ViiV a-la ASUS, Core Duo N4L-VM DH Motherboard

Final Thoughts

It's now happening. Pentium name is set to die, and the Core architecture is now the way to go and Intel are marching ahead with a lot of momentum behind them. We have seen just how powerful it is compared to Intel's most recent introduction, the Pentium D 900 series.

Even with less cache that is shared across two CPU cores and running over 1GHz less in clock speed, there is no doubt that Core Duo has the good to be the best in multimedia entertainment, and with Core2 on its way out, we are expecting even more from this series of CPU with more cache, Hyper Threading and Virtualisation technologies, things can only look up for ViiV and Intel as a whole.

ASUS's implementation of ViiV is just that, for Home Theatre or performance PC. For the overclockers out there, you should look for something else unless ASUS releases a new BIOS, you aren't going to get much extra speed out of this board.

Despite its lack of overclocking, we were very impressed with the feature set, stock performance and overall feeling of an Intel ViiV based system - the ASUS N4L-VM DH motherboard has plenty going for it and would make an ideal Home Theatre computer. Intel are starting to get everything right now but it took them long enough to do this, something companies like Shuttle with their XPC have realised for years.

- Pros

Supports Core Duo and Core Solo

Kick Ass performance from new Core Duo CPU

Perfect for HTPC system

PCI Express 16x Graphics Port

Expansion possibilities for TV tuners etc

Gigabit LAN

Additional SATA controller

Onboard Video (great for HTPC usage but not gaming)

Onboard 7.1 HD Audio finally with digital output options

e.SATA port for future external hard drives

- Cons

Only a max of 3 SATA drivers

Very poor overclocking options and results

Core Duo processors aren't cheap at the moment

- Latest Pricing

Rating - 8.5 out of 10