*** Official ASUS P5B / P5B Deluxe Thread ***

[AlternateTheory]

Originally posted by: jzinckgra
I am using probe also and am getting MB at 28C and CPU at 32C. This is at adle. I went into Bios and CPU was 2C higher, so I think probe is pretty accurate at this point. What did you all set your CPU Q-fan profile to? I put it at optimal. I noticed the CPU fan reading at ~920rpm, while in Auto mode, it was ~1500 or so. In auto, the CPU temp was 3C cooler too. I didn't notice the fan adjusting to cpu load like they say in the manual for the optimal mode.

I've opted for Optimal on the cpu fan which runs it at about 1300rpm (this is the stock fan).
I left Q-Fan turned off for the chassis fans.

My cpu idles at about 36C and while I was playing oblivion I was getting to about 45C from memory?!, the cpu fan didn't adjust, but I wouldn't expect it to unless I was getting into the high 50s. I'll try and get something to measure ambient today as it's only just turned spring here.

As an aside my gfx card idles in the low 40s and goes to about 57C while playing Oblivion

 

[firesome]

I'm about to purchase the P5B Deluxe board from Newegg and have a couple questions. Trying not to sound ignorant but does this board have IDE for my existing DVD drives? Also, I'm planning on the following RAM:
(2) OCZ Gold 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Dual Channel RAM, Unbuffered DDR2 667 (PC2 5400).
Has anyone tried this RAM, or can you advise what comparable RAM in Corsair would be more compatible?
Any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[AlternateTheory]

See my sig to see what memory I am using. So far it has been fine.

As for the IDE connectors (Parallel ATA) it only has one connector, so you can have upto two devices. (It also comes with one connector for a floppy drive)

This caught me out since I have two optical drives and two hds which were all PATA, I have shifted most of the data I want off the drives onto my two SATA drives and left the two optical drives attached.

 

[etrin]

Ok after getting to 420fsb on a 6400.. and after some rework I could not duplicate it.
So here I go again with a 6600. First try man I can't get anywhere above 300...I tried
everything I could think of. NOTHING
so I decided to start over, set it all to stock and 507 bios. 300 fsb...little problems I had to up the memory voltage to 2.0...333 fine. (all I am changing right now is the speed...everything is set to auto)...350 2 primes and 1.37V core in windows...with the bad vdroop I bet it was 1.4 in bios....but it ran flawlessly.

400....in windows. vcore is 1.56...man thats high but I am in windows and its clicking away.
but under 2 primes I see 62-63C temps on cores but its running..5 minutes...10 minutes....reboot...no lockup no nothing just reboot..hum ok well lets just see how high it will go booting into windows ....no testing

final 490 booted into windows...desktop and reboot...second reboot won't get into windows

MAN I am impressed...after cursing this board and bios for all it was worth..
NO I still don't like the bios it sucks in my opinion.
Windows tools are all flash...no real info and you can't oc in windows with it.

one thing I would love is a way to monitor northbridge temps in windows anyone know a tool that will give it?( I am not sure but 32 bit windows might not display numbers that high with exact precision....ROFL)
man that thing gets hot
With a Ninja on the cpu there is no room that I can find to put on any aftermarket cooler.
Maybe in time I can go water (P180 case an not much room) then with the room that it would provide I could go with a good cooling solution.

right now speedfan still doesn't support the 965 on their site..but I bet its coming.


I really think that with all the settings I tried that some choice keeps me from running above 300. I forced the core at 1.35 and the NB at a set voltage and this to that and all that kind of stuff trying to get somewhere....and I was ready to say oh this new processor just sucks.

but set it all to stock auto and it did a HECK OF A LOT BETTER
NOW I just wish that I could see what all those voltage and settings were in auto.

I treated it like my old northwood on an abit ic7 and failed miserably.

Etrin

 

[Some1ne]

I second the comments about the 609 BIOS providing better stability and overclockability. It's a very nice BIOS revision, from what I can tell...highly recommended.

 

[Danap]

Anyone know if there is a new bios beta or otherwise for the vanilla P5B yet?

 

[AaronJSmith]

Has anyone seen the p5b-v and does anyone think it would make a good board for gaming? zipzoom has them back oder for $99. I am thinking about pairing it up with an e6700 and a 7950gx2 for a "budget" build.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: AaronJSmith
Has anyone seen the p5b-v and does anyone think it would make a good board for gaming? zipzoom has them back oder for $99. I am thinking about pairing it up with an e6700 and a 7950gx2 for a "budget" build.

I'm not sure the reasoning for skimping out on a $99 motherboard with $450+ video and CPU

 

[inmazevo]

Hello...
First post, good forum.

Has anyone had a problem with non-LiteOn DVD-RW drives showing up as DVD-Rom drives from Windows?

On my P5B-Deluxe, a BenQ DVD writer and a Pioneer DVD writer show as a writer (from Windows Explorer), until I put a blank disk in, at which point Windows changes it's view of the drive to DVD-Rom... Selecting the drive at that point from Explorer gives an "Incorrect Function" message.

The interesting thing is that it still will write from within Nero or something like that... just not Windows.
Both drives work on other machines fine...

No huge deal, as they still work, but I find it a little strange.

Anybody?

Thanks,
- zevo

PS - What is the thinking for good non-Intel CPU cooling on these boards with an E6400? Particularly where noise is an issue, but some overclocking would be in order (DAW/Video machine)?

Thanks in advance,
- zevo

 

[Danap]

@AaronJSmith
The board looks like a good board but Iif I was buy now I'd go with either:
a 975x based baord
a P5B delux
gigabyte DS3
gigabtye quad series

@inmazevo
I just got an artic freezer 7 pro cost me £15 (about $30) in teh US its probably cheaper. Its very quiet and cools the CPu if Q-fan is turned off by about 18 degree's. With Q-fan on the CPu sits at 53degrees idle and never goes over 60 degrees. The fan never spins faster than 1400rpm and can spin above 2000rpm so it has a whole lot of headroom in terms of cooling.

there are other coolers that are as good as the artic pro, noteably the cooltek auras it cost about the same. Also there are some more expensive coolers that get close and out perform by a little. However for price to performance teh artic pro is the best. Bit Tech reviewed alot of coolers for conroe chips and teh artic pro won.

 

[firesome]

Originally posted by: AlternateTheory
See my sig to see what memory I am using. So far it has been fine.

Thanks for the reply AT. You show this: Corsair 6400 2x1gb (800mhz)
There are three models of that RAM as far as I can see.
The TwinX-2x2048-6400... $284 (before $40 rebate)
The TwinX-2x2048-C4... $309
The TwinX-2x2048-C4Pro... $352

I assume you mean the first? I'm not sure the difference. The OCZ is also much cheaper. Thanks, Fire

 

[AlternateTheory]

Yeah it would be the first one, the timings are 5-5-5-12.

Over here the ocz seems to be more expensive than the corsair... Although I just looked a moment ago and the price for the corsair that I bought has jumped by $150 (nz) since I bought it a week ago!

 

[Danap]

The TwinX-2x2048-6400... $284 (before $40 rebate)
The TwinX-2x2048-C4... $309
The TwinX-2x2048-C4Pro... $352


The difference is the latency, some where I have seen ultra low latency versions which are around £329 ($600). I have the 1Gb kit of 5-5-5-12 timings cost £67 ($120) work fine. I did previosuly try ever type of OCZ I could and none would work at all for me, in the UK the price is only £5 less than the cosair.

 

[stm69]

I'd like to take some time to post my experiences so far, and maybe it will help some of you all. I'm highly impressed with this board so far.

First off http://xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=106563 if you haven't read already is an *excellent* resource. The pictures that I'm linking are in addition to that guide, and are specific to the P5B Deluxe/Wifi. I couldn't have done it without that guide, so it's a great read.

So here's the board in all it's glory.

mobo01

Here's the southbridge heatsink removed.

mobo02

I found that it was much easier to scrape off the old thermal gunk with a small flathead screwdriver, and then to use alcohol + ear buds to clean off the remainder. I did the south bridge chip itself by hand, and my hands were cramping as it took a CRAPLOAD of scrubbing without preremoval.

mobo03

You can see the northbridge and the heatsink here. Notice that there's "thermal tape" on what covers the mosfets (I think), I removed the tape and put AS5 on the actual contact areas. Also, please note that the heatsink for the northbridge has this black gooey tape thing around the outside area where it contacts. I removed that as well before applying AS5.

mobo05

Compare the heatsinks! Ninja Plus to stock.

mobo07

Everything on the mobo with corsair XMS2 5-5-5-12 PC6400 (more on it later) 1 gig sticks, Ninja installed (this quite a pain), 7900GTX in background, and pictures of some clean chips/surfaces.

mobo08

To summarize, I'm pretty happy so far. I got an early E6400, and am able to do 400X8 or 445X7. It's superpi stable, but not dual prime stable at those points (past 3-4 hours). Which honestly is fine for me, everything else works fine with no hassles.

Couple of things to note :

The corsair memory doesn't seem to work so good with this mobo. I can push the memory to 2.05 volts, but past that, it won't POST. In addition, at SPD defaults, it does 6-6-6-18, changing it to 5-5-5-12 (as rated even at 800 mhz rated speeds), it won't POST. So I'm having to run it at higher latencies at 400 X 8 which should be it's stock rating? Also on POST it shows PC4300 at 400 X 8 instead of PC6400 when not overclocking. Any ideas?

Also, my 7950GX2 shows 8 lanes on PCI-E, not 16, that normal?

Ninja was not an easy install, wished for a 3rd hand a time or two. In addition, it is quite sharp =P Lastly, the plus portion, the 120mm fan, doesn't fit well, I had to stretch the cheesy metal adjusters over the actual CPU retention clips, and it sits on top of the memory (so you can't uninstall them easily).

That's about it, I hope this helped some people, and feel free to ask any questions.

 

[doc2345]

Seems to be a little confusion on what is the NS and SB.....

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: stm69

I'd like to take some time to post my experiences so far, and maybe it will help some of you all. I'm highly impressed with this board so far.

First off http://xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=106563 if you haven't read already is an *excellent* resource. The pictures that I'm linking are in addition to that guide, and are specific to the P5B Deluxe/Wifi. I couldn't have done it without that guide, so it's a great read.

So here's the board in all it's glory.

mobo01

Here's the northbridge heatsink removed.

mobo02

I found that it was much easier to scrape off the old thermal gunk with a small flathead screwdriver, and then to use alcohol + ear buds to clean off the remainder. I did the north bridge chip itself by hand, and my hands were cramping as it took a CRAPLOAD of scrubbing without preremoval.

mobo03

You can see the southbridge and the heatsink here. Notice that there's "thermal tape" on what covers the mosfets (I think), I removed the tape and put AS5 on the actual contact areas. Also, please note that the heatsink for the southbridge has this black gooey tape thing around the outside area where it contacts. I removed that as well before applying AS5.

mobo05

Compare the heatsinks! Ninja Plus to stock.

mobo07

Everything on the mobo with corsair XMS2 5-5-5-12 PC6400 (more on it later) 1 gig sticks, Ninja installed (this quite a pain), 7900GTX in background, and pictures of some clean chips/surfaces.

mobo08

To summarize, I'm pretty happy so far. I got an early E6400, and am able to do 400X8 or 445X7. It's superpi stable, but not dual prime stable at those points (past 3-4 hours). Which honestly is fine for me, everything else works fine with no hassles.

Couple of things to note :

The corsair memory doesn't seem to work so good with this mobo. I can push the memory to 2.05 volts, but past that, it won't POST. In addition, at SPD defaults, it does 6-6-6-18, changing it to 5-5-5-12 (as rated even at 800 mhz rated speeds), it won't POST. So I'm having to run it at higher latencies at 400 X 8 which should be it's stock rating? Also on POST it shows PC4300 at 400 X 8 instead of PC6400 when not overclocking. Any ideas?

Also, my 7950GX2 shows 8 lanes on PCI-E, not 16, that normal?

Ninja was not an easy install, wished for a 3rd hand a time or two. In addition, it is quite sharp =P Lastly, the plus portion, the 120mm fan, doesn't fit well, I had to stretch the cheesy metal adjusters over the actual CPU retention clips, and it sits on top of the memory (so you can't uninstall them easily).

That's about it, I hope this helped some people, and feel free to ask any questions.

get new BIOS v0609 or 0614 to fix memory issue. I run 400x7 on my E6400 (until I get a better cooling setup) and my memory at 5-5-5-12 same brand/type.

 

[stm69]

Originally posted by: doc2345
Seems to be a little confusion on what is the NS and SB.....

I'm uh Asian, and directionally challenged... edited quickly!

 

[stm69]

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
get new BIOS v0609 or 0614 to fix memory issue. I run 400x7 on my E6400 (until I get a better cooling setup) and my memory at 5-5-5-12 same brand/type.

I'm already running 0609. It still reports PC4300, however, I have not tried again increasing volts or taking off SPD since flashing.

Could you post your complete memory page perchance in the BIOS? There's probably like 3-4 more settings that I don't know what values should be in there.

Lastly, what do you recommend for north/south/ich voltages? I need to tinker with those and see what's going on.

 

[Danap]

Definatly shloud of bought the delux version of this board so much more info about it than vanilla.

For those running vanilla P5B and cosair PC6400 I have am running fine at 2.1v no problem. FSB is 325MHz timings suck though and are, 5-6-6-18. In the BOIS I have it set to DDR2-533MHz. Everything else is on auto.

This weekend, now I got the cooling sorted, I am going to go through ever setting I can. I'll post any findings (probably bad) that I make. Might even take some pics if my buddy gives me my camera back.

I might try the AS5 on the bridge heatsinks also.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: stm69

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
get new BIOS v0609 or 0614 to fix memory issue. I run 400x7 on my E6400 (until I get a better cooling setup) and my memory at 5-5-5-12 same brand/type.

I'm already running 0609. It still reports PC4300, however, I have not tried again increasing volts or taking off SPD since flashing.

Could you post your complete memory page perchance in the BIOS? There's probably like 3-4 more settings that I don't know what values should be in there.

Lastly, what do you recommend for north/south/ich voltages? I need to tinker with those and see what's going on.

Auto voltage everything, 2.1v on the memory and set 5-5-5-12 and leave everything else as it is set automatically. That's all you should have to do. Also try 5-5-5-15 and 5-5-5-18.

BTW: you will ALWAYS be running PC4300 according to the board when you run a 1:1 divider. If you open up CPU-z and see your speed you'll notice it says 400Mhz.

Your GX2 seems to work properly showing 8 lanes. It's basically 2 cards using one 16x channel. So it will split it so to speak.

 

[skinnyj]

very nice post man.

Im glad things are starting to iron out for this board as ill be ordering mine in 2 weeks.

How hard was it to install the ninja? I have pretty big hands so im just wondering.
also what about the weight of it? did you rig somthing up for extra support or are you fairly confident, i know alot of people are running the ninjas im just trying to gather as much info as i can.

And lastly, Im confused still about the ide, will it recognize ide dvd-rw off the bat? if so then you just install sata drivers like normal for it to recognize sata hdd to install xp? thanks

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: skinnyj
very nice post man.

Im glad things are starting to iron out for this board as ill be ordering mine in 2 weeks.

How hard was it to install the ninja? I have pretty big hands so im just wondering.
also what about the weight of it? did you rig somthing up for extra support or are you fairly confident, i know alot of people are running the ninjas im just trying to gather as much info as i can.

And lastly, Im confused still about the ide, will it recognize ide dvd-rw off the bat? if so then you just install sata drivers like normal for it to recognize sata hdd to install xp? thanks

IDE should work out of the box just as you expect. You will have to set the SATA mode to RAID in the BIOS though.

 

[cmdrdredd]

My BIOS settings

Voltages etc

CPU Settings

Memory Settings

 

[tes]

i am having a very hard time with my new P5B Deluxe.Simply put, no matter what i do, i cannot get it to post.Everything is installed correctly and everything is powering up when i turn the pc on, just no post,no error beeps, no nothing, just a black screen.

I am using a new Conroe E6600,Corsair XMS2 800 ddr2(2x1 gig sticks),EVGA 7900 GT,Enermax Liberty PS, all in an aluminum Thermaltake Armor JR. case.

I'e tried everything i can think of, including a regular P4 640 and some older ddr2 533mz ram i had in my old machine and that made no difference whatsover.

Has anyone had a similar expirience or maybe have any advice on a possible solution?

Asus tech support was no help and didn't ofer anything beyond what i have already tried.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: tes
i am having a very hard time with my new P5B Deluxe.Simply put, no matter what i do, i cannot get it to post.Everything is installed correctly and everything is powering up when i turn the pc on, just no post,no error beeps, no nothing, just a black screen.

I am using a new Conroe E6600,Corsair XMS2 800 ddr2(2x1 gig sticks),EVGA 7900 GT,Enermax Liberty PS, all in an aluminum Thermaltake Armor JR. case.

I'e tried everything i can think of, including a regular P4 640 and some older ddr2 533mz ram i had in my old machine and that made no difference whatsover.

Has anyone had a similar expirience or maybe have any advice on a possible solution?

Asus tech support was no help and didn't ofer anything beyond what i have already tried.

Try 1 stick of memory in each slot resetting the CMOS every try and see if it works at all that way. It could be possible you have either a bad mobo, a bad CPU, or bad memory and it's hard to say which unless you can rule out some things. You apparently already tried another CPU so I'd say CPU not the issue. Could be memory.