A7N8X first impressions!

[mdzcpa]

http://www.liquidninjas.com/mdzcpa/reviewphotos/A7N8X/whatuget.jpg

After only one short evening of playing around with this mobo, I have to say two BIG thumbs up for the A7N8X. In short, I can't beleive it's an Asus!

Now don't take that wrong, Asus makes some fine mobos indeed. But they are more about quality and features than pure overclockability. And, although I think Abit and Epox will come out with some real screamers (based on what this Asus can do), the A7N8X does pretty fine in the OC department.

Right off the bat I gained an easy 1000 3DMark points over my KD7/KX7 set up. This is not due to just sheer performance gains (although the A7N8X does out bench my KX7/KD7 mobos at similar settings), I just couldn't get the Radeon to play nice at high fsb speeds on those two VIA based mobos. But with the AGP locked down at 66mhz on the A7N8X, the Radeon is cooking away looping 3DMark at 200mhz fsb. (BTW, I will be trying to raise the AGP bus a little just to see if I can eek out even more performance there and how far the Radeon can be pushed).

Anyway, no mobo troubles at 200mhz so far. All the on board goodies seem to be playing nice at that high FSB speed. The on board sound is excellent with Dolby digital 5.1 features.

Very stable and smooth so far. I'm surprised it overclocks so well...it's hard to beleive it's an Asus in there;)

I'll have more on the mobo tonight after I have some time to play with things more.

[Mr Gung-Fu]

I realy like my Asus A7N8X too :D

I think the memory timings are good and you can select the best for ur RAM.

mdzcpa:
wot cpu u get to 200fsb? u recon my xp2400+ will make those heights after i unlock the lower mults?

[NorthernYankee]

Awesome Mike, I am still trying to decide if i wanna grab the Epox since it is out now or wait for the Abit and hope it has the mounting holes.

--NY

[WesM63]

Hey mike,
i need a bit more info :D still hav'nt purchased one yet.

[barneyz71]

What do you have your vcor set at?

[mdzcpa]

Originally posted by Mr Gung-Fu

mdzcpa:
wot cpu u get to 200fsb? u recon my xp2400+ will make those heights after i unlock the lower mults?

I'm running an XP 2700 in there right now. I did not unlock it yet, so I am using the stock 13 mutliplier and getting 2600mhz (200 x13) . That is on the hairy edge of stability with only 1.85v max core allowed with this mobo using a 226w pelt. I am however very happy to get that far...I was sure being limited to a max core of 1.85v would have kept me well below 2530mhz or so. So I am pleased. (the thing to keep in mind is that without at least water cooling, any voltages higher than 1.85v are useless on the new Tbreds anyway. so only those with exceptional cooling will feel limited by the Vcore options).

You should also be able to hit 200mhz FSB once you get the multiplier unlocked and lowered:)


Originally posted by NorthernYankee
Awesome Mike, I am still trying to decide if i wanna grab the Epox since it is out now or wait for the Abit and hope it has the mounting holes.

--NY

Actually I was also planning on holding out for the Epox or Abit, but my KX7 went tits up last friday:( (too much voltage mod and I lost my voltage regulation...oops). So in a pinch I went for the Asus. If this mobo is any indication of what to expect, I think we'll be floored by the Abit and Epox overclockability:)


Originally posted by WesM63
Hey mike,
i need a bit more info :D still hav'nt purchased one yet.

I'll do my best to keep you updated on how things are going...I'll post more info back to this thread tonight after more testing:)


Originally posted by barneyz71
What do you have your vcor set at?

1.85v, 200 x 13 = 2600mhz....but that is absolute max. Anything higher craps out Prime95 after 20 mintues.

Alrighty then, just got home from work. I'll be tweaking and testing....I'll report back soon:)

[Mr Gung-Fu]

i recon my watercooling will handle higher volts especially with the 220W TEC im installing in a week or 2. Good to know AMD chips OC so well at low volts tho. No need to volt mod if i dont have to :D

Gonna try for 200MHz fsb. I got wiked memory so it'll be good to get it running closer to its rated 434MHz.

[dicki]

sounds good, whats the onboard graphics like?

dicki

[Mr Gung-Fu]

I dont have the onboard graphix. Much better without.

[mdzcpa]

No on board graphics here either....using my Radeon 9700 Pro. But I am pleased to report that the Radeon does play nicely with the A7N8X. I was concerned the Nvidia may not have gone out of there way to make things work so nicely with the "competitions" vid card. But no worries.


To follow up with more input:

I managed to hose my OS last night. While running at 196fsb I set the CPU Interface to "aggressive". I think this is much like setting the CPU Command Decode to "Ultra" on VIA chipsets. Anyway, I gained a ton of performance with it on, but on the next reboot the OS went bye bye. Not sure if this is the exact cause...but it was the only thing i changed before the OS puked.

I also tried playing with the AGP bus settings. I can indeed move up the bus to higher speeds above 66mhz and gain performance. I know the Radeon does not like high FSB speeds, so I kept it under 175mhz. But even up to that point I was able to gain a few hundred 3DMark points by moving it up some.

Adjusting between AGP x8 and x4 is easy to do and it works fine in the BIOS. Running the AGP x4 "seems" to be more stable than AGP x8...but I still need more testing.

The memory timings are a bit tricky on this mobo. The choices are similar, but different, than the typical VIA settings. Current settings are:

Active Precharge Delay 7
RAS to CAS 3
RAS Precharge Delay 3
CAS 2T

Default is 8,4,4 2.5T

I was getting some lockups in 3DMark while looping the benchmark. It appeared to be the Radeon. I found that upping the AGP voltage from 1.5v to 1.6v cure the issue completely. Max AGP voltage is 1.7v.

The Vcore maxes at 1.85v but produces and actual of about 1.89v.

The DDR voltage maxes 2.8v....but there is DDR voltage readings reported on the board (yes...not even in the BIOS). I haven't had to use anything more than the stock 2.6v DDR in order to run aggressive memory settings up to 200mhz with my Corsair XMS3500 C2.

MBM does NOT work with the NF2 boards. Alex Van Kaam has not been able to get the SMBus codes from Nvidia to get it set up. The Asus probe app works okay....but I prefer MBM much more.

The on board sound is awesome...period.

I am running a Highpoint Rocket RAID ATA 133 controller. It runs great on this board. Running a stripe 0 with 2 ATA 133 40g drives have produced the best HD benches I've ever seen from a home PC. I think the PCI bus is in fact locked on this mobo (at half of the locked AGP) as the card has had no issues at higher fsb speeds.

The Swiftech block fit just fine on the board although it appears to be a tight fit at first glance....but no worries.

High 3Dmark2001SE score on this mobo with an XP 2700 and the Radeon 9700 Pro is now 17,789...not too shabbby.

Sandra scores at leisurely 194 fsb 7,3,3 CAS 2 are 3002/2857. Haven't benched over 200mhz....yet:) I'm guessing in the 3100/2950 range at 200.

Well...that's about it for now. I'll post more as things unfold. Unfortunately I am prepping for the big lan party tomorrow so i won't be pressing things too hard today. I need this rig to be running solid and I don't need to hose the OS right now:) But i will certainly pass on any more interesting tid bits.

[barneyz71]

Sandra scores at leisurely 194 fsb 7,3,3 CAS 2 are 3002/2857. Haven't benched over 200mhz....yet I'm guessing in the 3100/2950 range at 200.


3113/2950 here @ 200mhz 5,2,2,2t.

[mdzcpa]

Sweet...looks like it's time for me to get my FSB up and mem timings down:)

[dicki]

ahhh so is there a version with onboard graphics? i guess i should really go and read some reviews!

[StevoWarby]

Hi,

Comes with GeForce4 MX440 built in to board.

Quick question for you guys...

I have the Asus board on the way, and I've already bought memory from another site. I've bought 2x 256 PC3200 184pin DDR.

The web site that I've bought the motherboard from (ebuyer.com)states that the Asus board supports 168pin RAM - please tell me they've got it wrong, and that the memory I have will fit the board that is arriving tomorrow!

Stevo.

[NorthernYankee]

They r wrong.

--NY

[StevoWarby]

*phew*

Cheers NorthernYankee!

I did try looking at the specs on the Asus website, but the link is missing!

Stevo.

[StevoWarby]

hmmm..

Well the motherboard arrived today. According to the specifications page at the start of the manual, it uses 168pin DIMMS, but on page 13, it says 184!!

It is definitely 184, but I can see why ebuyer.com probably got it wrong, because the manual is wrong!!!

Stevo.