Which 1 to buy????

[Skott]

Squonk was the first person I know of to put 2 eVGA7800GTX KO ECS3 cards on the ASUS A8N32 Deluxe mobo *with* an audigy card in between the two vid cards. I have seen posts of others using the X-FI as well in the same setup. Now if you dont believe me then go to this link and read it for yourselves. I dont know if it can be done with two 7800GTX 512s but it has been done with two factory overclocked eVGA 7800GTXs. You'll see my post asking him if it worked or not and his response a couple posts below mine.

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...&STARTPAGE=9&FTVAR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear


FYI: The eVGA 7800GTX KO ECS3 card mentioned in this thread are the 256Mb RAM versions.

 

[DaddyDC650]

I would have went with the DFI Expert board but I've heard stories about people having their Opteron cpu's burn out on that board in particular. It also does not support dual 16x which will come in handy whenever I decide to buy a new pci-express card that uses up the bandwidth. I've also heard that the Asus A8N32 Deluxe motherboard does 345HTT with a 9x multiplier and that's more than enough for my Opteron 144 since I'm only going to need 312 HTT tops. Thanks again for the replies!

 

[Skott]

Just a FYI In theMaximumPC February 2006 issue (page 62) they review the new FNW Mach V machine and it uses the ASUS A8N32 mobo with two (read two) BFG 7800GTX OC 512 cards *and* a Creative Labs Xtreme Music X-Fi card installed. So it can be done with two 512 cards. FNW is using watercooling instead of aircooling though so not sure how that affects the layout. If you want more info on how they do it I'd suggest calling FNW for answers.

 

[Tweakin]

Originally posted by: DaddyDC650
I would probably only use 2 sata II ports at the most. Would that asus board do at least 312 htt by x9??? That's what I would need in order to hit 2.8 ghz. Anyone?

I think all the latest boards only have two locked ports, so you can throw out any additional "eye candy" if you overclock as you will not be able to use it. Just a thought.

 

[jnjboc]

just an fyi.

my x-fi is in between my two single slot video cards, and the sli bridge goes right over the top of the x-fi card with no problem.

I thought the way the 512 boards were oriented, you could put them in with a sound card on the A8N32..

 

[knifemyglitter]

i need help with this decision too.

 

[Skott]

Just heard today that Monarch is no longer offering the 7800GTX 512 cards. Supposedly they were told nVidia is discontinuing that card so Monarch stopped offering it. Not that they had any that I'm aware of. Mostly back ordered I think. So, it sounds like the 7800 GTX512 is going away. Probably once the G71 gets out the door. Ebay sellers going to have a profitable time with this card I imagine. ::chuckle::

 

[currybreakfast]

Hi, I was wondering if the heatpipe on the ASUS will get in the way of the thermalright PX120 cooler. I am also in a limbo between the DFI and the ASUS boards. Here in australia they are both priced the same and i cant decide between either. How does the DFI go when cooling the mofsets and stuff, cos the ASUS has them in massive heatsinks and in the heatpipe rig? I have also heard of a few problems with the DFI board not working with certain memory sticks.

heres my newly designed rig.

AMD opteron 165
DFI/ASUS mobos in question
ANTEC NEOHE 500W
XFX 7900GT OC
2G geil or PQI memory
WD320G 16MB cache

 

[Skott]

I dont think anyone has had a problem fitting the thermalright cooler that I can remember. I'd start a seperate thread asking that question though to make sure. I dont think the DFI mobo has a cooling problem but I do consider the heatpipe system superior technology over the chipset fan technology. It will be quieter anyway and thats a plus IMO. Fans have a greater chance of wearing out faster too IMO. Generally the heatpipe system is just plain more efficient in what it does.

As far as RAM fitting the mobo I its safe to say that many mobos have RAM preferences. Yes, the DFI doesnt match well with some RAM. ASUS has this problem as well as many other manufacturers. I dont consider it a huge problem though because there are good alternatives. Some of those alternatives are actually better. You just need to make sure to think ahead and get the correct RAM for the mobo you choose. A little prethought is all it is. Nothing to worry over IMO.

 

[DidlySquat]

Originally posted by: DaddyDC650
I would have went with the DFI Expert board but I've heard stories about people having their Opteron cpu's burn out on that board in particular. It also does not support dual 16x which will come in handy whenever I decide to buy a new pci-express card that uses up the bandwidth. I've also heard that the Asus A8N32 Deluxe motherboard does 345HTT with a 9x multiplier and that's more than enough for my Opteron 144 since I'm only going to need 312 HTT tops. Thanks again for the replies!

ROFL !! where is your 312 HTT now ? doesn't seem like it worked out for you, cause your opteron is running at a dissapointingly low 2.6 Ghz. Asus boards are not even close to DFI wrt overclockibg, and to all the morons the DFI also looks MUCH better, has better cooling for the chipset which is still very quiet. I had the A8N-SLI deluxe and that board sucked, with many issues (soundacrd compat, cant run 4 dimms, USB port detection) and worst of all it couldnt go above 275 HTT. Overclocking with A8N is hit or miss, while the DFI is practically guaranteed to go over 300 HTT, the expert usually can go to 400.

Over at xtremesustems, everyone is using the DFI nf4 boards, because they are trying to hit 3GHz. Many opterons can hit close to 3GHz (on air!) when used with the best OC boards, meaning the DFI NF4 lanparty boards.

 

[Skott]

I dont think anyone is implying the ASUS A8N32 overclocks better than certain DFI mobos (for the record not all DFI mobos are tops in overclocking but most are) in the general sense but the A8N32 does do a very good job of overclocking. Also the A8N-SLI Deluxe and the A8N32 Deluxe are not the same mobo. The A8N32 is a newer and improved mobo. DFI mobos have had some chipset fan problems in the past too. Although not at the same level some of the ASUS mobos had in recent versions. Yeah, if you want to try for 3GHz and nothing else matters DFI will give you the best odds. Nothing is guranteed though. Skill, setup, and luck of the draw on the cpu stepping plays a large factor as well.

 

[DidlySquat]

I lready have the best opteron 165 stepping - CCBBE 0610 DPMW. But on my crappy A8N-SLI deluxe I can only do 275x9=2475, which is the same as what I could do with my Venice 3000+ (and I lowered everything else including memory, HTT). I know for sure the opteron can do more (should be close to 3GHz) and now I'm thinking even my Venice could probably go higher on a better board. There is something wrong with the BIOS I'm sure, because everything is 100% stable at FSB 275, but it doesn't even boot at 280. Same problem was described by x-bit labs in their review of the Abit AN8 32X, but Abit was able to provide them a new bios which allowed x-bit to overclock the FSB to 325. No such luck with "ass"-us. Anyways, my DFI UT Expert is arriving soon, anyone wants my A8N-SLI "deluxe" board ?