AN35N 400 Ultra & MN31N MoBos

[Balrog]

Hello All, Looks kinda quiet here in the Shuttle Forum. In the past couple of monthes I've purchased 2 of Shuttles lastest MoBos, the ATX - AN35N 400 Ultra and the mATX MN31N. I personally find these to both be great little boards, the MN31N LAN rig has most of the features you'd expect in a mATX board, onboard graphics, sound, LAN, USB2. This one also has 1394 Firewire support and has the MCP-T chipset for really good onboard sound via the ALC 650E. It even supports mild OCing with memory and FSB adjustments, no voltages or multis so you won't get too far without mods, but thats not what this board is for anyway. I find the IGP capable of playing BF1942, RTCW and various other games @1024 x 768 X 32bit color which looks fine to me on a 17" monitor, not hard-core gaming stuff but for the occasional gamer pretty good I think. The AN35N 400 Ultra is a budget OCing/Gaming board with the newest 400Ultra chipset which supports 200FSB and PC3200 memory, it has a good amount of OC options but no chipset voltages. I'm currently running a 1700+ JIUHB DUT3C @185FSB for 2.04ghz with Crucial PC2700 in sync @ 6-2-2-2.5, while running Prime95 Torture Test in the background, again nothing mind boggling, but the MoBo only costs $61.00 and the 1700+ is only $44.00 and I'm not done yet . So if your like me, without a whole lot of money to throw at a new rig, you might want to check out one of these new Shuttles out.
Regards, Balrog

[funnyperson1]

I myself recently picked up an AN35 Ultra 400. I am quite impressed with what I got for $60. I also have a 1700+. Unfortunately the ram I have is Crucial 2100 and it cannot run 166fsb stable so right now I am running my cpu at 2.04ghz (stock multiplier) with a 138 fsb. With some good ram this board should really scream.

Edit:

Look at shuttle's site. The newest bios unlocks multipliers 11.5,12,12.5

[Bruno]

Shhh... we don't want the secret getting out. Newegg just raised their prices on these things by $15 today.

[funnyperson1]

Heh, seems like I got it at just the right time. Nforce2 for $60 I knew it was too good to be true :p.

[Balrog]

Hello All, Well I got the board running 200FSB with a 10X and mem in sync@7-3-3-2.5 not bad for a budget board and Crucial PC2700. It required 1.7 Vcore and 2.7V Ram voltage and max rpm on my V-11 to keep it under 40C, it was a bit too loud for my tastes. I've settled in at 185FSB with 11X and mem@ 6-2-2-2.5, its fast, its stable and best of all very, very quiet - 3000 rpm on V-11 for 37C. Memtest and Prime run fine, games play great, benchmarks are good, I'm happy. I've got a AQXEA Barton 2500+ in a mATX LAN rig, maybe I'll throw it in the AN35N sometime to see what it will do. Enjoy your boards All!
Regards, Szandor

[funnyperson1]

Well I couldnt get OCZPC3200 to work in this board. And several reviews confirm that Corsair doesn't work too well either. But my Crucial 2100 works fine and hopefully so will the Mushkin I ordered :).

[Balrog]

Hello All, Keep me posted on the Mushkin FP1, as I'll probally be buying some better memory this Fall and I've heard those sticks are some pretty good stuff.
Regards, Balrog

[funnyperson1]

So far so good.

205 fsb
6-3-3 CL2.0

Havent seriously tried higher yet, I will keep you posted on how it goes.

[funnyperson1]

update. The Blue Line 3200 seems to have topped out at around 230fsb 9-3-3 Cas3 timings. Not bad.

[Balrog]

Hello All, Nice job FP1! Thats putting some heat to it. I had my WD 800JB go wacko on me last weekend, so I'm running in reduced mode this week waiting for my RMA :( Using an old 8.6G 5400rpm drive I had kicking around, very, very, very slowwwww! Such is life, hopefully the new drive will be here for the weekend as gaming with this drive suxs arse.
Regards, Balrog

[funnyperson1]

Thanks, the only gripe I have about this mobo is the fact that it only goes up to 2.7 vdimm.

[Cisco Kid]

Originally posted by funnyperson1
Well I couldnt get OCZPC3200 to work in this board. And several reviews confirm that Corsair doesn't work too well either. But my Crucial 2100 works fine and hopefully so will the Mushkin I ordered :).


keep me posted as I am gonna buy one of these boards local in Vancouver tommorrow. All I want to be ablt to do is run 166 fsb using a 512 dimm Mushkin PC2100 High performance Level II DDR I bought. From what I have read this ram has hit 177 in quite a few reviews on a KR7A -Raid board so I am assuming 166 should be easy.

I plan to have this board in my wifes system, I had a spare KR7A-Raid board for her but I sold it as I only had to drop a little extra cash for this Nforce 2 board. Looks like you guys are happy with it correct?

Cisco KId

[Balrog]

Hello All, Hey Cisco I'd consider buying some Crucial PC2700 or Twinmos or Buffalo PC3200 with the Winbond CH-5 chips, I believe they all cost around $85.00 US for 2 X 256mb sticks. I've OC'd my Crucial to 210FSB @7-3-3-2.5 and the Winbonds should run even better at similar timings. Remember that the AN35N doesn't like low-latency 2.0 sticks until they and the board have been burnt in real well, then you can tighten your timings back down. Make sure you flash the newest BIOS right off to get the missing multipliers. Good Luck with your new board.
Regards, Balrog

[Cisco Kid]

Originally posted by Balrog
Hello All, Hey Cisco I'd consider buying some Crucial PC2700 or Twinmos or Buffalo PC3200 with the Winbond CH-5 chips, I believe they all cost around $85.00 US for 2 X 256mb sticks. I've OC'd my Crucial to 210FSB @7-3-3-2.5 and the Winbonds should run even better at similar timings. Remember that the AN35N doesn't like low-latency 2.0 sticks until they and the board have been burnt in real well, then you can tighten your timings back down. Make sure you flash the newest BIOS right off to get the missing multipliers. Good Luck with your new board.
Regards, Balrog


Thanks for the tip but getting new ram is not a real option as the Mushkin will have to do, I am sure it will work fine as I will be running a 1700 Tbred B using a Barton 2500 sink fan, I am looking for 166 fsb and that will be good enough. You can bet I will be back with questions.

Cisco Kid

[Balrog]

Hello All, I think 166FSB is real doable with the Mushkin Cisco, even with only 2.7V available in BIOS. Someone posted recently that they're running Kingston PC2100 @168FSB in sync! From what I've heard Kingston does not have the greatest reputation for OCing so you should be okay with yours. Good Luck and enjoy, keep us posted.
Regards, Balrog

[funnyperson1]

Mushkin Level II is high quality stuff. I am sure 166fsb is doable. My blue Mushkin 3200 does PC3700 speeds.

[Cisco Kid]

Originally posted by funnyperson1
Mushkin Level II is high quality stuff. I am sure 166fsb is doable. My blue Mushkin 3200 does PC3700 speeds.


Funnyperson1 what became of the Intel system you had, I see the radeon migrated to the new box, how you liking the AMD setup? I guess as far as costy goes they are pretty darn good!!

I have to order the Shuttle should have next week by Wed as we have our Labour Day weekend here in Canada now. Can not wait to get it paid about the = of what you guys did in US $$ so I am very happy!! Wife will love her new system now to find a deal on a 15" LCD, the BenQ is looking god with 16 ms response and 400:1 contrast

Cisco KID

[funnyperson1]

Well I loved the tualatin system, that 1.1a was an amazing overclocker and never let me down. But the lack of DDR was really hurting it.

I got my AN35 and 1700+ for 110$ shipped to my house (about the cost of my Iwill tualatin mobo by itself) so that I could have a fairly modern comp before I left for college.

I am pretty satisfied even though it seems I got a TbredA. My chip maxes out at 2.07ghz and my ram maxes out at 230fsb. For now I have my chip running at 1850 because there isn't any ac in my dorm, and its hot down here :(. I also 7-volted the fan so as not to **** off my roommate.

As for the tually its found a new life as an office workhorse for my mom.

And it still hasn't let me down. I undervolted it to 1.2V at stock speed. And with no case ventilation it runs with a P1 heatsink that is 1/2" high and has a 5cfm fan. Temp never went above 37C. PC would be damn near silent if it werent for the 2gb 4000 rpm hdd lol.

[Cisco Kid]

well guys I am gonna start putting this system together, will be back in a while to ask some questions. Anything I need to know about the bios ? flash to the newest??

Cisco KId

[Balrog]

Hello All, Yeah Cisco, flash the latest BIOS and if you're an old die-hard 98SE user like me disable APIC as well. Good Luck and Enjoy!
Regards, Balrog

[funnyperson1]

for the bios you only need the .exe file on the disk. You don't have to run awardflash and type in the name. The exe file you downloaded will flash the bios for you if youre in dos or extract into awardflash and rom file in windows.

[Baalthazaar]

Am I the only one for whom the vcore on the CPU jumps around a lot on this mobo? I'm presently running a Barton 2500+ @ 225x10.5 = approx 2370 mhz @ 2.00 vcore but sissoft reports the vcore regularly dips down to 1.94 or so. I just bought an Antec 550 Watt PSU so I hope that's not the cuplrit.

Presently my processor temps sit around 36C at full load but I can't run any faster, presumably because of the Vcore. Is there any way to volt-mod this mobo? 2.00 volts just isn't enough.

Still it's a great value, certainly beats out my old KT333 :)

[funnyperson1]

Most motherboards don't maintain a stable vcore especially at such a high one.

My best suggestion would be to put some heatsinks on the mosfets.

[Cisco Kid]

Hi Guys,

Got the new system up n running , the gear is a 1700 Tbred DUT3C w Barton 2500 sink fan, Asus V7700 Deluxe, 512 PC2100 Mushkin Level II, 41 GB Deskstar aka Deathstar (my other one is on way back from from RMA) LG 4x burner in an Antec 3700 case with a 120 mm exhaust fan and a VA520 15" LCD that I got for a smoking deal after rebates = of $170 US w tax.

I am running 166 fsb all I had to do was bump vcore to 1.675 and vdimm to 2.7, I have not had time to bench at all mem timings are 6,2,2,2. Next I need to figure out what it will top out at and just leave it slightly under that level, I would be happy to get 175 fsb at 12x.

Guys I used the cd driver disc for the nvidia drivers as I am on dial up till I get my ADSL transferred, should I go with the new 2.45's from nvidia and I did not install the SW IDE drivers I used Windoze natives.

Funnyperson1, any idea what the Asus V7700 is good for as far as an overclock. I installed the 44.03's from Asus site and the Smart Doc Utility and it shows default clock /mem as 200/333, I thought these cards were 200/400, anyways I am hoping with stock card cooling and adequate case cooling I can get 215/400 is this conceivable?? Have not got time to tinker right now off to bed justy wondering as I need to squeeze any juice I can from video card so this ssytem can run UT2003 at least at 1024x768.

Also should I flash bios to newest, oops I see you guys recommend a flash to the latest bios will give it a whirl? My board revision is 1.1.

Cisco KId

[funnyperson1]

I am still running off the cd drivers, they seem fine to me.

As for the 7700, it is a GTS so 200/333 is the right speed for it. As for overclocking the good GTS cards could get close to 400 on the ram. It depends mostly on your luck. 215 on the core is almost guaranteed, you can probably hit 220-230.

I would flash to the newest bios as it makes a couple more cpu multipliers available.

[Cisco Kid]

Originally posted by funnyperson1
I am still running off the cd drivers, they seem fine to me.

As for the 7700, it is a GTS so 200/333 is the right speed for it. As for overclocking the good GTS cards could get close to 400 on the ram. It depends mostly on your luck. 215 on the core is almost guaranteed, you can probably hit 220-230.

I would flash to the newest bios as it makes a couple more cpu multipliers available.



coo coo, gonna falsh to newest bios and then up the clock/mem on the vid card, can not wait to get dsl and get the updates for windowze.

Cisco KId

[Posidon42]

anyone know where to get the MN31N for a decent price? newegg has them in stock now but they are $84! A far cry from what you all are saying you bought them for.

Too bad I am not a bit more impulsive, they had refurbed ones last week for $50 or so. :cry:

[Cisco Kid]

Originally posted by funnyperson1
I am still running off the cd drivers, they seem fine to me.

As for the 7700, it is a GTS so 200/333 is the right speed for it. As for overclocking the good GTS cards could get close to 400 on the ram. It depends mostly on your luck. 215 on the core is almost guaranteed, you can probably hit 220-230.

I would flash to the newest bios as it makes a couple more cpu multipliers available.



quick question, I can sell the V7700 and replace it with a Radeon 64 DDR vivo, for like $10 more but I am wondering between the 2 which would be better for gaming, seems the GTS may be faster, but the R may play newer games better with the extra 32 ddr also, thoughts before I begin loading software so I can avoid a format.

Cisco Kid

[Balrog]

Hello All, I'm not familiar with what ATI card your talking about Cisco but more memory is always good thing in my book :D Is this a Radeon 7500 or 8500? You can always OC your card with Powerstrip or Radeonator to squeeze a bit more out of it.
Regards, Balrog

[funnyperson1]

Its an original Radeon. Back in the day I remember the 64mb VIVO being a little faster than the GTS in most games. Nowadays though its probably even better since texture size has kept increasing. Also the VIVO features are nice to have.

Imho, I would use the Radeon.

[Cisco Kid]

Originally posted by funnyperson1
Its an original Radeon. Back in the day I remember the 64mb VIVO being a little faster than the GTS in most games. Nowadays though its probably even better since texture size has kept increasing. Also the VIVO features are nice to have.

Imho, I would use the Radeon.

yeah thats what I was thinking, now to start tweaking this system

Thanks

[Balrog]

IMHO - Yup!

Regards, Balrog

[funnyperson1]

I wont make a new post since this seems to be the unofficial AN35 thread.

But I probably will soon get a stick of 512mb Geil 3500 Platinum. I'll report back how it works. the Mushkin has impressed me but..I need more than 256 and don't have the money for two of these Mushkins.

[Balrog]

Hello All, Hey FP1 you going to run that in single channel then? Have you found you can run higher FSBs or bench better in single channel vs. dual? I'm hoping to get my PC3200 Buffalo/Winbonds in a few more weeks.
Regards, Szandor

[funnyperson1]

Single channel it would be. I wish I could run dual, but two sticks cost too much for me. I would just buy another 256mb Mushkin but thats 60$ where I can get some Geil for 80-90$.

[funnyperson1]

I take that back, Ill be doing dual channel. 2x256 Geil 3500 I got off ebay. I would have bought another Mushkin but their 10% summer discount doesn't apply anymore.

[Balrog]

Hello All, You just have a memory fetish FP1 :D Whats this like the 4th different sticks you've used in the last month? Sounds good! - keep us posted, gonna flash the BIOS update on my AN35N this afternoon, hope it goes well. Hows school this semester?
Regards, Balrog

[funnyperson1]

lol. Actually I have only had two different sticks. One crucial 2100 (which I replaced for obvious reasons), and one Mushkin 3200. Both were 256mb sticks. I realized 256 wasn't enough. I was going to get a stick of 512mb of Geil from the forums, but the deal fell through so I got 2 256 sticks off ebay.

As for school, the workload could be better, but the campus, food, and women are very appealing ;).

[Balrog]

Sounds good FP1, hows the football team this year? Last I knew Virginia Tech usually had a pretty good one, I haven't caught them this season though. Did you flash your AN35N to the latest BIOS? If so did you do it from DOS or AWDFlash?
Regards, Balrog

[funnyperson1]

Well we're 2-0, first game 49-21, second game 43-0 so were doing decently, ranked 9th in ESPN poll. You should watch the Texas A&M Game next Thursday as well as the Miami game a ways down.

I flashed to the latest bios using a bootable cd and the exe file from the website. If you run the exe from dos it will flash the mobo for you. From windows it will extract into awdflash and rom file. Imho its a pretty cool method.

[Balrog]

Hey FP1, Yeah I guess VA Tech is still kicking butt! I'll definitely catch those games, hope they show them up here, we get a lot of B.C. and Notre Dame games - Ugh! Hopefully they'll have them on ESPN/2, I missed the pre-game stuff on ESPN last Thursday so I hadn't heard the news or rankings. Yup I flashed my board using the exe file on the bootable disk method, worked smooth and easy. Now I've got to scrape up the coin for my PC3200, yup its addicting. Well gotta go see what the new multis give me, thats all there was on the update right I hadn't heard or seen any other changes? Damn with all this football talk, I need a beer!
Regards, Balrog

[Cisco Kid]

Did I hear BEER, hehehe, I will post my results this weekend when I have some time to fiddle, but I do have this Mushkin PC2100 Level II running 178 fsb at 6,3,3,2 but I have not tested it too much just surfed quickly no quirks thus far, and do not even have an idea of temps of the 1700 but I am sure it is fine and ram will crap out first for sure


FP1 yeah you should start an official thread on AN35N, great value board

Cisco KID

[Balrog]

Hello All, Hey Cisco your not using MBM5 to monitor your temps, voltages and fans? Works sweet on my rig. New version even has direct support for AN35N.
Regards, Balrog

[funnyperson1]

Originally posted by Cisco Kid
Did I hear BEER, hehehe, I will post my results this weekend when I have some time to fiddle, but I do have this Mushkin PC2100 Level II running 178 fsb at 6,3,3,2 but I have not tested it too much just surfed quickly no quirks thus far, and do not even have an idea of temps of the 1700 but I am sure it is fine and ram will crap out first for sure


FP1 yeah you should start an official thread on AN35N, great value board

Cisco KID

Cisco Kid, both MBM5 and Sandra work fine for monitoring temps with the AN35 Ultra. I think you should also run prime for a good amount of time to see if the comp is stable.

[Cisco Kid]

Originally posted by funnyperson1


Cisco Kid, both MBM5 and Sandra work fine for monitoring temps with the AN35 Ultra. I think you should also run prime for a good amount of time to see if the comp is stable.


ohh I will I will get this thing tight fer sure, off to bed

later guyz

CK

[Balrog]

Hello All, Well if Vancouver is GSXR750 territory then North Central Massachusetts is ZX7R country - No Suzukis allowed :D Wish I still had my bike, we've got some seriously sweet riding back this way Cisco,. Hows the roads out your way?
Regards, Balrog

[Cisco Kid]

Originally posted by Balrog
Hello All, Well if Vancouver is GSXR750 territory then North Central Massachusetts is ZX7R country - No Suzukis allowed :D Wish I still had my bike, we've got some seriously sweet riding back this way Cisco,. Hows the roads out your way?
Regards, Balrog


The riding is excellent here, Sea To Sky highway to Whislter BC is one fantastic ride. IN time I will try to post some pics. Also the ride from Vancouver to Calgary via the Rockies is awesome.

ZX7R are nice bikes as well, I plan to get a VMAX in time and keep the 750 as well.

CK

[Balrog]

Yeah Cisco I've heard ot the Sea to Sky Hwy. its suppose to be sweet! I liked my ZX, Kawa's are a bit heavier, not quite as quick but seem to stand up to the pounding of the rough roads around here. I've ridden a few GSXRs - nice bike, as is the VMAX, going for a little Smoke Churn'n Cruiser action huh. I think my riding days are over, made it 25+ years of riding without getting wasted and my reactions aren't as quick as they once were to avoid the myriad of nut cases they give licenses to around here. Enjoy!
Regards, Balrog

[funnyperson1]

Some bad news, while the Geil works fine with this mobo, it can only run at the same speeds that my Mushkin did even though its rated at 433mhz to do 6-3-3-2 it only posts/runs at cl2.5.

Which leads me to believe that the motherboard and not the ram is the culprit. Maybe some nb cooling or a vmod would help us get better timings on this board :(.

[Balrog]

Yeah I'm with you FP1, just getting the HTPC rig fired up today, gotta do some molding on the case and prime it and get the new HDD loaded up and I've got to work on that HSF set-up myself. I've already lapped the NB and its got a nice layer of grease on it, just got to come up with an easy way to attach the fan.
Regards, Balrog

[Cisco Kid]

Originally posted by Balrog
Hello All, Hey Cisco your not using MBM5 to monitor your temps, voltages and fans? Works sweet on my rig. New version even has direct support for AN35N.
Regards, Balrog


Which version as I just d/l the version 5340 and it shows no board support?? Is that correct? Finally getting around to installing it LOL

Cisco KId

[Balrog]

Hello All, Sorry Cisco - I could have sworn I'd answered your post, don't know what happened, "brain fart" I guess. Someone over at nForcersHQ said it had direct support for it, I wonder whats up? I run it on my rig and it reads with-in 1-2% of Sandra and BIOS. Set Temps and Fans to its corresponding ITE number not diode ie: Sensor1 to ITE1, I run all my voltages set to Standard 4 for configuration. Any questions or problems let me know, sorry for the slow response.
Regards, Balrog

[sQUiRLy]

I began upgrading my PC this summer, one year after its conception, and in that year Ive gone from noob to nerd. My first board came with the barebones I bought (ECSK7S5A) and it sucked ass. Now I have the economical Shuttle AN35N Ultra and I love it. NO PROBLEMS at all. :cool: My benchmarks went up and my FPS went up just by switching mobos. I currently sold my GeForce 3 and I'm on my fourth Ti 4200 and still haven't found the one for me. I can honestly say that there is little difference between 4x and 8x but there is big difference in game play with 128MB over 64. Great board for the dough. Cant wait to stick a 2500 Barton on it and underclock it 133x16. Ill start a underclocking thread when I get this done.

[Balrog]

I use a cheap Chaintech ti4200 with a modified aluminum P2 HSF on it, its very quiet and can run 310/610 for 13,850 3DMarks and I still haven't installed the memory heat sinks. These ti4200s are selling for $85.00 or $95.00 @NewEgg depending on whether you want TV-Out or not, still the best bang-for-the buck I know of for AGP cards.
Regards, Balrog

[sQUiRLy]

This is my third reply. The first two got deleted durring one of my episodes. Im sure this attempt will be successfull. Ok, lets begin, you spoke of Newegg, yes? Newegg rocks! Just got off the phone with their customer service. They graciously waived my restocking fee on a DOA refurb. Oh yea!
Ive seen your card there but Im looking at a 4800se from Albatron that should put me over 10,000 stock. Im getting 10,016 @320/465 with the Aopen.
Although that damn 9600pro looks good for $154 shipped. And what about this 9600XT? Sounds like a winner from what Ive read. Nvidia realy let my down with the FX line. There isnt a real bang for the buck card in that line up.:(

[Balrog]

That would explain the 3 e-mail notifications in 5 minutes. (LOL) Its your money sQUiRLy, I personally would rather spend less, add improved cooling and OC it, I get better performance for a lot less money. Good Luck!
Regards, Balrog

[sQUiRLy]

I went crazy and charged a few things hoping I can sell the old goods on Ebay. Since Ive never owned a Tbred, I bought a XP2000 DUT3C AIUHB. Not a steller O'cloker but it will get me where I want to go for now. Im going to try this Albatron 4800se for $130. Better come with 3.3ns RAM or > or its going on Ebay. And to power everything the Tt 420 silent pure.
I'll hate to see the ol' model 6 go. Damn thing idled at 53C with the Tt Valcano 5 that came with it. When I set out to cool her down I was hoping for 48C but to my suprise, after modding the side panel for a 60MM and spending $30 dollars, I ended up at 37C.:D Having a hole above the cpu dropped me 10C alone.
With this configuration I should have the Tbred at 25C or < @stock speeds.

edit
The Alby 4800se was nice and did give me 10,235 stock on 3D'01 using 43.51 driver. It's built just like the 4200 turbo they sell for more $.

GameVE shipped me a Paly instead of the gaurnteed AIUHB. No dice.

[Enbalmed]

Think you'll be very happy with the 2100+. I own 2 of them and both run over 2.2 ghz with 1.67 to 1.7v. The overclockers database shows them to o/c as good as Bartons, maybe a little better.

[ManOfKnight]

I read that the memory is really slow on this board because of the latency issues...is this true...as a board this cheap is tempting

[ManOfKnight]

also is this dual channel? newegg normally tells you if it is or not. i would assume since it is a NForce board that it is dual channel...but i want to clarify before i make the mistake of buying a board that isn't

[Balrog]

AN35N Ultra = Dual-channel

AN35N 400 = Single-channel

Regards, Balrog