*** Official ASUS P5W DH Thread ***

[nmlss2007]

Originally posted by: QuietRiot
Looking around the forums you'll see people claiming that CPU-Z does not report the voltages correctly in some cases.

I get the feeling this may be one of those cases .

What innovative thing the motherboard/cpu might be doing is activating C1E and SpeedStep. You sound rather knowledgeable and I would be surprised that you overlooked them, but stuff as such happens to us all.

I had actually thought of that. I checked, and C1E, TM and SpeedStep are all disabled. The interesting this is that *enabling* them doesn't change anything, another thing of which I am fairly suspicious.

Could you post your BIOS settings?

Sure, post following tomorrow.

And, going back to your overclocking experience, indeed, it seems that there's something wrong there. As Phile mentioned each individual part is different, but it seems that Conroes can consistently achieve FSBs of 350+. Again, post your BIOS settings and let us take a look at it.

I'm glad to know you concur. I'll post tomorrow, then. Thanks for your reply!

 

[mikepaul]

Quick 'warning': the 1901 BIOS doesn't seem to support flashing back to a lower version.

My reason for going back is that it refuses to accept my new BIOS settings, and only if I hit F2 to accept vanilla defaults can I get into Windows. This is a problem that was limited to me and a few other people in a prior version of the BIOS, but since I want to go back and can't unless using an older BIOS chip I happen to have and upgrading that works (fingers crossed), I thought I'd point out the no-downgrade problem.

If anyone does find a way to force 1901 back to 1701 easier, please advise...

Small revision: The defaults SEEM to be at my normal OC, so apparently it's just the annoyance of hitting F2 I'll be fixing...

 

[ryansebiz]

I need some overclocking help.

I've gotten my E6400 up to 420 FSB. Anything over that and XP won't load.

Here's what I'm running now:

vDIMM 2.1v
vCore 1.5v
Timings: 5-5-5-18
vFSB 1.2v
vMCH 1.65v
vICH 1.2v

Any ideas to get me over FSB 420?

Update: I can't last seven seconds in Orthos. I can at 410 but not 420 no matter how much voltage I add.

 

[Butterbean]

Originally posted by: VivienM

Originally posted by: Butterbean
I have been debating pulling this board out for an Intel before I get Vista and I am assessing all the functions. ASUS doesn't have much on site about this except for a small feature description and 2 unanswered qestions in forum.

"Any reason in particular you're considering switching the board?"


My "user profile" doesn't quite match up to this board. I don't OC as yet and I don't game as yet either. I just mostly do photos and some video. When I bought mobo I thought I might find RAID valuable but after reading in forums I think I don't see any value in RAID as much as I like external backups better. I see a lot of people getting in troubles with on-board RAID and I'm not sure its not over-rated tbh.

I actually liked the idea of the "Digital Home" thing with remote and the MP3-In etc (not to mention the PATA options etc) but they either don't work or don't work that well it seems. Hardly anyone even had MP3-In work for them and of those for whom it did work they didn't like it that much (flat sound I was told). I went with Asus over Intel because of the added features but I shouldn't have.

I have not been that enthused with Asus on-the-whole sorry to say. I know they get high marks, but I have seen them at their worst and don't entirely trust this board over time. I got it when C2D wouldn't boot and Asus was telling people to buy Celeron's to flash Bios. Their driver CD was awful. Their XP Audio driver on site tells me its not for my operating system when I try to install it (the driver on CD does work thankfully). The support on their site is markedly erratic. I read a long thread in another forum where Vista and Nvidia wouldn't work on this board last fall and Asus and Nvidia each had to solve issues so machines could boot.

I was reading the P5WDH review on the [Hard] forum yesterday and they gave it high marks but they also mentioned a couple drives that wouldn't be recognised by one board and another was DOA. I have read that a lot with this mobo. I know these reviews were early and Bios updates might have fixed issues but I don't know if I should invest in Vista for this board (as was my intention when I assembled it). 2 days ago computer just shut off and rebooted out-of-the-blue while a radio station was playing. I am sure there is a good reason but I don't want to spend a week trying to discover it when the best resources are everyones forum EXCEPT Asus.

Of course if I was more savy user then these things might not be so important. I like fiddling with Apps and doing tasks but I don't like to always be tweaking things under hood of computer itself. I know Asus makes good things and don't consider them bad company but I think Intel is usually stable and durable above all others. Everyone was all excited about 680i and then they bellyflopped too. If I was OC'er I would think different about Intel probably but boring solid board and I are good fit lol.

 

[nmlss2007]

Here come my BIOS settings:

IDE configuration -> Standard, IDE Enhanced
Jumperfree -> AI OC Manual, Frequency <whatever> DRAM 1:1, Performance mode auto, PCI Ex 100MHz, PCI Clock 33.3, Mem voltage 2.25, other voltages highest, CPU voltage 1.55, DH mode disabled
CPU settings -> Modify ratio disabled, microcode update enabled, CPUID max disabled, XD enabled, C1 disabled, TM disabled, VT enabled, SpeedStep disabled
Chipset -> DRAM SPD enabled, ECC mode disabled, HP3 disabled, Throttling disabled, remap disabled. GA PCI Exp / PCI, remaining settings Auto
Onboard devices -> all disabled save for one GbEth
PCIPnP -> PnP ON, PCI latency timer 224, IRQ to VGA enable, palette snooping disable, all IRQs on auto
Power -> ACPI 2.0 on, APIC support enabled
Hardware Monitor -> AI quiet disabled, all Q-FAN disabled.

I didn't mention the stuff that isn't relevant, like USB.

Please let me know what you think. Thanks.

 

[mikepaul]

Originally posted by: mikepaul
If anyone does find a way to force 1901 back to 1701 easier, please advise...

The AFUDOS DOS utility to flash with did the trick. Now I'm ready in case they leave the no-downgrade code in from now on...

 

[DualMonitors]

1st Time Builder here, trying to buy the Asus P5W DH deluxe Motherboard with at least one TWIN set of 2 x 1GB memory (ddr2-800), preferably from a higher end company like Corsair, but can't find a CURRENT list of all DDR2-800 FULLY compatible TWIN sets:

re: the Asus P5W DH Deluxe Motherboard, the Manual downloaded from the Asus site is from June 2006! The user's manual states that we should come to Asus's site for finding the latest DDR2-800 memory compatibility with different manufacturers, models, and voltages. I cannot find it on this site.

I am seriously thinking about using the:

CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory ? Retail $239 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145034

According to the user's manual downloaded from here, the manual is from June 2006 and only has 2 type of Corsair 1GB memory that is DDR2-800 and does NOT show PAIRS of DDR2-800, which is the way I would like to buy them from, say NewEgg. The Asus manual only states SINGLE stick options and only 1 choice from Corsair. Somehow, I am sure that there is a more current, more complete list of TWIN sets of 2 X 1GB ddr2-800 higher end memory choices, especially from a fine manufacturer like Corsair. Being a first time builder, I'd like to be certain of the voltage/latency requirements before i order from New Egg. NOTE: please note that i'm a higher end home office type users/1st time builder and do not intend to do any types of overclocking etc. Sorry to not "fit in" here as most forum members are overclocking, but this is the best place to find the information. thx!

May I ask how to find out the lastest BRAND/models of DDR2-800 (in TWIN stick sets of 2 X 1GB sets) that is FULLY compatible with this board? Thank you very much in advance!!

 

[phile]

Any of the Corsair PC2-6400 (DDR2-800) 2GB kits will work on the P5WDH. The kit you are considering is an especially good kit, from what I have read around the forums. Go for it, and enjoy.

Just a heads-up: when you first boot, the memory will likely be set to DDR2-533 or DDR2-667. To run the mem at DDR2-800, you will need to manually set the speed in the BIOS.

Also, to ensure smooth performance, make sure you know the rated voltage for the kit you buy. This means the voltage required to run the mem at its rated speed, which in this case is DDR2-800. Double-check, but I think the kit you are looking to buy has a rated voltage of 2.0v. The P5WDH has a factory memory voltage setting of 1.8v, so you will need to set the voltage manually.

-phil

 

[DualMonitors]

Hello Mr. phile, et al.

thx for your posting regarding my confusion over the wide range of similar sounding Corsair memory options for the P5W DH Deluxe. I'm a 1st time builder so i have no idea what i'm doing, that's why i'm doing so much research now - ahead of ordering it from newegg.

i'm still a bit confused: this is the one that i had intended on ordering, before i knew of the many problems that some others are having http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145034

but then, there are all these issues of CL5 or CL4, which are NOT obvious to me at all. is it possible for someone to explain to me please?

on the Corsair site, you can see that there are NUMEROUS variations of fine differences: http://corsairmemory.com/corsair/xms2.html

please understand that i've only done a lot of research vis-a-vis components and read 2 tutorials on the physical assembly of a pc. i do not know at all what to do once assembled, and plugged in, what to do after one turns on the new PC!! would one see BIOS? what does one do? i understand that there would not be Windows Vista Ultimate greeting me, since i have not yet installed it, but i also understand that there would be MUCH in terms of configuration that would need to be done. if there is a guide, that would great. right now, i'm still concentration on ordering the correct parts from newegg since the wrong memory can cause many days and much frustration and a lot of time wasted in returning and RMA and such.

thx so much in advance. if anyone would wish to directly email me, that would be great as well. please private message me and then we'll email? thx!

 

[phile]

It's important to know that there will always be people who have problems with any particular component. The kit you are considering is perfectly compatible with the P5WDH, and will work properly assuming there is no defect in either of the DIMMS in the kit you receive. As for CL4 or CL5, this pertains to the CAS latency.

"CAS Latency (CL) is the time (in number of clock cycles) that elapses after the memory controller sends a request to read a memory location and before the data is sent to the module's output pins." - wikipedia

In other words: the lower the better. So, a CL4 kit is preferrable to a CL5 kit, and will thus be more expensive.

With respect to a builder's guide, I'm not aware of any. However, you will find this forum a rich source of help, as you will be getting advice from people who have similar hardware. Something I would suggest would be to list all the components you're looking to buy, in order to catch any possible problems before you purchase anything. I'll be happy to then provide a rough guide to help you get the rig built, BIOS configured, and Windows installed. The first build can be quite stressful, but in the end, very rewarding when it's finally up and running.

-phil

 

[DualMonitors]

Mr. phile and others:

thx again, Mr. phile, to be so helpful. i'm concerned because i cannot find anywhere what the proper CL that this p5W DH Deluxe SHOULD have, and what it IDEALLY ought to have. this is a reasonable question, in my opinion, in order to purchase the optimum CL number/type of memory. it's not as if there is a lack of purchase options, so it behooves us to select properly ahead of time but this task is made very difficult as there appears to be NO ASUS FORMAL company's specified IDEAL CL NUMBER for this motherboard!

btw, looking at this board's users' reviews, just using new egg as one source, even recognizing that these users' reviews are a self selecting, skewed list of owners, there is around 340 reviews of which only 61% was 5 eggs, and there are MANY very disappointed owners! that worries me: a 1st time builder. i am wondering if i should buy a more RELIABLE motherboard that is going to work RIGHT out of the box RELIABLY, i really don't know which one, but i do need 2 pci-e x16 slots because in intend to use 3 monitors: 30" dell, 24" dell 2405, and 21.3" samsung 4:3 213T. are there other motherboards that are more reliable and has better quality control over this P5W DH Deluxe?? there must be!

thx also for offering to see my list of components.
MOTHERBOARD:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131025
ASUS P5W DH DELUXE/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel 975X ATX Intel Motherboard ? Retail $219.99
__________

Processor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115003
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor ? Retail $315
__________
Memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145034
CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory ? Retail $239
___________
TV Card: Hauppage: TV Cards
___________
Video Card:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150182
XFX PVT73GUGD3 GeForce 7600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card ? Retail $139.99 $119.99 after $20 Rebate
XFX?s page: http://www.xfxforce.com/web/product/lis...%3B+7600&productConfigurationId=592431
__________
DVD/CD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152058
NEC Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache IDE/ATAPI DVD Burner ? OEM $30
___________
Hard Drive: 2 X (RAID 1) Hard Drive: SATA
___________
Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811133020
Thermaltake Armor Series VA8003SWA Silver ATX Full Tower Computer Case w/ 25CM Fan ? Retail $199.99
___________
Power Supply: 24 pin; PFC: Active or Yes
100% 5; 37 reviews: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817139002
CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 620W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CUL, CE, CB, FCC Class B, TUV, CCC, C-tick ? Retail $150 after $20 Rebate


how does this list look? thx again!

 

[phile]

First, the reason you can't find any information on what CL works best with the P5WDH is because it does not matter. The CAS latency value does not effect compatibility. The ideal CL value is simply the lowest one that you can afford.

Lower = faster.
Faster = better.

Second, while many people have had problems with the P5WDH, you will find that is the case with any motherboard. I have been using this board for 6 months and have only great things to say about it.

Third, the list components you're considering looks just fine. Should make for an excellent rig.

-phil

 

[mkln]

Originally posted by: mikepaul

Originally posted by: mikepaul
If anyone does find a way to force 1901 back to 1701 easier, please advise...

The AFUDOS DOS utility to flash with did the trick. Now I'm ready in case they leave the no-downgrade code in from now on...

so AsusUpdate doesnt work? thanks in advance

 

[DualMonitors]

Mr. phile: i'll post 2 answers to your previous post/questions in order to more clearly separate them. Here, i am providing what a very fine gentleman provided me as advice who, i believe, is a frequent and highly knowledgeable contributor on these forums, it is HIS thoughts as to which memory is BEST suited for my set up. the other memory option was one that i've identified, albeit without much knowledge on my part other than "it looks right". the two variations look similar but it is not obvious what the differences are because one states clearly that it is CL4 and the other does not state its CL number at all!!

here they are:

One forum member?s choice of Corsair memory FOR THE P5W DH Deluxe: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145590

TWIN2X2048-6400 (part #: CM2X1024-6400) $240 Series XMS2 BUT DOESN?T say ?C4?. DOESN'T mention the CL number at all!


The memory I picked is: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145034

TWIN2X2048-6400C4 Series XMS2 $200 THIS ONE SAYS ?C4?

they both appear to be from the XMS "line" of Corsair. One doesn't mention its CL at all, the other specifically says C4. Oddly, the C4 model is $200 and the one without mentioning what CL it is is $240.

Asus's manual for the P5W DH deluxe (dated June 2006 so quite old) shows only SINGLE sticks of 1gb Corsair and makes NO mention of TWIN sticks. i'd like to buy TWIN sticks. the manual says to go to Asus's site for a complete list. i've spent over an hour looking and it's just not there, i'm pretty sure. i have the feeling that there MUST be a more "proper" and more "correct and better" Corsair memory FOR THIS SPECIFIC board! there has to be one that is a slightly better and slightly more sure and more stable "fit". no? am i mistaken? i'm learning, so sorry for belaboring the point and thx so much for bearing with me during this learning curve!

my next post below will be my "shopping list" of all my components. if all goes well, i'd like to buy everything in the next couple of days from, say new egg, and hopefully receive it soon and start building. in the meantime, i'll have start reading more about how to physically assemble this and all the various pitfalls, plus read about what to do once physically assembled, and how to turn it on configure it, etc. I'm also debating between RAID 1 or no RAID at all. ugh.

 

[DualMonitors]

oops: mr phile, i didn't see your response! sorry for my previous post. i was so tired last night. thx again. please ignore then the post immediately above.

 

[phile]

Originally posted by: DualMonitors
oops: mr phile, i didn't see your response! sorry for my previous post. i was so tired last night. thx again. please ignore then the post immediately above.

Just so we're clear, of the two kits you posted links for, the first kit is CAS latency 5 (CL5), and the kit you chose is CAS latency 4 (CL4). Stick with the kit you chose, it's a slightly better performer, and for some strange reason, less expensive.

And, stop calling me mister! Phil will do just fine.

-phil

 

[DualMonitors]

OK, i think my digging finally got me right to the source!! horray. please tell me if i've misunderstood, hope not, but here's what i was able to uncover as the "most suitable" memory for the P5W DH Deluxe board:

This is the Corsair page SPECIFICALLY for memory that is suitable for THIS motherboard: http://www.corsairmemory.com/corsair/configurator_search.html

the TWIN2X2048-6400C4 was SPECIFICALLY tested WITH THIS motherboard and the test results are: use the link above, right hand column, middle of page, under "Performance Reports for this motherboard" are various different Corsair memory types used WITH THIS SPECIFIC motherboard and their respective test results. This gives me much comfort (hopefully i did not misunderstand as i'm a total newbie) and this is as good as the good folks here having actually tried this exact memory on their own boards!

oddly, the pricing of this 6400C4 twin pair at new egg is $40 LESS than the slightly lower tiered C5 version.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145034

Lastly, i don't really understand what their marketing term "EPP" enhanced performance profile really means but i have a feeling that it ONLY pertains to nVidia chipset situations, which means it won't apply to our P5W DH Deluxe.

would this totally 100% confirm that the TWIN2X2048-6400C4 is totally compatible and should be a "low risk", reasonably high performance memory to go with this board? the remaining question is 2gb now or 4 gb now. as a higher end home office user, intending to use it with either 2 monitors (30" dell and 24" dell 2405), or 3 monitors potentially (30" dell, 24" dell 2405, and 21.3" samsung 4:3 model 213T), i sort of feel that at $200, it might not be a bad decision to buy 2 pairs of these for 4gb now. it is sort of at a decent sweetspot, yes? no? i'm very new at this, so my "gut feel" isn't experienced. thx guys for your guidance!

 

[phile]

The 6400C4 is 1 billion percent compatible, and 2GB should be enough. What exactly will you be doing with this machine?

-phil

 

[Butterbean]

Originally posted by: DualMonitors
OK, i think my digging finally got me right to the source!! horray. please tell me if i've misunderstood, hope not, but here's what i was able to uncover as the "most suitable" memory for the P5W DH Deluxe board:

This is the Corsair page SPECIFICALLY for memory that is suitable for THIS motherboard: http://www.corsairmemory.com/corsair/configurator_search.html

the TWIN2X2048-6400C4 was SPECIFICALLY tested WITH THIS motherboard and the test results are: use the link above, right hand column, middle of page, under "Performance Reports for this motherboard" are various different Corsair memory types used WITH THIS SPECIFIC motherboard and their respective test results. This gives me much comfort (hopefully i did not misunderstand as i'm a total newbie) and this is as good as the good folks here having actually tried this exact memory on their own boards!

oddly, the pricing of this 6400C4 twin pair at new egg is $40 LESS than the slightly lower tiered C5 version.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145034

Lastly, i don't really understand what their marketing term "EPP" enhanced performance profile really means but i have a feeling that it ONLY pertains to nVidia chipset situations, which means it won't apply to our P5W DH Deluxe.

would this totally 100% confirm that the TWIN2X2048-6400C4 is totally compatible and should be a "low risk", reasonably high performance memory to go with this board? the remaining question is 2gb now or 4 gb now. as a higher end home office user, intending to use it with either 2 monitors (30" dell and 24" dell 2405), or 3 monitors potentially (30" dell, 24" dell 2405, and 21.3" samsung 4:3 model 213T), i sort of feel that at $200, it might not be a bad decision to buy 2 pairs of these for 4gb now. it is sort of at a decent sweetspot, yes? no? i'm very new at this, so my "gut feel" isn't experienced. thx guys for your guidance!

I have been looking for memory upgrade as well and was going to get same Corsair memory but if you read Newegg reviews there were reports of a lot of bad sticks lately from people running memtests and getting all sorts of bad news. I don't generally put too much stock in Newegg reviews but these seem either legit or people are purposely making bad reviews. The people at Corsair took notice as well and made a post in forum. Not sure if this is all a legit concern or not. I still want Corsair but maybe they have a bad batch at the mo.

Corsair Forum Thread:
http://www.houseofhelp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57386

 

[Veger]

Hi all,

I am new to this forum, but have been in the field for over 25 years.

I need some advice if I should keep this motherboard. I have some concerns.

What I built:

Intel E6600 2.4 @ 3.3 1.3V - Temperatures are 22C(Idle) Upto 34C(Load)
Thermalright SI-128 Cooler with 120mm 68CFM Fan
Corsair 2 Gigs of 8500C (1066mhz) Memory @ 915mhz (5-6-6-18 2T)
Asus P5WDH Deluxe 1801 Beta Bios
EVGa 8800GTX default clocks (575/2000)
2 x Segate 320 16mb cache HardDrives in Raid 0
Creative Labs X-FI Elite Pro SoundCard
Asus 256mb Ageia Physics Card
PCPowerand Cooling 1K Quad PSU
CoolerMaster Stacker Case
Running both Vista Home Premium and Windows XP Prof SP2 in a Dual Boot Environment
3Dmark06 11,006

Here are some questions, concerns and issues i have had:

1) I cannot for the life of me get this memory to run at its spec of 1066mhz or 1067mhz in the bios. The highest I could achieve has been 915mhz.

2) Another issue is with PC Probe 2. Twice it has reported that my CPU was at 256C? Then it goes back to 22C. The system is very stable and I am at a loss. I did order a Tuniq Tower to replace the Thermalright solution because of the push pins are very hard to push down. Has anyone have had problems with PC Probe 2 reporting like that once in a while? Is there an alternative to this software for monitoring - motherboard monitor is dead .

3) The bios is very sluggish to work in albeit slow has a slight lag to it. But it works.

4) 3Dmark 06 score is at 11,006 is that where this machine should scrore?

5) Will the Tuniq Tower fit this Motherboard any problems that I should be concerned about?

6) Should I order the EVGA 680i Motherboard to replace this board? Will I achieve the rated memory speed. i have heard alot of horror stories on this motherboard that I bought this one instead but the 680i seems more future proof.

Thanks for any information anyone can help me with.

 

[phile]

Originally posted by: Veger
Hi all,

I am new to this forum, but have been in the field for over 25 years.

I need some advice if I should keep this motherboard. I have some concerns.

What I built:

Intel E6600 2.4 @ 3.3 1.3V - Temperatures are 22C(Idle) Upto 34C(Load)
Thermalright SI-128 Cooler with 120mm 68CFM Fan
Corsair 2 Gigs of 8500C (1066mhz) Memory @ 915mhz (5-6-6-18 2T)
Asus P5WDH Deluxe 1801 Beta Bios
EVGa 8800GTX default clocks (575/2000)
2 x Segate 320 16mb cache HardDrives in Raid 0
Creative Labs X-FI Elite Pro SoundCard
Asus 256mb Ageia Physics Card
PCPowerand Cooling 1K Quad PSU
CoolerMaster Stacker Case
Running both Vista Home Premium and Windows XP Prof SP2 in a Dual Boot Environment
3Dmark06 11,006

Here are some questions, concerns and issues i have had:

1) I cannot for the life of me get this memory to run at its spec of 1066mhz or 1067mhz in the bios. The highest I could achieve has been 915mhz.

2) Another issue is with PC Probe 2. Twice it has reported that my CPU was at 256C? Then it goes back to 22C. The system is very stable and I am at a loss. I did order a Tuniq Tower to replace the Thermalright solution because of the push pins are very hard to push down. Has anyone have had problems with PC Probe 2 reporting like that once in a while? Is there an alternative to this software for monitoring - motherboard monitor is dead .

3) The bios is very sluggish to work in albeit slow has a slight lag to it. But it works.

4) 3Dmark 06 score is at 11,006 is that where this machine should scrore?

5) Will the Tuniq Tower fit this Motherboard any problems that I should be concerned about?

6) Should I order the EVGA 680i Motherboard to replace this board? Will I achieve the rated memory speed. i have heard alot of horror stories on this motherboard that I bought this one instead but the 680i seems more future proof.

Thanks for any information anyone can help me with.

I'll address each concern/question, some better than others.

1) I have no experience running memory faster than PC2-6400 on this board, but I have noticed that it can be quite problematic. The 975X chipset officially supports 533/667/800, so perhaps there's inadequate memory divider support when running the mem siginificantly faster than the FSB. (I am assuming that when trying run the mem @ 1066 your FSB is below 533.)

2) This is a known issue with PC-Probe 2, on this board. Best not to use it at all. I recommend you download and run CoreTemp (http://www.thecoolest.zerobrains.com/CoreTemp/) in order to monitor your E6600's two cores. PC-Probe 2 does not provide readings from the two digital thermal sensors, positioned near the cores. These temps will be higher than what you are used to, as PC-Probe reads from a thermal diode positioned in a cooler spot on the CPU die. Keep the load temps below ~70C and you're good to go. You may also wish to purchase the fantastic Everest Ultimate, which is a complete PC monitoring tool. With Everest you can monitor all your CPU temps (CPU + Core1 + Core2), voltages, and fan speeds, as well as run diagnostics and benchmarks. Worth every penny.

3) I have read nothing positive about 1801, and would suggest flashing to 1707 (you will need to use the AFUDOS method for downgrading). You may also consider flashing to the most recent release (1901), although many have reported problems with their extreme overclocks, as a result. However, 1901 does introduce native support for the 1333 FSB, which may just help with your faster memory. Perhaps, worth a try.

ASUS P5WDH FTP:
ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/mb/socket775/P5W%20DH%20Deluxe/

4) That's a fantastic score (I get just under 2000 with essentially the same mobo/cpu/mem setup, and a ATi x800xl), but I have no idea if that's what you "should" be getting with your 8800GTX. In any case, it appears high enough that nothing major is likely wrong your rig, if anything at all.

5) No idea, but I'm sure you can find-out with Google.

6) I certainly wouldn't opt for an nForce chipset over an Intel chipset, when using an Intel CPU, but that's just me. From what I have seen, SLI support is the only thing the 680i has over the P5WDH. For pure performance, I think you're best to stay put.

-phil

 

[Butterbean]

Originally posted by: Veger
.

2) Another issue is with PC Probe 2. Twice it has reported that my CPU was at 256C? Then it goes back to 22C. The system is very stable and I am at a loss. I did order a Tuniq Tower to replace the Thermalright solution because of the push pins are very hard to push down. Has anyone have had problems with PC Probe 2 reporting like that once in a while? Is there an alternative to this software for monitoring - motherboard monitor is dead .

Wow that just happened to me an hour ago. I never use the Asus utilities but I have for the last couple days since I was looking into settings. I looked at AI Booster a few minutes ago and suddenly the neeedle was all the way over the flaming red part. I didn't know if I should expect sparks and smoke any minute. Oddly the Everest temp was also at 250 (for the board and not the cpu).

I quickly shut down and blew some frosty canned air on everything (case was open already) but realised nothing I could touch was that warm. I started up 15 mintes latter and temps were fine. Then I caught the needle snap all the way over into the red zone again (no change in Everest this time) for just a few seconds.

I expected this was all my fault since I made some experimental noob tweaks just for the hell of it. AI Booster always said my memory was running at 1.8 v when Corsair lists it at 1.9v. In bios board was not at 800 either. So I set memory to 1.9 and 800. Then timmings were 5-5-5-18 instead of 5-5-5-15 so I set that manually too. Went from 333mhz to 400 on CPUz. Temperature monitor aside I still must have buggered something since other odd things happened as well (twitching photos in folders , color fades etc). I will have to try this again after I do a back-up lol.

I returned all settings to what they were.

 

[QuietRiot]

Originally posted by: Veger
5) Will the Tuniq Tower fit this Motherboard any problems that I should be concerned about?

I own a Tuniq and it fits just fine. It is, however, a more complicated installation than just pushing the pins (as it is in the standard heatsink). You have to remove the motherboard and the Tuniq is huge so you might need to double-check if you case can handle it.

 

[Butterbean]

Corsair is now having reps answer reviews at Newegg. Can't say I have ever seen that before. I see their people in forums helping people out and I expect they are good brand. Guess I'll just wait it out.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145034

 

[Veger]

Thanks Guys for all the help.

I am still perplexed about the 1066mhz memory problem.

If I just set the FSB to Default 266 and then choose my DDR Setting and set it to 1067mhz, put the voltage to 2.2v with timings of 5-5-5-15. It will post but as soon as i go into the booting of xp or vista it reboots.

Is it the limitation of the 975x chipset? Or is my ram defective. The highest i can run the ram was at DDR2-915mhz.