ASUS A8N Sli Premium Installation Tips?

[Everclearboy]

I am building a new machine.. below are the components I am using.. I've heard various things on the forums here about this particular motherboard.. Any advice from those out there with any experience with it or similar systems to this? Anything I should do when installing the parts together? Thank You

AMD FX-60
ASUS SLi Premium
Soundblaster Fatality
Corsair PC3500LLPRO 2GB
Thermaltake Blue Orb II
Seagate 300GB SATA 3.0 Gb/s ST3300622AS
ASUS 5232A4 CD-RW
ASUS 1608P3 DVD-RW
Ultra X-Connect 550W Power Supply
ASUS 256MB 7900GT Video Card
Sony Floppy Drive
Artic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
Aspire X-Navigator PC Case

For Monitors I am considering the

Viewsonic 930B 19" LCD

or

ASUS PW191 19" Widescreen LCD

 

[timberwolf1]

Hi EverClearBoy,


There are some posts about the ASUS A8N SLI Premium. Do read them first:

http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/A8N-SLI-PREMIUM-PROBLEM-HELP-ftopict168780.html

http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/46615/?o=20

 

[Everclearboy]

Is the NForce 6.66, ForceWare 77.77 still the driver to go with? 77.77 was released in August? Don't I need the 84.21 for support with the 7900GT?
And instead of 6.66.. don't I want 6.85?

 

[MrCommunistGen]

YES. In general you always want to have the latest drivers. In general they tend to be faster and more stable. Of course there are always exceptions, but usually the difference is only a few % in either direction anyway :roll:

-mcg

 

[Ultraviolet]

Get a Tagan 580w PSU, if not your mobo may not work correctly. Believe me i know.

 

[phoenixavatar2]

Why would you recommend a different power supply? He has a 550 right now. Anyways, I would just say don't be a noob like me and install dual memory sticks in the wrong slot, or go out and buy an ATX power converter because the mobo has four too many sockets (there's a way to plug it in, leaving a few sockets open). And do what MrCommunist said and always get the newest Drivers. Current release is 84.21. A number of games, including those I didn't expect crashed at certain points because my drivers were a little behind.

 

[Everclearboy]

What do you mean wrong slots? Don't both sticks go in the first two or last two slots?

 

[Ultraviolet]

put it this way, with my old, seasonic 500w psu, i started my computer and then it turned off at random points. and only 1 out of 8 times would it actually stay booted up without powering off. I now have a Tagan 580w psu and i have no problems what so ever. As i mentioned in the other post, as another guy was having the exact same problem as me. like 70% of ALL psu's dont work with this motherboard! take me advice and get a tagan psu.

 

[phoenixavatar2]

I have the basic version of that mobo, and I didn't get post when I had the memory in the first two slots. I just switched them around, put them both in the blue slots and I've never had a problem since.

 

[traken]

Well, if anyone bothered to read the manual, it tells you what slots to put the ram in.

Anyways, I have this mobo running fine on an Antec Smartpower 400w. This might be a little low for really high-end comps, but it works fine with my 64 3700+ and 7900gt.

 

[phoenixavatar2]

Actually, I did read the manual. The thing is that it was my first build and I was dealing with a lot of things for the first time, including memory. I didn't think it mattered which slots the memory goes in and according to the manual, the first two slots are called A1 and A2, so I figured I might as well put them in those.

 

[Everclearboy]

Any recommendations on which BIOS to go with in order to use the FX-60?