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

I just received my Asus A8N32-SLI mobo from newegg today, I checked every single inch of this mobo for that rumor's "Rev 2.0 sticker" but it is no where to be found....I"d called Asus tech support and he denied such revision so I really don't know what that ebay seller is smoking but Rev 2.0 doesn't exist!! :lol: The package came with loads of cable, optional fan, SLI link and other stuff that I don't really care for :p: Alright, so let's get down to the business, for those who wonder what kind of heatsink is compatible with this mobo, well...let's just say it has plenty of room and clearance for the TT Big Typhoon!! I love the layout of this mobo, all cables are out of the way, installed was painless, and definitely can fit a soundcard perfectly on PCI slot# 2 and still leave plenty of room for the first video card to breath, though PCI slot #1 and 3 are kinda close to the gpu fan but nevertheless they still fit ok.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...chmentid=40049

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...chmentid=40050

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...chmentid=40051

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...chmentid=40052

to be continue.....

The aluminum mosfet heatsink looks kinda out of place, should of been copper to match the SB and NB heatpipe thing, and I was surprised that there were absolutely no thermal compound or sticky pad whatsoever to aid heat transfer either, so I popped off the mosfet sink and apply a thin layer of AS5 on all those little mosfets then slapped the aluminum sink back on.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...chmentid=40056

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...chmentid=40057




For those who couldn't get the vcore to over 1.58v, your mobo have to be either defective or it need bios update? I set the vcore to 1.40v and enable the v-core boost(200mv) and gets 1.61v instantly!! setting it to 1.5v with the vcore boost also gave me around 1.78v....not that I would ever use more than 1.70v but it's nice to know I can get close to 1.80v of vcore if ever needed.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...chmentid=40058

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...chmentid=40059


Moving my raid from DFI Ultra-D to this Asus A8N32 is painless, don't need to delete the array though Windows XP need to be wipe and reinstall, I'm doing it now as I type on my laptop :D how well does this mobo overclock? I'll find out soon enough and will post back result as soon as I'm done loading all my apps back on. :D

Looks great so far, keep us updated.

P.S. Is it really smart to have it on your carpet? lol

What bios are you running? Also what version of motherboard is it.

Beautifull Indeed :cool:

Now let's go for the tests :D
Please, when you can, check out the maximum vcore and vdimm...
Did your board came with wifi card?
Which revision your board has written in the PCB?

Thanks :toast:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Psyche911

Looks great so far, keep us updated.

P.S. Is it really smart to have it on your carpet? lol

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look closer...I'm using the DFI mobo's white color foam pad under the Asus mobo :D :D sometime I also use static bag ;) The bios is relatively easy to setup, memory timing tweak is comparible to my DFI Ultra-D and most of those value looks familiar except a few that I've never seen or heard, I'll have to play around with it and keep you guys updated. By the way, I'm using my 148 CABNE opty on this mobo and it has absolutely no problem picking up the stepping, the bios recognized it properly :D :D :D

Very nice indeed, nice pix too...I want that mobo

that's a real nice board :toast:
waiting results :)

You might want to check the mosfets are making good contact with the heatsink.

On my A8N32-SLI I've found the mosfets on the outer edge are slightly 'lower' than the others and thus make poor contact....I need try and sort that on my board.

@Ben805

I'm glad to see someone that I know and trust with this board !! :toast:

I'm going with one after the first of the year, maybe sooner !! lol

Good to know that 1.7v is a go too, that was a major concern of mine. What memory bios settings are missing ? any ?

It's too bad that this is not compatible with my LL v2000 or I would jump all over this. Maybe I will get it and just remove the heatpipe. Show us some good oc's Ben and I will have to. :toast: Would love to pair this with an Opty 175 and call it a day for a year. :D

Nice to see asus made a nice 939 mobo. Cant wait for the oc results. What was there under the copper pipe thing for the northbridge & southbridge?? Thermal tape or Thermal paste? Only 3.2 to the ddr?

You must be using the bios 502 that shipped with the board, can you confirm this please.

Bios 703 and beta 805 WON'T give 1.77vcore using the overvolt cpu option. Max with these two bioses is 1.58vcore.

You can flash to these newer bioses and confirm that for all of us if you like. If correct it looks like only bios 502 gives 1.77vcore.

I'm running 805, 703 was ify for me. I don't want to flash back to 502 atm.

Well after seeing this thread i decided to go try and get my a8n32 to give me more vcore(trying every combination of settings). Still doesnt give more then 1.58volt as per the other thread. Will be interesting to know what version of the motherboard and bios you are using.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lowdog

You must be using the bios 502 that shipped with the board, can you confirm this please.

Bios 703 and beta 805 WON'T give 1.77vcore using the overvolt cpu option. Max with these two bioses is 1.58vcore.

You can flash to these newer bioses and confirm that for all of us if you like. If correct it looks like only bios 502 gives 1.77vcore.

I'm running 805, 703 was ify for me. I don't want to flash back to 502 atm.

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I tried 502 lowdog. Still no go... I think it might be something on the mobo stopping it.

Yeah well I'll be phucked then because there's no way my board will go over 1.58vcore. Not that I'd use over that anyway but non the less tis a strange issue this one. :confused:

OMG....This motherboard overclock like dream :slobber: I have NOT encounter a single hiccup so far and you guys are going to be in for a very nice surprise when I finish running the SPI 32M!! more screenie coming in 20min....stay tune :D

by the way this motherboard is rev 1 and I'm using the default BIOS 0703 build date 10/27/05

finally, there's no rev2 board ? :confused:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ben805

OMG....This motherboard overclock like dream :slobber: I have NOT encounter a single hiccup so far and you guys are going to be in for a very nice surprise when I finish running the SPI 32M!! more screenie coming in 20min....stay tune :D

by the way this motherboard is rev 1 and I'm using the default BIOS 0703 build date 10/27/05

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Is that 1.00 revision? Because mine is 1.01.

man :eek: this board is my next purchase :fact:

sweet

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ben805

OMG....This motherboard overclock like dream :slobber: I have NOT encounter a single hiccup so far and you guys are going to be in for a very nice surprise when I finish running the SPI 32M!! more screenie coming in 20min....stay tune :D

by the way this motherboard is rev 1 and I'm using the default BIOS 0703 build date 10/27/05

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It's been six minutes Ben, why haven't you updated us???? Hehe, anyway, that freaking rocks, I'm glad the v-core issue has been fixed, With the 8 phase power+ 1.7+ v-core, I think this board will smoke the ultra-d and SLI in sales now. Mine will be here monday, I'm SOOOO.... wanting it to get here, I was almost going to have it overnighted because I'm DYING to get my damn opty under a real board. Good to know it will be doing some real H2O clocks. Keep it coming :)

looks great so far. Can't wait to get mine.

This is the most painless mobo I've ever overclock, yes the print out on the board said rev 1.01 which is the same as everyone else, vcore 1.78v is a confirm as I test it out really quick but since I do not have my phase change hook up I do not want to keep it there for any more than 20 sec incase I fry my opty, I really do not understand why some of you can't get more than 1.6v as I and my colleague do not have any problem with our opty running it over 1.75v, maybe it's cpu related? I'll try to answer as many question as I can but let's get down to business for now, how well does it overclock??



here....
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...chmentid=40063

no problem hitting a rock solid 334 HTT, the anandtech's review of this mobo had theirs up to only 310 but I think they didn't push the board hard enough :D :D :D

It appears to have more memory tweaking options than my ultra-d as well, but I'm not familiar with some of them but I'll have to mess around with those values to see what kind of impact they have on performance and stability.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...chmentid=40064

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...chmentid=40065

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...chmentid=40066

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...chmentid=40067

Here's a few more bios screenie, I'll have to tweak more and run other benchmarks, will post more results later on, but so far I'm loving this mobo!! :D :D

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...chmentid=40068


http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...chmentid=40069

nice getting your 2gb set of ram running 273 stable thats a nice board to be able to do that!!

WOW
finally a good Asus 939 board :)

I only wish my VX will run 250fsb @ 3.2v (actually 260 3.26v 100% stable)

Question is, is 273 what u ran before on your ram? It needs to meet or exceed your previous board to be considered good/better. I'm planning to run 11x280 24/7, hehe. I could only do 10x280 on my 4400 with the ultra-d, Do u get a better/just as good clock out of the board cpu/ram wise?

passive chipset cooling is all I wanted :cool:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Supertim0r

passive chipset cooling is all I wanted :cool:

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Me too. I just wish that the heatpipe design could be used in the v2000.

trza2k and whomever couldn't get the vcore to over 1.58v, see if you can borrow a different cpu from your buddy and try it again, if still no go then obviously your mobo is defective, your only option is RMA it.

As for the SB and NB heatpipe/sink, they appears to have some type of thermal goo applied to them, the MB temperature stay at 31~32'C during SPI 32M and Toast, the heatpipe sink is only slightly warm so there's no need to yank them out, though as I mentioned the mosfet's sink is a joke....it doesn't has any thermal solution whatsoever.

Ben did your v-core flux at all? I noticed that on my dfi cf, the v-core was solid, it never moved an inch, I'm assuming the asus can do the same.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ben805

trza2k and whomever couldn't get the vcore to over 1.58v, see if you can borrow a different cpu from your buddy and try it again, if still no go then obviously your mobo is defective, your only option is RMA it.

As for the SB and NB heatpipe/sink, they appears to have some type of thermal goo applied to them, the MB temperature stay at 31~32'C during SPI 32M and Toast, the heatpipe sink is only slightly warm so there's no need to yank them out, though as I mentioned the mosfet's sink is a joke....it doesn't has any thermal solution whatsoever.

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Me and lowdogg are both running dualcores, although he has a x2 and i have an opty. You got a dualcore you can test? :P

I might see if i can get a opty 146 for testing.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by trza2k

Me and lowdogg are both running dualcores, although he has a x2 and i have an opty. You got a dualcore you can test? :P

I might see if i can get a opty 146 for testing.

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This will be interesting. If somehow a dual core is limmiting the vcore to 1.58 with this board, though don't know if that's possible. :confused:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fareastgq

Ben did your v-core flux at all? I noticed that on my dfi cf, the v-core was solid, it never moved an inch, I'm assuming the asus can do the same.

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sometime it does....though only +/- 0.01v, however... the MB temperature is rock solid so the heatpipe thing really work its magic. I also found some bugs on this 0703 bios....the TREF, Async Latency, Read Preamble and few other options have a mind of their own, they do not like me setting them manually, I have to use the Asus update(works like winflash) to flash the Bios to 0805, problem fixed now. :D I'm loading all my apps and games back to xp so as soon as I'm done I'll play with the bios again, the memory timing is very relax at the moment and still have more room to work on, but so far this motherboard has been rock solid, no problem using multiplier 8, 9, 10, and 11 for my Opty, as most of the time I can't even use 11x and 9x with my Ultra-D bios 704-2BTA. Though I wish this asus has the bios profile thing like the DFI so I can save a few custom settings.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by trza2k

Me and lowdogg are both running dualcores, although he has a x2 and i have an opty. You got a dualcore you can test? :P

I might see if i can get a opty 146 for testing.

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unfortunately I sold my X2 last week and the only spare cpu I have now is an unopened 148 CABNE...which is not going to help testing it, if your motherboard is not defective then I suspect these A8N32 might have some type of cpu ID function that verify a certain code like maxtcase or whatever to determine the maximum vcore you can use, that's the main reason why I suggested you guys to try different cpu and see if it make any difference, I read somewhere that the new bios for A8N-SLI prevent people from clocking over 200 and that person said it automatically clocked it down to 166, when he called asus tech support he was being told that the new feature was there to prevent hardware damage from overclocking :confused:

Ben, thanks for preview. My board will be arriving this morning, and after seeing this I am really looking forward to firing it up and playing.

Has your overall OC improved from the DFI?

The reason I went for this board was I wanted stability, I'm fed up of the DFI's wobbliness :p:

Great review and pics Ben! Thanks! Looks like I'll be ordering one soon.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Major

@Ben805

I'm glad to see someone that I know and trust with this board !! :toast:

I'm going with one after the first of the year, maybe sooner !! lol

Good to know that 1.7v is a go too, that was a major concern of mine. What memory bios settings are missing ? any ?

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hehe...you know you want one of these bad boy!! :D :D I believe the only memory setting missing is the TWTR, and there's only 3 values for TREF....3.9, 7.8, and 15.6. Dram and data strength are similar to DFI but you can disable the data strength on this, other than that there are a bunch of other settings that the DFI don't have and I still have no clue what they are....will have play with them later, for now I left them on default. All 4 nvidia SATA2 ports appear to be locked and I do not have any problem running my raid-0 array off of port 1 and 2 or 3 and 4 at high HTT. This mobo also loves the Ballistix, these ram are pretty much plug-n-play now and they run just fine to leave all memory settings on Auto though personally I prefer to set everything manually. I'd also noticed everything from DOS base utilities (ghost, partition magic, drive image, etc) to windows apps....everything are much more responsive and quicker. In a way I feel kinda weird that this board is running so darn smooth and stable, as I was always expecting and getting accustomed to the random problems I had with Ultra-D :D

As for the complaints...The PC Prope II is somewhat inferior and inaccurate, I do not see the vdimm meter anywhere in the bios or the PC Prope...that's a bummer, it would be nice to be able to check for vdimm fluctuation during benching. There is no nvraid drivers floppy came with the package either, you'll need it for XP installation if you're running raid. I had to use the provided CD to make one from another PC. :)

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...chmentid=40076

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ben805

I suspect these A8N32 might have some type of cpu ID function that verify a certain code like maxtcase or whatever to determine the maximum vcore you can use :confused:

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This could quite possibly be it, only way to tell will be if one of us can test an x2 and a single core venice, sandiego etc. Hope someone can do this so this enigma can be cleared up.

ben805,

How did you install the TT Big Typhoon? You have to install a custom backplate from TT? If yes, can you remove the backplate from this mobo easily?

AllSt4r

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lowdog

This could quite possibly be it, only way to tell will be if one of us can test an x2 and a single core venice, sandiego etc. Hope someone can do this so this enigma can be cleared up.

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I have an X2 3800+, and I might have this mobo this afternoon . . . :) :) I'll keep you informed :D ;)

I have a 3000, 4400,175, I'll see what happens with v-core. If I get the bug, hopefully I don't need more than 1.58 volts to max out my 175 or the board is going RMA. Dammit, I was so excited, now I'm all worried again, hahaha. Thx for the preview Ben, that board looks like loads of fun.

Great review and pics ben thanks alot.

Looks like asus is back in the game?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by madpete

Ben, thanks for preview. My board will be arriving this morning, and after seeing this I am really looking forward to firing it up and playing.

Has your overall OC improved from the DFI?

The reason I went for this board was I wanted stability, I'm fed up of the DFI's wobbliness :p:

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I can now use slightly less vcore but nothing to write home about, though with the Ultra-D I'd always had to use the clockgen to hit above 330 HTT but now this Asus boot right into the windows and it's rock solid at 334 HTT, I haven't try anything higher yet but this 8-phase power thing is the real deal!! The board also runs much cooler than my Ultra-D, so my case temperature definitely take a dive which in turn help cool everything else as I noticed the PSU fan is quieter now, the 7800GT and my cpu underload is about 2~3'C cooler too...don't expect 15'C dropped like Asus claimed though :D :D In the mean time.....what I gain most is stability, and this board is fun to overclock!! lots of settings that you can play with or leave on Auto. ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by fareastgq

I have a 3000, 4400,175, I'll see what happens with v-core. If I get the bug, hopefully I don't need more than 1.58 volts to max out my 175 or the board is going RMA. Dammit, I was so excited, now I'm all worried again, hahaha. Thx for the preview Ben, that board looks like loads of fun.

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you'll definitely have fun with this board and hopefully there's no vcore problem either ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by All_Star

ben805,

How did you install the TT Big Typhoon? You have to install a custom backplate from TT? If yes, can you remove the backplate from this mobo easily?

AllSt4r

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All you need to take off is the top bracket, the metal backplate can stay, there are two stand-offs through the backplate so you can use the Big Typhoon's short screws on them, though I'm using wing nuts instead so I can get even pressure on my naked opty when tighten down both nuts at the same time. With the Big Typhoon in place there's still plenty of room around it, definitely a good news for those who own some taller bling bling ram :D :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mag|c

Great review and pics ben thanks alot.

Looks like asus is back in the game?

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no problem....and yes I'd say this time around Asus has gotten their stuff together to compete with the big dawg and they've done a marvelous job! :D I wonder when is Abit going to join the party? :p:

Hey Ben,

how do you get a 3.3v of 3.55. Have you adjusted your psu somehow??

yes, my PCP&C 510 SLI has adjustable rails :D

Alrighty....let's push the envelop a bit further, man this thing just refused to back down :D I set the vcore to 1.36v and enable the overvolt(200mv), which is about 0.04v less than what I needed on Ultra-D, then a little of tweak here and there, but left the memory setting the way it was, well....lookie here.....


http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...chmentid=40084

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...chmentid=40085


Either the A64Tweaker didn't report some of the value properly, or the bios automatically relax the timing, I noticed the tref and MAL were changed by the mobo, as I had different setting in BIOS!! Though motherboard temperature is rock solid, kudo to the heatpipe and stack-cool II features, I'd also use the APC SmartUPS to monitor the system power consumption, underload it's about 38~45W less than the DFI Ultra-D, the 8-phase power really stretch it's muscle and show what it was made of. :yepp: I don't know why the cpuz and PC Probe II can't report the vcore properly though, and I have a feeling that 345 HTT isn't the max either.... :worship: :worship: So for those who has low multiplier chip (like 144 opty) then you're going to dig the high HTT, a major big plus without using clockgen as well. :yepp:

nice ben just nice!! i was eyeballing newegg now for over 2 weeks and the board never came back in stock so i gave in and grab the DFI expert and now reading this im thinking maybe i should send it back when it gets here and grab the asus. man this board looks sweet keep the info commin man looking good :toast:

peace perc,

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Perc

nice ben just nice!! i was eyeballing newegg now for over 2 weeks and the board never came back in stock so i gave in and grab the DFI expert and now reading this im thinking maybe i should send it back when it gets here and grab the asus. man this board looks sweet keep the info commin man looking good :toast:

peace perc,

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Thanks man.....I really didn't expected this kind of result as I was only wishing for slightly more stability than my ultra-D, but looks like this A8N32-SLI pack with a mega punch on BOTH stability and performance, I think newegg dropped the price down to $229 now....it kinda sucks that I'd paid an arm and leg for this beast, but it's definitely a worthwhile upgrade and replacement for me though, I'll have more benchmarks coming later..... :toast:

really nice board :slobber:

you can't use the heatpipe system in a V2000 ?

uf 230$ :(

so around 230€ here.....which makes it 300$ ...OMG = ROFL

Nice review ben805 :clap: Nice board too, good to see Asus get serious with AMD for once.

Have you tried putting 2 double slot vid cards in SLI in those PCIE slots yet? I ask cause you mention you love the layout and that there is plenty of room for a soundcard.

I dunno.

Here's a pic of my air cooled 7800GTX 512 cards on the Expert. I couldn't imagine sticking a PCI card in between them. The top card already runs hotter than the bottom due to blocked air flow.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...id=40088&stc=1

I'll be moving to water on the cards soon, so it does not matter. But for those with air cooled double slot cards, they really need to consider the spacing.

I'm not poo-pooing the mobo. I'd like to get one. The spacing scares me though.

holy crap! there isnt much room for air let alone a sound card! id have to say that the layout is flawed in that area for sure! probly have trouble getting water to fit deff a tight one for sure! wouldnt you think that when asus was designing this mb they would of stuck two video cards in and sit back and look at it? sometimes i wounder about these guys... oh well if thats the only thing wrong with this mb its still an awsome mb. keep the screenies commin man im liking this mb so far.

peace perc,

has anybody tested the vcore on a dual core yet?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Perc

if thats the only thing wrong with this mb its still an awsome mb. keep the screenies commin man im liking this mb so far.

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Agreed! I'm really interested in the board too. If I can figure out for sure that I can get everything to fit and play nice, and want to try the board.

Keep the information coming ben805...this is a great thread so far. :toast:

hehe....the PCI slot clearance is everyone's #1 concern, same as mine when I bought it so the first thing I did was to measured the spacing, I do not have the 2nd video card yet but as I said there is plenty of room for 1 PCI if you install it onto PCI slot# 2, now...just to show you what I'm talking about, I have an XFX 7800GT with stock heatsink on PIC-X 1, I put in SoundBlaster soundcard on PCI Slot#2 and you can clearly see there's more than enough room for the video card to breath, keep in mind that many pc case also have the side panel blow-hole but even if the case doesn't come with one, I still don't forsee any problem with that much room to spare, well...lookie here.....

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...chmentid=40090

the SLI bridge is longer than the DFI so this motherboard definitely do NOT have an issue with 1 PCI card :D :D IF...just IF...for whatever reason I need to install 2 PCI cards, all I need to do is beef up the side panel fan to blow cool air directly on top of all those cards, this motherboard generate less heat than DFI plus if you have a good case ventilation then you shouldn't worry about packing 2 PCI cards in there if needed. Keep in mind that most pc case already came with the side panel blow hole aiming at the video card so they'll be fine ;)


For the time being, here's more benchie :toast:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...chmentid=40091


http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...chmentid=40092

more to follow later...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Perc

holy crap! there isnt much room for air let alone a sound card! id have to say that the layout is flawed in that area for sure! probly have trouble getting water to fit deff a tight one for sure! wouldnt you think that when asus was designing this mb they would of stuck two video cards in and sit back and look at it? sometimes i wounder about these guys... oh well if thats the only thing wrong with this mb its still an awsome mb. keep the screenies commin man im liking this mb so far.

peace perc,

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No sweat....plenty of room for 1 PCI card on slot# 2, the Asus SLI bridge is much longer than DFI's and there's plenty of room in between, it's definitely not like the picture shown by mdzcpa :D :D I highly doubt the Asus engineer would left out the slot clearance measurement ;)

this is torture ! I want one :eek:

After getting a chance to play with an Asus mobo on the Intel side and having a smooth ride on a 1ghz OC I can't say I'm surprised to see a mobo giant like Asus step up with a board like this. The only mystery is what took so long.

Ben, I'm looking forward to seeing your highest 32M stable HTT. Terrific work so far. :up:

" I wonder when is Abit going to join the party? :p"

Have you seen the new an8 32x? it looks just like the asus its uncanny however the power scheme looks to be different with a few other differences. However if bios/ram compatibility is anything like the an8/fatality/ultra/SLi it will suck donkey :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:
http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/...es=1&model=310

No sweat....plenty of room for 1 PCI card on slot# 2, the Asus SLI bridge is much longer than DFI's

I don't think this is true.

The pic I am showing is of the DFI Expert. The SLI bridge is also much longer than the regular DFI NF4 boards. In fact, just for comparison, the SLI bridge is 2 3/4" long on the Expert in the Pic I showed. Let's take another closer look:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...id=40097&stc=1

There are 2 slots in between PCIE #1 and #2 on Expert. Just like on the Asus layout. As you can see by the pic, the first slot is completely covered by the vid card in PCIE#1 (which cannot be seen), and the second one (which is visible) is pretty much useless unless you want the card literally butting up against the vid card in PCIE#1.

If I did not have the ability to put my sound card in the 3rd PCI slot below PCIE#2 I'd be out of luck. Basically, double slot vid cards kill the two PCI slots below it.

So, unless the SLI bridge on the Asus is significantly longer than 2 3/4" it won't cut it. No offense, but your pics don't do any justice to having 2 monsterous double slot vid cards in SLI.

Again, I'm not bashing the board. I'm just not sure its fair to say there is "plenty of room" for those with 2 dual slot vid cards in SLI.

Here's a pic of the old and new DFI Bridge for reference.
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...id=40098&stc=1

Just how long is that Asus SLI bridge?

Interesting, the Asus SLI bridge is 3 1/4" long so maybe it would work out just fine? it's slightly longer than the Expert nonetheless ;) unfortunately I do not have any monster size double sloted vid cards to test, if they do not fit then I guess for those who own the jumbo size SLI setup will just have to stick with the Expert or whatever else out there :D :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ben805

Interesting, the Asus SLI bridge is 3 1/4" long so maybe it would work out just fine? it's slightly longer than the Expert nonetheless ;) unfortunately I do not have any monster size double sloted vid cards to test, if they do not fit then I guess for those who own the jumbo size SLI setup will just have to stick with the Expert or whatever else out there :D :D

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Well, if the Asus bridge is indeed 3 1/4" long that may very well be enough room. Especially for those of us water cooling. That 1/2" can make all the difference.

I think I may try the Asus board now. Thanks for the info ben805 :toast:

If you wanted to run this board in an inverted case like v1000 or v2000, is there any reason you couldn't remove the heatpipe and replace it with a pair of Swifty MCX159's?

if you have the money for SLI 512mb GTX you can buy both board ;)

man that board is awesome. I really don't see an issue at all on the pci spacing.

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Originally Posted by mdzcpa

Well, if the Asus bridge is indeed 3 1/4" long that may very well be enough room. Especially for those of us water cooling. That 1/2" can make all the difference.

I think I may try the Asus board now. Thanks for the info ben805 :toast:

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no problem, I just went to newegg to take a look at the double sloted 7800GTX, holy jumbo batman....that heatsink is humongous :shocked: if you can measure the thickness of your GTX from one end to the other (pcb to heatsink) then I certainly can try to simulate one and calculate how much room left between the GPU heatsink and the soundcard on PCI slot# 2


As for the Abit A8N 32X, man it looks like.....eerr....well....very odd!! I don't like the color and the floppy connector is at the bottom of the board right next to the last PCI slot, not sure how well it overclock but if it can clock anywhere close to DFI and Asus then I'd say it's another candidate worth consider for WC and Phase Change, amber room around the cpu socket!!!!! :slobber: Anybody got their hands on one to play around with yet?


:stick:
http://www.abit-usa.com/images/products/AN832x_lg.jpg

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Originally Posted by pcdoc1

If you wanted to run this board in an inverted case like v1000 or v2000, is there any reason you couldn't remove the heatpipe and replace it with a pair of Swifty MCX159's?

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Exactly what I am considering, but I want a 7800GTX 512 and it looks like it won't fit with the swfity chipset cooler on the southbridge. I'm not giving up my case for this board.

Of course a water block on the gpu would solve that. :D

Guys, been playing with this board all day.

CPU voltage reg on this board is great, on the DFI I needed 1.61v to get 3ghz, on the Asus I need 1.52v....which is a big differance in my book.

Bios takes some getting used to as its an AMI bios, and some options are unfamiliar I'm just about getting to grips with it but still loads to explore.

Only issue I'm having is with T1 at high FSB, I can only get to about 285mhz at T1 (1:1) before I start getting errors in memtest. On the DFI my OCZ Plat Rev2 TCCD is good for around 310mhz T1 (1:1), and I've had the FX running more than that with no problems so I know CPU is good for it. I dropped an Opty 146 in there too, and that was the same. At 2T I can go 310mhz+ with no errors.


Maybe the board doesn't like TCCD or is not optimized for it? I have literally spent all day tweaking ram options but nothing seems to help.

What ram are you running Ben? I noticed it was a 2gb kit, is it Crucial Z503 by any chance?, I 'm planning on getting me some soon and would be interested to know how it does on this board.

Any problems with going over 1.58vcore? Must figure out why 2 ppl couldn't get past 1.58v whereas the rest could.

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Originally Posted by madpete

Guys, been playing with this board all day.

CPU voltage reg on this board is great, on the DFI I needed 1.61v to get 3ghz, on the Asus I need 1.52v....which is a big differance in my book.

Bios takes some getting used to as its an AMI bios, and some options are unfamiliar I'm just about getting to grips with it but still loads to explore.

Only issue I'm having is with T1 at high FSB, I can only get to about 285mhz at T1 (1:1) before I start getting errors in memtest. On the DFI my OCZ Plat Rev2 TCCD is good for around 310mhz T1 (1:1), and I've had the FX running more than that with no problems so I know CPU is good for it. I dropped an Opty 146 in there too, and that was the same. At 2T I can go 310mhz+ with no errors.


Maybe the board doesn't like TCCD or is not optimized for it? I have literally spent all day tweaking ram options but nothing seems to help.

What ram are you running Ben? I noticed it was a 2gb kit, is it Crucial Z503 by any chance?, I 'm planning on getting me some soon and would be interested to know how it does on this board.

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Originally Posted by HKPolice

Any problems with going over 1.58vcore? Must figure out why 2 ppl couldn't get past 1.58v whereas the rest could.

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Nope, no problems with vcore here. Most I tried was 1.425 + overvolt which gave me 1.62v in the bios readout.

anyone noticed the ABIT is a 3 phase? Its cheaper made than the Fatalities. Maybe they shouldnt have given him so much money to do nothing.

But you're on an FX.... wonder if it's true, that the X2's are limited to 1.58v....?

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Originally Posted by madpete

Nope, no problems with vcore here. Most I tried was 1.425 + overvolt which gave me 1.62v in the bios readout.

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Has any measured the voltages with a DMM or scope?

Very nice results Ben, very nice indeed. :D


Yeah, traz2k and I both have dual core cpu's. Mines an X2 4800 and his is an Opt 175.

What we need is someone who has both dual and single core cpu's to test vcore limits with the board.

If they can get over 1.58v with the single core but get stuck at 1.58 limit with the dual core then we will have a definitive answer that dual cores limit the vcore max to 1.58v with this board.

Hope someone can do this test for all of us here so we can finally get the whole picture clear. :)

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Originally Posted by lowdog

Very nice results Ben, very nice indeed. :D


Yeah, traz2k and I both have dual core cpu's. Mines an X2 4800 and his is an Opt 175.

What we need is someone who has both dual and single core cpu's to test vcore limits with the board.

If they can get over 1.58v with the single core but get stuck at 1.58 limit with the dual core then we will have a definitive answer that dual cores limit the vcore max to 1.58v with this board.

Hope someone can do this test for all of us here so we can finally get the whole picture clear. :)

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I will be able to do that with a 3800x2 and a 3700, but I won't have my board until tue or wed., but I will post results as soon as i get them.

Okay you guys are upsetting me now lol I just bought the An8 SLi premium because I thought the only diference was going to be the PCI-e speeds and that this wouldn't make much speed difference. Is it worth me upgrading so soon? Currently running AMD64 3500, I plan on buying AMD64 x 2 4200......rest of kit is storm waterblock 1/2 tubing,thermochill PA120 rad,1GB ballistix PC3200, 2 x ASUS EN 7800GTX,X-fi fatality 3x 36GB 15,000 rpm raid, seasonic S12 600W. Can I fit 2 PCI cards in?

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Originally Posted by ben805

No sweat....plenty of room for 1 PCI card on slot# 2, the Asus SLI bridge is much longer than DFI's and there's plenty of room in between, it's definitely not like the picture shown by mdzcpa :D :D I highly doubt the Asus engineer would left out the slot clearance measurement ;)

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yeah man but your card seems to be skinnyer compared to the ones that guy posted. i think your two cards will allow room for the sound card... good review man keep it cooming...

peace perc,

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Originally Posted by cronic

I will be able to do that with a 3800x2 and a 3700, but I won't have my board until tue or wed., but I will post results as soon as i get them.

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Great and thanks, your a legend. :toast:

If you try the 3700 first and get over 1.6vcore then you'll know the board is fine. Then if the dual core won't go over 1.58vcore then we'll know the truth of the matter.

Thanks from me and I'm sure everyone else will greatly appreciate your efforts as well. :woot:

Well i just realised i will be taking my rebuilt supra past a PC store that is open all weekend :P. Going to pickup the cheapest s939 single core i can find and see how it goes.

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Originally Posted by lowdog

Great and thanks, your a legend. :toast:

If you try the 3700 first and get over 1.6vcore then you'll know the board is fine. Then if the dual core won't go over 1.58vcore then we'll know the truth of the matter.

Thanks from me and I'm sure everyone else will greatly appreciate your efforts as well. :woot:

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No problem bud, I just wish I had the board now. Someone will probably have this figured out by the time mine gets here on tue-wed. but if not, I will.

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Originally Posted by trza2k

Well i just realised i will be taking my rebuilt supra past a PC store that is open all weekend :P. Going to pickup the cheapest s939 single core i can find and see how it goes.

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Excellent.........now where's the results! :stick: (j/k)

Hurry up there I need to be assured my boards not defective and it's just a limitation imposed by bios for dual cores.

Well i put in a 3200+ and i am able to give more then 1.58volts now. I tried 1.70volts and it worked fine.

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Originally Posted by trza2k

Well i put in a 3200+ and i am able to give more then 1.58volts now. I tried 1.70volts and it worked fine.

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hrm, that is NOT what I wanted to hear... oh well, let's see if the trend continues.

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Originally Posted by fareastgq

hrm, that is NOT what I wanted to hear... oh well, let's see if the trend continues.

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Well hopefully i bios update can fix this.

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Originally Posted by madpete

What ram are you running Ben? I noticed it was a 2gb kit, is it Crucial Z503 by any chance?, I 'm planning on getting me some soon and would be interested to know how it does on this board.

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glad your board is up and running too man, and yea I have the Ballistix ;)

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Originally Posted by trza2k

Well i put in a 3200+ and i am able to give more then 1.58volts now. I tried 1.70volts and it worked fine.

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man I guess my theory was right and that really sucks, Asus probably thought the dual core must run much hotter than single core so they capped the vcore as soon as it detect it as dual core to prevent people from frying their chip, what about those dual core owner who has WC and Phase Change?? :slapass: but hey man can you do me a favor and check the maxtcase on your dual core whenever you have a chance? I would like lowdog to check it as well, we must find a way to get around it :lol:

Well sorry guys looks like i was mistaken. This 3200+ cpu seems to be limited to 1.648v according to HW monitor. I was slowly testing to 1.70 and must of quickly and not even bothered to check the HW monitor correctly.

I'm going to try and downgrade the bios and try again.

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Originally Posted by ben805

... if you can measure the thickness of your GTX from one end to the other (pcb to heatsink) then I certainly can try to simulate one and calculate how much room left between the GPU heatsink and the soundcard on PCI slot# 2

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The widest point of the video card with 2-slot cooler (NV Silencer in my case) is 2.1". There is about .5" space between two SLI cards and another .5" between the second vid card and the sound card. Could you measure how much room between the second PCI-e slot and the last PCI slot?

Here's a pic of my system to show how things are placed in the chasis.
http://img289.imageshack.us/img289/6...arge8or.th.jpg

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Originally Posted by trza2k

Well sorry guys looks like i was mistaken. This 3200+ cpu seems to be limited to 1.648v according to HW monitor. I was slowly testing to 1.70 and must of quickly and not even bothered to check the HW monitor correctly.

I'm going to try and downgrade the bios and try again.

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Dropped to 502 bios and can confirm the same deal. 3200+ is infact limited to 1.648volts. So i gather ASUS has inforced some limits on certain cpus.

ben805/madpete can you confirm you actually see more then 1.648v in the hardware monitor. I'm geting a little frustrated with this board!

Here you go.

X2 4800
CCBWE
0532UPMW

CPUID: 20F32
APICID: 0
Revision: JH9-E6
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ [Toledo]
Speed: 2407.30 [200.61 x 12]
Platform: Socket 939
VCore: 1.35v
MaxTCase: 59C
TDP: 85.0Watts

anybody stuck a volt meter on the v-core caps to see what the v-core really is??
the hardware monitor may be wrong i think.

also what about a simple volt mod with a fixed resistor that would give .1 more at all times then all the volts you need would be available and you could fine tune it in the bios??

I can't for the life of me remember where I read it, but I seem positive I recall reading something regarding AMD and possibly Asus and some sort of limitation/safeguard imposed on max vcore. Where if an unsafe/higher than AMD's max recomended vcore was set it would automatically be down volted to the max specified by AMD. this is where I recall the 1.58v limit in regards to an X2. And I think this all had to do with the 8 phase circuitry.

Who knows, perhaps I'm just dreaming. :confused:

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Originally Posted by lowdog

I can't for the life of me remember where I read it, but I seem positive I recall reading something regarding AMD and possibly Asus and some sort of limitation/safeguard imposed on max vcore. Where if an unsafe/higher than AMD's max recomended vcore was set it would automatically be down volted to the max specified by AMD. this is where I recall the 1.58v limit in regards to an X2. And I think this all had to do with the 8 phase circuitry.

Who knows, perhaps I'm just dreaming. :confused:

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GRRRRRRRRRRRR!

who cares if you cant get it fully stable at 1.58vcore chances are u aint getn much more out of it, even if you watercool. Sure pumping 1.7vcore into a chip might max out another 50mhz, but do you really want to kill ur chip that way?

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Originally Posted by situman

who cares if you cant get it fully stable at 1.58vcore chances are u aint getn much more out of it, even if you watercool. Sure pumping 1.7vcore into a chip might max out another 50mhz, but do you really want to kill ur chip that way?

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Well then you can ask the question of why bother with watercooling, why bother with ram that will give you 20mhz more. Why bother buying a $260 board when you get a $100 one that will do 1.58v. Hell why even bother overclocking at all? ;)

Well at least you have proven we don't have defective boards traz2k. Just some sort of limitation imposed by cpuid/bios/Asus/AMD. :fact:

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Originally Posted by brandinb

anybody stuck a volt meter on the v-core caps to see what the v-core really is??
the hardware monitor may be wrong i think.

also what about a simple volt mod with a fixed resistor that would give .1 more at all times then all the volts you need would be available and you could fine tune it in the bios??

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only if I know which one to tap onto, have a DM here that I can check but knowing Asus I wouldn't completely rely on the sucky PC Probe for vcore reading...

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Originally Posted by situman

who cares if you cant get it fully stable at 1.58vcore chances are u aint getn much more out of it, even if you watercool. Sure pumping 1.7vcore into a chip might max out another 50mhz, but do you really want to kill ur chip that way?

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I guess the limitation is good in order to prevent newbie from frying their cpu left and right as nobody in their right mind should be running their cpu more than 1.65v 24/7 and if or when something get fried I suppose Asus didn't want to have fingers pointing at them and being blame for mistake made by users, it's pretty smart of them to do that but this feature could be annoyance to those who don't mind BBQ their hardwares though :D