*** Official ASUS A7N8X/Deluxe (nForce2) Thread ***

[MrAce72]

My ASUS Probe Utility is monitoring the PSU fan as the chassis fan and the chassis fan as the PSU fan.... Should I just reverse the cables in the monitoring sockets? This is weird!!!!!

 

[kaleb500]

I just found somthing that asus owners should know. It dunno if it will solves any problems that people might have had, probably not. In the following review they discovered that the heatsink that cools the northbrdge had a large amount of air between. In fact %70 of the heatsink was not in contact with the chip. might just be a one off or a bad batch, but when i get my A7N8X tomorrow the first thing i am gonna do is pull it off and put some decent paste in there. Look at the link. Hows is it attached? If i pull it off is it a simple matter of clipping it back on, or does the existing pad hold it in place?

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1341&page=2

 

[pelikan]

Originally posted by: kaleb500
I just found somthing that asus owners should know. It dunno if it will solves any problems that people might have had, probably not. In the following review they discovered that the heatsink that cools the northbrdge had a large amount of air between. In fact %70 of the heatsink was not in contact with the chip. might just be a one off or a bad batch, but when i get my A7N8X tomorrow the first thing i am gonna do is pull it off and put some decent paste in there. Look at the link. Hows is it attached? If i pull it off is it a simple matter of clipping it back on, or does the existing pad hold it in place?

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1341&page=2

It has plastic push-pins. You squeeze them with a pair of needle nose pliers from the back of the board while pulling the pin out from the front. Then if you gently twist, the heatsink should come right off. Mine was not making very good contact, partly because of the thermal pad. But also because the NB was recessed 1-2mm below its outside casing. If I did it again, I would lap the NB. But I just put a thick layer of AS3 on there, put the heatsink on temporarily and then took it off to check the bottom to see if it was making full contact.

 

[MrAce72]

 

[edmundoab]

Originally posted by: MrAce72
My ASUS Probe Utility is monitoring the PSU fan as the chassis fan and the chassis fan as the PSU fan.... Should I just reverse the cables in the monitoring sockets? This is weird!!!!!

yes, just reverse it

 

[MrAce72]

Originally posted by: MrAce72
My ASUS Probe Utility is monitoring the PSU fan as the chassis fan and the chassis fan as the PSU fan.... Should I just reverse the cables in the monitoring sockets? This is weird!!!!!

In the BIOs, the chassis fan is correctly identified based on the RPMs. The funny thing is that the BIOs register no RPM for the PSU fan, even though the PSU fans are clearly spinnning at about 1100 RPM...

This is strange!

 

[MrAce72]

Originally posted by: edmundoab

Originally posted by: MrAce72
My ASUS Probe Utility is monitoring the PSU fan as the chassis fan and the chassis fan as the PSU fan.... Should I just reverse the cables in the monitoring sockets? This is weird!!!!!

yes, just reverse it

Should I reverse it even though the BIOs seem to have it right?

 

[MrAce72]

Is there a good giude to overclocking this board?

I've been working the overclock scenarios and I somehow cannot seem to get it just right.

I up my FSB to 183, keep the multiplier on 13x, and up the core voltage to 1.85V.

What else to I need to do? I've got an Athlon XP 3000+. What about the memory settings?

While I'm doing all of this do I turn everything off of aggressive?

The last attempt I made resulted in my monitor not coming on after I changed the BIOs and I had to clear the jumper.

Is there a good how to out there for this board?

 

[pelikan]

Originally posted by: MrAce72
Is there a good giude to overclocking this board?

I've been working the overclock scenarios and I somehow cannot seem to get it just right.

I up my FSB to 183, keep the multiplier on 13x, and up the core voltage to 1.85V.

What else to I need to do? I've got an Athlon XP 3000+. What about the memory settings?

While I'm doing all of this do I turn everything off of aggressive?

The last attempt I made resulted in my monitor not coming on after I changed the BIOs and I had to clear the jumper.

Is there a good how to out there for this board?

I don't know a guide specifically for this board. Anandtech and Tweaktown have good general overclocking guides.

My strategy is to start with max front side bus.
-lower multiplier to 10x or so and keep vcore high to take cpu out of equation.
-set conservative memory timings (optimal or Cas 2.5-3-3-7) and up voltage to 2.7V.
-raise fsb is 5MHz increments until windows doesn't load then back off 5MHz and see if its prime95 and memtest86 stable.
-raise cpu multiplier until it won't load windows and back off to where it will and run Prime95.
-run benchmarks with different FSB, memory timing and cpu MHz combos (I do 3DMark01, UT2003 and Sandra mem bandwidth) to determine the best balance between cpu MHz, FSB and memory timings. I shoot for the highest FSB with tight mem timings. The benchmarks will show you what works best.
-after finding the magic combo, run prime95 overnight and memtest86 through 10 loops.

You may easily hose your operating system doing this. Especially when shooting for high FSB with tight memory timings. I take it in stride that after I establish my highest stable overclock I may need to clean install windows.

 

[mope]

I?m looking into buying the deluxe A7N8X. I?m wondering how good the built in sound really is. Also, does anyone have info on the rumored SPDIF header that is supposedly on the board--does it work, I would like to have optical output.

 

[Crusty]

I recently just bought a Barton 2500+ and a this board. I was wondering what BIOS version would be the best to oeverclock it. I also have Corsair TWINX 512 pc3200.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[JBT]

which NIC works better the Nvidia or the 3 COM??? I am getting one of these boards tomarrow and I have heard the Nvidia NIC uses more CPU cycles.

 

[squidman]

Both NIC's are 'bout the same. I've disabled 3com tho - cuz it need s an extra driver, as opposed to nfrorce, that comes included with the driver pak. I use nVidia

 

[JBT]

cool thanks for the quick response

 

[Chaingang]

😕 Just got my computer up and running! First problem, can anyone tell me which pins to hook Harddrive Led wire to? Manual doesn't specify as far as I can tell.
Thanks

 

[squidman]

Look at the mobo layout...theres a HD_LED connector, or such. Its at the bottom right corner, 2-pin.

 

[pelikan]

Originally posted by: Chaingang
😕 Just got my computer up and running! First problem, can anyone tell me which pins to hook Harddrive Led wire to? Manual doesn't specify as far as I can tell.
Thanks

page 25. they put it in a different section than all those other pins for some reason.

 

[TheBloodguard]

Is anyone running this board with a single stick of Genuine Samsung 256 mb 2100? I was thinking of getting this board and running a XP Tbred 1700 and a single stick for the present and then upgrading the cpu and additional mem in the near future. I keep hearing on how picky this board is on memory so I was wondering if anyone had a single stick of 2100 in it. Thanks

 

[Chaingang]

😀Thanks Guys, wonder why they put it there??

 

[Speedo]

I have just updated my rev 1.04 to the latest 1004 bios, and now I can't run the FSB nearly as high. With my old 1002, I ran at 175MHz, no prob, but with this new 1004 I can only go a few MHz above 166?! Anyone else experienced this? What could be wrong?

Thanks!

 

[pelikan]

Originally posted by: Speedo
I have just updated my rev 1.04 to the latest 1004 bios, and now I can't run the FSB nearly as high. With my old 1002, I ran at 175MHz, no prob, but with this new 1004 I can only go a few MHz above 166?! Anyone else experienced this? What could be wrong?

Thanks!

I didn't notice any change at all with the 1004 bios with my rev 1.04. Some people actually reported the ability to reach a higher FSB with it.

 

[Lightingguy]

Been running this MB for a week with generic PC2100 while waiting for my 3200 ram to arrive. Runs very well with either 256 Samsung or 512 Meg PNY 2100 (for dual channel).

On the other hand, had a problem with the Samsung 3200 512 Meg stick that ran well in a Soyo Dragon Ultra.

 

[SteveInTallyFl]

Whose/which PC3200 512MB modules will give stable performance for resonable price on an A7N8X-DLX with 2500+ CPU? Will not have serious gaming on it for a year or so, but will do a lot of video editing.

Thanks for your suggestions.

 

[pelikan]

I'd get Crucial from their website. You can buy memory for your specific MB and they will give you guaranteed compatibility. And its cheap. I'm thinking of trying some out after reading this review.

 

[Cesar]

Does the OCZ rams work with the A7N8X v2?
does anyone have them on their system bcose i'm buying them today. Is this board the best nforce 2 board for overclocking over 200Mhz fsb? plz I realy need to know