*** Official ASUS P5W DH Thread ***

[phile]

Originally posted by: desk003
@phil: Awesome. I'm confused at the picture though, but I assume it'll make more sense once I recieve it. Not quite sure why one of the connectors has an X on it. I'm assuming it's two identical cables and not one and just one end is Xed out.

I wouldn't worry too much about it. Just read the manual that comes with the PSU.

-phil

 

[phile]

Originally posted by: kansaslawguy
Alright Phil, next question!

Which setting overclocks the 6600, and what is a safe minimal overclock if the processor has a TT Big Typhoon on it?

Well, I'll just give you my configuration for an easy 25% o/c (see my rig for system specs):

Jumperfree area:
FSB: 333 (3GHz)
DRAM: DDR2-833
VCORE: 1.35
VDIMM: 2.15

Chipset setup area:
SPD: disabled
Timings: 4-4-5-15
Hyperpath 3: disabled

Everything else is left at default.

Do not use my values for the two highlighted settings as they will be based on the specs for your ram.

So far, I am satisfied with this modest overclock. It was easy to achieve abd doesn't raise my temps too much.

-phil

 

[imported_MrDisco]

Originally posted by: phile

Originally posted by: MrDisco
Phile: Thank you so much for clarifying the memory settings!

I'm looking to build a system using:
E6400
Asus P5W DH

My question is the memory. Which is the better buy for this motherboard (note I will not be overclocking the system, I only care about stability): (all kits are 2gb)
OCZ 6400 Gold 5-5-5-12
OCZ 6400 Platinum 4-5-4-15
Mushkin EM 6400 5-5-5-12
Corsair XMS2 TwinX 6400 5-5-5-12

Right now the Gold is on sale for $185 (all in cdn), Platinum $210, Mushkin $238, Corsair $260. Given that the gold is the cheapest its the one I am leaning towards. Will I regret buying it?

Thank you again for your helpful comments.

Whether or not you're going to be overclocking, I would go for the OCZ Platinum PC2-6400 kit. Slightly tighter timings. The Gold kit will be just fine if you need to keep within a budget. The slight difference in timings translates to a marginal drop in performance, nothing you'll even notice. Note: at stock speed the gold kit works best with 2.0v, while the Platinum kit works best with 2.1v.

Honestly, you'd be silly not to at least modestly o/c, with either setup. You could easily achieve a 25% o/c at stock voltage and no effort. This gear is meant to be pushed.

-phil

Thank you for responding.

My reasons for not o/c'ing is I need a stable system that won't be prone to crashing/lock-ups etc and I'm a complete n00b about this. I would have no idea where to start, what to adjust, and what the impact would be (long-term damage to components? etc).
If there was a newbie guide to overclocking I would be interested in reading it!

As for the memory, I would like to keep in budget so if there isn't any noticeable difference in performance i may go with the gold. i'm kicking myself because the platinum was on sale last month and i should have grabbed it

 

[kansaslawguy]

Great! One other question. What is the easiest way to monitor my CPU temp?

 

[phile]

Originally posted by: MrDisco

Originally posted by: phile

Originally posted by: MrDisco
Phile: Thank you so much for clarifying the memory settings!

I'm looking to build a system using:
E6400
Asus P5W DH

My question is the memory. Which is the better buy for this motherboard (note I will not be overclocking the system, I only care about stability): (all kits are 2gb)
OCZ 6400 Gold 5-5-5-12
OCZ 6400 Platinum 4-5-4-15
Mushkin EM 6400 5-5-5-12
Corsair XMS2 TwinX 6400 5-5-5-12

Right now the Gold is on sale for $185 (all in cdn), Platinum $210, Mushkin $238, Corsair $260. Given that the gold is the cheapest its the one I am leaning towards. Will I regret buying it?

Thank you again for your helpful comments.

Whether or not you're going to be overclocking, I would go for the OCZ Platinum PC2-6400 kit. Slightly tighter timings. The Gold kit will be just fine if you need to keep within a budget. The slight difference in timings translates to a marginal drop in performance, nothing you'll even notice. Note: at stock speed the gold kit works best with 2.0v, while the Platinum kit works best with 2.1v.

Honestly, you'd be silly not to at least modestly o/c, with either setup. You could easily achieve a 25% o/c at stock voltage and no effort. This gear is meant to be pushed.

-phil

Thank you for responding.

My reasons for not o/c'ing is I need a stable system that won't be prone to crashing/lock-ups etc and I'm a complete n00b about this. I would have no idea where to start, what to adjust, and what the impact would be (long-term damage to components? etc).
If there was a newbie guide to overclocking I would be interested in reading it!

As for the memory, I would like to keep in budget so if there isn't any noticeable difference in performance i may go with the gold. i'm kicking myself because the platinum was on sale last month and i should have grabbed it

Don't sweat it, the Gold kit is excellent. As for overclocking, I'm a beginner overclocker, myself. Achieving a modest overclock with noticeable performance gains is easy, and doesn't require any sacrifice in stability or product life. When you're up and running, drop by for some tips.

-phil

 

[phile]

You can use Probe II, speedfan, or everest to monitor the mobo and the CPU temp measured from the diode under the CPU socket. Download CoreTemp to monitor the temps of each of the conroe's two cores.

-phil

 

[kansaslawguy]

Phil, my Jumperfree area, it doesn't say FSB, it says CPU. Set that at 333?

 

[phile]

Yes, CPU frequency is the same thing as FSB.

Set the FSB to where you want it, and then adjust the mem speed to get it as close to the stock speed as possible. If you're using PC2-6400 memory set the mem to DDR2-833 when using FSB 333.

-phil

 

[kansaslawguy]

This is the area where the max value can be 450 correct? If I set this to 333, it pushed my memory way up. I scale that back down manually?

 

[phile]

Yes. The mem speed is auto adjusted with the FSB, but not the other way around. So, set the FSB and then re-adjust the mem to where you want it to be.

-phil

 

[kansaslawguy]

Ok, these are my readings with CoreTemp, under your suggested settings:

TCaseMax: 85 C
Core #1: 44 C
Core #2: 43C

Are these at acceptable levels?

Speedfan #s:

Temp1: 41 C
Temp 2: 27C
Temp 3: 56C

HD0: 31C

 

[phile]

Your core temps look fine. For the speedfan readings, I'm not sure which temps are for which components. In any case, the core temps are the truly important temps.

With CoreTemp running, run Orthos Stress Prime (blended) for a few hours. This will stress your CPU and MEM in order to determone if your machine is stable. If your core temps never exceed high 70s you should be fine. They probably won't get that high, judging by your idle temps.

If Orthos fails, my first guess would be memory timings or memory voltage. You could try setting the SPD to enabled and trying another go with Orthos.

-phil

 

[renozi]

With my experience running a 333MHz FSB with DDR2 667 gives much better memory performance - 1:1 ratio. I'll post up some pictures of benchmarks to show what I mean.

 

[phile]

I'd like to see those.

Update:

Well, I did some benchmarking of my own, with the mem downclocked to DDR2-666 from DDR2-833 (FSB 333). It seems that running the mem downclocked and without a divider, produces interesting results.

FSB-333
DDR2-833
4:5 divider

3DMark06: 1926
3DMark05: 5899
3DMark03: 11037
3DMark2001 / SE: 34836
PCMark05: 6799


FSB-333
DDR2-666
1:1 (no divider)

3DMark06: 1933
3DMark05: 5902
3DMark03: 13053
3DMark2001 / SE: 34876
PCMark05: 7046


Big gains in 3DMark03 and PCMark05. Essentially, no difference with the others.

I also did some memory benchmarks with Everest Ultimate and found essentially no difference there, either. It seems clear that running downclocked and without a divider has little to no negative performance hit in most cases, while providing a decent performance boost in others.

-phil

 

[kansaslawguy]

What setting removes the divider in the BIOS?

 

[phile]

A divider is used based on the ratio between your memory clock and CPU clock (FSB). It's done automatically by the board. To get this ratio, you compare the FSB to the real memory clock. The real memory clock is 1/2 your effective memory speed. So, if you're running your mem at DDR2-800, the real memory clock is 400MHz. The effective clock is 800MHz because DDR is dual data-rate.

So, if you're running FSB 266 and DDR2-800, the FSB:MEM ratio is 266/400 or 2:3. To run your mem at this FSB without a divider, you would have to downclock your mem to DDR2-533 - 266/266 or 1:1, thus no divider.

-phil

 

[kansaslawguy]

So, since I'm running my FSB at 333, once I downclock my memory to 666, I have effectively removed the divider. Correct?

 

[phile]

Exactly correct.

So, your rig is nice and stable at 333?

-phil

 

[kansaslawguy]

I can't seem to get that stability test to run. It keeps saying it is missing Worker.DLL or something of that nature, so I haven't been able to stress load the system.

But I played Oblivion and World of Warcraft for a bit last night, and the system showed no signs of error. If you have an idea for a different stress test for my system, I'd definitely love to hear about it.

 

[mikepaul]

CPU cooler, anyone? Bored that Ghost 2003 straight off the CD won't run (and Symantec has dropped support so the LiveUpdate that probably would run isn't being delivered anymore), I set BIOS parameters per an overclocking story and rebooted about 12 seconds into loading Windows. So I backed off to just running the memory at 6400 for now.

I believe my full-tower case has the headroom for any cooler I've seen, but is there one great one that fits the P5W with no hassles?...

 

[kansaslawguy]

I used the Big Typhoon, it worked great, and installed easily.

 

[phile]

Originally posted by: kansaslawguy
I can't seem to get that stability test to run. It keeps saying it is missing Worker.DLL or something of that nature, so I haven't been able to stress load the system.

But I played Oblivion and World of Warcraft for a bit last night, and the system showed no signs of error. If you have an idea for a different stress test for my system, I'd definitely love to hear about it.

Try this one:
http://sp2004.fre3.com/beta/orthos_exe_060420.cab

Extract to a folder and then run the .exe.

-phil

 

[kansaslawguy]

Awesome, when I get back home I'll post the results.

 

[touchstone1]

Originally posted by: mikepaul
CPU cooler, anyone?
<snip>
I believe my full-tower case has the headroom for any cooler I've seen, but is there one great one that fits the P5W with no hassles?...

Zalman CNPS9500-AT fits nicely, and easily, in a tower case.

 

[imported_MrDisco]

I'm probably going to get another Scythe Ninja, or perhaps the Scythe Mine (I just ordered the E6600 and Antec P180 case..now I just need the mobo+ram)