new motherboard?
 

i just bought my asus a7v8x-x board about a month ago, and i got a sweet deal on a trade-up for an a7n8x-x board. should i really take this up? is the nforce2 that much better than the via chipset? and does the a7n8x-x have a pci lock? hell, does my a7v8x-x have a pci lock? i dont think it does, but if someone knows a good place to check, let me know. i'm hitting 200 fsb, but it's getting kind of unstable. all input is appreciated, and thanks in advance.

Yes. The A7V8X-X is a POS. One of the worst ASUS board I ever bought and have ever seen.

I have the A7N8X-X and have been REALLY happy with it so far.

Can't say the same. I also have an a7n8x-x and i'm not very impressed. But i'd choose it over a VIA chipset mobo anytime.

What issues have you had? I think I've rebooted my computer 3-4 times since I've built it and don't recall a crash. I have to concede that I replaced a Via motherboard with the Asus though so perhaps my expectations have been lowered.

NF7-S r2, man ... NF7-S r2 ....

If you can trade, though, go for it. Anything to get away from a Via board.

Dont get me wrong, it's a good motherboard, it's worth the money (which is cheap for what you get). But :

The sound has issues, interference , occasional cracks , they arent serious , and don't show while playing something. Still, they are annoying. I can let that slide.

The motherboard is excepcionally picky with memory modules. It wont take certain OCZ modules, or certain Samsung ones. I tested my 2x256 kingston on other computers (A Epox 8rda+ and a a7n8x deluxe) and it passed with flying colours 200fsb at 2-2-2-5 with a similar processor (2500+ barton at 3200+ , like mine) , not too shabby for value ram. However, on my a7n8x-x , it wont go near those values. This i cant.

I also noticed that if you change a card , or for some reason , windows changes de IRQ list , all hell breaks loose. It stopped aquiring my Live!Platinum for no good reason. Sure, i can blame Creative, but i havent had this problem before. It can be fixed, with some work, but still , that didnt happen with my SiS k7s5a (rock solid board, btw). It's rare, but it happened once, and once too often . :D

Nevertheless , i do get a good OC from it. If put new memory modules (i tested with 2x256 hyperx from a friend) , and i'll get some soon hopefuly, I can stretch the barton to 2,4 ... 2,5Ghz. It's now at 2.3Ghz. Very respectable .

Oh, and do try to get that crap pink thermal paste from the north bridge, it's awful. I'm willing to bet that's made by a chewing gum company.

ah

Never used anything other than Kingston HyperX ram in it (2x256mb sticks) and since I moved my good speakers to the HTPC upstairs I just listen to headphones while gaming and otherwise listen to all music on HTPC upstairs (running an MSI NF1 motherboard)

well after posting this, and checking the rest of the threads, i'm taking out my mobo, and going to trade it. it's definitely a good deal, though? i'd rather have an N in the name than a V? and are there any other noticable differences? i have a creative sound card, so it doesnt matter what i get for onboard audio. big question: does it OC better?

right now i have my 1.733 up to 2.200 with air-cooling. will the a7n8x-x be better? worse? equal?

nforce2 is hands down much better motherboard solution than anything from Via. And the A7V8X is known to have some issues anyway.

It will always overclock better due to the locked PCI bus.

oh it does have a locked pci bus? SWEET. i didn't end up getting it yesterday, or today for that matter. my hopes are high for tomorrow though. i'll keep you posted, though.