Hello,I want to do an "interim" upgrade to just my video card and nothing else for now. Next year, December 2006, I plan to do a CPU/MB/MEMORY/VIDEO upgrade. The reason is my current frame rates are okay but in certain add-on airport and city scenery, they go very low (e.g. 5fps) and I do use a lot of add-on freeware and some payware airports. My motherboard is now running 333MHz. RAM with ATI RADEON 9800 PRO128MB card and is stable-FS2004 never crashes. However, after reading multiple postings in this and other forums and corresponding extensively with Kingston and Corsair, I have pretty well confirmed that this MB is unsable with 400MHz. RAM so I stick to a single module of Kingston Valueram of 1024MB.I am just worried that a really fast video card like the X850 may cause issues.Has anyone experience with the ATI RADEON X850 or X800 series cards and the ASUS A7N8X series motherboards?Thanks in advance,JohnAMD ATHLON XP 3200+ASUS A7N8XE-DELUXE motherboardATI RADEON 9800PRO 128 (retail ATI)CREATIVE LABS SB AUDIGY 2 ZS sound card1024MB of DDR SDRAM, 333MHz., Kingston VAlueRam

Hi John, sorry to hear about your troubles. I'm also sorry to say (and this depends a bit on the resolution you use) that I fear a display adapter exchange will likely not increase your framerates. FYI, I also had the mainboard you have and if memory isn't failing :-), one way to operate it without troubles, was to activate 'Turbo' in the bios'. Perhaps give it a go? Case you haven't used it yet, a very useful tool is memtest86+ from www.memtest.org. Memtest will allow you to do a couple of things: 1st; determine whether the modules are ok or not. 2nd; determine whether memory errors are produced with certain mem-timings. 3rd; long term stability testing, etc, etc. Beware: It might take some time because often, 2-3 passes aren't enough to produce errors (or prove stability). 1GB of 400MHz RAM running in single-channel mode will also probably not improve performance compared to two 333MHz modules running in dual channel mode. And last but not least, even if you don't use both modules right away, I'ld advise to always buy a pair of sticks. Nowadays, most mainboards support dual-channel and buying one module later on could be a calling for stability or compatibility issues. Hope this adds to thoughts and please feel free if you have further questions/remarks. Once again, sorry for the 'bad' news. Good luck and kind regards Jaap

"My motherboard is now running 333MHz. RAM with ATI RADEON 9800 PRO128MB card and is stable-FS2004 never crashes. However, after reading multiple postings in this and other forums and corresponding extensively with Kingston and Corsair, I have pretty well confirmed that this MB is unsable with 400MHz. RAM so I stick to a single module of Kingston Valueram of 1024MB."Actually, your problem may not be the motherboard but the CPU. Your CPU comes in two versions... one rated at 333Mhz/2.2Ghz and the other rated at 400Mhz/2.17Ghz. The latter is the prefered choice because the nVidia second generation motherboards wanted all the FSB they could handle.That fact notwithstanding, I agree with Jaap's recommendation against the high dollar video upgrade. My previous system was an A7N8X/Athlon XP3000 and I upgraded from a 9800 Pro to an XT850 PE. While the faster VC gave me more eye candy it did little for performance. The only reason I kept the card was because my wife gave it to me as a gift. Otherwise I would have returned it and reinstalled the 9800 Pro (great bang for the buck).Additionally, if you were to upgrade your VC now you would then have a limited upgrade path in the near future. The card would have to be AGP, and it's hard even nowadays to find a top performing motherboard (as in AMD 939 based, for instance) that isn't PCIe. The future will find fewer and fewer motherboards that aren't PCIe. Sadly, AGP is on the way out.Cheers,Greg

Hi Greg,Thanks for that very important piece of information. I had no idea that the XP3200+ comes in two versions. But the AMD retail box I have clearly states 400MHz. FSB on it. The NVidia system utility shows the FSB as 400MHz but the CPU clock speed as 2204.996 MHz. ?? Is there any marking or die no./serial no. I can check to confirm this? Also, where do you learn about this 333 versus 400 MHz. FSB versions?John

Hi John,"...one rated at 333Mhz/2.2Ghz and the other rated at 400Mhz/2.17Ghz."Sorry but I made an oops here (I really shouldn't do this sort of thing late at night just before turning in :-) ).The 333Mhz version is rated at 2.16Ghz and has an AMD part number as follows: AXDA3200DKV4D.The 400Mhz version is rated at 2.2Ghz and has an AMD part number as follows: AXDA3200DKV4E.You can Google these part numbers to see the differences between the two CPU's.Hope this helps,Greg

Hi Greg,"Omega 2.6.42 4xAA 16xAF Forced,"...I happened to notice you are still using an earlier version of Omega's drivers. I'm using his later 2.6.53 version (very stable and I've not encountered any issues) and can tell you that RadLinker still works just fine with this set. Perhaps you knew this already, but thought I'd mention it anyway. I've grown so used to creating RadLinks that I don't know how I would cope without it :)Oh yes, and I still do love the 9800 Pro - great card!Regards,MikeP4 2.4GHz (400FSB), 1Gig PC2100 DDR Crucial, ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB (Omega 2.6.53 / Catalyst 5.7), SB Audigy (5.12.0001.0443), Hyundai ImageQuest Q17 17" TFT LCD 20ms Monitor (1280x1024x32), Gigabyte GA-8IRXP MoBo, Hitachi Deskstar 7K250 (160GB) + IBM Deskstar 120GXP UDMA100 (40 GB), Ultra-Quiet PSU 400W, Logitech MX1000 Laser Mouse, WinXP Home (SP2), DirectX 9.0c, AGP Aperture = 128MB

Hi,i have been using the A7N8X-E for a long time, first with a 9700-pro, and later with a x850XT-PE Card. All i can say, the board works good with this card.But.. for me the board had troubles to run at the full 200MHz (400) FSB speed. The maximum value i was able to set in the BIOS was 195MHz. All other values above 195 made the machine crash sooner or later.I was using a AMD XP3200+ (Barton core) with 1 GB of Corsair XMS3200C2 RAM (Twin XMS 512), and nevertheless the board never was really stable at its nominal speed.I performed all kind of memtests, Memtest86 etc., and i never got an error with the RAMs, i even exchanged the RAM, or changed from dual to single channel. I still had the same problem.A friend of mine who has almost the same configuration has troubles as well with this board.I am pretty sure that this board has some kind of problems, whatever it is. I would say, if you run the board at 333MHz, you won't have troubles, but thats not the speed this board should run on...Since one week i am using an ASUS A8N-SLI board with an 3800x2 and a gForce 7800GTX, and so far it works very well!Cheers,Michael

Hi Michael,Your response is a real important one in shedding even more light onto the problems with this board so I really really thank-you for it! :)) I have actual emails from CORSAIR and KINGSTON tech support which prove without a doubt the instability of this board at 400MHz., not to mention countless postings in the Corsair user forum about it.In fact, I AM using A SINGLE module of 333MHz. RAM of 1024GB and FS2004 and my other games (e.g. EA SPORTS FIFA/EURO SOCCER which also crashed) are now stable. But this, as you say, is at the expense of a major performance hit with respect to communication between the CPU and RAM which not only runs at 333MHz but SINGLE instead of DUAL channel. It is good to know there are no problems with this board the Radeon X850 -thanks again.John

Hi John,yes, there are definately problems with this board on 400MHz.Try to increase the frequency step by step, and see when the crahes start. I was able to go until 194Mhz, and the board was stable with this setting, but still occasional crashes.I read in a forum that the board has a crappy voltage regulation, that may explain the problems. I liked the ATI 850XT very much, but unfortunately my new board only has an PCIe slot, and i couldnt use it anymore.If i were you, i would think twice before i would buy an AGP graphics card, as you won't be able to use it in the newer generation of motherboards. And don't expect too much of a performance increase, as the processor and motherboard is the bottleneck, not the graphics card.Cheers,Michael

Hi Mike,Im also using the A7N8X-E with AMD XP3200+ (Barton core), ATI x850xt, CORSAIR value select 2x512 dual channel ram, I've had this setup for 4 mohths now with no issues. CPU/MEM run at 400/200 mhz with no problems at all. The only diference I see with my setup is the memory, even though its from the same vendor I'm using value select. Go figureThis rig runs flowlessly.CarlosXP HOME (SP2)ASUS A7N8X-E DELUXEATHLON XP 3200+CORSAIR 1 GIG DUAL CHANNEL RAMATI X850XT 520/540SAMSUNG SYNCMASTER 930B 19" LCDAUDIGY 2 ZS / ALTEC LANSING

Hi Carlos,Did you have to contact Corsair tech support or configure the RAM memory timings specially to get your FS2004 to be stable, or did you just use the default motherbord "BY SPD" or "AUTO" settings, install your memory and it ran fine right from the start?John

Hi John, sorry for not responding sooner.No, I did not have to contact Corsair, just bought and instlled it and its been running since. Did not even have to configure it with in BIOS, it was auto detected.its been running fine and FS9 is as stable as it can be and very fluid.CarlosXP HOME (SP2)ASUS A7N8X-E DELUXEATHLON XP 3200+CORSAIR 1 GIG DUAL CHANNEL RAMATI X850XT 520/540SAMSUNG SYNCMASTER 930B 19" LCDAUDIGY 2 ZS / ALTEC LANSING SPEAKERS

Hi Carlos,Just one question for you: Do you happen to know if your motherboard is REVISION 2 or REVISION 2 by any chance. This is indicated on the motherboard itself but also if you use the NVIdia System Utility, it will tell you the motherboard revision. The problem seems to be more with the original release (revision 1.x) rather than with revision 2.x.Let me know.Thanks,John

John, I do have Rev. 2.x, so maybe this is why I don't have any issues with my borad, anyway, I've include some system information extracted from Sisoft Sandra:MainboardManufacturer : ASUSTeK Computer INC.MP Support : NoModel : A7N8X-EVersion : REV 2.xxSerial Number : xxxxxxxxxxxSystem BIOS : 11/12/2004-nVidia-nForce-A7N8XSystem Memory ControllerLocation : MainboardError Correction Capability : NoneNumber of Memory Slots : 3Maximum Installable Memory : 1.5GBBank0/1 - DDR1 : EmptyBank2/3 - DDR2 : DIMM Synchronous DRAM 512MB/72Bank4/5 - DDR3 : DIMM Synchronous DRAM 512MB/72Logical/Chipset 1 Memory BanksBank 1 : 512MB DDR-SDRAM 2.5-3-3-8 2CMDBank 2 : 512MB DDR-SDRAM 2.5-3-3-8 2CMDChannels : 2Speed : 2x 200MHz (400MHz data rate)Multiplier : 6/6xWidth : 64-bitPower Save Mode : NoFixed Hole Present : NoMemory Module 1Manufacturer : CorsairModel : VS512MB400Type : 512MB DDR-SDRAMTechnology : 16(32Mx8)Speed : PC3200U 2.5-3-3-8Date of Manufacture : Saturday, December 25, 1999Set Timing @ 200MHz : 2.5-3-3-8Memory Module 2Manufacturer : CorsairModel : VS512MB400Type : 512MB DDR-SDRAMTechnology : 16(32Mx8)Speed : PC3200U 2.5-3-3-8Date of Manufacture : Saturday, December 25, 1999Set Timing @ 200MHz : 2.5-3-3-8______________________________________________________-this is just a part of it, but shows board Rev. and also memory model and timings.Let me know if you need any other info.CarlosXP HOME (SP2)ASUS A7N8X-E DELUXEATHLON XP 3200+CORSAIR 1 GIG DUAL CHANNEL RAMATI X850XT 250MB @ 520/540SAMSUNG SYNCMASTER 930B 19" LCDAUDIGY 2 ZS / ALTEC LANSING SPEAKERS

I've got one of these dogs too. The onscreen info panel on the install cd says the board is Ver. 1.1. The Nvidia System Utility says it's Rev. 2.xx. I've got the fast CPU with the 400MHZ code(I recall I had the listing from The AMD website when I bought it) and a pair of PC3200 400DDR 512 Kingston valueram. Didn't think that was going to be a problem but the best I could get hold of at the time without paying the earth.It would crash to restart until I got things stable running the ram at 80% and later locked the timings at that setting, 7:3:3:2.5T and then ran it at 100% until recently.On startup now and again it would report failure due to CPU overclocking(100%/200MHZ)but would start and run with no problems. This became more frequent recently and I had one crash to restart so I went back to 80% for the memory until this thread started.After reading above I have been running with CPU at 195MHZ and gone back to 100% for memory with the auto 8:3:3:3T timings with no problems so far.Anyone have the overclocking problem with CPU at only 100%(200MHZ)Andy