Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
what is the differance to the differant revisions? is it worth breaking my current to get a revision 2.0
Revision 2.0, from what I've seen first-hand is laid out identically to earlier revisions. There aren't any new ICs or different IC placement on the board, however, there are newer steppings and dates on some significant components. The biggest difference of course is the SPP and MCP-T revisions. The NB is now A1 (C1) and the Southbridge is now A4 (C1). That German site I linked to is poorly translated in Google, but its very detailed and although it takes a while to get through it, its a very detailed review (I've never seen a mobo review that detailed in English). The new northbridge is basically the Crush-18D that has been in the press the last few days. It brings full 400MHz support to the nForce2 platform. This doesn't mean that older revisions won't be able to do 400MHz FSB, it just means that boards with Crush will be able to accomplish 400MHz easier, cooler, and with more headroom to go beyond 400MHz FSB.
I think they accomplished improved 400MHz FSB stability by increasing the VDD (most obvious), but it also looks like they replaced the caps with a different model from a different maker. It also looks like the beefed up the mosfets near the socket A and SPP NB. The board still uses a two-phase power supply though . The other changes are of course to the memory controllers in the NB itself. Both the NB and SB run MUCH cooler than the earlier revisions. I'm not even bothering to add additional chipset cooling this time around. The Silicon Image SATA controller is a later revision and stepping as well, which is probably a good thing considering the problems many experienced with it. I don't know if it speeds up boot times anymore than before, as I disabled it before I even installed my CPU. I didn't see anything else that was really notable other than some different names on ICs and later mfg. dates in 2003.
XRdirtHead, AS3 is an excellent choice not only for its excellent thermal conductive qualities, but also because of its ease of application and removal. I'm not going to pretend like it cools any better or worse than other thermal grease out on the market, but I've yet to find anything that applies as smoothly and evenly as AS3. Removal is straightforward as well; just use Q-tips, some Acetone or Isopropyl and some distilled water. As for removing the wax-based thermal pad; its pretty simple actually. Just take a new razorblade and angle it to the heatsink at @ 45-30 degree on a corner of the pad. Slide the blade underneath the rest of the pad and you should be able to get it all off in one piece leaving a VERY minimal trace on the heatsink.
Here's the important part though; you'll need to remove all the residue from the bottom of the heatsink, as any leftovers might negatively effect heat transfer with a different thermal paste such as AS3. I prefer Goo-Gone followed by Acetone or Isopropy. As for heatsinks, I'm a big fan of the ThermalRight coolers; I'm using the SLK-800 and its a superior cooler given its price range. I got it for $29 a few months ago from
SVC, but I believe its a little bit more now. They also have the newer SLK-900 which is a bolt-on solution that features a larger copper base and the ability to accept 92mm fans (the SLK-800 can as well, but the 900 is designed to fit 92mm and smaller). I used a Alpha Pal8045 for nearly 2 years before that, which was also an excellent cooler, but I needed to get a clip-on heatsink b/c I got real tired of having to remove my mobo every time I wanted to get to my CPU. Anyways, point is, its worth it to invest in a good cooler now if you plan to OC; it'll last you as long as you have a Socket A mobo and CPU.
For those with USB 2.0 problems, graywar mentioned the fix that worked for me when my USB ports were acting funny a few months ago. I've found that the USB 2.0 drivers are either not included in the standard UDA, or they aren't installed when the rest of the chipset drivers are installed. The workaround is to manually install the drivers for the "standard enhanced PCI to USB Controller" in Device Manager under the Universal Serial Bus Controllers header. You could also remove the device and reboot and let XP detect the drivers. Also, it seems the there's a new version of the USB 2.0 drivers on the Asus site, so don't forget to download and install those if you hare having USB 2.0 problems. I had to use PS/2 converters for my KB and mouse b/c the USB driver wasn't properly installed. As soon as I manually updated, my USB hubs came to life and everything that wasn't detected before came alive.
Chiz