[Pc_Support] Asus A7V266-MX in Aspire X-QPack -- WAS: Want to sell

[Bryan J. Smith]

Bryan J. Smith wrote:
> Okay, I decided since my wife's mainboard is an ATX 1.0x,
> I'd go for the Aspire X-QPack with an ATX 1.0x power supply:  
>
http://lists.leap-cf.org/pipermail/pc_support/2005-July/000478.html
 
> Instead of the Chenming 118 with an ATX 2.0x power supply:  
>
http://lists.leap-cf.org/pipermail/pc_support/2005-July/000469.html
 
> ... 
> I'll also let everyone here know how the Aspire X-QPack
compares 
> to the Chenming 118 series.  I recommend the latter for ATX
2.0x 
> mainboards with split +12V, the former for older ATX 1.0x
> mainboards.
> Unless, of course, you're going to put your own ATX power
supply 
> in (which is an option, it takes a _full_ ATX power supply,
> despite only taking a MicroATX mainboard).

Okay, have my wife's modified system assembled:  
- Aspire X-QPack MicroATX, 420W ATX 1.0x (26A-3.3V, 28A-5V,
30A-12V, no split 12V)
- Asus A7V266-MX (ViA KM266+VT8235)
- 1.44MB floppy + 9-in-1 card reader

Everything else was what she already had:  
- AMD Athlon XP Model 6, 256MB, 2.16GHz, DDR266
- nVidia GeForce 6800GT 256MB DDR3 AGP 3.0 (x8)
- (2) 512MB PC2100 DDR266 Kingston ValueRAM
- etc...

First off, the X-QPack isn't as flimsy as I thought compared to
the Chenming.  The plastic windows are clearly thick, and will
withstand something placed atop of them.  They are fairly well
anchored into the aluminum cover.

Secondly, the +12V power seems quite adequate for the power
hungry  Athlon XP2600+ Model 6 ("Thoroughbred B"), which
dissapates almost 70W, over 2x my Athlon64 3200+ ("Winchester"),
alongside the nVidia GeForce 6800GT AGP.  It should be noted this
PNY 6800GT AGP 3.0 takes a single 4-pin Molex (one set of +12V)
while my eVGA 6800GT PCIe x16 takes the 6-pin (2x3) SSI-WS (nka
PCIe) connector, which comes with a split 4-pin Molex adapter
(two sets of +12V wires, although it can still be the same line).

With dual 160GB WD 7200rpm ATA drives connected to a 3Ware
Escalade 6200, the drives, CPU and video seems to be cool.  I'm
not sure the temperature sensors are working, because both report
25C (77F), even though my house's ambient is higher than 25C
(77F).  After 4 straight hours of UT2004 in 1680x1050 (yes, it's
a Dell 20.1" widescreen, bought it for my wife around Christmas
for $600), nVidia's temp monitor reports card 61C, 44C ambient
around the card (which is typically going to be 10C higher).  The
BIOS monitoring says around 35C (95F) ambient, and around 40C
(106F) CPU temp.

All-in-all, the performance is more than adequate and reliable.

The specs and sale sheet of the mainboard say it's only a
DDR200/266 capable mainboard with AGP 2.0 (x1/2/4).  But the DIP
switches have DDR333 and  DDR400 spots, and the BIOS only allows
AGP 3.0 (x4/8), and the AGP slot _clearly_ has a 1.5V key.  Even
the BIOS says A7V266-MXC, so I don't what's up? ;->

BTW, I haven't tested the card reader on the floppy drive yet. 
There are only 6 USB ports on the mainboard, and that's 4 on the
back, plus 2 to the front of the case, leaving 0 for the card
reader's USB connection (the floppy portion uses the standard
34-pin).  Like the Chenming 118, the mainboard hookups were cake,
thanx to the assumed USB and audio plug configurations.

But I'll get to shortly with my Foxconn nForce4 mainboard in my
Chenming 118.  It has 10 USB ports -- 6 on back, 2 to the front
and 2 still available.  Some people complained about poor SD
support on earlier models, and I use SD.


-- 
Bryan J. Smith                 mailto:b.j.smith at ieee.org
Sent from Yahoo Mail (please excuse any missing headers)