1-2 Chapter 1: Product introduction
1.3 Special features

1.3.1 Product highlights

Latest processor technology

The motherboard comes with a 940-pin AM2 socket that supports AMD Athlon™
64 X2/Athlon™ 64/Athlon™ FX/Sempron™ processor. With an integrated low-
latency high-bandwidth memory controller and a highly scalable HyperTransport™
technology-based system bus, the motherboard provides a powerful platform for
your diverse computing needs, increased ofce productivity, and enhanced digital
media experience. See page 2-7 for details.

NVIDIA® Scalable Link Interface (SLI™)

The NVIDIA® Scalable Link Interface (SLI™) technology allows two graphics
processing units (GPUs) in a single system. This technology takes advantage of
the PCI Express™ bus architecture and features intelligent hardware and software
solutions that allows multiple GPUs to work together and achieve exceptional
graphics performance.

NVIDIA nForce® 590 SLI™ (NVIDIA LinkBoost™ certied)

NVIDIA nForce® 590 SLI™ media and communication processors (MCPs) deliver
the tools and performance PC enthusiasts demand. When combined with selected
NVIDIA GeForce graphics cards and other system components, you get automatic
access to faster bus speeds. Ready for system overclocking and greater data
throughput.

DDR2 memory support

The motherboard supports DDR2 memory that features data transfer rates of
800/667/533 MHz to meet the higher bandwidth requirements of the latest
3D graphics, multimedia, and Internet applications. The dual-channel DDR2
architecture doubles the bandwidth of your system memory to boost system
performance, eliminating bottlenecks with peak bandwidths of up to 12.8 GB/s.
See pages 2-12 to 2-13 for details.

PCI Express™ interface

The motherboard fully supports PCI Express, the latest I/O interconnect technology
that speeds up the PCI bus. PCI Express features point-to-point serial
interconnections between devices and allows higher clockspeeds by carrying data
in packets. This high speed interface is software compatible with existing PCI
specications. See page 2-18 for details.