Is the Asus A8N-SLI Premium worth the extra expense?

[bgc99]

I'm wondering if the A8N-SLI Premium is worth the premium you would pay if you're not going to do SLI. The cooler for the chipset looks like the perfect cure for those noisy, unreliable chipset fans we hear so much about.

bgc

 

[kman79]

Well, I can't tell you if it's worth extra or not, I can only give you information on how well the heat pipe works. The MB Temps never get higher than 39C, on an overclock 3700 San Diego @ 2.8GHz A 1.55V.

It must run quiter than the deluxe model since there is no fan, I never owned a deluxe model. I wouldn't probably hear it over my delta fan if I did.

The board has been solid performer for me. If you own a 3700 San Diego, your max OC would be limited to 2.8GHz. The 3700 SD will clock higher, but you would need volts around 1.6 range, and the board maxes out at 1.55V. That's fine for me cause I would not feel comfortable running it over 1.55v.

 

[Fallengod]

FYI, theres a new pcie x2 16 boards coming out soon and prices are gonna start to drop. The ultra boards are supposed to drop to around $80-$100, while the sli boards around $100-$150 ITs sorta the wrong time to buy a mobo, id wait a bit.

 

[kman79]

Yup, I read about that. I recently built my first machine, and now I caught the bug. Starting to save up for another build, hopefully by Christmas.

Although I still don't really understand the full advantages of X16 when I though the current bandwith is not even used fully. Or I could be wrong.

 

[bgc99]

FYI, theres a new pcie x2 16 boards coming out soon and prices are gonna start to drop. The ultra boards are supposed to drop to around $80-$100, while the sli boards around $100-$150 ITs sorta the wrong time to buy a mobo, id wait a bit.

I've already been delayed 1 1/2 years, first by illness and then waiting to see the next new thing coming out. At first it was waiting for Rev. E A64s, then hearing about dual cores and then waiting to see what the Antec P180 case was all about.

The next new thing is always just around the corner, at some point you just have to go with what is currently available and not worry about the next great thing.

BGC

 

[woodchuck69]

What are these new boards coming out? I can't find anything on them...

 

[sfjenks]

I bought the A8N-SLI Premium last week and am mostly happy with it. It cost about $10 or $20 more than the others I was considering (and less than the LANparty one).

The only problems I've had are with the NVidia drivers. Installing the IDE drivers wiped my Windows installation several times (made the SATA drive disappear). This is apparently common, if you look at the forums, and not limited to this board. Now everything except the Sims 2 works. Half-Life 2 is amazing on it (with SLI 7800s), and no crashes in anything except Sims2. I wish I knew why, but I think it may be be related to I/O, since it tends to occur during loading when the disk is very busy, as is the sound and the graphics...

 

[bob661]

Originally posted by: woodchuck69
What are these new boards coming out? I can't find anything on them...

Look on the front page of Anandtech.

 

[scrawnypaleguy]

If you're not using Sli, I believe there's an Abit board that also uses passive heatpipe cooling on the northbridge, and it's just an Ultra, so it's cheaper. Check newegg. Just my 2 cents.