Originally posted by: FoeHammer
I have just built a brand new rig with the P5W DH Deluxe(except for the video card as I am waiting for the 8900s or new ATI card) here are the specs.
Intel QX6700
2 gigs: Corsair Twin2X2048-6400C4D (4-4-4-12)
1xWD1500ADFD Raptor
1xWD740ADFD Raptor
Plextor PX755-SA (connected to SATA port 3)
Zalman CNPS9700NT
Thermaltake 750W Modular PSU
HIS Radeon ATI 850XT
Creative X-Fi Extreme Music Sound Card
I have the bios updated to 1901, no problems or post messages. I have set the ram timings to 4-4-4-12 and the memory to DDR-800, the memory volatge is at 2.1v, but I heard some people saying that 2.2 may be more stable? Suggestions.
Go with whatever the rated voltage is for your ram, when running at rated speed. I suspect it's either 2.0v or 2.1v, so you should be quite fine at 2.1v.
First question is: Do I need to change the FSB which is at 266mhz to something higher? And if I do that do I need to change the voltage and if so which settings in the bios is that?
If you boost the FSB you will be, in effect, overclocking your rig. If/when you do decide to overclock, you do have some headroom to play in, while leaving the CPU voltage at auto. There will be a point (different for every user), however, where you will hit a FSB wall, and thus be required to boost the CPU voltage. This is all trial and error, so be prepared to spend the time adjusting the voltage in small increments, until you achieve a stable overclock.
I don't want to overclock my Quad Core right now, but do want to make sure the FSB is running in sync with the ram I have.
In order to run your memory in sync with the stock FSB - 266MHz - you will need to reduce your mem speed to DDR2-533. As you have it right now, you board is using the 2:3 MEM:FSB divider, since you are running the mem at a faster bus speed than the CPU bus speed. To calculate this ratio, you simply compare the real CPU clock and real memory clock. The real CPU clock is the FSB, and the real memory clock is the DDR2 setting divided by two. Remember, DDR memory is dual data rate, so the speed setting is actually the effective clock. For example: DDR2-800 = 400MHz real clock and 800MHz effective clock. To run your mem at its rated speed of 800MHz (effective) you would need to boost your FSB to 400. Leaving you system as is will be perfectly fine, as using memory dividers has an essentially negligible impact on performance.
Second Question: Should a disable the Q-Fan for better overall temperature? It seems to be adjusting the Zalman just fine overall.
If you're happy with the performance of the fan, go ahead and leave QFAN enabled. Since you're not overclocking, you should be just fine with the fan at lower RPM.
Third Question: Should I disable the Jmicron Controller if I dont intend to use those SATA ports?
A great rule of thumb: disable anything you are not using. So, yes.
-phil