X1950XT, FX-55, Asus A8N32-SLI, X-Meridian, OCZ 700 Watt Gamer Xtreme

[hobo]eclipse · Dec 12, 2006, 05:23 AM

Well last week i picked up an Athlon FX-55 and an Azentech 7.1 X-Meridian(which by the way is amazing with the sennheiser pc 150 headphones i got too!) and after staring at the nicely priced Sapphire X1950XT i went ahead with that and the ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe , only thing that concerns me is its the open box one, it wont have any cables or CDs or anything for that matter but that is of no concern, im just worried about the boards performance. i had to try as it was half price and i have more than enough cables and such around. Any one with any experiance with newegg and open box/refurbs?????.........., i hope it aint a refurb but i dunno, its comin from the refurb warehouse. I know i got 15 days to check it out though. Also picked up the OCZ GameXStream 700 watt, i already have the 520 powersteam, i just wanted to step it up to be sure and im 150% satisfied with the 520.

So really what im lookin for are any tips, tricks an and tweeks anyone may have for this board, or nforce 4 in general, or any essentials for PCIe i might need to know about, i already read this board has an extra HTT between the NB and SB to support the dual 16x SLI, but I imagine i wont need to mess with it with a single ATI card in there, im just hopin on this board really hopin....

seriuosly though, any experiance with this board chime in please, good or bad, also ima be loadin up XP Pro x64, to sata drives and i hear that wont require a floppy! w00t!!!, but i here not so good things about the IDE driver, ill proll do with out, and what about that SMBus driver,???

I'll be using the same RAM i have, its not the best but far far from the worst.

[hobo]eclipse · Dec 12, 2006, 06:55 AM

man i hope this psu is ok for the x1950xt, is 4 18amp 12+v rails ok?? i seen where some one said a psu w/2 12+ rails at 21 amps was ok, the OCZ 700watt has a dedicated rail for it so it would be by iself on the rail.

[hobo]eclipse · Dec 12, 2006, 03:38 PM

anyone have anyexperiance with newegg and openbox items? just dont know what to expect, hoping for the best, white box with nothing in it but a 100 percent functional board. Also im still wandering about the 18amp 12volt rail (1 of 4) being beefy enough, its gotta be though, its OCZ and the card will be all by itself on one rail. Opinions please.

Randomletters · Dec 13, 2006, 12:29 AM

Ive always been hapy with neweggs open box items, have bought things that way many times. Newegg doesnt inspect open box items, they go back to the manufacturer then back to newegg.

Sometimes youll get an open box item with everything a new version is supposed to have.

[hobo]eclipse · Dec 13, 2006, 03:17 AM

well thats encouraging, does open box guarentee it will be a refurb though? just curious as i cant complain for half the price.

[hobo]eclipse · Dec 13, 2006, 04:30 AM

also, still wandering on opinions about what to and not to install as far as nforce 4 chipset, was considering skipping on the SMBUS and IDE driver???

[hobo]eclipse · Dec 13, 2006, 06:17 AM

OK i need some serious advice here about my PSU/GPU situation, the GamerXStream 700 watt that is coming has 4 12+volt rails with 18 amps each, one rail is completly dedicated to a PCIe lead for the GPU, will that be enough? or would i be better off with my current 520 powerstream with 33 amps on a single 12+v rail? anyone with x1900xt'sand up chime in and let me know you PSU situation if you could. Im considering Returning the gamerXStream if possible, help

CDsDontBurn · Dec 13, 2006, 09:03 AM

for the chipset, install all the drivers. You don't want your SATA or IDE drives running at ATA 33 spec do you

. The SMBUS i'm not too sure, but i would say it's equally important. Just be sure that when you install these drivers, that you install the chipset drivers first. Currently, the 6.86 (winXP sp2) drivers are the most recent available for that chipset. They are rather dated too, July 7, 2006.

as for your PSU issue, the OCZ GamerXtreme PSU is a very highly rated PSU. The only thing it lacks is quad SLI certification from NVIDIA. Although it does have 4x12v rails, one thing you want to check for is the overall amperage of those rails. I'm sure that 18x4 will suit you just fine

.

Dec 12, 2006, 05:23 AM	#1
[hobo]eclipse ...just bummin 'round Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 2,907 Rep Power: 112 System Specs	X1950XT, Asus A8N32-SLI, X-Meridian, FX-55, OCZ 700 Watt Gamer Xtreme Well last week i picked up an Athlon FX-55 and an Azentech 7.1 X-Meridian(which by the way is amazing with the sennheiser pc 150 headphones i got too!) and after staring at the nicely priced Sapphire X1950XT i went ahead with that and the ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe , only thing that concerns me is its the open box one, it wont have any cables or CDs or anything for that matter but that is of no concern, im just worried about the boards performance. i had to try as it was half price and i have more than enough cables and such around. Any one with any experiance with newegg and open box/refurbs?????.........., i hope it aint a refurb but i dunno, its comin from the refurb warehouse. I know i got 15 days to check it out though. Also picked up the OCZ GameXStream 700 watt, i already have the 520 powersteam, i just wanted to step it up to be sure and im 150% satisfied with the 520. So really what im lookin for are any tips, tricks an and tweeks anyone may have for this board, or nforce 4 in general, or any essentials for PCIe i might need to know about, i already read this board has an extra HTT between the NB and SB to support the dual 16x SLI, but I imagine i wont need to mess with it with a single ATI card in there, im just hopin on this board really hopin.... seriuosly though, any experiance with this board chime in please, good or bad, also ima be loadin up XP Pro x64, to sata drives and i hear that wont require a floppy! w00t!!!, but i here not so good things about the IDE driver, ill proll do with out, and what about that SMBus driver,??? I'll be using the same RAM i have, its not the best but far far from the worst. Last edited by [hobo]eclipse; Dec 12, 2006 at 03:59 PM.

Dec 13, 2006, 12:29 AM	#4
Randomletters ))<>(( Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 2,418 Rep Power: 54	Ive always been hapy with neweggs open box items, have bought things that way many times. Newegg doesnt inspect open box items, they go back to the manufacturer then back to newegg. Sometimes youll get an open box item with everything a new version is supposed to have. __________________ <----------- Sexy Budget Rig stats to the left. Last edited by Randomletters; Dec 13, 2006 at 12:34 AM.

Dec 13, 2006, 09:03 AM	#8
CDsDontBurn Lurking DriverHeaven Join Date: May 2003 Location: Southern California Posts: 22,779 Rep Power: 235 System Specs	for the chipset, install all the drivers. You don't want your SATA or IDE drives running at ATA 33 spec do you . The SMBUS i'm not too sure, but i would say it's equally important. Just be sure that when you install these drivers, that you install the chipset drivers first. Currently, the 6.86 (winXP sp2) drivers are the most recent available for that chipset. They are rather dated too, July 7, 2006. as for your PSU issue, the OCZ GamerXtreme PSU is a very highly rated PSU. The only thing it lacks is quad SLI certification from NVIDIA. Although it does have 4x12v rails, one thing you want to check for is the overall amperage of those rails. I'm sure that 18x4 will suit you just fine . __________________ Her First Day \| A year later

Dec 12, 2006, 06:55 AM	Thread Starter #2
[hobo]eclipse ...just bummin 'round Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 2,907 Rep Power: 112 System Specs	man i hope this psu is ok for the x1950xt, is 4 18amp 12+v rails ok?? i seen where some one said a psu w/2 12+ rails at 21 amps was ok, the OCZ 700watt has a dedicated rail for it so it would be by iself on the rail.

Dec 12, 2006, 03:38 PM	Thread Starter #3
[hobo]eclipse ...just bummin 'round Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 2,907 Rep Power: 112 System Specs	anyone have anyexperiance with newegg and openbox items? just dont know what to expect, hoping for the best, white box with nothing in it but a 100 percent functional board. Also im still wandering about the 18amp 12volt rail (1 of 4) being beefy enough, its gotta be though, its OCZ and the card will be all by itself on one rail. Opinions please.

Dec 13, 2006, 03:17 AM	Thread Starter #5
[hobo]eclipse ...just bummin 'round Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 2,907 Rep Power: 112 System Specs	well thats encouraging, does open box guarentee it will be a refurb though? just curious as i cant complain for half the price.

Dec 13, 2006, 04:30 AM	Thread Starter #6
[hobo]eclipse ...just bummin 'round Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 2,907 Rep Power: 112 System Specs	also, still wandering on opinions about what to and not to install as far as nforce 4 chipset, was considering skipping on the SMBUS and IDE driver???

Dec 13, 2006, 06:17 AM	Thread Starter #7
[hobo]eclipse ...just bummin 'round Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 2,907 Rep Power: 112 System Specs	OK i need some serious advice here about my PSU/GPU situation, the GamerXStream 700 watt that is coming has 4 12+volt rails with 18 amps each, one rail is completly dedicated to a PCIe lead for the GPU, will that be enough? or would i be better off with my current 520 powerstream with 33 amps on a single 12+v rail? anyone with x1900xt'sand up chime in and let me know you PSU situation if you could. Im considering Returning the gamerXStream if possible, help