Definitive guide to A7N8X setup?

[geeejay]

Is it me or do I get the impression that this MOBO a bit of a MOFO to set up???

I have been searching the forums for advice on setting up the Asus A7N8X and there soooo much info out there, spread across soooo many postings that I'm starting to go stir crazy!! I hope that this posting might consolodate some of that info by gaining advice from people that have already been through this process.

I am waiting in great anticipation for Mr Postman to deliver an A7N8X (not the Deluxe model unfortunately), with 2x TwinMOS PC2700 DDR (CL2)and an AMD Athlon XP2600+. However, when it turns up, I hope my anticipation does not fade to dispair.

From what I have read on the forums, I need to install the memory into slots 1&2 for the dual channel to work. Then I need to set the BIOS to 'Agressive' which should give a memory speed of 166 in synch with the auto detected FSB of 166. I then need to specify the CL of 2.

Is this right and is there anything else I need to know? Can anyone offer advice from their own experience of setting up this board?

Cheers!!



Can someone help me build a flying PC . . . WITHOUT IT BEING THROWN OUT THE WINDOW IN FRUSTRATION!!

 

[jlanka]

I just finished building 2 of these, and had no problems whatsoever. You are wrong about the DIMM slots, this is from the manual, page 1-8:

To enhance system performance, utilize dual-channel feature when installing additional DIMM's. Install the DIMM's in any of the following sequence: Sockets 1 & 3 or Sockets 2 & 3 or Sockets 1, 2 & 3

so sockets 1 & 2 are the only ones that will not give you dual-channel.

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

 

[ejsmith2]

Right now, I can't get it to play any games.

I've got a Ti4200, 512meg Geil PC3200, 2000XP, and the "E" bios.

Loads and runs XP just fine, but d3d games it goes completely crazy. The little bit of video that shows, isn't.

The 42.xx Detonators didn't help any. OpenGL games will play for a minute or so, then either reboot the computer, or lockup.

Haven't tried the older GTS video card yet.

Everyone seems to be having very good results with the Radeon 9700, and Corsair memory. Give that combination some serious consideration; I know I am...

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

 

[whillowhim]

I'm having this exact problems. Any game I try to play ends up dying in a matter of seconds.

I have a Radeon 9700 pro on this motherboard, and for a while the fix for this was to disable the AGP 8x support. This let me play games for a while (maybe one crash every couple hours) but after more fiddling in an attempt to improve things, I ended up back where I started.

 

[KWPLunchbox]

Upgrade to at least the 1001G bios or one of the 1002 beta bios. Also, make sure you've got XP service pack 1 installed and the 2.00 Nforce2 drivers off of the Nvidia website. This should solve any software problems.

<font color=purple> You know its bad when license plate letters all look like file extensions </font color=purple>

 

[Crashman]

No, I don't think you'll have a problem, as most problems seem to be related to the use of PC3500.

<font color=blue>You're posting in a forum with class. It may be third class, but it's still class!</font color=blue>