Foxconn NF4SLI7AA-8EKRS2 Motherboard Review :: Foxconn NF4SLI7AA Layout and Bundle

The CPU area is clear of obstacles, making for easy installation of aftermarket cooling solutions if you need it. There are two rows of capacitors surrounding the CPU socket but they are low enough as to not be a hindrance in cooling installation. The 24-pin power connector is on the bottom of the board, the normal location. The 4-pin power connector, on the other hand, is on te top of the board right under the CPU socket. There are two fan headers in addition to the CPU fan header, the third is the fan for the North Bridge.

North Bridge

South Bridge

24-pin power

4-pin power

IEEE-1394 headers

CPU Fan header

Foxconn decided to put an active cooling fan on the North Bridge. NVIDIA MCP chips are famous for getting extremely warm during operation, and it is a good idea to keep the NB cooled. The South Bridge is cooled by a small heatsink, but both the fan and the heat sink are replaceable if the user desires. Two headers for Firewire devices and two headers for an additional 6 USB ports are located on the board, bringing the total to 2 Firewire and 10 USB possible on the board.

The Bundle

• FOXCONN NF4SLI7AA-8EKRS2 motherboard
• 2 Rounded IDE cables
• 1 Rounded FDD cable
• 2 SATA cables
• SATA Power cable
• Firewire bracket
• 2 USB 2.0 port bracket
• SLI bridge
• SLI bracket
• Back Panel I/O plate
• Driver CD
• SuperBoot
• SuperRecovery
• SuperSpeed
• SuperStep
• SuperLogo
• SuperUpdate

Brackets

Back panel

SLI Bridge

SATA cables

Rounded IDE cables

FOXCONN's board had a fairly decent bundle hardware-wise. One minor complaint would be the lack of 6 SATA cables and power connectors, forcing the user that want to take full advantage of this motherboard to make an additional purchase. Offsetting that is the inclusion of rounded IDE and FDD cables making a neat system very possible. The SLI bridge is required for optimum operation of SLI.

SuperUtility

Norton's Internet Security

The Driver CD on the NF4SLI7AA-8EKRS2 board is chock full of goodies. First, FOXCONN includes Norton's Internet Security 2004. This includes Norton's Anti-Virus and Personal Firewall software. Also on the CD is FOXCONN's SuperUtility consisting of SuperStep, SuperSpeed, SuperLogo, SuperUpdate, SuperRecovery and SuperBoot.