Question about "AA"(amd assured) version A7N vs. regular A7N...

[zsouthboy]

Whats the difference, other than the dolby being enabled and the built in video(of which i need neither, so if there is no other difference, i'll order the cheaper one )?

Asus A7N266-VM NVIDIA nFORCE 220 Chipset 266/200MHz FSB Motherboard ATX-
Supports Socket A AMD Duron, Athlon, and Athlon XP up to 1900+ and beyond
2 DIMM slots and up to 1GB of PC2100/1600 non ECC DDR memory support
Integrated Audio AC97and Dolby Digital (AC-3) Encoder
10/100 Mbps LAN controller
3 PCI slots, 2 USB ports, 2 on adapter card and 1 AGP Pro/4x slot. Model#: A7N266-VM
Price $45

Hot Item! Asus A7N266-VM AA (AMD Assured Version) NVIDIA nFORCE 220 Chipset 266/200MHz FSB Motherboard Micro ATX- Retail
Socket A AMD Duron, Athlon, and Athlon XP up to 2600+
nForce 220D: NVIDIA IGP-64 north bridge and NVIDIA MCP-D south bridge
FSB:266/200 MHz
2 DIMM sockets support max. 1GB unbuffered PC2100/1600 non-ECC RAM
Slots:3x PCI 1xAGP PRO 4x
Onboard LAN:10/100 Mbps
Integrated AC97and Dolby Digital 5.1 (AC-3) Encoder Audio
Integrated Nvidia Nforce GeFORCE2 Video. Model#: A7N266-VM /LAN AA
Price $73

Does the amd assured thing mean anything?

Also, is this board stable? This is for my parents to replace their K75SA... they do not need absolute performance, just stability... i assume that nVidia's motherboard drivers are up to par by now...

TIA

 

[mechBgon]

I have a whole bunch of them at work and they are nice and stable (notice I didn't skimp on a small or non-name-brand power supply).

We're using Win2000, and it's a breeze to install the drivers. There is a recommended routine for installling the drivers on Win98SE, and if that's what you'll be using, check here.

The onboard video is fine for day-to-day stuff or even some light 3D gaming (Microsoft Train Simulator, 3D golf, whatever) but if they get into some recent shooters or driving sims then they might want to throw a GeForce 3 or 4 in the AGP slot to take over the video duties.

I have some AA ones, and some that weren't labelled that way, but the boards seem to be physically identical, and work the same. I wouldn't worry about the AA thing one way or the other.

The sound was really surprising. I haven't tried any 3D gaming on them, being work systems, but the CD audio alone impressed me as being better than my old Sony 5-disc rackmount CD changer (if that means anything).

 

[glenn1]

You left out one minor detail in your post. The non "AA" version you point out as costing $45 is a refurb, rather than $73 for the new, unused "AA" version (these are newegg.com prices). Other than that, i think MechBgon is right on the money in saying not to sweat the AA designation one way or the other.

 

[mechBgon]

Yeah, call me crazy but I wouldn't buy a refurb... don't they come with a 1-month warranty? The retail board has a 3-year warranty, which is kind of cool. Also, I forgot to mention that the retail-boxed boards, AA or not, do come with the S/PDIF-outlet plate pictured in the "See It!" section, and have both the optical and RCA outputs. And both have the same southbridge with the Dolby goodness.

 

[zsouthboy]

Yes i saw that the $45 is a refurb i just wanted to know if there was any other "special" differences between them.... sounds good then. will probably have my parents spring for the retail boxed one, video is m00t, though, i put my old radeon DDR in there, heh.

Thanks

 

[cheapgoose]

just got my refurbed from newegg. paired with a 1600xp and everything works great. and yes, it came with nothing! oh well, all good. got the mobo for a little project. 3dmark was about 1600.

hey mechBgon, wanna sell me some of those "extras" ? well, if you have some laying around. do I need them?

one thing though, in sandra, I couldn't get "mobo info" and "cpu/bios info" to start. other stuff works. been running torture test to make sure the mobo is cool.

 

[Killrose]

What sort of overclock capabilitis do these have? Any Multiplier , voltage or FSB adj?

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Killrose
What sort of overclock capabilitis do these have? Any Multiplier , voltage or FSB adj?

Not without modding the board. Best approach would be to mod the CPU itself using the bridges, or else get a board that's OC-friendly, maybe an EPoX 8RDA or 8RDA+.

 

[Zap]

I think refurbs are now coming with 15 day warranties from Newegg.

 

[clumsum]

I suspect the "AA" is just a newer bios ........... which you could flash any A7N266-VM to.