ASUS MOBO upgrade recommendations

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rgraham1

I have 3 ASUS A7N8X Deluxe Systems with AMD CPUs and have found the
systems to be fairly stable and would like to keep my upgrade path of
AMD / ASUS. My desire is to reuse as many components as is reasonably
possible from the systems. So the more options I leave available, the
better...

Could I get your suggestions on what ASUS AMD MoBo would you recommend?


What AMD Processor for the above would be a good tradeoff between
horsepower and cost?

Do you feel that the 64 Bit CPUs are a good value at this point in
time?

If so, what memory configurations would you recommend for the above?

The applications for the systems include: Windows Media Center and
general business applications and consumer use. I don't expect any
will be used as Gaming machines.

thanks,

Ron
 
I have 3 ASUS A7N8X Deluxe Systems with AMD CPUs and have found the
systems to be fairly stable and would like to keep my upgrade path of
AMD / ASUS. My desire is to reuse as many components as is reasonably
possible from the systems. So the more options I leave available, the
better...

Could I get your suggestions on what ASUS AMD MoBo would you recommend?


What AMD Processor for the above would be a good tradeoff between
horsepower and cost?

Do you feel that the 64 Bit CPUs are a good value at this point in
time?

If so, what memory configurations would you recommend for the above?

The applications for the systems include: Windows Media Center and
general business applications and consumer use. I don't expect any
will be used as Gaming machines.

thanks,

Ron

From your old system, you might be trying to preserve the AGP
video card and the DDR RAM.

The newer processors come in S754 and S939 variants. The core
on the processors is very similar, with the S754 having a single
channel memory interface, and the S939 having a dual channel
interface. The S754 may have three memory slots, of which
2x512 or 2x1024MB DDR memory might be convenient. Filling all
three slots means setting the memory clock quite low (due to bus
loading), so two DIMMs would be a reasonable limit.

The S939 has four DDR DIMM slots, which leaves some room for
adding memory. There is still some loading effect, but
usually you can run DDR400 Command Rate 2T with the four
sticks.

In terms of processor performance, S754 actually holds up
well when compared to S939, and the only real limit is that
imposed by marketing decisions. People who have gamed with
S754 boards seem to be happy with them.

The S754 boards are kind of dead end, in that you would not
expect a pile of more powerful processors for the socket.
S939 now has single and dual core processors as options.
(Socket M2 might be out in a few days, which is a brand
new processor, using DDR2 memory instead of DDR. You will
get to preserve less of your previous hardware by using
that, as more of the motherboards will be PCI Express.)
So you might start your search, by reviewing prices for
S754 and S939 processors on a site like Newegg, to get
some idea of whether your budget dictates S754 or allows
S939.

Boards with K8T800 from Via should be OK. The chipset
doesn't drive memory, as the memory controller is now
inside the processor. The chipset still drives the video
card slot, and the K8T800 appears to work OK on the
AGP end.

If you are looking at an Nforce3 board, and you have a
6800 video card, you may want to do some searching around
either on private forums or in Google. I vaguely remember
there was some kind of stuttering problem in games, with
one of the 6800 cards and Nforce3, which didn't get
fixed by Nvidia.

http://groups.google.ca/group/alt.c..._frm/thread/424dccdcb057893f/9b38a82d15c3a370

You can go through the list here, and find boards with
Nvidia, Via, SIS, ULI, and ATI chipsets. There might not
be too many Nvidia boards that can help you, as you need an
AGP slot.

http://usa.asus.com/products2.aspx?l1=3&l2=-1

I guess my first question for you, is what you are hoping
to achieve with the upgrade. If the computers in question
were performing a lengthy computation, a faster processor
will shorten the execution time for the computation (whether
it is transcoding a video or doing a Photoshop operation).
If you went from a AthlonXP 3200+ S462 processor to a
3500+ level processor from the new ones, chances are you
might not notice too much difference at the desktop level.
(Scroll throttles in the OS help to prevent more powerful
processor from making the interface unusably faster.)
If you were using Athlon 1200's before, then surfing might
feel a bit snappier with one of the new processors.

Plug the motherboard model name in here, to find out which
processors are supported:

http://support.asus.com.tw/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx?SLanguage=en-us

There are currently 92 models of processor listed on this
site, and you can see what processor core clock is used
with a given model of processor:

http://www.amdcompare.com/us-en/desktop/

A dual core 3800+ is the cheapest dual core made, and
will definitely feel different than what you are currently
using. It is socket 939. This is AMD's answer to hyperthreading.
That would give you a smoother desktop experience, as the
desktop will still be fluid when there is a lengthy
computation going on with one of the two cores on the
processor. An A8V Deluxe can run a dual core processor, and
gives you the AGP slot. There are plenty of comments here
about setup issues, which OS is best, and so on - the system
should be prepped by someone knowledgeable before being
"sprung" on an end user :-)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/CustRatingReview.asp?Item=N82E16819103562

HTH,
Paul
 
I have 3 ASUS A7N8X Deluxe Systems with AMD CPUs and have found the
systems to be fairly stable and would like to keep my upgrade path of
AMD / ASUS. My desire is to reuse as many components as is reasonably
possible from the systems. So the more options I leave available, the
better...

How much RAM and what are the modules? What power supply do you have?


Either the ASUS A8N5X or A8N-E Athlon 64 S939 motherboards
are good choices since you won't be doing heavy gaming.

horsepower and cost?

The Athlon64 3200+ and 3500+ processors are good values right now.

They sure are. They run faster than older Athlon CPUs in 32-bit
mode and don't need a 64-bit OS.

If so, what memory configurations would you recommend for the above?

It's best to run two same size PC3200 modules at a time for the
best dual channel performance.
 
I have 3 ASUS A7N8X Deluxe Systems with AMD CPUs and have found the
systems to be fairly stable and would like to keep my upgrade path of
AMD / ASUS. My desire is to reuse as many components as is reasonably
possible from the systems. So the more options I leave available, the
better...

Could I get your suggestions on what ASUS AMD MoBo would you recommend?


What AMD Processor for the above would be a good tradeoff between
horsepower and cost?

Do you feel that the 64 Bit CPUs are a good value at this point in
time?

If so, what memory configurations would you recommend for the above?

The applications for the systems include: Windows Media Center and
general business applications and consumer use. I don't expect any
will be used as Gaming machines.

thanks,

Ron

Back in May '05 I picked up an A8V with a new Venice core 3000+ (Athlon
64) from Monarch, who burned it in for 24 hours before shipping it to
me. I had planned to replace my old A7V8X with Athlon XP 2600+,
keeping my $$$ ATI video card (which never seemed at home in the old
mobo, for bios reasons or what I don't know) and 2 512 MB and 1 256 MB
DIMMs of 3500 DDR CAS 2.0 memory, plus all the other junk in the box.

Unfortunately when I planned to do the switch I broke my right clavicle
in a high-speed bicycling crash, lost a lot of skin, tore several
muscles in my right arm and upper back and couldn't do bugger all for
months. The A8V sat in its carton as a doorstop for months.

This Sunday, after more fits with the video card I determined the time
was ripe to do the deed and hoisted the old box off the desk, blew the
dust out and laid out the two board manuals, cables, tools, new HDs (a
couple Seagate 160 GB SATA drives a mate of mine works at Seagate got
for me) and began the transplant surgery.

Most things between the A7V8X and A8V were the same, but they added USB
pins on the far (from the CPU) end of the board so I can finally use
all 4 USB ports on the front of my Lian Li case. Onboard audio
changed, the flange i used with my 5.1 has no place to connect, besides
there are now sockets in the I/O stack for front, side, rear, center
and subwoofer, which I'll have to sort out (i just plugged speakers
into center for now.) I went from 2 firewire ports to 1, not that I
use it a lot so did mind. There must be about a dozen USB ports on
this beast, but I'll only need the front four in any case. Otherwise
all seemed to transfer in good order.

POST utterly failed and I had no video. Not so much as a beep or voice
message telling me what's wrong. So typical.

After a moment of Modified Stationary Panic I sat down to the task of
simplification, ripping bits off the board and disconnecting from power
until I got to the least bits and put in my standby very simple AGP
video card (if you don't have one of these and have one of the G-Whizzy
sort, you're really at Murphy's door and pounding with both fists)
Still nada.

Pulled out all the memory.

Video. POST. Some fiddling and I got into setup and tried to find
things familiar with what I had on the A7V8X. Not much looks the same,
but it appeard most of the trouble was with trying to run on 2 512 MB
sticks which aren't Dual Channel. So it's up with one stick in for the
moment. Began hooking the other bits up, drives, and such and finally
Windows decided I was up to something dodgy with all this new,
unfamiliar hardware and requested registration, which went without a
hitch.

The next problem to sort out is all the new hardware detected, which
Windows insists upon being auto-detected and sorted out by it, (as IF)
I've got the driver disks and wot and will address those next weekend
when I have time.

Starting about 8:30, I was up and on the internet by 12:15, ready to
snipe an auction on eBay, which I conceded as it was already beyond my
cap.

So I managed the switch so far, but still have the memory thing to sort
out, as I'd like to stay with both 512 MB DIMMs as new ones are a bit
more cash I don't want to spend at the mo.

Memory is A1 B1 A2 B2 and I have my DIMM in A2, as instructed by the
manual (which is sorely lacking in detail on this matter.) Anyone who
knows how to run 2 x 512 MB non-dual channel, please feel free to
reply.

ATI video card often causes some beeps in the morning, insisting
there's a power problem with the card's aux power connector (maybe this
was what all the fuss was with the A7V8X?) so I power down, jiggle the
connector and power up and it's ready to rock.

Speed. Oh my. That old 2600+ was a quick jobby. I used to watch it
chew through SETI sets at a quick pace, compared to the Pentium M at
work. I brought SETI up (even though it's near the end of it's life as
BOINC has replaced it and I haven't sorted that all out yet) and it's a
virtual chainsaw compared to the old CPU and it's only running at 1800
MHz, + whatever Auto overclocking the A8V has it up to.

Boot-up is considerably longer than the A7V8X was, and I don't know
why, yet. Seems to spend a lot of time scanning IDE devices and
sitting there with a cursor in the upper left before telling me it's
got some issue that only Setup can resolve or I can F2 and skip it and
go with default settings.

I really need a couple hours going over this stuff so I have it all
taken care of and understood, otherwise it seems to be an absolute
peach.
 
Dewayne said:
I just replaced a A7N8x-E Deluxe Asus board with a A8N-VM and have
been completely happy. Board runs stable out of the box, no
overclocking, using default BIOS settings. If your a gamer, or into a
lot of video editing etc, this probably not the board for you. This is
what I stuck on it:

Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego core CPU
1 GB (514MB2) Cruial mem, CT2K6464Z40B
CL3, Unbufford,Non-ECC DDR400
Thats it.

I had backup my HD with a mirror BU using Norton Ghost. Tried to run
the board with out a clean install and didn't have much luck. So I
reformatted the HD and selectively restored programs from the Ghost
back up. Some of them worked, others did not. Those that did I suspect
didn't have any writtings to the registry, I could be completely wrong
on this, I'm sure more knowledgable people can comment on that.

My selection of this board was to buy some time prior to going to
PCI-E board, dual core CPU, multi video cards etc. Kind of buying time
until Vista hits the streets.

Dewayne

I didn't make any backups, just disconnected the drives from one mb and
connected them to the other and everything's peachy.

I almost got the PCI-E board, but cancelled when I realized I'd need to
buy a whole new video card. An equivilent for the PCI-E interface is
about twice what I paid for the new MB + CPU combo. Not done with the
current one so I cancelled the order and got the A8V which still has
AGP. Seriously I'm not into gaming, I'm looking for stability and a
bit more processing power as I plan to do animations.

Vista is right out. As soon as I have my SATA drives (total 320 GB)
I'll install Linux and bring the main rendering up on a very minimal
install. I'll be rendering frames while at work and could care less
what's on the screen while the monitor is off and I'm away.
 
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