Focused,Nov 8 2005, 12:17 PM Wrote:yea, see, i have no use for anything TV on my video card....i've NEVER used it and never will...
as for a sound card...i don't need one ...covered there
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One important thing I noticed for card #2 is what they
don't tell you. IE: They make no mention of what connectors the card has, so assume that all it has is the standard VGA out port. This is fine if all you're attaching is a standard CRT monitor or a low end LCD panel.
But there is a difference if you can connect your LCD panel to the card using a DVI connector. I've tried both as my card has both options, and the difference is night & day. I can run the DVI connection at 1280x960 on my 17" monitor w/o eyestrain, can't do that with the VGA connection.
NefCanuck
ok last question.....
what memory does this motherboard use??
I didn't realize all teh differnt setups...there has to be llike 30 different types/speeds!! which ones are compatable
Focused,Nov 8 2005, 01:47 PM Wrote:ok last question.....
what memory does this motherboard use??
I didn't realize all teh differnt setups...there has to be llike 30 different types/speeds!! which ones are compatable
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chances are it'll support a very wide range... you don't have to get the fastest speed supported by the motherboard... bet on a matched pair of DDR400, it's not really worth getting all tied up in the clockings and latencies, you'll never notice the difference.
and which motherboard are you talking about?
If you're talking about the A8N-E board, I use Samsung 512mb PC3200 DDR400 sticks.
Runs great in on my A8N-E board. Overlocks to DDR452 at 2.5-3-3-8 latencies @ 2.65v. Runs stable easily.
ok so i placed my order....
i got the
-AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 2.0 GHz Socket 939 (Retail Box)
-Asus A8N-E Socket 939 nF4 Ultra Dual DDR 8-Ch Audio,4 X SATA GB Lan
-Sapphire ATI Radeon X700 Pro Advantage 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out, DVI PCI-Express Video Card (Lite Retail)
-OCZ PC-3200 DDR400 Premier Series 1GB (2x512MB) Dual Channel Kit CAS2.5 (OCZ4001024PDC-K)
$719 to my door
I wouldn't buy Asus for an AMD system. Asus makes GREAT Intel boards, but somewhat lacking AMD boards. A-bit, Gigabyte, MSI, and DFI are better boards for AMD generally. Out of those I'd go A-bit or MSI, but that's mostly just that I like them better, they've been good to me. The DFI's are better for overclocking and stuff, but I have heard stories of them killing random things. Though that's probably due to the people not the board (ie: people running their CPU at some ungodly voltage and frying it than blaming the board).
That said, I own an Asus A8N-SLI. I didn't research. Had a few problems with the onboard sound, needed a BIOS update to fix that. But over all as a general board, it's fine. Overclocking is where it lacks really. I can only get 2.4 GHz out of my X2 3800+ while others can manage 2.7 or more. And it's not my RAM that's lacking either, the RAM will do 275 MHz (DDR550).
Anyway... I'll stop ranting.
Sara's A8N-E is super-stable, Oscar's is stable... both A7N8X-Xs I've had are stable.
The only reason I went DFI is it was a hell of a deal. With that said, it's the best overclocker board I've ever owned.
I purchase nothing but ATI video cards, ASUS mobo's and Intel procs.
I've been using Kingston HyperX memory for going on three years now and have had one bad stick but no problems since it's rma.
I actually just upgraded (I guess) to the 9800 AIW from my 9800 Pro because I had a small project that came up and I lost the cables to my 8500 aiw 128mb *grinds teeth* so now the 9800 pro (stock) is for sale and i've got enough video cards to choke a horse. The nice thing with the ATI AIW (all in wonder)'s is that they have a crapload of inputs and outputs and great (for the most part) gaming capability. The 8500 aiw was a great performer in games and my 9800 aiw is an excellent performer in games. The main question is, will you need or want to crank all the graphics to full throttle? Or just appreciate the above average graphics acceleration while in games? The 9800, although an older card being replaced by many current models, is still a strong performer and can be found cheap on the market... especially in a non ati (sapphire, etc) model with comparable performance (usually only memory changes).
He HAS to buy one of the X-series ATIs though, or equivelent, PCIe and all.
Also, I didn't claim my Asus board wasn't stable, cuz it is. I just meant purely from an overclocking perspective, the Asus boards are lacking for AMD.
However they have an A8N32-SLI out now that's supposed to take care of that. Lots and LOTS of options.
Oh, gotcha. Yeah, it's always been stability first with Asus... although I found with their A8V Deluxe (rev. 2 even) that it was seriously lacking in the stability department. 5 BIOS revisions, 4 final and 1 beta, and not one was stable even at stock speeds.
Given that even a bargain basement ECS motherboard with a SIS chipset (K7S5A rev 5, SiS 735-based) lasted over a year without incident, I'm pretty convinced it was Via either cutting corners or just attempting too much with too little.
I've had 4 of those K7S5As they're disposibly cheap. 1 died because of my sister blocking all the ventilation on her machine. Another died, dunno why, friend gave it to me. Still have one going right now with an 1800+ in it, and a K7S5A Pro (more or less the same) with a 2800+ in it. They're decent, and with a BIOS upgrade apparently I can overclock with them. Never tried though. Just use them as DC nodes.
On the topic of overclocking, I was thinking of trying to overclock my Dual Opteron 246 machine, haven't looked at Tyan's settings though, and I think I need to increase the airflow in the case I use. It's fairly old and lacks it, I've cut out the grills and cut a new hole in the top. But It still can't really keep the Opterons cool enough. They run 100% load all the time, and about 60-65C bit warm to start OCing.
Get two Venus 12 HSFs... you'll probably get a 6-8C drop in on-load temps, easy.
I take it you have Sledgehammer cores in there on the 130nm process?
Quick questions, does soyo still make motherboards?
Kool_ZX3,Nov 9 2005, 12:04 PM Wrote:Quick questions, does soyo still make motherboards?
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I think so. But why? Go with ASUS, DFI or ABIT.
Oscar The Grouch,Nov 9 2005, 01:13 PM Wrote:Kool_ZX3,Nov 9 2005, 12:04 PM Wrote:Quick questions, does soyo still make motherboards?
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I think so. But why? Go with ASUS, DFI or ABIT.
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Just wondering, that's what i am runnin at home now in the old beast :D
NOS2Go4Me,Nov 9 2005, 10:51 AM Wrote:Get two Venus 12 HSFs... you'll probably get a 6-8C drop in on-load temps, easy.
I take it you have Sledgehammer cores in there on the 130nm process?
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I have 2 Zalman 7700-Cu's on them.
Can't remember the core or stepping of them.
CPU-Z is your friend :)
I've never heard of Opterons running that hot before. :blink:
Yeah I know of CPU-Z, I just can't run it from work. Thought about remoting in, then remembered the background I have on the machine isn't work safe lol.
I'll post what they are when I get home if I remeber.
And the case also has 7 harddrives in it, 1.5 TB, and REALLY lacks airflow. Oh and my room gets pretty warm with 6 machines running in it. So the ambient temp isn't always that cool either. The combinations makes for hot opterons. I've been looking around for a new case that'll cool it all better though. Hard to find a case that's 1) Quiet 2) takes an EATX board 3) supports say 10 drives 4) isn't rackmount, and doesn't look like crap (ie: one of those Intel server chassis)