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First rig. A8N-SLI How's this look?

post #1 of 13
2/13/05 at 9:40am
Thread Starter 
So I'm working on my first rig. Here goes guys. Let me know what you think. Don't hold back now Any advise is welcome.


A8N-SLI mobo
AMD 3500+
Coolermaster CAV-T03 Mid Tower
Coolermaster RS-450-ACLY
Western Digital Raptor WD740GD
Corsair VS1GBKIT400 DDR400 PC3200
BFG GeForce 6800 GT


I'm using a DVD drive out of my old comp for now as well as the monitor and mice and keyboard. I know the ram is kind of a waste here but I'm building a comp for a friend after this one so I'll use this ram in his and order the stuff I want for mine later. (I'm a little anxious about getting this finished.) Not to mention he's not really looking for a gaming rig so this will be great for him price wise. My main questions here are... I love the case, but I'm a little worried about cooling. And all the reviews I read on the psu praised it but nobody seems to be using it. Anyone have this psu and if so how's it treating you?

Also I've seen that a lot of people are having trouble with the Bios on this board. Has this been taken care of? If not what current version do you recommend?
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post #2 of 13
2/13/05 at 1:54pm
I recently built an A8N SLi rig (3200+, eVGA 6800GT, Centurion tower, etc) and it's one of the most solid computers I've used to date.

I have 3 firewire controllers total in there, so that's fun (mobo's, Creative ZS's, +PCI card) as I have a lot of FW devices.

The only issue I have is with WinXP SP2 and the funky thing it did to my Brother 1870DN printer (TCP/IP connection): in that the printer will not remember or keep any settings. Works fine via USB, but cannot be used via TCP/IP with SP2 WinXP (SP1 WinXP is just fine, as my other boxes do not have this problem).

Anyway, I am running the 1003(?) BIOS (I think 1004 is out in beta) and have not had any issues. I only have 1 Video card, so haven't done any SLi testing.

Also, I have only one (1) 120GB SATA drive and an IDE DVD-dual layer burner ($70).

I'll give the CoolerMaster Centurion case high marks; while no mobo tray (I never used 'em anyway) it is a really decent case for sub-$70. The wire-like mesh thing on the front is sweet!

I think ASUS and the nForce4 are a great combo. BTW: I sliced huge $$ by not hitting that 3500+ and going with the 3200+/90nm retail CPU). I like this AMD - no fancy cooling needed, the thing runs BEAUTIFULLY with the stock cooler... even with 10% overclocking (which I don't do, but have tested).

I finished HL2 at full settings (well, 1280x1024 - native res of my LCD) and typically got 140+fps...

You'll love the mobo - very good design, IMHO; and it comes with all kinds of add-on slot-occupiers (extra firewire port, extra USB2, external SATA, game/midi, etc).

Heh, I only have 2 PCI cards (soundblaster & firewire) but my rear slots are pretty much full!

-myrkat
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post #3 of 13
2/13/05 at 2:09pm
Thread Starter 

We're talking about diff cases.

Glad to here a success story with this mobo. I think we got confused with the case though. I have ordered the cavalier model. (hence the worry about cooling now with only 2 fans.) But I've got the window so I guess there is always the option of drilling a slot for a new fan there. As far as the 3500+ goes I found a bundle deal at ZZF for the mobo and the cpu for only $469. Not to mention the free copy of HL2 I got with it. I'm still a little worried about the psu though. Like I said I've seen great reviews on it but haven't heard of anyone really using it so... I'll only be using one 6800 GT for now and I'll get a second later on when I need it. I'll be making my final order here in the next couple of days and then I'll get started on the build. If anyone else has anything else to add by all means share your knowledge. And of course I'll keep everyone up to date with this build and get pics out as it goes along. Thanks.
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post #4 of 13
2/13/05 at 4:27pm
almost a clone of mine (I have dual 6600GTs) The mobo yeilds excelent OCing reults....I love it.
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post #5 of 13
2/13/05 at 6:45pm
Thread Starter 
I've got a buddy that's working on close to the same system right now. He's getting one 6600 for now and is planning on upgrading the gpu's later. Hey Techno, what bios are you running and have you tried more than one version? And what cpu cooler are you running? (if not stock) My stuff should be at my brother's house by the end of the week and then he'll send everything over here to Paris. (ZZF won't send it APO) It's cool though since almost everything was free shipping in the first place.

__________________
On Order
Athlon 64 3500+
Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe/nforce 4 SLI chipset
Corsair VS1GBKIT400 DDR400 PC3200
BFG GeForce 6800 GT
Western Digital Raptor WD740GD
Coolermaster RS-450-ACLY PSU
Coolermaster CAV-T03 Mid Tower
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post #6 of 13
2/14/05 at 1:51pm
I just had my first BSOD with this rig... copying from external FW drives to a NAS using BeyondCompare (awesome app), it gave a hardware stop error if I started playing a game while copying...

It did it with KOTOR II and Insaniquarium (there's a range for ya). Anyway, it's likely just diRECKed-X 9.0c screwing something up, oh well.

-myrkat
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post #7 of 13
2/14/05 at 8:53pm
I just ordered an A8n-SLI and it should be here tomorrow. From what I have read elsewhere, the a8n-sli is picky when it comes to PSU's.
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post #8 of 13
2/14/05 at 10:11pm
ive been reading some about sli motherboards and most recommend at least a 500watt power supply or rather high voltage settings on each rail on the cpu.also some recommend a native 24 pin soulution vs the adapter. the power supply i keep hearing about is the ocz520 power stream power supply. also the ram you chose is that samsung tccd memory? if your going to do any over clocking most recommend samsung tccd memory chips.i like your setup i dont know much about the cooler you chose . the one i keep hearing about is the thermalirght xp90 and xp120. i was going t get that same board but dfi sli dr is coming out and it got good reviews at anandtech. im not going by there review completely but www.overclockercafe.com is suppose to be doing a sli board round up soon so we can seee how all these sli boards match up. so far asus........dfi.....and msi have sli boards. ok i just read your post again noticed your ordering different ram for your computer...what ram have you chosen for yours? if you dont mind dfi i would take a look at what they are offering this board is getting good reviews.i might be wrong but i hear the amd winchester 90nm doesnt put out as much heat as the .13 micron. so fancy cooling is not needed. ok i read your post again lol. your talking about cooling inside case. i guess your using the stock cpu cooler that came with chip. sorry i just got home from work and im out of it. so this rig you posted is for friend your going to use asus sli board as well?
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post #9 of 13
2/14/05 at 10:39pm
I can't remember if it is the Asus board or the new DFi, but one of them does not like TCCD memory...
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post #10 of 13
2/15/05 at 2:33pm
Thread Starter 
I'm looking at the corsair TWINX1024-3200XL DDR400 memory. I went back and checked around a little more and I'm pretty sure the PSU is going to be just fine. All the stats are there I guess people are just hesitant about using a coolermaster PSU since they aren't exactly known for High end power supplies. I"m still looking for a cooler though. I'll use the stock cooler for now until I find something I'll be really happy with. Thanks for the input guys. I'm about to put in the order for the GPU, Memory and OS. After that everything should make it here by mid next week. Hopefully.
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post #11 of 13
2/15/05 at 6:15pm
check out MSI's neo4 SLI board, worthy choice.

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NzE0LDc=
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post #12 of 13
2/16/05 at 1:30am
Thread Starter 
Well I ended up going ahead and ordering corsair TWINX1024-3200XL DDR400 memory along with all the little stuff. Everything should be here by late next week. The grand total ended up comming to right at 1700 for everything including mouse, keyboard and all the little details. Not bad I think considering when I started out on this little adventure to buy a new computer I was thinking alienware or the xps even. Both those were comming up to around 2500-3000 depending on the configuration. And I wasn't getting everything I wanted with those anyway. Not to mention DELL... This way I get the raptor, 6800 GT, and SLI option for later and I saved a bundle. Thanks for the advise on components everyone and I'll get some pics up along with a summary of the build after everything arrives.
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post #13 of 13
2/16/05 at 12:22pm
aftermath,
sounds good - should be quite a machine. let us know how it goes.
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