A8N SLI Motherboard(s) questions

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19-01-2006, 03:43 PM
YorkieBen

A8N SLI Motherboard(s) questions

Can anyone tell me what the differences between the A8N-SLI SE (LN12575) and the A8N-SLI (Standard) (LN9153) are? I cant see any in the specs…

A8N SLI SE:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=311465

A8N SLI (Standard)

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=158981

In addition, the A8N Premium has a warning that it cannot be used in an upside down motherboard (eg as in the Silverstone TJ06 etc) due to the heat pipe

the A8N32-SLI (LN12107) doesnt have this warning - does this mean it is okay to use in an upside down orientation?
19-01-2006, 04:48 PM
YorkieBen

okay... i was wondering because the Scan Chameleon has it and that uses the Silverstone TJ06 case :O_o1:

and it says that "3xs recommended base specification - The components choosen below are a fixed specification that cannot be changed. The 3xs team have verified these to be the best all round hardware for the intended use." when mentioning the motherboard
19-01-2006, 04:54 PM
DavidM

I think i've got the model mixed up - i'll check on this.

(The model numbers are a bit confusing! :))
20-01-2006, 11:13 PM
YorkieBen

ttt
26-01-2006, 02:40 AM
FatalSaviour

I would've thought that you wouldn't be able to install the A8N32-SLI motherboard in an inverted orientation either. This, as you know, is due to the heatpipe, and as far as I know, the laws of physics haven't changed in the past couple of months, to allow less dense substances to travel down naturally by themselves. Unless you want superheated/supermolten Southbridge, I wouldn't advise inverting either the A8N-SLI Premium or the A8N32-SLI.
I should be getting the latter on Friday...if it materialises, and I accidentally knock over a 21kilo case 180degs, I'll let you know if it spontaneously combusts. :)
26-01-2006, 11:18 AM
Lee H

I personally would not use any "heatpipe" cooled motherboard in an inverted manner as it looks like these do not support the capillary action that some heatpipes do. However, the A8N32-SLI has additional fans that can attached to the cooling solution to aid performance.

As for the SLi-SE this looks to be a natural replacement for the SLi Standard model that has been out of stock for quite a while.

Best Regards,
26-01-2006, 12:36 PM
FatalSaviour

Sli-SE = Standard Edition? :)
As for the A8N32-SLI, it does have a blower fan, but this attaches to the heatsink at the top of the heatpipe...if the motherboard is going to be inverted...then this will be at the wrong end of the motherboard?
26-01-2006, 01:29 PM
JonSt

One of the benefits of the A8N32-SLi is that ut can supply 16x to both graphics slot, instead of the usual 8.
26-01-2006, 02:13 PM
project187

so can the a8n-sli mate
26-01-2006, 02:23 PM
YorkieBen

the a8n-sli can only give 16x to one pci-e slot or 8x in sli. However from what I have seen in reviews it makes little or not difference

Quote:

I personally would not use any "heatpipe" cooled motherboard in an inverted manner as it looks like these do not support the capillary action that some heatpipes do. However, the A8N32-SLI has additional fans that can attached to the cooling solution to aid performance.

Lee, could you find out from the guys who make/test the Chameleon system if they use those little blower fans that come with the A8N32-SLI or if not what their solution is for the cooling... because as it stands everyone I have spoken to says not to use the A8N32-SLI with a Temjin TJ06 but Scan sell the Chameleon with it in? :confused:

thanks :)
26-01-2006, 02:53 PM
Lee H

The Chameleon was sent out with the motherboard with the heatpipes but after a few tests and a few hours scratching their heads the systembuild team have now reverted to using the SLI-Deluxe model of motherboard which has active cooling on the chipset and does not have any of the issues related to the inverted mounting and heatpipe cooling :)

Best Regards,
26-01-2006, 03:07 PM
JonSt

Quote:

Originally Posted by project187

so can the a8n-sli mate

No, it can only supply x8 to each slot when in sli,it can supply x16 when using the one gfx. The a8n32-sli can supply x16 to each slot when in sli, hence the 32
26-01-2006, 11:32 PM
YorkieBen

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lee @ SCAN

The Chameleon was sent out with the motherboard with the heatpipes but after a few tests and a few hours scratching their heads the systembuild team have now reverted to using the SLI-Deluxe model of motherboard which has active cooling on the chipset and does not have any of the issues related to the inverted mounting and heatpipe cooling :)

Best Regards,

I know when the Chameleon was first produced it had the A8N SLI Premium, and that Scan changed it to the A8N Deluxe. But now it says it is using the A8N32SLI Deluxe which is totally different, it uses heatpipes, there is no actively cooled version of the A8N32 mobos...

http://3xs.scan.co.uk/ConfigureSystem.asp?SystemID=394
26-01-2006, 11:55 PM
davidstone28

You should definitely try and avoid using the mobo the wrong way up simply because of the length of the heatpipe. It *may* be fine but you're taking a big gamble. Applies to the Premium and the AN32.

I used a Zalman GPU heatsink upside down and although the GPU seemed fine, temps were much higher than compared to when it was the right way up. Also the heatpipes on that were much shorter. Ocing wasn't possible.
27-01-2006, 10:10 AM
Lee H

Quote:

Originally Posted by YorkieBen

I know when the Chameleon was first produced it had the A8N SLI Premium, and that Scan changed it to the A8N Deluxe. But now it says it is using the A8N32SLI Deluxe which is totally different, it uses heatpipes, there is no actively cooled version of the A8N32 mobos...

Yes, the A8N32 motherboard is used when the configurator selects any other case apart from the silverstone inverted ones. When 1 of these is selected, the systems department contact the customer informing them of issues regarding the cooling solution, and inform the customer of the solution by changing the board to the A8N-SLI Deluxe instead.
28-01-2006, 02:10 PM
MON

Quote:

Originally Posted by FatalSaviour

Sli-SE = Standard Edition? :)
As for the A8N32-SLI, it does have a blower fan, but this attaches to the heatsink at the top of the heatpipe...if the motherboard is going to be inverted...then this will be at the wrong end of the motherboard?

inverted you mean fan at the top?????

:O_o1:
28-01-2006, 08:21 PM
dpriest

Quote:

Originally Posted by YorkieBen

the a8n-sli can only give 16x to one pci-e slot or 8x in sli. However from what I have seen in reviews it makes little or not difference

Apparently only the Nvidia 7800 GTX 512 cards will be able to make use of all the bandwidth the two 16x slots can give.
28-01-2006, 09:30 PM
JonSt

As YorkieBen said, every review I have read did not mention much about the increased bandwith. Some mentioned it, but didn't exactly sound over the moon about it.
28-01-2006, 10:06 PM
dpriest

***Was a really well put together post here - but then realised I was replying about a completely different board***

It's late, I need beer, sorry!

Is it possible to delete your own posts? I can only see an edit option....
28-01-2006, 10:32 PM
YorkieBen

Quote:

Originally Posted by dpriest

Apparently only the Nvidia 7800 GTX 512 cards will be able to make use of all the bandwidth the two 16x slots can give.

nvidia would say that wouldnt they :p
29-01-2006, 12:03 AM
dpriest

Yeah, fair point! :-)

More here on bit-tech though, where they've done some comparisons
with a system with both 16 pipes working:
http://www.hothardware.com/viewartic...leid=739&cid=3

... seems to favour frame rates rather than GPU processes, and there's a
reply from Nick Stam:

""You may see better scaling at 1x/1x (AA /AF) on x16 vs x8 SLI due to a few reasons, in descending order of most impact.

1) The higher frame rates obtained at 1x/1x (or even at lower resolution) actually requires more data to be exchanged between the two GPU cards across PCIe per unit time (more frames per second means the cards must exchange data more frequently). Resolution variations actually don't have as much impact across PCIe as the increased frame rates do in the GPU-GPU exchanges over PCIe. While much data does exchange through the SLI bridge connector, there is still some data that goes across PCIe between GPUs.

2) With higher frame rates, the CPUs can now pump more data across PCIe to the GPUs.

Future scenarios with lots more geometry being passed to GPUs, a lot more textures, SLI-AA, and so on, will see more improvements over time."

Full article and test results at Bit-Tech:
http://www.hothardware.com/viewartic...leid=739&cid=3
29-01-2006, 04:09 AM
FatalSaviour

Quote:

Originally Posted by MON

inverted you mean fan at the top?????

:O_o1:

The blower fan that attaches to the cooler of the heatpipe is at the top of a case, near the CPU fan in a normal configuration, to disperse the most heat. Therefore, it will be at the bottom of the case in an inverted configuration, blowing precious little heat away...
29-01-2006, 04:12 AM
FatalSaviour

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonSt

No, it can only supply x8 to each slot when in sli,it can supply x16 when using the one gfx. The a8n32-sli can supply x16 to each slot when in sli, hence the 32

This is right. Also, noone seems to have mentioned that this board overclocks damn well...
I've owned the A8N-SLI Deluxe, RMA'd it, got this, and I'll never look back...I'm well impressed with it...apart from my wireless card not playing with it for some reaso...:confused: