any problems here?!

Livzz

New Member
Hi,
i was looking through some threads and noticed one regarding the Asus A8N-SLI range of motherboards. Praetor said that the A8N-SLI and A8N-SLI deluxe have NB cooling issues... he did say however that the A8N-SLI Premium is fine (which is what i was considering for my new computer).
could someone please explain what NB cooling is?

My main reason for this thread is to ask your advice on the following configuration. I seemed confident i had chosen reasonable quality parts, but after reading that thread i have my doubts so i would appreciate any input people have:

AMD athlon 64 X2 4800+
Asus A8N-SLI Premium
2Gb Hynix DDR3200 400MHz (2x 1Gb)
XFX GF7800GTX 512Mb (only one to start with)
Creative Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS
WD SATA 74Gb raptor 10000rpm 8Mb cache
netgear WG311TGE 802.11g 108Mbps
SilverStone 650W SLI ready

and i haven't built a computer since my current celeron 533... so will building this be easy? i've never dealt with SATA or PCI-e... is it much different than the old stuff?

Thanks for your time,
Paul
 
Last edited:
could someone please explain what NB cooling is?
NB stands for north bridge, its use is shown in the figure
Northsouthbridge.png


it is actively cooled (they can be cooled passively, without a fan, but not on the A8N-SLI) by a small fan.

A 3rd party cooler on the NB would keep it running cooler, but prob louder
 
SATA is just a smaller cable than IDE-
PCI-E is just a large and faster slot-
If you are watercooling the NB then go with a deluxe-
If you have decent airflow through your case go with a Premium-
If you want mega graphics power in SLI and heatpipes, Go with an A8N32 as its possibly the best board out there ATM-
If you want OVerclocking, go with a DFI Lanparty!

MAnkz
 
I'm not going to do any overclocking, so i dont think i'll need any cooling other than stock.
How do i know if i've got decent airflow in my case? i'm gonna get a macron 3810W, does that have decent airflow?
how much more will the A8N32 be compared to the A8N-sli premium? (aussie $)
 
To be honest i have no Idea ! get somed ecent fans that pust a good bit of air and you will be fine, i think that a A8N32 is £20 (uK) so its about $50 Aus (i know that cos i used to live in Singapore!)

mankz-
 
could someone please explain what NB cooling is?
Its the cooling that is present on the NB. Now the NB is an abbreivation for the northbridge which, for the purpose of this explaination I will refer to as "chipset". If your chipset fan fails (which is the known issue), then the chipset will overheat which can cause numerous possible failures from locking up (likely) all the way to chipdeath (less likely). Now what happend when ASUS made the Premium, they got rid of the fan (which is good and also more "in line" with ASUS products ... which for the most part, do not have chipset fans) and used a passively cooled setup (which cant fail, short of u ripping it off the board)

My main reason for this thread is to ask your advice on the following configuration. I seemed confident i had chosen reasonable quality parts, but after reading that thread i have my doubts so i would appreciate any input people have:
Budget and intent?

A 3rd party cooler on the NB would keep it running cooler, but prob louder
That and there may be clearence issues, dunno

i've never dealt with SATA or PCI-e... is it much different than the old stuff?
Not that much different. The trend in technology now it seems is to serialize data transfaers as well as add fullduplex suppport

If you want mega graphics power in SLI and heatpipes, Go with an A8N32 as its possibly the best board out there ATM-
If you want OVerclocking, go with a DFI Lanparty!
Even tho non-Lanparty boards will easily match it....

how much more will the A8N32 be compared to the A8N-sli premium? (aussie $)
"significantly more"
 
Back
Top