Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe....

[Groundbound1]

I recently purchased this board, along with an Athlon X2 4400+, and 2GB Corsair memory as a combo from Ebay. The first thing I do when I make a purchase like this, is open the package and make sure that all the parts that are supposed to move, do, and those that aren't, don't. Low and behold, the northbridge chipset fan is "hit". (Common problem on this model, so I'm told)

I immediately contacted the seller and explained that I was a little "put off" about the bad cooler, and I wouldn't have bid on it if that info had been disclosed. He says

[congo]

My congratulations on your choice of superceeded hardware, as far as old equipment goes, it is quite capable. (providing it actually works)

The chip cooler has always been a problem on these boards from release date. The problem, once repaired, is inconsequential, providing the board was not damaged in the process. I have not heard of boards that died from these fan failures, and these were very common, almost universal failures of this popular mainboard series.

The quickest way to isolate problems like this is isolation itself.

If you can introduce as many KNOWN good working parts into the system, it narrows the fault possibilities considerably. Be sure that your PSU, optical drives and hard drives are beyond reproach.

I was taken aback at the use of such small (old) hdd's indicated by your post, immediately suspecting compatibility issues/faults with such ancient drives. Though not ideal, a quick format of a more modern hdd would have been preferable, and indeed, a good SATA2 drive would not be a waste on that machine, once it's working condition is verified.

Be suspicious of older IDE devices, and take pains to ensure the jumpering and cabling of those drives is correct.

Become competent with the system's BIOS. I recommend disabling auto-clocking features and lock the bios settings to reflect the default speeds globally. Though this step is not required, it will familiarise you with the configuration tools essential to getting the most from the system.

I am using XPx64 SP2 on such a machine now, and I use XP SP3 on very similar equipment without issues, and have until recently used XP SP2 without fault on all of these machines.

Ensure your install media is beyond reproach. I'm not sure why you chose XP SP2 over SP3, I asume you have your reasons. I usually introduce the Service Packs from a Slipstreamed XP disk which contains them in the original install, and this method works well as far as I can determine. "nLite" will do this simply and admirably; or, if you have the patience and skill, you can produce a slipstreamed install disk by following MS guides on the subject.

Here are links that may assist you in your quest.

nLite
http://www.nliteos.com/download.html

XP SP2 : This is the file I have been successfully using for years.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/deta ... laylang=en

XP SP3 - quite successful for use in a slipstrreamed install disk or post install implementation.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/deta ... laylang=en

I cast suspicion on the service pack media you presently have, and the chronology of it's introduction. I would prefer to see the Service Packs introduced before a software regime was in place.

Obtain the latest correct bios and drivers for the board.

[Groundbound1]

I just noticed your sig, Great minds...

[congo]

It's possible, I guess it depends on how low voltage is, and how accurate the sensor is.

The reason I suspect your SP2 media is because that's the point of error, when you try to install it. I figured either you have some other software installed prior to SP2 that upsets it or the SP2 media is damaged.

I've had a few PSU's on this board over the years, the first one was reading high 11's on the 12v rail. Watch the volts (12v & vCore)

[Groundbound1]

WOW!!! The PSU is still having trouble keeping up (12V dipping to 11.8V, not good I know)  But the problem seemed to be the two DVD drives I was testing with. I put in a third, and all seems well.

Now I thought my last rig was pretty good for as old as it was, but this thing really doesn't disappoint! Doubled my 3Dmark '06 score from 4100+ to more than 8400+!

Thanks for the help Congo, I'm now off to see how Crysis looks!

[Ivan]

Did they make two versions of the deluxe... ive seen one on the asus site with a heatpipe system instead of the damn fan.

Oh and i have one with the new model fan... it loves to kill harddisks if your PSU is on the low side of the power curve

[Groundbound1]

Did they make two versions of the deluxe... ive seen one on the asus site with a heatpipe system instead of the damn fan.

Oh and i have one with the new model fan... it loves to kill harddisks if your PSU is on the low side of the power curve

There may have been different revisions of the deluxe, but as far as I know the one with the heatpipe chipset cooler is the A8N-SLI Premium.

I appreciate the heads up. A new powersupply is the next thing on the list.

It kills me. I've never been able to afford the latest and greatest, and I really thought my P4C800 was doing pretty well. Then I get ahold of this rig, and the difference is night and day. I hope this one can satisfy me for a while!

[congo]

There were SE models of the A8N-SLI Deluxe boards.

Another board almost identical was the A8N-E based on the NF4 Ultra chipset. The ultra lacked SLI and some other minor functionality (firewire?) and was produced on the traditional gold coloured PCB's, not the black PCB's of the SLI boards. The bios and other properties of the A8N-SLI series and the A8N-E model was practically the same.

Most A8N-E's (a budget model) went into vanilla PC's, and the owners don't know their potential.

I saw many people dumping these systems and "upgrading" to crippled C2D systems (the lesser cpu's) with Vista installed on them. Then they would rant on about how much better they were.... but they were probably taking a performance hit, truth be known. They possibly saw an initial performance boost because they had a fresh windows install and the Obligatory 4gb ram upgrade. They had no idea of the potential of the 939 boards used in conjunction with a well planned overclock.

Socket 939 boards based on NF4 SLI or NF4 Ultra chipsets are beyond their use by date in any event, but they are still quite useful in the right hands, particularly if San Diego or Toledo based cpu's are fitted.

BTW, if anyone has a spare 4400+ - 4800+ lying around, I'd like to get my hands on one.

[Groundbound1]

If you have an FX-57, I'll trade ya.

[congo]

I'm not sure it would be a fair trade. The FX-60 is more closely related to the ADA4400+, (not the ADV4400+)

Look here...

http://products.amd.com/en-us/DesktopCP ... d=69&id=70

It will depend on your 4400's potential.

The 3700+'s I'm using now are running barely under the FX-57's stock speed.