ASUS A8N series as bad as they sound?

larkin

Gawd
Joined
Oct 24, 2005
Messages
907
Are the A8N-SLI Premium and A8N32-SLI Deluxe as flawed as some people say?

I am buying a new mainboard in a few days and was set on the A8N32 until i read an article that basically said you can never get your FSB to 1000 and that the bandwidth of the HT on the 32 is deminished from the regular A8N-SLI, they said 16bit to 8bit which means slower communication with the processor which means less processor utilization (ouch??).

article:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mainboards/display/asus-a8n32-sli-deluxe.html

A quick glance through the newegg reviews of the A8N-SLI Premium show'd many reviewers who could not clock their ram higher than 333 (with 400mhz ram of course). This claim was echo'd in technical terms in a review that i have forgot the url of. And the talk of a crappy chipset heatsink and fan?

How can this be? ASUS mainboards handicap both the memory and cpu speeds? That's like death for a mainboard right... yet review sites have asus boards beating everyone else. So what's the deal?
 
I'm on an ASUS A8N-SLI Premium right now, and the installation and setup was pretty simple. Updated the bios in windows using ASUS Update, went perfectly smooth. Only problem I had was trying to get an OCZ Platinum 2gb kit to run at its rated timings, but that might've been the ram itself. I RMAed that OCZ ram, and I'm now running some Corsair XMS (2x512mb) at 2-2-2-5 1T command rate, and its been rock solid stable.

The 333mhz is a BIOS bug I believe, and I've read that its been corrected for some by just setting it manually to 400 in the latest BIOS. I think it only happens when you have all 4 dimms in use, or RAM thats not in dual channel mode.

The premium has a fanless heatsink for the chipset, and I havent experienced any problems with that... temps have been fine o_O
 
My ram has been running at 400 MHz since day one without a single problem.

I haven't had a single problem with my board. Initial build was straightforward, she posted on first power-up and has been running stable as a rock ever since.
 
yep mine too. its been rock solid since the day i pressed the power button.
 
I think the Asus boards are great. Havent had a problem on my brothers computer
 
i also have been running an asus a8n-e and an asus a8n sli and both boards are perfect.both are o/clocked to 2500 mhz and running 1 to 1 with ram at 250 htt.im running corsair xms 3200c2 and it runs at 400 no problem.latest bios shuld take care of previous concerns.the a8n sli 32 is new and may have some bugs yet but as far as asus if you run good ram and run a late bios youll be fine.ive had the least amount of problems with asus boards than just about any other brand and if there is a bug its usually fixed pretty quick with a bios update.i never understand all the problems i read about with the asus boards.i never seem to experience them and people i build for using asus never seem to experience them either.so im just lucky or some of the problems you read about are due to hardware incompatability or user error or by chance a bad board but is not the norm.go for which ever asus board you like and use good ram and follow correct driver install and update bios and youll be thrilled with your asus board.nf 4 chipsets are picky with ram,dosent seem to be any brand specific,so go with corsair or a reccomended brand off the asus site and all will be fine.asus seems to be less picky than other brands at least thats my feeling based on my experience.i build alot of computers for customers and almost never have a problem with asus.i like other brands also and i dont build with strictly asus but ive seen less problems over the years with asus in comparison to other brands.i use asus for my personal builds almost all the time.i use dfi if i want a hotrodder to play with but asus for stability,mild o/clocking,frequent bios updates and quality components.......
quit worring yourself sick,pick the asus you want and pull the trigger................
 
most chipset fans are crap. roomate bought a asus board for the first thunderbirds, the chipset fan lasted a month or two. usually you can tell they are cheap crap buy looking at them..

some huge or solid passive heatsinks work, but buying a quality little fan as a replacement should be fine.

Ive seen a ton of complaints on other brands boards to. Dfi chipset coolers come to mind at the moment.


they have to cut costs where they can, and im sure fans are not a priority as many boards dont even get a fan. i know it sucks when you spend money for the board. some of them will take the board back to fix it, but do you really wanna pull your rig apart for a $2 fan? when you can replace it.

they prolly pay .25 for that fan, and buy them in bulk. what they should do is bundle a replacement in the box. instead of a shitty game or utilities many people dont use.

complain to them is the best thing you can do, more complaints, the more chance they might make a change. but i think almost all mobo makers do the same thing.
 
Ya Ive been reading reviews about teh A8N32 how they say its only 2% more faster then a Deluxe or premium but the board hasnt been out as long as the others so wait and see with all the new updates for the A8N32
 
ok, i purchased the A8N32. No remorse... i am remorseless

that new silverstone better get in stock soon tho.
 
Just built the following computer last week:

AMD X2 3800
ASUS A8N Premium Rev 1.02 came with BIOS 1.09 installed
WD 320gb SATA 2, NCQ, 16mb cache
Seasonic S12 500 watt
NEC 3520 DVD burner
TDK 40x burner
OCZ 2x1gb PC3200 2-2-3-5 timings
Gigabyte 7800GT
Audigy 2 ZS
Hauppage PVR 150 MCE
Windows XP Pro

Everything worked fine on first boot. The only thing the BIOS had wrong was it read the ram at 333mhz and 2.5 CAS timing. A quick change to 400 mhz and CAS 2 timing and all was good. No problems. One of the easier builds I have dealed with.
 
larkin said:
Are the A8N-SLI Premium and A8N32-SLI Deluxe as flawed as some people say?

I am buying a new mainboard in a few days and was set on the A8N32 until i read an article that basically said you can never get your FSB to 1000 and that the bandwidth of the HT on the 32 is deminished from the regular A8N-SLI, they said 16bit to 8bit which means slower communication with the processor which means less processor utilization (ouch??).

article:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mainboards/display/asus-a8n32-sli-deluxe.html

A quick glance through the newegg reviews of the A8N-SLI Premium show'd many reviewers who could not clock their ram higher than 333 (with 400mhz ram of course). This claim was echo'd in technical terms in a review that i have forgot the url of. And the talk of a crappy chipset heatsink and fan?

How can this be? ASUS mainboards handicap both the memory and cpu speeds? That's like death for a mainboard right... yet review sites have asus boards beating everyone else. So what's the deal?

I had this problem until today...pc3200 sticks always recognized at pc2700 until I upgraded to bios 1016. I still can't get the USB ports working reliably.

Rob
 
Robstar said:
...pc3200 sticks always recognized at pc2700 until I upgraded to bios 1016. I still can't get the USB ports working reliably.

where did you get a 1016 bios? latest I see on asus page is 1009 and no betas.
 
rhexis said:
yep mine too. its been rock solid since the day i pressed the power button.


Mine bluescreens because of periphial conflicts and I think I was overutilizing the power output of the usb ports.

I dont think my 600w psu is enough for the board, processor and extra junk like logitech g15, razer copperhead, and saitek x52 joystick and throttle system.
 
I purchased an Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe. DOA. Damn thing. I've put a lot of systems together, this one was while wearing an anti-static band. Damn thing again. Well, it's in Newegg's RMA process right now.
 
My last two boxes have been Asus. One A8N SLI the other A8N32 SLI. And I have seen them ALL. They are not perfect, but they are far away from being crap. My first A8N32 burned up during my stress testing (use same testing for my rigs that we use for reviews) but it was attributed to cooling that could not handle it. Lemme drop you a picture of the build. Yes it is big, but I think detail is needed.

4800+, 2GB Corsair PC3500 ?? , 2 X MSI 7800 GTX, 4 x 250GB RAID 0+1, 2x400GB RAID 1, 2x250 RAID 1. Koolance Exos 2.

StackerBuild.JPG
 
i had the premium and it was alright

i'm having nothing but problems with my dfi and i'm gonna buy another premium to replace this
 
the memory issue you are referring to is seen with older clawhammer cores. cores sence the winny have correct this problem. 1t-2t timing can be an issue now a days with these asus boards .
 
Om1kron said:
I dont think my 600w psu is enough for the board, processor and extra junk like logitech g15, razer copperhead, and saitek x52 joystick and throttle system.
how certain are you that the psu isn't enough? 600w is good enough to power a whole lot more than that. I'm getting a OCZ 520W and it's been rated very reliable so perhaps it's just the quality of your psu not the stated power rating. I have a x45, G5 (soon) and wireless keyboard (soon) my psu + a8n32 better be able to handle that
 
larkin said:
how certain are you that the psu isn't enough? 600w is good enough to power a whole lot more than that. I'm getting a OCZ 520W and it's been rated very reliable so perhaps it's just the quality of your psu not the stated power rating. I have a x45, G5 (soon) and wireless keyboard (soon) my psu + a8n32 better be able to handle that

its a seasonic st-12.... its definately not the psu's quality
 
bored-sarcasm said:
i had to RMA my a8n delux once i got it. but once i got a new one, i've had zero problems since.
I hope it works for me as well. Newegg just recieved mine yesterday.
 
i bought an a8n-sli. DON'T GET IT. if you're looking for an a8n, get the premium. the chipset is super loud and the nb47j was VERY difficult to install (it was my first time bulding...). other than that, every prolem i had seemed to be my fault :).
 
Well, I just got an A8N-E for Christmas fro the wife, yeah she's great, and Right now I am so frustrated with this board. It is so finicky. I know for one that the NB heatsink HAS to be replaced... a new Zalman should come in the mail today. Its a folded up sheet of aluminum with some parts carved out to make the ASUS logo. Then they put a fan inside. Pretty lame. The thermal pad was aweful and the AS5 I put on to replace it do not help signifigantly. All in all though I do like it much more than the Biostar board I used to have. I will update my sig when I am done my overclocking process. Right now I am at 2.461 Ghz with just 1.28 Volts. Hopefully with the new NB cooler I can get above 300HTT. Also I like that the stable settings are stable. If they are not then the borad will not let you go past POST. Very safe for beginners.
 
dtess17 said:
Nice job on the inside. What case are you using? and are those two small fans you have near the Proc aftermarket or so they come with the MB?
I second that. But with a huge setup like that. I think I'd get the biggest case I could find.
:p

One thing I have noticed about the Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe is the layout. The PCI-E needs to move south a tad. I couldn't remove my ram with my 7800GT in.
 
Kyle, is that a cooler master rear 120mm fan? why is it black/smoked....Ive never seen that model before...
 
that is a coolermaster stacker 830. (the new one) One of those fans is supplied with the mobo, happened to get two when Asus replaced my dead board.

Yes, there are black CM 120 fans in there.

StackerBuild2.jpg


StackerBuild3.jpg


StackerBuild4.jpg
 
I'm looking to upgrade to 939 from 754 and I'm currently running a K8N-E Deluxe and love it, but its not as fast as it used to be. The prices for the A8N-xx were very fair on newegg and such, I think I'm going to upgrade in that direction.
 
Ah that is one nice looking case...lookds like it offers some real nice cooling options too.
 
Back
Top