Asus A7N8X v's A7N8X Delux

[maniactalaga]

I would like to put together a super fast machine for amongst other things video editing. I am considering the AMD route and am advised that the motherboard of choise is the Asus A7N8X. I noticed that the Delux version has a built in firewire connection and this is of interest as I will be connecting a firewire digital video camera. I will be installing a good quality audio card as I have a lot of MP3 files that I regularly listen to.

My question is this, is the Delux version of the board going to be significantly faster in data transfer with the built in firewire slot or should I buy the standard version and add my own cards as neccessary thus avoiding any potential conflicts caused by having 2 sound devices present.

An advice on other motherboards is welcome but please limit this to only boards that are better in some way. This is not a cost saving exercise.

All help is welcome.

 

[mechBgon]

I suggest the Deluxe just on the Firewire issue alone. The Deluxe's Firewire controller is in the southbridge, so it rides the high-bandwidth Hypertransport between the southbridge and northbridge, not on your PCI bus. Ditto for the nVidia audio processor that the Deluxe has (non-Deluxe doesn't). On the Deluxe, the only device it has on the PCI bus is the Serial ATA controller, so unless you're using the SATA controller, your whole PCI bus is free for other stuff like additional hard-drive controllers, video-capture cards or whatever.

 

[maniactalaga]

In the past I have had some problems with LAN cards slowing systems down. Whilst I will require a LAN card if I go with the A7N8X will the dual LAN on the delux significantly reduce performance?

Thanks

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: maniactalaga
In the past I have had some problems with LAN cards slowing systems down. Whilst I will require a LAN card if I go with the A7N8X will the dual LAN on the delux significantly reduce performance?

Thanks

I don't see why it would reduce performance to have dual LAN. You can disable one or both LAN controllers in the BIOS if you want to. Both of them are also integrated into the southbridge rather than hogging the PCI bus. I have the A7N8X-Deluxe and just use the nVidia LAN on my system.

The AMD platforms are a very good value for an all-around system, and I like mine a lot, but as you may already be aware, Pentium4's on good motherboards can still pull away in tasks that involve streaming data, such as video encoding. If that's the crux of what you'll do with your rig, you might consider an Asus P4P800 Deluxe, dual-channel PC3200 DDR and a Pentium4 2.6C or 2.4C, if the price is within your reach. Duvie is a good guy to ask about video encoding if you want someone with firsthand experience on the subject... he's researched it a lot with both AMD and Intel systems.

 

[Harvey]

I won't discourage you from getting the Deluxe version, as far as a LAN card goes, unless you need the dual LAN capabilty of the Deluxe, the regular version also has a single T10/100 LAN connection.

 

[maniactalaga]

Thanks but it's the Firewire I am interested in. Just a bit worried that the Dual Lan will generally slow the board down.

 

[Harvey]

That's what faster CPU's and o/c-ing are for. That's also what heatsinks and fans are for. :wine:

 

[Schadenfroh]

no need to add in a sound card if you get the deluxe, the a7n8x deluxe sound is on par with the audigys

 

[Macro2]

there is currently $12 difference between the two boards at newegg.com.

With that little difference you might as well get the deluxe.