The Asus A7N8X is a high end Nforce 2, with 2 onboard NICs, and Serial ATA. It sells for around £100.

Specification and Features

Nforce 2 SPP Northbridge nForce 2 MCP-T Southbridge
AGP 8x
Dual DDR 266/333/400 support
X2 Onboard LAN
USB 2.0 X4 Firewire X1
2X SATA channels
Onboard 6 channel audio with Dolby Digital 5.1

The most unique feature of this board, that sets it apart from other Nforce2s, is the dual LAN capability. Asus have done this properly, using a 3com controller for the extra port. Although the OS recognize it as 3com, I couldn't see a 3com chip on the board, only a few Realtek chips. Weather I am missing something here, or weather Asus have used a licensed clone of a 3com chip, it doesn't really matter, as it works perfectly well, which is all most of us ask from an NIC. One feature I really liked was the huge passive Northbridge sink. It got a fair draught from the CPU cooler, and did a good job. Its also the right size and shape to strap on a fan for overclocking, which is a lot easier than replacing a whole cooler, possibly voiding your warranty in the process. Asus included 6 USB ports on the A7N8X, but two of them are on a motherboard pin header, and no cable was supplied to make use of them, hence the number of USB ports in the feature list being counted as four. One useful feature provided by the Nforce 2 chipset that not all the boards in this roundup have utilized, is Dolby Digital. This board has a digital 5.1 output for those with external decoders. The analogue jacks for the rear and centre surround channels are not shared with the microphone and line in jacks, which is defiantly a plus for the audiophile, or anyone that needs to use a microphone as well as the surround sound.

Layout and aesthetics

This board is not at all fancy looking, and uses standard colours for everything. The only striking feature is the big passive Northbridge sink. The Layout of the A7N8X is mostly excellent. CPU socket clearance is good, with bucket loads of room to the sides of the socket, but things are a little tight on the south edge, and fitting the test AX7 was a little fiddly, but had a few mill to spare. The ATX connector is the best positioned of all the boards in this roundup. It is located on the far side of the DIMM slots, meaning the cable doesn't go anywhere near the CPU area. There are three fan headers, one for the CPU fan, and two more just above the AGP slot, which is fairly sensible to my mind, as they are in a good place for cooling a video card, the Northbridge, or a case exhaust. The DIMM slots are a little close to the AGP slot, but will still open and close with a large card fitted. The rest of the connector locations are also good, with the IDE connectors parallel to the board edge, and the SATA connectors right on the bottom edge. Strangely, the header for COM2 is in the bottom hand corner of the board. The supplied backplate bracket will reach, but it can only be put in 2 or 3 slots, because the cable isn't long enough, and whatever you do, it looks messy.

Usability

The manual is a well written document, with all the features of the board well explained. The BIOS options are all explained in detail. The BIOS itself is self explanatory and easy to use. For example, when playing with the FSB and RAM ratios, there is a line that tells you the resulting RAM speed, which is very useful. Actually installing the board is easy, the front panel switch pin headers are clearly marked, which saves flipping through the manual. The good positioning of the ATX connector makes cabling hassle free. Installing drivers is a total no brainer, just push in the CD and keep clicking next. The Asus A7N8X is a very easy board to work with, with everything being standard and straightforward.

Performance and overclocking

The Asus A7N8X offers a full range of overclocking options, and combined with the meaty Northbridge sink, which could easily be upgraded with a fan, and the good CPU socket clearance, makes this board a good choice for any megahertz junkie. There were no performance problems identified during benchmarking, with all scores very similar to the rest of the boards in the roundup. The good news is some board revisions (earlier than 2.0) will support a 200mhz FSB with a BIOS update. Most of us are not in the market for an XP 3200+, but it is good news indeed for the overclocker.

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