Another Asus A8n-sli Premium question

[aurelius97]

Okay, will be completing my build on thursday. For the people who own this board, I would like to know what should I install and what things should I avoid? Examples, NVIDIA firewall, Cool and Quiet feature, RAID drivers, etc. Your feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[Stretchman]

I'd like to add my query to Aurelius97's. Some small issues that I know will come up, like, "Should I use Asus Q-fan or AMD cool and quiet" and so on. Anything to know in advance would be appreciated.

 

[Waylay00]

Yeah, when my parts arrive (see sig), I will be asking these questions as well.

 

[virtualrain]

In doing some research, here is what I can tell you...

NVFirewall - Not recommended. Many have reported a variety of problems. Most people probably have a router/firewall external to their PC anyway so I can't imagine a lot of people would even need this. If you don't use the Windows firewall instead.

RAID Drivers - Absolutely use the NVRaid vs. Silicon Image if you run RAID. The NVRaid is on the chipset vs. PCI for the SI controller. In BIOS, you need to do a three step process to setup a RAID array... (1) On first boot, go into BIOS and enable RAID on the connectors you plan to use then (2) Reboot and go into the nVRaid BIOS which comes up after POST and setup your RAID array then (3) Reboot again and go back into the BIOS setup and setup your boot devices so the NVStripe is in the right sequence. Now you are ready to install Windows... I think the best solution for building a new system is to slip-stream drivers into the WinXP install. I suggest using nLite to do that and using this advice... http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=51140. Besides the RAID drivers you can slipstream all the NV drivers at the same time and make the whole process elegant and painless.

Q-FAN - Recommended. There are no problems with this that I'm aware of. It controls the CPU fan voltage according to temperature. Although it's not entirely clear in the bios help or manual, the temp setting in BIOS is the temperature at which full 12V is applied to the fan. Anything less than this and the voltage will be proportionally less.

Cool and Quiet - I have not heard of anyone using this as it doesn't work for overclocked systems and I only hang out in forums where people are overclocking.

RAM - Make sure you go in and manually set your RAM timings to what your RAM is specified for. The Auto setting will read from the RAM's SPD which are relaxed timings to ensure the RAM will boot on the widest range of systems possible. The four basic timings for your ram are obvious to set but you should look into what the other timings mean and set them appropriately. If you have OCZ ram, check out the forums at Bleedinedge for comprehensive info and support. (I'm sure there are equally good sites for other RAM manufacturers).

Heatsinks - Go easy on the thermalpaste when putting on your heatsink if non-stock. I made the mistake of putting too much on the first time and it not only made a real mess but it didn't work very well and it actually stuck my CPU to my heatsink so well that I nearly damaged it trying to seperate the two later. Follow the advice at Arctic Silver and actually use that product if you can right off the bat. One other comment on this... If you are looking at an aftermarket heatsink, check out the Thermalright XP-120 or Thermaltake Big Typhoon... They both not only cool the CPU very well but also the Mosfets, chipset and RAM the way that ASUS designed the board. Also, I found that a single exhaust fan running at 1400RPM made a big difference in case temps. Get one if your case doesn't already have one!

 

[aurelius97]

Thanks, virtualrain for the heads up. I will also be using the AMD X2 4400+ with OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) Platinum memory, so I will check out Bleedinedge.

 

[mode101wpb]

I had no issues with mine during first boot, but make sure you update the nVidia chipset first then the BIOS. I've have found ASUS update to be buggy, that is it won't work unless you keep trying alternate FTP sites, I seem to have luck getting the BIOS from the German site.

I used Q-Fan but watch for boot-up errors if set too low, I also turned on Cool & Quiet but you have to install the driver to make it work I believe?

I didn't manually set-up my RAM timings, do you have to do this with an AMD?

I also used Artic Silver 5 and followed the instructions on their webpage, only used a small amount (about the 2/3 of a BB) placed right in the center of the processor. Then installed a Zalman CNPS7700-CU, seems to work good but your temps will drop after a few thermal cycles and burn-in.

http://www.arcticsilver.com/images/p4_as_dab1.jpg

 

[virtualrain]

Originally posted by: mode101wpb
I used Q-Fan but watch for boot-up errors if set too low, I also turned on Cool & Quiet but you have to install the driver to make it work I believe?

I didn't manually set-up my RAM timings, do you have to do this with an AMD?


http://www.arcticsilver.com/images/p4_as_dab1.jpg

Good point on the fan RPM sensor... Mine doesn't work reliably either, so if you get a FAN RPM warning during POST, go into BIOS and disable the FAN RPM warning altogether.

As I mentioned above on the RAM, most high-performance RAM will have the auto timing set to more relaxed timings than what its capable of to ensure it boots on the widest range of systems. You can check your RAM timings with CPUZ or A64Tweaker to see what the auto settings are and if they are what you expect, you obviously don't need to manually set them. If they are not what your RAM is rated for, you will have to manually setup the timings in BIOS to achieve the performance you paid for.

 

[Stretchman]

:thumbsup: Thanks Virtualrain and Mode, much appreciated.

 

[ElTorrente]

Mine worked without any problems.

Make sure you setup your RAM manually. When I set mine to auto it setup my Corsair XMS at 3,3,3,8 and 2T... which is... bad.

I disabled everything I am not using - like onboard sound, onboard RAID, onboard LAN, and Firewall.

I would recommend Cool and Quiet if you aren't overclocking. If you ARE overclocking, C&Q could mess things up for you so leave it off.

Easiest way on this board to install the latest BIOS, is to simply hit Alt-F2 during POST with your floppy in the drive containing the latest bios.bin file, and the mobo will take over and flash automatically with a built in utility. This is the best, most reliable way to do it.

Flash to the latest bios and latest chipset drivers from ASUS.com. DON'T install NTune (NVidia's Windows based real-time overclocking utility). If you MUST use a windows utility to test overclock settings, use clockgen or something. There's an ASUS utility that works better than NTune on the mobo disk but I can't remember what it's called. The best way to test OC settings is to simply use the BIOS.

 

[aurelius97]

Thanks ElTorrente. As soon as my memory gets here. I will start on my build. You've been very insightful. Should I go ahead and save all current drivers to a cd-rom now to install during initial setup or will I be fine in completing my build and then update the drivers?

 

[mode101wpb]

I used CPUZ thanks for the tip virtualrain, it seems all my RAM timings are right on par with the specs, I have a matched set of OCZ Platinum 1GB X 2. CPUZ is a nice utility!

 

[virtualrain]

One thing everyone should double-check, even if CPUZ reports that your RAM timings are set to what you expect, is to look in the BIOS and make sure the 1T/2T setting is at 1T (unless you are running with 4 sticks of RAM in which case it must be 2T). CPUZ doesn't report this. A64Tweaker does under 2T Timing... it should be disabled.

 

[Stretchman]

How cool is this....I just noticed that Corsair printed the RAM timings on my Twinx Pro's. Very cool. :beer:

 

[aurelius97]

Originally posted by: Stretchman
How cool is this....I just noticed that Corsair printed the RAM timings on my Twinx Pro's. Very cool. :beer:

Yeah, I noticed the same thing with the OCZ plats.

 

[jonesmaster]

dont buy an asus if you're going to overclock an x2. THey have serious problems with vcore stability. Also the setting you plug in wont necessarily be the actually voltage.
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=947019

 

[Waylay00]

Just got my SLI Premium up and running guys! It's great, been stable so far. Didn't install NV FireWall.

 

[mode101wpb]

I wouldn't install it either, just update your chipset through nVidia's site and the BIOS through ASUS Update if you want. I have 1006 installled now issues.