bobbywmatl Posted February 1, 2006 Posted February 1, 2006 Hi Everyone!!! I am going to buy a new motherboard for a second computer. I am currently trying to decide between the ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe and the NF4 Expert. I know this is a DFI board and there may be some bias. I can understand this becuase I'm a DFI man myself!!! LOL :angel: I just wanted to get some opinions from the forum to help me weigh the pros and cons of each board. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! bobby Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
palehorse Posted February 1, 2006 Posted February 1, 2006 do you plan to overclock? if so, then get the DFI. period. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbywmatl Posted February 1, 2006 Posted February 1, 2006 do you plan to overclock? if so, then get the DFI. period. Palehorse: Thanks for the reply! I definitely plan to overclock. I am somewhat new to DFI boards, but my brother has more experience and he assures me that overclocking on a DFI is better than .... Although from what I have read I think he's right, I just thought he needed to get out more... If I could ask, what, specifically, do you think makes the DFI Expert a better overclocker than the Asus 32 (becuase people seem to think pretty highly of the Asus 32 in terms of overclocking also)? Just curious... Thanks again! bobby Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryTaco Posted February 1, 2006 Posted February 1, 2006 If you think you can handle tweaking an Expert then its a no brainer. If you want decent overclocks and not much of a challenge then maybe the Asus board for you. I was frightened at first about all the Expert posts and such but now its closer to Zero Hour for me (almost ready to fire up) Im looking forward to the Challenge of the Expert. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowboy Posted February 1, 2006 Posted February 1, 2006 Both good boards.One overclocks well the other is made for overclocking. One has 16X-16x pcie the other 8x-8x doesn't make any difference today as cards can't even use 8x but in the future it may. It's a choice you will have to make because your the one that has to live with it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
threedheli Posted February 1, 2006 Posted February 1, 2006 What case are you using? You should be aware that for the passive cooling to work properly on the Asus A8N32 the board needs to be mounted the right way up. I put mine in a Lian-Li V1000 & the chipset got quite hot...... I went over to a DFI Ultra-D now my chipset temps are better - I'm going to use the Asus in another case.... Hope that info helps Threedheli RC Heli Flyer (& thinking about starting some overclocking........) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
red930 Posted February 1, 2006 Posted February 1, 2006 I have yet to see any reason to switch away from the Expert, I'm sure the ASUS is a solid board and can overclock well, but I like leaving my options open... And if you're concerned about the dual x16 vs. dual x8, I did a study on that here: http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=40036 The gist of it says that there is no difference. One more thing, personally I don't like passively cooled things that get really hot (i.e. chipsets...) just one more thing to worry about to me. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbywmatl Posted February 1, 2006 Posted February 1, 2006 What case are you using? You should be aware that for the passive cooling to work properly on the Asus A8N32 the board needs to be mounted the right way up. I put mine in a Lian-Li V1000 & the chipset got quite hot...... I went over to a DFI Ultra-D now my chipset temps are better - I'm going to use the Asus in another case.... Hope that info helps Threedheli RC Heli Flyer (& thinking about starting some overclocking........) Kandalf :cool: for all my computers... They are just really great cases imho... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbywmatl Posted February 1, 2006 Posted February 1, 2006 I have yet to see any reason to switch away from the Expert, I'm sure the ASUS is a solid board and can overclock well, but I like leaving my options open... And if you're concerned about the dual x16 vs. dual x8, I did a study on that here: http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=40036 The gist of it says that there is no difference. One more thing, personally I don't like passively cooled things that get really hot (i.e. chipsets...) just one more thing to worry about to me. Your thread is great and I am really happy to see that it makes no difference. Thanks! bobby Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbywmatl Posted February 1, 2006 Posted February 1, 2006 Both good boards.One overclocks well the other is made for overclocking. One has 16X-16x pcie the other 8x-8x doesn't make any difference today as cards can't even use 8x but in the future it may. It's a choice you will have to make because your the one that has to live with it. Lowboy.. thanks for the reply, I'm really beginning to lean toward the Expert becuase as you say, it is made to overclock... I'm reading about the coldboot issues that some have seen to see if that might be an ongoing problem... bobby Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbywmatl Posted February 1, 2006 Posted February 1, 2006 If you think you can handle tweaking an Expert then its a no brainer. If you want decent overclocks and not much of a challenge then maybe the Asus board for you. I was frightened at first about all the Expert posts and such but now its closer to Zero Hour for me (almost ready to fire up) Im looking forward to the Challenge of the Expert. Dragoe, I'm leaning toward the challenge myself, I think I'm gonna get it from Monarch unless I can find it cheaper elsewhere... Thanks! bobby Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mercid Posted February 2, 2006 Posted February 2, 2006 I faced this same question last week. I went with the expert and while i have not installed everything into my pc to get it setup yet, i can tell you i am floored at the build quality of the board. Its amazing. It blows away every other asus/abit board i have ever owned in that regard. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts