Asus Crosshair AM2 Motherboard

[PowerHungry]

The Crosshair motherboard that I RMA'd to Asus works perfectly!! Whatever they did, they should have released the mobo in that condition.

It's by far one of the best motherboards I've ever owned.

[jbloom459]

Hey Gang,
I'm gearing up to build two identical computers. Here's what I'm considering. I'm not a huge gamer, but gamer motherboards and overall PC's are robust! So, that's what I'm heading for. I do play a few games, and flight simulators, so it's not entirely misdirected. But I wanted feedback from the hardcore as to what you think of the system.

Asus CrossHair nForce 590 SLI Sempron/Athlon 64(FX)(X2)
Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4 2GB Kit DDR2-800 XMS2-6400
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor 4600+ Socket AM2 (65W)
Asus EN7900GT/2DHT/256M GeForce 7900 GT Video Card
Hitachi Deskstar 320GB Ultra ATA/133 7200RPM HD

Throwing it all in this;
Raidmax Ninja ATX918WBP Mid Tower Case (Black)

Carry over my Plextor PX-760A DVD Burner

See anything that could be improved?

[PowerHungry]

You didn't mention PSU??

[jbloom459]

Sorry.. PSU is in the case, it's 450w. Nothing more descriptive than that on the website.

[PowerHungry]

I would think twice about using a PSU included with a case, they are generally not very good.

[jbloom459]

Easy enough, got any suggestions?

[PowerHungry]

Just take a look at the reviews posted on this site by Robotech, Lee is the best in the business when it comes to reviewing PSU's.

[Senor Panadero]

Just a note on that, if it isn't obvious. When you click on the review link, power supply reviews are categorized under "Cases and Cooling". There is a new one up there, just posted today, top left of the page.

[jbloom459]

Any issues with Coolermaster PSU's? I can easily keep my ATX case and just upgrade the PSU.

Coolermaster 713001180 eXtreme Power 600W

And since I may now keep my current case, I'm assuming the motherboard and PSU and such will fit. The case is an Enlight 7237. I'm also considering the Zalman CNPS9500 AM2 CPU Cooler. Anyone see any issues?

Sorry for all the questions, just want to be sure before I spend the money.

John

[smithy566]

Hey Everyone (first post, woop woop)

I'm currently building a system (and yes, this is my first time)

I've fitted the ASUS crosshair motherboard but im a bit puzzled by a few things. If anyone can help, that would be great.

1. I've fitted the sound card that came with the board and noticed it had connectors on the card. they fit two cables that came with my case AC'97 and HD Audio. Which should I use? the manual tells you nothing. Also does this card need powered? I've heard a few things about the card not being recognised.

2. in the manual it said to connect the 24pin power lead, so I did, but it also said to connect and 8 pin lead aswell. Looking at the board 4 of the pins for the socket had a cap on them, so I removed it and plugged in the 8. But now im thinking, maybe I should have pluged in the 4 pin one instead as it had the cap. The manual is useless for this board!

any help would be great! thankyou

[dpellio]

You did correctly by removing the cap and plugging in the 8 pin connector. As for the audio, I only used the external speaker plugs so I don't know about the ones inside the case.

[smithy566]

Thanks, that takes away my fear of my new system turning into a bonnie fireworks display!

I maybe should have made things clearer. The cables AC'97 and HD Audio connect the speaker & microphone jacks from the front of the case. I've got the HD Audio one plugged in just now.

I'm just waiting on my GeForce 8800 GTX arriving. Ahh the beast will soon be brought to life

[dpellio]

Awesome! I am currently waiting in line at EVGA to step up to to 8800GTX's. Let us know how your build goes!

[Jackrazzak]

Just a quickquestion. The Crosshair spec says "Support two identical NVIDIA SLI-Ready graphics cards (both at x16 mode)" under sli. Does this mean you can only use NVIDIA cards in a sli format or can you use any sli card, for example Asus Extreme GeForce 6600 512MB SLI? Please help!

[CMB]

Welcome Jackrazzak !.
You can use any single card on this motherboard ati or nvidia.
If you want to go to sli in the future then you will need to have an sli ready card, and match it later on.