Asus A7N8X Deluxe

[Nosnam]

I just got my A7N8X Deluxe and Radeon 9700 Pro in the mail, and got it all running stable, and I am looking for the best heat sink I can find. If any of you have thos motherboard, you know that the capacitors, onboard LAN shielding, and RAM are pretty close, so you cant use just any old heat sink. I was going to buy the Thermalright SLK-900-U heatsink, and their website says "Severe capacitor bending required"

I was wondering if anyone has tried a thermalright 800U with this motherboard. Although they have the same base LxW, the top is 800U is 12mm x 2.6mm smaller. If that doesnt fit either, what heat sinks have you successfully fit on?

 

[svol]

I don't have experience with the SLK-800... but I think the Swiftech MCX-462 would fit to that board.

My dual-PSU PC is so powerfull that the neighbourhood dims when I turn it on

 

[mrwhipper]

A Volcano 7+ will fit.

Hang in there. It can only get better!

 

[Willamette_sucks]

i have that board and i have an SLK-800 (it kicks ass by the way) and it fits perfectly, i didnt have to bend anything.
the slk-900 is a little bigger so u might have to do some minor bending, but i think it would be fine.
an slk-800 is definately fine.

Long live ATI.

 

[Owenth]

The Vantec Aeroflow fits on the board, I've got one and its a little tight to get on but you don't have to bend anything and its working great.

 

[OCuser]

I would stay away from the SLK-900, but either the SLK-800 or MCK-462 seem to be the best. The SLK-800 in this thread performed just a tad bit better than the MCK-462. http://www.overclockercafe.com/Reviews/ThermalRight_SLK800/index.html

I have the same board and I plan on getting the SLK-800 with the VANTEC's Tornado fan, Dimensions 80x80x38 (mm), Fan Speed: 5700 R.P.M., Air Flow: 84.1 CFM

 

[Crap]

The 900 fits the other way across the CPU as far as I know so fouls the caps near the socket. Stick with the 800 more than enough cooling power. ;o)

 

[Maverick494]

http://www.coolerguys.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=001&Category_Code=CPC-AMD

try the heat piper cooler on the bottom of the page on the left. it worked great for me on 2 different asus mobos. just a thought.

Just a computer junky

 

[umheint0]

I love the SLK-800. Never had a proplem. I got over 100 extra mhz over a Volcano 9+, and it's rock stable. My next step is to replace the northbridge and glue the stock sink onto the southbridge and see if I can get a little more snot from the system.

XP 2500+ Barton @ 198x11.5@.185v
Thermalright SLK-800
Thermaltake Smartfan II
A7N8X Dlx
2x512MB Corsair PC3200
MSI GF3Ti500@265/570
2x80GB 7200RPM Maxtor
Soundstorm

 

[Sigma]

What board rev. do you have to be running at that fsb? A 1.04, 1.06, or 2.0?

XP2500<b>@</b>2220Mhz(12x/185)
A7N8X DLX
Corsair XMS-LL PC3200 2x256(5-2-2-2T)
ATI Radeon 9700Pro
Maxtor 80gig ATA/133 8mb
Volcano 7+
Lite-On 52x24x52 CDRW
3Dmark01=16000

 

[umheint0]

1.04. Actually, I'm now at around 204x11, and it's still stable. I'm going to try for more soon enough.

XP 2500+ Barton @ 198x11.5@1.85v
Thermalright SLK-800
Thermaltake Smartfan II
A7N8X Dlx
2x512MB Corsair PC3200
BBA 9700 Pro AIW
2x80GB 7200RPM Maxtor
Soundstorm

 

[Sigma]

thats pretty good. what do you have your vdimm and vddq set to. I can hit 200 and run prime for hours, but when i load up il2 forgotten battles, and start playing it locks my system. Also, you have any active cooling on your northbridge and southbridge. Im getting an slk800u/tornado combo plus an iceberg for my nb and ill throw that hunk of aluminum on there now on the sb. Ill see if that helps but i doubt it. I guess im one of the unlucky ones.

XP2500<b>@</b>2220Mhz(12x/185)
A7N8X DLX
Corsair XMS-LL PC3200 2x256(5-2-2-2T)
ATI Radeon 9700Pro
Maxtor 80gig ATA/133 8mb
Volcano 7+
Lite-On 52x24x52 CDRW
3Dmark01=16000

 

[Javic]

Just curious, everywhere I've seen, the SLK-800 and SLK-900's do not come with fans. Are you using any special fans for them or just any 90mm fan will do?

Thanks.

 

[umheint0]

They can't handle 90mm fans. The max is 80mm. And most people seem to be using the Thermaltake Smartfan II. I like it.

XP 2500+ Barton @ 198x11.5@1.85v
Thermalright SLK-800
Thermaltake Smartfan II
A7N8X Dlx
2x512MB Corsair PC3200
BBA 9700 Pro AIW
2x80GB 7200RPM Maxtor
Soundstorm

 

[umheint0]

my ddr voltage is .1 above stock (so, 1.6 I guess). I haven't messed with my agp voltage.

I do have active cooling on my north and south bridges. I recently got a Thermaltake Crystal Orb for the north bridge, and I moved the sink to the south bridge, just as you suggested. I beat you to it. I got about 4 mhz out of the fsb by doing it (206 now and going higher). I'm going to try to break 210 by going to 10.5 and see how that goes. I just found the sink on the southbridge helps keep it cool when listening to lots of music at the full volume. It seems to be able to handle the higher volumes without losing clarity, though I might be imagining things. It won't matter when I get my new soundcard.

Right now, my clock is at 2270mhz. You could match it when you get your new sink, no probs. You'll have to watch the memory timings tho. I don't have the LL models, but I'm running them at exactly the rated latency settings. You might have to bump your settings down a bit, but you'll have a higher bus that more than compensates for that. Good luck.

XP 2500+ Barton @ 198x11.5@1.85v
Thermalright SLK-800
Thermaltake Smartfan II
A7N8X Dlx
2x512MB Corsair PC3200
BBA 9700 Pro AIW
2x80GB 7200RPM Maxtor
Soundstorm

 

[Willamette_sucks]

Im using an 80mm tornado.
80mm is the max for the slk800, although a 60 will fit also, and for the slk900 you can use a 90, and probly a 60.
they make a 90mm tornado also.
tornados are great if you want loads of air to fly over the thing, but be warned, theyre not the quietest fans in the world.
and also when mounting a tornado on an slk, you have to take off the metal fan grill, so its best not to mess around inside your case when its on. those things can chop off fingers!

Long live ATI.

 

[Sigma]

Cool, I'll try fiddling with the mem timeings as soon as i get these cooling upgrades installed. Thanks for hte heads up.

XP2500<b>@</b>2220Mhz(12x/185)
A7N8X DLX
Corsair XMS-LL PC3200 2x256(5-2-2-2T)
ATI Radeon 9700Pro
Maxtor 80gig ATA/133 8mb
Volcano 7+
Lite-On 52x24x52 CDRW
3Dmark01=16000

 

[mikek272]

I have a Asus A7N8X Deluxe Mb and it runs like crap, I have an MSI G4 Ti 4400 on it, a brand new AMD 2800+ Barton on it and it only get just over 12000 points in 3dmark2001se, also I cant even get a steady 125 FPS in Q3A, I have a gig of pc3200. I have the latest bios for the board (1003) the latest detonator drivers. I am at a total loss as to why mine runs so crummy, I am running XP Home. A friend of mine gets almost the same score as me with a 2500+ Barton on an MSI MB and a 64 meg Ti4200 with his vid card overclocked. Did I just get a dud board or are there issues with this board..Im lost, I was all pumped to have a kick *ss pc and it is a sloth. I dont know what to do.
Any Advice anyone can give me? Or tips or tricks I should be doing to get this thing to work better?

 

[Sigma]

dont set your ram to run asynchronous. Set system performance to aggresive not optimal. That way your ram will run synchrounous (100%). Trust me you will get high 3d mark scores. See default settings in the bios will set it to optimal which will run your memory asynchronously giving you an effective 200myh fsb, but its crap becaue your mem timings are all eased back bigtime. Dont do that. set your system performance to aggressive and your fsb will be accurately displayed at 166 ( make sure its set to that - or you can overclock it highter, but thats a different story) When i first ran my 2500 at optimal settings i only got like 13500 3dmarks. set it to aggressive went up to like 15800. I now overclock and get like 16100 3dmarks. Check my sig.

XP2500<b>@</b>2220Mhz(12x/185)
A7N8X DLX
Corsair XMS-LL PC3200 2x256(5-2-2-2T)
ATI Radeon 9700Pro
Maxtor 80gig ATA/133 8mb
Volcano 7+
Lite-On 52x24x52 CDRW
3Dmark01=16000

 

[mikek272]

I have tried running 3d mark with all kinds of different settings in the bios. I have set my mem timings to 5-2-2-2.5, I have ran it at aggressive and at optimal, I havent done any FSB overclocking yet, but I shouldnt have to to get 125 fps in q3a and get a decent score in 3dmark. Nothing seems to work. I am very disappointed with this MB, I wish I had bought the MSI. This MB has never seemed to work right from the minute I bought it. It didnt run good when I had my 1800+ on it and it doesnt run good with a 2800+ on it. Im no computer genius or bios genius but I have a little experience with pcs and know how to put them together half decent, and Ive never ran into a problem like this.

 

[Sigma]

Try clearing the cmos, setting up the bios again and seeing if that helps. If you do rma the board(i suggest the abit nf7-s rev2 board. Its the best overclocking nforce2 board out there now. Stock it doesnt perform as well as the asus board and it doesnt have all the bells and whistles the asus board has, but if you plan on overclocking, thats the board your want. If you do decide to get another asus board though. get the rev 2.0 board and not the 1.04 or 1.06.

XP2500<b>@</b>2220Mhz(12x/185)
A7N8X DLX
Corsair XMS-LL PC3200 2x256(5-2-2-2T)
ATI Radeon 9700Pro
Maxtor 80gig ATA/133 8mb
Volcano 7+
Lite-On 52x24x52 CDRW
3Dmark01=16000

 

[Prof133]

If you do rma the board(i suggest the abit nf7-s rev2 board.

I agree. A great mobo.

 

[svol]

Don't forget the Epox 8RDA+ though... it is also a very good OC'er with lots of OC features.

My dual-PSU PC is so powerfull that the neighbourhood dims when I turn it on

 

[dinkster9]

I'll be flogged with a thousand wet cat tails for saying this, but why stop the insanity now...You want to increase performance? get ride of XP home. Go with 2000pro or maybe XP PRO (but takes hours turning off all the addons that waste your system resources). Rock solid, fast, stable out of the box = win2000pro.

Flame away . I do also agree with those other guys your ram timings are hurting you...but not for *that* much of a hit. Possibly did you get generic ram?

"sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick"
*grabs a stick and places it into the flames; mmmm, smores*
%Think before you act would be a good motto%

 

[svol]

Well I do agree with you that defaulty installed WinXP really hogs up your system with useless services when compared to Win2k.

My dual-PSU PC is so powerfull that the neighbourhood dims when I turn it on