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A8n32-SLI demo from Fry's...did I make a mistake?

H

Harkonen

Member
Hello all. New guy here... nothing more than a technical tinkerer that has decided to build himself an insanely overpowered gaming machine...well, just because.

I have been hunting for 2 weeks for this mobo, and I found one at a local Fry's tonight, and nabbed it. The problem? It is a demo model...no box, no manual, and none of the extras (which includes? Cables i'm guessing....SLI bridge? Anything else?)

I wanted to know if I'm missing anything really important that can be picked up elsewhere.

I just got so blasted excited to find one I nabbed it without really considering as carefully as I probably should have. Hopefully I'm not hosed.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Oh, my planned system: Thermaltake Kandalf case (got it), Ultra X connect 550w ps (got it), Zalman Reserator Plus water cooling (got it), Asus AN832SLI (got it...demo), AMD X2 4800+ (got it), 7800GTX 512mb (start with one, get a second when the prices fall....not sure which sub brand....don't have it yet), Western Digtal 74GB 10000 rpm HD (not yet), + 3 250 GB hd's (not yet), 2 GB Corsair XMS-3500LL (not yet).
 
Driver disk is no problem...just Dl from ASUS and/or nVidia. Some of the stuff included is buggy as hell (for example, the Windows BIOS flash utility) and/or has been updated and is ready for DL at the ASUS site. The included CD is bootable though and can be used to recover from some BIOS catastrophe...get one from ASUS at your leisure.

Manual is also no problem..the one we all got is the old one - the new one is in PDF forma at ASUS and is much better than the printed version...you may want to print the pages you'll need while setting-up - no biggie.

SLI connector IS a problem...if you want to SLI. It's one-of-a-kind and unique. You should try to get one from ASUS while the getting is good.

the included heatpipe fins fan is only needed if you're going to use a CPU cooler that doesn't blow air on the fins...a lot of people are finding the Zalman CNPS9500 LED to be ideal HS for this MB for that and other (doesn't block RAM slots) reasons... I'm not using the extra fan with the stock AMD HS that comes witht the X2-4400.

You're missing 6 SATA cables and 2 nicely color-coordinated (i.e. black) 🙂 IDE cables and the floppy cable. You're also missing the backplates for additional USB and gameport connections...not really needed in my opinion.

As long as yours doesn't have peanut butter and other junk on it from it's time on display AND you got one heck of a deal (say... $150 or less) you'll be fine 🙂
 
Wow...


Thanks for such an informative response.

The board looks perfectly clean and intact.

Sounds like my only real concern is the SLI connector. Do I just email Asus & try to order a replacement?

As far as the extra fan for the heat pipes.... my set up will be water cooled for the CPU, no fans. I suppose I can just purchase an aftermarket fan to cool the chipset. Will any standard fan work in place of the provided one?

Thanks again.
 
Welcome Hark,

I feel your pain on that board, I have been looking for one for a couple weeks as well. Gonna agree with Cisco2's assesment. The SLI bridge is a must have, although I would try to get that extra nb fan from Asus as well if you are going to WC. Im sure a regular fan would work, but it would be a less elegant solution IMO.

Check out what you are missing from the pics here.

Not sure if a rear exhaust or side fan would be sufficient.
 
No problem Hark,

Re: SLI connector... yeah, just phone them and tell them you need a replacement or whatever. I'm not sure if spare parts are as scarce as the board itself.

Eevn though I don't need it, I did run some tests (two instances of Prime '95) and monitored CPU/MB temps using various fan set-ups. One thing I did notice is that the fan is loud--it can be easily heard above the stock AMD X2-4400 heatsink fan. In fact, it's so loud that I decided if I ever feel a need for extra cooling for the fins, I'll mod some other quieter fan to blow cool air on them. If they'll replace yours for free, by all means go for it, but I wouldn't pay good $ for it.
 
Thanks for the help. Update: I contacted Asus today and I can pick up my SLI bridge and optional Mobo fan...total cost? $6.00 .....sweet!

I can pick'em up will call tomorrow 'cause I live 15 mintues from their RMA headquarters in Fremont!!!

*dances a jig*
 
thats a good score and one other thing that you may consider is checking out the A8n32 ......wow thread over at xtreme systems all 32 pages of it (what a read) it has helped me out a couple of times
good luck and enjoy your board
tom
 
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