Actually I just looked at the manual (downloaded it from the website)

This is a pretty cool board. I dont know how common it is on other boards...
probably common

But it also has a primary and secondary ide slot/connector so that old
harddisks can be connected as well.. cool !

It also has 4 sata connectors so I guess that is at least room for 6
harddrives ?

I am not sure if the sata raid connectors can be used as normal sata
connectors ?

What if I dont want to use raid ?

One last question about this board...

What is the default bios version ? I would like to buy/use this board with
athlon x2 processor... I dont have any other processors... so flashing the
bios is not an option for me

Bye,
Skybuck.

"Skybuck Flying" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:...
> Hi,
>
> Can SATA II harddisks be used with SATA I motherboards ?
>
> In otherwords are SATA II harddisk backwards compatible with just SATA ?
>
> Does this motherboard: Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe support SATA II harddisks ?
>
> Would I need an extra controller to connect the harddisks or do I simply
> connect them
> directly to the motherboard ?
>
> It seems this motherboard can support 8 harddisks ???
>
> What kind of casing is needed for that ??
>
> Bye,
> Skybuck.
>
>

"Skybuck Flying" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:da8p45$tur$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> It also has 4 sata connectors so I guess that is at least room for 6
> harddrives ?

Each IDE connector can handle 2 drives (master and slave).

> I am not sure if the sata raid connectors can be used as normal sata
> connectors ?

They are not RAID connectors, the are SATA connectors. RAID is a
configuration, not a drive connection type.

> What if I dont want to use raid ?

No problem.

> One last question about this board...
>
> What is the default bios version ? I would like to buy/use this board with
> athlon x2 processor... I dont have any other processors... so flashing the
> bios is not an option for me

If you want the X2 you need to purchase the board and CPU from a reatiler
that will flash the bios with the lastest version or you will be dead in the
water.Moarch Computer is one vendor who will do this if you ask them to.
http://www.monarchcomputer.com

"Mark A" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:0cqdnfcveaQqnFXfRVn-(E-Mail Removed)...
> "Skybuck Flying" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:da8p45$tur$(E-Mail Removed)...
> >
> > It also has 4 sata connectors so I guess that is at least room for 6
> > harddrives ?
>
> Each IDE connector can handle 2 drives (master and slave).
>
> > I am not sure if the sata raid connectors can be used as normal sata
> > connectors ?
>
> They are not RAID connectors, the are SATA connectors. RAID is a
> configuration, not a drive connection type.
>
> > What if I dont want to use raid ?
>
> No problem.
>
> > One last question about this board...
> >
> > What is the default bios version ? I would like to buy/use this board
with
> > athlon x2 processor... I dont have any other processors... so flashing
the
> > bios is not an option for me
>
> If you want the X2 you need to purchase the board and CPU from a reatiler
> that will flash the bios with the lastest version or you will be dead in
the
> water.Moarch Computer is one vendor who will do this if you ask them to.
> http://www.monarchcomputer.com

Hmm I was thinking about buying all parts seperatly so that I can check if
all parts are new etc... by looking if all packages are closed etc. In other
words I dont want anybody else to mess with my new stuff

How long before asus ships a new motherboard that supports athlon x2
processors out of the box... that's what I am wondering about =D

Bye,
Skybuck.

"Skybuck Flying" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:da98ia$puc$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> Hmm I was thinking about buying all parts seperatly so that I can check if
> all parts are new etc... by looking if all packages are closed etc. In
> other
> words I dont want anybody else to mess with my new stuff
>
> How long before asus ships a new motherboard that supports athlon x2
> processors out of the box... that's what I am wondering about =D
>
> Bye,
> Skybuck.
>
Since the X2 is brand new, I don't think anyone will mess up your new stuff.
if you don't buy from a vendor like Monarch who will install the bios for
you, then you had better have your own old CPU to get the bios up to date.

It sounds like you have some severe psychological problems you need to
overcome before you think about building a new PC.

"Mark A" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:AqGdnRKLkL0lqVXfRVn-(E-Mail Removed)...
> "Skybuck Flying" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:da98ia$puc$(E-Mail Removed)...
> >
> > Hmm I was thinking about buying all parts seperatly so that I can check if
> > all parts are new etc... by looking if all packages are closed etc. In
> > other
> > words I dont want anybody else to mess with my new stuff
> >
> > How long before asus ships a new motherboard that supports athlon x2
> > processors out of the box... that's what I am wondering about =D
> >
> Since the X2 is brand new, I don't think anyone will mess up your new stuff.
> if you don't buy from a vendor like Monarch who will install the bios for
> you, then you had better have your own old CPU to get the bios up to date.
>
> It sounds like you have some severe psychological problems you need to
> overcome before you think about building a new PC.
>
The alt.comp trolls are a funny bunch. Tell us your diagnosis, Doctor.

"Eric Gisin" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...

> The alt.comp trolls are a funny bunch. Tell us your diagnosis, Doctor.


Confine your posts to the business of this NG.

Ron Reaugh <ron-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:3%Xxe.1074358$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Eric Gisin <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote

>> The alt.comp trolls are a funny bunch. Tell us your diagnosis, Doctor.

> Confine your posts to the business of this NG.

Get ****ed.

They surely will sell the same board with the latest BIOS installed.


"Skybuck Flying" <(E-Mail Removed)> a écrit dans le message de news:
da98ia$puc$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "Mark A" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:0cqdnfcveaQqnFXfRVn-(E-Mail Removed)...
>> "Skybuck Flying" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:da8p45$tur$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> >
>> > It also has 4 sata connectors so I guess that is at least room for 6
>> > harddrives ?
>>
>> Each IDE connector can handle 2 drives (master and slave).
>>
>> > I am not sure if the sata raid connectors can be used as normal sata
>> > connectors ?
>>
>> They are not RAID connectors, the are SATA connectors. RAID is a
>> configuration, not a drive connection type.
>>
>> > What if I dont want to use raid ?
>>
>> No problem.
>>
>> > One last question about this board...
>> >
>> > What is the default bios version ? I would like to buy/use this board
> with
>> > athlon x2 processor... I dont have any other processors... so flashing
> the
>> > bios is not an option for me
>>
>> If you want the X2 you need to purchase the board and CPU from a reatiler
>> that will flash the bios with the lastest version or you will be dead in
> the
>> water.Moarch Computer is one vendor who will do this if you ask them to.
>> http://www.monarchcomputer.com
>
> Hmm I was thinking about buying all parts seperatly so that I can check if
> all parts are new etc... by looking if all packages are closed etc. In
> other
> words I dont want anybody else to mess with my new stuff
>
> How long before asus ships a new motherboard that supports athlon x2
> processors out of the box... that's what I am wondering about =D
>
> Bye,
> Skybuck.
>
>

"Natéag" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:X3Zxe.3893$(E-Mail Removed)...
> They surely will sell the same board with the latest BIOS installed.
>
I don't know if Asus will always ship a board with the latest bios (by the
time it reaches the retailer), but at some point they will ship a mb with a
bios that supports the X2. Retailers like Monarch will install the necessary
bios for your if you buy the CPU and mb from them (they will not use X2 CPU
to install the bios). I don't understand why anyone would have a problem
with that.

Well I have compared the amd athlon x2 processor + nvidia nforce 4 chipset
vs the intel pentium 4 extreme edition + intel 955x chipset.

I have looked at benchmarks, features, software optimization guides and
manuals.

In general I like the athlon x2 and nvidia nforce 4 chipset a lot and here
is why

1. Bios voice stuff:

The coolest thing is the "bios voice reporter stuff".

For example when the keyboard is not plugged in and the voice stuff is
enabled it will say with a human voice: "no keyboard plugged in" or
something like that.

There is even a boot option so everytime you boot it says:

"booting computer" or something like that.

It's even possible to replace these voice message with your own voice which
could be lot's of fun everytime you start your pc.

I could say something like: "welcome skybuck"

Anyway that's just way cool and I want to see it in action

2. Best performance in AMD/NVidia 4 corner occording to many websites...
which is not too surprising looking at the facts/theory:

Athlon x2 4800+ fastest... occording to benchmarks.

Theory:

SLI can support two graphics cards.

DDR memory has lower latency than DDRII memory.

Athlon X2 has onboard memory controller halving the latency even further.

3. Software optimization guide...

AMD's software optimization guide was clear, short and straight to the
point...

However it didn't go into the multi threading stuff that much etc...

Intel looked at it from a little bit higher view... focusing more on
threading and cache stuff etc...
The general impression was that software would have to be optimized a lot
for the intel processor to achieve more performance which might be a little
bit too much to ask for programmers etc... In the end the software has to be
able to run on AMD and INTEL processors as well as possible. Though intel
did provide some very interesting examples for 3d engines etc...

So in short AMD's software optimization guide was pretty simple and easy to
follow but I also kinda liked the intel software optimization guide
though a bit more complex and harder to follow

What I don't like about intel stuff is the following stuff:

- No cool bios voice stuff.. just the normal (pretty stupid beeping )
which is a big turn off for me lol ... zero innovation

- Much higher power/watt/ampere requirements etc... more expensive for
electril bill and needs big expensive power unit...

Though intel has some little points going (possibly)

+ 8 GB ram support (but no 2 GB ram chips available ?)
+ SATA II support (nvidia nforce 4 is only sata I support ?)
+ Asus is using passive cooling for some chips... (not sure what nvidia
nforce 4 boards are using ?)

This last point is something I am definetly going to look further into
because I just ****ing hate cooling fans since they attract lot's of dust
and make noise etc... I ****ing hate em
I live in a very dustry environment

Though I never cleaned my pentium III cooling fan and it's still working
after 5 years which is pretty amazing... I did blow off some dust sometime.
My power fan having has to be cleaned at least once in two years etc.

So I wonder if any cooling fans are sleave or ball bearing... The sleave
bearing fans are probably worse because dust can get inside of them... the
cpu fan is probably a ball bearing fan which probably explains why it is
still going strong

However having everything passively cooled invokes fear inside of me... fear
that not enough air flow is inside the motherboard... heat building up and
chips dieing I do have a fanless video card (fx5200) and it's still
working... it too is passively cooled.

The biggest drawback for AMD/Athlon x2 4800+ is the bios problem... a flash
is needed.

+ So having a intel motherboard which works right out of the box which is
available too is a big plus

+ Also the intel motherboard supports DDR2 memory... will this is slower it
is the future of memory chips so probably not much to worry about
availability of those chips.. However I plan to buy as much memory as
possible so for me it's not a problem... unless the chips die in the future


So the asus intel motherboards have some strong points going for them
(P5WD2 Premium (asus/intel/intel) vs A8N-SLI deluxe (asus/amd/nvidia) )

1. Immediate availability of motherboard and processor right out of the box.
2. Passive cooling of motherboard chips. (I think the processor still has a
fan which might be good for a little bit of airflow ? However passive
cooling for the cpu might be very impressive too )
3. DDR II memory chips (slower but the future)
4. SATA II support
5. Possibly 8 GB ram support ? I expect 4 GB of ram to be enough for the
coming 5 years. The pc will probably last 5 years... then it would need
replacing to keep up with the games
(Within a year I expect the minimum ammount of ram to be 1GB for longhorn...
even 2 GB for gaming... then slowly it will go up to 4 GB after a couple of
years ) so I think 8 GB of ram could be too much for the coming 5 years
however... it never hurts to have extra memory
6. Better realtek codec 882d high definition (audio)

I am a little bit worried about the AI NOS feature... it will automatically
overclock the system if a game needs more performance... I am worried about
overheating or crashes...

Well it's a though decision...

There is one more thing ofcourse... the intel pentium 4 extreme processor
acts like 4 cpu's... which could be better in case windows xp 64 bit has
many threads running at once... hyper threading tries to use parts of a
processor which are not used by other threads

On one hand we have this overheating nvidia nforce 4 sli chip... but maybe
it only overheats with two graphics cards... but a cooler athlon x2
processor ?
at least it uses less power...

On the other hand we have this cooler intel chipset ?? passively cool...
which could get a bit hotter but ok... but also a pretty hot power consuming
processor ? hmmmmmmmmm. Which requires a power consuming psu which also
could get quit hot... hmmmmmmmmm...

If asus would come out with a new motherboard which would support the athlon
x2 processor out of the box and maybe with passive cooling for the
chipsets... then I would be sold and go for it =D add in 8 GB of ram
support and maybe sata II support <- but maybe that s not possible with
nvidia nforce 4 chipset... and it s even a better deal oh yeah and
ofcourse the better realtek audio.. however I will probably get an
additional sound card for extra fps or maybe not =D

The biggest problem is I want to build my own system and have all brand new
components in a sealed package... I do not want to buy used components etc,
which might be malfunctioning etc

(maybe the intel raid controller is better too... who knows but I am not
that interested in raid the biggest frustration is the limited i/o
operations of harddisk in general... raid won't help that much... so I'll go
with seperate harddisk and a page file on a seperate harddisk and
ofcourse windows software tweaks )

However I might give raid 0 a try just for kicks to see the transfer speed
etc... maybe to store games on it for faster load times... but the harddisk
might not be the problem... maybe it's the decompressing of zip files etc...
which means cpu limited etc

Bye,
Skybuck.

"Natéag" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:X3Zxe.3893$(E-Mail Removed)...
> They surely will sell the same board with the latest BIOS installed.
>
>
> "Skybuck Flying" <(E-Mail Removed)> a écrit dans le message de news:
> da98ia$puc$(E-Mail Removed)...
> >
> > "Mark A" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> > news:0cqdnfcveaQqnFXfRVn-(E-Mail Removed)...
> >> "Skybuck Flying" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> >> news:da8p45$tur$(E-Mail Removed)...
> >> >
> >> > It also has 4 sata connectors so I guess that is at least room for 6
> >> > harddrives ?
> >>
> >> Each IDE connector can handle 2 drives (master and slave).
> >>
> >> > I am not sure if the sata raid connectors can be used as normal sata
> >> > connectors ?
> >>
> >> They are not RAID connectors, the are SATA connectors. RAID is a
> >> configuration, not a drive connection type.
> >>
> >> > What if I dont want to use raid ?
> >>
> >> No problem.
> >>
> >> > One last question about this board...
> >> >
> >> > What is the default bios version ? I would like to buy/use this board
> > with
> >> > athlon x2 processor... I dont have any other processors... so
flashing
> > the
> >> > bios is not an option for me
> >>
> >> If you want the X2 you need to purchase the board and CPU from a
reatiler
> >> that will flash the bios with the lastest version or you will be dead
in
> > the
> >> water.Moarch Computer is one vendor who will do this if you ask them
to.
> >> http://www.monarchcomputer.com
> >
> > Hmm I was thinking about buying all parts seperatly so that I can check
if
> > all parts are new etc... by looking if all packages are closed etc. In
> > other
> > words I dont want anybody else to mess with my new stuff
> >
> > How long before asus ships a new motherboard that supports athlon x2
> > processors out of the box... that's what I am wondering about =D
> >
> > Bye,
> > Skybuck.
> >
> >
>
>