21 out of 21 people found this review helpful.
Everlasting Disappointment
Date of Review: May 27, 2006
The Bottom Line: Although ASUS may put out high quality products with excellent features, I unfortunately received a bad apple riddled with generic issues. Steer clear of this disaster.
Rarely will I take the time to write a long-winded review over a product I ve had a poor experience with. Sadly, however, ASUS has let me down for the first time. So bad, that after four months, I still can t get over it. Prepare yourself folks, for a very depressing review.
The Story
After my birthday a few months ago I decided that it was time to invest in a new computer. I began by drafting up a stellar list of parts to be put into my upcoming dream system, which of course included the ASUS A8N5X motherboard.
Supporting Socket 939 processors and including the NVIDIA nForce4 chipset, I found that immediately it would fit my requirements. At this time I knew little about ATI s slowly-growing line of chipsets, so I really didn t think much of this aspect (this will be important later on).
I purchased the motherboard, installed it along with other top-of-the-line products, and I figured I was good to go for a few years. But, of course, in about a week I found myself terribly wrong. Because of the ASUS A8N5X, I ve made the unnecessary purchases of a new power supply and video card. I even made the unnecessary swap of my hard drive using its warranty!
Now you may be wondering why I spent so much time and money on replacement products. Well, to answer that, it all was required during my troubleshooting period spanning a few long, dreadful months.
Finally the problems have all been solved by recently buying a new motherboard who would have thought?! Instead of testing my luck with another ASUS product, or even the NVIDIA nForce4 chipset, I now have a stable non-ASUS motherboard that cost less equipped with ATI s XPRESS 200P chipset.
Heap o Problems
Sometimes I feel the ASUS A8N5X motherboard I purchased is haunted. I now keep it in an anti-static bag on the other side of the room, praying that I don t wake up one morning finding it in another position.
The first few weeks I got my first taste of the Microsoft Windows XP Professional blue screen of death something I have never once encountered. Naturally the error was generic, complaining that it could be a number of parts needing to be replaced.
After replacing the power supply and the video card the system was still unstable crashing about three times every day during random tasks. I d be checking my E-Mail or talking to my friends when all of a sudden it d just lock up on me displaying no error message what-so-ever.
Eventually the crashing took its toll on the file system corrupting it. This lead me to believe that something was wrong with my hard drive, so I took the time (and $25.00 shipping charge) to replace that.
Did a new hard drive solve the problems? Of course not. For 5 months I was stuck with an unstable system. Suicide seemed like the only way out. Reformatting wouldn t do it, neither would the latest drivers. I was miserable. Thanks ASUS!
Oh yes, and did I mention these motherboards all come with a 3-year warranty? What a joke I could find absolutely no product replacement process on the ASUS web site. I m stuck with it. I couldn t even find help on the forums due to the generic origin of my problems either.
My Experience
Over these last months, I ve gained an incredible knowledge of hardware troubleshooting, installation, and the process of reinstalling an operating system. I ve had to remove so many parts and reformat my hard drive so many times that it is utterly ridiculous.
The ASUS A8N5X motherboard was a nightmare that I hope to never experience again being the PC enthusiast that I am. I wouldn t recommend it to anyone even though all the other reviews I ve read on the product have been flawless. Are these poor people being paid under the table by ASUS to write this stuff?
Features
Besides unforgiving stability issues, the ASUS A8N5X does come jam-packed with the latest motherboard features. Here s what it includes:
Socket 939 Processor Compatibility
1000MHz Hyper Transport FSB
4, 184 Pin DDR RAM Slots (Dual Channel Supported, Up To 4GB)
1, PCI-Express x16 Slot
1, PCI-Express x4 Slot
2, PCI-Express x1 Slots
3, PCI Slots
2, PATA Slots (Supporting Up To 4 Devices)
4, SATA 1.5GB/s Slots
10/100/1000 MB/s Onboard LAN
2, PS2 Ports
1, LPT Port
4, USB 2.0 Ports (6 Onboard)
Realtek Onboard Audio Chipset (8 Channels)
For the highlights I ll start with the Socket 939 processor compatibility. The ASUS A8N5X motherboard supports all of AMD s latest processors (with the exception of the Socket 940 Opteron processor). These supported are the following: AMD Athlon 64, AMD Athlon 64 X2 (dual core), and AMD Athlon 64 FX (the godlike processor). FSB, well, 1000MHz is what you ll need on the motherboard for the Athlon processors, and with the ASUS A8N5X it s what you get.
Memory-wise, the ASUS A8N5X boasts the standard of DDR400 PC3200 speed of 184 Pin DDR RAM. It also supports those spiffy dual channel memory kits. On other motherboards in the same ballpark, they ll more than likely contain the same standards.
The most important PCI-related slot on the board is definitely the new PCI-Express x16. This will allow you to have those new-fangled beasts of video cards 256MB, 512MB you name it.
PATA slots, you ask? Those are for your drives, such as a CD-ROM. With the ASUS A8N5X motherboard, you can have up to four of them, or four ATA100 hard drives, or mix and match
SATA slots are the new technology for faster hard drives. The ASUS A8N5X motherboard comes equipped with four of them but only the 1.5 GB/s SATA. If you plan to purchase a hard drive that requires the 3.0 GB/s interface do NOT buy it or plan on purchasing a different motherboard.
As for the USB 2.0 ports, there are 4 of them physically on the back of the motherboard. Onboard is room for 6 additional ports which are very useful for PC cases that include frontside USB 2.0 ports.
The onboard audio chip is rather standard and generic. I would recommend disabling this feature and purchasing a Creative SoundBlaster PCI card for I found numerous complaints on the lackluster output.
Includes
Included with the ASUS A8N5X motherboard you ll find 2 IDE ribbon cables for PATA drives, 1 IDE ribbon cable for a floppy drive, 2 SATA 1.5GB/s cables, a Molex Power to SATA Power converter, and an add-on to support 2 more USB 2.0 ports. Overall, ASUS is very generous here it s rare that you ll find this abundance of cables. They are also high quality, and aren t generic!
The manual gives clear useful information unless you want to dig into the more advanced regions of the ASUS A8N5X motherboard. Simply put I could not find a good description of all the BIOS features, but instructions for motherboard installation were given to me beautifully. This shouldn t be a problem for the average user.
As for the software, the only two pieces of software worth mentioning are ASUS PCProbe II and ASUS ASUSUpdate. PCProbe II will display essential information about the status of your motherboard (temperatures, fan speeds, voltages) as well as warn you if any are in dangerous states. ASUSUpdate updates your BIOS safe and easily (see more information in the BIOS section of this review).
Layout
In this section, I surprisingly have to brag up the ASUS A8N5X motherboard. PATA slots are at the upper-portion of the board and vertically placed which is ideal. The USB 2.0 onboard pins are at the very bottom of the board, instead of in the very middle where ECS likes to place them (those fools!). SATA ports are in their own little region so nothing will block them.
ATI s colossal video cards such as the X1800 series WILL fit easily in this motherboard even though the clearance of the chipset s fan will be extremely close. Double-decker video cards will only block 1 of the PCI-Express x1 slots something which you probably won t end up using anyways.
As for everything else layout wise, it s pretty much standard. During hardware installation I was not hassled at all which is very rare. ASUS definitely knows what they are doing here.
BIOS
Instead of going into spectacular detail of all the BIOS features, I ll just highlight some of the unique features that are included with the ASUS A8N5X motherboard most importantly overclocking abilities. Simply put, all your overclocking dreams can be made true with this motherboard for you can customize all the clock speeds yourself or choose one of the pre-defined settings.
Another one of the unique aspects of the ASUS A8N5X motherboard is that right of the box it overclocks your hardware secretly. Analyzing my computer, I found out my 2.2GHz processor was reading slightly over that clock speed. Also with a new motherboard and the same hardware, my 3DMark05 score is 200 points less without the ASUS A8N5X motherboard. Could this cause stability problems or should customers just enjoy the slight performance increase? You decide.
Flashing the BIOS can now be done in Windows through the ASUS ASUSUpdate utility. Surprisingly this piece of software performs flawlessly making updating your BIOS a snap. A once, incredibly dangerous task can now be completely in seconds effortlessly.
POSTing
When you first boot up your PC, the motherboard performs a process known as POSTing. Usually the most frequent problem with motherboards is that sometimes they won t POST at all which would require you to replace it. Strange thing is, the ASUS A8N5X would POST, but sometimes would not initiate the display adapter (video card).
Starting up my PC each time was a game it seemed. Sometimes it would POST just fine displaying everything I needed on the screen. Sometimes it would POST but nothing would come on the screen until I turned my monitor on and off. And finally, sometimes it just wouldn t display anything on the screen whatsoever.
This became a great hassle when my father purchased Verizon Fiber Optic Internet. I was at school while the technician came leaving my dad to turn on the PC. Of course, it didn t display anything on the monitor, creating a 20 minute fiasco. Thanks again, ASUS!
Special Notes
A new technological advancement in the motherboard department is the main power slot. Instead of a classic 20 Pin slot, the ASUS A8N5X supports the new 24 Pin slot along with a 4 Pin 12V slot. This may create some confusion if you re stuck with a 20 Pin power supply.
There, however, is hope with this issue! 20 Pin to 24 Pin converters are available (even at local computer stores) and I ve also heard the motherboards still working if only a 20 Pin connector is connected (I would not recommend it though).
Also, overclocking is not for beginners even though ASUS boasts about its overclocking capabilities. If you re not equipped with performance hardware, don t even think about trying to overclock. Overclocking doesn t just bump up the GHz on your processor; it makes every single part (RAM, video card, etc.) faster as well. Usually the RAM will conk out first, making your system unstable.
Overclocking without performance hardware, extra cooling products, etc. is just plain hard on your system. It s like hot-rodding your mom s Honda Civic wherever you take it it s just not good.
And finally, the onboard LAN will not work until the latest NVIDIA nForce4 drivers are installed. Make sure you have the latest drivers on some type of removable storage device instead of just using the outdated drivers on the included CD. Also, download the NVIDIA nForce4 drivers from NVIDIA s web site NOT the ASUS support web site.
Final Statement
Although the ASUS A8N5X motherboard has great features, I m afraid I ve had the most awful experience with it. I rather not bash ASUS too much for I had my friend purchase the A8N5X s big brother, the ASUS A8N-E motherboard which has worked for him flawlessly under extreme temperatures (case cramped in a corner).
Instead of recommending the ASUS A8N5X, I d just say look elsewhere on this one. It may have good reviews, but don t take the risk. Get yourself a MSI, ECS, ABIT, or DFI motherboard instead. And also, if you have an ATI video card go for a motherboard supporting the ATI XPRESS line of chipsets.
System Specifications
ASUS A8N5X Motherboard
2.2GHz AMD Athlon 64 3700 Processor
1GB Corsair ValueSelect DDR400 PC3200 RAM
256MB Sapphire ATI Radeon x850 XT PCI-Express x16 Video Card
Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 2Z Sound Card
74GB Western Digital Raptor 10,000RPM SATA 1.5GB/s Hard Drive
ASUS CD-R/DVD ComboDrive
