Official DO's and DON'T for ASUS A8N-SLI (PREMIUM)

[Pl0p]

I'm starting this topic in order to concentrate all of the available information on this one motherboard and hope to get a sticky. I'm completely fed up with ASUS and this board things need to be addressed asap. I do know for some it does work and even some do get good scores with overclocking, but that is in contrast to any other board with the same type of chipset.

We all know how ASUS "supports" it's customers: NOT!! Well I hope I can help you out along with all the other people posting their findings on A8N-SLI Premium.


DO
1. BEFORE you BUY: Check this thread to see what memory chips are compatible with this very picky board.
- 4GB: forget it. It is almost useles with the current OSes and HW limitations + this board doesn't like it at all. If you still want 4GB check out the DDR400 Qualified Vendors List in the ASUS Mainbord Guide for this motherboard. The guide is not complete and contains errors (Link at bottom)
- 2GB: Only USE what is listed in the DDR400 Qualified Vendors List in the ASUS Mainbord guide for this motherboard. AVOID at all costs inserting 4 modules, because this board is even more picky if you insert 4 modules.
- 1GB: same as for 2GB.
Link: http://dlsvr01.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/soc...LI%20Premium/e2128_a8n-sli_premium.zip
Around page 38 you find the DDR400 list.

DO NOT
2. INSTALLING: There are quite some problems with the software as well:
-: install the 6.66 driver if you are not using win 2k3
-: install the SW IDE driver. A lot of the people on these fora, including me, experience problems with it. This driver is included in the 6.66 ForceWare driver package and it lures you into installing it if you press next next next next like any other installation. Make sure to untick it.
-: install the Active Armor or Firewall software included in the Network Driver of the ForceWare package. You must select the Network Driver from the ForceWare package, later on during the installation of the network driver you will be asked what software you want to activate: de-activate the active armor and the firewall options.
-: use the Yukom network controller.
Link: http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=29&threadid=1690699&enterthread=y

MAYBE
3. Tweaking
If you have got this far, don't push you're luck Well, I guess if you have the balls and it's working stable you should be able to get something out of it tweaking and/or overclocking, I'm not yet in a position to tweak/overclock

All of the current beta bioses do not have an official "fixes" list. The latest one at the moment 1008.003 seems to be working faster at POST (that is my personal experience) and the only difference I know of with the stock BIOS.

Here is the supported CPU list of ASUS: http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/cpus...odel=A8N-SLI%20Premium&SLanguage=en-us. Please do not you need at least 1007 for now to support al CPU's

Make sure you have alot of time to get this board to work and these might help as a reminder:
Anandtech superb Motherboard Forum
http://forums.anandtech.com/categories.aspx?catid=29&entercat=y
ASUS A8N-SLI Premium downloads
http://support.asus.com/download/downlo...odel=A8N-SLI%20Premium&SLanguage=en-us
NVidia pages (stock drivers for NForce chipset:
http://www.nvidia.com/page/home.html


People, please do post your working and not working config to help others

NOT WORKING due to RAM, even with two modules only used:
ASUS A8N-SLI Premium 5ux0r m0f0
AMD64 X2 4400+ Toledo
2 x CMX-512-3200XLPRO XMS3200 512MB 400MHZ XMS3208V1.1 0509037-1 2.2.2.5 (S/N: 000118xxx - 00118xxx are removed now, but two same still in system)
Antec Truecontrol 550W (soon to upgrade to eleminate juice probs)
2 x MSI NX7800GTX VT2D256E SLI enabled
CL Audigy 1
2 x Raptor 36GB RAID0 PATA

If you don't get it to work, RMA it, even if you're planning on buying a DFI like many of us do. Maybe they'll change their mind on the support.

 

[wanderer27]

All the NForce4 MBs have issues.

I went with this one to get away from some of them. It's quiet and runs cooler than any board I've had before. Both this one, and the one I had to RMA (PCI slots dead) functionally run rock solid. Right now I'm running my CPU @ 1.35v, and my RAM @ 2.65v with 2-2-2-5 1T timings - not a stutter anywhere, Prime95 & Memtest solid.

Yeah, it can be frustrating to set up, and there are problems. But like I said, all the NF4's are really dissappointing in my opinion.

 

[Dragon41673]

My rig is working in my sig, currently at 2640 prime stable (12x multi with 220htt). No issues other then Vcore isn't being reported correctly in software

 

[wanderer27]

Is that System you posted (not working) yours ?

If so, have you asked for help on these Boards ? There's plenty of people on here that'd be glad to help.

 

[Dragon41673]

Yes it is working and it is mine

 

[wanderer27]

Sorry Dragon, I meant Pl0p's System

 

[Capt Caveman]

WTF!!!

The only point I will agree with is the nf ActiveArmor and Firewall do not work but then again, this goes for almost all mobo's using the nf4 chipset

1. I can overclock my system to 2.75ghz (275x10) stable
2. Asus never lists fixes on their beta bios b/c it's beta, it may not fix the problem they're trying to fix
3. I have Nvidia Driver 6.66 including SW IDE drivers installed, no issues (did you use Driver Cleaner Pro to remove the older version of the drivers?)
4. I have already posted this with screenshot that I have used 4x1gb Crucial Ballistix DDR500 and the combination of 2x1gb Crucial Ballistix and 2x1gb Mushkin XP4000 ram and had no issues. I've also used 2x512mb OCZ EL PC4800 ram. None of these are listed on Asus's qualified memory list.

Here's a screenshot of running 4x1gb of mixed ram:
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b231/Capt_Caveman/4GBonA8NSLIPremium2.jpg

This is not sticky worthy, I think the problem is noob user issues. Please change the title of this thread, there is nothing official about it.

 

[imported_Kensai]

Do Not:

Drop it
Jump on it
Lend it to a friend

 

[Dragon41673]

Originally posted by: Kensai
Do Not:

Drop it
Jump on it
Lend it to a friend

LOL so true...

I'm running 6.66 as well on Win XP Pro (non 64bit)

 

[Superguy]

Drivers seemed not to be as big an issue when slipstreamed into the install. However, I haven't tried to upgrade them at all.

For a don't: don't count on vCore working as it should with an X2.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Kensai
Do Not:

Drop it
Jump on it
Lend it to a friend

Or submerge it. Submerging it inevitably causes Bunny to appear in your signature :evil:

 

[cruZZade]

I think the biggest problem with the Premium is the fact that the vcore is totally screwed... because of this (i'm an oc) I'll probably have to skip the Premium in favour for some other board (dunno which), since there is no indication that this problem will be fixed..

 

[Linearsoup]

took twenty mins to set and im at 2.6 without even trying,100% stable and nice and quiet,best board ive owed.

 

[doc2345]

Well so much for a "stickie"....... LOL Except for the vcore fluctuation it's a great board.

 

[Ice9]

A8N-SLI Premium
4800+ X2
2GB OCZ (2x1GB modules, CAS3)
3 Raptors in RAID0, 1 250GB Maxtor 16mb for storage
Dual 7800GTX cards in SLI
550W Truecontrol 2.0 in an Antec Sonata

At everything stock/auto, everything is dandy with the 1007 bios. However, OC *anything*, even setting PEG link mode to fast or faster (anything but auto), and expect instability. But with everything at stock values, this machine cranks along in P95 forever and ever amen. And man, can this thing bust through find-a-drug work units like nobody's business....

 

[Pl0p]

Thanks for the constructive posts.

I'll be most likely trying different RAM in the first place.
Tomorrow: 2*1024Mb Corsair C2 as in the booklet and with only 2 modules another fricking ?300
Everything on Auto if not working: RMA a million times untill it works

My next system 955X P4 Dualcore and you won't see me here anymore.

 

[Capt Caveman]

FWIW - Beta Bios 1008.003 pretty much fixes the vcore issue that some of you have. Just note, that the bios settings are all about .03-.04v lower than actual, so adjust your vcore settings a little lower than what you want. For example, setting your vcore in the bios at 1.4v is actually setting it to 1.43-1.44v

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: Pl0p
Thanks for the constructive posts.

I'll be most likely trying different RAM in the first place.
Tomorrow: 2*1024Mb Corsair C2 as in the booklet and with only 2 modules another fricking ?300
Everything on Auto if not working: RMA a million times untill it works

My next system 955X P4 Dualcore and you won't see me here anymore.

That's the problem, AUTO. Especially with RAM. No wonder, you have so many issues. The default ram voltage of 2.6v using AUTO, is too low for most RAM. From my experience, Corsair RAM has more issues than any other RAM. Ask the DFI folks about Corsair.

As someone who went from Intel dualcore to AMD dualcore, you're going to have a lot more issues with Intel. Buy watercooling...

 

[Capt Caveman]

 

[openwheelformula1]

Yeah I agree with Capt Caveman, the info in the original post must be written out of frustration. I know there are driver issues with the nf4 chipset, and I've experienced it myself. Just don't install the IDE SW drivers. I also know there are v-core issues for AMD X2 cpus, hopefully someone can confirm the fix in the new beta bios. Screen shots please Capt Caveman.

 

[Ice9]

Originally posted by: Pl0p
Thanks for the constructive posts.

I'll be most likely trying different RAM in the first place.
Tomorrow: 2*1024Mb Corsair C2 as in the booklet and with only 2 modules another fricking ?300
Everything on Auto if not working: RMA a million times untill it works

My next system 955X P4 Dualcore and you won't see me here anymore.

Yeah, I think a lot of this is because of AMD's on-die memory controller. I had a 3800+ box based on NF3 that I simply *could not* get stable. While others had no problems, I could never get mine solid. I tried Corsair, OCZ, Ballistix and Kingston. I tried all sorts of voltages with each. Nothing worked. Prime95 crapped out, Superpi generated errors, etc, etc. Tried a million different Power Supplies too. Whenever I went out looking for help in the forums, I was simply chastized by people saying "Bah, you don't know how to build a system" - never got a single word of help from anyone.

Went back to intel. Magically everything worked again. All the ram I had tested ok under it, and Prime 95 ran without incident.

It took me a while to "trust" amd again, but now that these dual core cpu's are out there I decided to give AMD another shot.

I had a complete bummer of a time trying to get RAID installed on the A8N-SLI Premium. It wasn't until I flashed the bios (it came with 1003) that things miraculously started working. At that point the OS install went without a hitch, and after installing the Asus version of the nforce chipset drivers, everything was going smoothly.

The RAM I have is OCZ's "value" ram I suppose, it's 3-4-4-8 in timings, so I doubt i'll be doing any OCing - but I've never been a fan of the practice anyway. SLI runs gangbusters, the 3-raptor stripe plugs along nicely, and thus far I've seen not so much as a crash or compatibility problem (unless I OC'd something or set PEG link mode to anything but 'Auto'. Then after a while it would hard-lock. It's probably got something to do with SLI.)

Anyway, I certainly don't blame you for wanting to go back to intel. Based on my own personal experiences, the AMD overall has been a dodgy-at-best platform. I've had 5 AMD systems to date over my 20 year history of building PC's, and this is the 2nd AMD box I was able to trust wholeheartedly. The last one was an Intel pin-compatible 386-40. You remember those, right? The one where you had to disable the on-chip cache so Wing Commander didn't play too fast?

-k

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: openwheelformula1
Yeah I agree with Capt Caveman, the info in the original post must be written out of frustration. I know there are driver issues with the nf4 chipset, and I've experienced it myself. Just don't install the IDE SW drivers. I also know there are v-core issues for AMD X2 cpus, hopefully someone can confirm the fix in the new beta bios. Screen shots please Capt Caveman.

I forgot to mention, the one issue that I've found with the beta bios 1008.003(which some don't have) is that my highest vcore setting is 1.45v. But like I mentioned, it's actually 1.49v which still allows me to oc up to 2.75ghz.

Here are some screenies:

Bios vcore setting of 1.3v - Reads 1.33v by Asus Probe and AiBooster. System oc'd to 2.25ghz at 250x9
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b231/Capt_Caveman/Bios1.jpg

Bios vcore setting of 1.3875v - Reads 1.42v, system oc'd to 2.5ghz at 250x10
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b231/Capt_Caveman/5d1f46bb.jpg

Bios vcore setting of 1.45v - Reads 1.49v, system oc'd to 2.75ghz at 250x11
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b231/Capt_Caveman/507a4105.jpg

Note, using the AiBooster set-up was the only way I could find the vcore bios setting to display.

 

[imported_ST]

My rig is below in my sig. Works great. My greatest beefs about the board are the following:

- Nforce 4 firewall bites hard (I couldnt even activate windows because it corrupted the Active X download Oo)

- VCore control: Im stuck at 1.46V max (wish I can get 1.49 volts like some) - this is with latest 1008.003 beta bios. I'm very disappointed in available voltage selections.

 

[wanderer27]

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman

Originally posted by: Pl0p
Thanks for the constructive posts.

I'll be most likely trying different RAM in the first place.
Tomorrow: 2*1024Mb Corsair C2 as in the booklet and with only 2 modules another fricking ?300
Everything on Auto if not working: RMA a million times untill it works

My next system 955X P4 Dualcore and you won't see me here anymore.

That's the problem, AUTO. Especially with RAM. No wonder, you have so many issues. The default ram voltage of 2.6v using AUTO, is too low for most RAM. From my experience, Corsair RAM has more issues than any other RAM. Ask the DFI folks about Corsair.

As someone who went from Intel dualcore to AMD dualcore, you're going to have a lot more issues with Intel. Buy watercooling...

Auto - I agree.
My first MB tried to "Auto" clock my CPU at 5000+ MHz :Q

Auto for Memory - the timings were 2.5-5-5-7 2T with the Voltage at 2.7v. The Voltage is okay (at what's recommended) but I have 2-2-2-5 1T Memory
I've got my timings set Manually now to 2-2-2-5 1T, and I've dropped the Voltage to 2.65v. Everything's solid

I'm running my CPU at 1.35v vs the 1.4 default/recommended as well. Again, everythings solid.

I don't think I'd be able to do that if this board wasn't stable. Just make sure to turn off "Auto" for CPU Overclocking options, and do your RAM settings on Manual as well.

If you're using PCI cards, lock your PCI bus to 33.33Mhz, not the CPU or HTT - primarily if you do any OC'ing.
Also for PCI cards, set your FSB to 201 instead of the default 200. At 200 it won't lock the Bus, but at 201 it will. This caused some issues with a Sound Card until I did that.

 

[Pl0p]

Aaaah thank you guys. You're giving me hope again.

I've just found out what Wanderer27 found out on his own concerning the RAM and detection.
Corsair has a case of their own saying that you have to hard set the speeds and voltages for the RAM:
http://memtest.corsairmemory.com/print_...LI+Premium&pn=TWINX1024-3200C2&id=5031

I don't know how much or what my RAM should be but I guess that 1.65V or 1.7V shouldn't be a problem. The supported timings on the current are 2225 and I only use two modules so 1T should work, but that is the first i'll turn back to 2T if not working.

Still if I cannot get the four modules to work at descent timings, i'll be looking at two 1024 high perf modules.

Thanks again for this good news which will keep me from spending another ?300 on RAM

Oh btw, this noob here reviewed three mobos back when the 1800+ had just been released. Eventually ended up with the asus motherboard as being the most solid, but had to tweak my original cooler with the humongous copper bottem: remove some copper to fit over the condensors near the socket. In that time I aslo worked with some software to change registers in the northbridge: low level code crunching. I don't mind peopel calling me noob, a pitty that this word hasn't got any value anymore today, but that is because people use it at every possible occasion online. Y34h Y0ur v3ry 1337