Asus A8N32-SLI ram divider question (and more!)

[seanmcd]

Ok, running 1009 bios on this board. (haven't tried any other versions yet). Everything is great, it's rock solid so far. BUT,

If I set my cpu (manchester 3200+) to 300*9, and set the ram divider to 133mhz - I expected my ram's (Corsair 1024mb*2, PC3200C2) actual speed to end up at 200mhz. Well no, for some reason it ends up at 192mhz ??

So I want my 8mhz! I bumped it up to 312mhz * 9, and now the ram is running at 200mhz. If I set the ram divider at 100mhz and try 300*9 - it gives me the expected ram speed of 150mhz. Anyone else experience this issue with the 133 divider? If so does the newer bios version fix it? I've run the same cpu and ram on a different board and when set to 300*9 and 133 ram divider, it correctly came out to 200mhz actual ram speed.

Second - anyone using the onboard sound? I am planning on adding a second 7800GT with large cooler (NV Silencer 5R3) down the road. I can see that it's going to be very tricky to get two of those and a sound card in between to fit. I only use headphones on this machine, so is the onboard sound really that bad compared to an Audigy 2?? With that in mind, anybody who has two video cards with larger coolers and a sound card in between want to post pictures of your setup? I'm thinking I'm going to need to mount some thin plastic protection over parts of the sound card as the mounting screws for the video card heatsink will come very close to touching it. Thanks for any images you can send me or post here...

 

[Dan_D]

I haven't seen the divider issue on that board before. So I couldn't say on that subject. As to the onboard audio, well all I can say is that in typical usage, it sounds ok, but no it isn't going to be as good as an Audigy 2. No onboard sound that isn't an Audigy 2 is going to be as good as an Audigy 2. Not only will EAX and other things not work as well, but the onboard sound will take more CPU cycles than a Creative Labs card will.

Many people seem to think that if you have a card next to a dual slot card that you won't get any airflow through to the cards and you will automatically have heat issues. This is incorrect. Most of the first generation SLI motherboards and even several of them now outside of the enthusiast boards from DFI, ASUS and MSI all still have this problem.

My Tyan K8WE has the slots right next to each other with only one standard PCI slot in between them. While not ideal, that configuration DOES work. The manufacturers of the motherboards wouldn't have done it that way if it wouldn't have worked. The only downside is that you have to have a case with superior airflow to make it work effectively. By no means is it a "bad design". It is sufficient. Not what we'd all like, but it does in fact work. I've tested numerous 6800Ultra setups working like that, and X1900XT's that close together which run much hotter than any of the nVidia cards. It works everytime. The biggest issue you will really have by having those slots that close together is problems with some aftermarket cooling solutions such as the NV Silencers and the Zalman coolers. Though I was able to make the Zalmans work with some changes to the installation of the lowest card.

You can in fact get a Sound Blaster in between the two cards and everything will work fine. Just make sure your case has adequate airflow to the area where the video cards are.

 

[seanmcd]

well I guess the main thing about the onboard sound I was wondering about was resources - as in, can I still use teamspeak and an online game and not expect any choppyness, etc. (knowing the quality would not be as clean)

i had to put a rubber piece in between the sound card (Audigy2) and top video card to prevent the fan from touching the back of the sound card. Of course I don't have the second vid card yet - but the mounting screws or bolts for that NV Silencer stick out quite a ways. It is cramped but like you said still cooling fine.

 

[Dan_D]

well I guess the main thing about the onboard sound I was wondering about was resources - as in, can I still use teamspeak and an online game and not expect any choppyness, etc. (knowing the quality would not be as clean)

i had to put a rubber piece in between the sound card (Audigy2) and top video card to prevent the fan from touching the back of the sound card. Of course I don't have the second vid card yet - but the mounting screws or bolts for that NV Silencer stick out quite a ways. It is cramped but like you said still cooling fine.

What CPU are you going to be using? Teamspeak hits any single core system pretty hard and frame rates are reduced from what everyone who I know uses it tells me. I personally don't use it, but if I did I'd set the affinity of one processor to cover teamspeak, while setting the other to handle the game itself.

 

[seanmcd]

it's a Manchester core 3200+, running at 2.8ghz. Currently it's fine using the Audigy 2, one 7800gt, and using teamspeak and dod:source.

 

[BUFF]

If I set my cpu (manchester 3200+) to 300*9, and set the ram divider to 133mhz - I expected my ram's (Corsair 1024mb*2, PC3200C2) actual speed to end up at 200mhz. Well no, for some reason it ends up at 192mhz ??

That's to be expected.
if you look at http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=41595 (or use A64MemFreq) you can see that you don't actually get the same divider values but that they vary with the CPU multi.

 

[seanmcd]

That's to be expected.
if you look at http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=41595 (or use A64MemFreq) you can see that you don't actually get the same divider values but that they vary with the CPU multi.

Thanks! That clears it up. I had no idea. I knew it would be altered if I ran at half multipliers but I didn't realize other multipliers would be less than 133.33.
I could have sworn it was right on 133.33 with a 9x multi on another board but maybe I drank a lot that night...