written by bavaneche on 09/01/2011
A7V8X-X Motherboard: Great motherboard...with a couple of problems that don't effect each motherboard. I have 4 of these mb's and 2 of them can't go beyond the 1.5gig RAM size without constant rebooting...the other 2 are great. All 4 of them seem to have a problem with heavy weight video cards which will also cause reboots off and on. I find 64mb GeForce 2's and 4's work great. I use 512 RAM sticks on the 2 that have RAM problems and I have no problems then. On the other 2 I use a full 2 gigs with no problems. None of them recognise large drives such as the 500gig WD's I use on all 4 so a upgrade to the BIOS worked on the 2 I upgraded. I didn't see any improvement between doing the upgrade and not so I only did 2 of the 4. It's now Jan 2011 and I've been using them as my server boards with Linux database, web and file servers since I got them in Jan 2004...and they still are my best work horses, even better than the new 3.0ghz mb's I have for the same purpose. I use the Barton 2500+ CPU with Kingston RAM. The Barton 2500+ has the 512mb internal cache which works well. Most CPU's of that era don't like more than 128mb internal cache and won't use it. Overall I rate these boards 4.5 stars - once you figure out the personality of each board and tend to their various needs. They all seem to vary in their needs for some reason, but, that's okay with me. They are very stable and can be 99.99% relied upon. KUDOS
written by on 06/10/2010
I tried 3 times to load Windows XP but it kept stopping at the format drive part of the install. Then i noticed on the boot screen that the virus protection was active in the bios. After i disabled the virus protection the motherboard no longer recognised the hard drive. It killed my hard drive. I'm up and running with a new hard drive but these things aren't cheap. Everything works fine now and i've found no problems.
written by on 28/08/2009
Asus A7V8X-X is an awesome motherboard, has been running for five years now none stop as a server. Think just about all other components have failed apart from this board. Easy to setup, running server 2003 OS with no problems.
written by on 15/07/2009
i just re-formatted my friend's computer with the asus a7v8x-x motherboard. it may be slower than my computer, but it does pretty well, now i have to hunt down the audio driver. lol. actually it's downloading right now. good: it works, goes at a good pace, doesn't overclock like crazy. bad: hard as hell to get into bios so i can change the boot cycle.
written by on 20/12/2007
The first DIMM white "lock" thingy gets in the way of my video card, making it harder to switch out RAM.
written by r3tr0 on 22/09/2007
Greatest mother board for the value, with the low cost of the components for this dated motherboard you can build one serious rig for very little bread!
My system:
A7V8X-X Asus BIOS 1014
Amd 2600+ Barton @ 2.07 GHz [11.5 * 180/36]
Kingston 1GB DDR 400
ATI AIW Radeon 9800 pro 128MB AGP
80GB Matrox HD
300 Watt PSU
Fast enough for many great 3D games.
written by abdnray on 19/02/2006
The ASUS A7V8X-X is a versatile and capable motherboard that suits a variety of users.
The motherboard layout is reasonably good, and the supporting documentation is clearly set out and easy to follow. My only criticism is that the tail end of the AGP card encroaches close to the first DIMM memory slot, therefore it might be easier to remove the AGP card before inserting a new DIMM module in memory slot 1.
The motherboard can accommodate a variety of Socket A processors (Athlon XP Barton and Thorobred, Duron, Semperon) at either 200, 266, or 333 MHz bus speeds. Similarly, the motherboard will accept 266, 333, or 400 MHz DDR memory modules, which permits considerable flexibility and upgrade-ability in future.
However, please note that 200 or 266 MHz processors will support up to three DDR 266 DIMM's, up to two DDR 333 DIMM's, and only one DDR 400 DIMM to a maximum of 3Gb. A 333 MHz processor will only support up to two DDR 333 MHz DIMM's to a maximum of 3Gb.
The UDMA system bus speed of 133 MHz is the highest available on any parallel ATA board, and is only slightly slower than the newer SATA (150 MHz) boards currently available.
The A7V8X-X has four USB 2.0 ports on the rear, and supports a further two USB 2.0 ports on the front edge of the board.
This board is popular because it supports six full PCI slots, and an AGP 8x slot, which again ensures future capability to support a variety of PCI devices.
The A7V8X-X and its bundled software can monitor the CPU temperature and CPU cooling fan speed in order to prevent overheating. A word of caution here though - when choosing your CPU cooling fan, select a cooling fan that is suited to a much faster processor, because Athlon XP processors generate considerable levels of heat. Therefore, I would not advise overclocking an Athlon XP processor without using some high-spec cooling kit.
My own A7V8X-X has an Athlon XP 2000+ (Thorobred 266 MHz bus) processor, an XP2400+ rated fan, with two 256Mb DDR 333 MHz DIMM's (512Mb total), and two Maxtor 80Gb ATA 133 MHz IDE drives, with Samsung DVD and CD-RW drives. I currently use Windows XP Home Edition SP2, but originally used Windows ME. I have had no problems with the motherboard.
I note that other users (posted here) have encountered difficulties, and I would suggest that they check the speeds and quantities of DIMM's installed, and verify that their processors are sufficiently cooled. Full details are available from www.asus.com.
Other features of the A7V8X-X include the ASUS EZ flash BIOS utility, which reprograms the BIOS without the need for floppy disk images, and 6-channel surround-sound capability.
This is a capable and upgradeable board for most users who want to build or upgrade a PC. The popular and inexpensive Socket A processors and DDR DIMM's will continue to be plentiful in future for second-user upgrades or rebuilds.
The A7V8X-X is likely to be a popular choice for those users who want a good PC on a limited budget.
written by latis00 on 19/09/2005
I have had the Asus A7V8X-X motherboard for 1 and a 1/2 years, and it never lets me down! I have read that a lot of you have had problems with the XP setup. I recommend you go into the BIOS where there is a menu that says plug and play OS, set it to yes and it will work great!!
Written on: 27/03/2006
i have a a7v8x+x on my computer but it will not let me load windows xp pro from either floppy drive or cd rom drive and even the hdd which i have 2 of it is givving me an error that says ntldr missing. can anybody who reads this please tell me what is wrong?
Written on: 14/12/2006
Well it's me again - I discovered that the mobo has some problems in the ide cables - you always have to put the cd in master 2 ide and master the install hd. If you have that problem I recommend that you get new ide cables - I had to get new cables. :S Anyway it still works fine and now I have over clocked my cpu to 2300 but added an extra fan as I don't have anymore money to get the cpu water cooled. It's still the best mobo that I've had but I'm planning on getting a new mobo soon. If you need any help just let me know.
Written on: 05/05/2006
Guten Tag, sorry I don't speak english. NTLDR error is: cable not ok for FDD, HDD or CD-ROM. OR in BIOS 1st-Boot-Sequenz must be: Floppy or HDD or CD-ROM must be ad 1st.
written by mad mc01 on 30/08/2005
I have read the other reviews about the Asus A7V8X-X motherboard, and I have never had any problems with it! Maybe I was lucky? I don't know. I didn't need to update the BIOS for any reason, and I managed to get a Sempron to run on it, although it was displayed as an Athlon XP. It was pretty quick and easy to set up, everything running pretty smoothly. It took a variety of RAM, 64 to 1 Gig, Kingston, Crucial, Matrix, Corsair. I had it running Duron's, Athlon's, Athlon XP's, and Sempron's without any hitches. Had 4 IDE drives running all the time, and was able to use them all easily with no problems. Good reliable board, but I don't think a serious gamer would find all the power they wanted. All in all, I think it is a good reliable board, provided you don't have any problems that the other people seem to have!
written by jesse0192 on 16/07/2005
Tried to install XP 3three or four times. The first time the installation went alright but once I got into XP the first time I hit a key it crashed (I was typing something into the 'run' dialog but I found it doesn't matter-it crashed if I hit a key. I tried Windows a few more times with the same results (except sometimes it would let me hit two or three keys first. I reinstalled XP only to find that it had the same problem during the installation this time. Tried a few more times but it was just a matter of time (usually less than ten key presses) before it would crash.
I installed Windows 98 without any problems. That got rid of the key-press crashing problem but introduced other problems (besides 98's inferior security features). When I would run a game, it wouldn't last more than ten minutes before either the game just dissappeared and went back to the desktop or the computer would just reboot itself. The computer would still run alright (although it would sometimes and crash randomly but not often unless I was playing a game) so I used it for a week or so just to get on the net and stuff.
Whenever the computer froze and reset itself, it made a bunch of weird patterns on the screen for a moment, leading me to think that it may have been a problem with my video card (which was a NV Winfast A6200). I RMA'd the card, and the new one did the exact same thing.
The solution--bought a Gigabyte 7VT600P RZ board. Computer now runs crash-free like it should.
written by bobhughes on 12/04/2005
Couple this Asus A7V8X-X board with a T-Bird 2800, and you can kick the backside of most of the AMD 64's for 1/2 the price.
written by Aki14 on 09/06/2004
I returned my Asus A7V8X-X to the store, which I expect to have already returned the unit to ASUS for repair or replacement. The mobo is a big disappointment.
To see the point, a google search of the following will help (without the quotes): "a7v8x-x problem", "a7v8x-x crash back desktop"
Written on: 16/10/2005
This motherboard caused me innumerable hours of investigation, frustration and headaches before I could definitely prove it was at fault, and not my other periferials! Went with ABIT, and all the other same hardware, and haven't had the BSOD's since! I used to like Asus, and I've built several of my own computers since 1997, but I've heard they've really gotten cheap and they don't even support their retailers any more. No more Asus for me.
written by numenius on 16/05/2004
I like this Asus A7V8X-X motherboard basically, BUT I run Win98 and so far cannot get sound. I've tried e-mailing the ASUS tech help, which promises a reply in 48 hours. So far I've e-mailed 3 times over a 2 month period - no reply EVER. I've tried downloading upgrades, alternative chipset drivers and so on. To no avail.
This lack of support is a shame and lets down an otherwise good procduct. They score 8 for the product but lost 4 for the poor support.
written by nativefalcon on 10/05/2004
If you want to get a good mother board get this Asus A7V8X-X, not that expensive but a definite workhorse. :)
written by ctx1769 on 04/05/2004
well where to start
1. the colour is a boring brown (bad point)
2. well this is the main review so after installing this Asus A7V8X-X motherboard and plug everything in my pc booted up 1st time unlike the nv2 mobo i had.
features my version supports upto 2800+
10/100 lan
8x agp
6 channel sound and usb 2
and its o/c if you want to go that way
but why bother
and for my £48 it was a bargain
written by GallagherKnight on 19/04/2004
Everything seemed to be going my way while installing an Asus A7V8X-X until the time came to actually install my OS. It kept freezing over and over, and I noticed that this specific board was not able to properly run DDR400 ram in conjunction with my Athlon XP 2600+ that has a 333 FSB. Indeed, the manual suggests using only DDR333 with a 333 FSB... but the problems only got worse from there. It kept on refusing to run, sending me straight to the BIOS and suggesting to verify that my DDR333 ram was really 333 MHz, which it was. Several sticks of RAM later, I removed it entirely and got my money back. I was able to find several complaints on the net regarding the A7V8X-X's notorious pickiness on RAM, and that even with the ASUS recommended Kingston RAM installed, it might STILL misread your DDR333 as running a 331 MHz chip and refuse to use it outright.
Skip this one, folks, not worth the trouble.
Written on: 23/06/2004
You should have set the BIOS setting for the memory on SPD (serial presence detect). I have tried DDR pc 400 and ddr pc266, both works fine. I also tried combining the two memory together, still no problem. In fact, it boost the performance. I think you just missed the BIOS part of setting it to SPD.
Written on: 19/09/2005
this board is great is real fast and i have up dated to xp sp2 and runs faster allot p4 and if you have the problem install windows make sure that you set to plug and play OS in the bios this should fix the problem.
written by rst on 18/03/2004
My Asus A7V8X-X motherboard was wnstable and failed to load XPpro.
It seems that many others have had problems. See
www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/13212/
written by raygilliam on 11/02/2004
If you buy this Asus A7V8X-X motherboard make sure you buy an xp3000 proceser you might be able to use ddr3200(400) but below xp 3000 use ddr 2700 (333) mem chips only
Do you have a question about this product or company? Simply type it in the box below and one of our community will give you an answer
Once we've checked over your question we will put it live on the site and our strong community of experts will hopefully give you some great answers that you find useful.
We will email you when the question is on the site
R3Tr0's Response to abdnray's Review
Written on: 22/09/2007
I use the same board, I find it very easy to work with and have never had issues without support from Asus in form of driver or BIOS updates.