Asus A8N-E info please.

[cornholio2]

Originally posted by: Baaru
If I've read everything correctly, the 3800 San Diego combined with the a8n-e should boot up, BUT i'll just have to update the bios in the an8 in order for the mobo to recognize the CPU correctly? Is this correct?

I've looked at the 3500 venice, but since I had already set aside cash for the 3800 Newcastle, switching over to the 3700 san diego should not be so hard.

this is what my final rig should look like:

amd athlon 64 3700+ 90nm Rev. E ADA3700BN** socket 939 $334 oem $354 Box Monarch

Seasonic S12 430W around $99 eWiz

Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 SATA NCQ ST380017AS 80GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM $65 NEWEGG
Model #: ST380817AS

ASUS A8N-E Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $132.00 NEWEGG
Model #: A8N-E

THERMALTAKE VB1000BNS Black Steel/Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail $75.49 NEWEGG
Model #: VB1000BNS


CORSAIR XMS 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model TWINX1024-3200XL - Retail
Model #: TWINX1024-3200XL $199.00 NewEgg


Leadtek PX6800GT TDH Geforce 6800GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI-Express x16 Video Card - Retail $399.00 NEWGG
Model #: PX6800-GTTDH


What do ya guys think?

Update us if your able to boot and update using San Diego on this mobo.

 

[Waylay00]

Any new news?

 

[cornholio2]

Originally posted by: Waylay00
Any new news?

NO news from him. I guess his going with the DFI-Ultra D and San DIego at Monarch computer.

 

[Baaru]

Hehe actually I went with this mobo and with the 3500 Venice. Hopefully, Newegg ships it with the 1003 bios, if not it shouldn't be too hard to flash it to spec.

I opted against the 3700 SD simply because of the cost. I'm sure I'll be back within a week or so when all of my components arrive because I'll need help over clocking the venice!

This will be my first OC attempt, but hopefully the awsome people around here will be able to assist.

thanks again for everyones input!

 

[cornholio2]

Originally posted by: Baaru
Hehe actually I went with this mobo and with the 3500 Venice. Hopefully, Newegg ships it with the 1003 bios, if not it shouldn't be too hard to flash it to spec.

I opted against the 3700 SD simply because of the cost. I'm sure I'll be back within a week or so when all of my components arrive because I'll need help over clocking the venice!

This will be my first OC attempt, but hopefully the awsome people around here will be able to assist.

thanks again for everyones input!

So you did go ahead with A8N-E? Well, update us and as soon as you received your hardware and boot and update it. Post a picture if possible. I will order mine as soon as I hear from you boot the mobo and CPU with no sweat. We'll have the same mobo and CPU 3500+ except for the memory sticks because mine will be Geil DDR500 2x512 and Seagate HDD and Leadtek vidoecard.

 

[cornholio2]

Any news?

 

[gbohn]

>Update us if your able to boot and update using San Diego on this mobo.

I just today started setting up an Asus A8N-E motherboard (Rev 2.00) I got from ZipZoomFly that came with Bios 1001.

I put a SanDiego 3700+ Processor (from a new ADA3700BNBOX I just got), and 1 1GB ECC Crucial memory DIMM in it.

This booted up, and I was able to flash to Bios 1003 from a floppy. I am just now still setting things up and testing. But so far things look good with 2- 1GB ECC Crucial DIMMS running PC3200 1T as far as I can tell.

Good Luck.

 

[cornholio2]

Originally posted by: gbohn
>Update us if your able to boot and update using San Diego on this mobo.

I just today started setting up an Asus A8N-E motherboard (Rev 2.00) I got from ZipZoomFly that came with Bios 1001.

I put a SanDiego 3700+ Processor (from a new ADA3700BNBOX I just got), and 1 1GB ECC Crucial memory DIMM in it.

This booted up, and I was able to flash to Bios 1003 from a floppy. I am just now still setting things up and testing. But so far things look good with 2- 1GB ECC Crucial DIMMS running PC3200 1T as far as I can tell.

Good Luck.

How's your mobo and San Diego doing?

 

[gbohn]

Originally posted by: cornholio2
[
How's your mobo and San Diego doing?

So far so good. I gave it 16 hours of Prime95 as a test. Now I'm trying to decide if I should try and replace the noisy Nforce 4 fan-sink with something bigger and quieter.

I stuck a Zalman fan-mate on the existing one, and it's much quieter at about 5500 RPM than it was at 8800.. I'm just affraid that it might overheat.

I'm not sure if there's a way to check the Nforce-4 temperature other than using an external thermometer...

 

[cornholio2]

Originally posted by: gbohn

Originally posted by: cornholio2
[
How's your mobo and San Diego doing?

So far so good. I gave it 16 hours of Prime95 as a test. Now I'm trying to decide if I should try and replace the noisy Nforce 4 fan-sink with something bigger and quieter.

I stuck a Zalman fan-mate on the existing one, and it's much quieter at about 5500 RPM than it was at 8800.. I'm just affraid that it might overheat.

I'm not sure if there's a way to check the Nforce-4 temperature other than using an external thermometer...

So you really able to boot up the mobo with 1001 bios and update it using the san diego?

 

[gbohn]

Originally posted by: cornholio2

So you really able to boot up the mobo with 1001 bios and update it using the san diego?

Err... that's what I said. I put one DIMM in B1 and fired up the system. Flashed to 1003 (in DOS from a boot disk), and then put in my second DIMM.

I only did the one DIMM thing since I had previously seen people say they needed to do this on other motherboards when the BIOS didn't recognize the (then new) Winchester AMD CPU. I don't know if that was actually needed or not, but I figured I'd play it safe.

The flash utility on the CD was newer than the one on the ASUS USA site, so I used that awdflash program.

The only peculiar thing was that after I was done I checked the memory timings and they were manual at some slow timing- 3-7-7-15 or something like that. I reset to 'auto' and it came back as 3-3-3 as I would have expected.

I don't know if that was becuase of poor memory recognition in 1001 (I imagine 1GB ECC DIMMS aren't all that popular...), or because of the San Diego.

 

[Muggy]

Hi Baaru,
One important piece of info. I would recommend a 480 or 500 W PSU. I've built my rig based on A8N-E (1001 BIOS), 3200+ Winchester, Transcend 512 DDR 400 and a XFX 6800 GT PCI-E. Have got an Antec True Power 480W ( The best available here in India ). So please ensure that u get a 480 or 500 W PSU. And as far the processor is concerned, I would recommend u to get a 3500+ Winchester ( Less heat and better Overclockability ) and overclock it to 3800+ speeds. Lesser the heat generated, the better and it also consumes less power. Also go for IDE if ur gonna overclock as SATA limits overclocking. If u can expand ur budget and wanna go for SATA, go for SATA II disks if available as the A8N-E supports SATA II.

 

[lytalbayre]

I bought this board and it came with the 1001 bios. Slapped the 3700+ san diego in there and everything else (because if it worked, it saved me the trouble of having to take everything out and reinstall).

It worked FINE!! I installed windows and then used asus update to flash to 1003.

No problem with the revision E. chips for this board!!

 

[cornholio2]

Originally posted by: lytalbayre
I bought this board and it came with the 1001 bios. Slapped the 3700+ san diego in there and everything else (because if it worked, it saved me the trouble of having to take everything out and reinstall).

It worked FINE!! I installed windows and then used asus update to flash to 1003.

No problem with the revision E. chips for this board!!

Now I'm convinced.Gonna order this mobo on Monday. Will these memory sticks work on this mobo?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820144517

 

[ChicagoPCGuy]

FWIW, I have the same mobo and CPU on order--A8N-E and San Diego 3700+. Glad to hear there are no issues with booting up in order to flash the BIOS!

 

[cornholio2]

Originally posted by: ChicagoPCGuy
FWIW, I have the same mobo and CPU on order--A8N-E and San Diego 3700+. Glad to hear there are no issues with booting up in order to flash the BIOS!

What memory sticks are you going to use?

 

[ChicagoPCGuy]

Originally posted by: cornholio2

Originally posted by: ChicagoPCGuy
FWIW, I have the same mobo and CPU on order--A8N-E and San Diego 3700+. Glad to hear there are no issues with booting up in order to flash the BIOS!

What memory sticks are you going to use?

Two 512MB sticks of OCZ Platinum Rev. 2, to be run at stock with 2-2-2-6 1T timing.

 

[ChicagoPCGuy]

Originally posted by: lytalbayre
I bought this board and it came with the 1001 bios. Slapped the 3700+ san diego in there and everything else (because if it worked, it saved me the trouble of having to take everything out and reinstall).

It worked FINE!! I installed windows and then used asus update to flash to 1003.

No problem with the revision E. chips for this board!!

I notice you flashed to 1003. ASUS has a BETA 1004.002 BIOS out, but I am not sure what it addresses and if it would be a good idea to flash to that one right off.

Anyone using that BIOS? What does it fix/address?

 

[Reapsy00]

Is anyone running this oard with a 20 pin powersupply? Any issues or prolems with this?

 

[imported_kethdredd]

I'm running with a 20pin p/s . Antec True 430W. No problems.

 

[Momental]

Gentlemen, after reading this entire thread, I've decided to get this board as well. I'd been hemming and hawing between the various nForce 4 Ultra boards (DFi, EPoX, Chaintech, etc.) and decided that this would be the most stable and hassle free platform. Many thanks to any and all who contributed not only the various questions, but the extremely useful responses as well.

Like ChicagoPCguy, I also plan on using the OCZ Plat. rev. 2's. Yeah, the TCCD stuff is a little spendy, but if you're gonna buy a Porsche, wouldn't you want it seated atop the sweetest rims and Dunlops you could afford?? I'm also considering the Mushkin 'Extreme Performance' RAM which is also based upon the Sammy TCCD chips.

My questions: When opting to "flash" to the new BIOS, does one go ahead and install Windows, then through the ASUS utility, do it from there? Or, would it be better if I go ahead and download the file straight from ASUS' website onto a floppy? I've never done this before and that's why I ask. Hell, I've never put together a system before and plan on walking through MechBGon's guide step by step to make it happen.

Additionally, regarding this chipset fan, should I go ahead and purchase a new heatsink only (Zalman or the like) or just replace the fan itself such as a 40mm Panaflo? And is it relatively easy to do this without completely destroying something? No, I'm not clumsy, just a little green. There's no harm in not knowing, only in not wanting to learn.

 

[imported_moabb]

I installed Windows then simply flashed to the latest BIOS using the ASUS utility. Hopefully someone else will answer you question regarding the chipset fan as I am also would like to know how difficult it is to replave it with different heatsink and fan

 

[TheOldhand]

Originally posted by: gbohn
I put a SanDiego 3700+ Processor ... and 1 1GB ECC Crucial memory DIMM in it. ... so far things look good with 2- 1GB ECC Crucial DIMMS running PC3200 1T as far as I can tell.

As the Crucial database doesn't contain the A8N-E motherboard, how did you choose appropriate modules? Did you order 1GB ECC modules that matched the A8N-SLI board that Crucial does list?

 

[Reapsy00]

Originally posted by: Momental


Additionally, regarding this chipset fan, should I go ahead and purchase a new heatsink only (Zalman or the like) or just replace the fan itself such as a 40mm Panaflo? And is it relatively easy to do this without completely destroying something? No, I'm not clumsy, just a little green. There's no harm in not knowing, only in not wanting to learn.

I replaced the chipset fan on my current board nf7-s it wasn't that hard, I imagine it will be similar with the asus. The only thing was the push pin holes didn't line up by like 1mm with the new heatsink so i had to glue it on with artic silver glue type stuff

 

[gbohn]

Originally posted by: TheOldhand

Originally posted by: gbohn
I put a SanDiego 3700+ Processor ... and 1 1GB ECC Crucial memory DIMM in it. ... so far things look good with 2- 1GB ECC Crucial DIMMS running PC3200 1T as far as I can tell.

As the Crucial database doesn't contain the A8N-E motherboard, how did you choose appropriate modules? Did you order 1GB ECC modules that matched the A8N-SLI board that Crucial does list?

Yes, I started with the A8N-SLI listing and went from there. I ended up ordering by part number after I found the A8N-SLI listing.

When I noticed that they didn't list the A8N-E, I gave them a call. They basically said they didn't yet know if it would work with that motherboard, but they were optimistic...
I figured I had a 30-day return period if it didn't work.

Also, I could not help but notice that the price has dropped noticably since I ordered...