ASUS A8N SLI DELUXE

[PCservices]

Hello,

I have noticed that the ASUS A8N SLI Deluxe motherboards are VERY popular - are they REALLY worth buying and investing into?

Regards,


Brian
http://brians-pc.pcfire.net

 

[Siddy]

yea, if u want amd64 939 socket, and Duo SLi then it is good for u.
Ive got one, and using it now, no real probs, but havent dont much to it.
It probably is the best Mobo u can get

 

[TheInvincibleMustard]

The A8N SLI's are the hot-new-product at the moment. The reason that they are so popular is that they were one of the first SLI motherboards to come out by a big-name manufacturer known for their reliability and feature set. As of right now, MSI also has an SLI motherboard out (K8N Diamond and/or K8N Neo4 Platinum/SLI), and DFI is poised to release one "Real Soon"(tm).

There is very little difference between an nForce4-SLI motherboard and an nForce4-Ultra motherboard, the big one being one has SLI and the other doesn't ... well, not really, anyway (see here for more information). Most motherboard manufacturers might alter their feature set between the two styles, as SLI is a higher-end product (eg, different firewire ports available, etc), but that's not a difference in the chipset.

Advantages in moving from the nForce3 chipset to the nForce4 chipset are minimal but distinct. First, nForce4 provides support for SATA-II (300MB/s, NCQ, hot-swap, etc), includes a hardware firewall, and of course the ability to do SLI. Performance-wise, they are very similar when outfitted with the same components.

If you're looking at purchasing a new computer right now, I'd wait just a bit and see what DFI brings to the arena. It also wouldn't hurt to wait for an nForce4 roundup somewhere (*cough* AnandTech *cough*) and compare products then. There's no doubt that the A8N-SLI is a great motherboard, but there's no harm in waiting another week or two.

HTH

 

[Insomniak]

It's an excellent board. It definitely leaves your upgrade path wide open - you can do pretty much anything you want with an AMD based system on one of these boards. It's got the best documentation I've ever seen with a motherboard, and the included utilities are nice. The layout is excellent (gap between PEG slots, nice open CPU socket, power connectors in the right place, etc.)

If you don't want/need the option of SLI, I suggest seeking out an NForce 4 Ultra board. They're less expensive and have all the same features, excluding SLI.

 

[liquidboss]

What about the Asus board not being able to overclock higher than the 240-245 range? From what I can tell the jury is still out on whether this could be fixed with a bios update. If not then it would seem another board might be better for someone hoping to OC. Opinions?

 

[Loki726]

It can go higher than 240, I got mine upto 292 stable (might have been able to go higher with a better processor). You just can't have the memory frequency higher than 240 at 1T.

 

[Insomniak]

Originally posted by: liquidboss
What about the Asus board not being able to overclock higher than the 240-245 range? From what I can tell the jury is still out on whether this could be fixed with a bios update. If not then it would seem another board might be better for someone hoping to OC. Opinions?

Sporadic, from what I've seen. My board is running at exactly 245 right now and has been doing so without issue since day 1. I've seen other people make it to 270-290, but I don't know if they had to troubleshoot their way to it.

 

[FastEddie]

It's a decent board with a very nice included package. Newer bios releases should work out the OC'ing hold ups.

If you're in to overclocking, the DFI board is suppossed to be tops due to the plethora of voltage adjustments the board allows.

 

[gobucks]

it's a pretty good board with everything and the kitchen sink, it's just a matter of whether or not you'll use all the stuff. I had one, and ended up sending it back after a SATA controller problem. Now I have a VNF4/Ultra and i like it, although before the newest bios I had lots of trouble with memory and stability, but that's all fixed now. I like the chaintech because it is $80 cheaper, and it has everthing i'd want. Oh, and the reason so many people bought it is because it was the very first board out the door - i know that's why i got it. I was planning on an ultra, but i just couldn't wait any longer.

 

[PCservices]

Thanks for the advice, but if anyone cant wait for the NForce 4 Ultra MB - you can always try and get a job at ASUS

Regards,


Brian
http://brians-pc.pcfire.net

 

[Tripp17]

Originally posted by: gobucks
I was planning on an ultra, but i just couldn't wait any longer.

Me too

 

[scruffles]

I've had mine for a while. It has a few probs though. It blue screens then shut's down after I exit UT2k4. Also freezes on IE quite often. Maybe i'm just stuck with a bum board, but anyway. I need something more stable and I don't kno if this one will be for a while. O well, to ebay it goes.