*** Official ASUS P5W DH Thread ***

[phile]

Originally posted by: luckyinfil
I've installed 2 sticks of matching ram. One in each colour. When i use cpuz it still says single channel. How do i make it dual channel? also, how do i configure this mobo to have the fastest bootup? right now it seems to be going thru that pictre screen, then it shows the amount of memory, and then says smoehting about sata or somehting like that and detecting drives. How do i get it to boot up to windows faster?

re: fast boot
Quickboot is enabled by default. What you're seeing is the normal POST. If it's taking a long time, it may be due to USB storage devices.

re: dual channel
You need to have a DIMM in each channel, in order to run dual channel. Right now, it sounds as if you have both DIMMS in channel #1.

Channel #1 = Slot 1 + Slot 2
Channel #2 = Slot 3 + Slot 4

To run dual channel, install the DIMMS in Slot 1 and Slot 3. Make sure you power-off the power supply before removing and replacing the DIMMS.

-phil

 

[nrs251]

Tom's Hardware Analysis of Memory Bus Speeds VS. Read/Write Performance.

I didn't realize that the difference between DDR2-880 and DDR2-667 was 6% on read and 18% on write.

 

[Billyzeke]

Originally posted by: phile

Starting with the boot issue: do you have any USB storage devices connected? That's usually the culprit when suffering from long POST times.

re: temp change
The drop in your temps is definitely a result of both the lower vcore and disabling of Qfan. You have less voltage, and better airflow since your CPU fan will now spin at 100% rpm. Your temps are still a bit high. Nothing to worry about, but not as low as they could be. What is your ambient room temp? Do you have at least one intake fan at the front of the case, and one exhaust at the back? Good airflow through the case is key.

re: low vcore
Yes, it's perfectly safe to undervolt, as long as the machine passes stability tests.

-phil

I dont have any USB storage devices connected. My mouse and keyboard are both USB
and they are the only things I have connected right now besides speakers and modem. The bios message says usb controllers done then 2048 MB OK then thats when nothing happens for a while I havent actually timed it but its way slower than my old machine.

My ambient room temp is usually between 71 and 75 fahrenheit.
I have 2 80mm fans sucking cool air in the front, and 1 sucking hot air out the back. Yesterday I took the side of the case off and felt of the cpu heatsink after running Orthos
and it was just warm not hot at all. I am using the stock HSF by the way. Maybe I should look into an aftermarket cooler. I also thought about modding my case and installing a 120mm fan in the rear, but Im not sure how much that would help though. When you say the temps are still a bit high what should I be shooting for?

Oh and one more question: On speedfan it says my PSU running at 122C. Is that even possible? Its the warmest thing in case but not too hot to touch. I think its probably a software bug.

 

[phile]

Originally posted by: Billyzeke

Originally posted by: phile

Starting with the boot issue: do you have any USB storage devices connected? That's usually the culprit when suffering from long POST times.

re: temp change
The drop in your temps is definitely a result of both the lower vcore and disabling of Qfan. You have less voltage, and better airflow since your CPU fan will now spin at 100% rpm. Your temps are still a bit high. Nothing to worry about, but not as low as they could be. What is your ambient room temp? Do you have at least one intake fan at the front of the case, and one exhaust at the back? Good airflow through the case is key.

re: low vcore
Yes, it's perfectly safe to undervolt, as long as the machine passes stability tests.

-phil

I dont have any USB storage devices connected. My mouse and keyboard are both USB
and they are the only things I have connected right now besides speakers and modem. The bios message says usb controllers done then 2048 MB OK then thats when nothing happens for a while I havent actually timed it but its way slower than my old machine.

My ambient room temp is usually between 71 and 75 fahrenheit.
I have 2 80mm fans sucking cool air in the front, and 1 sucking hot air out the back. Yesterday I took the side of the case off and felt of the cpu heatsink after running Orthos
and it was just warm not hot at all. I am using the stock HSF by the way. Maybe I should look into an aftermarket cooler. I also thought about modding my case and installing a 120mm fan in the rear, but Im not sure how much that would help though. When you say the temps are still a bit high what should I be shooting for?

Oh and one more question: On speedfan it says my PSU running at 122C. Is that even possible? Its the warmest thing in case but not too hot to touch. I think its probably a software bug.

That speedfan reading sounds bogus. I've noticed many others get wild readings from speedfan, as well. I rely on Everest Ultimate for complete system monitoring - all temps, voltages and fan speeds. I also use CoreTemp as a comparison with Everest's core readings.

For the long POST, have you tried a different BIOS version? Also, this may not help, but make sure no mice or keyboards are connected to the bottom two USB slots, on the back of the case. Slots 3 and 4 are "always on" ports for the remote, and such. They can be used for other devices, but problems seem to occur with input devices, like mice and keyboards.

To give you an idea of my temps:

IDLE
CPU: 28C
Core1: 44C
Core2: 45C

LOAD (peak temps with Orthos small FFTs)
CPU: ~40C
Core1: ~60C
Core2: ~60C

That's with an ambient temp of around 22C-24C, and overclocked to 3GHz (1.35 vcore).

I'm using a Noctua NH-U12 w/ 2 x 120mm 42 CFM fans. My case has 4 80mm fans - 2 intake and 2 exhaust.

-phil

 

[greg20]

Originally posted by: phile

Originally posted by: greg20

Right now I'm running the Orthos stress test, 29 minutes into it and everything seems ok. CoreTemp is reporting each core at 79C though (stock cooling, plastic removed, north/south bridge not reseated with AS5 yet (waiting a bit on that to see how the board is on its own)).

I'll probably end up with an aftermarket HSF as well.

Your core temps are very high for stock speeds and voltages. You may want to check your HSF to make sure that it's making good contact with the CPU heatspreader. Many people have needed a few attempts to get the stock cooler properly mounted. An aftermarket cooler is definitely the way to go, since you plan to overclock. With my current setup (see my rig) my load core temps, when running Orthos Small FFTs, never exceed 60C.

-phil

Well, I tried what you suggested, and I've dropped about 10 deg. C overall since I last posted. I was running idle in the low 50s and maxing out at 79-80 during Orthos. Now I idle in the mid-40s and Orthos seems to be maxing out at 69-70.

Still not ideal, but it's an improvement. Specifically what I did was reseat the processor, turn a fan around, and disable Qfan so my fans are always at 100% now. I suspect that had the biggest difference out of the 3 changes.

The stock HSF thermal compound seemed to be pretty "spotty" between the HSF and the heat spreader when I removed it. I'm not sure how else to describe it, beside the fact that I know that too much isn't good either, but it didn't really seem to have full coverage across the heat spreader. I left that as is and reseated it, making sure that each of the 4 corners clicked into place.

I'm using a new Lian-Li PC-60BPLUSII case. There's one 120 mm fan at the front drawing air in, one 80 mm at the rear drawing air out, one 80 mm on the top ('blowhole') drawing air out, and a 120 mm on the side drawing air in. That one had been blowing air out, so I turned it around.

The 120 mm front intake air does pass over my dual Seagate 7200.10 Barracuda 250 MB drives in RAID 0. Also, my PSU is a 700W OCZ and doesn't seem to be running excessively warm.

Ambient room temp is warm and it is about 76 deg F.

I do have AS5 from my old PC, from the Zalman 7000 I used on that one. What's an appropriate way to remove the Conroe's stock HSF compound and apply the AS5 correctly? Anything else I should look at short of an aftermarket cooler?

I'm not overclocking anything right now, it's all stock.

Also, my new memory is on its way.

Thanks.

 

[phile]

Originally posted by: greg20

Originally posted by: phile

Originally posted by: greg20

Right now I'm running the Orthos stress test, 29 minutes into it and everything seems ok. CoreTemp is reporting each core at 79C though (stock cooling, plastic removed, north/south bridge not reseated with AS5 yet (waiting a bit on that to see how the board is on its own)).

I'll probably end up with an aftermarket HSF as well.

Your core temps are very high for stock speeds and voltages. You may want to check your HSF to make sure that it's making good contact with the CPU heatspreader. Many people have needed a few attempts to get the stock cooler properly mounted. An aftermarket cooler is definitely the way to go, since you plan to overclock. With my current setup (see my rig) my load core temps, when running Orthos Small FFTs, never exceed 60C.

-phil

Well, I tried what you suggested, and I've dropped about 10 deg. C overall since I last posted. I was running idle in the low 50s and maxing out at 79-80 during Orthos. Now I idle in the mid-40s and Orthos seems to be maxing out at 69-70.

Still not ideal, but it's an improvement. Specifically what I did was reseat the processor, turn a fan around, and disable Qfan so my fans are always at 100% now. I suspect that had the biggest difference out of the 3 changes.

The stock HSF thermal compound seemed to be pretty "spotty" between the HSF and the heat spreader when I removed it. I'm not sure how else to describe it, beside the fact that I know that too much isn't good either, but it didn't really seem to have full coverage across the heat spreader. I left that as is and reseated it, making sure that each of the 4 corners clicked into place.

I'm using a new Lian-Li PC-60BPLUSII case. There's one 120 mm fan at the front drawing air in, one 80 mm at the rear drawing air out, one 80 mm on the top ('blowhole') drawing air out, and a 120 mm on the side drawing air in. That one had been blowing air out, so I turned it around.

The 120 mm front intake air does pass over my dual Seagate 7200.10 Barracuda 250 MB drives in RAID 0. Also, my PSU is a 700W OCZ and doesn't seem to be running excessively warm.

Ambient room temp is warm and it is about 76 deg F.

I do have AS5 from my old PC, from the Zalman 7000 I used on that one. What's an appropriate way to remove the Conroe's stock HSF compound and apply the AS5 correctly? Anything else I should look at short of an aftermarket cooler?

I'm not overclocking anything right now, it's all stock.

Also, my new memory is on its way.

Thanks.

It sounds like you your CPU heatspreader is slightly concave, as was mine, and many others out there. I actually bit the bullet and lapped (sanded) mine flat. In doing so, you also remove the nickel plating, exposing the nice copper surface. Doing so ensured an almost perfect mating of the HSF and CPU, providing much better thermal transfer. That may sound like a radical thing to do, but it really isn't. With the proper materials and guidance, it's essentially no-risk. The only real negative is that you most certainly void the warranty. That doesn't bother me as I've never had a defective CPU.

You can use Isopropyl Alcohol and Q-TIPS to clean off the old gunk. If you don't plan to overclock, see how the stock cooler does with some AS5, rather than the stock compound.

-phil

 

[greg20]

That sounds good, don't think I'm quite ready for lapping it yet. I'd go for an aftermarket cooler on its own, at least to start, before lapping.

I'll give it a shot with the stock HSF + AS5 and see how it does.

 

[markdd]

New at this thanks to many who posted here first try dumb luck?

Stable (3=hrs dual prime95 & 8+ hrs Orthos)

I managed an overclock of 3.2 GHz, FSB 400, from 2.13 fsb 266
SpeedFan reports 29C rest/40C stress
CoreTemp reports 45C rest/52C stress

Intel Core 2 Duo 6400
Motherboard: Asus P5W DH Deluxe (Bios 1407)
RAM: OCZ Platinum Revision 2GB PC-6400 DDR2 800 MHz
CPU HEATSINK: Thermalright Ultra-90
PSU: OCZ600ADJSLI 600W Power Supply
GRAPHICS CARD: XFX Geforce 7600GT COOLING AVC-NV6

Settings:
CPU Freq 400
Dram Auto
set DRAM timing 4-4-4-15-6
PCI Express Freq = 100
PCI Frequency = 33.33 MHz
Vmem= 2.15
Vcore= 1.425
FSB Term V= 1.50
MCH V= 1.65
ICH V= auto

What now?

 

[phile]

I would suggest you declare victory and proceed to enjoy your excellent o/c.

-phil

 

[Skott]

Well Done! You could try for higher but what you already have now is pretty darn good. I guess it comes down to how lucky you are feeling. 3.4 is possible. You need to hit 425fsb to do it. Let us know what you decide.

 

[NightSonic19]

Hello everybody,

I'm new here and would like to know if the P5W DH is a better motherboard choice than the P5B Deluxe. This is going to be my first build,the parts im going to use are in my sig and I was wondering if anybody knew if the Crucial Ballistix ram is compatible with the P5W DH.

 

[yessir]

Originally posted by: NightSonic19
Hello everybody,

I'm new here and would like to know if the P5W DH is a better motherboard choice than the P5B Deluxe. This is going to be my first build,the parts im going to use are in my sig and I was wondering if anybody knew if the Crucial Ballistix ram is compatible with the P5W DH.

Hi Nightsonic19...

Welcome to the board and others here are more knowledgeable than me. On page 47 of this same thread another person has this memory working fine with ASUS P5W DH. Per my experience, this board is quite good (don't know much about P5B though). Based on my research, I would stick with P975 Vs P965 (P5B is this one, I think) for future upgrades, etc...

You would not go wrong with crucial memory (I got OCZ before the prices skyrocketted...boy did it go way north). BTW, get a good case with great air flow (I made a mistake there).

Thanks and good luck

 

[phile]

From what I have observed over at the xtremesystems forums, if you're planning to significantly overclock (50% or more) it would appear that the P5B Deluxe is the slightly better choice. Slightly. Beyond that, both boards are great.

One thing to note: if you have more than 2 IDE (PATA) devices, you will need to buy an expansion card for the P5B Deluxe. This is because the P965/ICH8R southbridge chipset on the P5B has no IDE/PATA controller. The board comes with a third-party controller for PATA devices, and only one port. So, two devices maximum. The 975X/ICH7R on the P5WDH has one port, plus a third party controller with one additional port. So, with the P5WDH, you can connect up to 4 PATA devices.

-phil

 

[greg20]

Originally posted by: greg20
Also, my new memory is on its way.

Thanks.

I received the new RAM today and it passed 3 passes of MemTest with 0 errors, so I'm declaring a victory there.

 

[phile]

Glad to hear that.

-phil

 

[Ziggy1111]

Hello,

Overything is running fine except for 2 things, i have 2 optical drives in my system on the black port recognised fine and all working except that whenever i put in a emty dvd i cant burn on it and its not recognised both my dvd writers have this problem. If the dvd has data on it theres no problem and it recognised fine. In my old system this problem wasnt there using same dvds, also when i put in dvd rw i cant rewrite it its only recognised when something is on it but i cant rewrite it? Anyone knows a solution for this??
I have tried connecting my opticals to the blue port same problem.

My second problem is im using two old hds ide and one sata 2 with windows on it on the sata1 connector, bios recognises everything but the sata 2 drive is working at ide speeds when i set bios to ahci system keeps rebooting itself. Do i need to install windows again with the f6 option for this to work at sata 2 speeds??

So plz help me on my dvd problem and my sata 2 problem if possible

Thnx in advance
Ziggy

 

[NightSonic19]

Thanks yessir and phil. I think I should go with the P5W DH since I have 2 IDE HDD's and a DVD burner.
I currently have a Raidmax Sagitta case,I think the airflow in it is good enough.

 

[phile]

Originally posted by: Ziggy1111
Hello,

Overything is running fine except for 2 things, i have 2 optical drives in my system on the black port recognised fine and all working except that whenever i put in a emty dvd i cant burn on it and its not recognised both my dvd writers have this problem. If the dvd has data on it theres no problem and it recognised fine. In my old system this problem wasnt there using same dvds, also when i put in dvd rw i cant rewrite it its only recognised when something is on it but i cant rewrite it? Anyone knows a solution for this??
I have tried connecting my opticals to the blue port same problem.

My second problem is im using two old hds ide and one sata 2 with windows on it on the sata1 connector, bios recognises everything but the sata 2 drive is working at ide speeds when i set bios to ahci system keeps rebooting itself. Do i need to install windows again with the f6 option for this to work at sata 2 speeds??

So plz help me on my dvd problem and my sata 2 problem if possible

Thnx in advance
Ziggy

If you want to switch to AHCI mode after installing windows, carefully follow these instructions:
http://www.neowin.net/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t457699.html

Once that is done, install the latest Intel Matrix Storage driver:
http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scripts...ct_Filter.aspx?ProductID=2101&lang=eng

I'm still using a SATA1 drive, but recall reading something about there being a jumper on SATA2 drives that you need to set in order for the drive to operate in SATA2 mode. I'm not sure if this is the case with your drive, but have a look.

Regarding your optical drives, have you tried a different cable? Have you tried each drive alone, as master? Which BIOS are you using? The latest is 1407. Not sure what else to suggest.

-phil

 

[Athkatla]

After running twice, 2 threads of blend test of Orthos for about 2 hours my M/B started beeping and orthos reported:
"FATAL ERROR: Rounding was 0.5, expected less than 0.4
Hardware failure detected, consult stress.txt file."

The CPU temperature after the test failed was at 37 C with PC Probe and at 51C - 47C with CoreTemp.

Im using stock CPU fun, 1x12 front and 1x12 rear case funs

Assuming those Temperatures are normal how can I improve the stability of my system?
Im not intended to Overclock my system for the time being.

P5WDH deluxe (1305)
Cpu E6400 at 2.13Ghz
Bios Vcore: 1.35v
Pci Xpress: 90
Pci : 33.3
FSB : 1.20v
MCH : 1.50v
ICH : 1.05v

2x1Gb DDR2 @ 800 Ocz Platinum 4-5-4-15 (OCZ2P8002GK)
Bios Vdim: 2.1v
Memory has been tested with Memtest for about 7 hours with no problems.

ATI 1950xtx
WD Raptor 150gb
SB X-Fi Extreme Music
600w Tagan Easycon XL

thanks in advance

 

[phile]

Originally posted by: Athkatla
After running twice, 2 threads of blend test of Orthos for about 2 hours my M/B started beeping and orthos reported:
"FATAL ERROR: Rounding was 0.5, expected less than 0.4
Hardware failure detected, consult stress.txt file."

The CPU temperature after the test failed was at 37 C with PC Probe and at 51C - 47C with CoreTemp.

Im using stock CPU fun, 1x12 front and 1x12 rear case funs

Assuming those Temperatures are normal how can I improve the stability of my system?
Im not intended to Overclock my system for the time being.

P5WDH deluxe (1305)
Cpu E6400 at 2.13Ghz
Bios Vcore: 1.35v
Pci Xpress: 90
Pci : 33.3
FSB : 1.20v
MCH : 1.50v
ICH : 1.05v

2x1Gb DDR2 @ 800 Ocz Platinum 4-5-4-15 (OCZ2P8002GK)
Bios Vdim: 2.1v
Memory has been tested with Memtest for about 7 hours with no problems.

ATI 1950xtx
WD Raptor 150gb
SB X-Fi Extreme Music
600w Tagan Easycon XL

thanks in advance

A few points:

The BIOS transposes the two middle mem timing values, so the timings should be entered like this: 4-4-5-15.

Since you are running at stock, all your voltages, except for memory voltage, can be left at AUTO. Re-run Orthos with these changes and see what happens.

-phil

 

[SavageThrash]

Well, i belive skott siad that the ocz mem prices have skytrocketed. Some type of ram down here have gone up a 100$

The first type of ram i got was http://www.infonec.ca/site/main.php?module=detail&id=17721

when it was at 225. i ended up takign it back and spent the extra money for http://www.infonec.ca/site/main.php?module=detail&id=129732

which was 275 at the time. Since then the gold memory is at 325 and the platinum is 290 ( the platinum had fluxuated all the way down to 250 or so then went back up)

Now i have 3 questions. First off what cause the price changes, second which is the better of the 2 types of ram the plat or the gold and thrid i heard something that the plat ram i got has a revision 2 or something of that matter what is that and how can i tell if i have it?

Thnx again Savage

 

[Athkatla]

Originally posted by: phile

Originally posted by: Athkatla
After running twice, 2 threads of blend test of Orthos for about 2 hours my M/B started beeping and orthos reported:
"FATAL ERROR: Rounding was 0.5, expected less than 0.4
Hardware failure detected, consult stress.txt file."

The CPU temperature after the test failed was at 37 C with PC Probe and at 51C - 47C with CoreTemp.

Im using stock CPU fun, 1x12 front and 1x12 rear case funs

Assuming those Temperatures are normal how can I improve the stability of my system?
Im not intended to Overclock my system for the time being.

P5WDH deluxe (1305)
Cpu E6400 at 2.13Ghz
Bios Vcore: 1.35v
Pci Xpress: 90
Pci : 33.3
FSB : 1.20v
MCH : 1.50v
ICH : 1.05v

2x1Gb DDR2 @ 800 Ocz Platinum 4-5-4-15 (OCZ2P8002GK)
Bios Vdim: 2.1v
Memory has been tested with Memtest for about 7 hours with no problems.

ATI 1950xtx
WD Raptor 150gb
SB X-Fi Extreme Music
600w Tagan Easycon XL

thanks in advance

A few points:

The BIOS transposes the two middle mem timing values, so the timings should be entered like this: 4-4-5-15.

Since you are running at stock, all your voltages, except for memory voltage, can be left at AUTO. Re-run Orthos with these changes and see what happens.

-phil

timings in bios are 4-4-5-15
Hyper Path 3 is Disabled
Throttling is Auto

Ill change everything to auto except vdimm and ill post results

thanks

 

[Ziggy1111]

Hi guys,

I have set the bios to ahci now following those steps in the neowin guide worked fine. But i think my sata 2 drive is still running at ide speeds. On startup in bios its recognised as third ide master and when i benchmark it it doesnt go higher then 60mb/sec. Thats not right is it??

Im using bios 1305

Thnx
Ziggy

 

[phile]

Originally posted by: SavageThrash
Well, i belive skott siad that the ocz mem prices have skytrocketed. Some type of ram down here have gone up a 100$

The first type of ram i got was http://www.infonec.ca/site/main.php?module=detail&id=17721

when it was at 225. i ended up takign it back and spent the extra money for http://www.infonec.ca/site/main.php?module=detail&id=129732

which was 275 at the time. Since then the gold memory is at 325 and the platinum is 290 ( the platinum had fluxuated all the way down to 250 or so then went back up)

Now i have 3 questions. First off what cause the price changes, second which is the better of the 2 types of ram the plat or the gold and thrid i heard something that the plat ram i got has a revision 2 or something of that matter what is that and how can i tell if i have it?

Thnx again Savage

re: mem prices
It's not just OCZ ram, but all DDR2 memory that has surged in price. It's simply a matter of supply and demand, with respect to the ICs used for DDR2.

re: which is better
The Platinum rev.2 are the best of the 3 kits mentioned. They run at slightly tighter timings (4-4-4-15) than the rev.1 kit (4-5-4-15). They may even overclock a bit better. and the Gold kit brings up the rear, with its 5-5-5-12 timings.

You can tell which kit you have by looking at the sticker on each DIMM. It will list the rated timings. You can also check the product code in CPUZ.

Rev.1: OCZ2P8002GK
Rev.2: OCZ2P800R22GK

These product numbers refer to a matched pair kit, and not the individual stick. In any case, look for the extra "R2" in the product code.

-phil

 

[mikepaul]

Well, the Great Hole Cutting Project has just about wrapped up. Some paint to cover up a failed attempt (don't go out and buy a drill press AFTER making the center hole, unless you KNOW the press is big enough to drill there too) and it'll be done. 120MM Antec fan looks cool.

http://www.mikepaul.com/fan_1.jpg

http://www.mikepaul.com/fan_2.jpg

My E6300 set at 2.8Ghz hasn't stayed running all night until last night with new fan. Stress-testing is for tonight, with fingers crossed.

Still no word back from ASUS about my potential CMOS problem running the 1407 BIOS. I don't want to rip the motherboard out and do all the NB/SB cooling work until I'm sure this board is a keeper...