Brother bought a house, found some old PC hardware..

[Flyordie]

So my brother bought a house and found some old PC hardware.. one of the very strange finds was a brand new, open box.. A8N-SLI Deluxe. Box is beat up but board is immaculate. Accessories are all there it appears.

Are these boards even worth anything to the retro community? I'm not an Nvidia guy so never used an SLI board. Were they any good back in the day?

 

[Bones]

That's a Socket 939 board and yes, it's fairly good for what it is.
It does have some worth to the retro community as well as the OC'ing community too.

Good, solid board for any 939 based build.

 

[freeagent]

Yup, I used to have that board, and I used it with 6600GT's in SLi

 

[64K]

Probably worth a check on Ebay. Just remember to check the 'Sold' box to see what people are actually paying for it.

 

[Courier 6]

I have one that still is in use with my phenon black edition, good mobo

EDIT: wrong mobo, my phenon has a M3N HD HDMI mobo, but I have this mobo too, my mistake

 

[Bones]

I have the 32-SLI version of it (A8N32-SLI Deluxe) and it's a really good one for doing a 939 build.
The one mentioned here is about the same except it doesn't have 32 bit SLI capability, but even with that it's still a nice one.

BTW a Phenom chip was for a later board, namely from Socket AM2 and up to an AM3+ board.

There were no Phenom chips at all for Socket 939.

 

[DaemonForce]

Socket 939 sooooooo Athlon 64/Opteron board.
Oh wait....

Guys this board has custom POST messages. That's hilarious.

 

[Bones]

Socket 939 sooooooo Athlon 64/Opteron board.
Oh wait....
View attachment 345834

Guys this board has custom POST messages. That's hilarious.

That's for the A7N8X-E board for Socket A, not Socket 939. That model was known for "Babbling Betty" which was the voice feature it had and I believe a few others of that model line had it too.

Asus A7N8X-E 3.3.2 Winbond Voice Editor, Launching the program, Playing the default wave files, Voice Editor

 

[Flyordie]

Well, I still have an Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (Toledo core with the full 2x 1MB L2 unlocked) and 2x 1GB sticks of OCZ Platinum's. I mean if it works, I may put it up for sale. Maybe someone could use it for a F@H rig or something?

 

[Bones]

Would be an excellent foundation for a retro 939 build.
The only board line that's better I'm aware of are the DFI's but try finding one of those for a decent price these days and even then, this one has a couple of advantages over the DFI's.

However for gaming, these were just as good as the DFI's for that purpose and their RAID setups actually work.

 

[Fokker]

I'm pretty sure I had that same board back in the day.

 

[Courier 6]

I have this one on a Athlon 64 single core for now, ah now I remember that mobo had problems with the cooler fan, had to replace the the heatsink with a passive one, because it failed, the board was still(new) so to speak

I have the 32-SLI version of it (A8N32-SLI Deluxe) and it's a really good one for doing a 939 build.
The one mentioned here is about the same except it doesn't have 32 bit SLI capability, but even with that it's still a nice one.

BTW a Phenom chip was for a later board, namely from Socket AM2 and up to an AM3+ board.

There were no Phenom chips at all for Socket 939.

yes, my mistake, sorry

 

[Keullo-e]

I have the 32-SLI version of it (A8N32-SLI Deluxe) and it's a really good one for doing a 939 build.
The one mentioned here is about the same except it doesn't have 32 bit SLI capability, but even with that it's still a nice one.

BTW a Phenom chip was for a later board, namely from Socket AM2 and up to an AM3+ board.

There were no Phenom chips at all for Socket 939.

It's easy to remember since anything 8 related is usually 754/939 and 9 related is AM2 what it comes to motherboard model names.

 

[Jetster]

It was my last AMD board

 

[LabRat 891]

Yes. Everything, even the stuff you think is worthless, is probably worth something (special) to the retro PC enthusiasts.

The board in that condition alone, is worth something.

 

[Courier 6]

heh, I was searching some of my stuff and I found my first graphics card that I bought new, not the old stuff, like my first all new build, Pentium 233MMX, it´s a Tridend providia 9685, and it looks almost new, I still have the box and I think that I have the original driver CD too somewere LOL

 

[docnorth]

I think this SLI board has a chip fan. IF so, it should be checked whether it's working or not.

 

[bonehead123]

AH, the good ole days, socket 939/Athalon.... so solid & stable, I used to o/c the crap out of mine as well as running multiple add on cards....

those were the days

 

[DaemonForce]

I think this SLI board has a chip fan. IF so, it should be checked whether it's working or not.

It's another nForce4 chip like the one on my AM2 build. Fan is appreciated, definitely not required.
I stash this thing away in its own little cubbyhole next to my modem and 360.
Rear of the desk has a cutout and 80mm fan on USB power to direct some airflow across ~20TB of storage.
Minimal threat, minimal protection, max lift.

For a box that runs 24/7, the CPU and chipset have very comfy temps.
What I'm saying is we can expect about the same out of this board.

 

[SL2]

I dunno what the chances are that it's even working. Not because of age (<NINETEEN YEARS), but why did it go back in the box in the first place?

I give it 50/50.

 

[Steevo]

Watch the NB fan/HS, the fans die and cause all sorts of issues.

and Holy, custom BIOS messages? Reminds me of the WIndows 95 machine that had BIOS mouse support that ran our Twinax to Ethernet adapter for a hardline connection.

 

[neatfeatguy]

Well, I still have an Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (Toledo core with the full 2x 1MB L2 unlocked) and 2x 1GB sticks of OCZ Platinum's. I mean if it works, I may put it up for sale. Maybe someone could use it for a F@H rig or something?

I had the 64 X2 3800+ Manchester. I took that CPU up from the stock 2.0 to 3.1. That's what got me into overclocking for a while. Never got as good of an overclock on any other CPU since.

Would be cool if that board turns out to work. Hope you have fun with it.

 

[Jetster]

Yes. Everything, even the stuff you think is worthless, is probably worth something (special) to the retro PC enthusiasts.

The board in that condition alone, is worth something.

I sold an old beige PC I had laying around and a CRT monitor, keyboard and old mouse to a lady doing a play for drama club, they needed period correct PC from 2002 $100 cash

 

[Bones]

I dunno what the chances are that it's even working. Not because of age (<NINETEEN YEARS), but why did it go back in the box in the first place?

I give it 50/50.

This is relevant because of it's unknown history.
Between the time spent in the box and from when it was used (If it was at all in the first place) it needs testing to tell whether it's a working board or not.
If it's to be sold untested and price is right, it would be worth the risk, however if tested and fould to be in working order that makes the price/value better at least.

 

[stinger608]

Wow, what a find!!!!

I actually have one of them still in box.

It needs all the caps replaced though.