ok I took the plunge A7N8X

[Terminator]

Just 2 days off receiving my new motherboard...Asus A7N8X Deluxe. :)

Main reason for this motherboard was probably the reviews and the forum inputs here.
Just a couple of questions

1) Does this board automatically unlock the multipliers on the CPU?

2) Only have 1 Crucial (micron) 256 DDR ram PC2100 . Will get DDR400 (probably Corsair XMS) when funds are better. Can I buy another identical Crucial Ram and utilize the special memory performance from the dual banks using them? I know it won't be top performance but will it work at all?

Many thanks

T

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[BipolarBill]

1. Yes - Thoroughbreds and Bartons only.

2. You can buy one 256MB stick, two 128MB sticks (for DIMMs 2 and 3) or two 256MB sticks (ditto). The board will see the arrangement and activate the dual-channel feature. Try for PC3200 RAM.

[Terminator]

Many thanks BP..look forward to 'playing' with it especially as my attempts at unlocking the L1 bridges on my XP1800 were useless.

T

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[Bigjakkstaffa]

1) Does this board automatically unlock the multipliers on the CPU?

You may or may not need a BIOS falsh however to enable that feature

--Jakk:t

[Terminator]

Ok Got the board installed. Is the deluxe gold version (wow..Gold = free Intervideo Cd...thanks!!.....NOT)

Just a couple of things ...every now and then the system refuses to reboot or shutdown.....Windows shuts down but the machine is still powered up??? or is doesn't restart unless hitting the reset button... any ideas?

My 1800XP will not unlock at all... it is an old chip so I think it's the series 6 chip so is this the reason.. I suspect it is.

System as follows

A7N8X Deluxe
1800XP
256 DDR PC2100 Crucial memory
Maxtor 40 GB ATA 133
LG X16 DVD
TSK Cyclone CD-RW 48/24/48
Diamond supra express V92.VCC modem
Leadtek A250 Ti4400 Vid card
Leadtek WinTV 2000XP card
Samsung Syncmaster 753DFX monitor
Q-tec 450W Gold power supply
Evercool heatsink fan up to 2800+


Only adjustments I have made to the motherboard is to disable the SATA hard drive controller.

If this CPU is of the series that does not let the motherboard unlock it with fiddling with the L1 bridges then what would you recommend as a good overclockable CPU for the cost?

Many thanks

T


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[BipolarBill]

Update your BIOS ASAP - the A7N8X suffers from "sudden BIOS death" syndrome with the original BIOS. That may address the shutdown problem too.

Any current Athlon XP T-bred will overclock well. The 2100+ is cheap and you should get 2400+ performance easily. Just be sure it's a T-bred.

That Palomino you have runs hot and doesn't OC worth a darn.

[Terminator]

Sorry forgot to mention ..first thing I did was upgrade bios to 1002D.

Thanks..probably get a t-bird 2100 :)

T

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[Terminator]

Just saw you can get a Barton 2500 at a reasonable price. Anyone any idea how far it will clock??? Hopefully to 3000xp :)

T

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ps... The sound quality on this board blows away my Sb live..dead chuffed

[BipolarBill]

It will go to about 185MHz easily on a non-nForce2 board. It won't make 3000+, but should make 2800+.

[Imperion1]

1800xp Palamino doesn't OC too far. I have this cpu, farthest I could get w/ the L1 bridges unlocked is up to a 2000xp. This is with also having to raise the vcore to 1.825v. At idle, it sits at 41c / 105f.

[BiG MiKeY]

ive been hearing alot of good things about the 1700xp and the 2100xp (thats y i have it). the 1700 gets around 2.1 (wit air) i have seen ppl getting 2.3ghz (mix air some water). Might i add the chip is very cheap!.the 2100xp wut i have is at 2.1 ghz. at 1.7v (it will run at 1.675 wit hicups occasionally) should last for atleast a year or till the bartons prices drop to $100 or so. i can go higher i had no probs @2.3 just didnt see the extra 200 mhz worth upping the voltage, and killing the chip. maybe when i get money for my watercooling setup


Sorry i should make some corrections there are many ppl passing the 2.1ghz on air

here is a link to ppl wit the 1700xp posting results. Very impressive. Overclockers.com (http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=160416)

[Terminator]

Thanks for the input.
Will still probably get a Barton 2500 with the 2 256MB PC3200 corsair XMS RAM sticks when the have the money.

Just one more thing. What are the best digital speakers for this board? The sound is brilliant even through my Creative speakers but want to access the digital output.

T

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[deadkenny]

Regarding the power management issues, I would double check the settings both in the BIOS and Windows related to power management.

For the OC'able processor, I think that Bartons are still pretty expensive. I would recommend something cheap, like a low-end Tbred, for now and OC it. Later, when the price on the Bartons comes down you can get a high-end one. Maybe even OC it to 200MHz FSB to run synchronously with your PC3200 DDR.