Doom 3	Source: id Software

Doom 3 is the most advanced game to date. it takes advantage of the latest videocard technology and pushes the processing power of the CPU to its absolute limit. At its highest setting, Ultra quality, texture sizes pass the 500MB mark which means even tomorrow's videocards will have a hard time running everything. The frame rates in the game itself are locked at 60 fps so anything above that point is wasted. Each test is run three times with the third run being recorded.

Doom3
LQ 640x480:	Points	Ranking
Foxconn 955X7AA-8EKRS2 (955X 200/667)	96.9
Foxconn 945P7AA-8EKRS2 (945P 200/667)	94.3
MSI P4N Diamond (NF4 SLI 200/800 GeForce 7800GTX Single)	97.3
MSI P4N Diamond (NF4 SLI 200/800 GeForce 7800GTX SLI)	96.2
Epox 5NVA+ SLI (NF4 SLI 200/800 GeForce 7800GTX Single)	96.2
Epox 5NVA+ SLI (NF4 SLI 200/800 GeForce 7800GTX SLI)	94.4
Foxconn NF4SLI7AA-8EKRS2 (NF4 SLI 200/800 7800GTX Single)	95.9
Foxconn NF4SLI7AA-8EKRS2 (NF4 SLI 200/800 7800GTX SLI)	94.4

Doom 3 numbers are exactly where we expect them to be and that's pretty good. If you are planning on going with an Pentium 4/D system, nForce4 SLI Intel Edition motherboards are fast!

A quick motherboard from Foxconn

The last year and a bit has been quite difficult for Intel and Intel enthusiasts. From the lackluster introduction and adoption of Socket 775 processors and DDR2 RAM to the many chipsets Intel has had to introduce, things are not looking as good as they once were for the number one processor manufacturer.

If anything, nVIDIA and its nForce4 SLI Intel Edition chipset are saving Intel from itself. Unlike most of the Intel chipsets on the market, the nForce4 SLI Intel Edition supports all current Socket 775 processors, including dual core and 1066MHz FSB parts, and is slated to support all upcoming models as well. Also, thanks to Nvida's Scalable Link Interface (SLI), Intel systems can now lay claim to the ability to use two videocards at the same time. Up until now, the high end market was dominated completely by AMD because of this feature.

Foxconn might be new to the retail motherboard market, but its motherboards can go toe to toe with the best in the biz in regards to performance, features and overclockability. The NF4SLI7AA-8EKRS2 motherboard that PCSTATS looked at today certainly is packed full of features; additional Serial ATA II/RAID controllers, dual Gigabit NICs, IEEE 1394b, and 7.1-channel audio. Despite the large number of integrated peripherals, the board itself has room for expansion (two open PCI-E x1 and two open PCI slots).

About the only thing I would change with the board is label the front panel I/O header, that should be standard with all motherboards and if possible move the two sets of capacitors near the DDR2 DIMM slots up a few millimeters. A SLI switch card that does not dig into the fingers would also be appreciated.

From the benchmarks, we can see that the performance of the Foxconn NF4SLI7AA-8EKRS2 motherboard was very good, be it in SYSMark2004, the Winstone 2004 benchmarks or 3D apps like X2: The Threat & Doom 3. In all cases, the Foxconn NF4SLI7AA-8EKRS2 had no problems competing for top spot and we have tested some pretty speedy motherboards already. To make things sweeter, the NF4SLI7AA-8EKRS2 was a pretty decent overclocker and I was able to push the motherboard up to 245 MHz FSB with a standard Intel heatsink. Those of you with more hardcore cooling setups will love the voltage options that the BIOS allows.

With a retail price of $197 CDN ($169 US), the Foxconn NF4SLI7AA-8EKRS2 motherboard is pricey for a socket 775 Intel solution, but then again all high end Intel motherboards are. If there's one bit of advice we can't overstate it's that if you are thinking about building a new Intel-based PC, be sure to choose something based on the nForce4 SLI Intel Edition chipset. And as we've shown, a motherboard like the Foxconn NF4SLI7AA-8EKRS2 would fill that requirement quite nicely indeed.

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