14 DAY TRIAL // The first nForce 570SLI Intel Edition motherboard has been released, and you can buy it for around US$ 120. The ASUS P5NSLI motherboard is based on the nForce 570SLI Intel Edition SPP (C19-A3) and MCP (MCP51-A2) chipsets. The SPP has been improved to guarantee the full Core 2 Duo support. This motherboard supports the latest Intel Pentium Celeron CPU, in LGA775 package with 1066/ 800/ 533MHz FSB, Hyper-Threading Technology and core-speeds up to 3.8GHz and beyond. The SLI (Scalable Link Interface) takes advantage of the increased bandwidth of the PCI Express bus architecture, allowing two GPUs to efficiently work together to deliver, with some programs, almost double performance.
To be able to better manage the heat, the board has an ASUS exclusive two-slot thermal design, and provides better air-flow and lower VGA cards temperature. Also, it has no cooling fans, due to strategic board layout and heat sinks. Unfortunately, in time, the passive cooling causes the heat sinks to reach temperatures that can cause burns if touched. The system, however, remains very stable.
The 570SLI also features Intel EM64T (64-bit computing) and PCI Express Architecture (interconnect technology that will replace the existing PCI. With a bus bandwidth 4 times higher than that of AGP 8X interface, PCI Express x16 bus performs much better than AGP 8X in applications such as 3D gaming. PCI Express x1 also outperforms PCI interface with its exceptional high bandwidth (up to 500 MB/s).
To maximize the gaming performance, Asus fitted the board with Precision Tweaker Technology, which is designed for serious overclockers. To quote the producer, ?it offers ways to raise system performance step-by-step to achieve maximum performance! This is about getting the most out of your machine, and taking pride in your customized computer. Precision Tweaker provides overclocking options for all major parts of the system: CPU, Memory, PCI-Express, and Front Side Bus." But, after some testing, it seems that tweaking the board is not the best option, as it has some problems with memory corruption in XP, and loses image drives if pushed out of the normal values. The limited memory voltage of 2.1V can also be the cause for some limitations in overclocking.
The last of the problems (for now), it's represented by the Bios, which needs additional tuning in order to solve some problems with memory compatibility. These problems were made clear after some testing in the labs of 2 prestigious hardware testing sites (anandtech.com and tomshardware.com).
In the end, we can conclude that the mother board deserves the money spent for it, but no more than that. For the passionate gamer with budget problems, this is the choice to be made.