Asus A7N8X-DX (Deluxe Version)

[Jerry Jones]

1. integrated IEEE 1394
2. integrated USB 2.0
3. integrated audio
4. AGP 8X

$140 at http://www.pricewatch.com

http://www.asus.com/products/mb/socketa/a7n8x-d/overview.htm

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[wkulecz]

I'm confused by this "DualDDR" thing. It says it has 3 DIMM slots.
How's this work if you need to add RAM modules in pairs? Only two slots usable? Makes little sense.

I've had good results from ASUS for many years, and am debating Nforce2 vs Sis 645 for my next system (if I go Athelon).

--wally.

[Dr Mordrid]

Dual Channel DDR will be available on the SiS 655 chipset.

EE Times has a decent article on its ramifications:

http://www.eet.com/semi/news/OEG20020809S0036

Dr. Mordrid

[wkulecz]

Thanks Doc, I've the last six dead-tree editions of EET on my desk, a bit behind in my reading :-(

But this doesn't address the apparent inconsistencey I see in a memory layout needing pairs of modules and the ASUS MB having 3 DIMM sockets. Or are we going to have yet another incompatible special DIMM type to contend with. I just got burned on PC133 module that apparently only works in Athelon motherboards :-(

PITA to have to return it, I was maxing out an "old" P4 Celeron Linux box. If it had different keying from "normal" PC133 I wouldn't have come home with an incompatible module.

--wally.

[davpen]

The NForce2 can operate in a single channel mode as well as dual channel DDR. If you want the speed of dual channel DDR you use two of the sockets. The third socket is provided to allow for a larger maximum memory capacity. But you lose the perfomance benefits of dual channel DDR if you use it.


Cheers,

David.

[wkulecz]

OK thanks, seems its as half-assed as I thought.

Guess I'll wait a while longer.

--wally.

[Marshmallowman]

but it can operate two dims at 400mhz, one board was even used to show the Barton core running at 200mhz -> mem was 2 banks of 400(ddr)

its not half assed..just use 2 dimms

[The AngeL]

The A7N8X deluxe is one of the boads that has a lot of goodies ala Firewire, but for Beginners on Video-editing the Matrox RTX10 is a better solution. If u think that with only Firewire you have a PC ready for video-editing then that's a myth. Imho i would save my money to buy one of the Matorx Video-editing Boards. I am still looking a eye on to odells the RTX10 and the RTX100. Let's see...

[The AngeL]

Originally posted by Marshmallowman
but it can operate two dims at 400mhz, one board was even used to show the Barton core running at 200mhz -> mem was 2 banks of 400(ddr)

its not half assed..just use 2 dimms

The difference betwenn DRR333 and DDR400 is so little and that why DDR400 could get a clarification from JEDEC as a RAM -Standard. Even if you have a Barton @200FSB @same Clock as a T-Bred @166FSB and for Barton you use DDR400 and for the T-Bred DDR333, then the performnacedifference will be so little that we will based on bartons 512KB cache (If it becomes so much) rather than on the use of DDR400 with CPU@200FSB.

if some wonna test it with a T-bred then he could try it on the NForce2 with DDR400 and then he should unlock a FSB166 T-Bred and choose a Multiplicator so that the T-Bred has the same MHz-clock @200FSb too. Then u can test and i am sure the performance difference will be minimal.

[Marshmallowman]

the difference between ddr33 and ddr 400 async is small if not negative...especially using ddr400 modules with slack timigs(cas2.5)

166fsb and 200(400ddr) memory clock suck ass...but

but if you run a thunderbird at 200 with the memory at 200(400ddr) synchrously and with good memory timing (eg cas 2) the diffference is quite large...but you really need a CPU of at least 2400XP+ to take advantage of that.

Edit:removed some BS, the board cannot do 2/1 fsb/mem

[wkulecz]

Its half assed because many of the "features" won't work with three modules. If it had only two sockets it'd be limited, but at least not half-assed.

I demand better. So I'll wait till someone figures out how to do it right. Maybe I'll go intel 533 FSB. Still looking over various mpeg encoding benchmarks. Not in any real hurry -- I want the most bang/buck. What I'm willing to spend on computers took a nose dive with the announcemnet of the 13.8 Mpixel Kodak full-frame 35mm digital SLR that takes Nikon lenses for ~$4K.

--wally.

[farid]

Angel,

I was a bit astonished when you wrote :

"The A7N8X deluxe is one of the boads that has a lot of goodies ala Firewire, but for Beginners on Video-editing the Matrox RTX10 is a better solution. If u think that with only Firewire you have a PC ready for video-editing then that's a myth. Imho i would save my money to buy one of the Matorx Video-editing Boards. I am still looking a eye on to odells the RTX10 and the RTX100. Let's see..."

Define "beginners" for me, will you ? IMHO a beginner is someone who has never done NLE, has little or even no clue what rendering is about and most of all who will spend quite some time finding out the goodies. By the time he does so, his RT board might be obsolete and he will have to start upgrading. "Only Firewire" OTH is cheap and great if you are about to spend most of your time on finding out what works and what doesn't in terms of effects,etc...

Especially now that software rendering is growing mature, I would advice beginners to lay down their bucks on good software and extra CPU rather than an RT solution.

Farid

[Jerry Jones]

Hmmmm.

Some of the comments in this thread are so preposterous and kooky they're not even worth a response.

But here's another review of NForce2:

http://www.theinquirer.org/?article=6507

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[wkulecz]

This one also has three DIMM slots which is half-assed given that its major performance feature needs DIMMs in pairs!

At least RAMBUS I, which needed modules in pairs, was clever enough to make it work with four sockets.

Or are we going to have a new looks the same, is keyed the same, but don't work in other systems type of DIMM as if the stupid "Athelon only" PC133 modules weren't bad enough.

Look for a bunch of "I added more RAM and now my system is slow" posts just like we had from the quarter-assed Intel VX chipset back in the old days :-(

--wally.

[Jerry Jones]

Another nFORCE2 review:

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.html?i=1759

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net