SPRITE1001 said:
Rob, any tipes on the A7N8X-VM and the A7N8X-E Deluxe since you've built up
these before? I have 2 friends looking to build 1 of each of these.
Obviously the VM isnt for gaming but is being used as the basis for a decent
photoshop machine.
The Deluxe is for a general computer with gaming on the side. Its being used as
a replacement board for the Epox 8KHA+ that went belly up.
Thanks for any thoughts
They have all been easy boards to setup for me so far.
There has been *lots* of traffic in this newsgroup about
the A7N8X and the A7N8X-Deluxe and I have been planning on
using that as a guide for any little things that I assume
might eventually crop up with the VM and E-Deluxe.
For any motherboard I tend to have a self-made CD ready before
I start with things like all of the latest drivers, memory test
apps, Prime95 (for a bit of cpu load testing), AsusProbe, etc.
As a starting point I look at the CD that came with the motherboard
and download updated versions of everything on that CD.
I left the BIOS for the E-Deluxe at the factory version, but
I upgraded the VM to the 1008 version - it wasn't reporting
the ID of the Barton 3000+ correctly and I didn't want to hand
the system over to the customer like that.
If you like hi-res monitors, I don't think you would want the
VM for a PhotoShop machine. I tested the integrated video with
a few 21" monitors and it does a poor job once you get above
1280 x 1024. At 1600 x 1200 fonts, lines, polygons, etc
are very fuzzy compared to what the same monitors display with
a Matrox P650 at the same resolution and refresh rate. It may
all be subjective - I have been spoiled by years of excellent
clarity and colour fidelity from Matrox cards. If you are used
to cards from nVidia or ATI you are probably used to a much
lower standard and it might not bother you so much.