A7N8X-E or A7N8X-X?

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus (More info?)

Russell Alexander wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Well, it's that time again - my system is too slow to use certain
> programs (no, I won't say what it is. It's a workhorse, but the USB
> is version 1.0, so that should date it.)
>
> So, which mobo would you gurus recommend? I have an add-on Firewire
> card, so I'm not too worried about having it onboard. I use an
> external USB AD-DA converter plus MIDI modules, so the onboard sound
> doesn't matter much. It would be nice if it's defeatable.

The -E has the Soundstorm chip onboard, which is one of the most
sophisticated integrated sound device. The -X has just an AC97 chip. But
in both cases I prefer disabling the onboard sound and adding a SB Audigy.

>
> Wi-Fi slot? I'd rather have the choice a PCI offers.

When I bought my A7N8X-E, I couldn't find any vendor that offered the
802.11g version of the Asus WiFi module. So I went with a Linksys PCI
card. No problems whatoever.

>
> Video card? I don't trust onboard cards, but if it will play Doom 3
> (or if it's defeatable so I can use another card) that sounds good.
> I'd like to be able to do video editing to/from a VCR or camera.

Neither the -E or the -X boards have integrated video. Only the -VM has
it, and it's a micro-ATX board (mini-ATX?).

>
> The BIOS - Death issue on the 8X-X doesn't sound like fun. Yet lots
> of people say it's the best board they've ever owned.

Well, my -E came brain dead, asking to be flashed with a fresh BIOS, but
failing to do so every time. Got it changed, and works fine ever since.
I'd say it's the second best board I ever had, second to my old Asus P3V4X.

>
> Any opinions would be greatly welcomed. I've decided on buying one of
> these two boards, now it's a question of which one!

I agree on the fact that most of the extras on the -E over the -X can be
handled by third-party cards, but the -E has support for dual channel
memory access. But again there's little gain over it.

The -E version can save you the hassle of managing numerous add-on
cards, but if you intend to replace most of the extra features with
hardware you already own, and you don't mind the dual channel feature,
get the -X.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus (More info?)

I have both as such..but my Deluxe is the revision 2 not E.
Unless you are going to run SATA drives or have the need for 6 IDE type
devices go and run the 8X-X.Since all the added features of the Deluxe you
run as 3rd party cards, might as well save a few bucks.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus (More info?)

Russell Alexander schrieb:

> Hi,
>
> Well, it's that time again - my system is too slow to use certain
> programs (no, I won't say what it is. It's a workhorse, but the USB
> is version 1.0, so that should date it.)

USB 1 was used from 1997 through 2001 or so, so that's rather vague.

> So, which mobo would you gurus recommend?

Rather the -E than the -X, since the latter does not support dual
channel operation. BTW, nForce2 boards apparently can be quite nasty
when it comes to APIC usage. A VIA KT600 based board may be the better
overall solution, even if being marginally slower. They've got working
PCI by now, imagine that. (The KT880 still seemed to be a bit rough
round the edges last time I checked, a BIOS update may really be
necessary with such a board.)

BTW, Asus boards are usually nothing overly special these days.

Stephan
--
Meine Andere Seite: http://stephan.win31.de/
PC#6: i440BX, 1xP3-500E, 512 MiB, 18+80 GB, R9k AGP 64 MiB, 110W
This is a SCSI-inside, Legacy-plus, TCPA-free computer