If you want to build a fast system, a high-end motherboard is essential. With this in mind, ASUS' A8N-SLI Deluxe motherboard is one of the best money can buy. Loaded with features and management tools for powering AMD Athlon 64 processors, the mainboard includes dual Gigabit LAN with firewall protection, advanced RAID, nVidia SLI, Serial ATA, USB 2.0 and much more, making it a real tour de force. It's also an overclockers dream and even allows novices to overclock certain things from the comfort of Windows XP. The board even comes with an update utility for flashing the BIOS from Windows - finally gone are the murky days of DOS! If high-end performance and features are what you crave, the A8N-SLI Deluxe will provide in abundance.

Pros: Feature rich; SLI support; excellent management tools
Cons: An SLI graphics solution is expensive


If you're looking to replace your current motherboard, or even build a system from scratch, the model you choose can have a serious impact on your system's overall performance. ASUSTeK Computer's (ASUS) A8N-SLI Deluxe nForce4 SLI motherboard is about as powerful as they come, offering support for Socket 939 AMD Athlon 64 processors and nVidia Scalable Links Interface (SLI) graphics cards. As a result, the motherboard supports both 32- and 64-bit processor architecture, as well as AMD's Cool 'n' Quiet technology which dynamically changes the CPU speed, voltage and amount of power depending on the task the CPU performs.

The motherboard, or mainboard, is the main circuit board of a microcomputer. It also contains the connectors for attaching additional boards, such as graphics cards and sound cards. Typically, the motherboard contains the CPU, BIOS, memory, mass storage interfaces, serial and parallel ports, expansion slots, and all the controllers required to control standard peripheral devices, such as the display screen, keyboard, and hard disk drive. Collectively, all these chips that reside on the motherboard are known as the motherboard's chipset.

The A8N-SLI Deluxe is based on the ATX Form Factor (305x245mm) and is one of the first commercially availability SLI-compliant motherboards on the market. Developed by nVidia to improve graphic performance by around 90 percent with supported applications, SLI allows a single system to combine two identical nVidia graphics cards to scale system performance.

This technology takes advantage of the increased bandwidth of the PCI Express bus. Currently the ability to operate the GeForce 6600 GT, GeForce 6800 GT and GeForce 6800 Ultra in SLI mode is possible. While this technology has the power to almost double the frame rates when operating in SLI mode, you have to remember it will also cost twice as much.

The A8N-SLI Deluxe also incorporates ASUS's latest EZ technology. EZ Plug provides a dedicated, stable supply of power for graphics adapters when operating in dual PCI Express mode. This latest innovation should help to ensure both overall system stability and improved graphics card compatibility, even with the latest generation of high-consumption cards. As a result, system shut downs caused by video card instability should be prevented.

The A8N-SLI Deluxe also provides an LED to alert you when EZ Plug is required to help ensure your graphics cards run at full power without compromising overall system reliability. Another technology first is the first use of the company's EZ Selector technology. EZ Selector lets you quickly and easily switch between SLI mode and normal non-SLI mode using a three-step process. This helps to prevent damage to the cards and other components when inserting and removing the selector card.

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