ASUS A8N-SLI Premium nForce4 SLI Review

Because not everyone wants to use SLI, the switch used to turn SLI mode on or off has proven to be somewhat inconvenient. Used by practically all nForce4 motherboards, it splits the 16 PCI Express lanes used for graphics into two physical x16 PCIe slots, with eight lanes enabled for each. Since the switch is in hardware, changing a system from single to dual graphics in SLI mode requires opening the system. Sometimes accessing the switch even requires that one of the graphics boards be removed.

The A8N-SLI Premium is another offering in the Asus line of nForce4 motherboards, and it is designed to simplify SLI handling. The new board allows the special dual-graphics mode to be enabled or disabled within the BIOS setup program, or by using a little Asus utility in Windows XP.

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The Asus nForce4 product range now starts with the A8N-SLI and goes up to the Deluxe and Premium editions, with the last being the most expensive variant. At CeBIT, competitor MSI already showcased a Pentium 4 based nForce4 motherboard that allows for SLI switching without touching the hardware. However, since that was a prototype only, Asus has a nice unique selling point right now.

Unlike virtually all P4 motherboards, Socket 939 Athlon 64 motherboards should easily be able to host a dual core processor, based on the Athlon 64 Toledo core targeted for 2H05. All you should need to do is install an updated BIOS version. From this point of view, the investment in a rather expensive motherboard is easier to justify.

ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Allows SLI to be Enabled in Software
Toms Hardware