Gigabyte 8N-SLI Royal, the other SLI alternative

Introduction

While the nVidia nForce 4 Intel Edition SLI isn't the newest chipset on the market, it's now a more affordable solution, thanks to the introduction of the nForce 4 SLI x16 chipset as the high performance model. This now gives motherboard makers the option of using the older chipset to make a cheaper Intel nForce 4 based motherboard.

Recently we took a look at the 8N-SLI Quad Royal from Gigabyte, the flagship of the nForce 4 Intel SLI line with four PCI Express x16 ports for Quad SLI. While this does look and sound interesting, it's not really practical as a full features SLI setup, as there are limited expansion options. When Quad SLI makes its market debut, this motherboard will shine, but for now we need a mainstream board to handle the more sane hardware enthusiasts out there and this is it.

Today we take a look at the Gigabyte 8N-SLI Royal - maybe the next best thing to a Quad Royal? Let's have a look and see what's on offer.