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

[Compellor]

Originally posted by: fjsc3
Hi all,
I'm currently using a S754 Athlon, so it's been a while since my last upgrade.

My plan: to get an E6300+ stable&fairly overclockable Motherboard.
The P5B (non-deluxe) seems like a good candidate, so now that enough BIOS have been released, the dust seems to have settled, right?

Here are my questions (I know that some have been PARTIALLY answered elswere in this thread, so please don't flame me, just read on):



1- My plan is to get to about 40% overclock over stock. no need for extra PCI-E 16x, etc. Is there any real advantage in getting the Deluxe (in terms of stability I mean). Again, I don't want to go for extreme overclocking - reaching the equivalent of say 2.6GHz would be good enough for me. How about the P5B-Vm and P5B-E - has anyone overclocked them successfully?

2- When you overclock a C2D Motherboard, how does the power stepping work? Does it still work at all? I.e. let's say I'm running an overclocked E6300 at 2.6GHz, does it reduce the operating frequency when idle, just like it would if not overclocked? For instance, if you overclock an Athlon (at least the older models), Cooln'quiet no longer works, so the CPU doesn't throttle to about 1/3 when idle. Does the C2D reduce the clock speed when idle even when OClocked?

3- Can I use my Enermax PSU from back when with a new Motherboard - connectors still the same, etc? I'm NOT a gamer, so no SLI, XFire or anything requiring extra power connectors will be used - just basic X1300 card or equivalent.

4- When overclocking, naturally, the CPU temps are higher, but how much so in your case, can you share your experience? How about the other components, how much higher is the Motherboard temp for instance?

5- Coolers: For this type of overclocking, are there really any alternatives to the larger Scythes or Thermaltakes if you want virtual noiselessness (one of the main reasons for going C2D)? Can you run an AC Freezer 7 at 5v-7v (with a Zalman Fanmate) and still get good temps? If anyone has a similar setup, what temps are you getting?

6- I have a pair of OCZ PC2-5400 sticks - are there any known problems with the P5B? Anyone else using it?

7- If you want to upgrade memory in steps, being dual channel is it impossible to add a third stick - does it only work with 2 or 4?

8- In my case OClocking is only necessary when running fairly complex scientific computations which can run from 1hour to a couple of days (hence the need for stability), so every extra bit of speed helps. But most of the time stock speeds will do just fine. Is it possible to set up dinamic OC, or "OC on demand" from Windows for this Motherboard, or do you have to through the normal process of rebooting and loading the OC Bios settings?



Well, quite a large number of questions for one post. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

cheers
Ze

1.) I'm running at 2.96 GHz with my E6400 and P5B non-deluxe. It passes both SuperPi 32MB and Orthos stress tests. With better RAM I could easily hit 3.2 GHz. So far this motherboard has been rock solid stable for me.

2.) Intel's SpeedStep Technology works with overclocked CPUs. It reduces the multiplier. It can be turned off.

3.) A 20-pin ATX power connector will work fine, but I'd suggest getting a new PSU that supports 20+4-pin or 24-pin connector to keep your overclock stable.

4.) At 2.96 GHz my idle temps are between 45-50C depending on room temp. Case temps hover around 40C unless I crank up the RPM of my rear exhaust fan. I like it quiet so I keep the RPM set to low.

5.) I use an Artic Cooling 7 Freezer Pro. The ASUS P5B BIOS uses Q-Fan to control fan speeds. I run the fan on Optimal and it runs around 600-700 RPM. It's quiet and keeps the CPU cool. It only goes up higher when it senses more stress on the CPU. It will only turn up to full (about 3000 RPM) when running a stess test like Orthos or TAT.

6.) As long as those sticks are rated between 1.8-2.1v you shouldn't have any trouble with them.

7.) Yes. RAM sticks must be used in pairs for dual channel operation.

8.) You can use the AI Suite software. AI N.O.S. is supposed to allow for dynamic overclocking although I've never tried it.

I hope this helps.

 

[BadThad]

Originally posted by: sothcom
Has anyone had this problem:

I have 4GB of RAM installed. In order for the BIOS to see it all properly, I had to turn on the memory remap feature in the Chipset --> North Bridge section.

I can see all 4GB on POST, and even when using the MEM86 diagnostic tool. However, once in Windows XP SP-2, My Computer only reports 2GB of RAM. Physical address extension is on. (I'm expecting to see ~3.2GB.)

Similarly, I am only seeing 2GB of RAM in Vista RC1 and RC2.

I have the latest bios installed (0711).

Any ideas?

Bump for this question as I just ordered 4GB to go into a new system.

Have you tried running each pair individually? Or even each module individually? What modules do you have?

 

[imported_rommel74]

Originally posted by: Vaterland
...Snip...
Problems with JMicron and Sound. I have encountered none of those. My only complain is a 15 sec hang up during boot caused by the Soundmax drivers. Other than that everything works just perfect - DTS via optical (5.1 perfect sound even in games), front headphones and microphone, two sound sources (one to DTS, and the other goes to the front headphones). I had a problem with the front microphone but setting Audio mode in BIOS to Non-Vista cures that.

I made only three modifications to my P5B. I removed the WiFi module, removed the Asus logo from the NB, and applied new thermal paste under the heatsinks, but I don't think that the last one was really necessary. The preapplied grease looked ok to me.

Hi Vaterland,

Thanks for the response. Can you check your DTS settings and see if DTS Interactive is enabled ? Also DTS NEO6 should apperantly be disabled as it just converts stereo data to 6 channel so it is not true surround sound.
I do get sound to all speakers but only when DTS Interactive is not enabled or when DTS NEO6 is enabled, however it is not proper surround sound as in the surround and center channels play the same sound as the front channels in games, I tested this in several games like Farcy/Half Life 2 etc. Best way to test it is stand near a sound source (like a TV) in the game and turn around, the sound should pan to the rear speakers which it does not for me. If I use analog cables the surround sound works fine.
On the positive side I don't get the 15s pause at boot but I would much rather have that issue.

 

[Googer]

Originally posted by: TheSynth
I noticed that too but just ignored it and used the 4 pin. Never even seen an 8 pin before .

8 pin connectors have been used in servers (and a rare few desktop boards) for several years now.

 

[Dizzymon]

How did you guys get your IDE CD Rom drives to detect?

I can't seem to get mine to detect at all. I've got the p5b (vanilla) board, E6600 Processor, Corsair TWIN2048PRO 2GB PC6400, 400GB Seagate SATAII (set 3gb/s), 2 IDE CDRW (Phillips). I see the Jmircon detecting the drives when I turn on the PC bootup (before it gets to the bios screen) and I'm thinking that might be what is causing my IDE CD drives to not detect. Is that JMicron detection app built into the hardware?


It's driving me crazy! I haven't done a IDE cable swap yet cuz I figure the round $10 IDE cables from Fry's probably isn't the problem. I have no floppy drive so I can't update the bios until I get hold of a floppy drive.


Anyone know if I can use a Zip100 internal drive to boot it up instead of the standard floppy 3.5" drives?


Thanks!

-Ed

 

[Googer]

You are not the first person to have an issue with CD-ROM/RW drives and the JMICRON JMB363. Plugging the CD drive in to the Intel ICH IDE controller usualy fixes the problem. Second, round cables can cause problems due to crosstalk and other electrical interferance that are not present in flat cables. It's a surprise to see that you still use onel; I cannot tell you about the ZIP100 drive booting or not, I have not used one in a decade and thought that they died a long time ago.

 

[drewkam]

Hey all,

Just wondered if anyone's had any experience of running crossfire on the P5B Deluxe (I using 0711)?

I know it may not be the most elegant form of crossfire (despite the Asus website officially giving the board a Crossfire compatible logo), but I'm wondering what everyone's opinion is regarding this?

Cheers!

Drew

 

[n4sa]

Hey all,

Does anyone know what intel RAID driver I use for netware 6.5 ?

(Im using the ICH8R controller on this board)

Thanks

 

[Inniswhe]

Hello All,

I am new to building PC's and have experienced the memory problems others have discussed with this motherboard. I installed 2- 1 GB sticks of OCZ PC2 6400 800 dual channel memory 5-5-5-12. It is called "Special Opps " and has a camo paint scheme.

My CPU is Core Duo 6400. When I started the system I did not get anything beyond the fans and power lights. After some searching I pulled the RAM out of slots A1,B1 and got some beeps . I then reinstalled the ram in slots A2,B2 and the machine booted up, and could see the RAM. I thought all was good until updated the bios to the latest version. When I restarted the computer again no beeps so I figure memory problems again. I cleared the CMOS per the owners manual instructions but still no go.

This morning I went and bought one stick of Kingston DDR2 533 Ram 512MB to test . Again we have some luck , I can get the machine to boot up so I am thinking I should either replace the ram or go back to an older bios. I am not sure what version was on my machine when I first booted but 2 slots did work.

My questions are:

1. where do I get older bios versions to try if I want to go that route ?

2. what ram is known to work well should I replace the existing ram ( probably will do this). I will be getting it from Tiger Direct Canada so I may be limited as far as what is available in the $300-350 Canadian $ range.

I greatly appreciate any advice as I am not very knowledgeable regarding PC building

 

[Inniswhe]

Sorry all , in my last post I forgot to mention that I am using the P5B (basic) version.

Thanks

 

[Dizzymon]

Originally posted by: Inniswhe
Sorry all , in my last post I forgot to mention that I am using the P5B (basic) version.

Thanks

What version of the bios is on it? I don't want to do the samething to my P5B (plain vanilla) board. I bought it used so I'm SOL if I can't get mine to work.

-Ed

 

[Inniswhe]

Originally posted by: Dizzymon

Originally posted by: Inniswhe
Sorry all , in my last post I forgot to mention that I am using the P5B (basic) version.

Thanks

What version of the bios is on it? I don't want to do the samething to my P5B (plain vanilla) board. I bought it used so I'm SOL if I can't get mine to work.

-Ed

Version 0701 is what I installed and caused the latest memory reading troubles

Ross

 

[gramboh]

Originally posted by: BadThad

Originally posted by: sothcom
Has anyone had this problem:

I have 4GB of RAM installed. In order for the BIOS to see it all properly, I had to turn on the memory remap feature in the Chipset --> North Bridge section.

I can see all 4GB on POST, and even when using the MEM86 diagnostic tool. However, once in Windows XP SP-2, My Computer only reports 2GB of RAM. Physical address extension is on. (I'm expecting to see ~3.2GB.)

Similarly, I am only seeing 2GB of RAM in Vista RC1 and RC2.

I have the latest bios installed (0711).

Any ideas?

Bump for this question as I just ordered 4GB to go into a new system.

Have you tried running each pair individually? Or even each module individually? What modules do you have?

XP is a 32bit OS and cannot address the full 4GB due to various reasons (google windows xp 4GB or something to find out details) there are a few workaround but the OS really doesn't handle 4GB properly. If you want to use 4GB you should get XP-64 or Vista 64bit release or a 64bit Unix/Linux.

 

[Dizzymon]

What is the most stable BIOS 509 or 701 for the p5b (vanilla) board?

 

[blurredvision]

Just got my new system up and running with the the P5B Deluxe. I'm sure I could eventually sniff this out, but I figure I'll ask here before I head to bed to get a quick answer. I've installed my two gig sticks into banks 1 and 2, but the BIOS is reading them as single-channel (CPUID confirms this). How and where to change to dual-channel? They are matched Corsair 6400 C4 sticks. Thanks.

EDIT: Of course, I didn't go to bed like a I planned, and searched on this a bit more. Found a person earlier in this thread who made the same mistake I did. The manual states it as dual channel is divied up between banks 1 and 2, then 3 and 4. Not correct, you gotta match the colors, which means banks 1 and 3 go together, then 2 and 4.

Everything is working peachy now . One thing I noticed? When I was running in single channel, Vista gave my RAM a WEI score of 5.4. Bumping up the FSB a mere 10MHz and switching into dual channel raised it to 5.8.

 

[Dizzymon]

I finally got my rig up and running too. I found out that the round cables caused my DVD/RW IDE drives to not read. Now it's onto the NIC problem that everyone is talking about. The NIC won't connect up to my LAN at all. I finally ended up just installing a PCI NIC on it and it worked right away! Anyone else having the same issues with their ethernet card?

Thanks.

 

[Compellor]

Originally posted by: Dizzymon
What is the most stable BIOS 509 or 701 for the p5b (vanilla) board?

0701 seems a bit more stable over 0509. It also corrects the double cold boot issue if you overclock past 299 FSB.

 

[Compellor]

Originally posted by: Dizzymon
I finally got my rig up and running too but one problem is the onboard ethernet nic. It won't connect to the web for the life of me. I finally ended up just installing a PCI NIC on it and it worked right away! Anyone else having the same issues with their ethernet card?

Thanks.

No problems. If you installed the drivers for it then it should be working fine. If not then it's probably bad.

 

[Compellor]

Originally posted by: Inniswhe

2. what ram is known to work well should I replace the existing ram ( probably will do this). I will be getting it from Tiger Direct Canada so I may be limited as far as what is available in the $300-350 Canadian $ range.

I'm using Corsair Value Select DDR2-667 with mine. I got my E6400 up to 2.92 GHz with it. This stuff is very stable and was selling really cheap back in August (reason why I bought it). The faster Corsair XMS DDR2-800 memory is compatible with the P5B as well. Most of the memory kinks have been addressed with the lastest BIOS. I would still recommend staying away from OCZ memory with this motherboard.

 

[blurredvision]

Without having time to read much of this thread for another day or two, what's the best, most stable BIOS version out there for the P5B Deluxe right now?

EDIT: Also, what advantages to I gain by switching to ACHI instead of IDE mode in the BIOS? I've already installed Vista RC2 to one of my SATA HDD's, this was in IDE mode. I'll install XP Pro to the other soon. I read earlier that I need to install XP under IDE mode, but still install the ACHI driver during Windows install, then switch to ACHI after everything is said and done. Will this mess with my Vista install that is running perfectly fine under IDE mode at the moment? Will I gain speed by running ACHI? I do not plan on setting up any kind of RAID, just the two 320GB hdd's.

Thanks!

 

[Inniswhe]

Compellor,

Thanks for the input on the RAM . Tiger direct .ca doesn't have the ones you have listed. They sell a slower Value select product and a couple TwinX models. Do you know if the TWINX PC5400 linted below will work ?

I appreciate the help. I am trying to order the RAM asap

TIGERDIRECT.CA Corsair Products:

Corsair TWINX Dual Channel PC5400 DDR2 667MHz Memory (2 x 1024MB) $292

Corsair TWINX Dual Channel PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Memory (2 x 1024MB $335

Corsair Value Select Dual Channel PC4200 DDR2 533MHz Memory (2 x 1024MB) $280

Thanks again for any assisstance

Ross

 

[Compellor]

Inniswhe,

Those should all work fine with the P5B. Check out Corsair's Configurator just to be sure:

http://www.corsairmemory.com/

 

[sothcom]

Originally posted by: BadThad

Originally posted by: sothcom
Has anyone had this problem:

I have 4GB of RAM installed. In order for the BIOS to see it all properly, I had to turn on the memory remap feature in the Chipset --> North Bridge section.

I can see all 4GB on POST, and even when using the MEM86 diagnostic tool. However, once in Windows XP SP-2, My Computer only reports 2GB of RAM. Physical address extension is on. (I'm expecting to see ~3.2GB.)

Similarly, I am only seeing 2GB of RAM in Vista RC1 and RC2.

I have the latest bios installed (0711).

Any ideas?

Bump for this question as I just ordered 4GB to go into a new system.

Have you tried running each pair individually? Or even each module individually? What modules do you have?

I am happy to report an update -- Vista RC2 64BIT edition sees ALL 4GB of RAM! Yay! Tnx for the tip from a previous poster.

Still doesn't explain why Vista 32bit and XP SP-2 only see 2GB (instead of 3.2GB) but at least I know which edition of Vista to purchase to maximize RAM.

 

[Dizzymon]

I finally got it going but my setup has a abit RX700 250PCIE Pro video card on it. I'm not sure if that's causing some grief for me because it would restart by itself and cause itself to crash. I haven't replicated exactly yet because each time I would change something in the bios. I am getting also a "SM bus Controller" showing a conflict in my device manager. I've tried the INF update going to INTEL but no dice. Anyone else had this problem before?


Update: I got the P965 chipset update from intel and it resolved the MS bus Controller conflict.

Now the only thing that remains is my posting issue when I use the video drivers that are from the abit for the video card. If I just use the windows drivers it works just fine.

 

[Mellman]

oye! I hate the new conroe stuff...for the love of my sanity lol..

I finally got my P5B to boot after stealing my friends ram again (had to borrow it probably 8 times to reboot my DS3) And now my OCZ Platinum XTC DDR2 800 will boot w/o having to change anything in the bios....ugh finally...