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Reviews for Asus A8N-SLI Desktop Motherboard - nVIDIA nForce4 SLI Chipset - Socket PGA-939

1 x Processor Support - 4 GB - Floppy Controller, Serial ATA/300, Ultra ATA/133 ATA-7 - 2 x PCIe x16 Slot - MPN: 90M9L0P0G0EAY

  • 5
  By member: slimshadyemb - Jan 27, 2006

Everything I hoped

Strengths: SLI, obviously. Great chipset, tons of functionality, lots of accessories, ASUS warranty and tech support

Weakness: Only 3 PCI slots

Wow. Tried other Asus boards and I was disappointed. I dropped the extra money and went with the SLI board and WOW. All my problems disappeared, high quality, great warranty. I recommend this board to anyone.
AMD 3700+ San Diego (actually works with this processor, I've had trouble before)
BFG 7800 GT

What a product!

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  • 3
  By anonymous - Feb 16, 2006

bump in the road

Strengths: SLI, great price, nforce4 chipset, tons of connections and usb/firewire cables and connectors right out of the box. simple bios makes overclocking automatic and simple.

Weakness: onboard sound

Loved everything about this board,even tho it was a real tight fit in my new ANTEC P160W aluminum mid tower. After making all the connections I was installing all my programs in minutes, then came the bump in the road. The onboard audio wouldn't recognize my Logitech 5300 5.1 speakers and kept thinking I had 2 microphones and front audio speakers plugged into the "auto sensing sound ports". When I close the audio configuration utility I can still get 5.1 sound but I believe its because my speakers can take any input and automatically convert it to surround. Downloaded the new driver for the mobo and no difference after installing. Called Asus and there only solution was for me to buy an additional soundcard to fix the problem...booo!

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Reply by member: jsbigcatlover
Nov 18, 2006

I just read on another site that you should go to nVidia's site to download the audio drivers. That solves the problem.

  • 3
  By member: briancar - Jun 8, 2006

Spend a little more for the Premium

Strengths: ASUS is excellent, includes 4 SATA cables.

Weakness: They've improved the northbridge heatsink fan (it no longer looks like the one pictured) but it is still too noisy for home theater PC use.

If I had it to do over again, I'd pay more for the ASUS A8N-SLI Premium. This is just the basic A8N-SLI and the main difference is the Premium comes with the "Cool Pipe" which silently cools the northbridge chipset instead of using a fan, which is used in this model and the Deluxe. I ended up replacing the stock northbridge fan with a Zalman heatsink in order to reduce noise (which I think voids the warranty).

The first RAM slot is really close to the Main SLI Video Card slot, so you need to insert your RAM before your video card (and remove the card anytime you change that first stick of RAM).

Also, I'm not certain of this, but I think the voltages I'm getting are a little sub-par and fluctuate more than they should. I'm using a high-quality 600W power supply (that cost twice what this motherboard costs!) so I'm pretty sure that's not to blame.

Otherwise this is a stunning board that I'm using happily with an AMD 64 Athlon X2 3800+ and if you don't care how noisy your computer is, then this would be a great money-saving choice. Otherwise you really need the Premium (or the patience to change out the Northbridge fan--which is fairly frustrating).

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  • 4
  By member: ldogg1579 - Feb 27, 2006

Asus is good

Strengths: Price, SLI & SLI Connector, Layout

Weakness: 8x each when in SLI Mode

Thought I should say that I didn't even look for a MB with 16x in SLI, I assumed that this one did, my fault for not looking, but the Asus site didn't mention it to my recaletion.

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  • 5
  By member: siwskforever - Jul 21, 2005

Its nice

Strengths: RAID for 4 drives, nforce 4 sli, has all a high end gamer needs. Very detailed manual. Comes with 4 SATA cords. 3 year warranty.

Weakness: None for the price

You cant expect more from a motherboard when everything works without a hastle. This mobo goes with my case like bread and butter considering the USB and 1394 devices. This has a warranty i can sleep with. What else is there to say other than GRRREEAT SLI!

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  • 4
  By member: pasta1234 - Jan 23, 2006

motherboard review

Strengths: nice sleek board, nice nice functions, stable, nice heatsinks

Weakness: price thats it, memory slot orientation

I got this board coupled with a x2 athlon processor and i dont think i can be any happier. The system is fast doesnt lag in any games and the x2 is by far one of the nicest cpus i have seen. multitasking can be used to its full entend and the board doesnt show any signs of weakness. I would reccommnd this board to anyone wanting a nice lasting gaming rig. Bios is clean and has descent options.

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  • 4
  By member: klozoff - Aug 7, 2005

Excellent board

Strengths: Best AMD chipset, good stability and components

Weakness: none noted

This is a really good AMD socket 939 motherboard that I would recomment. It supports the new Nvidia SLI graphics mode which I have not tried yet, but depending on who you ask it can be an awesome thing for games. More importantly for me are the chipset features like GB LAN, SATA, PCI Express, and hardware SATA/PATA raid. This board really has it all, and I've always had good experiences with Asus products in the past, this one not being any different.

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  • 4
  By member: brettski111 - May 2, 2005

Asus A8N-SLI Desktop Motherboard - nVIDIA nForce4...

Strengths: Lots of USB2.0 and firewire ports. Easy configurations. nForce4 chipset and dual SLI.

Weakness: Some utilities, like the cool and quite, not straight forward and presumably useless. Mediocre documentation.

I did a good amount of research on socket 939 motherboards and this board shined through for the price. I have used ASUS products for many years and this board didn't disapoint me. Some of the utilities don't seem that great, but I believe they are written by nVidia, not ASUS. The nForce4 chipset is just awesome, I wouldn't recommend any other at this time. I can't wait to see the video performance of the dual sli video cards when I can afford another card.

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Reply by member: brettski111
Jan 3, 2006

I have owned this motherboard since April of 2005. This weekend (12/30) the chipset fan died. This seems to be a common issue based on forum posts on the ASUS site. I didn't have any problems ordering a new fan from ASUS, though they say it will take a week to get shipped to me. If I don't add another entry here, you can assume the rest went smoothly.

  • 5
  By member: dakhang - Aug 19, 2005

Khang

Strengths: ASUS SLI Motherboard layout

Weakness: None

I really like like motherboard, maybe I obsess with the brand. The layout on this motherboard is terrific, nothing more could be done. If anyone want a decent gaming system, this motherboard would be the one. For me, one Video card (VC) for now and the second one later
This is my system:
Athlon 64 3700
Asus A8N-SLI motherboard
MIS 6600 GT VC
128 MB PC3200 Patriot (2-3-2-5)
Asus heatsink (the 4 in 1 heatsink)

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  • 2
  By anonymous - Mar 3, 2006

worked great for a bit

Strengths: loved the wide spaces between the to video cards

Weakness: weak voltage regulator

Worked great for a month or so. Then started to get video problems, Asus replaced board due to low voltage. Second board worked great for a few months then I started to have video problems again. Then the blame game started, Asus blamed the video cards and EVGA the motherboard. Finally did a voltage check and the 12 volt check shows 11.58 or less voltage. ASUS tech support worthless. Going back to another brand of motherboard. Never again will I use ASUS motherboard in my computers or ones that I build.

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Reply by member: arneson52
Dec 24, 2006

I've had the same problem. Using an ATI X1959XTX with this M/B along with AMD 64 3800 and Crucial DDR. Nothing but problems and this is the second board. Low voltage seems to be the problem as well (11.8v). My bad luck, I guess...

  • 4
  By member: exstudent - Feb 13, 2005

Asus A8N-SLI Desktop Motherboard - nVIDIA nForce4...

Strengths: SLI. Upgradeable. Overclocking.

Weakness: PCI-e slots between PCI-e video card slots. But then again, I do not have any PCI-e cards. NO 1394b capability like some of the competing motherboards. The required video card(s) are noisy.

A great motherboard. Uses the new NVIDA SLI (Scalable Link Interface); combines the rendering power of two video cards to give you the BEST gaming experience with some of the new graphic intensive games (ie. Half Life 2). 1 high end video card can't out do two high end video cards. I don't have time to play games, but still bought this board because it was only a few dollars more than an AGP board (now outdated). Now I have the latest board that allows me to use this new technology, shold I find time to play games.

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  • 5
  By member: flyboy182s - Mar 16, 2005

Asus A8N-SLI Desktop Motherboard - nVIDIA nForce4...

Strengths: everything, great board for a gamer in need of serious power, ASUS name.

Weakness: 24pin power connector

awesome board for the price I highly reccomend this board to anyone who wants good overclocking and SLI on a budget.
I have 2 MSI 6600gt's in this bad boy and its just smokin everybody I know

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  • 5
  By member: kubleese - Mar 15, 2006

Awesome board. Has complete software support on CD

Strengths: This board is well made, includes all the wiring you could ask for and extremely easy to follow user manual.

Weakness: I havnt found anything about this board I didnt like, although I did do a lot of research before deciding on this particular board

The board is large and everything is well placed and easy to work on. Everything that plugs in slides neatly into place without a hitch or leaving you feeling like you may break something before it seats correctly.
Ten USB headers and one firewire header make connecting everything else you own to it easy as pie.
The software support disc contains everything you can think of and some you cant, and the user manual is written in easy to follow english, there was no confusion on my part about installing, wiring, adding cards.
I did call their Tech support for advice on installing a floppy drive with a card reader that was an internal USB connection and they are easy to get on the phone, polite, professional and direct.
I am very happy with this board.

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  • 5
  By member: Ghostless - Sep 27, 2006

This board is perfect for dream machine gaming...

Strengths: Sli dual grapics cards,supports fx-53 up to fx-60 cpus.This board has furture upgrades.

Weakness: One weakness i can see and thats the low price for upper board unreal.

I had a Dell 4100 build back in Oct,2000 and at the time i had 40 gb hard drive pentium 3 cpu,Nvidia 32 mb grapics card,64 mbs of ram and let me tell yea playing Everquest was horrible with game lag and zoning times.Once i installed 512 mb ram it all went away well enough to play but grapics card had be set to lowest settings to being feeble.I had a turtle beach sound card and when all said and done i paid $1,4000 for that machine i think back now and say ooch i got no vasoline indeed on that deal.Now welcome to 2006 and heres my dream machine that is $280.00 less than dell and yet upper heres the list.ATX Tower Thermaltake Jr made for liquid cooling system upgrade if you want to price $125.08.Second XFX Geforce 7600 GT overclocked good one the price $169.77.Mobo price $121.46.The cpu you guessed it FX-55 price $257.82.Sony 52xcd-rom price $22.35.Power supply Antec 55o watt price $95.92.Hard Drive Maxtor 300gb price $97.03.Creative Labs Xtreme Music price $106.96.Windows XP/SP 2 $78.99.Corsair 1 stick 512 pc 3200 400mhz price $44.57.The total price is $1,119.95 including taxes and shipping and i live in one of worse states to be taxed In California.If you live in Arkansas which has the least taxed state happy days for you even cheaper.You can see my rig is real cheap and i have tons of upgrade if i ever need it but this rig will run my Everquest game flawlessly with blink of an eye zone times and zero lag spikes.You can see how much cheaper today prices are compared to 2000.I cant say enough about this board except anyone with Intel has way less option upgrades like every cpu is not able run cpu upgrades unless mobo upgrades bad and will burn a hole in your wallet.The socket 939 will run all cpus from 3200 up to 4800 and all Fx lines,53,55,57,60 and all dual core cpus can we say hall of fame asus mobo yes we can.

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  • 2
  By member: purga_1 - Jul 19, 2007

RAID blows

Strengths: This is not abad card unless u plan to use RAID

Weakness: RAID, RAID, RAID the damn thing fails all the time

If you plan to use RAID stay away from this card. Every couple of days array must be rebuilt. And as mentioned above, the fan is too loud. YOu can get a replacement from ASUS, though (fan)

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  • 4.0
  testseek.com - Oct 28, 2009

Asus A8N-SLI

Testseek.com has collected 2 expert reviews for Asus A8N-SLI and the average expert rating is 80 of 100. The average score reflects the expert community’s view on this product. Click below and use Testseek.com to see all ratings, product awards and conclusions.

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