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Is the Asus A8N-32 really worth the extra $$?

M

MrToilet

Senior member
So I'm looking for an Nforce 4 SLI board, preferably one with heat pipes, since I'm trying to make this build as quiet as possible. I'm particularly interested in the Abit AN8 SLI boards, the Asus A8N-SLI Premium mobo, and the Asus A8N-32 SLI Deluxe board. Is the 2 PCI-E x16 on hte Asus and Abit boards really worth the extra $30-40? I mean will there be a noticeable difference?

Thanks in advance.
 
at this point in time there is little performance difference between the 8x and 16x bandwidth except for most high end cards now use the 16x bandwidth. In the future (hopefully near) games will utelize the full potential of the 16x pathway and AGP and other 8x cards will be obselete. Because most people in the future operating at the 8x frequency will be people with an SLI board, it won't matter beacsue 2 cards is almost always better than 1 (e.g. 2x 7600gt>1x 7900gtx even on a "normal" SLI board) I would go for that board because it is still around the same price as any DFI sli board and you'll be future proof, probably for a long time. Like i said, DFI is really expensive, but you definetly get what you pay for, especially if you plan on overclocking. In conclusion, no, its not worth the extra $40...right now. If youre on a tight budget, go for the basic ASUS a8n-sli as opposed to the deluxe, premium, or a8n-32 (they all pretty much have identical features) and not abit because I've heard a lot of bad reviews. Like I said too, If you plan on overclocking... GO DFI.
Good Luck

PS heat pipes on the MoBo are overrated if you have a good cpu and gpu heatsink (thermalright xp-90c and zalman zf900)

PPS whats your current graphics card?
 
I'm in the middle of an upgrade, actually, since I'm running an A64 system on AGP. Currently I have a 6800 OC unlocked to 16/6, and the new vid card I'm planning on buying is a 7900 GT.

I'm planning on using an XP-90 w/ 120 mm fan mounted (it worked really well on my last system), on either a Venice core or X2, can't decide. Also using an Antec Smartpower SP-500 for the modular cabling and price, mounted in a Lian-Li PC-7 A Plus case.
 
If the Lian-Li case you have inverts the motherboard, you may want to avoid any heatpipe-oriented motherboard. In regards to the A8N32, it's not really necessary. I upgraded from the A8N-SLI Premium and no real performance difference.
 
The price difference between an A8N-SLI and A8N-32 SLI just doesn't justify the +$100. Capt Caveman seems to justify that premise.
The savings can go to a better CPU or more RAM.
 
Originally posted by: pkme2
The price difference between an A8N-SLI and A8N-32 SLI just doesn't justify the +$100. Capt Caveman seems to justify that premise.
The savings can go to a better CPU or more RAM.
Click to expand...

What are the major differences between the A8N-SLI vanilla mobo vs. the A8N32, other than the passive heat pipe cooling setup? How loud is the chipset fan on the A8N SLI?
 
Originally posted by: MrToilet
Originally posted by: pkme2
The price difference between an A8N-SLI and A8N-32 SLI just doesn't justify the +$100. Capt Caveman seems to justify that premise.
The savings can go to a better CPU or more RAM.
Click to expand...

What are the major differences between the A8N-SLI vanilla mobo vs. the A8N32, other than the passive heat pipe cooling setup? How loud is the chipset fan on the A8N SLI?
Click to expand...


My A8N-SLI Dlx is quiet with my Yate Loons in the background. I'm quite satisfied with mobo in my workstation.
 
Originally posted by: MrToilet
What are the major differences between the A8N-SLI vanilla mobo vs. the A8N32, other than the passive heat pipe cooling setup? How loud is the chipset fan on the A8N SLI?
Click to expand...
Just remove the chipset fan and replace it with this and you should be golden.
 
If budget is a concern I'd choose the Premium over the A8N-E. Simply because they improved alot from the standard mobo and fixed alot of the known problems with the release in the 'Premium' Edition. The A8N-E chipset fan had a known problem of going bad although ASUS fixed it in rev 2.0 of the A8N-E. People still had problems with the fan. Instead of a revision 3.0 ASUS made the 'Premium' edition and not only fixed some problems they did away with the chipset fan. There was still some bio problems I heard and something about vcore too. Then next came the A8N32 Deluxe. ASUS improved alot of things over the Premium with the A8N32. The heatpipe was improved and voltage stability was beefed up. They also added the 32x PCIe and some other technology. The A8N32 is a better overclocker than the two previous mobos.

To simply sum it up I would say look at it like this:

1)Going to invert (upside down) mobo get the A8N-E -cheapest option

2)If not inverting the mobo then get the 'Premium' edition. -next cheapest option

3)If price is no concern, not inverting mobo, and want the best performing of this series of mobo get the A8N32 Deleuxe. -most expensive option

EDIT: The difference in performance between the A8N32 over the Premium mobo is at higher resolutions only. Above 1600x1200. Anything lower in resolution and there is basically no gain in mobo performance at this time. Although nVidia and ASUS claim there will be in the future with newer cards. Neither have said when exactly this'll be or with what card/s. For right now it just in very high resolutions.

 
Originally posted by: acegazda
Because most people in the future operating at the 8x frequency will be people with an SLI board, it won't matter beacsue 2 cards is almost always better than 1 (e.g. 2x 7600gt>1x 7900gtx even on a "normal" SLI board)
Click to expand...

😕 2x 7600gts is marginally better than a 7900gt...doesn't hold a candle to a 7900 gtx

Anyways, to OP, if you want quiet mobo w/o having to sub the chipset fan, then just get the Asus Premium. Otherwise, A8N-Sli is a great choice for the budget buyer
 
I've narrowed it down to the A8N SLI Premium or the A8N-32 SLI Deluxe.

At Newegg, they have the SLI-Premium board OEM for $93 (Retail = $160), and the A8N32 SLI open box for $133, retail $190. Is it worth it to buy one of these, without all the accessories? I have most if not all of the parts included, the only thing I really worry about is not having the manual, SLI Bridge, or drivers.
 
I've used both and can say that A8N32-SLI is 10 times better than A8N-SLI Premium, except the PCI slot layout issue. You don't want to upgrade your motherboard too often, so I'd be somewhat generous. Performance-wise they are similar - indeed, we all know that various socket 939 boards will yield similar performances due to K8 CPUs' on-die memory controller. The difference is most pronounced when it comes to temps, v-core stability, OC'ing, etc.
 
As has been said there is precious little difference in performance between the dual X16 the dual X8.

You can get an Abit KN8 SLI for $100 at Newegg & they currently have the AN8 SLI on special for $90.
 
Decided on the OEM A8N-SLI Premium board from Newegg for $93.

LINK FOR THE LAZY

Here's a link to the Asus store to buy the accessories like SLI Bridge and I/O shield:
Linky

~$110 for the board, SLI Bridge, I/O Shield. Not bad at all.
 
Originally posted by: Skott
If budget is a concern I'd choose the Premium over the A8N-E. Simply because they improved alot from the standard mobo and fixed alot of the known problems with the release in the 'Premium' Edition. The A8N-E chipset fan had a known problem of going bad although ASUS fixed it in rev 2.0 of the A8N-E. People still had problems with the fan. Instead of a revision 3.0 ASUS made the 'Premium' edition and not only fixed some problems they did away with the chipset fan. There was still some bio problems I heard and something about vcore too. Then next came the A8N32 Deluxe. ASUS improved alot of things over the Premium with the A8N32. The heatpipe was improved and voltage stability was beefed up. They also added the 32x PCIe and some other technology. The A8N32 is a better overclocker than the two previous mobos.

To simply sum it up I would say look at it like this:

1)Going to invert (upside down) mobo get the A8N-E -cheapest option

2)If not inverting the mobo then get the 'Premium' edition. -next cheapest option

3)If price is no concern, not inverting mobo, and want the best performing of this series of mobo get the A8N32 Deleuxe. -most expensive option

EDIT: The difference in performance between the A8N32 over the Premium mobo is at higher resolutions only. Above 1600x1200. Anything lower in resolution and there is basically no gain in mobo performance at this time. Although nVidia and ASUS claim there will be in the future with newer cards. Neither have said when exactly this'll be or with what card/s. For right now it just in very high resolutions.
Click to expand...

I've also had a lot of issues with the A8N-E at work and have also found the A8N-SLI to be a much better behaved beast, though it has it's own set of quirks(Doesn't play well with some Antec PSUs).
 
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