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

[brandinb]

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

[Supertim0r]

WOW
finally a good Asus 939 board

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

[fareastgq]

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?

[Supertim0r]

passive chipset cooling is all I wanted

[chunkylover77]

passive chipset cooling is all I wanted

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

[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.

[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.

[trza2k]

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.

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.

[lowdog]

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.

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.

[ben805]

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.

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. 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.

[ben805]

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.

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

[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

[Capt_Caveman]

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

[ben805]

@Ben805

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

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 ?

hehe...you know you want one of these bad boy!! 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

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.

[lowdog]

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

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.

[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

[All_Star]

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.

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

[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.

[mag|c]

Great review and pics ben thanks alot.

Looks like asus is back in the game?

[ben805]

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

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 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.

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.

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

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

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

Great review and pics ben thanks alot.

Looks like asus is back in the game?

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! I wonder when is Abit going to join the party?

[lowdog]

Hey Ben,

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

[ben805]

yes, my PCP&C 510 SLI has adjustable rails

[ben805]

Alrighty....let's push the envelop a bit further, man this thing just refused to back down 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.....







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. 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.... 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.

[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

peace perc,

[ben805]

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

peace perc,

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.....