Asus A8N32-SLI initial impression....WOW!

Sorry to hear about your loss craig. You said that you had to replace all the mounting clips for the heatpipe? I think that was the mistake, because the default clips are really tightly sprung so they apply a lot more pressure which would make it really hard to apply any damaging amount of torque.

Quite franky I don't think the chip caused it to die because I've seen tons of chipped mobos/video cards/cpus and they were all functional, but of course it would depend on how serious the damage was.

What exactly did you do for the VTT mod, and does it help with the warm boot issue? I'd like to try it if it's not too complicated.

I am using a watercooler for my CPU cooler.
a 120mm fan is blowing through the radiator from the back of my Lian-Li V1000.
How essential is that little optional fan in my situation?
http://www.asus.com/999/images/produ.../optionfan.jpg
From Asus' site...
Optional Fan (for Water-Cooling or Passive-Cooling only)
Maximize performance and minimize noise!
The optional fan is specifically designed to provide sufficient airflow over the CPU power modules and chipset area when water-cooling or passive-cooling is utilized, ensuring effective heat dissipation for the entire system.

Software hardware monitors are CRAP.

Plugged my CPU back into the DFI to take some DMM readings for vcore. Results:

BIOS setting 1.475*110% = Theoretical 1.6225v.
Actual reading: 1.64v
Bios/CPU-Z/HMonitor reading: 1.57v

BIOS setting 1.55v*110% = Theoretical 1.705v
Actual reading: 1.74v
Bios/CPU-Z/HMonitor reading: 1.69v

Now this makes sense - the warm reboot issues were caused by the lower actual vcore I was running (1.61v vs 1.64v) on the Asus.

The DFI software reading was way off so I assumed that 1.61v Actual reading off the Asus was enough to ensure stability.

I don't think my board is the only DFI that reports way lower vcore - I think it was intentionally designed this way. Which would explain why the new Expert and DFI CF boards 'require more voltage' to run stable than the old DFI NF4 SLI

FYI:

On my board, vdimm is:

BIOS: 2.80v
AiBooster: 2.85v
Metered: 2.813v

So the BIOS setting is closer to the truth than I'd thought

Finally got my computer finished last night.

Got windows installed, motherboard drivers, videocard drivers, directX 9, X-Fi drivers.
Then installed FEAR. Configured FEAR to run at highest possible settings.
It froze my machine trying to run the game with SLI enabled.
With SLI disabled I was able to load the game and look around for a bit but eventually froze. CPU Temp was between 45-50 in the bios at boot.
Don't know the room temp but it's generally the coldest room in the house.
All bios settings were at default.
Went to bed at 4:44am

Not sure what's the issue here. Maybe a patch is needed for FEAR? I guess I'll try another game when I get home from work.

Hardware involved:
A8N32-SLI (obviously)
FX-57
Lian-Li V1000
Enermax Liberty 620W
x2 EVGA Geforce 7800 GTX KO's 256 MB
74 GB SATA Raptor

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HKPolice

Software hardware monitors are CRAP.

Plugged my CPU back into the DFI to take some DMM readings for vcore. Results:

BIOS setting 1.475*110% = Theoretical 1.6225v.
Actual reading: 1.64v
Bios/CPU-Z/HMonitor reading: 1.57v

BIOS setting 1.55v*110% = Theoretical 1.705v
Actual reading: 1.74v
Bios/CPU-Z/HMonitor reading: 1.69v

Now this makes sense - the warm reboot issues were caused by the lower actual vcore I was running (1.61v vs 1.64v) on the Asus.

The DFI software reading was way off so I assumed that 1.61v Actual reading off the Asus was enough to ensure stability.

I don't think my board is the only DFI that reports way lower vcore - I think it was intentionally designed this way. Which would explain why the new Expert and DFI CF boards 'require more voltage' to run stable than the old DFI NF4 SLI

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So what does 1.55*113% mean :P Probably 1.8v or so.... I guess time to check v-core matching on Asus board before I get to have too much fun.

just been given 901 bios by asus, not sure how it performs yet, if anyone needs it give me your email

Is anyone else having trouble figuring out which of the two seem more problematic, the A8N32-SLI or the DFI-NF4 range? Whats a boy to pick :(:confused:

For me DFI was nothing but trouble. So far A8N32 hasn't. Thing is, I haven't pushed it far enough yet or used long enough to say something about this.

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Originally Posted by jasonh1234

CPU Temp was between 45-50 in the bios at boot.

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If this is somewhat accurate then i would say this is your problem.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wydeboy

just been given 901 bios by asus, not sure how it performs yet, if anyone needs it give me your email

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Any way you can post it here?? If not... you got PM!

Ideas on what may have been changed or fixed?

Quote:

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Not sure what's the issue here. Maybe a patch is needed for FEAR? I guess I'll try another game when I get home from work.

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@ Jasonh1234: Make sure you have latest FEAR patch, then in config switch off Soft Shadows, and FSAA. I had exactly the same problem with Abit AN8 Fatality, 4800+ and BFG 7800GTX OC's in SLI.

Now game is much better, everything set to high, except 2 mentioned above - oh yeah, dump 81.85's, and load 81.95 GFX Drivers.

Soz for off-topic guys :)

Quote:

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If this is somewhat accurate then i would say this is your problem.

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This temp is fine as read within BIOS, when your system is in Bios, cpu is loaded around 90%. YOu will see this drop by a good 5-8 deg C when in OS. Nothing wrong with 45-50 Deg C temp on that cpu.

Tomorrow my 146 arrives, all things being equal. I need to know 2 things to proceed:

1/ Anyone know of a testpoint on the board for vcore? Or is it a case of poke around and see?

2/ Seal string. What the bally heck is it called in Blighty? Any brand names?

tia

Has anyone found anywhere in the UK that has the A8N32-SLI in stock/has declared a date for getting them in?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by specofdust

Has anyone found anywhere in the UK that has these in stock/has declared a date for getting them in?

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Mine's coming from CPUCity - they just got a batch and I had one on order. They seem to think there's another batch due, because they said if I didn't like the stepping, I could wait for the next ones.

Or did u mean the mobo? I got mine from the same place.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by specofdust

Is anyone else having trouble figuring out which of the two seem more problematic, the A8N32-SLI or the DFI-NF4 range? Whats a boy to pick :(:confused:

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http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...withstupid.gif

jasonh1234 you are going to have to ditch that heatpipe cooler if you have it mounted in a Lian-Li V1000. It won't work with the board upside down and is very likely the cause of your problems.

L1 and L2 Cache ECC is dissabled by default.
I think this should be enabled.
The question is what are the defaault L1 and L2 values for my AMD Athlon64 x2 4400+?

just killed my 146 optie on this board, i think tightened block on naked die too hard...nice burnt smell. mobo survived tho.

01 bios got from asus china, emailed them saying problem with dual channel blue slots no longer posting after fiddling with timings

pm'd all u guys who wanted the bios. let us know what it does.

btw am having serious probs o/c 2gb ballistix, wont run any faster than 258mhz..fails memtest. 146 optie, bios 703, 166 divider 1.4v vcore enhance enabled, mem volt auto 1t, all timings auto-( increasing voltage doesnt do anything).

not had ballistixs before, thought most could do 270--that true? or have people had crappy 1s like me, or is this board not good with ballistix


need help with this ballistix please!!!!!!!!

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...&postcount=512

Those timings work to 282 MHz with 2.81v.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wydeboy

just killed my 146 optie on this board, i think tightened block on naked die too hard...nice burnt smell. mobo survived tho.

01 bios got from asus china, emailed them saying problem with dual channel blue slots no longer posting after fiddling with timings

pm'd all u guys who wanted the bios. let us know what it does.

btw am having serious probs o/c 2gb ballistix, wont run any faster than 258mhz..fails memtest. 146 optie, bios 703, 166 divider 1.4v vcore enhance enabled, mem volt auto 1t, all timings auto-( increasing voltage doesnt do anything).

not had ballistixs before, thought most could do 270--that true? or have people had crappy 1s like me, or is this board not good with ballistix


need help with this ballistix please!!!!!!!!

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They are great on this mobo.
Though I had to RMA two sets before I got the good stuff.

http://users.forthnet.gr/ath/mloupos/250_32M.png

CPUz.
2750MHz on air. Crucial Ballistix 3-3-3-8 1Τ. 32Μ Super Pi.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Marios

They are great on this mobo.
Though I had to RMA two sets before I got the good stuff.

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hmmm your superpi 32M seems quite slow for those speeds doesn't it?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sirkuz

hmmm your superpi 32M seems quite slow for those speeds doesn't it?

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I am getting 31.781 secs at 2700MHz with htt 270 and mem at 180Mhz (133MHz limit in bios) so whats your limit at 'Marios'?

@Marios

Same mobo, RAM; Opty 144 @ 2.4GHz, 267 HTT, 1:1, 3-3-3-7 1T. SPi32M in 30 min 53 sec. Wild, eh? Shows how memory intensive SPi is.

Must try 3-3-2-7 1T.

I have a question for anyone using the Zalman 9500 CPU cooler on this board. My CPU temps on my Opteron are around 40*C idle, up to 47*C under full load for hours. These temps are higher than on my previous Asus A8N SLi Premium using the same Zalman cooler.

Can anyone explain this? I've reseated the cooler thinking I didn't apply enough AS5, but I did. I am thinking that the black bracket around the CPU socket on this board is taller than on the A8N SLi Premium, so the downward pressure from the Zalman cooler is not enough. This is just a theory, however, as I can't measure it since I RMA'd my A8N SLi Premium.

Can someone else post their temps with a Zalman 9500 please and let me know what's going on.