nForce4 SLI Motherboards: Premium Performance at a Bargain Price
by Gary Key on January 3, 2006 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Final Words
The Asus A8N-SLI Premium deserves serious consideration if you are looking to build a feature-rich solution and can live with average overclocking performance compared to the more expensive DFI NF4 SLI-DR and Asus A8N32-SLI boards. The stock performance is equal to or better than either board at less cost. The board ships with an extensive accessory package and proved to be extremely stable in all test areas.
The Foxconn NF4SK8AA offers solid performance, very good stability, and an attractive feature set for the price. While the board produced average results, it was still very competitive with all offerings except in overclocking performance. The board is obviously well built and has a wonderful layout. The accessory package included was very good and ensures that most drive configurations can be handled without additional purchases.
The Albatron K8SLI is a very interesting board as it offers good performance with a minimal feature set. The board layout is very compact while still providing SLI capability. If you want to set up a LAN party system with SLI, then this board will allow you to use the smaller ATX cases without issue. The accessory package was minimal and included the standard IDE/Floppy drive cables, but only one SATA cable and power connector. In fact, the system does not come with the nForce4 RAID drivers on a floppy. Other websites have reported issues getting Windows XP to load on a RAID 0 partition. We were able to load XP on our Maxtor RAID 0 setup with the 6.70 drivers, but could not load the same image consistently on our WD Raptor configuration. We have contacted Albatron regarding this issue.
With that said, let's move on to our performance opinions regarding these boards.
In the video area, all boards offer and fully support SLI operation. The Asus board utilizes Pericom switches that allow the board to be configurable on the fly in either single X16 or Dual X8 PCI Express SLI Graphics mode. In our tests, the board was capable of differentiating between a single SLI capable video card, two SLI compatible video cards, and two video cards operating independently of each other. Asus includes their AI Selector software that allows you to set up your video card mode within Windows. You still need to use the SLI bridge on SLI compatible video cards and setup SLI mode within the NVIDIA drivers.
The Foxconn board utilizes the traditional paddle card method to switch between single and dual card mode. The Albatron board takes a slightly different approach with SLI switching. While Albatron's method is referred to as digital switching, in reality the two PCI-E x16 slots are pre-routed with 8 lanes each. This means that your single video card is only running in PCI-E x8 mode. We did not notice any performance degradation at our stock benchmark resolutions, but with the right application and resolution, you could see a performance drop.
In the on-board audio area, the Asus and Foxconn boards utilize the Realtek ALC850 while the Albatron board utilizes the Realtek ALC655 codec. The audio output of these codecs in the music, video, and gaming areas is sub-par while performance in games is decent. If you plan on playing on-line or value audio quality, we highly suggest a dedicated sound card at this time, but the onboard capabilities of these chipsets will satisfy the majority of office users.
In the storage area, the Asus board offers the greatest amount of storage options with additional SATA ports from the Silicon Image 3114R chipset. The Asus and Foxconn boards offer the standard ten NVIDIA USB ports while Albatron offers eight. Only Asus packages the external USB panels that allow you to take advantage of the USB connectors. You are limited to four USB ports on the Albatron and Foxconn boards unless you purchase the external panels. The Asus also offers two IEEE 1394a ports via the TI 1394a chipset. However, we believe that Firewire 800 should have been offered on the Asus board, since it is their premium offering.
In the performance area, the Albatron and Foxconn boards offer solid performance, very good stability, and decent feature sets for the price. In fact, if you are looking for basic SLI capability, then either board would be a bargain compared to the more expensive Asus board. At this time we would recommend the Foxconn board over the Albatron board due to the RAID 0 issues and a more extensive feature set for slightly more money. However, if NVIDIA SLI is not your priority, then we still recommend the Asus A8R-MVP as the value and performance leader for the AMD enthusiast.
The Asus A8N-SLI stood out from the rest of the field by consistently offering the best overall performance of the boards tested and, at times, exceeding those of the more expensive DFI and Asus flagship boards. If you require a fully featured board and can live with its overclocking capabilities, then the Asus board should be at the top of your list. In this case, a premium price does ensure premium performance.
The Asus A8N-SLI Premium deserves serious consideration if you are looking to build a feature-rich solution and can live with average overclocking performance compared to the more expensive DFI NF4 SLI-DR and Asus A8N32-SLI boards. The stock performance is equal to or better than either board at less cost. The board ships with an extensive accessory package and proved to be extremely stable in all test areas.
The Foxconn NF4SK8AA offers solid performance, very good stability, and an attractive feature set for the price. While the board produced average results, it was still very competitive with all offerings except in overclocking performance. The board is obviously well built and has a wonderful layout. The accessory package included was very good and ensures that most drive configurations can be handled without additional purchases.
The Albatron K8SLI is a very interesting board as it offers good performance with a minimal feature set. The board layout is very compact while still providing SLI capability. If you want to set up a LAN party system with SLI, then this board will allow you to use the smaller ATX cases without issue. The accessory package was minimal and included the standard IDE/Floppy drive cables, but only one SATA cable and power connector. In fact, the system does not come with the nForce4 RAID drivers on a floppy. Other websites have reported issues getting Windows XP to load on a RAID 0 partition. We were able to load XP on our Maxtor RAID 0 setup with the 6.70 drivers, but could not load the same image consistently on our WD Raptor configuration. We have contacted Albatron regarding this issue.
With that said, let's move on to our performance opinions regarding these boards.
In the video area, all boards offer and fully support SLI operation. The Asus board utilizes Pericom switches that allow the board to be configurable on the fly in either single X16 or Dual X8 PCI Express SLI Graphics mode. In our tests, the board was capable of differentiating between a single SLI capable video card, two SLI compatible video cards, and two video cards operating independently of each other. Asus includes their AI Selector software that allows you to set up your video card mode within Windows. You still need to use the SLI bridge on SLI compatible video cards and setup SLI mode within the NVIDIA drivers.
The Foxconn board utilizes the traditional paddle card method to switch between single and dual card mode. The Albatron board takes a slightly different approach with SLI switching. While Albatron's method is referred to as digital switching, in reality the two PCI-E x16 slots are pre-routed with 8 lanes each. This means that your single video card is only running in PCI-E x8 mode. We did not notice any performance degradation at our stock benchmark resolutions, but with the right application and resolution, you could see a performance drop.
In the on-board audio area, the Asus and Foxconn boards utilize the Realtek ALC850 while the Albatron board utilizes the Realtek ALC655 codec. The audio output of these codecs in the music, video, and gaming areas is sub-par while performance in games is decent. If you plan on playing on-line or value audio quality, we highly suggest a dedicated sound card at this time, but the onboard capabilities of these chipsets will satisfy the majority of office users.
In the storage area, the Asus board offers the greatest amount of storage options with additional SATA ports from the Silicon Image 3114R chipset. The Asus and Foxconn boards offer the standard ten NVIDIA USB ports while Albatron offers eight. Only Asus packages the external USB panels that allow you to take advantage of the USB connectors. You are limited to four USB ports on the Albatron and Foxconn boards unless you purchase the external panels. The Asus also offers two IEEE 1394a ports via the TI 1394a chipset. However, we believe that Firewire 800 should have been offered on the Asus board, since it is their premium offering.
In the performance area, the Albatron and Foxconn boards offer solid performance, very good stability, and decent feature sets for the price. In fact, if you are looking for basic SLI capability, then either board would be a bargain compared to the more expensive Asus board. At this time we would recommend the Foxconn board over the Albatron board due to the RAID 0 issues and a more extensive feature set for slightly more money. However, if NVIDIA SLI is not your priority, then we still recommend the Asus A8R-MVP as the value and performance leader for the AMD enthusiast.
The Asus A8N-SLI stood out from the rest of the field by consistently offering the best overall performance of the boards tested and, at times, exceeding those of the more expensive DFI and Asus flagship boards. If you require a fully featured board and can live with its overclocking capabilities, then the Asus board should be at the top of your list. In this case, a premium price does ensure premium performance.
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Gary Key - Tuesday, January 3, 2006 - link
Corrected. I apologize for that error and the previous mention of DDR2 in the Asus memory section. My right side brain was thinking DDR but the Intel side of the brain was typing DDR2. ;->
JarredWalton - Tuesday, January 3, 2006 - link
Nah, these are M2! Seriously, though, thanks - busted Gary on the copy/paste, eh? Although he did get the memory speeds right, so you can't go too hard on him. :)Martrox - Tuesday, January 3, 2006 - link
I've got a K8SLi that I picked up for $80. I'm currently running a 3000+ Venice at 2610(9x290) memory set to 166fsb(TCCD 2x512)2.5,3,3,7. Running 7800GT's SLi'ed with absolutely no problems.......Wish the voltage options were better, but it does work pretty well.lopri - Tuesday, January 3, 2006 - link
The title says, and the article begins with "Premium performance at bargain price" then it ended up praising (and recommending) ASUS board. The ASUS board doesn't belong to same ground as that of the other two boards, and the price of the board certainly proves it. In the first page how affordable NF4-SLI boards have become is mentioned ($70), then compare 2 value boards with a premium board($170)? What's the point of this review? Did ASUS ask to boost the "A8N-SLI Premium" board since they can't meet the demand of "A8N32-SLI"?I'm sorry but as an avid AT reader/forumer, I should say this review is totally off. It's nothing but an ASUS PR presentation. Also, it's been pointed out many times lately, but according to AT reviews, every single board on the market is a "great overclocker," "dark-horse," "keeper," "enthusiast-targeted". Everytime AT reviews a motherboard they miraculously find something to compliment and that becomes the main point of the article.
It's almost up to the point that I no longer completely trust AT motherboard reviews. I'm sorry to say this, especially the author of this specific article, but my comment is more general towards the whole AT motherboard team. (Wesley, Jared, et. al)
Is this going to continue? (Sigh..)
JarredWalton - Tuesday, January 3, 2006 - link
Just curious, Lopri, but you did notice that the Foxconn and Albatron received a recommendation based on price, right? There are people that want all the features of something like the ASUS Premium, and they're willing to pay for it. All three motherboards here are pretty decent, though, and while I didn't write the article I'm a little confused as to how this is seen as a PR piece.To a certain extent, all reviews are a form of PR. Companies send us a product and we review it. We review other products sometimes, but generally speaking we review the products that we get sent. The only things that really separates these boards from each other are features and overclocking capability. In most of the benchmarks, scores are close enough that you needn't lose sleep over the difference.
Wesley Fink - Tuesday, January 3, 2006 - link
We've complained plenty about the ATI SB450 southbrudge (poor USB 2.0 performance) even though we like the ATI chipset in general. We've also complained loudly about nVidia's mediocre AC'97 audio on their top boards when ATI and ULi are delivering hooks for HD Azalia in their AMD chipsets.Frankly, until very recently Asus had not had a really great AMD board since the Socket A days - they hadn't won a single AMD roundup in quite a while. Asus rested on really great Intel boards. Recently Asus got very serious about the AMD market and the A8N32-SLI Deluxe is a great board. So is the A8R-MVP at the price point of around $100. However, as another recent review clearly showed, the Asus 6150 is pretty pedestrian and not a great choice for a multimedia PC with all the important multimedia stuff an extra cost option.
A lot of the real crap boards we see get pulled from the market before release and our review never sees the light of day. An example is the original Asus Premium reviewed here, which was a terrible overclocker due to the switches that replaced the paddle for SLI switching. When we complained to Asus they decided to hold off release of the board and rework the switching. The result is the board reviewed here which is a huge improvement. Oddly, it overclocks FSB very well but really does not do a great job in overclocking memory. The A8N32-SLI Deluxe is still the better board for the Enthusiast.
The motherboard team really cares about the products, and they aren't looking for a sensational story like some other sites. We could write Inquirer-like exposes on plenty of the early BIOS' we receive, but we prefer to work with the manufacturer to try to resolve the issues on production boards. If we can't get things to work we ask lots of questions before we assume we are Gods and the board is junk. But if it's junk or just all hype in the end, we'll tell you that.
We began testing features more in-depth because the memory controller on the AMD CPU greatly reduced the performance variations we used to see in motherboards. Also most manufacturers have gotten more serious about going after the Enthusiast who is our basic reader. That's the reason you're seeing so many really good overclockers these days. Just when we think it can't get any better another board sets some new record. However there are lots of boards out there below these standards, and we do tell you that when we review them.
mindless1 - Tuesday, January 3, 2006 - link
I see nothing wrong with this concept, makes plenty of sense.I would not however consider this to be "Premium Performance at a Bargain Price". Back in the socket A days an AMD platform at a bargin price was $50-70 for your basic nForce2, of course a little higher when first deputed. It's very hard to make an argument that any board over $100 is bargain in this age with so many of the features chipset-integral.
If anything, the typical trends of motherboard features and performance are still holding true but at a far worse bargain than ever before. SLI should not cost much more except for the smaller market segment.
On a side note- Cooling the Asus board by moving the heat from the southbridge to the hottest zone on the board just to save a fan is a really bad idea. Almost seems like an afterthought for marketing purposes. Given the space that thing takes up they should've just use a giant low-profile passive 'sink if they really needed to stay fanless.
mindless1 - Tuesday, January 3, 2006 - link
"... by moving the heat from the southbridge"I too would like an edit function. ;-)
Beenthere - Tuesday, January 3, 2006 - link
...Mobo for the vast majority of PC users as the article states. Most people have no need or use for SLI and have no interest in paying a premium price for SLI when they will never use it. SLI is a gimmick for gamers and nothing more. If you want it, buy it, but I highly doubt mainstream PC users will cough up $170 bucks or more for SLI when you can have Asus's A8R-MVP Crossfire Mobo for $101. from Mwave.The $70. you save could go toward a nice Vid card and the A8R-MVP overclocks every bit as good as the SLI boards and performs better than all of the SLI Mobos per Wesley Finks recent review.
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2617">http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2617
At $101. mainstream PC users can have the best performance, overclocking and not even worry about paying a premium for Crossfire or dual graphics cards. If in the future they really desire to blow more dough on a second video card, they could, but there would not be a price penalty for purchasing the superior A8R-MVP Mobo like there is with any of the SLI rigs.
Some1ne - Wednesday, January 4, 2006 - link
I agree, I feel that the article makes some unfounded and moreover highly irresponsible statements, such as "in fact, the current price structure almost ensures that your nForce4 purchase should be an SLI-capable motherboard." SLI is not worth it in any way, shape, or form from any cost/performance standpoint, unless you happen to be the enthusiast user who wants the highest possible performance available today no matter the cost. For everyone else SLI is worthess...and yet how many new users are going to go out and waste their cash on an SLI board because of statements made in the article like the one above?Irresponsible, and not backed up by any solid evidence. It's like the author started off with the assumption that SLI = good, so therefore any affordable SLI board is also good. It doesn't work like that though.