ASUS A8n-e Premium NForce 4

[Waylay00]

Bump

 

[Vishruth]

Does anybody have an idea about when the fanless version of this mobo is coming out?

Currently newegg.com has ABIT AN8 NF4 SLI mobo, which also comes with a passive NB cooling solution. The board looks great, but I'm afraid it won't play well with my XP-120 CPU cooler.

Links:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813127207 (specs)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowImage...20ATX%20AMD%20Motherboard%20-%20Retail (pics)

 

[Ender17]

any info?

 

[imported_Husky55]

Shown as available and in stock at eastluna.com, also available at buy.com but OOS.

 

[Ender17]

Originally posted by: Husky55
Shown as available and in stock at eastluna.com, also available at buy.com but OOS.

hmm, good to hear
thinking about pulling the trigger at eastluna

 

[Waylay00]

Updates? I sure hope this board comes out before June 21.

 

[geogecko]

Are you people posting in the correct thread? This is for the A8N-E Premium...nothing to do with the A8N-SLI Premium.

 

[Gerbil333]

They are correct. And here too.

 

[geogecko]

Originally posted by: Gerbil333
They are correct. And here too.

I see that, but this thread isn't for the A8N-SLI Premium, it's for the A8N-E Premium...

It's confusing to some people that haven't been keeping up with the thread, when they know the board was most likely doomed for production.

So, yes, the SLI version is in stock at EastLuna, at least, 17 more, after I purchased mine at 10pm...

 

[Gerbil333]

Oops. You're right. I'm looking for the A8N-E Premium too, but I'll get the normal edition if it's not here by the time the Sonata II is available.

 

[Waylay00]

Yeah, even though I want the A8N-SLI premium, I would like this board to be released before June 21, so I can have it for Battlefield 2 as a backup option in case the A8N-SLI Premium isn't released by then.

 

[amheck]

I wish Asus would release the A8N-E Premium before the 14th, and then let me exchange the AMD Tech Tour A8N-E for it.

 

[Capt Caveman]

I don't think I've seen a beta bios for the A8N-E Premium on their website. So, it may be a while before it gets released, if at all.

 

[geogecko]

My guess is it won't ever get released. Several people have received e-mails from ASUS stating that the board will not be produced.

Maybe when they see how well their SLI Premium sells, they will decide to slap the Cool-Pipe on the A8N-E, give it another SATA controller, add firewire, and see how well that one sells. I'd be willing to buy it in a few months, and then swap it out with the SLI Premium that will be in my HTPC. I don't anticipate needing SLI in the HTPC, but I did want the firewire and 8 SATA ports.

 

[JustWhitman]

Man that got my hopes all up thinking it was available .

 

[Ender17]

I'd much rather have a NF$ Ultra version of this board since I have no use for SLI
I'm tired of all the good boards being SLI - not everyone is going to buy $800 of video cards

 

[geogecko]

There's plenty of other Ultra boards out there to choose from, although we know ASUS makes some of the cream of the crop boards, there are still others, such as DFI and MSI. $800, yeah, if going with 6800 Ultras, but you can have an SLI setup for just under $400, if you really wanted it.

 

[Ender17]

Originally posted by: geogecko
There's plenty of other Ultra boards out there to choose from, although we know ASUS makes some of the cream of the crop boards, there are still others, such as DFI and MSI. $800, yeah, if going with 6800 Ultras, but you can have an SLI setup for just under $400, if you really wanted it.

all of the NF4 DFI boards I know of have 2 PCI-E slots even if one of them comes disabled
and they only have 2 PCI slots - I need more

I've heard of too many issues with the Neo4

I know you can have an SLI setup for less, but it's completely retarded to buy 2 6600GTs instead of a 6800GT - but that's another thread

anyway, I picked this board because it's got 3 PCI slots, all passive cooling, is supposed to be a good OCer, has a lot of cool accessories, and because it's from ASUS

 

[Gerbil333]

Originally posted by: geogecko
There's plenty of other Ultra boards out there to choose from, although we know ASUS makes some of the cream of the crop boards, there are still others, such as DFI and MSI. $800, yeah, if going with 6800 Ultras, but you can have an SLI setup for just under $400, if you really wanted it.

Ender17 is right. 6600 GTs in SLI are a waste. You might as well get one 6800 GT that will be cheaper, perform the same, and allow you to add a 2nd card later.

I still think SLI is a waste of money. If you buy two cards now, you'll be out $720 for two 6800 GTs that will be worth $50 or less in 4 years (take a look at the Voodoo 2's...they're about free now). If you get a single card now, you must later get an identical card if you want to upgade to SLI--the same brand, model, and BIOS! That will be a difficult task once the cards are no longer sold in retail stores...especially the BIOS part.

Moreover, by the time a single 6800 GT level card needs to be upgraded, we'll be at least 1-2 generations beyond current video cards. If you slap down $360-$400 for a 6800 GT now, you're more than likely an avid gamer or computer enthusiast. Thus, you won't even want to buy a second 6800 GT. You'll want to get one of the fancy current-gen cards, which will probably own a 6800 GT SLI setup anyway! Video cards two generations down the road typically sport more features (DX10/WGF 2.0 anyone?), so who's going to want to upgrade to SLI then??

 

[geogecko]

I agree. There is no real advantage to buying two 6600GT's when you could just buy one 6800GT. Furthermore, I totally agree with you, that the upgrade potential is not that attractive, because buy having two of a given card, you still aren't getting the latest advances in the hardware.

It's not all about speed.

That's what is funny about those proporting the buy one now, then buy another when the price is about half. It's a dumb idea thinking that, unless you plan to play the same games you are playing now, but then why would you need the extra power of 2 GPU's? The only reason SLI is popular (or why it should be) is the fact of buying two of the top-of-the-line GPU's, right now. That gives you better performance than is possible with one video card.

I have to admit though, $200 for a board that has as much as the A8N-SLI Premium does, you are getting a lot of bang for the buck, especially with the fanless design.

 

[Gerbil333]

Originally posted by: geogecko
I have to admit though, $200 for a board that has as much as the A8N-SLI Premium does, you are getting a lot of bang for the buck, especially with the fanless design.

Yeah, I agree. I wouldn't mind paying $150-$160 for a passive A8N-E. The A8N-E is $120 now, so surely they could implement the heat pipe cooler for < $30-$40.

 

[geogecko]

Yes, that would be nice. The firewire is what attracted me the most, since there are threads of people getting cableboxs to send out their video/audio through the firewire, already hardware encoded! You don't even need a capture card anymore for that application, just an available FW port.

I would think they should be able to do it for less than $20. Heck, they are at least saving the cost of a fan, as crappy as it was... The Deluxe was this same price when it first came out, and it didn't have the Cool-pipe technology.

 

[LrngToFly]

Oddly, Newegg is no longer carrying the regular A8N-E (they have a few refurbs left, but no new ones...)

I wonder if this is the end of the A8N-E regular???

And at this point there's no way there's going to be an A8N-E Premium...

I'm actually suprised there hasn't been a refresh on Nvidia NForce4 chipsets resulting in a round of new motherboard models. I swear it seemed like the old Via Athlon XP chipsets were updated every 6 months...

 

[geogecko]

It's taken so long for the first nForce4 MB to show up, is probably why. I doubt there will be a rev on the NF4 chipset, since it's pretty much got everything up-to-date now, and everything seems to work correctly on it.

Strange about the A8N-E. Maybe it hasn't been a hot seller at NE. Could be why they are getting rid of it. Of course, maybe they are getting rid of it in anticipation of the new A8N-E Premium! =) The rumors begin again...

The VIA's were updated because they had problems, at least on the XP chipsets. That, and to compensate for the ever increasing speed of DDR and the FSB's on the CPU's.

 

[Gerbil333]

I think they're selling out too quickly. ZZF still has them.