At the heart of the Canada Computers Content Creator X2 system is the Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe motherboard. Based on the nVidia nForce4 SLI chipset, the motherboard supports a whole host of features like 7.1 channel audio, IEEE 1394a Firewire, dual Gigabit NICs and an additional Serial ATA/RAID controller. With all that, it's no wonder the A8N-SLI is one of the most popular nForce4 SLI motherboards on the market today. Asus also includes a full version copy of WinDVD Suite which is excellent software for those of you who are into video editing.

The layout of the Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe is excellent, in fact it is probably the best on the market. Everything on the motherboard from USB/IEEE 1394 headers to the power/IDE connectors and even how far Asus places the two PCI Express x16 slots is located at its optimal position.

The motherboard is not entirely perfect though, Asus run the Silicon Image Serial ATA controller and Marvel Gigabit network card through the PCI bus. Both devices are high bandwidth and a PCI Express alternative would be ideal, even if it came at the expense of a PCI x1 slot. Considering the price of the motherboard, I do not think a few dollars extra would deter potential buyers from picking up the board had Asus gone that route.

As an A8N-SLI Deluxe motherboard user myself, I really have to complain about the stock NF4 SLI chipset cooler. Search around in the various computer forums and you will no doubt hear about fan failures.

Mine seized up completely after only a month's worth of use, I would have expected Asus to use something a bit better. After about a weeks worth of testing, the one found on the Content Creator X2 started to rattle although it is not noticeable when inside a case.