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

[DarkAngel]

Originally posted by: vlad4
Hi all! Getting ready to install my A8N-SLI w/ two XFX 6800GTs. I ran acreoos this thread while backing up my files.

Seeing the interest and questions on the Thermalright XP-120, I thought I'd snap a few fast pics for you all to review....

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I tried to get every angle, hopefully these will be informative. The heatsink will only really fit one way without blocking the RAM slots. The only concern that I have is that the base section that covers the actual area of the processor has a section that is not covered with the actual fins of the heatsink. It's rather difficult for me to put into words, so here are a few more photos...

Concern 1

Concern 2

Looking at your concerns. First i put the heatsink on the other way, as that will stop the heatpipes touching the caps and it should cover more of the cpu aswell. i only have the XP90 but had the same problem..

Try it this way and see if it works.. and see if the heatpipes get in the way of the ram slots.. maybe a pic or two..

 

[GuitarDaddy]

New beta bios 1003.03 and 1003.04 posted on asus site 12/24

I flashed the 1003.04 and it seems to be fine.

 

[lepixz]

Hey does this motherboard come with the connector needed to connect the two pci Express video cards?

 

[vlad4]

Originally posted by: lepixz
Hey does this motherboard come with the connector needed to connect the two pci Express video cards?

Yep! Nice big ASUS logo on it! See this pic.

 

[user1234]

Originally posted by: AlexBmur

Originally posted by: user1234

Originally posted by: AlexBmur

Originally posted by: milo29k
is this board be compatible with 2x512mb kingston hyperX pc3200? does anyone have it? how does it run? etc

It works great. I have 2 sticks of Kingston HyperX PC3200 ram in running at 2-3-2-6 and it is rock solid.

what speed is your ram, cpu, and fsb running at ?

My ram is PC3200 running at 400 Mhz. I have an Athlon 64 3500+ (90 nm) running at stock speed which is 200 Mhz FSB.

Here is a link to the ram I bought Link

great, thanks, I have the same ram, but I'm planning on overclocking, so I wondered of you knew how high it would go with this board.

 

[Cow Fly]

Does anyone now how to disable the raid creation thing at startup?

 

[MrBored]

Originally posted by: GuitarDaddy
New beta bios 1003.03 and 1003.04 posted on asus site 12/24

I flashed the 1003.04 and it seems to be fine.

Any chance the new bios allowed manual control over the memory divider?

 

[Randalls]

RAID Question:

my current computer has a Raid 0 configuration. I'm setting up a Raid 1 on the a8n-sli deluxe when I start building it on Tues (can't hardly wait). I want to setup the 2 drive Raid 1 configuration but I was also thinking of setting up a Raid 0 in addition to the Raid 1. Can this be done with one onboard controller? Also, if the onboard controller won't do it, can I put the pci Raid driver out of my old computer in the new one I'm building and have one controller doing Raid 1 and the other doing Raid 0 (4 HD's total)?

Thanks for any help anyone may have on this area.

Randall

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Originally posted by: MrBored

Originally posted by: GuitarDaddy
New beta bios 1003.03 and 1003.04 posted on asus site 12/24

I flashed the 1003.04 and it seems to be fine.

Any chance the new bios allowed manual control over the memory divider?

Nope!

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Originally posted by: Randalls
RAID Question:

my current computer has a Raid 0 configuration. I'm setting up a Raid 1 on the a8n-sli deluxe when I start building it on Tues (can't hardly wait). I want to setup the 2 drive Raid 1 configuration but I was also thinking of setting up a Raid 0 in addition to the Raid 1. Can this be done with one onboard controller? Also, if the onboard controller won't do it, can I put the pci Raid driver out of my old computer in the new one I'm building and have one controller doing Raid 1 and the other doing Raid 0 (4 HD's total)?

Thanks for any help anyone may have on this area.

Randall

The onboard raid controllers on this board support 8 sata drives.

The nforce4 controller supports 4 drives and will do RAID0,1,(0+1), of course (0+1) requires 4 drives

The silicon chip adds another 4 with RAID0,1,(0+1),5

 

[MrBored]

Originally posted by: GuitarDaddy
Nope!

Doh. Someone has to get on their case about this, its a really n00bish thing to have left out of the bios options. Oh well, time to play the waiting game I guess.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Originally posted by: MrBored

Originally posted by: GuitarDaddy
Nope!

Doh. Someone has to get on their case about this, its a really n00bish thing to have left out of the bios options. Oh well, time to play the waiting game I guess.

Yeah! I hope this will be addressed with a bios revision. I am anxious to see if all nforce4 boards have this same limitation.

 

[SMatson]

Where are you getting the BIOS revisions?

 

[bap4201]

Originally posted by: SMatson
Where are you getting the BIOS revisions?

go to www.asus.com, search for the a8n-sli, select downloads. click bios tab and then beta button.

 

[kurko]

My board keeps applying a memory divider for any manual/auto setting i set in the BIOS. Like if i put the DDR speed to DDR400 and set everything else to auto, a memory divider will be applied. I cannot seem to get a 1:1 ratio. Is anyone else having this problem?

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Originally posted by: Cow Fly
Does anyone now how to disable the raid creation thing at startup?

Go into hardware config in the bios, and disable the NVraid and the Silicon raid

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Originally posted by: kurko
My board keeps applying a memory divider for any manual/auto setting i set in the BIOS. Like if i put the DDR speed to DDR400 and set everything else to auto, a memory divider will be applied. I cannot seem to get a 1:1 ratio. Is anyone else having this problem?

If you are using the bios to up the FSB it won't work. If you will notice when you change FSB in the Jumper Free section, it resets your memory clock to AUTO. Go back to the DDR tab and check it.

To run 1:1 higher than 217 set the DDR setting to DDR400, boot up to stock speeds, then use the AI booster uitlity that came on the MB CD to increase the FSB. Strangely, when you O/C this way and then reboot your machine, you can now change the settings in the Jumper free section and the memory clock will not revert to AUTO.

I haven't checked since I upgaded to the latest bios, to see if it still works this way on mine.

I'm hopping future bios revisions will also provide manual control of the memory dividers.

As of now, I have only two options for running ram, 1:1 or use the AUTO method which keeps your FSB at less than 200mhz. Currently a setting like 282 x 9 = 2565mhz w/ram=235mhz(5:6) is not possible on this board.

I you are going to use a 3000+ on this board and want max CPU overclock, and you want to o/c your ram you will need 550-600DDR ram

 

[kurko]

Yea thats what im currently doing. I set it to DDR466 at 2-3-3-8. But if i leave it at that it will be very unstable. So i use the ai booster to up the volts to 2.9V. Then its fine. But, still, no 1:1, only memory divider. Again, never seen it 1:1 on this machine. I dont understand why Asus does not give the option to control it.

Even with everything at AUTO, i get no 1:1. What is going on ? Im seriously considering just getting rid o this board and waiting for the dfi nforce4 sli

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Leave everything in the Jumper free section set to AUTO

Set the memory clock to DDR400. boot up to windows at stock speed, use AI booster to up the FSB and voltage past 220. Then run CPU-Z and check the memory tab, it should show your memory running the same speed as you FSB (1:1), then reboot and check it again, it should still be running 1:1.

If this doesn't work for you, try updating to the 1003.02 or 1003.04 beta bios.
Those are the two bios, I;ve done my testing with, and my board works as described above.

I am currently running 240 x 10 = 2400mhz w/ram @ 240mhz 2.5-3-3-10 2.85v

 

[bob661]

Are any of you guys running this board stock? If so, did you have to do any bios tweaks to get it to run stable? Or was is this a slap it in the case and go type of board? Thanks.

 

[exdeath]

Slap 'n' go for me, running an FX-55 @ 3.0 (15x200 @1.5125v)

 

[Cow Fly]

Running stock, no bios updates should be needed.

 

[runestone]

Finally got mine up and going-about the same as your's cowfly-almost the same rig, ram,cpu, etc.
Running stock for now, but on beta bios 4.
Still getting message on boot up that cpu fan has failed, guess because chassis fan 2 is not plugged in(?); also have delay while it looks for raid(silicon?) array wants to be loaded.
Post back later with more results- so far it's running great.
Thanks for all your input.

 

[TaZZeR]

TRETNEO,

I had the same problem, thought one of my cards was dead and got an RMA from scan......

However, I found that if I left the cards in the slots in SLi mode and powered the cards up a number of times, I found that that both cards were bahaving the same way randomly. Sometimes one of them would power up, and other times none of em would power, and I reckon one in 20 times both would power up. I think it is a problem lies with the mother borad!!!

I have a Enenmax 600W PSU (£110) and I had tested other power supplies, even two 450W power supplies in parallel!!!! no difference!!! WTF?

I called scan about this problem, and they say they are aware of a problem like this and are talking to Asus about it...... try testing the cards again, you might find you have the same problem as me.

If your in the UK, scan were one of the only suppliers to get the mobo in b4 Xmas, only 100!!!! could be there are a problem with them.....

Anyone else getting power problems???

 

[MrBored]

I got my board from microdirect and I'm not having that problem with the 2 graphics cards. I have an Enermax 600W as well. Everything with regards to power is working ok. I did have wierd distortion in the graphics when running the cards in SLi, but they're going back cause they're the wrong cards anyway ( GTO instead of GT, scan changed the name of them now :/ )