X-bit labs

NVIDIA Multi-GPU SLI Technology: New Approach to Old Ideas (page 6)

Category: Video

by Alexey Stepin , Yaroslav Lyssenko, Anton Shilov

[ 02/25/2005 | 02:15 PM ]

Meet the SLI System: ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe Mainboard

ASUSTeK Computer, the hardware manufacture of worldwide renown, offered us a kit consisting of two ASUS Extreme N6600 GT Series graphics cards and an ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe mainboard (based on the NVIDIA nForce4 SLI chipset). We’ll talk about the graphics cards shortly, but now let’s scrutinize the mainboard, the basis of our SLI platform.

Modest Luxury

The A8N-SLI Deluxe mainboard came to our test lab in its retail package: a simple black box with the manufacturer’s logo, the product’s name, and the symbol of ASUS Proactive technology. There are no gaudy pictures or transparent windows, no advertisements. Everything’s official and stylish, as becomes a high-end device. It’s only on the left side of the box that we find some more text – it is describing the mainboard’s technical characteristics that are truly very impressive.

The word “Deluxe” in the mainboard’s name sounded much to us – ASUS’s Deluxe series products usually come with luxurious accessories. This case was not an exception. Here’s what we found inside the box:

• ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe mainboard
• User manual
• Serial ATA bracket with two ports
• USB 2.0 bracket with two ports
• Bracket with two USB 2.0 and one Game port
• FireWire bracket (one port)
• COM bracket (one port)
• Eight Serial ATA cables
• Four Serial ATA power adapters
• 80-pin ATA-133 cable
• 40-pin ATA-33 cable
• FDD cable
• ATX bracket
• SLI adapter
• CD with ASUS’s exclusive software
• CD with InterVideo WinDVD Suite
• Sticker for the system case
• Sticker for the inner wall with a description of the jumpers
• ASUS Instant Music sticker

The contents of this package can satisfy any user, but we think a product of the Deluxe class might have been equipped with aerodynamic ATA and FDD cables, which ASUS didn’t include. There is no wireless adapter among the accessories which is a prerogative of ASUS’s Wireless Edition mainboards.