Asus A8N-SLI Premium + Athlon X2 3800

[vlads stuff]

I just placed an order yesterday with Newegg and am waiting for delivery today, but I'm nervous about the BIOS supporting the CPU.

Does anyone know what the earliest version BIOS would support this CPU?

If I get the board & it doesn't see the CPU, would I still be able to update the BIOS?

Thanks!

 

[Capt Caveman]

The earliest bios that your motherboard will have is 1005 which is X2 compatible. And at worse it will recognize one of the cores which will allow you to flash the bios.

 

[vlads stuff]

Whew! Big relief - thanks Capt Caveman!

 

[vlads stuff]

One more question - I bought a Thermalright XP-90 HS to use with this mobo, which requires use of their own mounting bracket. How difficult will it be to remove Asus's HS Mounting bracket? I know there are 2 screws, but will there be any other difficulty in removing the Asus bracket?

Thanks?

 

[andyliu88]

Installing xp-90 is very simple. You simply need to remove the black bracket on the motherboard by removing two screws, then secure the new bracket with the new screws provided by thermalright. You do not have to do anything to the metal bracket on the back of the motherboard. Make sure the "heatpipes" are facing the memory side, so you have good cleareance to install/remove memories in the future. Also make sure you have good airflow to either the chipset or the mosfet heatsinks. You will notice that the mosfet heatsink is right underneath the xp-90, which is fine as long as you have good airflow.

my case for your reference, have fun.

http://www.overclockersclub.com/gallery/?act=case&id=942

 

[Hurin Thalion]

I can confirm everything that andyliu88 said. Removing the stock retension mechanism is very, very, simple. You shouldn't have any problems. I have an XP-90C on mine. Though I'm switching to an Abit later today (come on Fedex!) due to the vcore issue on these motherboards that makes overclocking a bit spotty for some.

H

 

[vlads stuff]

Thanks everybody - It's all done & purring like a kitten
This was the easiest build I've ever done & it went flawlessly. Haven't started OC'ing yet though. The only thing that was a pain was mounting the heatsink.

I've actually got the heatsink mounted with the heatpipes facing the back of the mobo, but with Arctic Silver 5 & a Panaflo medium-speed fan, I had my X2 3800 CPU @ 33C after installing XP, 27 critical updates (d'lded/installed in a bout 3 minues), and installing all my drivers.

Thanks for everyone's responses!

 

[doc2345]

andyliu88 - Nice pics....