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

[Shaga]

Using 1004-01 bios(or whatever which was most new), installed new nforce-drivers and all. Still rock stable. Everything runs fine. Installed last night these speakers and this SB Live! 24-bit and none problems this far.

 

[hwan]

Originally posted by: Kindjal2005
Is anyone here running this M/B with an Audigy 2ZS? Does your system lock up frequently?

I'm using it in the middle slot and have had no problems so far for about 2 weeks. I'm not using RAID or any SATA drives though.

 

[TheFink]

Originally posted by: AnimalAsteroid
Hope this answers your question:

http://www.neoseeker.com/Hardware/faqs/kb/15,71.html

This is fine reading, but it doesn't answer my question. How can I tell if NCQ is enabled on my machine and do raptor drives even support NCQ? I noticed in the proporties of my controller that command queueing is checked...

 

[michaeldorian]

Originally posted by: AnimalAsteroid
After going through a lot of different forums regarding the A8V-SLI MB it looks like most of the people with problems are having problems when trying to use 2 video cards. As for myself, my system runs great as long as I don't enable SLI. Enabling SLI starts causing me problems - and I am running nVidia certified SLI boards.

I was wondering what most people are running that have great running systems? SLI or single video card?

Exactly. I running two 6800 Ultra and when in not SLI mode the machine is rock solid. Its when I enable SLI I start getting stability problems. My guess it a driver issue and about it not yet mature. Heres to hoping we get some new stable drivers soon.

 

[michaeldorian]

Originally posted by: vrmuds
Has anyone tested if this board supports dual monitor in a sli setup?

Also, has anyone tested the Raid functionality? In particular raid 1 and raid 5?

Does this tax the system, or does this primarily use the raid chip?

Hi,

I have extensively tested the dual setup and it is not supported in SLI mode. I repeat dual monitors is not yet supports in SLI. Also digital displays have tons of problems in SLI mode. I run non SLI when im working to get dual monitors and then I switch to SLI single monitor for gaming. Also the computer will crash if you have two monitor plugged into each DVI port when you have SLI enabled. Windows will not boot. This is especially present when you are running a Digital and Analog display. From what I been researching, its a driver issue. Nvidia drop the ball on this one.

 

[runestone]

http://www.station-drivers.com/page/nvidia%20nforce.htm
Are these new drivers? Someone on another forum said they help those with the NCQ drives, and nic issues.

 

[AlexBmur]

Originally posted by: Kindjal2005
Is anyone here running this M/B with an Audigy 2ZS? Does your system lock up frequently?

I am using an Audigy 2 ZS. The only problem I have had, is sometimes when I am syncing my iPod using the Audigy 2 ZS firewire port, I get a BSU. And I never have that problem when I sync my iPod using the motherboard firewire ports. Other than that, I haven't had any problems.

 

[mwarner]

Has anyone tried PC Mark 2004 on the A8N-SLI / SLI Deluxe?

I have the following system:

A8N SLI Deluxe BIOS 1003
Athlon 3200+
Crucial Ballistix PC4000
nVidia GeForce 6600GT
Maxtor DM 10 16Mb 250Gb (on nVidia SATA)

If I run PC Mark (full version) through the memory tests the machine ALWAYS stops responding half way through the Raw Write 4Mb test. However, all the other tests pass just fine - if you exclude the 4Mb Raw test you have no problems!

Apart from this consistent crash the machine is stable. Memtest86+ was run for in excess of 24 hours, with no faults. SiSoft Sandra 2005 passes all the memory tests, as does PC Mark 2002. Other benchmarks such as Aquamark, 3DMark03 and 3DMark05 all work flawlessly too.

I have tried running on a plain XP installation (no drivers) as well as one with the nForce drivers installed. I have run it whilst overclocked (2.5Ghz processor & 250Mhz memory) as well as a default state (2Ghz memory, 200Mhz mem - although the memory is obviously capable of 250Mhz), to no avail.

I would be suspicious of the NCQ drive, but NCQ is not enabled and disk access doesn't take place during a memory test! It also runs fie onder all other circumstances. Also I have tried it on PC Mark 2004 unpatched as well as patched with 1.3.0, which came out a couple of days ago.

My question is - has anyone else tried this benchmark - and specifically that individual test - and if so does the same thing happen on your machine with an A8N SLI!? If not, what BIOS are you using?

 

[mikepro]

Originally posted by: TreborUK
A8N-SLI Deluxe -- Don't know what to do next !!

I am experiencing a very frustrating problem with my system, that I am convinced is to do with this motherboard. But please correct me if I am wrong!

My system (specs below), will hang (no BSOD) after encoding any video file over 1GB(source file) in size. It does not matter what codec I use (be it Divx/Xvid etc), the app will finish encoding the file, and everything seems fine. The problem comes when I close the encoding app (any application I have tried about 6 or 7) my system just freezes. The encoded file, always plays fine and does not end up corrupted.

....

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Try turning of the off the Data Execution Prevention feature (DEP), I bet that is your problem. This is the new thing to try and stop virsues from exploiting bufffer overflows, but im my experience has caused software to crash on exiting it.

Here is how to do it: (You can specify specific programs to turn it off for, or turn it off for everything except core windows, which is what I did)

1. Click Start
2. Select Control Panel
3. Select System
4. Click the Advanced tab
5. In the Performance region select Settings
6. Click the Data Execute tab in the dialog box that opens
7. Select Turn on DEP for all programs and services except for those I select
8. Click Add.
9. The open dialog box will open. Browse and select your application.
10. Click Open
11. Click Apply
12. Click Ok
13. Reboot

Good luck

 

[JMag]

Originally posted by: jnmfox
I've been reading through this thread and others on AnandTech about OCing my 3000+ but I can't seem to be able to get it over 2000 Ghz, when I go to 2100 my computer freezes and I have to reboot. Using the 1002 BIOS and ClockGen to overclock.

I've disabled Cool'n'Quite in the BIOS, but the ASUS Cool'n'Quite software is still installed. I

locked the PCI-e bus buy moving it to 101 in the BIOS and moved the FSB to 201 in the BIOS to lock the PCI.

I've tried setting the RAM timing to DDR 400 and DDR 333, using both the auto settings as well as lose latency settings.

I'm using the 9x multi and tried both 4X and 3X HT settings.

Running it stock the MB and CPU idle at around 32C and after playing games or running 3DMark it raises up to about 42C my 6600 GT stay at around 41C and gives an ambient temp reading of about 31C

Do I need to flash the BIOS? Am I missing something? I'd be happy to just get it to 2.2 and have it stable.

Thanks for your help in adavnce

First of all you are using Value Select memory... If my intuition tells me anything it SUCKS for overclocking...

I have heard many times where people can't get over rated DDR400 specs with crappy memory...

Also to everyone out there: Set your OWN voltage in the memory, don't let the BIOS do it for you (because it can detect incorrect values from the SPD)

I know for a FACT that if I set my voltages too low on my memory it can seem like I got a corrupt windows install and then if I go back and bump it up, everythign works fine.

So even if you have crappy memory dude, try setting your volts to 2.7 - 2.85 and see if that allows more headroom in your FSB cause no matter how low you set your ratio there is going to be limit on your max CPU speed if you are unable to get the memclock over 200...

 

[karmadharma]

posted this one in another thread, I do think it also belongs here:

my system packed it in after 2 days of running stable:

= went in the BIOS to disable 'cool'n'quiet'
= save & exit
= on reboot monitor stays black, mobo beeps 1 high/1 low (no voice messages)
= tried a few times no dice, still the same
= put in the mobo CD so it does the bios autorecovery
= computer reads the CD then starts beeping high continuously beep-beep-beep-beep...
= turn off, turn back on nothing happens (no beeps, no POST)

computer is back at the shop where I bought it right now, hopefully they'll exchange the mobo and won't give me grief. Things I wonder:

= why were there no 'voice' POST messages but only beeps? no info anywhere on the manual about what the beeps mean either.
= how can just changing a setting in the BIOS cause things to die like that?
= why oh why my 4x512MB Kingston low latency ram never worked in dual channel?

also this was with no overclocking whatsoever, dual eVGA 6800gt, 2xseagate SATA 200GB in RAID 1, antec 550 psu, audigy2 ZS

 

[mwarner]

@mikepro

Yes, I turned off DEP too. I forgot to mention that in the fisrt post

It would be great in one of you guys could run PC Mark 2004 on your systems to see if it works without hanging!

Mike

 

[jnmfox]

Originally posted by: JMag

First of all you are using Value Select memory... If my intuition tells me anything it SUCKS for overclocking...

I have heard many times where people can't get over rated DDR400 specs with crappy memory...

Also to everyone out there: Set your OWN voltage in the memory, don't let the BIOS do it for you (because it can detect incorrect values from the SPD)

I know for a FACT that if I set my voltages too low on my memory it can seem like I got a corrupt windows install and then if I go back and bump it up, everythign works fine.

So even if you have crappy memory dude, try setting your volts to 2.7 - 2.85 and see if that allows more headroom in your FSB cause no matter how low you set your ratio there is going to be limit on your max CPU speed if you are unable to get the memclock over 200...

What memory would you guys recommend? I was looking to get 1 GB (512x2) and spend about $200 I've been looking at these on newegg...

http://www.newegg.com/app/View...tion=20-145-450&depa=1
http://www.newegg.com/app/View...tion=20-146-950&depa=1
http://www.newegg.com/app/View...tion=20-146-883&depa=1

 

[Shaga]

PC Mark 2004 works just fine.

 

[Thorsson]

Originally posted by: karmadharma
= why oh why my 4x512MB Kingston low latency ram never worked in dual channel?

NF4 chipsets, like the NF3 before them, only run 333 (stock) with 4 mem sticks. RTFM...

 

[Thorsson]

Originally posted by: jnmfox
I've been reading through this thread and others on AnandTech about OCing my 3000+ but I can't seem to be able to get it over 2000 Ghz, when I go to 2100 my computer freezes and I have to reboot. Using the 1002 BIOS and ClockGen to overclock.

I've disabled Cool'n'Quite in the BIOS, but the ASUS Cool'n'Quite software is still installed. I

locked the PCI-e bus buy moving it to 101 in the BIOS and moved the FSB to 201 in the BIOS to lock the PCI.

I've tried setting the RAM timing to DDR 400 and DDR 333, using both the auto settings as well as lose latency settings.

I'm using the 9x multi and tried both 4X and 3X HT settings.

Running it stock the MB and CPU idle at around 32C and after playing games or running 3DMark it raises up to about 42C my 6600 GT stay at around 41C and gives an ambient temp reading of about 31C

Do I need to flash the BIOS? Am I missing something? I'd be happy to just get it to 2.2 and have it stable.

Thanks for your help in adavnce

I tried OC last night for the first time and experience just the same problems. Can't get any OC (well it goes to 205, but not 208).

I tested the memory with memtest86 and Sandra and it runs fine, but when I run 3Dmark05 the PC falls over at test 4 - the first of the jerkovision tests. Generally a BSOD and frequently it has an error message that mentions USB. This pretty well confirms to me that it is a mobo issue. I'm using 1004-001, so it's not BIOS specific. BTW I also tried upping voltages, but it made no difference.

If I tried the auto OC it just crashed quicker.

 

[karmadharma]

Originally posted by: Thorsson

Originally posted by: karmadharma
= why oh why my 4x512MB Kingston low latency ram never worked in dual channel?

NF4 chipsets, like the NF3 before them, only run 333 (stock) with 4 mem sticks. RTFM...

thanks, I had no idea that was the case (which FM was I supposed to read? ), now I wonder: would it be best to run at

DDR400 2t-2-2-2-5 in single channel

or

DDR333 1t-2-2-2-5 in dual channel

(assuming that DDR400 won't make it in 1t, before the mobo died I had it set to 1t manually but for some reason that lowered my 3dmark05 by 400 points so I reset it to 'auto' after trying it).

 

[Thorsson]

I think you could get the RAM over 333, but you're unlikely to make 400 - it's not the RAM, so no point in loosening timings, it's a chipset limit. I guess you're going to have to muck around with the Memory ratio, the FSB, and the timings to find the sweetspot.

 

[karmadharma]

it's interesting to notice that among the fixes in bios 1003 there is one that says 'force DDR333 when 4 sticks are plugged in', I wonder if for some reason 1002 tries to run them at DDR400 by 'mistake'

 

[jnmfox]

Originally posted by: Thorsson

I tried OC last night for the first time and experience just the same problems. Can't get any OC (well it goes to 205, but not 208).

I tested the memory with memtest86 and Sandra and it runs fine, but when I run 3Dmark05 the PC falls over at test 4 - the first of the jerkovision tests. Generally a BSOD and frequently it has an error message that mentions USB. This pretty well confirms to me that it is a mobo issue. I'm using 1004-001, so it's not BIOS specific. BTW I also tried upping voltages, but it made no difference.

If I tried the auto OC it just crashed quicker.

What are your specs? What settings and programs are you using to OC?

 

[BigGreenMat]

I have only read the last few pages of this thread. Have any new drivers come along yet that don't consistently drop Maxtor DiamondMax 10 drives yet? Also can you enable NCQ yet or is that still definately out of the question with the nForce4?

 

[Fent]

I tossed my Max 10 drives on the raid controler (not the nvidia one) they seem to work fine, but I am running 2002. Are the issues only with the nvidia raid or any way you connect them?

 

[armygeorge]

Just installed the A8N-SLI with Asus AX800XT video card and I get no video...does it matter if the MOBO is conected to a VGA throught DVI-VGA adapter? --AG

 

[SMatson]

Is the f6 driver area needed for a single Maxtor DiamondMax 10 300G?

I have tried to install windows but it failed to load. Now I'm reformatting with the mapblast program and wondering if f6 drivers are needed?

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Scott

 

[Tripp17]

Originally posted by: armygeorge
Just installed the A8N-SLI with Asus AX800XT video card and I get no video...does it matter if the MOBO is conected to a VGA throught DVI-VGA adapter? --AG

Dude, you need a newer bios, im not sure what one off hand, but i remember seeing the fixes and one of them said "support for ATI based VGA PCIe cards".....that means that it didnt have it untill that particular bios. Im 100% positive what im saying. Good luck.