After nVIDIA released nForce4 SLI chipset , it caused a huge disturbance in the gaming world by introducing the possibility for dual VGA card gaming known as SLI (Scalable Link Interface). Since then the SLI gaming system with AMD Socket 939 has been the top end platform for gamers. Now EPoX has taken the SLI concept further by launching the world's first 754 Sempron SLI mainboard, EP-8NPA SLI, to open the flood gates for mainstream and budget users to enjoy SLI.
A typical SLI system uses the Socket-939 CPU but EPoX bravely challenges the norm to build a gem of a board based on Socket 754. The key reason is that in an SLI gaming environment the CPU plays a minor role and does not affect gaming performance significantly. That way users can save cost by investing only in VGA card without the expensive CPU to enjoy the fascinating 3D gaming experience from SLI.
On top of that, nVIDIA has officially published a new SLI driver (Driver77.76) to enable SLI without the need for a bridge connector, which means the birth of lower price SLI gaming platform by virtue of cheaper cards that do not require the bridge link. For the gamers with limited budgets to save on the upgrade cost, the EP-8NPA SLI is a heaven-sent because it opens a clear upgrade path from the lowest end VGA all the way to the top notch GPU without ever needing to change the CPU or mainboard.
Key Specifications
* Support AMD Socket 754 CPU Athlon64 & Sempron64
* Support true SLI function, PCI-E x16 *2 (PCI-E x8*1 & PCI-E x8*1)
* Support DDR 400MHz, up to 2Gb
* Support new generation of SATA II, up to 3Gb/sec
* Support up to 400MHz CPU frequency in BIOS adjustable
* New generation of hardware monitoring software "Thunder Probe" and "Ghost Monitor"
* EPoX debug LED POST PORT and BIOS auto update software §Magic Flash
For more information about the EP-8NPA SLI, please visit the company homepage at.
http://www.epox.com.tw/eng/products_content.php?ps=375
Source: Epox Press Release
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