What's the fastest processor I can put in an Asus A7N8X Deluxe motherboard (socket A)?

Question

I have an old Asus A7N8X Deluxe motherboard that I'd like to re-assemble. In doing so, I'd like to make her as speedy as possible. What's the fastest CPU I can put in there (AMD or Intel)?

Answer 1

Good ,simple question.

Do you have an "internet library card"??
Because there's a small "library" of info on that board!..LOL:)

Seriously now..
Those boards are among THE most popular/best/fastest of the Sckt A boards.

They were especially "Overclocking Favorites",thus probalby Every possible potential has been tried /tested/ proven.

So when you ask,,"What's the Fastest CPU......?..
These boards are what helped Discover the answer to that.

CPU's,,,

Simple answer:
For a Straight "plug-In-and-run",,,letting the Board Auto-Detect and use Standard,default settings...
I suppose the fastest CPU would be

Athlon XP 3200+
Model 10 Barton Core
AXDA3200DKV4D
FSB 333 (166 x 2)
14x multiplier
2333mhz actual speed

You should be able to Raise the FSB speed to 180mhz area with decent ram & cooling.

180fsb X 14x Mult= 2520mhz
200fsb X 14x mult= 2800mhz

So,,a simple Drop-In you should get about 2350mhz
You should be able to O.C. to 2500mhz area pretty easy
2800mhz IS optimistic,,and near the limit of the CPU because of several factors,,HEAT mostly

Several folks using "heroic efforts" and Hi-$$$ Cooling/Ram/Everything have gotten some Athlons into 3000Mhz range and more.
Frankly---Forget about That,,it's "hobbyist realm",,uncertain,,lots of effort and money--and Results are NOT gauranteed.

A 2500mhz Sckt A is a Very Fast computer among it's peers,,
and
2700~2800mhz is probably an "elite range"
Beyond that is Possible,,but it's a LOTTO
.................................
Early on, it was discovered that AMD MOBILE/Laptop CPU's were ideal Overclockers for 2 basic reasons
# 1 they were "Unlocked" in their Multiplier,,allowing user to manually select any Multi- available on their motherboard settings.
Some boards go up into 20's
Imagine this POTENTIAL,using the above CPU example
200 fsb X 20xMulti= 4,000 Mhz!!(that'll never happen!)
But what about 190 X 16x= 3040 ???
Compared to Default setting of 14X166=2333mhz

Obvious to see the appeal of 'Unlocked" / manually selected Multiplier,,,even if it Is a wild-goose-chase/treasure hunt at the Upper end of the Potentials

#2 Benefit of the Mobile Athlons--LOW POWER requirement
Which means LOW Heat/operating temps.
Voltages,Heat are often the Mechanical Limitation of how far a CPU can be overclocked.

** "Oddities" of the Mobiles---
a)They are MARKED as 266mhz CPU's,,
they are ACTUALLY 333mhz Barton core CPU's
b)ALL Mobiles are "Unlocked" to allow Manual Setting of Multiplier
c)They REQUIRE manual setting of Multiplier
--if simply installed w/ "Auto Detect" settings,,ALL Mobiles default to Very Low>SLOW settings due to the "Power Now" power saving feature of it's intended LAPTOP useage
-- SOME Motherboards allow Manual Settings,,some Do Not.
Some motherboards have a Generous Range of settings,,others have LIMITED range of settings

Examples,,and effect/results
***The A7N8X has a wide range of Settings,,Beyond what's Useful--You can Overclock to the CPU's Full Potential without being limited by Board's settings

** SOME Boards have only 12X,,12.5X,13X manually set Max--
a LIMIT on what CPU can be set to, in turn producing a LIMITED Optimization.
Those boards MIGHT /Might NOT run a particular CPU at it's Rated Settings by using Auto-Detect instead of Manual settings.
Some will RUN the CPU fine,,but the BOARD itself will Limit the CPU to even Lower than CPU's Rating.

*Most Micro-ATX and "all-in-one/integrated" Type Boards,,have NO Manual Settings whatsoever.
They run the CPU on Strictly "AUTO-DETECT" settings.
Athlon Mobiles Default "Auto-Detect" setting is like,,6X Multipier.
Extremely Slow!!!
133mhz FSB x 6X Multi=800Mhz
That's a CPU Designed to Run at 2000Mhz,,,and Capable of Over 2400~2500mhz,,,running STUCK at 1/3 speed.

****** Mobiles Can be made to run in almost "any board"--but it demands very advanced overclock techniques & can be tricky.
And even then ,,results & success varies due to OTHER Limitations of various components on "non-Hi-Perf/Basic" boards
------------------

Example(exagerated) of the HEAT/Temp considerations
--A particular CPU is KNOWN to have a 2500mz limit,,No matter what ,,,that's as fast as it will go Stably on AIR cooling.

--WATER COOL it,,it might then do 26~2700
--"Freeze It",,it might go well over 3000..3200.???

That effort can easily COST$$$ more than the entire computer,but it illustrates the effects of Heat /Temp management.

The Mobile Athlons are "NATURALLY" Cool Running.
Which slides them DOWN the scale of Cooling Effort & Expense to achieve the same results of a Hotter Desktop CPU.
Simply,,You can Go faster overclocking a Mobile,,for Less $$$ and effort than a Desktop CPU

And on same basis,,another perspective is that You can use a "cheaper",,Lower Speed Rated CPU to Equal/Exceed the Performance Limits of a Hotter CPU,,via "free" overclocking settings.

Point of all that is,
You actually have a VARIETY of CPU's to choose from which will produce results within a "RANGE" of FASTEST.

One might Test/Benchmark faster than the next...

But in Real-World User terms,,,,No Real Difference.
And also on occasion it happens that Certain combinations of OVERCLOCK settings will Outperform another CPU that's running at Higher Speed.

In MANY "Intel vs AMD" comparisons 20~30% "SLOWER" CPUs outperform the faster CPUs in certain applications.
And in a wide enough variety of TYPES of APPS,,,
that the Slower CPU is considered to effectively be the FASTER COMPUTER overall.
Weird,huh?...it's an effect of Efficiency in HOW the CPU processes data,,,beyond simple operating speed.

So the question of "FASTEST" isn't as obvious & cut&dried as it seems it should be.

And after all that,,there's "Bang-4-the-Bucks" factor.

Example,,,is a $120 CPU Worth more than an $80 CPU,,,
When You cannot see/feel/sense any difference in USING them?

Especially when the Extra $$$ would far more likely yield a Useful,Worthwhile result if spent on Faster Vid Card,Better~More RAM,,Faster Hard Drives?

Fastest CPU doesnt necessarily gaurantee Fastest COMPUTER,particularly if the CPU $$$ could be better spent on OTHER components.

In absolute terms,,Fastest CPU is Best,,obviously.
But Ultimately,,it's more about the Overall Combination of All the system's various specs which yield "fastest Computer"

Here's a List of CPU's you can consider,,which will get You where you want to be as far as processor speeds & power.

LOCKED Multiplier--"BEST" for Plug & Play,only slightly overclockable via FSB settings

Athlon XP 3200+ 2333 MHz AXDA3200DKV4D
Athlon XP 3000+ 2167 MHz AXDA3000DKV4D

UNLOCKED Mobiles--REQUIRE manual settings or will default to terrible slow.
These can be expected to equal/exceed ANY Athlon via Basic Overclocking--regardless of their LOWER "advertised" speeds.
These are ALL Marked as 266mhz chips,,but are ACTUALLY 333Mhz Barton Core Chips--Install them starting at 333 settings.
Cooling Requirements are relatively Moderate.
Better Cooling=Better O.C.Speeds/results

Athlon XP-M 2400+ 1800 MHz AXMH2400FQQ4C
Athlon XP-M 2500+ 1867 MHz AXMH2500FQQ4C
Athlon XP-M 2600+ 2000 MHz AXMG2600FQQ4C

(Hi-Voltage"HOTTER" Mobiles--Unlocked,,somewhat limited O.C. abilities cuz of the heat,,but WILL OC a decent bit)
Athlon XP-M 2800+ 2133 MHz AXMA2800FKT4C
Athlon XP-M 3000+ 2200 MHz AXMA3000FKT4C

All those will ultimately yield very comparable results to each other,,,probably in 2300 ~2500 Mhz range.

Several older Model 8 Thoroughbred "B" will do over 2200mhz,,but are Hotter and have smaller caches & ACTUAL 266mhz(slower) fsb.
But,,still are FAST CPU's

Several UNLOCKED 333Mhz 512mb Cache "Bartons" overclock very well.
These are the Basis for MOBILES,but are higher voltage>HOTTER,,and require Much More Capable Cooling than Mobiles.
ANY 2500+ or Better is fine.
"THE CATCH" is they MUST Be Unlocked which requires Shopping for certain Production Dates according to Codes stamped on individual CPU.
(made BEFORE March '03???I can't recall,,but it's CRITICAL to be Unlocked,,otherwise it's a hassle)

There's Other Athlons in that speed range--but they are Scarce/Rare/Extreme Rare,,,Expensive,,and offer NO advantages whatsoever in return for the trouble & expense.

.........................
One other thing about YOUR board...
They're KNOWN Picky about RAM.
If You have to buy RAM,,make CERTAIN it's "gauranteed Compatible" with A7N8X/Nvidia Chipset.
Forget about using "cheap ram",,ain't gonna happen here.
Save Yourself the hassle,time,expense of having to return non-compatible RAM

Also,,it's a 333Mhz board ,,implying PC2700 RAM.
Use PC3200 400Mhz Ram,
You can run it in Dual Channel Mode,,a decent boost in performance,,,but requires matched Pair of Ram compatible w/ dual channel use.
There's RAM specifically for Dual Channel,,,but most all very high quality,,compatible RAM will run D.C. fine in matched pairs

More Confused now than when ya asked ,yet?/LOL:)
Not real complicated,just quite a few variables & takes a while to "gel".

Socket A is Dead....oh yeah?,oh well.
Get even CLOSE to "the best CPU",,some decent Ram & Vid Card and You'll have a VERY fast & capable computer that's not only "far from obsolete",,it'll match MANY "average" latest-greatest PC's.
And youll get plenty good useful service life for the $$$.
It'll make a nice computer and you'll be pleased with it

Good Luck with your project,,,Hope any of that Helps

Answer 2

Asus A7n8x Deluxe

Answer 3

Is this a SATA drive? If so, the install media for Windows XP does not include drivers that will work. I would recommend downloading the IDE/SATA drivers from Asus, putting them on a floppy, and re-doing the installation (with the drive in the Asus motherboard computer). This time, during the initial boot procedure, watch for the point where it asks you if you need to install third party disk drivers. At that point, use the floppy you've created to help XP install find the disk.

Answer 4

Go to this site and select your motherboard from the drop down boxes and it will allow you to download the manual. The manual will tell you what CPUs are compatible with that board.

Answer 5

your processor specification needs to be

AMD Athlon XP / Athlon / Duron -- Thoroughbred / Barton Core

quoted from
http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=216&l1=3&l2=13&l3=56

unfortunately, i can't be of more help to you, as i personally don't know what's the highest speed of processor that you can use with this motherboard

Answer 6

CPU
AMD Athlon (XP,MP) or Duron 100/133/166 MHz FSB

You CAN'T put intel on it, since it's done for AMD, good luck!

Answer 7

go to the manufacturers website and find out