Which Asus MB? A7N8X or A7V8X

[Kurisu]

Building a new rig with this inside:

AthlonXP 2800+ (Tbred B or Barton?)
Radeon All in Wonder 9700 Pro
512mb total (1x512 or 2x256, PC2700/PC3000/PC3200 why?)
Possibly overclocked&water-cooled..

Features I want is serial ATA, and 8x AGP. I heard Asus was an excellent MB manufacturer, so Im deciding on the A7N8X (nForce2) or the A7V8X (KT400). Which do you recommend? Since I will have a Radeon 9700 Pro, does the Geforce2 in the A7N8X matter? Please help me out. TIA

-This Signature for Rent-

 

[ejsmith2]

I guess the AIW is an 8x agp card.

Sounds good.

"I personally think filesystems should be rewritten from scratch every 5 years..." --- Hans Reiser

 

[Clarentavious]

You'll definitely want the Barton core for starters. If you took the time to read some of the articles on Tom's main page you wouldn't have to come to the board and ask this question.

As for the RAM I would go with PC 2700 (that's 333 DDR). If you get an nForce 2, I am not sure you'll be able to use dual channel mode with a single DIMM, I don't know quite how that works (so you may want to consider getting 2x256)

Most people would recommend an nForce 2 over a KT400 chipset. I personally don't like either of them.

Don't buy a board with integrated video. If you have an older GeForce 2 and are buying a 9700 Pro, you can sell the GeForce 2.

-----

Benchmarks don't lie

 

[Spitfire_x86]

ASUS A7N8X, without doubt

<b> "You can put lipstick on a pig, but hey, it's still a pig!" - RobD </b>

 

[TKH]

If you are deciding between A7N8X and A7V8X, nForce2 would be a better choice. Though A7N8X would be a little more expensive than A7V8X, but it offer DualDDR400 support which KT400 can't. And if you buy the deluxe version you'll have the great SoundStorm features which save you from adding extra soundcard. Also the Dual LAN is another sweet feature. For the RAM and CPU, between T-Bred B and Barton 2800+, it's the time issue. If you can wait for a few week, then just buy the Barton for larger cache. If I'm not wrong, both T-Bred B and Barton 2800+ XP are running on 333FSB, so you can match it with two sticks of DDR333 RAM.
And A7N8X DOESN'T have the on board graphic, your AIW 9700 Pro should work fine.

My PC has gone to hell... because it's a killing machine...

 

[Stormfury]

I have the a7n8x deluxe and I love it so far. And like the person above said it doesn't have integrated graphics. I would pick the Barton over the Tbred.

 

[upec]

Another vote for A7N8X.

 

[dhlucke]

I built a system with the A7N8X and had no problems.

<font color=red>
<A HREF="http://kevan.org/brain.cgi?dhlucke" target="_new">If you were to have sex with your clone would that be considered incest or masturbation?</A></font color=red>

 

[Clarentavious]

It seems for the most part the issues with the A7N8X are resolved now since Asus released the BIOS updates. However the nForce 2 chipset itself still suffers from a few compatibility issues.

-----

Benchmarks don't lie

 

[Kurisu]

Wow, thanks people. All along I thought the nForce2 had an integrated Geforce2. Don't ask me where I read that. Anyway, I guess the A7N8X Deluxe is my best choice. Never read much about that Dual Channel DDR but I guess I need 2 sticks of 256mb PC2700 CL2 would be good. I also read that the SoundStorm is a cool with 5.1 encoding. Probably much better than this Acoustic Edge thing. I know that the 9700 Pro will kick ass, esp with a 2800+ Barton. Was thinking of putting in a 2700+ instead, only because it's $111 cheaper and not much performance difference.

Ok, now what do you think of putting it all in a Chieftec/Antec/Chenming type case? I was thinking about the <A HREF="http://"http://www.antec-inc.com/pro_details_enclosure.php?ProdID=81046"" target="_new"> Antec SX1040BII </A>. It has enough for future water-cooling, front USB and FireWire ports, and cool style. I don't need no fancy, flashy window on the side, but maybe? Just one quiet, fast, all-in-one machine.
(for about $1000)

-This Signature for Rent-

 

[stupid_tech_geek]

Most of the issues you read about on this site (eg: bios, drivers etc.) have been resolved by now so I agree with everyone else. The ASUS board has not given me any problems. Good luck.

Regarding your problem, you have a classic ID10T error code. Do you have the box the computer came in? ARRRGH

 

[BastardTom]

Make sure, if you go for nforce2, that you get the corsair twin pack. They have been specifically tested for A7N8X motherboards. I didn't get them it in the beginning because I didn't see the value in it, but I corrected that mistake when I saw the errors produced in memtest86.

Tom recently reviewed some more nforce2 motherboards and if I were you I would look into the new MSI mobo. It outperformed the A7N8X in almost everything and has RAID as well (Although the reason it did better is because it has a slightly overclocked fsb).

<i>To deny our own impulses is to deny the very thing that makes us human.</i>

 

[Stormfury]

Corsair I think has fixed the 3200/3500 problems I think. My first stick didn't work but the other stick that they sent me worked fine. So far I've loved the a7n8x deluxe and yes the sound is pretty sweet.