*** The UnOfficial [H]ard ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Thread ***

The Biggest thing I am concerned with is the Use of the 4x Slot. Alot of people say their is no use for it, however their are many SCSI Raid cards (which I am currently intrested in) that are PCIe 4x / 8x Format. On the DFI Lan Party NF4 Ultra-D motherboard, They have as well: 2 PCIe16x Slots, 1 PCIe4x Slot, and 1 PCIe1x Slot. The 4x slot is only (1x) by default unless you change the 2 PCIe16x slots to (8x8) then the 4x becomes Fully Functional.

I wonder how it is on this board.

Ender, If you would and you have time. Could you please test this method and or display whatever it says in the Manual for us on how to get Full 4x Operaion out of the slot? This will be the only deciding factor for my purchase and would appricate it.
 
USMC2Hard4U said:
The Biggest thing I am concerned with is the Use of the 4x Slot. Alot of people say their is no use for it, however their are many SCSI Raid cards (which I am currently intrested in) that are PCIe 4x / 8x Format. On the DFI Lan Party NF4 Ultra-D motherboard, They have as well: 2 PCIe16x Slots, 1 PCIe4x Slot, and 1 PCIe1x Slot. The 4x slot is only (1x) by default unless you change the 2 PCIe16x slots to (8x8) then the 4x becomes Fully Functional.

I wonder how it is on this board.

Ender, If you would and you have time. Could you please test this method and or display whatever it says in the Manual for us on how to get Full 4x Operaion out of the slot? This will be the only deciding factor for my purchase and would appricate it.
Click to expand...

From what I understand about how PCI-E works. Almost all motherboard have 20 Lanes available to all the PCI-E slots. In non-SLI mode, the top 16x runs at 16x, the 1x runs as 1x and the bottom 16x runs at 1x. This adds up to 18 lanes. That would only leave 2 lanes for the 4x slot.
 
So is the fanless NB turning out to be the real deal or what? Because other than that I'm really at a loss as to why I should spend $50 more than an Ultra board.
 
Does anyone know if the heatpipe cooler can be bought separately from anywhere, or if there is a comparable product from somewhere. I have the regular A8N-SLI and would like to get rid of the chipset fan, but my waterblock is way too big to fit under the video card. I also wondered if anyone had any problems using a water cooled CPU with the passive chipset cooler.
 
I just pulled my heatpipe off and replaced it with a Vantec Iceberg fan and put some video card memory heatsinks on the MOSFETs. Best I can tell, the Vantec fan will allow room for a second graphics card. My system temp. is back to a comfy 40C, and the MOSFETs are only warm to the touch. :)

I also wondered if anyone had any problems using a water cooled CPU with the passive chipset cooler.
Click to expand...
I suspect a normal orientation MB with water-cooled CPU and good case cooling will be okay. My set-up, water-cooled CPU and Lian-Li inverted case, was no doubt the worst possible set up, but I never had a crash.

As for the heatpipe, I'm really curious what that Pepto-Bismol thermal contact material is Asus is using on the heatpipe.
 
Dr_John said:
I'm really curious what that Pepto-Bismol thermal contact material is Asus is using on the heatpipe.
Click to expand...

It's remnants from the frozen BLOB. :eek:
Don't touch it.
 
Ewwww.....I think you're right:

DSC1.JPG
 
So is there actually much of a difference between the deluxe and Premium with this new cooler?
 
Can someone answer these questions regarding this board?

How many PCIE lanes are there total?
How are they distributed?
How does this motherboard exceed the limit of 20 pcie lanes with this chipset?
 
aug1516 said:
Can someone answer these questions regarding this board?

How many PCIE lanes are there total?
How are they distributed?
How does this motherboard exceed the limit of 20 pcie lanes with this chipset?
Click to expand...

Anyone?
 
aug1516 said:
Anyone?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately the manual doesn't cover it and Asus hasn't provided information. I don't know of any applications that can inspect the HW and report the # of PCIe lanes. If you do let me know and I'll be glad to check it out.
 
I've got some interesting findings on the heatpipe....

When I first got the board, I had no active cooling on it (watercooling CPU) and the thing got to nearly 50C load....and caused all kinds of stability problems, BSODing during windows install and freezing in windows. It was increadyably hot to the touch, i couldnt hold my finger on it for more than a second without burning myself. I put an 80mm fan over it and idle/load was liek 37/40C.This got the job done...but it looked pretty fugly and I wanted a better solution. I had one of these laying around, so I took one of the fans off it and screwed it directly to the heatsink. Temps went down to idle/load 31/34C. What a difference. This kicks the crap out of my DFI board that idled at 40C. Clearly a heatpipe and a fan is the best combo if your nervios about temps...even a low speed quite fan. Just look at the fan I put over it. Its only 27DBA for two of them....i'd guess just this one is about 23DBA. Probably only about 5-6CFM, but its definatly getting the job done.
 
Viper87227 said:
I've got some interesting findings on the heatpipe....

When I first got the board, I had no active cooling on it (watercooling CPU) and the thing got to nearly 50C load....and caused all kinds of stability problems, BSODing during windows install and freezing in windows. It was increadyably hot to the touch, i couldnt hold my finger on it for more than a second without burning myself. I put an 80mm fan over it and idle/load was liek 37/40C.This got the job done...but it looked pretty fugly and I wanted a better solution. I had one of these laying around, so I took one of the fans off it and screwed it directly to the heatsink. Temps went down to idle/load 31/34C. What a difference. This kicks the crap out of my DFI board that idled at 40C. Clearly a heatpipe and a fan is the best combo if your nervios about temps...even a low speed quite fan. Just look at the fan I put over it. Its only 27DBA for two of them....i'd guess just this one is about 23DBA. Probably only about 5-6CFM, but its definatly getting the job done.
Click to expand...


Sounds like a nice solution. I think that the heatsink just needs some air flow. Since it is supposed to run on the "overflow" from the HSF, I think that it was made to only expect a few CFM. Got any pics??
 
brom42 said:
Sounds like a nice solution. I think that the heatsink just needs some air flow. Since it is supposed to run on the "overflow" from the HSF, I think that it was made to only expect a few CFM. Got any pics??
Click to expand...


Not at the moment, but I can get some later. I let my sisiter borrow my camera, and despite it being 12:15, she is still sleeping. It woundlt be wise of me to wake her up to get it, but I can get some later tonight.
 
Viper87227 said:
Not at the moment, but I can get some later. I let my sisiter borrow my camera, and despite it being 12:15, she is still sleeping. It woundlt be wise of me to wake her up to get it, but I can get some later tonight.
Click to expand...
yeah, post some pics
 
Back with some pics

Closeup:
IM000867.jpg


Farther back:
IM0008662.jpg


With the fan off. Aside from the Small dent at the very top, the heatsink is totally in tact.
IM0008651.jpg



EDIT: And...ignore the kink in the watercooling. Thta will be corrected by tomorrow when the new pump arrives.
 
I have seen some MOSFET cooling blocks designed specificly for the A8N-DLX. I don't see why you couldn't just place one of them on the A8N-PRM MOSFET/NF4 Cooler.

I saw them on a German WC site.
 
Majin said:
I have seen some MOSFET cooling blocks designed specificly for the A8N-DLX. I don't see why you couldn't just place one of them on the A8N-PRM MOSFET/NF4 Cooler.

I saw them on a German WC site.
Click to expand...

In order for that to work, you would have to have the heatpipe leading into the waterblock or you would have to cool the NB and Mosfets seperatly.
 
aug1516 said:
Can someone answer these questions regarding this board?

How many PCIE lanes are there total?
How are they distributed?
How does this motherboard exceed the limit of 20 pcie lanes with this chipset?
Click to expand...

I actually think I figured it out if anyone is interested. We know that the previous limitation is 20 lanes and we have no proof that anyone has overcome that yet. If you look at the specifications in detail for this motherboard on Asus's website it says that the PCIE x4 slot only runs at x2 even though it's sized for an x4. So 16 lanes go to video, 1 lane goes to the x1 slot, 2 lanes go to the "x4" slot, and I'm betting the last lane goes to one of the onboard gigabit ethernet channels. 16+1+2+1 = 20 lanes.
 
Viper87227 said:
Back with some pics

Closeup:
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a341/viper87227/IM000867.jpg[IMG]

Farther back:
[IMG]http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a341/viper87227/IM0008662.jpg[/MG]

With the fan off. Aside from the Small dent at the very top, the heatsink is totally in tact.
[IMG]http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a341/viper87227/IM0008651.jpg[IMG]


EDIT: And...ignore the kink in the watercooling. Thta will be corrected by tomorrow when the new pump arrives.[/QUOTE]

Nice work, but I still think my XP-120 will be pretty good, since the entire heat sink is under the fan.

[URL=http://www.supload.com/pictures/all_pics 130.jpg/view/][IMG]http://www.supload.com/thumbs/default/all_pics 130.jpg[/URL]

However, one thing to consider is all your CPU heat is being taken away by the watercooling, but mine isn't, so the air going over my heat sink probably won't be as cool as your's.

I'll be sure to post my temps when I get everything up this weekend.

I did dig up this pic from my first board, and as you can see, my temp is a nice 35 C.

Click to expand...
 
Only 4C over me....not bad. However, I woudln't give up my watercooling for anything in the world, so I still prefer my solution ;) Both solutions work though, and thats all that really matters.

Also...assuming you decide that 35C is unacceptable for some reason, you do have enough room under there to slip in one of these fans. For only a few bucks....I certianly won't hurt anything.
 
Viper87227 said:
Only 4C over me....not bad. However, I woudln't give up my watercooling for anything in the world, so I still prefer my solution ;) Both solutions work though, and thats all that really matters.

Also...assuming you decide that 35C is unacceptable for some reason, you do have enough room under there to slip in one of these fans. For only a few bucks....I certianly won't hurt anything.
Click to expand...
Yeah, but keep in mind that's with an X2 running two instances of Prime95, so the load on my board is probably higher.
 
I just built an upgrade with this board and Im really happy with it at stock speeds & stuff. However, the max vcore is 1.65, which is too low to OC my FX-53. Has anyone use the 1006 beta? Does it allow for more volts?

Ive also notice that the 1005 bios looks to be under-reporting voltages to asus probe. I have PC Power & Cooling 510 PSU in this and I *know* the volts are at or above all readings. Anyone using the beta checked this as well?
 
I have been runnning this board for a couple of weeks now with a 850XT. I just got my dual 7800's and am having heat issues with the MB. This has lead me to wonder how much cooling happens at the top of the heat pipe and how much happens right over the NB. My MB temps prior to the 7800's were about 43C under full load. Now they are 55C. My cpu temps did go up 2 degrees which makes sense considering I have another heat source in my case. As you can see there is a disproportionate increase in MB temps. I now have a fan blowing in the middle of the pci-x slots and that has reduced the temps about 8 degrees. Is this normal?
 
Opie said:
Ive also notice that the 1005 bios looks to be under-reporting voltages to asus probe. I have PC Power & Cooling 510 PSU in this and I *know* the volts are at or above all readings. Anyone using the beta checked this as well?
Click to expand...

I have the same issue. I trust PC Power cooling.
 
Has anyone use an OCZ DDR500 VX Gold on this board? How's the overclocking on this since the voltage is not as high at the DFI board?
 
John Gault said:
I have been runnning this board for a couple of weeks now with a 850XT. I just got my dual 7800's and am having heat issues with the MB. This has lead me to wonder how much cooling happens at the top of the heat pipe and how much happens right over the NB. My MB temps prior to the 7800's were about 43C under full load. Now they are 55C. My cpu temps did go up 2 degrees which makes sense considering I have another heat source in my case. As you can see there is a disproportionate increase in MB temps. I now have a fan blowing in the middle of the pci-x slots and that has reduced the temps about 8 degrees. Is this normal?
Click to expand...

I have dual 7800s as well. The heat at whatever the measuring point is for the northbridge at idle is 40 for me - I havent seen it at load yet as I just installed the asus probe late last night. I have done some long gaming sessions in both BF2 (brings the system to its knees) and HL2 (screams) and suffered no ill effects, texture corruption, or crashes of any sort.

I'll make some measusurements tonight and post again. Glad to hear you get the same readings with the same PSU.
 
I am running this board with a BFG 7800, X2 4200 and 4x 512MB Corsair PC3200 (I had Gold VX but that stuff just does not work on this board). I'm using the XP-90 with the Thermaltake SilentCat. OCZ Powerstream 520W. Case is an Antec Sonata.

I had a bitch of a time getting the Corsair to work. The system wouldn't post at all until I went into the bios with 1 stick of ram installed, jacked up the voltage to 2.8V, shut it down and installed the other 3 sticks of memory. Only certain types of Double Sided will even post at all in 4 stick configurations I've found.

Temperatures seen so far..
CPU Idle/Load: 35C/42C
MB Idle/Max: 37C/ 44C

I had a lot of problems with the 7800 and the 1005 bios. It was constantly causing desktop corruption. After going 1006.004 it seems to be a lot better now.

I think, as of tonight, I've got it stable at stock speeds. Going to let it settle in for a while before I start tweaking it. I honestly don't see much headroom with the flakyness of 4x Double Sided memory sticks. It was a pain just to get it going.

If I had my money back I'd go 2x 1GB. I think it would've worked out better that way.

Nice ideas with the heatpipe cooling, definitely going to try that.
 
John Gault said:
I have the same issue. I trust PC Power cooling.
Click to expand...

I am running a Seasonic S12-600W PSU and I tested the Asus Probe against what I was getting with a multimeter taking readings off the lines. It was almost exactly the same, but the asus probe does seem to round/even out the voltages.

Have you tested your voltages with a multimeter in real time against the asus probe?
 
Wow, I'm glad I read this thread.
I was debating getting the Lian Li PC-V1000 and this mobo, but now maybe I'll get the Antec P180. or a different lian li case (love the aluminum)
 
I've got my A8N-SLI Premium mounted in a reverse-ATX case (SilverStone TJ-06). I'll check my temps tonight, but I seem to recall that the temps were nothing extreme. Then again, as you'll see with that case, the heatpipe cooler will be nice and cooled. Also, according to the WikiPedia entry, and my own knowledge of the topic, heatpipes don't use gravity to feed the liquid (oil) back down, they use the capilary action of the oil.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heatpipe

Again, I'll post temps tonight, but I think it has to do more with moving air over the radiating fins, then it does about orientation.

*edit*

Temps at boot list at 33*C, both CPU & Northbridge. After two hours full load, in a well ventilated room, the Northbridge lists at 43, CPU at 40. My conclusion is that airflow past the radiator is *FAR* more important than motherboard orientation.
 
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