Asus A7N8X Motherboard: A turbo-charged, AMD powered engine.
Written: May 29 '03 (Updated Aug 02 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Excellent performance, stable, loaded with features.
Cons: Nothing I can find.
The Bottom Line: Looking to upgrade? Look no further than the A7N8X motherboard from Asus.
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| rice75's Full Review: ASUS A7N8X Motherboard |
The motherboard industry is fiercely competitive. High performance motherboards, such as the Asus A7N8X, are expensive to not only research and develop, but also to manufacture. The steps used to process them are very precise and tightly controlled, ensuring a quality product every time. While it probably causes the CEO’s of most motherboard companies heartburn, we, the consumers, are able to get an excellent product for quite a reasonable price.
As I continue the process of reviewing the innards of my newest system, I didn’t want to go any further before I reviewed the foundation of my system (which I affectionately call Machine X, since this is the tenth iteration of a system I've owned). The Asus A7N8X is a motherboard that has definitely garnered quite a following. It is a robustly designed motherboard with quality components and no extra frills. There are a lot of features with this board, so let’s get right down to it:
Features, features everywhere, but not a drop to drink
Yes, the Asus A7N8X has an abundance of features. There’s something here for everyone. The most important feature of this motherboard is the chipset. The chipset is like the “foreman” of the motherboard, directing traffic and controlling resources. It handles the interface between the processor and memory, the different buses (AGP, PCI), on-board audio, and USB, among other things. The Asus A7N8X has the nForce2 chipset from nVidia. This chipset has been getting accolades from everyone. It supports up to a 400 MHz Front Side Bus and also supports Dual-Channel DDR Ram, up to 400 MHz (PC3200). It has three 184 pin DIMM sockets, for a maximum of 3 GB of memory. That should be enough for any application you’ll ever use. I only use one slot for a stick of 512 MB of memory. I have a PNY Technologies PC2700 DDR RAM module, but I haven’t found it listed in Epinion’s database yet. I hope it is included soon, since I have a nice write-up about it which I really want to include as part of my guide.
For the CPU, the board has a Socket-A socket for the AMD Athlon/Athlon XP/Duron processors, ranging from 600MHz (Duron) up to 3000+ (Athlon XP). I have an AMD Athlon XP 2600+ and the board easily recognizes it. I haven’t had a single problem with the processor.
For super fast video performance, the Asus A7N8X has an 8X AGP slot. While there aren’t many applications or video cards that could actually push the limits of an 8X AGP slot, it’s nice to know that it’s there for future upgrades. Along with the AGP slot, the Asus A7N8X also sports five PCI slots. While the board has a lot of components built in, you can always find use for expansion slots, from another IDE controller to a nicer sound card. I only use one slot for my Firewire/IEEE1394 adapter. With on-board sound and Ethernet, I don’t need much more.
For hard drive and optical drive support, the Asus A7N8X has two UltraDMA IDE ports which are compatible with just about every ATA configuration, including ATA133/100/66/33. There is some debate whether you get a considerable performance enhancement from ATA133 versus ATA100 but if you are trying to squeeze top-notch performance from your system, ATA133 may just push you over the performance edge. Two IDE ports gives you a maximum of four drives, so you’ll have to plan accordingly.
On-board goodies include a Realtek ALC650 6 channel audio chip. On-board sound has come a long way. While the Sound Blaster Audigy is still sounds better and is more versatile, the on-board Realtek chip sounds just fine. I'm not doing any type of musical/sound editing, so it suffices for me. There is also an integrate LAN port, also by Realtek. This is great because it saves a PCI slot and works well with the chipset. I don’t have a home network but I do use a cable modem, and the integrated LAN port works great. Also onboard is a USB 2.0 connector that provides support for a two USB 2.0 ports, in addition to the four USB 2.0 ports on the back. The onboard connector can be used to bring two USB 2.0 ports to the front of your case. This is handy for devices like a game joystick or a digital camera.
The board also supports some vital motherboard protection functions. Included in the list is the C. O.P. (CPU Overheating Protection), which is a circuit that will protect your CPU from overheating. Anything over 85°C will do some serious damage to your processor, so having a circuit that monitors CPU temperature is essential if you run you computer all the time. Another handy feature is Q-Fan Technology, which monitors and controls system fans for quiet operation. I don’t use this feature because my system is quiet enough for me, but if you are building an over-clocked beast, you’ll want control over all your fans.
The board also has the legacy ports you’d expect, including PS/2 keyboard/mouse ports, serial and parallel ports, and a game connector. It is an ATX Form Factor board, 12” x 9.6”
Installation
For in-depth installation instructions, see my upcoming guide. For now, I will just say that installing the Asus A7N8X is a cinch. The board is well balanced, the CPU and memory sockets are well-placed without any large capacitors making the installation difficult. The jumpers and on-board connectors are well indicated by their white silk-screened lettering, facilitating easily made connections to the case you are installing the board into.
The manual is also adequate, detailing each subsystem to the extent that you can utilize all the features, although a more thorough description of some of the extras would have been appreciated.
The included CD has all the latest Windows drivers for the different on-board components. Also included on the CD is Asus PC Probe which is a great little program that runs in the background that allows you to monitor your system. It includes CPU and motherboard temperatures, fan speeds, voltage levels and other things. It also is customizable so you can control things such as temperature thresholds and fan speeds. It is a great way to watch for any problems you might be having without being aware of them.
A good foundation to build on
Again, here is my current setup: (You can see performance benchmarks at my CPU review)
Asus A7N8X Motherboard
AMD Athlon XP 2600
512 MB PC2700 RAM, PNY Technologies
Asus V9280/TD GeForce-4 Ti4200 8X 128 MB Video Card (AGP)
Western Digital 120 GB HDD, WD1200JBRTL
Cendyne 48x24x48 CD-RW
ViewSonic A90 19” Monitor
Antec Lanboy Case with 350W SmartBlue ATX12V power supply
Antec 80mm Blue LED Fan
The Asus A7N8X motherboard is an excellent starting point for building your AMD based system. As with a building, a solid foundation is essential to the structural integrity of what is built atop it, the motherboard serves as a foundation for you PC. The Asus A7N8X motherboard provides an excellent foundation, providing stability, protection and performance in a reasonably priced package.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 129.99
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rice75
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Member: Tony Rice
Location: Columbus, OH
Reviews written: 73
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