Hardware Analysis - Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe FAQ

Re: Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe FAQ

Monty — 2008-07-31T16:12:59-05:00

Hi Oliver.
Just for info, I run 2 x 8600gts (msi - 256Mb) in SLI with a 3800+ 64x2 and I am very pleased with the results without OC the VGA's or CPU.
It's a bit of an old chestnut, whether 1 High End VGA is as good as 2 lesser versions but the problem is none of the publications bother to check this out!
In the end it's down to what satisfies your needs,personal preference and pocket money I suppose. I can state categorically that 2 in SLI are better than one alone, the difference is huge.

Re: Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe FAQ

Gerritt — 2008-07-30T21:40:32-05:00

m0k0 said:

Quick Question Guys.
I thought my A8N-SLI Deluxe had finally died due to some random freezing anywhere between 1min & 20 mins of startup . I tried working through most components and kind of assumed it was the board, but I bought another cheap Athlon 64 on an online auction to test and it works perfectly... So I've decided to get another processor (better than the Athlon 64 3200+ I have now) probably second hand and give the is board another life.

Back to my question. I just cannot find a good resource for what processors this board will now take and what BIOS is required to run them and maybe also a description/comparision of what processor is best.

Any idea's?

Thanks,
G.

The resource you need is http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx
Just plug in MB Socket 939 A8N-SLI-Deluxe then OK.
This will list all of the processors supported and the BIOS level necessary for that processor. You can click the BIOS to take you to the BIOS download page necessary.

Of the supported processors the Opteron 185 or the Athlon 64x2 4800+ or 4400+, both Toledo cores with 2MB L2 Cache are probably your best bets for best performance. It is unlikely that you can find these still for sale through normal outlets, but there are plenty still available on E-Bay and other after market resources.

Re: Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe FAQ

m0k0 — 2008-07-30T13:23:38-05:00

Re: Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe FAQ

Geoff Sams — 2008-06-19T12:13:27-05:00

I just have one very simple question. It's probably silly, but I need to know. What make and model Battery can I get for a replacement for this board? does it vary at all?

Re: Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe FAQ

Oliver Ivins — 2008-06-18T22:18:30-05:00

Gerritt,
Thanks for the help there, Gerritt. From what you suggest I think i'll go down the path of a single, good graphics card and possibly get one of those 4400 X2s or better from eBay. I didn't realise there were so many still on sale there!
Once again, thanks for the help
Oliver

Re: Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe FAQ

Gerritt — 2008-06-18T02:21:33-05:00

Oliver,
If you really want to extend the life of the board get a Toledo Core 4400+ or better, but beings that you do have a good 3800+ for free, I'd not worry overly much about this, but keep your eye peeled for 939 socketted AMDx2s on e-bay and such for very good bargins that can help you keep in the running so to speak.
You can SLI the GPUs that you are listing, but on the ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe offering, and the Premium offering, you have to know that when you plug in two GPUs in a SLI configuration that you will be running both at PCI-E x8 and NOT PCI-E x16 speeds. You can still get a increase in throughput though utilization of SLI, but not as high as you would on a MB that supports PCI-Ex16x2 Such as the ASUS A8N-SLI-32 offerings.
I would think that a couple of reletively low end and dirt cheap SLI capable GPUs would be a better configuration for this particular MB, given it's lack of true x16x2 and its very short legs as a platform due to the discontinuation of the 929 socket.
All that said and done, you may want to concider a SINGLE very good 9800 series GPU and wait on doing SLI until you upgrade your MB and CPU.

Gerritt

Re: Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe FAQ

Oliver Ivins — 2008-06-17T22:00:42-05:00

Not sure if anyone wants more posts here... but i have a question
Obviously, I have the Asus A8N SLI Deluxe, and am currently in the process of upgrading my components to extend it's lifespan a much as possible. I have got an Athlon 64 X2 3800+ from a friends old PC, which is overclocked to 2.6Ghz, and i'm about to buy an Nvidia 8800GTS 512MB gpu. What i'm wondering is if in the future i'll be able to run 2 of them in SLI without everything else putting a bottleneck on their performance?
I have 2GB corsair XMS RAM.

Any wise knowledge you could give me here would be very much appreciated!!
Oliver

Re: Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe FAQ

Dave Belchek — 2008-05-30T21:37:02-05:00

Thanks again guys your help as always is much appreciated. God bless and may all your gaming adventures be pleasant ones .

Re: Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe FAQ

TWolfe — 2008-05-30T03:23:40-05:00

Yes you can run 2x2GB sticks. I'm running 2x2GB sticks of Crucial Ballistyx DDR 500 on that very same board, it's a real bitch to run 4 sticks of any memory on that board. I've had the best luck running BETA BIOS 1805 on my system, other people have NOT.
Best of luck.

Re: Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe FAQ

Gerritt — 2008-05-30T02:25:21-05:00

Dave,
The boards CAN run 4 sticks, it's just that you give up certain high end functionality when doing so.
I'm in the process of upgrading my system, and am sticking with both AMD and Asus.
My overall experience with both has been better than average (given a 30+ year experience).
Before working with Asus MBs I worked with Supermicro and Tyan, but these boards, while extremely stable, do not fit the early adopter mentality. You may want to check them out, even though they don't get a lot of press, they are very well engineered MBs based upon years of experience.

Gerritt

Re: Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe FAQ

Dave Belchek — 2008-05-29T12:10:30-05:00

Thank you for all your help Gerrit, I think it is a rip-off that you cannot run all 4 slots... oh well hindsight is always 20/20. This board was my first ground-up system build... so far it has handled everything i threw at it. I will probably just upgrade my 1 gig to 2gigs of ram and be done with it. Thanks again for all your help guys, lol i have been posting on this board sporadically since it was first set-up when the motherboard came out and gave people problems. Awesome thread... and it does need to be put in the guiness book of world records . Props to Sassen and everyone who helped people in troubling times.

Re: Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe FAQ

Gerritt — 2008-05-28T23:59:21-05:00

Dave,
I'm reletively sure they will, but can't say for sure because I've not tried it.
The issues I had all had to do with running 4 slots, even when I was running 512K modules.
Mayhap someone else can say with certainty.
Gerritt

Re: Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe FAQ

Dave Belchek — 2008-05-28T23:43:44-05:00

Thank you for your reply Gerrit, and can you confirm that 2 gig modules run fine in the a slots? Just want to be sure before I slap down the money for them

Re: Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe FAQ

Gerritt — 2008-05-28T23:33:34-05:00

No problems with putting a PCI 2.0 Card in the primary 16x slot.
This board does have stability issues with running all 4 DIMMs of ram, If you want to run 4GB get 2x2GB DIMMS. I've not yet been able to run 4 DIMMs in DUAL Channel at DDR400 speeds, I must step down to DDR333. Also 4 DIMMs will not run at the rated latencies and they have to be loosened. I've recently had to step back to using 2 slots after the system failed to post, but both sets of DIMMs test fine individually.
Vista runs quite nicely on this board with my 4400+

Gerritt

Re: Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe FAQ

Dave Belchek — 2008-05-28T20:18:05-05:00

Hi to start out here are my system specs

Asus a8n-sli deluxe (bios 1007 rev)
1 gig of corsair xms memory (2-3-3-5)
1 BFG 6800 gt oc 256mb video card
AMD fx-55 2.6ghz CPU
1 Western digital SATA raptor 15,000 rpm hard drive
1 Western digital caviar 120gig hard drive
soundblaster audigy 2 zs sound card
windows xp operating system
pc power and cooling 510 sli power supply.

Ok here is my question, I would like to upgrade a few of my components to this system but still use my motherboard and cpu as well as everything but my video card and memory, but I was wondering if putting 4gb in this motherboard will cause it to run unstable/slow/or give me problems. I want to put two matched 2 GB kits in the memory slots made by OCZ to give me 4GB worth of memory. So if I do go that route would it run in dual channel if both kits are the same voltage, latency, ETC. Also I want to buy a new video card and would like to put a 9800 GTX on it, but I dont know if putting a pci-express 2.0 card onto this motherboard will work. Lastly can vista run AT ALL on this mobo. Thank you for your help in these matters, and thank you for your time.

Here are the components i want to put into the system.

video card- EVGA 512-P3-N871-AR GeForce 9800 GTX(G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

link to the video card- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130339

memory- OCZ Platinum 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail ( i want to put 2 of these on the motherboard so 2 kits total for 4gb)

link to the memory- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227210

Again thank you for the help.