Hey all, I'm slowly but surely working around all my problems. I had a mismatched pair of OCZ el Platinum rev.2 as you may have seen in earlier post. I did hook up SLI on 1 stick of ram for giggles and started to have problems indicative of PSU problems.

I saw where someone earlier asked about proper power routing with the Antec 480 Neo and there was no reply so I'll ask again as I'm certain I'm not the only one running out of connector ports on the Neo 480. I was having random freezes in windows and FarCry but I had my PSU hooked up thusly: One modular plug to Temperature LCD on front panel and system fans(5) and lights (fan and front panel LED's) plus DVD rw and CD-rw . One modular to SATA Raptors. One modular to PCI-e card #1. One modular to PCI-e card # 2 via a cables unlimited adapter and EZ plug. This occupied all the plugs but wasn't stable.

While waiting for my RAM to be returned from RMA I rerouted the power thusly: One modular plug to PCI-e card 1 with supplied connector. One modular to PCI-e card 2 with additional connector ordered from Antec. One modular to front panel temp LED (very small LED on Aspire X-navigator case) and EZ-plug . One modular to 2 raptors, both optical drives and a floppy. (you should see that thing!!) And system fans on small fan only modular plug previously unused.

I won't fire it up until my RAM gets here day after tomorrow and Sander or some other knowledgeable person tells me that I'm not going to fry my Raptors by have them and the 2 optical drives on the same rail. I feel that the the HDD's and opticals rarely effort at the same time . If you see any problems or have a better solution with PSU please advise. Or Sander, do you suggest trying to return the 480 Neo and opt for the PC Power & cooling which is obviously the better solution. Sorry for the long post and thanks for the help this thread is fantastic..

P.S. Maybe we need another sticky for SLI PSU issues. LOL

Are ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe BIOS to be used on the original ASUS A8N-SLI motherboard, because on the ASUS site i'm not seeing any BIOS revisions for the plain A8N-SLI.

This will work with all video cards in SLI or not. Readings here are based on GeForce 6800 Ultra's but your cards will be somewhat close in readings.

How do I know these methods work?
When I first started SLI at stock settings, "and a lot of problems beforehand", I used 3DMARK 05 to benchmark my video and I had a score of 9338 for two video cards and 5500 with one card. Now I rank #5 out of 2 million or so people on 3DMark 05 (not bragging, just fact), ORB (Online Results Browser) using the approved 3D Mark 05 66.93 driver with a score of 10451 (published) for two cards and 6750 for one card. I have about 500 Hrs of SLI experience testing different system settings, and pretty much got every error you can think of, but I managed to clear them all without RMA'ing any products. Nine times out of ten problems can be repaired through trial and error.
I'm just trying to save people alot of trouble.


After two months of trials and tribulations, this is how I got there.

The heart of my system;
BIOS Version 1004.001
Windows XP SP1
A8N-SLI Deluxe
AMD FX55
2x-XFX Geforce 6800 Series GPU (PVT45FUD) Video cards.
Corsair Twinx 2048 PC3200 C2PL
2x-74 Gig Raptor SATA hard drives RAID0 on NVidia Raid (270 MB/s Data transfer rate).
LG GSA 4040B DVD (Cheap, I know I need a newer one)
Enermax 3 in 1 24 Pin (EG651P-VE) 36 Amps at 12V+ Single Rail. Sticker showing Version 1.3

Other system components;

2x-19" Viewsonic Ultrabright E90f+
57" LG Widescreen TV with DVI (RU-50NZ60) for gaming
Logitech Z 5300 Speaker system 5.1
2x- Logitech Wingman Force 3D (863174-1000)
2x-MI Hip Gear, Hip Hop Steering Wheels and pedals (LM571)
Winfast TV/FM card
USB 2.0 4 port card
APC 650 Watt Backup System

Cooling;

Koolance EXOS System 1/4 inch tubing
2x-NV2 L06 GPU coolers
GPU 180 for the chipset
CPU stock fan cooled (waiting for my Prometia Mach II GT from FEDEX)

You must first have the following file and programs setup on your computer;
Coolbits.reg (to overclock your video card(s), you can get it on the net)
NTune Utility (on your cd under utilities tab) cpuz.exe (to view memory tab for data) you can get it on the net) ClockGen for nForce (to view CPU, HTT, Memory, PCI-E and PCI clocks. You can get it on the net)
Use the 66.93 driver for this, then you can upgrade to the 7x.xx series.

I will assume at this point your system is setup and somewhat stable. lol
This procedure applies to single and or SLI video card systems.
Make sure you’re not in SLI mode!!!

1- Open your display properties, and click settings.
Single Card 1 or 2 monitors;
At this point you will have your numbered display monitors in the gray area.
If you have dual monitors on one card, remove the extended Windows desktop (monitor) by un-checking the box (Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor) and applying your settings. You should now have one highlighted monitor (1) and the other monitor (2) not highlighted in the gray area.

Dual Card (SLI) 1-4 monitors;
At this point you will have your numbered display monitors in the gray area.
If you have dual monitors on the card(s), remove the extended Windows desktop (monitor(s)) by un-checking the box (Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor) and applying your settings. Monitors 1 and 2 must both be highlighted in the gray area in a SLI system, therefore you must check the box (Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor) and apply. If for any reason you're not seing the taskbar iit's because you made the extended monitor the primary one. When you extend, do not make the extended monitor (2) your primary display, you will then have settings for both video cards in the menu. 1 and 3 must be highlighted in a 4-monitor system with all (Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor) settings off.

2- Click the Advanced button.
You will have approximately 6 tabs in this new window.

3-Click on the tab that shows your video card.
In my case it's Geforce 6800 Ultra.
A new window with a menu on the left will appear.

4- In this menu click on Clock Frequency Settings.
In a SLI system you will need to follow the procedure below for both Graphics
cards displayed in the menu. Select manual overclocking and in the drop down menu select Performance (3D)

5- Click on the Detect Optimal Frequencies button.
At this point it will start detecting your optimal frequencies according to your graphics card capabilities. These MHz readings will be dependant on system settings, core and ambient temperatures etc... Your computer screen may go blank, freeze and your computer may even reboot. If this happens go back and detect optimal Frequencies again until it does. Once the test is complete, the optimized readings will automatically post in the Core and Memory clock frequencies section. Reduce your GPU Core Frequency by 5 or 10 MHz and the Memory Core by -.01 (EX: 1.13 to 1.12), the Memory Core slider moves in increments of .01. Click on the slider and use your keyboard arrows if the slider doesn't go to the exact number. You must now check the box (Apply these settings at startup) and apply your settings. Now go to the dropdown settings menu and select Performance (2D). The Memory Clock Frequency will be default to the previous Performance (3D) optimization test and you will need to adjust the slider to the same Performance (3D) GPU Core setting. Click on the slider and use your keyboard arrows if the slider doesn't go to the exact number. Click apply and ok.If at any time you are prompted to test your new settings just click yes.Your Display Properties Window will still be open.

6-Click on the Advanced tab in Display Properties and then, in the new window, the tab for your video card. Click on Clock Frequency Settings and make sure the GPU and Memory Core settings didn't change on you. Usually the Memory Core MHz won't, but the GPU core will, set the GPU Core again and click apply, and OK, repeating this procedure until you are sure the numbers don't change. In a SLI configuration repeat this procedure using the lowest video card GPU and Memory Core (Detect Optimal Frequency) settings of the two cards that were provided by the test. Less the reduction of 5 or 10MHz on the GPU Core and .01 on the Memory Core as mentioned in Step 5.

The object in Steps 5 and 6 is to permanently set your GPU and Memory Core Frequencies according to your system variables, such as heat etc... and it will be the maximum optimized levels your graphics card can handle, to have these settings applied at all times when you start your computer, and provide a baseline to the NTune settings I will mention in the rest of this post.

In a SLI system the same as above applies including full synchronization of both GPU and Memory Core Frequencies which will help in less freezing and errors. Video Card BIOS's are like your computer BIOS, they keep things in memory, another issue I will discuss in another post!

If you have a single video card, go to step 7.
If you have SLI video, go into your advanced display settings and Click on your video card tab. Click on Performance and quality settings in the menu and check off the box Show Advanced Settings. Scroll down till you see SLI rendering mode and make sure it says Muti-GPU rendering. If it's set at Single GPU click and highlight then go to the drop down menu below, select Multi and apply, then go to SLI multi-GPU in the menu and check the (Enable SLI multi-GPU) checkbox, apply and restart, then come back to step 7.

7- Open nTune.exe and you will be presented with the Clock Control Panel. If not, click on the round clock beside the house or home button at the bottom left hand corner.

If for any reason you get the HT error message ;

You can stop this message by going in your BIOS and setting your clock speed to MANUAL> and setting the >PCI Clock Sychronization Mode to 33.33 MHz or Auto and advancing your clock speed to 201 MHz, or just close the message everytime it comes up, you can still proceed. The difference will be a PCI clock frequency like 19 or 20 MHz instead of 33.33 MHz, and different bus speeds.

Look at the GPU bus speeds (3D) section and make sure it's the same as the numbers in the Advanced Properties you set in previous steps. If all is good lets move on, if not, go back and repeat the steps till these numbers match. Leave everything else default for now, we will tweak momentarily.

8- Click on the house button or home button at the bottom left hand corner of Ntune.

9- Click on Benchmark and automatically tune my system.
You will now be in the NV Performance panel. Select Auto-Tuning Best Graphics Performance and click the gear like button on the bottom left hand corner beside the hand. Your system will begin to tune and you can almost bet your computer will reboot once or twice during this process. When your computer does reboot and you get to the desktop, you will be prompted to continue your tuning session, click yes. If your computer reboots again repeat the procedure until you get a message that it completed and would you like to save.
***Important***
Save this as test1 or something as this will not be the last test.

10- Now close the nTune manager, and select Benchmarks, Graphics Performance, NVIDIA Baseline in NVPerformance. You will be presented with your current bandwidth reading, including a proposed NVIDIA Baseline bandwidth reading.Depending on what you're card is your current bandwidth reading will vary. A typical Geforce GT or Ultra will be between 300 and 385. A SLI system will be 385 to 450, usually 400 to 415. You don't need to keep track of this number as you can select the (Previous Run) checkbox and it will compare your results with the last session, but don't do it yet.

11- Open Ntune.exe and click the i button or information button.
Under Calculated system performance take a look at the settings NTune Performance Auto-Tuning gave you. These figures are proportional to some of your settings in the BIOS as well as the Auto-Tuning session. Hypertransport Link, Memory bus, PCI bus (if not set in BIOS to 33. MHz which increases CPU temps) and CPU speeds will be set by the Auto-Tuning session. CPU Multiplier will remain the same as in BIOS. Save these settings as test1, you will now have two-saved test1's in two different locations. One in
Ntune information and the other in NVPerformance.
***Important***
These two files will be the base to all of your future tests (overclocks) and benchmarks, try not to overwrite or delete them.

At this point it wouldn't be a bad Idea to write down your settings in the Calculated system performance section. Mostly all computers will differ in readings as no two are alike. You know your system best, so everything you do here on in will be trial and error until you find the best graphics performance for your computer.

12- Click the clock button beside the house or home button at the bottom left hand corner.
In the Control Panel leave your GPU and Memory Core settings the same for awhile, your cards are already set to their maximum. In the Memory Control Timing section your numbers where set by the Auto-Tuning session and should stay the same for now, even if you know your memory timings can be better, this will avoid reboots and other issues. In the System Bus Speeds section increase your RAM up to maybe a stable number you have already tried in other utilities or by increments of 2 MHz.
For 400DDR RAM I got mine to 432 MHz, this will also increase your Hypertransport MHz.
Hypertransport link MHz is equal to;
HT Link Multiplier X Memory Bus Speed divided by 2 (for DDR Ram) EX: 5X412MHz/2=1030 MHz
If your PCI express bus is set over 2,500 MHz bring it down to this number for now.

13- Click save and save these settings as test2_increased_RAM_to_412MHz or something like that.
***Important***
Every change you do from here on in should be saved to a new test file. Once saved the settings will take effect in windows without having to change anything in the BIOS.
These settings will reset after a reboot to your computers default settings prior to doing anything in this post. To load any of the saved tests go into NTune and load the test by opening the folder icon at the bottom right hand corner, this will include NVPerformances settings already. During testing, even saving a test, your computer will reboot. NTune adjusts system bus speeds, tunes your registry etc... Just load any previous test and try different settings and saving again. You can experiment with all of the settings in the NTune Control Panel but I would stay away from the Memory Timings, Ntune already set it for you. You can increase your GPU and Memory Cores if you don't experience poor graphics or errors with your increases (Detect Optimal Frequencies) already set these for you. System Bus Speeds can be toyed with and you must save, you can switch between the control panel and information panel to see the changes in CPU speed for instance.

Special note; You can increase your PCI to 33 MHz by going into the BIOS and selecting this setting in the PCI Synchronization Clock Mode section.
There are three options;
1-Auto
2-To CPU
3-33.33 MHz
I found that I got a little better performance but my CPU temps were higher under heavy 3D graphics loads. If you choose to use this setting, monitor your CPU temp.

To CPU MHz readings can be seen in the information section under Calculated System Performance>PCI bus in Ntune but you will get the HT message upon opening Ntune.exe, just close the window, you can still adjust system performance. You can stop this message by going in your BIOS and setting your clock speed to MANUAL> and setting the >PCI Clock Sychronization Mode to 33.33 MHz or Auto and advancing your clock speed to 201 MHz, just close the message everytime it comes up. The difference will be a clock frequency like 19 or 20 MHz, and different bus speeds. As I said before I found that the 33 MHz setting increased my CPU temp to the 60C range, I didn't like that.

14- Use your favorite benchmark utility and try your overclocked video and computer settings.
If you experience problems such as reboots or errors, reduce your settings in Ntune a little first and go back and try again and again. If the numbers in the Ntune calculated section appear to be lower than what you expect for your system, such as CPU clock speed, drop the GPU and Memory Cores a little and up your system bus speeds again. If you experience graphics problems color etc.. reduce the GPU and Memory Core Frequencies in your advanced settings by the method and increments I specified earlier.
Once you have the finished overclocked product you can manualy enter some of the info found in the Calculated System Performance section and insert the info in the appropriate areas of your BIOS and save it there. I got all specs using Ntune, ClockGen for NForce and cpuz.exe. Now my settings are permanent in the BIOS.
Furthermore you can have the profile load when windows loads using the profile manager in Ntune and keep the current settings you had before trying this post everytime you reboot.

My current settings are;
Hypertransport Link - 1060.009 MHz
Memory Bus - 424.004 (DDR) MHz
PCI Express bus - 2971.000 MHz
PCI Bus - 20 MHz (To CPU in BIOS as I felt 33.0 MHz brought my CPU temps up)
CPU Multiplier - 13.0x
CPU Speed - 2756.025 MHz
GPU core - 450 MHz
Memory core - 1.200 MHz
HT Link Multiplier - 5X
CPU Voltage -1.5V (set in BIOS)
DDR Ram Voltage - 2.75V

RAM Timing;
Frequency - 212 Mhz, DDR 424Mhz
FSB DRAM CPU/13x
CAS Latency - 2.5 Clocks
RAS to CAS Delay - 3 Clocks
RAS Precharge 3 Clocks
Cycle Time TRAS - 6 Clocks
Bank Cycle Time TRC - 11 Clocks
DRAM Idle Timer - 16 Clocks

A well oiled machine!

Ntune with it's many features and with a properly configured video card(s) as I outlined in this post,
will help you hit the big scores like I did.
You will be able to get the maximum graphics and system performance your computer can deliver.

There is more to SLI than meets the eye.

Regards,

Mike Thellend

PS: I helped someone yesterday and increased his score by 700 points and he said his computer was really smokin (not in the litteral sense) he hasn't even finished tuning yet. If you experience any vibrations or corruption in video games, try Vsync = on, Multi GPU Rendering = on or both = off. You can also reduce your MHz in GPU and Memory Core's,
Here are some of my BIOS settings Version 1004.001.

The reason I set my BIOS is because after I tuned my system and it was very stable I took my last test file, loaded it, and went to calculated system performance in Ntune. I got all specs using Ntune, ClockGen for NForce and cpuz.exe. Now my settings are permanent in the BIOS.

Advanced>CPU Configuration

I did permenantly set some of my memory timings prior to my tests as the system defaulted to 3-3-3-8 all the time now it stays at 2.5-3-3-6..
1T/2T Memory Timing - 1T
CAS # Latency (Tcl) - 2.5
Min RAS # Active Time (Tras) - 6

NVRaid does provide better performance, I tried the SIL Raid and had less MB/s Data Transfer Rates than NVRaid.
Onboard Device Configuration>NVRaid
RAID - Enabled
First SATA Master Raid - Enabled
Second SATA Master Raid - Enabled

To stop the HT message when you first open Ntune.exe the PCI Clock needs to be set to 33.33 MHz or Auto and advance your Clock speed to 201 MHz.
JumperFree Configuration>
OverClock Profile - Manual
CPU Frequency - 212 Mhz
PCI Express Clock - 118.85 MHz
CPU Multiplier - 13x
DDR Voltage - 2.75V
CPU Voltage - AUTO
PCI Clock Synchronization Mode - TO CPU

These settings are relaxed though, I can go much higher in some of my settings.

That's all folks!

Ok so far this machine has been stable except for one damn problem still....

IRQ NOT EQUAL OR LESS THAN - I can't figure this one out

here is my machine

AMD 64 3200+
A8N-SLI DX
2x 256MB CORSAIR TWIN X MEMORY
2x SEAGATE 80 GIG SATA DRIVES W/NCQ
ASUS EN6600GT PCI-X VIDEO CARD
LG GSA-4160B DVD BURNER
PANASONIC 40X CDRW
WINDOWS XP SP2


if someone know whats causing this then let me know so I can rid myself of this one

Mark: what power supply?

ENERMAX EG651P-V(E)

specs can be found here

http://www.rackmountnet.com/ps/enermax/eg651pve/eg651pve.htm

I saw Mark there;

Enermax 3 in 1 24 Pin (EG651P-VE) 36 Amps at 12V+ Single Rail Sticker showing Version 1.3

Mike

in regards to the ntune program is it any good in boosting performance if so i tried to load it but it came up with a warning saying my pci clock is monitoring the ht bus or along those lines ...

How do i get rid of this warning before i can boost performance..?

Chris,

You can get rid of this message by going in your BIOS and setting your clock speed to MANUAL> and setting the PCI Clock Sychronization to 33.33 MHz or Auto and advancing your clock speed to 201 MHz or just close it everytime it comes up. When you don't choose the 33.33 MHz clock, you will still be able to boost performance after closing the message window. The difference will be in clock frequencies like 19 or 20 MHz, and different bus speeds. You can view your calculated system performance in the information section. Yes Ntune is the way to go, it's better than AI or NOS for tweaking and overclocking, just follow my guide to the letter. I have almost 500 Hrs of testing in SLI and well, my 3Dmark increase and awesome computer performance speaks for itself.

Mike

scenario 1) 283 x 9 memory at 231 4816 futuremark 2005, a tad less than the 925XE scores in Sandra in memory and more in multimedia
scneario 2) 295 x 8 memory at 236 4781 futruemark 2005, a tad more than the 925XE scores in Sandra in memory and less in multimedia

I wish I could get my memory to the 250FSB mark.

>Ok so far this machine has been stable except for one damn problem still....

>IRQ NOT EQUAL OR LESS THAN - I can't figure this one out

Mark - from page 12 of this thread.

3. BSOD - IRQ NOT LESS OR EQUAL
This was a frustrating one. AMD's and SP2 and NVidia drivers don't play well together. Change /noexecute=optin to /execute=optin in your boot settings.

Ok guys follow Mike's guide trust me it works...

at the initial run of 3dmark05 I had a score of 3300 not very good in my books if you ask me so I started following Mikes guide and have no been play for 2 nights and have almost got my system up to 4000 points.... Not really sure yet how how I am going to be able to go but I am about to make a 6th test run...

Right now my settings are as follows

HT LINK - 1080.250
Memory Bus - 432.095
PCI Express - 2773.000
PCI - 20.000
CPU Multiplier 10.00
CPU Speed - 2160.475

GPU Settings

Core Bus - 550 MHZ
Memory Bus - 1190

This is to anyone that is not runnning the on-board sound I was getting conflicts between other devices and my sound card hence the wonderful error I was getting... ok so I move the card to the top PCI slot and taadaa no more sharing... great news... just thought I would pass that along..

Ok now that I am trying to play enenmy territory and use team speak my computer will constantly blue screen with the IRQ NOT EQUAL OR LESS THAN error. After this happens the computer shuts down and reboots. Upon rebooting the machine will post fine and it then takes a couple of moments to power up the hard drives and recognize the array. I am getting to my wits end again with this... its freaking annoying...

I have done the /execute=optin thing and its not fixed this problem...

Below is the shared/conflicting hardware listed in System information. Is it possible something in here is causing the problems?


I/O Port 0x00000000-0x00000CF7 PCI bus
I/O Port 0x00000000-0x00000CF7 Direct memory access controller

I/O Port 0x000003C0-0x000003DF nForce4 PCI-Express Root Port
I/O Port 0x000003C0-0x000003DF NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT

IRQ 22 Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller
IRQ 22 NVIDIA Network Bus Enumerator

Memory Address 0xC0000000-0xCFFFFFFF nForce4 PCI-Express Root Port
Memory Address 0xC0000000-0xCFFFFFFF NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT

Memory Address 0xA0000-0xBFFFF PCI bus
Memory Address 0xA0000-0xBFFFF nForce4 PCI-Express Root Port
Memory Address 0xA0000-0xBFFFF NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT

I/O Port 0x000003B0-0x000003BB nForce4 PCI-Express Root Port
I/O Port 0x000003B0-0x000003BB NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT

Please see below for my boot.ini to show that I have changed the setting also here.

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /execute=optin /fastdetect

thanks for the reply, in my bios settings ive already configured it to the bios on the front page. could you write out what your settings look like??

i've got an amd 3500+ ust in case you need the info

Hi Mark!

I would remove any additional PCI cards (not video) in your slots one at a time to find the problem device. Even go as far as removing any external devices you may have and trying others, then you can take it from there.
I really don't know what you have in the way of cards and devices and can't begin to help until you isolate the problem device.

Mike

Chris,

The BIOS settings are very good on the main page my settings will be very close with just a few changes to make things work for you in my post. I will update my BIOS settings in my previous post by tomorrow.

Mike

my experience with the a8n-sli

a8n with amd 64-4000
2x1gig corsair ddr400
2xevga 6800 ultras
sb audigy 2zs
enermax nosietaker 600 watt-only one pci-e connector
2x74gig raptors on nvidia sata-no raid (ncq enabled)
1 160gig seagate sata, also on nvidia raid
lg dvd rom
sony dvd-r-dl
dvi to epson 57" lcd rptv

after all hardware installed, tried to install xp-no. Erractic drive recognition, and would lose keyboard at start of win xp install. Installed bios 1003 final, all drives recognized, and keyboard stuck around for install. updated xp first to sp 1 only(sp2 still scares me), installed new 6.39 chipset drivers, couldnt reboot, had to disable sli in bios first, reboot, then uninstall 6.39. Installed latest chipset drivers from asus site (6.31), booted up fine, enabled sli, installed video drivers (71.25). System was very unstable. Unistalled 71.25 properly, and installed 67.66, everything worked good. bad shimmering in 3dmark 03, and 05, but other than that, everything seemed good. Played around with the new games, ran great and stable. Feeling daring, i thought id try to re-install the 6.39 chipset drivers back.(i un-installed video drivers first) Bsod at reboot. Disabled sli in bios again, rebooted fine. Installed 67.66 again, reenabled sli in bios, booted up fine, then enabled sli in driver control panel, rebooted again, everything was honey. This config has run great now for 5 days with little problems( temp sensor in nvidia driver panel is backwards, ambient and gpu temps, and wmp is hit and miss sometimes), other than that, system is stable and fast, Still shimmering in 3dmark 03, and 05, but nice scores.
03-22,355
05-10,439
i think alot of my problems were from enabling sli too early in the set up stage. Should of installed os, drivers, and all that jazz, then enabled sli.IMO.
overall pretty happy with this setup.

Asus's web site states this board can support up to 4gb RAM.

But the Memory QVL page (http://usa.asus.com/products/mb/socket939/a8nsli-d/qvl.htm) only contains two entries for 1024MB modules. Neither of these modules is supported for use in all four sockets at the same time.

How exactly can you put 4 Gigs of memory in this board? I currently have 2 gigs in my athlon 3200, and it is not enough. I am working with GIS data and the data sets are huge.

Thanks in advance.

If you need to crunch GIS data I think the A8N-SLI is a bad choice for a board.

There are many boards that cannot take their max ram without severe compromises. I think ECC memory would allow it to work, but I don't know if compatible ECC is out.

Got to 400/1100 speeds with my BFG 6800GT OC, that is baseline Ultra....I got to 425/1105 for a few runs but then some artifacts in 3DMark04, oddly it would freeze in 3DMark03 so I backed off the timing.

Not so happy with my CPU/Memory combo though....I can get the chip to 283 x 9 but I can't get the OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2 to get to it's sweet spot due to having to rely on using DD333 auto settings in the BIOS as the fastest FSB that works (231FSB), but auto timings are 2-3-3-5 which isn't bad, but 2-2-2-5 should be possible...I got to 295 x 8 and the same DDR333 setting should have giving me a better 245FSB, but instead it clocked my RAM at 236FSB (more like a 3.5/4.5 divider instead of the 5/6).

Any ideas? I forgot my benchmarks at home, but 3dmark04 was 5066, and 3dmark03 was around 12600 and 3dmark02SE was around 24500....

Are these decent scores for a 3200+ at 3750?