ASUS A8n-e Premium NForce 4

[SkyBum]

I feel your pain stelleg151, sounds like we are in the same predicament.

 

[gobucks]

Well, I think that the fact that gigabyte actually got a review board to anandtech says a lot. All the other chipsets reviewed have been reference boards, so the fact that this is a retail product means that at least they are capable of making them, so I think they should be in soon. Lots of etailers are also saying that they will be in before the end of november, meaning pretty much before the end of next week, and one german site even has the MSI Ultra and SLI boards on sale (although not in stock yet). I imagine that after the 6600GT "fire sale" aka AGP helps clear out the nforce3 inventory, there will be a floodgate of nforce4 boards.

 

[t0mm]

Originally posted by: t0mm
an asus europe rep told me, the a8n-e premium should be available in mid-december, followed by a8n-e sli and a8n-e sli deluxe.
damn can't stand the wait... i hope the first boards are not too bugged.

you don't want to know the truth or don't you believe a guy posting for the first time here?
there will be no a8n-e boards on the shelves this month!

 

[HiroProt]

t0mm, I was told the same thing by Asus.

I guess that we're just hoping that they padded their estimate, and that the boards will be available sooner.

 

[Steg55]

Don't know about you yanks but here in blighty we get it in late november

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/...ds.html#aMB_2d088_2dAS

And yes it is INSANELY expensive - us AMD users have got used to paying sensible prices for motherboards - not the stupid amounts those poor people who use P4s use.

Now...if someone will lend me the cash for a 6800gt....

Steg

 

[AndyD2k]

Can that be right? I can't imagine paying that much for a board. $250 is a little much I think. Now I'm not sure if I should even bother waiting or just buy a Dell XPS Gen4 and upgrade again in 2 years.

 

[anox3]

Anyone else find it curious this board has not launched on the Asus website yet? From what I have read the SLI used A03 silicon and the Premium A02 silicon. Could they have been correct regarding the A02 silicon HT issues? Especially when the original timeline for the premium to appear first.

 

[SkyBum]

Just spoke with a rep at Monarch about NF4 availability and he stated that they expected the Asus and MSI branded boards to arrive first. Vanilla versions early Dec., Premiums by mid Dec., and that he didn't expect any SLI boards to make it out this side of 2005.

SO frustrating....

 

[Thermalrock]

oh well so then well get to buy the a64s new sse3 stepping and the seagate barracuda 7200.8 with 400gb by the time the sli boards are available.

 

[jmr1969]

Product Information

ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe NFORCE4 SLI SOCKET939 Mainboard
$209.98

Coming Soon - Preorder Now!

This item has not yet been released. You may order it today, and we'll ship it to you when it arrives at our warehouse. This item will be available in 10 days (Thursday, December 30th, 2004).

http://www.bytewizecomputers.com/products/7/7/599/7488

 

[littlepitel]

Now that the A8N-SLI is out, should we expect the A8N-E Platinum soon?
Also, is the A8N-SLI exactly the same as the A8N-E Platinum but with the extra PCI-E slot for an extra video card? I'm growing impatient and may just buy the SLI board with one video card... That would basically be the same thing as the A8N-E right?

 

[boatillo]

I am hating these new technologies...

Atm the fastest games/apps are only using max 3.8x AGP, yet they feel the need to come out with PCI-express....which requires a new chipset (obviously) that *only* supports PCI-express (so no new chipsets for us AGP users)....and the new cards require more power which means 20pin turns into 24pin connector on motherboard which requires you to buy a *new* psu (you dont wanna plug a 20pin into a 24slot).

Sure you can buy new AGP cards, but they aren't native AGP so you loose power translating it through an extra chip (that you also get to pay for).

Cheapest 6600GT PCI-e version = $179
Same brand 6600GT AGP version = $209

wth!

 

[MrCodeDude]

- Supports dual-Channel on 4 slots RAM (DDR400/DDR333/DDR266 ECC/non-ECC, unbuffered)

I bet there will be a slowdown if you have all four DIMMs filled.

 

[Melquiades]

I have been waiting for this board for a while, with expected availability first in late november, then late December, and now rumors of January. Lately I found the listing for it on DTT computer stating that it was discontinued. See http://www.dttcomputer.com/cat..._id_MB-AS-A8N-E-P.html Does anyone know what the story on this board is? Should I just give up on it and go with something else? I tried finding a contact email address on ASUS's website but have been unseuccessful at locating any. Thanks for any information you may have.

 

[AppStar]

I've been waititing and came across the same information as you. Please let me know what is going on with this board! I'd rather have it over the Chaintech nf4 ultra.

 

[geogecko]

I imagine that DTT is just putting "discontinued" because they don't have it yet, and don't have any other way of putting it in their system, maybe.

I'm waiting for this board too. I was going to go with the MSI board, but this one appeals to me more.

As far as filling all 4 DIMM's, other board makers (MSI in particular) says that this depends on the type of memory modules used. To fill all 4 DIMM's, they usually have to be all single sided memory modules, otherwise, to run 4 double sided DIMM's, you have to go down to DDR333 instead of DDR400. The problem comes with finding out what the DIMM's you are buying are, without actually being able to see them. Most on-line stores don't post if it's a single or double sided DIMM.

 

[vvolcano]

I emailed DTT about this, and got this response:

Asus does not make any more on A8n-E Premium. If you like you should reconsider on MSI, ECS GIGABYTE etc?.

Tony Nguyen

Not really sure if he knows what's going on, but it was worth a shot

 

[geogecko]

I don't think he knows what he's talking about.

The problem with ASUS, is that they tend to use very similar names in their motherboards. Example, the A8N-E Deluxe is an nForce3 motherboard. I could see where that would cause some confusion with an A8N-E Premium.

Why would they discontinue a board that hasn't even come out yet? That just doesn't make since. Also, they will surely be sorry the didn't make a board like this, because they will lose a significant market.

Another reason to believe that this isn't true, is that every other major board maker has 3 versions of the nForce4 design, the standard, Ultra, and SLI versions.

Just my observations.

 

[jblaty]

I got the same basic response from DTT computer. I still see the board listed on OcUK as pre-order, availability in February...

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/...g/ASUS_Socket_939.html

I wish I could get a solid answer on this, because there aren't any other nForce 4 Ultra boards out there with passively-cooled northbridges. MSI and Gigabyte both have chipset fans, and the Gigabyte has a power complex daughterboard cooling fan (read: loud!). I need a quiet solution, and I want the flexibility of the nForce4 Ultra. Perhaps someone at AnandTech has a contact at Asus to get a solid answer on this board. By the way, the answer I got from Asus tech support was "keep checking the website for release of Asus products."

 

[geogecko]

Yeah, it makes more since that overclockers has it on pre-order. I agree with you, I need this board to also be quiet (HTPC application). That is one reason I didn't like the Gigabyte board, because of the power daughterboard. The MSI is my top pick, next to this ASUS board of course. While it as a chipset fan, I think I could remove it, and use one of the two Zalman coolers. However, not knowing which one would work, would almost require me to buy both (I'd rather use the taller one, but it might be too tall, and touch the GPU). This adds almost $25 to the cost of getting the MSI, due to the passive cooler, and getting some Arctic Silver to use with it. I'd rather just buy the ASUS board.

February is a while to wait for this board, but maybe they are just being conservative with the date, so they don't have to keep updating their web site. My case isn't available right now anyway, so I'm not in that big of a pinch.

 

[Melquiades]

I tried emailing ASUS's technical support as well, and did not get much more informantion. Their response was:
"The first nForce 4 board is now available. It is listed as the A8N-SLI,
the A8N-E will not likely be out for a while. Thanks."
Who knows what "a while" could mean... I have begun looking at other options. Any suggestions? I am building more of a workstation machine than a gaming one - AutoCAD, video editing and such, with an occsional game, so SLI is not really what I am looking for. Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[icejunkie]

Originally posted by: Melquiades
I tried emailing ASUS's technical support as well, and did not get much more informantion. Their response was:
"The first nForce 4 board is now available. It is listed as the A8N-SLI,
the A8N-E will not likely be out for a while. Thanks."
Who knows what "a while" could mean... I have begun looking at other options. Any suggestions? I am building more of a workstation machine than a gaming one - AutoCAD, video editing and such, with an occsional game, so SLI is not really what I am looking for. Thanks for any suggestions.

Wow. Usually, when companies say "in a short time" or "soon" it end up taking months... Now, if ASUS is quoted saying "a while" that could mean 2 years. LOL

 

[Hammer0id]

I just got eMail from Asus, that the A8N-E Premium will perhaps never show up. There will only be a non Premium Version in Mid February.
Don't know why - damn!!

 

[AppStar]

Does that mean it won't be an nForce4 Ultra board?

 

[Hammer0id]

Don't know the differences between the non premium and the premium version.

For the users capable of German, here's the eMail from Asus:

"Sehr geehrter Herr xXx,

vielen Dank für Ihr Interesse an ASUS Produkten. Dann werde ich mal Licht in Ihr Dunkel bringen. Das A8N-E PREMIUM wird wohl nicht kommen, dafür wird es aber ein A8N-E geben. Dieses Mainboard wird ein wenig geringer ausgestattet sein und ab Mitte Februar verfügbar sein. Bezüglich des verwendeten Kühlers kann ich Ihnen noch keine Auskunft geben.

Das A8V-E DELUXE wird - wie geplant - Anfang Februar erscheinen.

Another eMail from a Forum Member of ForumDeLuxx:
http://www.forumdeluxx.de/forum/showthread.php?t=97980

vielen Dank für Ihr Interesse an ASUS Produkten. Momentan sieht es so aus, als würde das A8N-E PREMIUM gar nicht erscheinen. Es wird aber ein A8N-E geben, das von der Ausstattung ein bisschen abgespeckt wurde. Das A8N-E wird voraussichtlich ab Mitte Februar verfügbar sein.

So it's not 100% shure that the board will NOT show up, but they think not.