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

[Vegetarianayor]

A guy I know has this board with a San Diego 4000+ and is having some real issues with excess cpu temps.

1.5Vcore at 2.4GHz, Idles @ 48C

He's tried cleaning existing thermal compound and replacing with AS5, no better.
He's tried replacing stock cooling with Arctic Freezer, no better.

C'n'Q obviously helps but this is not a real solution when he's under load he's up over 60c

Even with a poorly ventilated case he shouldn't be getting this hot.

Does it sound like any issue other Asus users have experienced?
Does he need to flash to a different bios?

Help?

 

[milleron]

1 -- If his temps with the Arctic Freezer are no better than those with the stock cooler, that's a good clue to follow. I wonder if he's installing his heatsinks and thermal compound correctly.
2 -- A poorly ventilated case could, in fact, be part of the problem, but it would have to be really poorly ventilated in a room that was hot to start with.
3 -- Not only is this not a common problem with this board, I don't think it's a common problem with any socket-939 board. Winchester, Venice, and San Diego CPUs just don't get that hot if they're given a good HS and a decently ventilated case.

Ron

 

[josecastello]

I am thinking in building a workstation (3D graphics) based on the ASUS A8N SLI Premium. I am planning to install 2 GB of RAM. I won´t overclock it. Any recommendations?
Any recommendation for the cooler? My primary concern is SILENCE.
Thanks.

 

[marstein]

josecastello: I use Corsair TWINX2048. It is dual-channel, 1T timings and I got it cheap on ebay. Works very well.
For a fan I have the Zalman 7700 that is real quiet. But the northbridge fan and the graphics card are way louder and the effect is not that great. If you have a quiet graphics card and install a passive northbridge cooling solution your machine could be real quiet.

 

[kruull]

Would need som help with OC on my board - not sure if everything is set as it should be! Anyone to HELP?

 

[kruull]

Just to be precise - Id like to get my Winnie to something like 2600 but do not know how to lock the SATA drives and stuff - the rams are fine as ill have some Hynix5 PC4000 chips... the heatsink is fine too - acctually its a bit better than the Zalman 7000. BIOS is currently 1002 - worked fine till now. The concern is really the lockup of SATA and other components when tweaking up FSB to round 237Mhz.
ANY HELP?

+ is there a memory devider in BIOS anywhere - does it come with newer BIOS versions?

 

[rs1089]

 

[rs1089]

If i remember correctly, Sata ports 3 and 4 are locked whenever u go over an htt freq. of 201, which u've already done. and as for the dividers, im not sure if they've changed. hope i helped somehow

 

[kruull]

Originally posted by: rs1089
If i remember correctly, Sata ports 3 and 4 are locked whenever u go over an htt freq. of 201, which u've already done. and as for the dividers, im not sure if they've changed. hope i helped somehow

Helped.. thanx - i had to go back to defaults after 2 days due to the memory chips. As far as i heard the memory devider works when settings your nadive DDR speed lower - i.e. 9x300Mhz FSB and DDR500 Chips - sett DDR speed to DDR300 and you should get 3x166 = 500. At least i think so: but now whit the new chips comming into my rig i do not bother anymore . Thanx again rs.

 

[kruull]

Well, i am still having a bit of trouble: I OCed the Winnie to 2530Mhz with 1.5V. Temps at 33C idle and 44-45C full load. Prime95 stable for almost 6 hours. Rams are running 460 and 2.5-4-4-7 2T (defaults). Here the 2 problems:

1. Sometimes the system wont post: after a reboot all fine.

2. I tried to go for 2600-2640 with 1.55V: prime fails within few minutes - ive monitored Vcore and its still 1.5V - ???

Any ideas: im thinking of BIOS. The PSU should be fine... as well as the RAMS (should also run 2.5-3-3-6 1T: didnt try that yet).
Anyone experienced similar problems? Help?

 

[runestone]

ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/mb/socket939
new 1015 bios out(when ftp site works).
Anyone tried it?

 

[ss284]

Anyone have issues when booting with a lexar jumpdrive sport flash drive plugged in? The system freezes at the IDE detect screen, yet works fine when used in windows.

Also, My system had similar ide detection issues when using bios version 1013 and a promise ata 133 pci ide controller. Pulling the card allows normal booting, and flashing back to 1011 also works, yet with 1013 it refuses to work.

 

[LotusNotesGuy]

I have been running this board fine for some time now, like 3 months, I went to reboot it the other day and it would not boot but would beep one long slow beep over and over.


I have swapped out the power supply, motherboard (vendor swap yesterday Bios 1013 is on it, new fan on the bridge chipset looks like from the factory ), video card, disconnected all the peripherals and it still will not boot up unless:

1) Remove the cmos battery
2) let the motherboard charge die down
3) power up after cmos looses charge

Then the machine boots JUST ONCE with bios defaults, which would not be so bad but I need the Nvida raid to drive the sata hard drives. To get it to boot again, I need to repeat the above.

My regular IDE seagate hard drive WILL boot fine and run, I have a backup win xp operating install on that. I played games on it last night fine for quite some time, rock solid.

Of course the board is mostly crippled this way.

I upgraded to a brand new 500 watt power supply.

It has Kingston HyperX PC3500 matched dual channel in the correct alternating matched color sockets(ddr,433) memory in it, which this board could never run unless it was set to manual 400 and leave the other timings defaulted or memory speed set to Auto.


So, I think I have figured out its not: video card, power supply, drives, if its the motherboard, then 2 different identical model motherboards are giving the exact same problem.


I do have to use an adapter to get the right connectors from the power supply for this kind of ATX board. The ps is an brand new Ultra X Connect 500 with the modular snap in cables. The motherboard requires the expansion adapter to get enough pins to connect all the rails. This short motherboard cable power adapter looks fine, all pins and sockets look good. I took it out and examined it closely.

All I can think of is its a cable from the powersupply to the motherboard, the CPU ( which is an AMD x2 4400) , or the memory. Tried an ATI PCIex and NVidia PCIex video board. Both work for the post and running the regular IDE seagate so they are not the issue.

This seems to be in the hardware somewhere.

I have spent 2 days on trying out swapping piece after piece. Anyone have any suggestions or similar experiences?

I really think this motherboard was never ready for primetime and is frankly a POS if turns out to be it just wont run stable with the cpu and components I have on it. I have read many posts on here about how iffy this A8N-SLI deluxe is for some people.


I posted this here and on the main part of the forum trying to reach people for advice since it seems to be a really hard to dig out problem, or just a lemon product from Asus.

 

[Snatz]

Originally posted by: runestone
<a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/mb/socket939">ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/mb/socket939</a>
new 1015 bios out(when ftp site works).
Anyone tried it?

Interested to know if the new BIOS takes care of issues recently discovered between NF4 mobos and Creative's line of Xtreme Music and Platinum X-fi cards.

Creative is stating that a BIOS update can take care of the issue or you can send the card back to them for a firmware mod. Several other mobo manufacturers have released BIOS fixes for this issue.

http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs...board.id=soundblaster&message.id=35291

 

[Zim]

Originally posted by: LotusNotesGuy
I have been running this board fine for some time now, like 3 months, I went to reboot it the other day and it would not boot but would beep one long slow beep over and over.

Sounds like a memory issue.

 

[Cy6nUsX1]

I have one of the earliest A8N-SLI Deluxe boards from January 05. Mine ran awesome for almost a year on the original BIOS and original drivers from the installation CD. I ran NV RAID0 with two 120G Maxtors IDE and a single XFX 6800GT PCIe, and 2 sticks of 512 2-2-2-5 RAM, WinXp Pro 32. Last week I decided to update to a newer BIOS so I followed the recommended ASUS path:

1) Updated the Chipset drivers to 6.65
2) Updated the bios to 1013 using alt-F2 method.

Then I made a BIG mistake. I forgot to enable IDE RAID in the new BIOS and attempted to boot. It didn't find m RAID array and attempted to boot off an old boot sector on backup slave drive. Ooops. Stupid me assumed the RAID array went south and tried to rebuild the array and lost all data in the process...including my backup drive. (INSERT INSULT FOR ME HERE).

A few hours later I got the system all back in shape RAID0 again using the old 1001 Bios and original CD drivers again. The system ran well again! I bought another XFX 6800GT and ran them in SLI with the latest WHQL Forceware. WOW! It runs 3DMark2003 at 20,000!! Running it for a week now in SLI...sweet!!

Two nights ago I put the PC into Standby mode. I went back to the PC the next day and it had turned itslef on while I was away! but the screen was black. It was not responding. I hit the reset switch, it posted and then I got some message: Missing Windows System Files...reinstall oprating system..or something. Dammit@@)$!!! WTF.

I am going to do another fresh install tonight. Any advice on HOW? and what DRIVERS? and BIOS? and SETTINGS? to use. I really want to use the latest stable drivers if possible?

I'll make this easy for me and everyone else:

I will run, XP SP2 Pro32bit, RAID0 IDE and Nvidia 6800GT's in SLI, onboard sound, ZA Pro Firewall, (2x)512M PC3200 RAM 2-2-2-5, no SATA drives yet.

Suggested: Version# or Y/N answers.

? BIOS-
? Win F6 Install RAID drivers for both NVand Silicon from floppies?-
? CHIPSET DRIVERS -
? SW IDE Drivers -
? Video Drivers -
? NV LAN or Yukon -
? Audio Drivers -
? Bios RAM Timings -

? List Good settings for BIOS -

Thanks. I will post the settings and drivers and results when I'm done but I am willing to take suggestions before I rebuild.

-Dave

 

[Karaktu]

Is anyone aware of a solution that actually WORKS yet for the ASUS A8N SLi Deluxe/Premium and Antec NeoHE series PSUs?

 

[Zim]

Can anyone suggest why I can't POST when using the 266 memory index? 333 and 200 work fine. I see that other people have had the same issue but I can't find a resolution. So far I've tried BIOS 1013 and 1015.

Thx

 

[kruull]

Hi there - having a question here: im eager to get 2 Seagate SATA2 HDD to raid 0 - but stil keeping my older SATA from Maxtor + Ill get an Opteron 144. I will try to OC to 2700 - thats 300FSB. Now the question - how to install the HDD so that these do not get damaged by FSB that high - i know that SATA 3 and 4 ports are locked - but now i have 3 HDDs.
Anyone of any help. THX a lot in advance.

 

[AngryInch]

pHEW!!!!

Just read 60 pages of this thread so far (and not done..). Just wanted to take time out and post my first here at this fine site after all these years of reading and running away!

Always held this group of people in high regard from various aspects and glad to actually become part of it. Hopefully I can help and add because I will certainly be asking enough questions!

I am purchasing the A8N SLI Deluxe after recently blowing up my 6800gt agp. I will be getting an RMA, but this is an excuse to get into PCIe finally! I like the 'upgradeability' with this board- I will be initially be using a 3800+, but being able to go dual-core on the same board is HUGE! Not to mention I can start off with a 7800gt which will crush my old (current) system- then upgrade to a second one later?

Forgetaboutit!

Anyways, break time is over, back to reading up. My card will be here Tuesday, and since I can't game on my GF3TI200, how better than to spend this time reading up?

(Just don't tell the old lady!)

 

[AngryInch]

Ok.. I will have questions! Here is an easy one, but can't seem to find the answer.. only on page70 or something, hehe..

I will be installign 2x512 pc3200 and 2x512 pc4000- but I see several posts stating that it will only 'run' at ddr333?

Is this correctable?

 

[ss284]

Originally posted by: AngryInch
Ok.. I will have questions! Here is an easy one, but can't seem to find the answer.. only on page70 or something, hehe..

I will be installign 2x512 pc3200 and 2x512 pc4000- but I see several posts stating that it will only 'run' at ddr333?

Is this correctable?

Yes, just change the auto memory detection to manual, and set it to ddr 400. Ive had no problems running ddr 400 with 4 sticks of corsair pc 3200. I did however, have to slightly relax the timings.

 

[AngryInch]

Thanks for the heads up, I'll post my experiences.

 

[Jay25dj]

Hi! I have the A8N-SLi Deluxe and am trying to OC with an Opteron 146 CABYE 0540FPBW and 2gb of G.Skill PC3200ZX ram. Thing is, i am having serious problems getting stable over 2.5Ghz. No matter what mem divider i run or settings i choose it seems to be prime unstable.

I'm hoping someone could help me out here with some settings that worked for them..

BTW, im so far burning in with Sandra for over an house on the cpu and mem burn-ins with no probs. Is this as good for detecting errors as using Prime or not?

 

[computer]

(Never mind)