Problems with ASUS A8N SLI Premium and Inverted MB Cases?

[Diss]

Would really appreciate any advice on this one.

I'm planning to build my first system and had decided on an ASUS A8N SLI Premium MB in a Lian Li case with the inverted motherboard configuration.

However, I've been reading some findings that the A8N SLI was not developed with the inverted configuration in mind and that using it this way can result in higher temps than normal for the chipset, with some users reporting overheating.

Does anyone have any experience with this personally, or know any more about this problem? I checked the ASUS web site, and their official reply was that you "may lose some efficiency" setting up the board in an inverted position, but that it would be a minimal thing. Not very encouraging.

Finally, I read a post elsewhere about this problem saying that other MB manufacturers are now advertising newer SLI boards as "working the same in any position," but I've had no luck finding one that makes that claim. Are there any boards that are NOT affected adversely by being set up in an inverted config?

I'm sort of new to all this, so thanks in advance for any info, and please feel free to patronize me...

 

[chynn]

I run my Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe inverted in a Lian-Li V1200 (the long one) case. I have not had any problems with the board or internal temps.

The only problem I have had was the premature failure of the nForce4 chipset fan. From the info I got when I RMA'd the board to get the fan repaired, some of the 8K RPM chipset fans are prone to fail early.

The average temp inside the box is about 30C (room is 25C). CPU runs about 51-55C loaded (Prime95 torture test). And the 2 eVGA 6800GT graphics cards run at 65C and 71C.

My rig is fairly well loaded but not overclocked:

Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe
Athlon FX55
2x512M Crucial Ballistix
2xeVGA 6800GT (in SLI mode)
1xAudigy4 (PCI slot 2)
2x74G WD Raptor (RAID 0)
1x60G IBM 75GXP backup (miscellaneous) drive
1xPioneer DVR-108 DVD burner
1xPC Power&Cooling 510W SLI PSU
1xSwiftech Athlon 6400 HSF
1xSamsung Syncmaster 193P LCD monitor

I picked this case on purpose to mount the graphics cards fan-side up ... I figured the cards would run cooler that way ...

I don't crash; I don't BSoD; and I don't lockup while playing WoW or EQ2 at 1280x1024 with all graphics options turned on (WoW) or under high resolutions (EQ2).

As far as efficiency is concerned, 3DMark05 (freebie version) reported close to 11K Marks in SLI mode with nothing overclocked. I did set the HTT to DDR201, but that's only to make the PCI locks trigger ... the locks are locked out at DDR200.

 

[Dr John]

I run my Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe inverted in a Lian-Li V1200 (the long one) case. I have not had any problems with the board or internal temps

Since the Deluxe doesn't use a heatpipe, the orientation shouldn't matter too much.

Here's my experience with a Lian Li 1100, the Premium, and a watercooled CPU. When I first brought the system up, I was shocked to see my NVMonitor system temp was 55C after an hour of idle/web browsing. I played some games for about 4 hours, and no crashing or problems, and the system temp. went up to 65C. This seems too high for me. This was the situation for about a week.

I was curious, so I just turned the entire case upside-down. Idle/browsing temp. after a few hours? 44C. Keep in mind that since I'm using watercooling on the CPU, I'm also not getting the peripheral cooling of the radiator over the MOSFETs from a CPU fan.

I suspect in a normal orientation, HSF-cooled CPU, the heatpipe works great. I like the MB, so I just pulled off the heatpipe. A Vantec Iceberg fan fits pretty well on the chipset, and it looks like it won't interfer with an SLI set-up (I'm only using one 7800GTX at the moment). I put some graphic card memory heatsinks on the MOSFETs. Seems to work well.

Of course, if you're not going to use the Silicon Image RAID controller, or care about software controlled SLI, you can just get a Deluxe and avoid the hassle.

 

[Lockout]

If you're not watercooling, I think you'll be okay. I've got a Lian-Li PC-V1000B Plus, and I'm planning on buying the A8N-SLI Premium... I've read a few threads over on the Asus support forums regarding this topic, and I've e-mailed Monarch Computer Systems about it as well. The impression I get is that with an air-cooled case and reasonable airflow, it shouldn't be an issue running the Premium upside-down.

 

[Diss]

Thanks for the feedback, guys, very helpful.

To be honest, the entire heatpipe thing is brand new to me as well. I've found a good article on it on the Thermacore site that's pretty exhaustive, but haven't gotten through it yet completely. Is it a huge advantage over a non-heatpipe setup?

In any case (no pun intended), I would probably just opt for the Deluxe, as suggested, but I am interested in the software-controlled SLI feature that the Premium offers.

If I did decide to stick with the Lian Li inverted setup, are there any other MBs that offer the software-controlled SLI feature or is that an ASUS-only thing at the moment?

 

[Lockout]

I think Asus is the only one out at the moment. Not positive on that, though.

Also, if you're going to be overclocking quite a bit, you may want to go for the Premium, as I believe the Deluxe has some sort of issue with running ram at or above 250mhz at 1T, while the Premium (apparently) does not.

 

[AntiStatic]

I ordered an Antec P180 to run this board in rather than risk sticking it in my LianLi and having thermal issues.