Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe

[boomst1ck3d]

I have an A8N-SLI Deluxe and I wanted to know what kind of hardware I could upgrade my system to without getting a new mobo. These are pretty much the things that I want to upgrade.

CPU : AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+
GPU : Radeon X1600 Pro 512mb
RAM : 2 x 512mb DDR 200mhz

I've got decently new 500W PSU, 40GB and 60GB 7200rpm harddrives, an Audigy 2 ZS sound card and a 20" LG monitor.

Thanks

 

[jandlecack]

Forget it. It's not worth it.

 

[boomst1ck3d]

I'm going to university in the fall and my workload is gonna be pretty high, so I won't need a really high-end gaming system. I just basically need to be able to play Left 4 Dead and some other newer games with high fps

 

[jandlecack]

Hmm, then get a cheap 8800GT or 8800GTS-512 wherever you can find them, and put in another gig of RAM. However, DDR1 prices could be inflated due to availability...

 

[boomst1ck3d]

Alright thanks for the help. I'll probably just end up getting all new RAM because the cards i have are getting pretty old

 

[nenforcer]

I assume your running XP and not Vista.

I think 2 8800GT in SLI would probably be bottlenecked by your CPU.

But the benefit is you could carry those over to your NEXT motherboard.

Buying DDR ram is this day and age is probably not worth it unless you have to.

 

[jandlecack]

Even 8800GT SLI isn't that hot anymore and the 8800s are on their last legs. At the moment I can play everything fine, but once games look like Arma 2 and Crysis on a more frequent basis, it's goodbye 8800.

Therefore, for games like L4D, he will be fine and it won't cost him much with just a single 8800GT.

 

[icelazer]

I went to the Opteron 165 or whatever the top end was for socket 939...i did have trouble putting 4 1gb ram sticks in mine though, 2gb works fine.

 

[PM650]

Be careful about the ram, that board sometimes won't take 4 sticks of double-sided memory (4x corsair XMS 512MB included, unfortunately for me)...found this out the hard way. The manual has a fairly extensive compatibility list for the various ram configs on pg 2-12.

 

[nubreed000]

Heh, I have the exact same motherboard and came on this forum to see what decent socket 775's I could get. At this point I would say you're better off getting a new but if that's out of the question then try eBay for a slightly better CPU (i got a 4200 X2 for like 100 bucks over a year ago). Try upgrading your RAM as well and maybe put in an 8600GT or 8800GT. My system can play something like Fallout 3 on medium/high settings fairly steady if there's not TOO much going on on screen.

 

[crazylegs]

My old gaming rig - now my dads pc (he only does casual inet, word processing) had the same MB too. Its been running a single core A64 (3000+ i think) but nicely OCed to near FX speeds for a long time now. I upgraded the RAM a while back when i spotted some DDR at a good price, but have disregarded all other upgrades as being hugely cost inefficient. Hence it has been 'relegated' to being a non-gaming pc.

My advice would be to save your money, keep that for work as required but save money for a new build. A little can go a really long way atm!

 

[McLovin]

I would disagree with the double sided ram comment because I have 3 GB ( 2x 1GB + 2x 512MB) of Corsair PC3200 in my A8N32-SLI Deluxe. I've been running with a 4200+, 3 GB, 640 GB WD HDD, X-Fi Fatality, and a GTX 260 Core 216 for the past 6 months and I play every game I wanna play with no issue and with most details turned up. Granted its not in the 100+ FPS range but like I said, its playable.

You're chances of finding a decent deal on ANY 939 DC's are going to be slim. E-Bay or the FS Forum here is the only place I've really seen them.

NewEgg is the only vendor I've seen that sells Corsair XMS 3200 and its still $85 for 2 GBs.

 

[PM650]

Originally posted by: BillyAZ1983
I would disagree with the double sided ram comment because I have 3 GB ( 2x 1GB + 2x 512MB) of Corsair PC3200 in my A8N32-SLI Deluxe. I've been running with a 4200+, 3 GB, 640 GB WD HDD, X-Fi Fatality, and a GTX 260 Core 216 for the past 6 months and I play every game I wanna play with no issue and with most details turned up. Granted its not in the 100+ FPS range but like I said, its playable.

You're chances of finding a decent deal on ANY 939 DC's are going to be slim. E-Bay or the FS Forum here is the only place I've really seen them.

NewEgg is the only vendor I've seen that sells Corsair XMS 3200 and its still $85 for 2 GBs.

Well I would have to agree with my statement as my A8N-SLI Premium did not work with 4x 512MB XMS PC3200 double-sided ram - the A8N32 is a newer revision of the A8N that I dont think is 100% comparable. Also the manual for the A8N comports with my findings.

That said I think this machine is a waste; just buy a cheap 790GX & an Athlon X2 550 or something.