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A8N-SLI Owners
- Thread starter Vega
- Start date
I seem to remember more trouble when the a7n8x deluxe first came out, i know when i first got mine took me 4 days to figure everything compleatly out... but it was worth it i still reguard that as the best mb i ever owned, that being said what im getting at is y'all be patient and best of luck to you
i really havent had too much problems with stability.....my problem comes with overclocking. Yes, i can overclock alittle(and i mean alittle), but anything over 210 and i get error messeges at post. The wierd part is, when i really overclock it, to say....250, i get the same message but instead of changing it, i leave it and save and exit and then it boots up great??!!! I can play games and everything, untill i power down that is. When i come back and power up, i get the error message again so i repeat the process. This is my second board to boot!! The first one wouldnt even post. I do hope that a bios comes out and fixes this. ALSO i hope that there are some decent WHQL nforce 4 chipset drivers. Lets go already boys....were dying over here.
BigGreenMat
Limp Gawd
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2004
- Messages
- 128
Tripp I am in the exact same position as you are. I cannot OC past 215 FSB otherwise it clicks right over to a blue screen. This is after relaxing memory timings, upping voltage and lowering HTT multiplier. I just don't get what I am missing. Can any experienced A8N SLI overclocker go through the exact routine they used to OC I have tried on multiple BIOS as well. Oh and the PCI and PCI-E are apparently locked.
Tripp17 said:
Same thing happens to me. If your hard drvies don't have NCQ (or are older IDE drives), try one of the beta BIOSes like 1003.005 or 1003.006. Then you should be able to overclock fine. If you do have one or more hard drives that support NCQ, then hold off and use BIOS 1002, and either just do a mild OC of 210 on the FSB, or try clockgen, it worked for me.
Okay, I haven't tried this, but if your hard drives use NCQ, I guess you could switch to the Silicon Image SATA ports and reformat...I'm holding off on that though since I want to see if the next "final" BIOS will support my hard drives on the NVidia chipset SATA ports.
Just wanted to share my experiences so far. Board worked great on the 03-0005 bios for about 3 days (no software or hardware changes after the 1st day). Locked up on 4th day, reset, then it was stuck in a boot loop. Couldn't enter safe mode or use recovery console off the CD, it would just reset itself. I can't even get it to format now. The original setup was the A8N, 3800+, Pioneer DVD burner, 2x80gb maxtor (raid 0), mushkin 2x512 running in dual channel, and a BFG 6800GT PCIe x 1.
Board started exhibiting those problems. Since then I have swapped out hard drives, power supplies, memory, video card. Tried disabling all on board devices that the bios would let me disable. I've tried bios versions from 1002 up to 1003-0006 all with the same affect. Got a call into asus yesterday still waiting for them to have a tech call me back.
So for 3 days it was a very kick ass system
Board started exhibiting those problems. Since then I have swapped out hard drives, power supplies, memory, video card. Tried disabling all on board devices that the bios would let me disable. I've tried bios versions from 1002 up to 1003-0006 all with the same affect. Got a call into asus yesterday still waiting for them to have a tech call me back.
So for 3 days it was a very kick ass system
The only problem i'm experiencing is with UT2004. In game the sound will crackle unless set to safe mode. Then when closing the game it will cause a BSOD and a reboot. I tried reinstalling UT2004, disabling onboard sound, disconnecting all unnecessary case fans/ hard drives to eliminate power supply issue. Even reformatted/reinstalled and switched to bios 1003.005 but still the same issue. I am running the latest Forceware WHQL 66.93 drivers although i doubt this is the issue because the game will play/look great up till exiting. Otherwise everything else runs great. I can play Doom 3 and HL2 for hours without a problem, just the UT2004 thing. Any ideas on whats causing this would be greatly appreciated because i'm stumped. Thanks in advance.
AthlonXP
Fully [H]
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2001
- Messages
- 20,588
Praxi said:Just wanted to share my experiences so far. Board worked great on the 03-0005 bios for about 3 days (no software or hardware changes after the 1st day). Locked up on 4th day, reset, then it was stuck in a boot loop. Couldn't enter safe mode or use recovery console off the CD, it would just reset itself. I can't even get it to format now. The original setup was the A8N, 3800+, Pioneer DVD burner, 2x80gb maxtor (raid 0), mushkin 2x512 running in dual channel, and a BFG 6800GT PCIe x 1.
Board started exhibiting those problems. Since then I have swapped out hard drives, power supplies, memory, video card. Tried disabling all on board devices that the bios would let me disable. I've tried bios versions from 1002 up to 1003-0006 all with the same affect. Got a call into asus yesterday still waiting for them to have a tech call me back.
So for 3 days it was a very kick ass system
sounds like a similar problem that I had. I just got a new board and returned that one back to zipzoomfly and so far this new one is fine, I am not going back to a beta bios now and will wait for a new official one to switch over.
HydrasunGQ
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2002
- Messages
- 1,049
I recently received my A8N-SLI and am waiting on my GT's to come in so that I can order an FX-55. I have an Antec true control 550 PSU. I would like to know if I can just plug the 20 pin molex in or do I need the 20-24pin converter?
HydrasunGQ said:
You can plug it in directly. Even with that much wattage, you might not be stable, assuming by "GT's" you mean 6800GT's, try to make sure each video card has it's own power plugs and are not sharing anything, that will come closer to making you stable.
Give you an idea, if you didn't read my earlier posts, I started with a 20 pin PC Power & Cooling 510 Deluxe. 20 pin PSU, 34 amp on the 12 volt. I'd lock up on the Windows splash screen (well, right after it), managed to go from locking up a lot to locking up once in a while when I made sure each video card had it's own power plugs, like you I have a FX-55 and 2 x 6800GT's. Switched to a PC Power & Cooling 510 SLI, exact same PSU other then it's 24 pin, and it has two power cords with six pin PCI-e video card plugs. Now I never lock up.
Or the short answer, you can plug it in directly. But a 20 pin might not be 100% stable with a top end CPU and top end video cards, even with a lot of wattage and amps on the rails. 20 to 24 pin converter plug didn't seem to help me, it was going to a 24 pin, even though the 24 pin had the same wattage & amps that seemed to cure that problem.
_Korruption_
Supreme [H]ardness
- Joined
- Aug 22, 2002
- Messages
- 4,572
Power-related question here. If I had an OCZ Modstream, which natively comes with a 24-pin power connector (20-pin + 4-pin to make 24-pin), would I still have to plug in the square 4-pin 12V connector into the dedicated 4-pin connector? Or do the extra 4-pins in the ATX power connector make up for that?
Received my board last week. Had the ususal reboot problem with the 1002 bios. Changed to the 1003.005 and haven't had that problem. Using an Antec TrueControl 550 with 20 pin offset into 24. Using plain MSI 6800 cards in sli. Have a single 4pin molex to board in addition to the regular power connector and the 4pin auxillary. I haven't seen any problems or improvements with the .006 or .008 bios. No problems ocing other than I need more Vcore. Have run raid using 2 and 4 drives off the nVidia controller in raid 0. No problems finding the Raptors.
The main problem I have is needing more Vcore. Everything else seems to be working well.
The main problem I have is needing more Vcore. Everything else seems to be working well.
I have the A8N-SLI Deluxe. I am running an FX-53 with a pair of BFG 6600GT's OC'd to 550/1100.
For power I am running the old PC Power & Cooling 510 with the 20 pin connector. I am plugged into the board offset, I have the 4 pin CPU connector plugged in and the 4 pin hard drive power connector in above the video cards.
No power issues to speak of. I tried an Antec NeoPower 480 with the 24 pin power connector, but I got an error when playing Doom3 saying that I was not getting enough power to the video cards and it would slow the GPU's WAY down... very bad. Put my PP&C back in and all was well.
So, it seems that it can work. However, I am running 6600GT's NOT 6800GT's
For power I am running the old PC Power & Cooling 510 with the 20 pin connector. I am plugged into the board offset, I have the 4 pin CPU connector plugged in and the 4 pin hard drive power connector in above the video cards.
No power issues to speak of. I tried an Antec NeoPower 480 with the 24 pin power connector, but I got an error when playing Doom3 saying that I was not getting enough power to the video cards and it would slow the GPU's WAY down... very bad. Put my PP&C back in and all was well.
So, it seems that it can work. However, I am running 6600GT's NOT 6800GT's
vxspiritxv
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2001
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.006 & .008 I have not seen, if some one could post a link and/or test them against the diamondmax 10 sata on nvidia sata would be nice.Shogan191 said:
vxspiritxv said:
1003.006 you can get if you use the Auto update utility that comes with the motherboard driver disk, and pick the German site (*.de)...I haven't seen it by going manually to ASUS' German site, just via the auto update.
1003.008 I found via a thread here on HardOCP, it's pretty new so since I'm feeling lazy, just go look in the recent motherboard threads.
& But, since like me you have Maxtor DiamondMax 10's, I'd say don't bother. Tried both, had both drop my hard drives.
EDIT: You don't know how close I am to ordering 2 non NCQ hard drives, and moving these drives to the Sil ports. Only reason I'm not is because I know I'll feel like a moron if the next final supports NCQ drives again...so I guess since I can at least do 210 FSB and the drives work with 1002...and they seem to at least be pumping out beta BIOSes left and right, I'll wait...
vxspiritxv
[H]ard|Gawd
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- Feb 10, 2001
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http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=29&threadid=1491690&enterthread=y
Sounds like they fixed the maxtor problem.
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=29&threadid=1449863&messageid=17230594
I don't have a account there to pm him, if he has had any problems since posting that yesterday.
Sounds like they fixed the maxtor problem.
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=29&threadid=1449863&messageid=17230594
ajmiles said:
I don't have a account there to pm him, if he has had any problems since posting that yesterday.
vxspiritxv said:
Hasn't anyone seen the thread here where someone posted the 1003.008 BIOS link?
Not flaming anyone, but I tried the BIOS, dropped my hard drives, and I have two 250gb Diamond Max 10's with NCQ & 16mb buffers. So no, they didn't fix it.
EDIT: Link to the thread here on HardOCP, along with my reply where I say it dropped my drives:
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=855509
Second EDIT: Just checked in my Windows control panel, and neither drive has command queuing enabled, so I know it's not a problem with having that on.
Me
From your specs, I assume you are running 4 x 512MB modules. From Xbits labs "When four memory modules are in use, the memory controller of the Athlon 64 can only support DDR400 SDRAM with the slower 2T timing. Moreover, if the four installed modules are two-sided, the speed of the memory subsystem will be dropped to DDR333 even with 2T timing." http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/athlon64-3800_3.htmlVega said:
If you want to run 2GB of memory I would suggest you get 2 x 1GB memory modules.
All i want is to overclock the damn thing....the memory i have can do 500 1:1 easy and i can do it, but when i powerdown and comeback i have to reenter it in the bios again, but it does work. We just need some decent drivers.....for the chipset, graphic cards, etc...OH, i too have had the problem were if i exit ut2003/04 it reboots my machine. Even if i play for 4 hours or 2 min, the second i exit, REBOOT.
The newest beta bios did it! I have an overclock of 250 fsb stable with no problems at all. I also read that some people were having problems with a sound blaster card. I have a soundblaster audigy2 card and it works great. Right now my board is doing awesome! Try the new beta bios, worked for me........im so happy......finally.
Lunasea112
n00b
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2005
- Messages
- 25
I was just wondering do you guys think i should wait till ASUS works out all the bugs with the A8N SLI- Deluxe or should i just get it now? I am planning on getting one when i come up with the money but should i wait or get it as soon as i have the money?
That's the fastest I have been able to find. I have been try to decide whether to get Corsair's TWINX1024-3200XL at 2-2-2-5 or Crucial's Ballistixs at 2-2-2-6 and wait for faster 1GB modules or get 2 of the CMX1024-3200C2 at 2.5-3-3-6. The 1GBs are expensive though and I don't run anything now that would use the memory.Torquemada XP said:
panhead said:
If you're really willing to shop around, one can get PCI-E cards for at least retail, I think a bunch of people got BFG 6800 GT OC's for $399.00 each from some place called www.chumbo.com for instance. Don't know if they are in stock there right now though. Likewise, I've seen the prices a bit more reasonable.
If you do want to get the board now, basically avoid NCQ SATA hard drives, and make sure you really have a hefty power supply (that's 24 pin) and you're basically fine. The latter beta BIOSes seem okay for those without NCQ hard drives.
Did see a thread where someone had problems with SATA optical drives, but looked like that 1003.006 (if memory serves) solved that for him. Maybe I'm being optimistic, but that maybe indicates that they are slowly working on the NVidia SATA ports one bit at a time, and have solved some issues if one of the latter beta BIOSes allowed the guy to use his Plextor SATA optical drive. If I remember right, saw the thread on www.pcper.com, in their ASUS motherboard forum.
If you're not going to overclock at all (or do a mild one, let's say FSB of 210 or maybe use Clockgen to OC and not do it via the BIOS), then 1002 actually is fine, 1002 does recognize NCQ SATA drives.
I have been watching PCI-e 6800GT for the last few weeks and have not seen any for MSRP of $399 in stock. I see some places plan on shipping the end of Febuary. I'll wait until the gouging stops and get an ultra for the price of a GT now or a GT for $399 or less. It might even be a good idea to wait until ATI's R520 is release and the 6800s will be old news then and all the venders will be gouging the R520s.Arvig said:
panhead said:
Did just check on chumbo.com, neither was in stock, but they still list the BFG 6800GT OC, and they listed a X850 XT "PLatinum" (I assume the mean Platinum Edition) for $485.00.
My point in mentioning Chumbo.com is that they have had the BFG 6800 GT OC's in stock off and on this month, not like they have been continual vaporware for that price. (And no I don't work for them, in case anyone asks.
I found out about the store by going to BFG's site, and then seeing that they were one of the stores they had under their "Where to Buy" page)Bit more then $399.00, but a little small store in Kentucky that I have bookmarked lists an eVGA 6800GT for $435.00, with a possible restock on 1/20 (as he puts it ETA 1/20?). I do remember seeing the card in stock earlier this month with them also.
http://www.advanceddesignky.com/viewitem.cfm?id=2796
I guess my other point (which would be stronger, I admit if these stores had them in stock this very second and not soon to be in stock) is that although yes, there is still a fair amount of price gouging, that there are also some places offering for reasonable prices if you're really willing to look.
Didn't look up their prices, but maybe look up www.gameve.com. They MAY have them for not too hideous of a price, I do like looking there for video cards. I did check Monarch Computers, they had them in stock but for absurd prices, which somewhat surprised me, I kind of like Monarch computers.
Xrave
Supreme [H]ardness
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2004
- Messages
- 7,816
Arvig said:
I have a SATA optical (in sig) that has no problems. I've ran it in bios verions 1002 and 1003.005.
Also, I got my BFG 6800GT PCI-E from Chumbo ($399 including overnight shipping).
I finnally got everything to work just great. Here is what i have:
AMD FX-55 w/ XP-120 heatsink
2x512 OCZ El Platinum Rev.2 @ 500 1:1 (2.5-3-3-10)
6800GT w/ NV silencer5 @ 435/1250
Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe @ 250 fsb
500 watt X-connect PSU
W.D. Rapter
I need to get another rapter, but alot of people are having problems with raid so ill hold off till the newest official bios is realeased. Its a great board, i had my problems at first, this is my second board. First wouldnt even post!! But, i just got 14,009 in 3dmark 2003, with a single GT. Not bad huh? Go for it, you wont regrete it.
AMD FX-55 w/ XP-120 heatsink
2x512 OCZ El Platinum Rev.2 @ 500 1:1 (2.5-3-3-10)
6800GT w/ NV silencer5 @ 435/1250
Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe @ 250 fsb
500 watt X-connect PSU
W.D. Rapter
I need to get another rapter, but alot of people are having problems with raid so ill hold off till the newest official bios is realeased. Its a great board, i had my problems at first, this is my second board. First wouldnt even post!! But, i just got 14,009 in 3dmark 2003, with a single GT. Not bad huh? Go for it, you wont regrete it.
vxspiritxv
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2001
- Messages
- 1,610
Tripp17 said:
I got a question about that xp-120, does it extend over the top of the motherboard? I only have about a thumbs width between my mobo and power supply. Also just wondering, what fan your using and what your ambient/load temps are.
No, it doesnt extend over the motheboard.....it does however extend over the second power rail(you know, the "intel" power rail next to the processor).....i had to uninstall my PSU to get the room i needed to fit the conector in place, then put the psu back. It works like a dream, ive had alot of decent air coolers and this is the best! I had the swiftech all coper(1 inch thick) with pins heatsink, ect....and this one is the best. My processor is at idle right now is....30 C and load goes upto like 36-37C. (idle is like 88F and load is about 96F). My motherboard temps went WAY down to as a result of the 120mm fan. And best of all, its quieter than the stock AMD heatsink fan. I am using a Panaflow, its rated at 88CFM and is 32DBA. The case i have is also sweat because it has a 120mm fan bracket for the chasis, so i have a 120 in, and one inch away is another 120 blowing down......my temps are great, and its the quietest set up ive ever had. (Ive never had a tornado fan ether, i HATE fan niose....the 120mm fans dont have to spin as fast to get the airflow, so its ideal.) You can get some decent 120mm fans......just look for a high CFM(*airflow) and low niose(DBA)....the fan i got was the best i could find that had the best airflow and was quiet. Most 80mm fans out put about 33-35 DBA of noise and airflow is about 45CFM, for a comparison.
POSSIBLE GOOD BETA BIOS FOR BOTH OVERCLOCKING AND NCQ HARD DRIVES!!
Okay, yes I'm kind of excited.
Anyway, I found this by going to an ASUS FTP site, figured out if the ASUS auto update utility is using FTP sites, why not type that in as a URL?
ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/mb/socket939/A8N-SLI Deluxe/
Doesn't show up if you got to ASUS' normal URL to download, just this way, and not even with the update utility, one has to manually go to ASUS' FTP site. Anyway, it's BIOS 1003.007. I've rebooted twice using NCQ hard drives, no problems. I'll intentionally reboot a half dozen times in a row to see if I get one. Either way, I'll post an edit and say yes it did drop my NCQ drives and I rolled back to 1002, or no it didn't.
Oh, and I OCed past a 210 FSB, and it had a PCI lock setting.
EDIT: No, this bios isn't any better then 1003.008 or 1003.006. Don't use if you have NCQ drives!! Like the other betas, it dropped my hard drives.
Probably a good BIOS for people without NCQ drives, though.
Okay, yes I'm kind of excited.
Anyway, I found this by going to an ASUS FTP site, figured out if the ASUS auto update utility is using FTP sites, why not type that in as a URL?
ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/mb/socket939/A8N-SLI Deluxe/
Doesn't show up if you got to ASUS' normal URL to download, just this way, and not even with the update utility, one has to manually go to ASUS' FTP site. Anyway, it's BIOS 1003.007. I've rebooted twice using NCQ hard drives, no problems. I'll intentionally reboot a half dozen times in a row to see if I get one. Either way, I'll post an edit and say yes it did drop my NCQ drives and I rolled back to 1002, or no it didn't.
Oh, and I OCed past a 210 FSB, and it had a PCI lock setting.
EDIT: No, this bios isn't any better then 1003.008 or 1003.006. Don't use if you have NCQ drives!! Like the other betas, it dropped my hard drives.
Probably a good BIOS for people without NCQ drives, though.