The Personal Computing market is signified by the separation of the market into several diverse categories. The first category of computer is the inexpensive OEM. This is categorized by low prices, integrated components, low performance. Examples of computers in this category include the Dell 3000 retailing for $398 for a complete system. For that $398 you get 256MB DDR memory, a 40GB Hard disk drive integrated video and a 17 inch CRT monitor. If you want a computer to surf the Internet, read email, and play a movie this is a great deal. But to me the high-end gamer PC is the most important market, where integrated video, low memory and small hard drives just don't cut it. After all, I play the latest and greatest games like Act Of War, Star Wars Republic Commando and Half Life 2.

I have generally used Intel based systems as my primary gaming computer since 1995 with one exception. My computers have included a 120MHz Pentium, a 300MHz Pentium II, a 450MHz Pentium III, a 600MHz Pentium III, a 2.4GHz Pentium IV and a 3.0GHz Pentium IV. As you can see, I ran the gamut of computers over the last few years. Last year, however a few things changed in the computer industry, making me rethink my reliance on Intel computers. The middle of last year saw the introduction of the Intel Socket 775 platform. Many websites, including Motherboards.org and Tom's Hardware, noticed the exceedingly warm temperatures the new CPUs exhibited. The second event was the introduction of NVIDIA SLI technology into the AMD Athlon 64 platform. This provided a clear performance advantage over other chipsets for both the Intel and AMD marketplace.

NVIDIA is of course one of the top video chipmakers in the world. They have also made a name for themselves as a motherboard chipset maker. Today, over 50% of the AMD market is owned by NVIDIA nForce chipsets, whether the nForce3 or the nForce4. December of 2004 saw the release of the nForce4 chipset to the AMD market. In December alone, NVIDIA sold over 1 million nForce4 chipsets. To put that into perspective, ATI has sold 15 million total motherboard chipsets since they entered that market place. NVIDIA did not have an Intel Front Side Bus license until late last year, meaning that they had no presence in the Intel motherboard market at all. Today that has changed with the signing of a broad cross-licensing agreement and the first fruit of that agreement is the nForce4 for Intel with SLI I am reviewing here.