A8N SLI - how long has it been available?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Rob Nicholson
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R

Rob Nicholson

How long has the non-Deluxe A8N SLI been available? It looks like it would
suit my needs perfectly but I'm a bit wary about buying the first revision
with v1.00 BIOS of a motherboard - I've been burnt before :-)

I've read a few messages about instability on here.

I was going to get an AMD 64 3000 and two sticks of 512MB DDR400/PC3200 RAM
to use with a Innovision 6800GT PCI-E video card (already bought this, by
mistake).

Cheers, Rob.
 
Rob Nicholson said:
How long has the non-Deluxe A8N SLI been available? It looks like it would
suit my needs perfectly but I'm a bit wary about buying the first revision
with v1.00 BIOS of a motherboard - I've been burnt before :-)

I've read a few messages about instability on here.

I was going to get an AMD 64 3000 and two sticks of 512MB DDR400/PC3200 RAM
to use with a Innovision 6800GT PCI-E video card (already bought this, by
mistake).

Cheers, Rob.
Click to expand...

It is basically a very good stable board. For a 1st revision board I do not
see any reason to fault it. BIOS 1002 very stable. It may be a good idea
to check that your RAM is on the ASUS QVL (Tested Ram List). as a few Athlon
S939 boards can be a bit moody over RAM. With two sticks of RAM you will
no-doubt be wishing to run the board in Dual Channel mode. Again, I have
found no problems there. I think you will be very happy indeed when if you
run this board with an Inno 6800GT PCI-E.

Whatever you do, don't but Gigabyte.
 
Rob said:
How long has the non-Deluxe A8N SLI been available? It looks like it would
suit my needs perfectly but I'm a bit wary about buying the first revision
with v1.00 BIOS of a motherboard - I've been burnt before :-)

I've read a few messages about instability on here.

I was going to get an AMD 64 3000 and two sticks of 512MB DDR400/PC3200 RAM
to use with a Innovision 6800GT PCI-E video card (already bought this, by
mistake).

Cheers, Rob.
Click to expand...
I have the A8N-SLI with 1 gig Crucial ram (dual channel) an AMD 3500+
and 6600GT. I have found it extremely stable and very fast. I have had
mine since Dec 24th, long enough to see problems but none so far. I have
stayed with the same BIOS and have resisted the urge to reflash. You
will note that people with instability/problems have been using the Beta
MB drivers. My advice - don't!

I bought Asus because of past positve experience and have no regrets so far.

Ron
 
to check that your RAM is on the ASUS QVL (Tested Ram List). as a few
Athlon
S939 boards can be a bit moody over RAM. With two sticks of RAM you will
Click to expand...

Will do - I noticed a list of approved RAM on the ASUS web site and Kingston
was listed, which is available from Dabs.
no-doubt be wishing to run the board in Dual Channel mode. Again, I have
found no problems there. I think you will be very happy indeed when if
you
Click to expand...

Yes, hoping to use this feature, what kind of speed increase does it give?
run this board with an Inno 6800GT PCI-E.
Click to expand...

This all started when I was bought Doom 3 for Christmas :-) Won't run on my
old system. Bloody expensive game this is turning out to be!
Whatever you do, don't but Gigabyte.
Click to expand...

Ah ha, now there in obviously lies a story. I've bought several Gigabyte
boards over the years (current board is a Gigabyte) but I've had the
occasional bad board, esp. on the slightly less popular systems like dual
AMD MP systems. The top is always off that system :-)

The bits are all sat in my Dabs wishbasket waiting to me to click BUY! Going
to need a new power supply as well though. Would love a couple of SATA hard
disks but that's going to have wait.

Thanks, Rob.
 
I have the A8N-SLI with 1 gig Crucial ram (dual channel) an AMD 3500+ and
6600GT. I have found it extremely stable and very fast. I have had
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. I should think about a faster AMD 64 but it's hurting
the wallet already :-)

Cheers, Rob.
 
Rob Nicholson said:
Thanks for the reply. I should think about a faster AMD 64 but it's hurting
the wallet already :-)

Cheers, Rob.
Click to expand...

May I suggest that you gor the 3200+, it's cheaper and I have not found any
perceivable difference to the 3500+. Sure it comes out better in
benchmarks, but in the real world I cannot see any difference.

Whatever you go for, you'll be very happy, you can then wait until the price
of FX-55 comes down to Earth.

Jon
 
Rob Nicholson said:
Yes, hoping to use this feature, what kind of speed increase does it give?

Thanks, Rob.
Click to expand...

Rather unsurprisingly it effectively doubles the memory bandwidth. Not too
sure it is that noticeabley faster than single channel in the real world,
but in benchmarking software, it is absolutely stunning.
 
40 PC,
what was your prior system and did you notice much difference?
IE is it enough to make an upgrade from a P4 2.8 GHz worthwhile?
(I am not into graphics).
 
Mercury said:
40 PC,
what was your prior system and did you notice much difference?
IE is it enough to make an upgrade from a P4 2.8 GHz worthwhile?
(I am not into graphics).
Click to expand...

Previous system was Athlon 1Ghz, so as you can imagine the change of gear
was very noticeable and like a breath of fresh air. I have tried A64 3200+
and 3500, but saw no noticeable improvement. As for the comparison with a
P4 2.8, I think you would do well to stick with what you have, as the most
advantageous aspect of the A8N is the SLi graphics, and that would be of
little use to you, as you say you are not big on graphics.

Jon
 
Thanks.
I'm always telling people not to bother with upgrades unless they are 100%
or more...
However as a s/w developer I have to begin supporting 64bit sooner or later.
I would prefer to wait for dual core to become affordable... but that may be
a year or more at least.

The prior system was a dual P2 400 ==> P4 2.8. The dual still has
advantages.
 
I have the A8N-SLI with 1 gig Crucial ram (dual channel) an AMD 3500+
and 6600GT. I have found it extremely stable and very fast. I have had
mine since Dec 24th, long enough to see problems but none so far. I
have stayed with the same BIOS and have resisted the urge to reflash.
You will note that people with instability/problems have been using
the Beta MB drivers. My advice - don't!

I bought Asus because of past positve experience and have no regrets
so far.

Ron
Click to expand...

Not me - my A8N-SLI is unstable, with release BIOS 1.002, and only
release drivers for everything.

Basically, with no other expansion cards installed (and with RAM on the
Asus QVL), the machine hardware locks randomly (within 18 hours, and not
related to any particular activity) when I have SLI mode activated with
my two eVGA 6800GTs.

If I deactivate the SLI mode in the Nvidia drivers, machine is stable
for days.

I can say that I am not happy so far. Works fine without SLI, but
that's the whole point of this board and the $$$ required...

See the thread "anyone have A8n-SLI" - I put full details there...
 
Not me - my A8N-SLI is unstable, with release BIOS 1.002, and only
release drivers for everything.

Basically, with no other expansion cards installed (and with RAM on
the Asus QVL), the machine hardware locks randomly (within 18 hours,
and not related to any particular activity) when I have SLI mode
activated with my two eVGA 6800GTs.

If I deactivate the SLI mode in the Nvidia drivers, machine is stable
for days.

I can say that I am not happy so far. Works fine without SLI, but
that's the whole point of this board and the $$$ required...

See the thread "anyone have A8n-SLI" - I put full details there...
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, and I've had some real issues with flakiness of the Nvidia RAID
controller - i.e. not seeing drives during POST.
 
I can say that I am not happy so far. Works fine without SLI, but
Oh yeah, and I've had some real issues with flakiness of the Nvidia RAID
controller - i.e. not seeing drives during POST.
Click to expand...

Hmm, think I'll wait a while longer before clicking the BUY icon.

Thanks, Rob.
 
I was doing research on this board, I was just about to get one.
THANK GOD! I looked in this group, board sounds like trouble.
 
Hmmm sounds like somebody trolling to me.
The A8N-SLI DLX is an awesome board.
Click to expand...

But you can't deny there have been some worrying "first revision" type
discussions here.

Cheers, Rob.
 
Rob said:
But you can't deny there have been some worrying "first revision" type
discussions here.
Click to expand...

Nah, there has been _one_ person complaining _a lot_, but the rest are
simply tuning their oc-ed systems, using BETA bios versions that give
trouble, or having problems with hardware that most likely is not
related to the mobo itself (like dvd drives or harddrives).

For a first revision board, with plenty of brand-spankin-new tech on it,
it works awesomely well out of the box.
 
For a first revision board, with plenty of brand-spankin-new tech on it,
it works awesomely well out of the box.
Click to expand...

Hmm, can I come and shout at you if it doesn't work? :-)
 
RJT said:
Nah, there has been _one_ person complaining _a lot_, but the rest are
simply tuning their oc-ed systems, using BETA bios versions that give
trouble, or having problems with hardware that most likely is not related
to the mobo itself (like dvd drives or harddrives).

For a first revision board, with plenty of brand-spankin-new tech on it,
it works awesomely well out of the box.
Click to expand...

I agree. Up until now, the most stable, problem free board I've ever owned
(and I've owned alot) was the A7N8X-Deluxe Rev1.04 board I had. It was
flawless for 2 years, even at 400mh (with 1004 bios and newer), with Nforce
IDE drivers and the whole deal. Not a single problem.
Now, the A8N-SLI Deluxe board I have is just as stable, and I like it even
more.
I'm not an overclocker, and I dont fiddle with beta bios versions. I think
that definatley is more than a coincidence.
 
Nah, there has been _one_ person complaining _a lot_, but the rest are
simply tuning their oc-ed systems, using BETA bios versions that give
trouble, or having problems with hardware that most likely is not
related to the mobo itself (like dvd drives or harddrives).
Click to expand...

er.. (edging towards door) ok, sure... thanks.
 
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