Athlon 64 with Asus Wireless Motherboard

  • Thread starter Thread starter Kate
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K

Kate

Greets all,
Does anyone know if either of these are a good choice for a wireless network
.... am looking at either the Asus A7N8X Deluxe Wireless Edition or the more
expensive Asus A8V DWE.

TIA
 
Greets all,
Does anyone know if either of these are a good choice for a wireless network
... am looking at either the Asus A7N8X Deluxe Wireless Edition or the more
expensive Asus A8V DWE.
Click to expand...

Err.. well to start with you're looking at two rather different
boards. The A7N8X is a Socket A board for AthlonXP processors while
the A8V would be a socket 939 or Socket 754 board for Athlon64 chips
(Asus doesn't actually list an "A8V DWE on their website, though they
do have a Socket 939 "A8V Deluxe", perhaps that's what you're looking
at?).

Also, it's very important to note that these boards do NOT come setup
for wireless connectivity by default! They require an extra add-in
card. It might be that the reseller is bundling this extra card along
with the motherboard, but be VERY certain about that before you buy
this product! Asus, by default, does NOT ship the add-in WiFi card
with these motherboards.

As for the comparison between the two as far as WiFi goes, the
A7N8X-Deluxe comes with an 802.11b (11Mbps) wireless chip while the
A8V Deluxe comes with the much faster 802.11g (54Mbps) wireless chip.
The difference might not amount to much if all you're doing is sharing
an internet connection (which would typically be limited to 3Mbps or
less), but if you're going to do any file sharing between the devices
the 802.11g access point of the A8V would be a rather significant
advantage.

All in all, I would tend to view the A8V Deluxe as being worth the
extra money, though keep in mind that you might also be looking at a
more expensive processor for that system. The cheapest Athlon64 chip
will set you back $141 for an Athlon64 2800+ (a slightly slower and
32-bit only Sempron 3100+ will fit in this board as well and cost you
$124). To get similar performance on your A7N8X-Deluxe board, you
would probably be looking at an AthlonXP 3000+ at $155 or 3200+ at
$200, though if you can get by with a bit less performance you could
pick up an AthlonXP 2600+ for only $96. (all prices care of
www.newegg.com)


Also, keep in mind that you can pick up a PCI WiFi card, usable in any
motherboard, for only $40 (for a D-Link 802.11g card). It may end up
being that the add-in WiFi card for the Asus boards mentioned above
are just as expensive or even more expensive than this! In fact, if
the add-in WiFi card is not being bundled with these boards, you might
end up having a VERY hard time actually finding such a board, as this
sort of design is usually really targeted at the OEM crowd (ie the
Dell's and HPaq's of the world), not us mere mortals.
 
Thanx ever so much for your help Tony ... I'd wondered if the two boards
supported different processors as this wasn't clear from info I'd seen.

We're looking to put together and [wireless] network/internet connect two
Athlon 64 systems and I'd read that this board has an 'user friendly set up
wizard. A friend has spent hours trying to set up a similar system and
finished up hardwiring the network ... we don't want to have to resort to
that!

The boards I've been looking at do come complete with "WiFi-gT card (PCI),
S-ATA Leads (4x Data & Power), Firewire Riser, USB & Games Port Riser, IDE
Lead, Floppy Lead, Quick Start Guide, User Guide, WinDVD, Driver CD, WiFi
Driver and Back Plate ", so that sounds fine ...... methinks:-)
Also, it's very important to note that these boards do NOT come setup
for wireless connectivity by default! They require an extra add-in
card. It might be that the reseller is bundling this extra card along
with the motherboard, but be VERY certain about that before you buy
this product! Asus, by default, does NOT ship the add-in WiFi card
with these motherboards.
Click to expand...

By the extra add-in card, am I right to presume you mean this WiFi card?
Do you think the Athlon 64 is as good as it's made out to be or is the XP
equally good?

Kate
 
Kate,

I suspect that the A8V may be sold in different bundles in the US (where I
am) than in the UK. My A8V came with everything on your list, except the
WiFi card. (That was fine with me, as I have no plans to use WiFi at this
time.) Asus doesn't list the bundle with the card on their North American
web site. If you want the card, make sure that the package you're purchasing
is the one that includes it. The card may not be easy to obtain separately.

I've had the A8V for about three weeks, with an Athlon 64 3500+ CPU. I like
it, although it was not inexpensive. It's my first AMD system, so I can't
compare it to any of their other products. (I've been using Intel based
systems since 1995. For ten years before that, I was a Motorola user - as in
Apple Macintosh.) Perhaps a Socket 754 A64 system or an Athlon XP would do
the job for you, at lower cost.

Regards,

Bob Knowlden

Address may be scrambled. Replace nkbob with bobkn.

Kate said:
Thanx ever so much for your help Tony ... I'd wondered if the two boards
supported different processors as this wasn't clear from info I'd seen.

We're looking to put together and [wireless] network/internet connect two
Athlon 64 systems and I'd read that this board has an 'user friendly set
up
wizard. A friend has spent hours trying to set up a similar system and
finished up hardwiring the network ... we don't want to have to resort to
that!

The boards I've been looking at do come complete with "WiFi-gT card (PCI),
S-ATA Leads (4x Data & Power), Firewire Riser, USB & Games Port Riser, IDE
Lead, Floppy Lead, Quick Start Guide, User Guide, WinDVD, Driver CD, WiFi
Driver and Back Plate ", so that sounds fine ...... methinks:-)
Also, it's very important to note that these boards do NOT come setup
for wireless connectivity by default! They require an extra add-in
card. It might be that the reseller is bundling this extra card along
with the motherboard, but be VERY certain about that before you buy
this product! Asus, by default, does NOT ship the add-in WiFi card
with these motherboards.
Click to expand...

By the extra add-in card, am I right to presume you mean this WiFi card?
Do you think the Athlon 64 is as good as it's made out to be or is the XP
equally good?

Kate
Click to expand...
 
Thanx ever so much for your help Tony ... I'd wondered if the two boards
supported different processors as this wasn't clear from info I'd seen.

We're looking to put together and [wireless] network/internet connect two
Athlon 64 systems and I'd read that this board has an 'user friendly set up
wizard. A friend has spent hours trying to set up a similar system and
finished up hardwiring the network ... we don't want to have to resort to
that!
Click to expand...

Well I'm afraid I can't comment on that just yet, I haven't got any
WiFi setup here at all just yet (I'm keeping my eye out for when a
wireless router + PCI card /w Linux support goes on sale!)
The boards I've been looking at do come complete with "WiFi-gT card (PCI),
S-ATA Leads (4x Data & Power), Firewire Riser, USB & Games Port Riser, IDE
Lead, Floppy Lead, Quick Start Guide, User Guide, WinDVD, Driver CD, WiFi
Driver and Back Plate ", so that sounds fine ...... methinks:-)
Click to expand...

Yup, seems like it's got the whole kit. That first thing, the
"WiFi-gT card (PCI)" seems like the add-in card I was talking about.
By the extra add-in card, am I right to presume you mean this WiFi card?
Click to expand...

Yup, and it does indeed look like they are bundling the card with this
board. You should be fine. Bob mentioned in another message that the
bundle might be different on this side of the pond vs. what you're
looking at in the UK, which is entirely possible.
Do you think the Athlon 64 is as good as it's made out to be or is the XP
equally good?
Click to expand...

The Athlon64 is a much more advanced processor that would be faster
and have more features. The key extra features (64-bit compatibility
and non-executable data pages (NX-bit) to help prevent against buffer
overrun exploits) might not be a big advantage to you as Microsoft
still has not released WinXP 64-bit (over a year late now and
counting) and you'll be sitting behind a router/firewall. However the
extra performance alone should make up for the relatively small price
increase for an Athlon64.
 
Thanx for your comments Bob and Tony.

The Athlon 64 3500+ is quite pricey, tho at ~ £100 the 3000+ seems
reasonable.
Not yet sure a Socket 754 is but am absolutely certain that *anything* would
be faster than our 'antiques'.

Hope you are a happy new-to-AMD user ... I too have been Intel for years.

Kate
 
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