just got A7N8X !

[Desperado84]

yeah, i am really happy i just ordered it from Newegg, for only $150 seems like a good deal to me.
anyway i have a few questions.
it's dual lan, but if i am only gonna use 1 of them for internet, which one do i use (is one better than the other) cause they are different.

also i heard that it's a GREAT overclocker. i ask this cause i have an Athlon XP 2000+ but LAMO GENERIC 2100 DDR Ram.
i have been unable to overclock with my current mobo (Epox 8KHA+) cause it wouldn't let me keep the RAM on stock speeds.
with this board can i overclock the FSB but keep the RAM the same ?
thanks for the help guys

 

[Illah]

You probably would have had a better performance bump with better RAM and the old EPOX...

So if you got an extra few bucks around get some new ram. Otherwise these boards are supposed to be able to run the RAM slower than the FSB, so you should be good on upping the FSB.

---BUT---

The whole benefit of upping the FSB is to get more RAM bandwith, so by running the ram slower you're not doing anything with the upped FSB... You might as well just up the multiplier.

--Illah

 

[Ugmore Baggage]

I'm thinking about getting the A7N8 mainly for the stability benefits, and because I think it looks more futuresafe than most other boards available, and partly for the Asus name.
--I'm still waiting for benchmarks--

I'm in the same boat as Desperado with 2 sticks of 2100c2.5 (enough for dual mode at least).

My question is since I can't afford to go to 3500c2 and there are so many options, would my money be better spent just adding another 2100 module?

A 512@DDR266 (total 1G) costs about half what a cas2 512@DDR400 (total 512Mb) goes for.

For the time being I'll just migrate my current ram, but I try to plan for the future.

As for the LAN question, look in the bios to see if one is called primary, try disabling the other one. Did Asus add their own chip? If they did, it would be the better option because it probably doesn't share system resources. (<<all guesses)

btw, is there a reason for dual LAN? Maybe something to do with servers runnning two [hardware] separate networks...

 

[Mambo]

My understanding was that 1 NIC was an Nvidia mac and the other was a 3com both with similar performace with a slight edge to the nvidia one

 

[Desperado84]

so if i am just gonna use one (for internet) i be best using the NVidia one ?

 

[GosuWar]

Your NIC card does not effect your internet. It is a layer two device, it works by MAC. The ethernet going from your NIC to your cable modem is WAN, not LAN. The card is most definitely 100 mb/s , which is avg., or Gigabit lan, 1000, which is kinda recent but a hell of a lot faster for LANs.

Don't get LAN mixed up w/ WAN (internet). Your cable modem caps your bandwidth, and your ethernet bandwidth allows up to 100 mb/s.

For the Gigabit lan to work in LAN, you need another computer w/ gigabit lan and switch which supports Gigabit Lan, and possibly fiber optic... then your **** will be BANGIN smooth.

-.-

 

[Ugmore Baggage]

I looked on the Asus website, it seems that the only reason to use both ports is if you want to use your brand spanking new ultra powerful PC as a lowly router. Suitable for a professional server application but kinda pointless for home users unless they keep the (brand new, etc) computer powered up and connected 24/7.

I still suspect that one or the other uses system resources. Even if the nVidia runs faster, it could be due to your fast CPU which would mean your game (etc) may run slower. Internet connectivity shouldn't be a speed issue in any case (again -- a server admin may disagree).
I assume that everything integrated in the northbridge shares the main CPU/RAM, I can't see any other possibility.

 

[Desperado84]

problem is that my EDU makes everyone register their NIC with their MAC address, which is different for every NIC.
so i can't just switch between.
i would rather just know which is better.
mostly i do continual downloading 24/7 with occasional LAN games

 

[Gnufsh]

For those of us on a lan -- does one offer better lan performance?

 

[Gnufsh]

I'm thinking of getting this board. Tell us how you like it.

 

[abb1]

I'm thinking of getting this board. Tell us how you like it.

Does not overclock worth a damn. I have a 2400+ processor that is factory unlocked from multiplier 13 and up. On my A7V333, I could easily run at 13x166=2166mhz. With the A7N8X however, the system will not even boot if you change the multiplier .5 up or down. I tried a mild overclock of 15 (default multiplier) x 141, and the system would boot fine but would become unstable when running anything too intensive. Very disapointed!
Abb

 

[charleybot]

I just got my XP2600/333 and A7N8X in yesterday, and with a water cooled setup I get this: