Recommend me a good SLI motherboard for use with a X2

[imported_red5]

Short and to the point:

I am looking for a SLI-Socket 939 motherboard that will work with a X2 and not have USB2 issues. I know Asus A8N-32 Deluxe seem to be very fast and a popular choice.

I've also been recommended the DFI SLI-DR or SLI-D, but those are not SLI x16 which would prefer unless all the X16 boards happen to be junk. I feel that if I am buying a new board, I should at least get an upgrade.

What I am looking at now is an Asus A8N-32 with Corsair XMS-3500LL PRO RAM. Pros and cons of this board are very highly welcome, and I'm open to suggestions - preferably True X16 SLI but any regular nforce4 SLI boards that work great are worth a mention.

Background:

I discovered what was causing my blue screen problems. For whatever reason, with the AMD X2 and USB2.0 (which may or may not even be related to the Nforce4 chipset) would generate a blue screen after enough use of one or multiple USB devices, and of course my keyboard and mouse are both USB. I added /onecpu to my boot.ini and it works perfectly.

So this means my problem must either be that USB2 and X2 and possibly SLI are all incompatible which seems not to be the case as there are many others with the same issue, but there are also many others that it works for, which is pointing to incompatibilities on my motherboard.

Convienently I am building my sister a new system for her birthday in July, so I can use my motherboard with a single core CPU with that, but I would like to be able to use my dual core CPU to its full potential.

Regardless, I was sold a system with incompatible parts and they will not replace parts with anything but what they are, so they will not correct the problem so I need to deal with it myself. I bought a pre-built system for one reason - so I didn't have to mess around with making ****** work because I really don't have the time for that right now. And as a result I've spent more time trying to make it not blue screen than I could have ever imagined!

 

[Heidfirst]

Also have a look at the Abit AN8 32X.
Same chipset as the Asus so has dual X16 SLI, very stable, no known issues with X2 or USB.

 

[imported_red5]

Originally posted by: Heidfirst
Also have a look at the Abit AN8 32X.
Same chipset as the Asus so has dual X16 SLI, very stable, no known issues with X2 or USB.

Between the two you would pick the Abit? Or either or works? (whatever's cheaper basically).

 

[Heidfirst]

I would have to say yes because I have the Abit

Newegg has the Abit at $180 incl. shipping & the Asus at $190.
Either should be fine but there are a no. of reviews of both so you can make your choice based on features, price & reviews.

1 thing about the reviews of the Abit - on the original BIOS there is a bug that limited overclocking to ~280 external clock. There is a newer BIOS that fixed that but some of the reviews may not mention it if they were done prior to it.

 

[imported_red5]

I'm not even looking to OC, I'm just trying to get everything working. Currently I have to run /onecpu because apparently my motherboard has issues with ACPI + X2 + USB2 and blue screens with USB2 if I use it as a dual core.

I'll need RAM with the new box so if I buy RAM and a motherboard, the Asus will be cheaper.

 

[Starbuck1975]

Red, I am looking to build a similar system that mirrors your requirements.

After digging through just about every forum known to man with regards to nforce4 SLI x16 boards, I decided to go with the Abit, for the following reasons:

True passive cooling solution that actually works well in various testing configurations.
Very stable at stock speeds.
Intuitive overclocking options from an easy to use interface.
Fan and power management controls.
Easy to use bios flashing utility.
Responsive technical support.

My last few boards have all been Abit, and the AN8 32x is the first of the nforce4 socket 939 boards that I find attractive as an upgrade option.

 

[imported_red5]

I'm still not sure. The asus would be $30 cheaper after a rebate, but up front I'd still have to pay more which is vey attractive... and I've always had great luck with Asus as well.

IAs long as the A64 X2 4800+ and USB2 do not create blue screens (or anything else for that matter) I will be very happy right now. It took me over a month to figure out what was causing my BSoD problem and according to all my friends, it's the wierdest problem ever, topping out my last one.

I guess I am waiting a couple weeks to pay my credit card off before fixing this thing...

 

[Heidfirst]

Originally posted by: red5
I'll need RAM with the new box so if I buy RAM and a motherboard, the Asus will be cheaper.

why?
they both use the same RAM ...

 

[imported_red5]

Originally posted by: Heidfirst

Originally posted by: red5
I'll need RAM with the new box so if I buy RAM and a motherboard, the Asus will be cheaper.

why?
they both use the same RAM ...

I know, it's a newegg special at the moment. I get the Asus A8N 32 with %$30 off with 2x1024mb corsair 3500LLPro (about $160). Not sure if it will be around when I actually buy all the stuff though....

 

[onioneater36]

I have the A8N32-SLI (ASUS) and have had a blast with it for the past 7 weeks. It has been very easy to work with. I am finally overclocking a little bit with my 2.2 GHz Athlon 64 X2 4200+ (220 x 11 = 2.4 GHz) with memory at 2.5-3-3-6-1T @ 2.75V. Have only 39C on the board and 40C on the CPU (idle) and 42C on the board and 44C on the CPU under load. Drivers have been great, manual is good, so far, no complaints. One comment, however, is you have to diable LEGACY USB in the BIOS or MEMTEST86 will throw up a bunch of errors (false errors, btw). Only wierd anomaly I have had to deal with and technically it is a non-problem.

 

[Starbuck1975]

I have the A8N32-SLI (ASUS) and have had a blast with it for the past 7 weeks. It has been very easy to work with. I am finally overclocking a little bit with my 2.2 GHz Athlon 64 X2 4200+ (220 x 11 = 2.4 GHz) with memory at 2.5-3-3-6-1T @ 2.75V. Have only 39C on the board and 40C on the CPU (idle) and 42C on the board and 44C on the CPU under load. Drivers have been great, manual is good, so far, no complaints. One comment, however, is you have to diable LEGACY USB in the BIOS or MEMTEST86 will throw up a bunch of errors (false errors, btw). Only wierd anomaly I have had to deal with and technically it is a non-problem.

Just out of curiosity, the temperatures you mentioned...are you running after market heatsink/cooling solutions, or are those the stock heatsinks and fans on your CPU and GPU.

I ask because your temperatures are somewhat lower then what many review sites are posting for stock cooling, and I have been debating whether I need to invest money in aftermarket coolers.

 

[Heidfirst]

Originally posted by: red5
I know, it's a newegg special at the moment. I get the Asus A8N 32 with %$30 off with 2x1024mb corsair 3500LLPro (about $160). Not sure if it will be around when I actually buy all the stuff though....

excellent RAM but overkill if you won't be overclocking.
& as you say the deal may not be available when you actually order ...

 

[onioneater36]

I did swap out the AMD stock cooler with an Arctic Cooler Freezer64, but in all honesty it only knocked off a degree or 2. It did, however, make the system a lot quiter. If I get rid of my cheap power supply now, it won't sound like a jet engine.

Immensely happy with my build, however.

 

[onioneater36]

Woops. Missed the second question. The GPU cooling is stock, but the eVGA 7800GT CO SE comes with a nice copper heat sink, so it performs pretty well, The VGA card is usually around 44C.

 

[imported_red5]

Originally posted by: Heidfirst

Originally posted by: red5
I know, it's a newegg special at the moment. I get the Asus A8N 32 with %$30 off with 2x1024mb corsair 3500LLPro (about $160). Not sure if it will be around when I actually buy all the stuff though....

excellent RAM but overkill if you won't be overclocking.
& as you say the deal may not be available when you actually order ...

I might OC, but my first goal is to get something that works stabily without OCing. If I get it working with usb2 and both cores, which is my primary objective. I've lost at least 8 hours of work with all the crashing and that is not cool.


I don't want to wait around for the next half year waiting for the next BIOS update, and it appears they will not replace my motherboard with anything other than what it is in order to correct the problem, or swap me with a FX-57 CPU so I can at least see some of the benefit of the extra money I spent on a X2 over a single core, so I'll try and solve it myself. Wish me luck.

So I broke down and charged it. I had a $25 rebate and free shipping and the combo that I would have lost if I waited any longer so that was like $70 total between the rebate, the $30 off the combo and the free shipping.

 

[imported_red5]

Originally posted by: onioneater36
I have the A8N32-SLI (ASUS) and have had a blast with it for the past 7 weeks. It has been very easy to work with. I am finally overclocking a little bit with my 2.2 GHz Athlon 64 X2 4200+ (220 x 11 = 2.4 GHz) with memory at 2.5-3-3-6-1T @ 2.75V. Have only 39C on the board and 40C on the CPU (idle) and 42C on the board and 44C on the CPU under load. Drivers have been great, manual is good, so far, no complaints. One comment, however, is you have to diable LEGACY USB in the BIOS or MEMTEST86 will throw up a bunch of errors (false errors, btw). Only wierd anomaly I have had to deal with and technically it is a non-problem.

My setup now runs at 38 degrees C after gaming for hours. One of a few things this board does right with a X2 4800+. It idles around 30-33. But it's been fairly cold here and I do not think my heat is even working.