Asus A7N8X-X - Asus A7N8X-X
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Benchmarks Cotntinued
Commanche 4
It is clear that the nForce2 was designed with gaming in mind. Although with the lack of the support of dual channel, the A7N8X-X helps gain 8-10 frames per second.
Aquamark
Aquamark seems as if it likes more CPU and graphic power. The increase in memory bandwidth does not help as much as I had hoped for.
SiSoft Sandra
These scores clearly speak for themselves. Notice that the CPU score for the 205FSB is actually lower than the scores of 175FSB. This is due to the multiplier problem. At 205FSB, I was using a multiplier of 11x, which yields 2.26GHZ. With 175FSB, I was able to run the stock multiplier of 13x, which gives 2.28GHZ. The scores for the CPU and Multimedia benchmarks are very similar between the two motherboards. The Multimedia benchmark is very CPU dependent and thus gives close results. The memory bandwidth benchmark shows that the nForce2 chipset once gain gives higher performance.
Concerns
There were no major concerns with the motherboard I worked with. The onboard features Asus is known to have was quite lacking and the overclocking of the board was very disappointing. My main gripe would be the use of the 2 phase power. Using 3 or 4 phase power would probably have helped my overclocking experiences. The arrangement of the motherboard was very well thought out. IDE and floppy connectors are easily reached. There was also ample room between the first DIMM slot and the AGP slot. This prevents users from taking out the video card to change any memory.
Conclusion
Everyone knows that the performance of the nForce2 chipset crushes VIA's KT400 chipset. The question is now whether the single channel memory bandwidth will be as good as the dual channel memory bandwidth. Most OCA forum readers agree that the use of dual channel support on AMD systems is a waste simply because the CPU cannot handle that kind of power. Most of the time people are only getting about 50mb/s increase in memory bandwidth. OCA buds tend to like to get a single stick of memory and be able to overclock higher than getting two sticks of memory and run dual channel. If your lucky, you may be able to do both. I was able to run 220FSB with dual channel enabled. With that said, the A7N8X-X may not be a bad choice for budget users. It lacks quite a lot of features and comes with a lightly packed box, but it still has the hardware behind it. It is an excellent choice for people who want to build a backup computer or a small server or even a LAN box. Multimedia and hardcore gaming fans should shy away from this motherboard. It does not have onboard game port and there is no SoundStorm support. It has been built by the average Joe for the average Joe.
Pros
nVIDIA's nForce2 Performance
Relatively Cheap
Excellent Placement of IDE and Floppy Connectors
Plain and Simple
Cons
No Dual Channel support
Poor Overclocking
Very Lacking in Features (Big Minus)
2 Phase Power
Passive Cooling
That wraps up our review of the ASUS A7N8X-X. If you're looking for a relatively cheap motherboard and not a deep feature set, this board might need to be on your short list. However you can spend just a few dollars more and get a much better board. The choice is yours, but on the whole, we wouldn't' recommend this particular motherboard to our readers.
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