Thinking of returning the Asus SLI-Premium

[Jader88]

I just got my Asus-SLI premium from New Egg, It was quite an expensive board. I want some suggestions on weather I should send it back and get the Epox EP-9NPA or the Gigabyte - Both are Nforce 4 Ultra boards. I can get a pretty good combo price around 140 including processor with one of these boards. Do you think that is what I should do or just stick with the Asus SLI-premium? I just cant see myself ever using 2 video cards

 

[Steve1077]

Why did you buy it in the first place?

 

[doc2345]

Inquiring minds want to know..............

 

[openwheelformula1]

what's wrong with the premium besides it's too expensive?

 

[Mrcrowley]

Well Asus has great support for one and being one of the first SLI boards out there I want someone who backs there product. Remeber expanable is the key down the road you never know ..you might get another vid card. I have allways owned a Asus motherboard die hard ASus user here. Never had a problem with them very stable worth the money as far as the other's you get what you pay for . I owned a gigabyte board and it fried my memory the first time i got it up and running and it was basic geric ram (samsung) which it said it could used. BUT that was if your BIO's was up to date you wont see that with asus they give you board all BIO's updated till the day of sale. I would say keep the motherboard you wont regret it . I have used Asus sence my first k7 motherboard just for a idea of what i am saying . I have never had a Asus board crap out on me NEVER.... And i dont work for asus ethier just want you guys to know there great motherboards....

 

[akugami]

Seems he bought an expensive board and is now regretting it. Asus A8N-SLI Premium is a very nice board. There's nothing really wrong with it. I'd argue it's at least as good or better than the other boards the OP listed. So aside from the price, is there any other reason the OP doesn't want it?

 

[Mrcrowley]

Originally posted by: Mrcrowley
Well Asus has great support for one and being one of the first SLI boards out there I want someone who backs there product. Remeber expanable is the key down the road you never know ..you might get another vid card. I have allways owned a Asus motherboard die hard ASus user here. Never had a problem with them very stable worth the money as far as the other's you get what you pay for . I owned a gigabyte board and it fried my memory the first time i got it up and running and it was basic geric ram (samsung) which it said it could used. BUT that was if your BIO's was up to date you wont see that with asus they give you board all BIO's updated till the day of sale. I would say keep the motherboard you wont regret it . I have used Asus sence my first k7 motherboard just for a idea of what i am saying . I have never had a Asus board crap out on me NEVER.... And i dont work for asus ethier just want you guys to know there great motherboards....

Amd fx64 x2 4800
Asus a8n-sli Premium
Corsair ddr600 pc4800 1 GIG
2 BFG 7800GTX 256 gddr3 pci express x16 vid cards
1 Maxtor Sata 150 120 gig 7200 rpm 16 cache hard drive
enermax 600 watt ps
21 ich sony trinitron 520GS CRT (love the old beast)

 

[Mrcrowley]

Nor sure why he wants to give it back that is a great platform to start with and it will last forever I dont know why??

 

[Capt Caveman]

I own the A8N-SLI Premium and have no plans to go SLI. I bought it for it's feature set, overclocking ability and the passive heatpipe for the nf4 chip.

 

[Steeldragonnyc]

hey capt, hows the temp on the chipset?? my dfi idles at about 44c (no overclocking) and when I play about an hour of doom3 it sometimes hits 51c.

 

[solofly]

Originally posted by: openwheelformula1
what's wrong with the premium besides it's too expensive?

This board has serious issues with (some) 4 double sided memory sticks. To be fair it's not the only one (according to others).

PS
Those issues that I'm referring to do not exists on my A8N-SLI Deluxe tho...

 

[mode101wpb]

The Deluxe board had chipset fan issues, only reason why I didn't go with it. The heatpipe design is an added bonus. Also $25 difference and no plans to use 4 sticks of double sided RAM anyways, 2 X 1GB works fine.

It's a problem none the less, ASUS should release a fix for it soon hopefully if even possible?

 

[kman79]

Great board. I built my first computer about two months ago around this board. When I was planning this build out, I told myself I would be conservative about it and not get top of the line stuff, but I figured spend the money now on the good stuff so I won't want better stuff down the road. This was my first build and I had no problems at all. MB temps idles at around 33C and max is about 39C.

 

[solofly]

Originally posted by: solofly

Originally posted by: openwheelformula1
what's wrong with the premium besides it's too expensive?

This board has serious issues with (some) 4 double sided memory sticks. To be fair it's not the only one (according to others).

PS
Those issues that I'm referring to do not exists on my A8N-SLI Deluxe tho...

Right after I lelt here I came across a thread that caught my attention in this regard. Maybe it's not the mobo after all but Ill let you read it for yourselves...

http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?showtopic=11659

 

[jonesmaster]

Originally posted by: Mrcrowley

Originally posted by: Mrcrowley
Well Asus has great support for one and being one of the first SLI boards out there I want someone who backs there product. Remeber expanable is the key down the road you never know ..you might get another vid card. I have allways owned a Asus motherboard die hard ASus user here. Never had a problem with them very stable worth the money as far as the other's you get what you pay for . I owned a gigabyte board and it fried my memory the first time i got it up and running and it was basic geric ram (samsung) which it said it could used. BUT that was if your BIO's was up to date you wont see that with asus they give you board all BIO's updated till the day of sale. I would say keep the motherboard you wont regret it . I have used Asus sence my first k7 motherboard just for a idea of what i am saying . I have never had a Asus board crap out on me NEVER.... And i dont work for asus ethier just want you guys to know there great motherboards....

Amd fx64 x2 4800
Asus a8n-sli Premium
Corsair ddr600 pc4800 1 GIG
2 BFG 7800GTX 256 gddr3 pci express x16 vid cards
1 Maxtor Sata 150 120 gig 7200 rpm 16 cache hard drive
enermax 600 watt ps
21 ich sony trinitron 520GS CRT (love the old beast)

dont buy this board if you are going to overclock. It has serious vcore instability problems with X2's. And their customer service sucks IMO, 20 minutes on hold to tell them there is a fix but they cant tell me because they dont support overclocking.
Vcore wont be what you plug into bios. Vcore fluctuates.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: solofly

Originally posted by: solofly

Originally posted by: openwheelformula1
what's wrong with the premium besides it's too expensive?

This board has serious issues with (some) 4 double sided memory sticks. To be fair it's not the only one (according to others).

PS
Those issues that I'm referring to do not exists on my A8N-SLI Deluxe tho...

Right after I lelt here I came across a thread that caught my attention in this regard. Maybe it's not the mobo after all but Ill let you read it for yourselves...

http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?showtopic=11659

fyi - I'm running 4x1gb of Crucial Ballistix RAM at 400mhz which is double-sided. Here's a screenshot:
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b231/Capt_Caveman/4GBonA8NSLIPremium1.jpg

 

[capeconsultant]

I have this board and love it. Mainly for passive heatsink on chipset. No intention of overclocking or SLI. Stability is my main interest, and so far, PERFECT. I would never turn on Nvidia Firewall, which I thought would be kind of cool, but too many posts in this board against it. Oh yeah, my computer is WICKED quiet. shhhhhhh. Dave

 

[virtualrain]

Here are my thoughts on this board...

Good:
- If there is a hardware problem, your vendor/retailer can probably get a replacement under warranty very easily without hassel - this aspect of ASUS support was good for me.
- There's enough I/O on this thing to satisfy anyone
- If you are going to run SLI, it is the only board I'm currently aware of that doesn't require you to crack the case open to switch modes... It can be done via software.
- The board is rock solid except for issues noted below
- The board is very good at overclocking... surprisingly so for memory timings... I say this because my ASUS board is able to run tighter timings on the RAM I have than some DFI users are able to run and they can tweak some of the settings that the ASUS board sets automatically. Hence not having access to all the settings isn't a detriment, it actually has been a nice benefit.
- The heatpipe cooling on the motherboard is outstanding... very effective. It is even better if you get a XP-120 cooler or Big Typhoon as your CPU fan will also cool the Mobo and Mosfets with the board layout the way it is.
- There is no confusion over how to setup this board... Take a look around at how many DFI board owners don't have a clue what version of bios to run, what RAM slots to use, what BIOS settings to use etc. There is a lot more support and forums dedicated to DFI, but that's because they need it - using a DFI board is a bit of a black art.

Bad:

- ASUS support online is non-existent. Thank god their products are fairly solid because if they weren't their lack of support would bury them.
- The Premium has a Vcore issue with X2 processors. It seems to vary from owner to owner but most people seem to have at least a few usable settings... 1.3V (BIOS=Auto), 1.36V (BIOS < 1.475V), 1.475V (BIOS>= 1.475V). I have been able to maintain a very stable 7/24 overclock of 2.6GHz on my 4400+ with 1.475V. Even if I could get a Vcore or 1.5V, it may not do me any good and it might yield me another 100MHz but for what, another 5 degrees of temps? I don't need any more Vcore, frankly. I suspect most X2owners with a Premium Mobo, can find a Vcore that works for their needs.

Did I miss anything?