*** Official ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe (nForce4) Thread ***

[JMag]

Originally posted by: AznSensation
Hi I got this board also

I'm having problems with it.

everything is fine except when I try to run at 250 x 10 4HT, it wouldn't work

my RAM is 3-4-4-8 DDR 500 ram and i figured that i can run 250 x 10... but system wont POST... any ideas?

Try just running at stock 200mhz 4x HT and then run AI Booster. If your Hypoertransport still shows 1000mhz then your HT multiplier is still stuck at 5x. If that is the case then it is possible your OC is trying to push the HT to 1250mhz which is a little high.

It wont hurt to try 3x either... There is absolutely zero performance degredation from a HT @ 750mhz vs 1000mhz.

Also check to make sure you PCI bus is getting locked (if you are using BIOS 1002, I would recommend setting FSB to 201 in BIOS, then use Clockgen to raise your HTT speeds from within windows as this seems to work great for me)

 

[JMag]

Originally posted by: Shaga
Could someone fastly show me good example settings for a64 tweaker via screenshot or something? from what timings I should start. I just started the program but no idea of what means what

BTW, i have recenlty been doing extensive runs with different memory configs w/ A64 tweaker. If you are looking for increased gaming performance, you wont know the diff.

In speaking with an OCZ rep he told me this:
"Thing is cas2.5 and cas3
are so close in performance its not worth worrying about.

Worry about TRCD and TRP timings more as they really do influence
performance."

For me changing from crappy 3-4-3-9 1t to 2-2-2-9 2t can show a remarked change within Sandra memory bandwidth scores , but very little change within a doom3 timedemo avg. I gained .2fps by switching to tight timings (but then again Doom3 is heavily GPU dependant and I was running the timedemo's with 1600x1200 2x AA 8x AF, and vsync turned on, cause thats how I play) I have a feeling with different settings, low timings would be more important, but then wtf is the point of using a res below 1600X1200 if you have the ability?

 

[Shaga]

Originally posted by: JMag

Originally posted by: Shaga
Could someone fastly show me good example settings for a64 tweaker via screenshot or something? from what timings I should start. I just started the program but no idea of what means what

BTW, i have recenlty been doing extensive runs with different memory configs w/ A64 tweaker. If you are looking for increased gaming performance, you wont know the diff.

In speaking with an OCZ rep he told me this:
"Thing is cas2.5 and cas3
are so close in performance its not worth worrying about.

Worry about TRCD and TRP timings more as they really do influence
performance."

For me changing from crappy 3-4-3-9 1t to 2-2-2-9 2t can show a remarked change within Sandra memory bandwidth scores , but very little change within a doom3 timedemo avg. I gained .2fps by switching to tight timings (but then again Doom3 is heavily GPU dependant and I was running the timedemo's with 1600x1200 2x AA 8x AF, and vsync turned on, cause thats how I play) I have a feeling with different settings, low timings would be more important, but then wtf is the point of using a res below 1600X1200 if you have the ability?

Thanks, I feel calm now with my memory settings.

 

[DavidHull]

Problem: setting CPU voltage to 1.5625 or lower gives 1.46v to cpu. 1.575 bumps it to 1.585. Newest BIOS. Tried resetting with clockgen, but no results (ASUS Probe and CPUID show no change, and the temps stay same, they always rise when overvolt any CPUs). Need a setting that gives me proper 1.52-1.55v. 1.585 takes CPU over 50C, and 1.46 doesn't run stress tests at 2.7GHz.

Yes, it is a problem with the board/BIOS. Mine does the same thing and it is a pain heatwise.

everything is fine except when I try to run at 250 x 10 4HT, it wouldn't work my RAM is 3-4-4-8 DDR 500 ram and i figured that i can run 250 x 10... but system wont POST... any ideas?

There is definitely a problem with this board when trying run memory much over 240 mhz, even if the RAM is rated for a higher speed. Run it at 240 mhz, run memtest, then leave it there until Asus, hopefuly, releases a fix. At least, that is what I'm doing, but if they haven't fixed it by the time DFI releases their board, then some lucky bastard on Ebay is going to get a hell of a deal on a barely used A8N SLI Deluxe.

 

[DavidHull]

Just wondering, does anyone have an email address for the Asus BIOS development team? I'd like to report all of these problems somewhere, but if I just email tech support, I'm not sure I'd get very far.

 

[WaterGun]

Originally posted by: DavidHull

everything is fine except when I try to run at 250 x 10 4HT, it wouldn't work my RAM is 3-4-4-8 DDR 500 ram and i figured that i can run 250 x 10... but system wont POST... any ideas?

There is definitely a problem with this board when trying run memory much over 240 mhz, even if the RAM is rated for a higher speed. Run it at 240 mhz, run memtest, then leave it there until Asus, hopefuly, releases a fix. At least, that is what I'm doing, but if they haven't fixed it by the time DFI releases their board, then some lucky bastard on Ebay is going to get a hell of a deal on a barely used A8N SLI Deluxe.

Same here. The board just is not able to do >240HTT with RAM at 1:1 and 1T timing. Total bollocks!! :disgust:

Waiting for DFI to arrive sometimes next week.

 

[Muhadib]

Originally posted by: SpedeRacer
Probably a dumb question due to how much information is known but any guesses on whether or not the Thermalright XP-120/XP-90 will fit?

I've got a a8n and a XP-120 in a super lanboy case. Winchester O/Ced @9x240 1.58volts full load barely cracks 43c and I've got a Vantec stealth 120mm fan on it. Very quite and the case is light as a feather. Idles around 30c.

 

[Payto]

I need newbie help!!


I'd like to do some overclocking but Im not sure if I can with this setup.

AMD64 3500+ winchester
Twinmos pc3200 2 x 512 RAM (Cas 2.5 and I think 2-3-3-8). Some semi-cheap Valueram thingie.
Air Cooling (K8n Silent Boost)

Im not entirely sure how things are connected to each other when it comes to HTT, RAM and CPU-multiplier.
That's why I write to you, since you grasp these concepts.

I have done the following: Increased HTT from 200 -> 210.
Left CPU-Multiplier at x11
Increased Voltage on CPU from 1.4 -> 1.45
Increased Voltage on RAM from 2.7 -> 2.75
CPU temperature were some 35 degrees celsius idle and 44 during prime95 torture tests.

Would you say I can go higher? I am afraid my RAM will not take it. It's only rated DDR400.
Perphaps with my RAM it's better to run asynchronous like 5:4 or something? Or will that bring
worse performance than keeping at 1:1. with current speeds...

This is damn hard. Especially since I don't have "the big picture" clear, I dont dare do anything
else than try to raise the HTT from 200->210 (I made sure the PCI bus still stays at 33.34) .
All the above, all I know about overcklocking is from reading posts in this forum for 2-3 days (thanks guitardaddy) and nothing else

 

[PoshFrosh]

There is a larger QVL at this URL

http://www.asus.com/products/m...cket939/a8nsli/qvl.htm

for the SLI than is listed on the pdf QVL for the DELUXE version of the same board:

http://usa.asus.com/products/mb/qvl/A8N-QVL.pdf

what gives with that? aren't they basically the same silicon and should really support the same memory?

 

[imported_Rohan]

I'm having problems with my A8N-SLI deluxe since I tried O/Cing using 1002.05 bios. My setup is:

3000+ Winchester
Stock HSF
Asus A8n-SLI deluxe
2x512MB Patriot pc3200 xblk (Samsung TCCD on brainpower apparently)
Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 80GB 800JD SATA 8MB Cache
Antec SmartPower 350W PSU
MSI Geforce 6600GT PCI-E

I couldn't get the FSB to go much higher than 230Mhz without causing prime95 errors or the screen flickering. I was using AI booster to OC. I had lowered the CPU and HTT multipliers as well as the RAM ratio, so I think it was the mobo holding me back. During a prime95 test at 230Mhz FSB the machine rebooted, and since then I'm getting Corrupted Windows File Errors. Resetting the CMOS didn't help. Apart from reformatting, anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Lightingguy]

Hey Payto,
I'm OCing a 3200+ with cheap RAM. I get 2.63 GHz and my RAM runs at 219 MHz. Your results may vary, but here's the relationship of FSB speed, Multiplier, HT Multiplier, RAM setting, and RAM speed:

FSB x Multiplier is CPU speed (260x10=2600 MHz.)

HT multiplier takes FSB (normal is 200 MHz) and multiplies for HT speed (200x5=1000MHz is normal)

RAM setting (DDR266, DDR333, DDR400, DDR466, etc.) uses a ratio to take the FSB speed and multiply it by a fraction to set the RAM speed. Those settings are as follows: (only listing a few key ones)

DDR 400 (PC3200 RAM):1/1
DDR333 (PC2700 RAM): 5/6
DDR 266 (PC 2100 RAM): 2/3

In other words, if you set FSB at 260 and RAM at DDR400 (1/1) you get RAM speed of 260 MHz.

RAM speed is the product of FSB and the ratio determined by the RAM setting.

OK, so what do you need to do? First, make sure you have the latest BIOS. Then, you may want to try some setting that give you high CPU speed, but lower RAM speed, and keep the HT speed near 1000MHz.
What works for me is 263 FSB, x10 multiplier, 4x HT (1052 MHz HT speed), RAM at DDR333 (263x5/6=219 MHz @ 2.75v) . My CPU voltage is only around 1.46v. In addition, I have set the memory timing to 1T (that really seems to help performance).

Your possible top CPU multiplier is 11, so here are some possible combinations which may be OK:

FSB: 220 CPU Mult: 11 (2.42 GHz) HTT Mult: 5 (1100MHz) RAM: DDR400 (1/1 FSB) RAM Speed: 220MHz
FSB: 240 CPU Mult: 11 (2.64 GHz) HTT Mult: 4 (960 MHz) RAM: DDR 333 (5/6 FSB) RAM Speed: 200 MHz
FSB: 250 CPU Mult: 11 (2.75 GHz) HTT Mult: 4 (1000 MHz) RAM: DDR 333 (5/6 FSB) RAM Speed: 208 MHz

You get the picture. You can work with higher FSBs and lower multipliers, or vice-versa. The math is pretty easy - read the OC How-tos, use a good power supply, and have fun!

 

[macachia]

here's an update on my undetected maxtor 120gb sata drives

i remembered i had an old maxtor ata133 pata, so i tried the serillel (abit pata to sata convertor) and gues what...the drive was detected. SO at least I know the sata ports are working well.

i then tried adding the 2 maxtor 120gb sata drives...and nothing got detected, not even the 60gb that was using the pata to sata convertor. removing thiese maxtor sata drives, solved the problem of the 60gb maxtor (pata to sata convertor) not being detected

i seriously think this is a major issue of maxtor right now

 

[imported_Fumunda]

First off I just want to say what a great community this is. The information found here is great.

I haven?t had any stability problems with my system just wondering if anyone whas run into this oddity. I OC my system to:

3500+ Winchester
HT: 4
DDR@333 (Kingston 400dd value ram)
fsb @ 235
multi @ 11

System runs stable. However when I shutdown the box. Then power back on it ?fails? to cpu overclocking?. I?ll lower the fsb to 210. and boot windows comeup fine. Then load the saved ntune settings. The system overclocks again and everything works great. Temps are all with in the norm.

Anyonw know why the system complains at boot?

Thanks for any help.

-fu

 

[JMag]

Originally posted by: AznSensation
Hi I got this board also

I'm having problems with it.

everything is fine except when I try to run at 250 x 10 4HT, it wouldn't work

my RAM is 3-4-4-8 DDR 500 ram and i figured that i can run 250 x 10... but system wont POST... any ideas?

Are your Running 1t or 2t? I have problems at that speed with 1t.

 

[imported_Rohan]

I just had a thought, could it be that the sata lock doesn't work when you use certain ports? I had put my hard drive in port 4, has anyone else tried using port 4? Maybe this is the reason behind the 240Mhz wall that some people are hitting. It's worth trying.

 

[atom519]

Fumuda:

I had the same problem with BIOS not liking the overclock when I would reboot.

I flashed the BIOS to the beta-driver and it stopped doing it.

Hope that helps.

 

[ajmiles]

Has anyone tried using the 1006 BIOS that someone pointed out earlier?

I have a Maxtor Diamondmax10 300GB, so am wary about being a guinea pig for it, but I think I might give it a whirl anyway. Luckily I have my OS installed on the raptor so it's not a huge loss if I have to come back and reflash.

I'll report back later.


"Slightly Later": OK, just going to flash now. If i'm not back in five minutes from now (20:44) bad things have happened and don't try it.

"Slightly more later": I can't see any new settings in the BIOS, however, my Leadtek 6800GT has shut it's mouth finally. The PC is now at least twice as quiet as it was before, and I don't even have QFan enabled yet. Overclocking starts now.

"A bit more later": Is it just me or did Ntune not always have options to change CPU Voltage, CPU Fan Speed and Chipset Fan Speed?? I could have sworn they weren't there before. But anyway, they are there now, but don't seem to work at the moment. Perhaps because I haven't got QFan turned on I don't know, or perhaps they aren't meant to work. (Up to 220mhz atm)

 

[FlasHBurN]

Originally posted by: ajmiles


"Slightly more later": I can't see any new settings in the BIOS, however, my Leadtek 6800GT has shut it's mouth finally. The PC is now at least twice as quiet as it was before, and I don't even have QFan enabled yet. Overclocking starts now.

Wait a second, so your system is running quieter after you flashed with the latest bios? Or was it just your 6800 that was making all the noise?

Also, what exactly was wrong with your 6800?

 

[Valion]

I have a question about the A8N-SLI (as well as all NF4 SLI boards, most like): Can I use the two 16X PCI-E slots for two completely different video cards, and simply use both of them in non-SLI mode? I'm in the middle of buying a new computer, and I've been waiting for the new set of motherboards and video cards to come out. I was previously set on getting an NF4 Ultra board, but if could buy an A8N-SLI now along with a cheap PCI-E video card, then add an X800XL later when they're out, there's no reason for me to wait. I don't have much interest in the actual SLI feature, but just being able to use two video cards would be great.

Sorry if this has been answered somewhere else, but I can't find it.

 

[ajmiles]

Originally posted by: FlasHBurN

Originally posted by: ajmiles


"Slightly more later": I can't see any new settings in the BIOS, however, my Leadtek 6800GT has shut it's mouth finally. The PC is now at least twice as quiet as it was before, and I don't even have QFan enabled yet. Overclocking starts now.

Wait a second, so your system is running quieter after you flashed with the latest bios? Or was it just your 6800 that was making all the noise?

Also, what exactly was wrong with your 6800?

I'm not sure what was wrong per se, but the 6800GT just ran it's fan full speed all the time, making the PC very loud. I flashed the BIOS, booted up, and it now makes virtually no noise at all. It does still work though.

I managed to get to an FSB of 230/460 but no more, this was a with a 10x multiplier to take the CPU out of the equation. I'm not quite sure what else I can do go get near the magic 500 and beyond.

 

[imported_Fumunda]

Updated the BIOS. Rebooted and everything came up fine. Noticed that everything was set back to auto so went into the bios to set it to manual OC.

Now i cant see any drives on my Vforce sata controller. I moved the drive to the other sata controler and set the bios to jbod and i can see the drive. So it almost seems like the Nforce controller is gone... I have a Maxtor 250 Gig with 16 mb. I noticed some people had problems with native command queueing. How do i disable it on the drive if i have it?

Thanks again

 

[RallyKid]

K I am getting real sick of this bullsh!t. Can't get this system past 210 FSB, or 2300MHz. Tried 1:1 with raised mem and core voltage, tried underclocking mem to 333 in bios, then raised fsb and played with multipliers, and voltage, all to no avail, either hangs on boot up, or boots to desk top and freezes. This is ridiculous! SOmeone help me, suggestions on how to go about this. I am running 105 bios, and WIN XP SP2

Here is my info:

AMD Socket 939 Athlon 64 3500+, 90nm
ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe mobo
OCZ Gold Edition Rev2 Dual Channel Kit 1GB(512MBx2) DDR PC-4000
Swiftech H20-120-T Water Cooling
2 X Raptor 74GB 10,000RPM SATA Hard Drive, RAID 0
2 X nVIDIA GeForce 6600GT
ENERMAX Noisetaker Series 420W Power Supply
Cooler Master Centurion Case

 

[chexi]

Other than a fresh Win XP install, anyone know how to remove the Cool and Quiet software/driver? The normal means don't seem to work. I believe this driver/software is preventing me from installing the AI Booster software. I keep getting an error saying that the IO driver wouldn't install (during the install).

 

[Giranda]

Originally posted by: RallyKid
K I am getting real sick of this bullsh!t. Can't get this system past 210 FSB, or 2300MHz. Tried 1:1 with raised mem and core voltage, tried underclocking mem to 333 in bios, then raised fsb and played with multipliers, and voltage, all to no avail, either hangs on boot up, or boots to desk top and freezes. This is ridiculous! SOmeone help me, suggestions on how to go about this. I am running 105 bios, and WIN XP SP2

Here is my info:

AMD Socket 939 Athlon 64 3500+, 90nm
ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe mobo
OCZ Gold Edition Rev2 Dual Channel Kit 1GB(512MBx2) DDR PC-4000
Swiftech H20-120-T Water Cooling
2 X Raptor 74GB 10,000RPM SATA Hard Drive, RAID 0
2 X nVIDIA GeForce 6600GT
ENERMAX Noisetaker Series 420W Power Supply
Cooler Master Centurion Case

 

[Giranda]

K I am getting real sick of this bullsh!t. Can't get this system past 210 FSB, or 2300MHz. Tried 1:1 with raised mem and core voltage, tried underclocking mem to 333 in bios, then raised fsb and played with multipliers, and voltage, all to no avail, either hangs on boot up, or boots to desk top and freezes. This is ridiculous! SOmeone help me, suggestions on how to go about this. I am running 105 bios, and WIN XP SP2

Here is my info:

AMD Socket 939 Athlon 64 3500+, 90nm
ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe mobo
OCZ Gold Edition Rev2 Dual Channel Kit 1GB(512MBx2) DDR PC-4000
Swiftech H20-120-T Water Cooling
2 X Raptor 74GB 10,000RPM SATA Hard Drive, RAID 0
2 X nVIDIA GeForce 6600GT
ENERMAX Noisetaker Series 420W Power Supply
Cooler Master Centurion Case

I have a very similar system. I have been able to get to 233 FSB with only changing the HT multiplier to 4X. I have tried twice to go above 240 FSB (I am reading many are having some difficulty going over 240), #1 had to reset the CMOS, #2 destroyed a drive and had to reinstall the system. In both of these cases I lowered the memory timimgs to 3-3-3-11; 2T, but did not change any voltages. Again HTX4. I have not played with the PCI Express.

I don't think this is too helpful - but since our systems are so similar I thought I might relay my experience.

P.S. Sorry about the first non-reply, I am a newbie.