I feel like I bought a BETA mobo

[Dream Operator]

I purchased my A8N-SLI Deluxe in January this year. I was building a new system from the ground up. Very excited to move on from my P4 1.7 423pin (no o/c, no higher processor for mobo, booo....).

I spent a lot time researching before I purchased anything. When I came across the A8N-SLI dlx, I about wet my pants. I had heard much talk of ASUS and with the long list of features including embraced o/c'ing and quiet fan control, I thought it would be a solid choice.

Here I am now. 2 RMA's (yes, 3 boards), 6 installs of XP, and scared to touch anything in my system for fear that all will be lost... again. My chipset fan was grinding and had to be unplugged (I am aware of the new fan, but ASUS wants consumers to change it out? I lost my sec. IDE from installing the Zalman NB cooler. Not chancing anything for a new fan. Besides, I can max my pc for hours no problem with stock heatsink, 2 120mm fans in case.) I can't use the AINoS or Cool and Quiet. Can't use the hardware firewall, too many issues (I really liked the idea of that when I was buying the product!). Told that I will have better performance and less problems sticking with windows IDE drivers vs. nVidias. I'm on a verison of 1007 and everything I read tells me not to touch that or my IDE HD may corrupt! (maybe resolved in most recent BIOS).

I hate to be so negative. I mean, my comp does rock and all, but I feel that I did not get what I paid for.

I know most of this stuff is new technology (not the chip fan though.... booooo.....).

I think we are all letting ourselves believe that because things are new, it's ok if they don't work right. I'll buy that to an extent. 6+months of this board on the market and no sign of using all the wonderful features I long for, unacceptable.

The industry is rushing itself. Products are packaged as sellable, when they should be in testing still.

If this type of low quality output ever jumped to the auto industry, people would be dying left and right.

Am I crazy here?

What do you all think?

 

[Siddy]

I too bought the A8N-Sli Deluxe in jan when it came out.
Agreed 100fukcn% it is a beta board.
If ASUS tested it ONCE they would have seen 10 major problems instantly, not even the nVidia Firewall installation works on the CD, they forgot to put have the files on!

Now with BIOS and driver updates it is running better, but i too dont/cant use "cool & quiet" or "AI Nos", which seems a shame to waste a good theoretical feature.

technology is advancing publicly to fast, years ago Japan was our beta tests and US/Aus ect. got revision and improvments, but i felt ripped with my A8N-Sli Deluxe, which is so un-deluxe. I really want a revision one though.. or the DFI even if its coloured for a 3year old.

 

[Dream Operator]

Thx Siddy. Its reasuring to know I'm not the only one who feels this way (not that I really thought I was to begin with).

I will contact ASUS today and calmy and collectively let them know what I think about this motherboard. With any luck it will be worth time.

I encourage everyone else to do so as well. Whether its this mobo or something else, we need to let these companies know that this is unacceptable. Just be professional in your approach as this will get you further than kicking an screaming.

 

[Siddy]

yea i agree, if no one tells them they will continue being cheap, even though they are a corporation they should still have sum quality
ill ring them tomora, as well ask for my replacement northbridge fan (which will go straight on eBay), and tell them that i wasnt happy, and i will have to think about buying from Asus in the future. (in reallity ill just buy what every gets rated by users)

 

[Jaxidian]

I had the same problem with the original MSI K8N Neo Plat (the 754 one). There are several high-profile duds out on the market and it looks like that one can be added to the list.

This is definitely good to know though, am about to order my first 939 and I think I'm going for the rainbow-colored DFI.

 

[imported_Husky55]

Wow, I escaped. Asus and MSI were at the top of my list. I had Asus and MSI before, thought they were great. But with the NF4 chipset, things change!!!

 

[geezman]

FYI, I bought a MSI Neo4 Platinum SLI in May with an 3700+ San Diego and it has been running great since! Not a single crash/hang and Cool n' Quite works fine. Maybe the revisions and BIOS releases fixed any major issues, or maybe I'm just lucky!

 

[imported_Fumunda]

heh, I still cant get this board to see my maxtor diamondmax10 drive it comes and goes all the time... Looking back i would have never bought it.

-fu

 

[js9600]

You need to buy motherbrands from a company which does real life testing before releasing both board and bios. I dont know where to get such a product but that is what you need...

 

[ahurtt]

Dream Operator, I am right there in the same boat with you. The A8N SLI Deluxe has been tempramental at best for me and down right non-functional at its worst moments. Did you ever contact ASUS like you mentioned? If so, what did they have to say? I think they really should issue a recall for all us owners of the initial release motherboard and offer free revision 1 replacements. I can understand a few things being quirky on a new motherboard with as many new features as this one but after all this time. . .like 10 BIOS releases and how many chipset driver revisions and STILL the thing doesn't work right. It's totally hit or miss. They have had more than enough time and opportunity to get things right by now but they haven't. And god knows there's no lack of information from unhappy customers (i.e. field beta testers) on 100's of discussion forums all over then 'net about this motherboard. I tried once before to give ASUS a try because so many people swore by them (switching from my preferred brand, ABIT) and because they had the features I wanted on a P4 motherboard that ABIT didn't have at the time and you know what? That board gave me problems too. And now after this ASUS can rest assured they will never get another dollar from me.

 

[Tanclearas]

Wow.

All I can say is that my experience is the exact opposite. The board has worked incredibly. Aside from a flaky driver install from Nvidia (which was easily corrected by reinstalling a previous driver), my system has always been fast and stable. I'm using the Nvidia firewall, and the Nvidia IDE driver. I got the board in December, and the only issue that I think is frustrating is the unresolved 1T issue.

 

[NokiaDude]

My A8N-SLI Deluxe has been running like a rock since April.

 

[MrTeeny]

My motherboard was rock-solid for the last 3 months or so...then i decided to update my BIOS again. Went from version 1005.003 Beta to 1011 final and its been acting very finicky. Randomn freezes, benchmarks aren't up to par, something is definitely not right here.

Im currently using the latest beta BIOS (1012.003 I believe) and things aren't getting better.

Im very tempted to toss this board and go with something else. :thumbsdown:

 

[FlyBono24]

Is the Premium also plagued with these problems?

 

[The Pentium Guy]

Yep. Seems as though they didn't touch a thing.
Except for the heatsink and some features.

 

[stoutpuppy1]

bought my a8n-sli dx in december 2004, f***king pissed right off with this thing (mainly chipset fan, but overclocking and other issues too)

 

[Deinonych]

Originally posted by: Tanclearas
Wow.

All I can say is that my experience is the exact opposite. The board has worked incredibly.

Same here. No issues whatsoever.

 

[garikfox]

A8N-SLI Deluxe <--- Very so called BETA

A8N-SLI Premium <--- Updated version./Normal.