Asus a8n-e..

[JustWhitman]

Originally posted by: rp723
My board is rev. 2...

One last thing about the chipset fan. I recommend calling the Asus RMA department and asking for a replacement chipset hsf if you have the little "screamer" (~8000rpm) on your board. The replacement hsf is a little bigger and runs much quieter... The original chipset fan has known issues and is very noisy. I called and received the replacement in a week which I installed with AS5.

If you have a Rev. 2 board a replacement isn't necessary, as they are shipping with a new Heatsink Fan. I received a Rev. 2 A8N-E from ZipZoomFly and can confirm this .

 

[JustWhitman]

Originally posted by: MJGunn
Set mine up last night, installed all my drivers for everything, but theres sitll a "unknown device" in hardware manager. The only thing I can think of is that its the nvidia firewall, which I didn't install, does that sound right?

Ditto here. I didn't install the Firewall either, so you are probably correct in your assumption.

 

[MJGunn]

Originally posted by: JustWhitman
If you have a Rev. 2 board a replacement isn't necessary, as they are shipping with a new Heatsink Fan. I received a Rev. 2 A8N-E from ZipZoomFly and can confirm this .

Well, I recieved a Rev 2 board (also from ZZF) yesterday, and it had the old fan setup. My advice, if you're ordering one of these boards, call Asus immediately and ask them to send you a new chipset fan. If you get the board, and have the old fan, you'll want to already have the new one on hand because otherwise you'll have to remove the MB from the case to install it (and of course, if you recieve a board with a new fan, you'll have a spare fan around, which is good since in my experience, small chipset fan have pretty short lifespans)

 

[skyeclad]

Set mine up last night, installed all my drivers for everything, but theres sitll a "unknown device" in hardware manager.

I had this issue too. I uninstalled the driver and let the system find any new hardware. I think it ended up installing a USB driver and all hardware was alright after that.

 

[skyeclad]

I have a question, I have an older SB Live sound card and was wondering whether to use this card or the realtek sound on board. I was not planning on upgrading to an Audigy or anything else since I only have an analog Klipsch quad setup and even then the speakers in the back are not ideally positioned.

 

[MJGunn]

Originally posted by: skyeclad
I uninstalled the driver and let the system find any new hardware.

Which driver, the nforce one?

 

[scrawnypaleguy]

I also got the Rev. 2 version of the board, but the chipset fan still runs at more than 8000 RPM! I've never installed a different northbridge heatsink before, is it hard?

 

[imported_Technomancer]

How can I tell what revision my board is?

 

[Gerbil333]

Originally posted by: MJGunn
Set mine up last night, installed all my drivers for everything, but theres sitll a "unknown device" in hardware manager. The only thing I can think of is that its the nvidia firewall, which I didn't install, does that sound right?

I had that problem but I had ignored the Asus CD (I installed the latest nVidia 6.53's instead). The solution is a missing driver that is installed when you install Asus's "AI Booster" program. Install it, and the Unknown Device will go away instantly.

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: Technomancer
How can I tell what revision my board is?

On my board, this is listed right under the A8N-E designation on the board (this is found right under the PCI-E x16 slot, and in front of and between the two PCI-E x1 slots).

 

[imported_Technomancer]

Alright, I'll check that once I get my board... and my X2... and my case... and my heatsink to replace the unknown stock... and thermal paste... hmm...

 

[skyeclad]

Which driver, the nforce one?

I uninstalled the unknown device and let the system check for new hardware. It found and installed an Nforce USB driver. I assume that was the unknown device that it was referring to.

 

[JustWhitman]

Originally posted by: scrawnypaleguy
I also got the Rev. 2 version of the board, but the chipset fan still runs at more than 8000 RPM! I've never installed a different northbridge heatsink before, is it hard?

You just have to pop the expanding pins out of the back. I use needle nose pliers to squeeze it together and then just pop it through. You just have to be careful not to scratch any leads on the board or anything.

After seeing others having rev. 2 boards and not getting a new Heatsink, I may be mistaken. I thought I read somewhere that all rev. 2 boards came with a new heatsink. Personally I can't hear it and all I have in my case is 1x120mm Antec fan 1x80mm Antec Fan both running on medium. Even when I set both fans on low I can't hear it. When looking at Asus PC Probe I do have a fan spinning at ~8000RPM, it says it's the Power Fan though.

I might just wind up buying a Vantec copper iceberg and tossing it on there. I've used it on two other mobos (nF2 and nF3) and it worked great.

 

[johnnqq]

i want to buy this mobo too. where did you all get yours? i think i'm going to buy it from monarch because i've heard bad things about zipzoomfly. and does anybody know why newegg doesn't carry it anymore?

 

[JustWhitman]

Not sure what bad things you've heard about ZipZoomFly, but I wouldn't hesitate to order from them. Their prices are generally cheaper than everyone else, especially since their advertised prices include 2nd Day FedEx S&H.

 

[ProviaFan]

The reports on ZZF haven't been the best over in the X2 preorder/in stock thread in the CPU forum... For that matter, Monarch hasn't handled things very well either (as I can attest, having preordered from them - I eventually canceled, but that's another story).

 

[scrawnypaleguy]

Originally posted by: JustWhitman
I might just wind up buying a Vantec copper iceberg and tossing it on there. I've used it on two other mobos (nF2 and nF3) and it worked great.

I thought the iceberg was for video cards. Do they make a chipset version?

 

[JustWhitman]

Originally posted by: scrawnypaleguy

Originally posted by: JustWhitman
I might just wind up buying a Vantec copper iceberg and tossing it on there. I've used it on two other mobos (nF2 and nF3) and it worked great.

I thought the iceberg was for video cards. Do they make a chipset version?

On one mobo I had to use an epoxy because there were no pin holes (it used clips to hold on the heatsink). But on the DFi NF3 250GB, the pins lined up perfectly. Looking at the Asus A8N-E it appears to be the same and I assume the Copper Iceberg will snap right in.

--edit--
BTW, I'm referring to this.

 

[scrawnypaleguy]

looks pretty good. does anyone know if this swiftech one works? it looks good (only 18dBA!)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835108022

I only mention it because someone else said that passive cooling wasn't enough to cool the nForce4 Ultra chipset.

 

[JustWhitman]

In the picture I'm referring to using the active one in the top left, not the passive ones. The active one has the two pins that line up perfectly. The other two are put on with frag-tape, and might be good for a motherboard that has an actual southbridge but certainly not an nForce chipset.

As far as the Swiftech, I'm sure the cooling is excellent. However I don't think it's worth $40, but thats just IMO. Plus the swifty uses clips to hold it on. You'd have to use an epoxy to get to stay on.

 

[scrawnypaleguy]

Oh I see. And yeah, I didn't notice that. It is expensive, which makes me wonder: does asus charge you for that replacement that they're giving out to people? If not, I'll probably just go with that. Has anyone gotten that? Is it much quieter? I don't wanna rip my whole system apart just to put something on that doesn't get the job done, noise-wise. I'll spend 40 bucks for the swiftech if it means that I can finally get some peace and quiet, since it's only 18dBA. Does Asus tell you the decibel rating of the replacement?

 

[cornholio2]

I got mine at extremepcgear.com and at that time they have the cheapest A8N-E and I don't know how much they cost now. I bought it last month together with the videocard and Zalman NB47J for back-up on the northbridge.
What does the old HSF looks like on the northbridge against the new HSF? Mine is Rev. 2.00 and it has a silver heatsink and the fan is black. Is that the old HSF?
From time to time my computer will still restart. Do you guys know what version of memtest86 I'm supposed to download?

 

[cornholio2]

Originally posted by: scrawnypaleguy
looks pretty good. does anyone know if this swiftech one works? it looks good (only 18dBA!)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835108022

I only mention it because someone else said that passive cooling wasn't enough to cool the nForce4 Ultra chipset.

I think you can still use the passive Zalman as long as there is a fan blowing on it. I have an 80mm fan inside blowing on the northbridge direction.

 

[evetstech]

i got the rev 2.0 w/ the newer fan, but it runs at 35C w/o my 80mm fan blowing towards it. I get 29C when it is blowing towards it

 

[scrawnypaleguy]

Well, I just sent an email to Asus telling them that I wanted the specs of the replacement hsf, and that I wanted one sent to my house. Pff. We'll see if that ever happens. The noise has actually gotten worse after two days of leaving this computer on, and now it's adding a grating sort of metallic noise to the din. If I don't recieve a prompt answer from Asus, telling me that a new one is on it's way and that it's decibel rating is below 25dBA, I'm buying the Swiftech. I have to sleep four feet away from my computer when I go to college this fall, and that's not going to happen with this amount of noise. Thumbs down to Asus.