ASUS A8N-SLI Premium or the ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe???

What is the big difference between the ASUS A8N-SLI Premium and the
ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe mobos? I have looked at several of the
comparisons on Newegg and the Asus site, but don't see why the
A8N32-SLI Deluxe is the more expensive board. Can someone just point
me in the right direction? What have I missed?

I had initially thought the ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe as going to be the
mobo for my new system. After reading several nightmare stories in
the Asus Forums, I now question if the ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe is the
best selection for my new system. My hardware consists of the
following:

- AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Processor Socket 939
- Corsair VS1GB400C3 1GB DDR400 PC3200 CAS3 Value Select Memory
- eVGA e-GeForce 7800 GT PCI Express 256MB DDR3 Video Card w/HDTV,
Dual DVI & VIVO
- Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200KS 320GB Serial ATA II 7200RPM
Hard Drive w/16MB Buffer
- Plextor PX-716SA 16X Internal Serial ATA Dual Layer DVD±R/RW CD-R/RW
Drive
- Viewsonic VX924 19in LCD Monitor
- Antec Performance TX TX1050B SOHO Mid Tower case (Black)

Any thoughts on this configuration and should I stick with the ASUS
A8N-SLI Premium? The memory listed is on-sale at ZipZoomFly for
$79.99 for a 1GB stick. It seems rather cheap, maybe I should get
better memory? Any help would be appreciated.

Scott

 

The a8N32 has 8 phase power generation, and is configured (unsing a
different nForce4 chip) so it can run both the two graphics slots at 16x
speed at the same time (the premium will revert to 8x on each slot if
you run two). Since current graphics cards can't get close to needing
that much bandwidth I guess the 8 phase power (more eco friendly,
allegedly better overclocking) is probably all you need to think about.

There do seem to be more horror stories around about the A8N32, plus it
is more expensive , and has been hard to get hold of. You pick!

 

I think it is that the A8N32 supports two simultaneous PCIe 16X boards,
but I am no expert.

 

This would be a limited block diagram of the A8N32. There
are two x16 video card slots. But the available bandwidth
at the processor itself, is only good for an x16 PCIe rate,
which means if both video cards need service at the same time,
they get it at an average x8 rate.

(PCIe is 250MB/sec per lane, so x16 PCIe lanes is 4GB/sec. Each
lane has separate TX and RX bus.)

    (Mem) <------->  S939       (single digit numbers shown
6Gb/sec half duplex Athlon64     are maximum bandwidth per
                            |         direction, in GB/sec)
                         ^  |  4
                         |  |  |    16 bit HT busses:
                         4  |  v    1000MHz  x  2  x  16 = 4GB each
                            |                 (DDR) (bits) direction
           4 ->     --------+-------------
PCI x16 -----------| NVIDIA nForce SPP 100|
           <- 4     --------+-------------
                            |
                         ^  |  4
                         |  |  |    16 bit HT busses:
                         4  |  v    1000MHz
                            |
           4 ->     --------+-------------------
PCI x16 -----------| NVIDIA Nforce4 Southbridge |
           <- 4     ----------------------------
                         |    |    |
                     Other_I/O_Devices here


This would be an A8N-SLI Premium. The chipset is a single
chip in this case.

    (Mem) <------->  S939       (single digit numbers shown
6Gb/sec half duplex Athlon64     are maximum bandwidth per
                           |         direction, in GB/sec)
                         ^  |  4
                         |  |  |    16 bit HT busses:
                         4  |  v    1000MHz  x  2  x  16 = 4GB each
           <- 2             |                 (DDR) (bits) direction
           2 ->     --------+-------------
PCI x8 -----------| |
| NVIDIA nForce4 SLI |
PCI x8 -----------| |
           <- 2     ----------------------
           2 ->          |    |    |
                     Other_I/O_Devices here

The advantage to the A8N32 could be, that when occasion arises,
one video card pf the SLI pair, can work at the full x16 rate,
to the memory attached to the side of the processor. But if you
have a single video card, you can put the A8N-SLI Premium in
non-SLI mode and achieve the full x16 rate as well.

Also, you can see, that by some freak set of circumstances, there
is actually a 4GB/sec "up" and a 4GB/sec "down" transaction on
the Hypertransport RX and TX links to the processor, the memory
can only handle an aggregate of about 6GB/sec (as seen by Sandra)
bandwidth. Which means an average 3GB/sec on the "up" bus and
3 GB/sec on the "down" bus. And the processor would be stopped
dead in its tracks, starved for bandwidth, because it needs to
do memory read/write once in a while too

So while both diagrams are littered with "fat pipes", not every
fat pipe can run full out, arbitrarily.

The A8N32 costs more to make, as there are two chips in the
"chipset". The Premium or the Deluxe uses a combo chip that
performs both the Northbridge and the Southbridge function.

The Premium uses Pericom chips, to take the place of the
paddle card used on the Deluxe - the Pericom chips can
reroute the PCI Express lanes on the fly, and allow the
SLI or non-SLI bus configurations. That is why the Premium
doesn't use a paddle card. The Premium can change modes
electronically, rather than physically with a paddle card.

I would say the A8N32 is intended for the same person who
buys CAS2 memory over CAS3 memory. It would allow the last
5% of performance to be extracted (assuming there are no
chipset limitations, and the drivers do a good job of using
the hardware). Now, depending on which motherboard achieves
higher overclocks, might be the deciding factor on which
one to get. And I have no idea how the two boards compare
in that department. (A8N32 has eight phase power, the other
boards are three phase power, but only an overclocker's forum
will be able to tell you whether that is making any difference
at all. The eight phase power uses "smaller" phases, so it
is not an 8/3 advantage, if that is what you are thinking.
More like comparing a 2 liter V-8 to a 1.6 liter three
cylinder Smoother power.)

Also, I would suggest you look at the slot layout of the two
motherboards, and see how the provided slots will work with
your intended card mix. Depending on the thickness of the cards
you plug in, and the length of the cards, one board might
be better for you than the other.

Paul

 

Hmmm .... what nightmare reports?

I have the A8N32SLI Dlx and the previous poster is correct. It
supports two video cards running as one and each has an 16x pipeline
(2 x 16 = 32) compared to 8x pipeline on previous boards.

Of real interest to me was just how many reviewers of all sorts of PC
peripherals pick the A8N32SLI Dlx as the test platform. Want to
compare an AMD X2 CPU against Intel? All the big name reviewers run
the CPU comparisons on the A8N32SLI MB. Want to test the new Western
Digital Raptor HD (150 MB) ... just go see how many load it onto a
test bed using the A8N32SLI Dlx MB.

I figured that if this MB is the choice of the "big boys" doing these
endless test reviews on all sorts of equipment, then it must be at
least OK ... maybe even great.

Love mine. No nightmares ... just daily amazement at how well this
thing works with all the goodies running. Twin nVidia top end GTX
video cards, the new WD Raptor 150 MB 10K HD, 2 GB of Corsair 433 MHz
memory, a couple of CDRW / DVD +-R writers, SB Audigy, an external
FireWire HD, an internal IDE HD, Flash Card Readers, color printer,
scanner ... you name it and I probably have it hooked up. All run
perfectly ... I've never had a setup this solid and reliable.

Oh, and Cool n Quiet and QFan was a absolute breeze to set up and
configure ... works miracles with the AMD FX 60 Dual Core CPU.

Just think about it. If your living involved choosing a test bed for
computer equipment that was reliable enough to run comparison tests on
just about any hardware you can throw at it (to get comparable test
you need a consistent test bed) ... and if the unanimous choice of
test beds was the A8N32SLI Dlx ... there is a message in there
somewhere.

Remember, most folks posting to these Usenet boards are doing so
because they have a problem (either real or caused by the operator),
not because they are happy with their system. So you hear a few
complaints, usually ascribed to the wrong cause. Some folks, when
they work out their problem, have the character to come back and tell
us what the problem really was, but most just disappear into the
darkness leaving us with that first faulty impression first came into
the original poster's mind and thus got repeated as fact here.

You can learn here, but have to consider what you are hearing pretty
carefully along with the source.

The A8N32SLI Deluxe is a MB to die for. I've owned and built with
ASUS for years and I've been generally happy ... but nothing ASUS has
done before can approach this MB when it is running the new generation
of AMD X2 processors and connecting it to a lot of peripherals. With
this MB, you can finally assemble a "dream machine".

 

Agreed.

I have the A8N32-SLI. Works like a champ. Overclocking X2 4400+ to
2.6Ghz (FSB 238MHz) , no problem and 2 GBytes Corsair XMS2048-3500
@ 2.5-3-2-6-1T/ 238MHz. Prime 95 totally stable.

With a Zalman CNPS9500, CPU temp max. peak is 50 degrees C,
very worst case, both cores fully loaded. The airflow through this
wonderful CPU cooler in conjunction with a slow-speed case fan is
perfectly directed to keep both the RAM and the heat-pipe
dissipator cool as well.

The 8-phase regulation has a significant unstated advantage. The 8
regulators are distributed over a wide area with the result of no
significant hot-spots due to switcher dissipation anywhere near the
CPU, thus keeping the local ambient low.

So, what problems are people having with the A8N32-SLI? Maybe
I can help ?

John Lewis

 

John,
I noticed your memory specs. By chance are you running 3500LLPRO memory? If
so, Corsair advises

SDRAM CAS Latency: 2.0T
SDRAM RAS to CAS Delay (tRCD): 3T
SDRAM Row Precharge (tRP): 2T
SDRAM Active to Precharge Delay (tRAS): 6T
SDRAM Bank Interleave: 4 Bank
SDRAM VDIMM: 2.75
Command Rate 1T

 

Yes, indeed.

Thanks.

Requires CL=2.5T @ 238MHz at least for my pair. With CL=2, Prime95
and memtest86 have occasional failures. All other memory settings
already exactly as per the above list. The 3500LLPro is spec'd 2-3-2-6
only up to 217MHz.

My system is stable with zero [email protected] 238MHz FSB on 24-hours runs
of 4 simultaneous instances of Prime95 - two pairs of test 2 (max
CPU), test 3 (max memory ) each pair targeted at each X2 core.
These four tests simultaneously run also totally involve all available
main-memory. Torture-test in spades. This type and duration of test is
mandatory on any overclocked system. Otherwise the user can only
look forward to erratic system crashes, general flakiness and loss of
important data.

John Lewis

 

Yeah, good point on the FSB speed.

 

I have both the A8N-SLI Premium and the A8N32-SLI.

Here are my problems with the A8N32:

With 2 7800 GTX ( or any single slot video cards) installed there is no
place to put
a sound card that isn't on top or bottom of one of the graphics cards.
The video cards run much hotter because of this. My evga 7800 GTX KOs
run so hot I get really bad video artifacting after a while.

I anticipate similar problems when the Aegia PhysX cards come out.

I have additional 120mm case fans blowing on the video cards and they
still get too hot.

Also the cards are much "deeper" in an ATX case which also causes heat
problems.

All of the new overclocking options are nice but I can still get better
overclocks with my A8N Premium.

Why is there no voice post on the A8N32-SLI?

I know 2X16 PCIe is nice but overall I prefer the A8N-SLI premium.

 

I just made some comments to your post about mounting a Zalman cooler (good
post) and then read this. We have similar systems and I have a tall tower
case that I'm reusing for this build. Fought this battle before about using
full-sized tower cases (ATX) and not being able to move air efficiently
inside the case. In addition two the push-pull fans on the PSU (Antec TP-II
550W) with one of those fans just above the Zalman cooler, I have also
mounted a lower front case fan (Antec 8cm, 53cfm @5000rpm, 39dba) and two
more at the top rear of the case. Both sides of the case on the bottom are
vented. The airflow swirls at the bottom and then chimneys on up the case
passing the hard drives and the Zalman cooler and being exhausted by the PSU
and the two 8cm case fans in the top rear of the case. I also used round
cables so as not to restrict airflow. Routed all power cables to minimize
air obstruction in the chiney area between the hard drives and PSU.

Having a fan blowing on the video card may be a good idea but if it's only
blowing warm air around - you won't get much cooling effect even if that
120mm fan is mounted on the side panel and blowing fresh air directly on the
card. Think of blowing into a soda bottle - if you don't have a good exhaust
path - you aren't moving air. A good test to try is to take off the one side
of the case and tape a piece of clear plastic in-place of the cover. This
will allow you to see the airflow. Borrow a ciagaret and light it. Place it
near the front air intake and now watch the smoke pattern and how it moves
through the case - or not. Once you can see the bottleneck problem then you
have a better chance at fixing it. You may want to think about going with a
BTX type case which provides better airflow, etc.

Bob S.

 

Having major problems installing on this mobo. Blue screens over and
over and over and over again.

Running Antec 400watt PS with AMD 4200 FX dual core, 4 sticks of
corsair dual channel ram to 2gigs with an IDE drive.

Blue screens to an ACPI stop error constantly. Sometimes it will get
to the install screen for windows pro sp1 and will begin intalling,
but then on the reboot after installation it BSODs again. Have
popped out Rams and tested them...about to run memtest.org to see if
sticks (which were brand new) are faulty.

Is it possible that 400 watts (also running an Asus n6800GT pci
express card, only one of them right now)

Any help is appreciated. Thanks

 

I would venture a guess that the 400W power supply is not enough....

Recommend:

Seasonic 600W

PC Power and Cooling 510 SLI

http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/07/11/stress_test/

Antec's 550W was OK in the above test, but, not great--


HTH,

BC

 

I'm a programmer and I'm searching my ideal mobo. I'm interested in
this two models but I'm confused. I've readed a lot of forums,
analysis,... but
I need your help please. I'm not a game player, but I need a lot of
performance tu run my simulations, programs and work with
Multimedia.
My initial hardware could be:

AMD 64 x2 4400+
2 x 1 Gb RAM Kingstom
XFX 6500 PCX (256 Mb)
HDD 300 Gb SATA2 Maxtor (16 Mb cache)
And... my mainboard....

Anyone can help me to determine which mobo is teh optimal for my
work's style?
I think that Premium is better for me because I'll not use SLI 16X,
but I dpn't know which mobo has the highest performance.

Thanks

 

They all use similar nForce4 chipsets, therefore performance will be
similar. I bought the A8N-E since it had what I needed and cost a little
bit less, and I knew it was reliable.

I would focus on the features, and buy the board that has what you want.