Asus A8N-SLI vs Asus A8N-VM CSM

[blackcode82]

Hello,

Asus A8N-SLI *Vs* A8n-VM CSM

quesies:
1.)Which one is better?A8N-SLI or A8N-VM CSM?
The second one has 6150 Geforce integrated and is very cheap solution as compared to A8N-SLI
and then buying a PCI-E gfx card..

2.)What is Retail?I see it at newegg.com written beside these motherboards?
Sorry i am not aware of this as i have never used these sites.

3.)Does Newegg.com send complete Box packs with fedex or something?


4.)How is onboard video in A8N-VM CSM, which has Geforce 6150 and nForce 430.
Is it good for playing games like UT 2004, HL2, AOE 3?

And how much is video memory?

5.)What problems you guys are facing with these mobos?

Also what fan should i use if i buy Asus A8N-SLi and XFX 6600GT ?

 

[Jorakal]

Have you read this topic yet? http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=29&threadid=1762814&enterthread=y

And many questions...

Why these 2 boards?
What are you going to use it for?
Do you have hardware already in mind that you want to use?
etc. etc.

 

[blackcode82]

i wanna use it for gaming..games like HL2, AOE3,Unreal 04

yeah i have this config in mind:
Asus board(still wondering which one)
AMD Athlon 64 bit 3200+ (939)
Maxtor 160 gb

 

[blackcode82]

Can anybody suggest the right mobo or this Asus A8N-VM CSM is ok?
Will i be able to play Unreal 2004 and half life 2 on this mobo(Asus one) which has Geforce 6150 chipset.

Is there betten option...i have heard that MSI boards are not good..from many people.

 

[renethx]

Originally posted by: blackcode82
Which one is better?A8N-SLI or A8N-VM CSM?

Neither of them. Buy MSI K8NGM2-FID.

K8NGM2-FID > A8N-VM CSM

It is a general consensus that K8NGM2-FID is better than A8N-VM CSM. This is evident from the fact that there is a very active thread on MSI K8NGM2-FID (NV GeForce 6150 Board Shootout) that is attracting more and more people, while there is no such thread on ASUS A8N-VM CSM. And of course,

K8NGM2-FID > A8N-SLI = a dinosaur.

 

[her209]

I have both and I can tell you there's no real noticable performance difference between the two.

 

[niggles]

Originally posted by: renethx
It is a general consensus that K8NGM2-FID is better than A8N-VM CSM. This is evident from the fact that there is a very active thread on MSI K8NGM2-FID (NV GeForce 6150 Board Shootout) that is attracting more and more people, while there is no such thread on ASUS A8N-VM CSM. And of course,

K8NGM2-FID > A8N-SLI = a dinosaur.

Actually do not think that there is consensus on that. Also having more activity in a thread can simply mean that there are more problems. More people buying one mobo over another doesn't make it a better mobo. Lastly, what's wrong with the A8N-SLI being older? It should in theory mean that all the bios issues have been worked oiut.

 

[jealouse]

Originally posted by: renethx

Originally posted by: blackcode82
Which one is better?A8N-SLI or A8N-VM CSM?

Neither of them. Buy MSI K8NGM2-FID.

K8NGM2-FID > A8N-VM CSM

It is a general consensus that K8NGM2-FID is better than A8N-VM CSM. This is evident from the fact that there is a very active thread on MSI K8NGM2-FID (NV GeForce 6150 Board Shootout) that is attracting more and more people, while there is no such thread on ASUS A8N-VM CSM. And of course,

K8NGM2-FID > A8N-SLI = a dinosaur.

I have used both MSI K8N-FID and ASUS A8N-VM CSM. MSI is a better choice. I will tell you why.

1. ASUS offers no OC except HTT adjustment. if HTT is set to 220 or higher, the machine would not reboot - had to hit reset key to reboot. MSI doesn't offer much OC either but at least it offers DDR V-adjustment. with everything ebing equal(A64 3700, 1GBX2, 7900GTX, etc), I was able to OC (prime95 25hr stable) at HTT 219 MAX with ASUS, and HTT 230 MAX with MSI. Both OC is done at stock CPU Voltage because neither offers CPU voltage adjustment.

2. Resetting BIOS is a pain in the A$$ for ASUS. You have to remove battery, move jumper, and move it back to the original position, and then finally reinstall the battery. MSI has a built-in switch that does BIOS resetting - all you gotta do is push it once and volla.

3. If you have external USB HDD, you have to turn it off before rebooting with ASUS. Because with ASUS, it would hopelessly find OS in the external HDD and would stop, giving NO OS found error. With MSI, it searches for the OS on the external HDD for a while, and moves on to the internal HDD, giving no problem. HOWEVER, if you have USB memory stick, you have to remove it prior to rebooting. BECAUSE both MSI and ASUS cannot deal with USB memory stick. Both will give you NO OS error.

4. ASUS on-board sound has an error - it would make a static noise at the WinXP start-up. Asus seems to know of this problem and advises that one installs an older sound driver. I did just that and it didn't cure it. MSI, on the other hand, has no such problem.

5. With ASUS, you have to connect speaker to hear beep. With MSI, you don't have to because it's got a small speaker installed on MOBO.

None of these items I mentioned are critical enough to render the board useless. In fact, both had about the same stability when not OCed and when OCed at its limit. But based on my experience, it's clear that MSI is simply better choice among two.