NVIDIAs nForce4 SLI chipset with two PCI-Express x16 slots (in either 16x1 or 8x8 configuration), SATA2 RAID, IEEE 1394a Firewire and Gigabit Ethernet.
That right? It says the same on down in the specs :?
Originally Posted by adambrennan NVIDIAs nForce4 SLI chipset with two PCI-Express x16 slots (in either 16x1 or 8x8 configuration), SATA2 RAID, IEEE 1394a Firewire and Gigabit Ethernet.
That right? It says the same on down in the specs :?
Yes, that's right. When SLI mode is enabled, you get two x8 lanes. :)
Yea it's the version in between the bling bling two fan'd Fatality AN8 SLI and the no frill KN8 SLI. The fatality edn offers a lot more over this one though.
You know, I really like this board, it's got a price point that I can agree with and it's pretty much targeted at someone like me.
I still don't understand why you guys gripe about the lack of dual ethernet. I've NEVER had to use more than a single ethernet port. The only reason I could see two be needed is to use the computer as a router. In which case, what does it need SLI for? Also, what do you need more than 4 SATA ports for? We lived with 4 PATA ports for a long time without problems. So in my eyes 4 SATA + 4 PATA = a whole lot of hds and dvd burners.
If I hadn't already bought an ASUS A8N-E, I would buy this one immediately.
Originally Posted by Reaper_Unreal I still don't understand why you guys gripe about the lack of dual ethernet. I've NEVER had to use more than a single ethernet port. The only reason I could see two be needed is to use the computer as a router. In which case, what does it need SLI for?
They're useful when you are on two networks. A while ago I had an internal network and an external one (external was connected to the internet). On my internal I would open my computer right up and allow permissions so that any other computer connected to the same network could communicate. On the external network I had everything locked down so alls you could do was go online.
Dual ethernet can be very useful ;) Hell, my current board (A7N8X-E) has three ethernet connections (well, one gigabit, one 10/100, and one wifi), so you never know what kind of crazy connections you can have going ;)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Reaper_Unreal Also, what do you need more than 4 SATA ports for? We lived with 4 PATA ports for a long time without problems. So in my eyes 4 SATA + 4 PATA = a whole lot of hds and dvd burners.
I personally feel limited by only 2 sata, and once I upgrade my system I'm going to be running 4 sata drives, so having a bit of breathing room to add in more drives would be very nice (since my case can handle 8 without issue). Normal IDE just isn't fast enough in todays gaming world, so that is out of the question for HDD's.
Thing is also, when Nvidia decide to include RAID5 onto their chipset you've got 3 SATA drives used up just there. If you want, say, a RAID0 boot you're stuffed. It's the problem with ICH7R.
I admit that RAID5 + RAID0 would be awesome, but on this motherboard it would make no sense, the target market doesn't spend that kind of money.
I hadn't really thought of the 2 separate networks thing, seeing as how I only have 1 network, but that would make sense.
As for the PATA being so much slower, last I heard, there was no performance gain by switching to SATA. Also, do you really think that the target market of this board would have use for more than 4 SATA drives and 4 PATA drives?
PATA doesn't have funky things like NCQ and the ability to hot-swap devices in and out. NCQ can give some decent performance benefits when 'multitasking'.
Originally Posted by Bindibadgi Thing is also, when Nvidia decide to include RAID5 onto their chipset you've got 3 SATA drives used up just there. If you want, say, a RAID0 boot you're stuffed. It's the problem with ICH7R.
why?
i've got 6 or 8 sata ports on my nf4 board (i cant actually remember but its more than i have space for hard drives :p)
Depends if they go to LANs a lot and fill harddisks at a time whilst burning multiple DVDRs with leeched content.
P// ATA cables suck and even though the connectors NEVER come out when you dont want them to unsupprisingly they also suffer from connector breakage when you try to lever the cable out.
Been wating a while for you guys to review this board, looks very nice, are there any other boards out there that offer a performance boost over the abit, that still have the silent northbridge? (can't stand 40mm fans)
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That right? It says the same on down in the specs :?
ABIT has used that technology for quite a while now. ;)
Much longer than ASUS.
It's hard to define "ripping off" when everyone tries to do different things to a different degree. ABIT have had OTES since Geforce 3 Ti200.
Surely it would make more sense as 8x2 then. Or 8+8
I still don't understand why you guys gripe about the lack of dual ethernet. I've NEVER had to use more than a single ethernet port. The only reason I could see two be needed is to use the computer as a router. In which case, what does it need SLI for? Also, what do you need more than 4 SATA ports for? We lived with 4 PATA ports for a long time without problems. So in my eyes 4 SATA + 4 PATA = a whole lot of hds and dvd burners.
If I hadn't already bought an ASUS A8N-E, I would buy this one immediately.
I see the overclocking segment on Pg. 4, but it be nice to see some apples2apples/percentage graphs though.
They're useful when you are on two networks. A while ago I had an internal network and an external one (external was connected to the internet). On my internal I would open my computer right up and allow permissions so that any other computer connected to the same network could communicate. On the external network I had everything locked down so alls you could do was go online.
Dual ethernet can be very useful ;) Hell, my current board (A7N8X-E) has three ethernet connections (well, one gigabit, one 10/100, and one wifi), so you never know what kind of crazy connections you can have going ;)
I personally feel limited by only 2 sata, and once I upgrade my system I'm going to be running 4 sata drives, so having a bit of breathing room to add in more drives would be very nice (since my case can handle 8 without issue). Normal IDE just isn't fast enough in todays gaming world, so that is out of the question for HDD's.
I hadn't really thought of the 2 separate networks thing, seeing as how I only have 1 network, but that would make sense.
As for the PATA being so much slower, last I heard, there was no performance gain by switching to SATA. Also, do you really think that the target market of this board would have use for more than 4 SATA drives and 4 PATA drives?
i've got 6 or 8 sata ports on my nf4 board (i cant actually remember but its more than i have space for hard drives :p)
P// ATA cables suck and even though the connectors NEVER come out when you dont want them to unsupprisingly they also suffer from connector breakage when you try to lever the cable out.
Ham - Native support = better.
or
sata raid 5 on the nvraid and ide raid 0 on the nvraid
bent pata pins really suck :(