Asus A7N8X or A7V8X?

[king-o-sticks]

Im thinking of saying goodbye to my dieing duron and upgrading to a nice new XP 2600+ in the next few weeks. Im confused over which motherboard to get for this new processor. I have my eye on the Asus A7N8X and Asus A7V8X and im am unsure on which to get. I know that the A7N8X uses the nforce chipset and will be faster if i use 2 channel memory or something. I only intend to get 1 stick of corsair 512mb XMS2700 for this system so i wont be using this 2 channel feature. I use the PC mainly for games and the web but also the odd bit of graphic website work. Would it be worth for me to spend the extra £20-30 for the nforce2 board?

Many thanks

 

[muckshifter]

Get the nforce & two sticks of ram ... be it 2x256 or 2x512, as long as they are a pair, it don't mater you will reap the benefit.

 

[1nteger]

I agree with Mucks...normally a single stick of ram would be more efficient than 2 sticks, but with the nForce board's Dual Channel facility you would be missing out on significant performance gains by only getting a single stick. I'd definitely go for 2x256Mb on the Asus A7N8X, which is a far better board than the A7V (based on the VIA chipset). There's no doubt that Corsair RAM is quality stuff, but unless you're an overclocker, you could save a few quid by going for a good reliable memory like Crucial or Samsung. Save on the RAM and invest in the better board:spin:

On the CPU, I still reckon the biggest bang for your buck is the XP2700+ (T'Bred core)...only around £100, but a faster (or equally fast) clock speed than many of the newer Bartons (even tho they have a little more cache)...and significantly cheaper.

 

[king-o-sticks]

Thanks a lot for the useful quick replys and im changing my plans to incorporate 2 sticks of crucial 512 ddr, Asus A7N8X and the XP 2700+. This lot sounds like it will need a lot of power so im guessing i will also need to get a larger power supply, will 450W be sufficient considering i will be getting a Radeon 9600 Pro 128Mb also?

Thanks again

 

[1nteger]

Originally posted by king-o-sticks
...2 sticks of crucial 512 ddr, Asus A7N8X and the XP 2700+... im guessing i will also need to get a larger power supply, will 450W be sufficient considering i will be getting a Radeon 9600 Pro 128Mb also?

450W will be plenty...

 

[king-o-sticks]

brilliant, cant wait till i have enough, by then the prices will probably come down further

By the way, does anyone recommend a certain brand / model of monitor. Im looking for something around 17"-19" and a good picture is essential for games but i dont want to spend too much money All i know is that having the flatest screen possible and the smallest dot pitch with support for high resolutions and refresh rates is supposed to be good. Any suggestions?

 

[1nteger]

Originally posted by king-o-sticks
...monitor... Im looking for something around 17"-19" and a good picture is essential for games but i dont want to spend too much money...

When u say u dont want to spend too much...what's ur upper limit?

 

[king-o-sticks]

about 170ish. This is what i hope to buy in the end:

Asus A7N8X nforce 2 - £73
AthlonXP 2600 (£70) or AthlonXP 2700 (£100) still unsure
Crucial PC2700 512mb x 2 - (£103)
WD Caviar 80GB 8MB (£67) or 2MB (£57) unsure
QTEC 450 Watt PSU - £16
Radeon 9600 Pro 128Mb - £128
CoolerMaster CP5-6J31C Upto XP3000+ - £7
Unknown CRT monitor - £170ish

Regards

 

[muckshifter]

My pick from your list would be ...

Asus A7N8X nforce 2
AthlonXP 2600 T'Bred (333)
Crucial PC2700 512mb x 2
WD Caviar 80GB 8MB
QTEC 450 Watt PSU
Radeon 9600 Pro 128Mb
CoolerMaster CP5-6J31C Upto XP3000

and a

17'' Iiyama Vision Master Pro 413 (HM703UT A)
3 Year OS Warranty - DiamondTron M2, 0.25ag, 96Khz, 1600 x 1200.

 

[king-o-sticks]

i found this one for £175 which is quite a lot but you probably get what you pay. However what do you think of the Samsung 17ins SM757DFX DFL .20 96kHz which is around £150?

 

[muckshifter]

Yep, that will do.

 

[1nteger]

Iiyama VM Pro 17'' or 19'' are real bargains...and always check out the warranty period...can make all the difference

 

[king-o-sticks]

big thanks to both of you for your advice, very helpful

 

[Eric Portelance]

A7N8X has better performance and is probably the best chipset out there right now for K7 processors. End of discussion.

 

[king-o-sticks]

if anyone else is looking for the 17'' Iiyama Vision Master Pro 413 its on scan for around £140!

 

[muckshifter]

A7N8X ?

... don't forget to get these drivers to be assured everything will work correctly.

 

[1nteger]

Too right, Mucks...and it's worth popping back every now and then to check for further updates of nVidia nForce drivers...plus:

u might want to think about updating (flashing) the bios. This is as straightforward as downloading and installing a new driver nowadays...at least on Asus mobos.

On the Asus board's supplied driver CD, there's a utility that's specifically there to help you update the bios either via the web or direct from a file. The web approach is very iffy, but the simplest way to do it is this:

Use the Asus bios utility to save a copy of your existing bios to floppy (in case u crash your system!!)

Then, goto this link:

http://www.asus.com.tw/support/download/item.aspx?ModelName=A7N8X Deluxe

That's where u can get the right bios update for your mobo (plus other drivers etc if u want to explore). Download the zip file and again back it up to floppy. (N.B. if u don't get the Deluxe version of the mobo, there's another page)

Then use the Asus utility to update the bios from that file (copy it to ur desktop for this if u like).

Another way is to use the (Alt+F2 ??) during the boot sequence and enter the flash utility...i think u just stick the floppy in (but don't take my word for it...i didn't try that!!).

Again, keep an eye out for bios updates...they make everything work better!

 

[king-o-sticks]

bah i'l have to get a floppy drive now

I was wondering what psu i would need for this new system, i currently have a 350W psu that came with my cheap and cheerful case but ive had no problems with it at all. Some of the reviews on ebuyer for the qtec and budget products are quite bad, is it worth investing in something a bit more expensive like antec?

 

[muckshifter]

Yes - No

Personally I will fit a respectable PSU in my system especially as we're dealing with a, by today's standards, heavy power consumption.

If you want to spend £120 on a PSU fine, but a decant 400/500 watt is what I would recommend. Pick one that has at least two B'bearing fans.

bah i'l have to get a floppy drive now

You can 'fix' any system that has a floppy drive.

 

[1nteger]

You should be able to get a very sound dual fan 400W+ PSU for £40 or so from somewhere like Scan.

As for Floppy's...there's a thread hereabouts on just that subject...and to think i argued that they are no longer needed:crazy:

As soon as i can sort out a bootable pen drive i'm gonna put cellotape over my FDD.