Related Articles

Introduction

ECS have always been regarded by many as an entry level motherboad manufacturer who should be passed off in favor of some of the more "pro" brands. ECS have been working diligently on their image for the past few months, and with the KN1 SLI extreme, are looking to remedy their situation further. This new model is based on Nvidia's Nforce4 chipset and supports full SLI, as well as the new SATA II standard.

Back in July we reviewed ECS' first foray into the enthusiast market with the KN1 Extreme which offered solid performance and features for a paletteable price. The SLI variant is very similar to the original KN1 in terms of features with the exception of a couple areas. Our review of the original KN1 can be found here. We will be referencing sections from this review to the KN1 Extreme review as they are very similar.

Features

The KN1 SLI comes packing of course the requisite 2 PCI-E x16 slots, but also has a newer Audio chip included over the original KN1 - The Realtek ALC 850 (versus the 655 model on the orginial KN1) which features full 7.1 sound support. The original KN1 came with two PCI-E x1 slots, but the SLI version only comes with one, while retaining the three PCI slots from the original board.

Here is a list of key specs and features, check out ECS' KN1 product page for the full list.