certainly priced toward the high-end sector, but that’s where it belongs. If you want a powerful, solid platform for one rather beastly machine, discounting the AC’97 audio, with eight SATA channels, four DIMM slots, dual gigabit Ethernet and myriad other features, this motherboard brings the premium beef home. Lovely!