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Destin
New member
Hi there, i´m about to upgrade and don´t know if it´s worth to go with the mobo asus A7n8X Deluxe? The A7n8X-X is enough? Should i go with Sata or normal HD will do fine? Thanks in advance.
DAFFYDRUNK
New member
Depends on features you want. The A7n8X deluxe come with firewire, the Soundstom audio, SATA and dual channel DDR, while the A7n8X-X doesn't come with firewire or SATA, and is a single channel DDR board with a more generic onboard audio.
The dual channel itself isn't really worth the money since game benchmarks suggest it doesn't make much of a difference. Figure a hypothetical DAW benchmark would generate similar results. Dual channel DDR generates higher scores in memory benchmarks though. IMO, either way you go, you're better off spending more money higher quality memory that can handle a 1:1 FSB/DDR ratio beyond 200 Mhz FSB while running CL2 instead of CL2.5. This has more of a real world impact on performance than the dual channel memory capability does.
Of course, if you think you might want Firewire and SATA at some point, you might as well spend the extra $40 and get the Deluxe. For a raw board though, the A7n8x-X is a pretty nice. Has lots of overclocking features which make it a good match with a 2500+ Barton if you plan on overclocking for a little extra bang for the buck.
The dual channel itself isn't really worth the money since game benchmarks suggest it doesn't make much of a difference. Figure a hypothetical DAW benchmark would generate similar results. Dual channel DDR generates higher scores in memory benchmarks though. IMO, either way you go, you're better off spending more money higher quality memory that can handle a 1:1 FSB/DDR ratio beyond 200 Mhz FSB while running CL2 instead of CL2.5. This has more of a real world impact on performance than the dual channel memory capability does.
Of course, if you think you might want Firewire and SATA at some point, you might as well spend the extra $40 and get the Deluxe. For a raw board though, the A7n8x-X is a pretty nice. Has lots of overclocking features which make it a good match with a 2500+ Barton if you plan on overclocking for a little extra bang for the buck.
Stealthtech
LOGIC ABUSER
Nice reply Daffy
Im currently running an ASUS P4PE with the 800MHz FSB with the newest SATA WD Raptor drive 10,000 rpm.
The SATA connects are sweet compared to the bulky ribbons.
The P4PE runs about $117 and well worth it
I have'nt had a bad ASUS board yet....good quality boards all round.
Im currently running an ASUS P4PE with the 800MHz FSB with the newest SATA WD Raptor drive 10,000 rpm.
The SATA connects are sweet compared to the bulky ribbons.
The P4PE runs about $117 and well worth it
I have'nt had a bad ASUS board yet....good quality boards all round.
B
Bulls Hit
Well-known member
DAFFYDRUNK said:
OK question time.
What's CL2, CL2.5?
What's this 1:1 FSB/DDR ratio?
My next MB will have 800FSB and support 400DDR ram. Does this mean the ratio is 2:1?
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warlock110
New member
2.5 and 2 is refering to the RAM timing, the smaller the number the tighter the timiming the less it misses information therefore "better" 
. and 400 DDR is 200mhz at core (400:2) while 800 on the P4 is (800:4), both are running at 200 mhz core so it's 1:1, not 2:1, u'll see more common are 4:5 or 2:3, never 2:1
. and 400 DDR is 200mhz at core (400:2) while 800 on the P4 is (800:4), both are running at 200 mhz core so it's 1:1, not 2:1, u'll see more common are 4:5 or 2:3, never 2:1
DAFFYDRUNK
New member
What I've done recently with the Asus A7n8x-X board is use a Barton 2500+ with PC3200 Memory (DDR 400 cl2.5) and run the FSB and the DDR clock on a 1:1 ratio while setting the FSB from 166 to 185 MHz. I set all the memory timings as default except set the CL to 2 instead of 2.5. This results in XP 3000+ speeds and is very stable for cheap. You could set the FSB even higher with the Barton 2500+ but I was going for all out stability. At 185 FSB, the CPU doesn't really need any added voltage, but the Asus has adjustable voltage in case you need it. I would definately buy another A7n8x-x again if I wanted a nice board on a budget...
As for SATA, it's not a huge increase in speed yet unless you're going with a 10,00RPM Raptor drive, but the size of the cables is kinda nice since it helps airflow inside the machine. Regardless of SATA or IDE, figure if you go with a 8mb cached 7200 RPM drive and have least 512 MB memory, you won't have any problems going all out when you record. I've done a few elaborite things while messing with Acid Pro where there's 40+ tracks with tons of plugins, and that kind of setup works without any problems.
As for SATA, it's not a huge increase in speed yet unless you're going with a 10,00RPM Raptor drive, but the size of the cables is kinda nice since it helps airflow inside the machine. Regardless of SATA or IDE, figure if you go with a 8mb cached 7200 RPM drive and have least 512 MB memory, you won't have any problems going all out when you record. I've done a few elaborite things while messing with Acid Pro where there's 40+ tracks with tons of plugins, and that kind of setup works without any problems.
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Destin
New member
Thanks DAFFYDRUNK
I think i´ll go with Asus A7n8x-X board, AMD xp 2600 and 2 HD 7200 8MB Buffer. I also have an audiophile 2496 to install, what pci port should i use?
I think i´ll go with Asus A7n8x-X board, AMD xp 2600 and 2 HD 7200 8MB Buffer. I also have an audiophile 2496 to install, what pci port should i use?
DAFFYDRUNK
New member
Any PCI slot other than the one right next to the AGP as a general rule. On alot of boards the slot right next to the AGP uses the same IRQ. As for the CPU, I still think the 2500+ is a better choice. The 2500 and 2600 are 2 totally different CPUs. The 2500 has 512 KB L2 cache while the 2600 has 256KB L2 cache. Basically the 2500+ has potential be set much faster with about 2 minutes of tweaking in the bios...
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Destin
New member
I´m not planing to overclock it, does the 2500+ still a better choice?
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Destin
New member
What´s the benefict of having 512Kb L2 cache?
DAFFYDRUNK
New member
Even if you don't want to overclock I think it's a great CPU for cheap. You'd be crazy not to at least run a 185 FSB since every one I've seen can do that speed in it's sleep. I dunno if the extra L2 cache maces much of a difference, since an AMD isn't as dependant on L2 cache like a Intel P4. (AMD has dual 64+64KB L1 while a P4 has 8+12KB L1 cache) I figure the 512k L2 might help increase the amount of plugins since reverb, delay, dynamics algorithms are repetivite code. Just a theory though, don't have a clue as to whether that's true or not...