ASRock N7AD-SLI

[phoronix]

Phoronix: ASRock N7AD-SLI

Years ago when we started reviewing ASRock motherboards, most of them were fairly basic with very few features compared to what could be found on the ASUS or Gigabyte motherboards. With time though ASRock has begun ramping up their motherboards with more features, new innovative designs, and other improvements that cater towards the desires of enthusiasts and gamers. These days there are ASRock motherboards that can compete with those from major OEMs both in terms of features and in terms of performance, while delivering a better price. One example of a modern, feature-rich ASRock motherboard is the N7AD-SLI. The ASRock N7AD-SLI has NVIDIA SLI support, Gigabit LAN, IEEE-1394 Firewire, S/PDIF output, OC Tuner, solid capacitors, and an instant boot technology. This motherboard is centered around NVIDIA's nForce 740i SLI Chipset.

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=13557

[aaaantoine]

It seems nForce and Linux just don't play well together.

I had a computer based on nForce4 at one point. By booting into an Ubuntu live CD, the ethernet port stopped working, even when I booted back into Windows. I had to cut power to the system by pulling the plug, and then it worked (in Windows) after it powered up again.

[Azmo]

How about trying something else as well, e.g http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...item&px=NzA0Mg ?

[GreatWalrus]

Wow that was unexpected.

Thanks for the review Phoronix!

[Melcar]

Should have tested with other distros, or at the very least with other kernels (2.6.24 perhaps). Saying that it's not Linux friendly when only one distro was tested is a bit rash don't you think?
Also, supposedly Asrock found a way to bring Crossfire support to the board:

http://www.techpowerup.com/index.php?87030

[unix_epoch]

I have an nForce 750-based ASRock AMD motherboard (K10N750SLI-110dB). It replaced an nForce 4 AMD motherboard that worked pretty well with Linux. I had to update the BIOS on my 740i board before it would even boot Linux, and even with the latest BIOS, the Ubuntu -rt kernel simply will not run (it only detects one CPU, and either hard locks, panics, or reboots shortly after booting). With the standard Ubuntu 2.6.24 and 2.6.27 kernels (from 8.04 and 8.10) I experience horrible latency problems. This has, regrettably, driven me to use Windows a lot more than I used to. To top it off, with my SLI 8800GTs, for some reason one is running at x8 and the other at x4.

What do I mean by latency issues? Well, with my SB Live 5.1, I used to be able to run jack with 2 64-sample buffers, or 3 32-sample buffers, for ridiculously low audio latency. Now, I can't run anything with 2 buffers (I have to use 3), and they have to be at least 128 samples long. I tried adjusting PCI latency timers to give the Live higher priority, but it seemed to make no difference at all. Even ordinary desktop usage feels sluggish, with or without compositing effects.

My advice: unless there's a review stating that a particular motherboard does well with Linux, avoid nForce 7 boards. If you are stuck with one, you can update the BIOS by building a custom image of Ultimate Boot CD with your BIOS update on the disc.

[Jeremy]

Quote from page 3:

There is also a 4-pin molex connector nearby in the event your power supply will just be providing a 20-pin and 4-pin power connector instead of a 24-pin and 8-pin interface.

I was wondering, this white Molex power connector present on the motherboard, in the back close to the PCI express 1X, did you try to boot Linux with it connected?

It seems like in your running setup it wasn't:
http://www.phoronix.net/image.php?id...k_n7ad_sys_lrg

On page 23 of the manual, it is sholwn connected.
ftp://europe.asrock.com/manual/N7AD-SLI.pdf

Perhaps it is nothing ...

[deanjo]

My advice: unless there's a review stating that a particular motherboard does well with Linux, avoid nForce 7 boards. If you are stuck with one, you can update the BIOS by building a custom image of Ultimate Boot CD with your BIOS update on the disc.

My 750a and 780a systems run fine. The nvidia 7 series for intel may be different but even there I know of a couple systems running Asus p5n-d's (750i's) running openSUSE 11.1 fine.

Quote from page 3:


I was wondering, this white Molex power connector present on the motherboard, in the back close to the PCI express 1X, did you try to boot Linux with it connected?

It seems like in your running setup it wasn't:
http://www.phoronix.net/image.php?id...k_n7ad_sys_lrg

On page 23 of the manual, it is sholwn connected.
ftp://europe.asrock.com/manual/N7AD-SLI.pdf

Perhaps it is nothing ...

Good catch!

[Jeremy]

Good catch!

It would be interesting to see if having the Molex power connector connected solves the problem ...

[deanjo]

The expansion slots on this motherboard include two PCI Express x16, two PCI Express x1, and two PCI slots. This motherboard is SLI compatible, but there are not PCI-E x16 lanes going to each of the two PCI Express x16 slots. Due to not enough bandwidth from the nForce 740i SLI Chipset, this motherboard is like the very early SLI motherboards that had the paddle to provide PCI Express x16 support to one slot or PCI Express x8 to two slots.

It should be noted that since the slots are PCI-e V2 when in 8x SLI mode they have the same bandwidth as 2 PCI-e V1 x16 slots which is more then ample bandwidth to run even the most bandwidth hungry cards out there with no performance loss given the massive local video frame buffer memory found on such cards.