The Unofficial ASUS P5N-E SLI 650i Board Thread

[GreyGeezer]

Originally posted by: AMelbye
I'm sure it's just the case of a damaged batch or something. However, like i mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I'd rather go for the Gigabyte GA-N650SLI-DS4 these days.

Although my system is now stable, I haven't had this amount of trouble with a motherboard for years.

I think it's ridicules how many awards this board has recieved considering the problems it has.

I didn't search through your earlier posts, but what trouble have you had? I was blessed with a trouble free installation, and have been running trouble free since February...

I do like the look of the GA-N650SLI-DS4, with it's optical outputs and legacy connections. Was not out when I purchased my P5N-E.

 

[AMelbye]

The problems I have had are mostly related to ram. the board is very picky. in the first set I got, one of the sticks didn't work properly, still it worked fine in other setups.
Auto RAM settings don't work, neither does the SLI memory capability that it even says on the box (basically just a way to easily OC your ram I think. Not that usefull really, but I'd still like it to work)
The Yellow memory slots can't handle more than about 667MHz, and neither black or yellow can handle 1T (still, this is what it sets itself to if you use auto settings, beat that one!)
There is a significant vcore drop whenever the processor is under heavy load (within intel specs, but still not very good)
There are loads of memory/fsb holes (and asus hasn't even supplied us with a list of what will work, and what won't)
The board won't even boot with my antec neo he 500 PSU (though I'm mostly blaming the PSU for that one)

 

[GreyGeezer]

Originally posted by: AMelbye
The problems I have had are mostly related to ram. the board is very picky. in the first set I got, one of the sticks didn't work properly, still it worked fine in other setups.
Auto RAM settings don't work, neither does the SLI memory capability that it even says on the box (basically just a way to easily OC your ram I think. Not that usefull really, but I'd still like it to work)
The Yellow memory slots can't handle more than about 667MHz, and neither black or yellow can handle 1T (still, this is what it sets itself to if you use auto settings, beat that one!)
There is a significant vcore drop whenever the processor is under heavy load (within intel specs, but still not very good)
There are loads of memory/fsb holes (and asus hasn't even supplied us with a list of what will work, and what won't)
The board won't even boot with my antec neo he 500 PSU (though I'm mostly blaming the PSU for that one)

That Sucks!

I have 2 gb BPK from G.Skill, and booted right up. Never tried 1T, and I agree the vdroop is horrible. I bought a Sunbeam Nuuo 550 on sale; it worked-nothing fancy.

I'm currently running 1.36 vcore on a xeon 3060 for 3.2 o/c, 42C (Summer over-clock, my computer room last week was 34C !!). I'm happy with this setup.

 

[Rytr]

Originally posted by: etrader2050
What's so good about the p5n-e that steps ahead of the competition?

It doesn't mainly because of the Vdroop and lack of support. But the other 650i's can.
But it is a fun board to fool with so I am just going to give the P5Ne another shot for that reason and because I have an OEM Vista OS attached to it that either I use it or lose it. Besides it does run good so no use letting it go to waste and one of my friends or family can get some use out of it.

 

[sams0040]

Is there a way to set the SATA to IDE mode like some other MOBO did?

Thanks in advance.

 

[sams0040]

bump!

 

[sc00terx]

Originally posted by: AMelbye
I'm sure it's just the case of a damaged batch or something. However, like i mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I'd rather go for the Gigabyte GA-N650SLI-DS4 these days.

Although my system is now stable, I haven't had this amount of trouble with a motherboard for years.

I think it's ridicules how many awards this board has recieved considering the problems it has.

yup i just set up 2 other systems with 650i chipsets and they went well one on a abit and one on a giga board both worked out of the box with the cpu`s i was useing no bios update to be seen

booted no problem oc`d them to 3.0 and they ran great

asus cost me over £80 and i got nothing from it i think there service is so bad but if it was not for you lot in here and other boards i think they would be bust by now imo

thanks for all the info and help

i still want to make a setup with a asus thoe lol dam

sc00terx ,,, also sorry for eny typos :/

 

[AMelbye]

sams0040: sorry, I don't have a clue what you're on about.

I'm having issues getting a stable over clock. The system runs any stress test app just fine, still it freezes every 2 or 3 days when I'm doing random tasks, like just listening to a CD.

Could you guys please post some fsb/ram speed combinations that definitely work?
The highest stable speed I've managed so far is 1333/800
At the moment I'm running at 1820/795, but it crashed last night. I bumped the nb voltage up to 1.5x after that, to see if that makes the difference.

Also, when a component is getting insufficent voltage. will the system crash, or will it simply not boot?
Same for the memory holes, will this cause crashes, or fail to boot?

 

[JustaGeek]

AMelbye,

I think that your Southbridge is overheating. Please read my post on ASUS forum:

http://vip.asus.com/forum/view...page=1&SLanguage=en-us

The heatsink should cover the whole chipset area to work properly, IMHO.

Hope this helps.

 

[Tuvoc]

Originally posted by: JustaGeek
The heatsink should cover the whole chipset area to work properly, IMHO.

I agree 100%

 

[AMelbye]

that seems like a good point. I'll have to get a different south bridge cooler. Any recommandations? I'd prefer fanless. That way I'm ensured silence, and I can still add a fan if I want at a later point. How about the Zalman ZMNB47J? Does it perform as well as the more expensive ones?

That was actually the cooler I had in mind when I decided to go for the larger ZM-NBF47. As noone seemed to know if it'd fit, I thought I'd give it a try

 

[JustaGeek]

AMelbye,

Any heatsink will perform better then a flat piece of silicon by creating a much larger heat dissipation area. The Zalman heatsink that you have mentioned has been used by many members of this forum, but it will obstruct the second PCIe slot for SLI.

Also, you have not specified the Video Card in your signature. Depending on it's power requirements, your 500W PSU of an unknown brand might not be enough, especially for a highly OC'd system. And judging by the amount of heat produced by the chipsets on this MB, it needs a large amount of power, too.

If all else fails, I would strongly recommend the processor HSF with a fan directed towards the motherboard (like the stock one, but more powerful). This way not only the processor, but all the components around (including the Northbridge) will get a continuous flow of air. But this is just a personal opinion...

And... the most recommended and stable BIOS to date seems to be the 0401. But that would be the last resort - I am still running on 0202, perfectly stable so far...

Good luck!

IMHO: Insufficient voltage - boot failure or system crash.
Memory hole - boot failure.

 

[Rytr]

Any low profile 40x40mm aluminum or copper heatsink will work. Here: http://www.nvnews.net/reviews/..._platinum/page_5.shtml in the last pic at the bottom of the page you can see the P5N-E with a generic blue aluminum heatsink on the SB attached with an thermal adhesive pad that keeps temps <50C in a well ventilated case with the system running at up to 3.4GHz.
I have new parts (e6600, GSkill, Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme) coming in tommorrow to get this board going again.

 

[AMelbye]

Until recently I used a 350W Aopen PSU. It worked fine, but I changed it as my system wasn't entirely stable. IMO the PSU was not the problem, as nothing improved when I changed it. My display adapter is not power hungry at all, and I only use 1 pci slot+2optical and 1 HD, so I think 500W should be fine.

I'll look into placing a 92mm fan exhaust fan at the back of the cab. That should help cooling the mosfets quite well I think. There isn't an exhaust fan atm, though the psu has a 120mm in it. I'll also replace the 80mm intake with a 120.

Hopefully that'll sort everything. I'm quite annoyed with how I can't get the results everyone else can. I see people reaching the same (or better) results as me even with no additional cooling

 

[Tuvoc]

That PSU should definitely be fine, the FSP power supplies have a very good reputation

 

[JustaGeek]

You are right, with 2 x 18A 12V rails it does seem like a good PSU.

BTW, as you can see in my sig, I am a "conservative" overclocker, and am really happy with the stable machine at 1300 FSB. I see that AMelbye has reached 1820FSB, which is pretty "darn" good IMO! The problem of stability might lay in memory - at these high FSB frequencies, the bandwidth required of memory rises dramatically. My G-Skill with Micron chips is "pumping" ~6400MB/s according to SANDRA, and memory read in Everest is about 8500MB/s. For comparison, the previous memory chips from OCZ, rated at 667MHz, were good for only 4600 in Sandra, and 5400 in Everest.

But 1820 FSB is a pretty impressive overclock anyway!

 

[AMelbye]

Justageek:
well, 1820 FSB isn't totally stable though. it's down to 1500 FSB now, and I'm hoping that this will stabilize it until i've fitted a more suitable sb cooler.

I've had this board running at 2000 as well, but not entirely stable.

As my cpu comes with a 7x multiplier, I need significantly higher fsb to get the same results as you get. I wish I'd bought the 4300 in stead. it's cheaper, and I'd get the results I want easier (I would be able to reach 3GHz without additional cooling on the motherboard). The bottom line is that any c2d processor can do about 3.5GHz if you put an aftermarket cooler on it. the major difference is how much stress the motherboard will be put through to get it there.

If this was a memory related problem, then memtest would find it, wouldn't it? I've run it all night every night for a week, and it never found any problems

 

[JustaGeek]

Memtest would probably find the memory problems, but I believe that Orthos is putting much more stress on the system as a whole. Both cores are working at 100%, and errors will show likely within 1hr of running it. When I have tested a "questionable" memory, the errors have been detected within 3 minutes.

I am not sure what model of C2D you have, but they are great processors throughout the lineup, and am certain that you will be happy while you get the system under control. The problem might lie within your case - if I remember correctly, you mentioned that it did not have the exhaust fan. It is very important to expel the hot air out of the case, probably more important than the air coming in. Only then you will be able to keep the steady airflow.

Hope this helps.

 

[trpltongue]

Originally posted by: AMelbye
The bottom line is that any c2d processor can do about 3.5GHz if you put an aftermarket cooler on it. the major difference is how much stress the motherboard will be put through to get it there.

I don't know that I'd go that far. I've not been able to get any stability past 3.0 GHZ with a FSB of 1333 on my 4300. You can see my sytem speks in my sig, but my system isn't exactly power hungry yet I can't get past 1333. Anything past that and I get random reboots, and failure to post. I even get failure to post at 1333 sometimes. I've run memtest on both my ram sticks individually and in pairs so I know it's not a memory issue. For some reason my board just won't go past 3.0 GHz.

Russell

 

[AMelbye]

trpltongue:
have you tried 1500FSB, 800RAM? My board seems to handle that just fine with NBvcore at 1.3x (although it has only been 2 days). If I remember correctly, and your cpu has a 9x multiplier, that should give you about 3.38GHz. That's what I'd aim for. Some people have managed 3.6GHz (1600FSB in your case) but that's really pushing it.

Considering that the board is certified to do 1333, and you even have aditional cooling, your boot failures at 1333 suggests that something else isn't right. What's your vcore? maybe it needs to be increased? if you don't have additional cooling on your NB, extra voltage may cause more problems than it solves

JustaGeek:
ok, I'll order a couple more fans very soon. And I'll try downgrading the bios as well.

I'll add cpu model to my signature

 

[trpltongue]

I did try jumping straight to 1400, 1500, and even 1600 but no luck. My NBVcore is at 1.56 but I have pretty good cooling around the northbridge but none blowing directly on it. However, if it was a heat issue I would expect to be able to at least POST at 1500, then perhaps be unstable once the heat builds up.

My Vcore is set to auto, and speefan reports 1.44V. It seems that for whatever reason, my board just won't go past it's rated 1333 :shrug: I don't even know what else it could be.

 

[nefariouscaine]

I doubt that the board is holding you back as far as your oc with a e4300 goes. I had the same issue actually. Kinda got stuck at a 3.0 ghz clock stable, and the chip would oc higher on other chipsets but with my 6400 I was able to push it to 3.2 on my board with no issues

 

[AMelbye]

that is a bit strange. I don't really have a good answer to why it won't go further.

 

[JustaGeek]

AMelbye,

I have just thought of another reason for your random reboots. The overheating... Power Supply!

The fan in the PSU is designed to cool the components inside the Power Supply ONLY. Without the exhaust fan in the case, too much hot air is drawn into the unit, and malfunction might occur.

I have noticed that with the fan mounted on the Southbridge, the temps inside my case actually have increased, as reported by Everest Ultimate 4.0. So the proper airflow does not necessarily depend on the number of fans inside the case, but also their placement. It is explained in the articles below:

http://www.atruereview.com/Articles/compcool2.php

http://www.extremetech.com/art.../0,1697,1835927,00.asp

In my Coolermaster case, the air is drawn from the bottom front and the side 80mm fans, and exhausted out the rear 120mm fan, and I also have an 80mm fan placed just below the DVD drives mounted at the top, directed to expel the air out the front grilles (close to top of the case), away from the motherboard. It seems to work better then blowing the air on the memory modules.

I hope the new exhaust fans help you stabilize your otherwise impressive overclock. :thumbsup:

 

[AMelbye]

JustaGeek: I don't think my powersupply is overheating. Its got a 120mm temperature controlled fan, and I'm sure it would just speed up if it got too hot.

Still, getting a proper exhaust fan should help keeping it cooler, thus prolonging its lifespan.

Too bad I went for the cheaper option and kept my old cabinet when I built this thing. I'm having to drill huge holes in it now

What do you think of the north bridge cooler? would the Zalman ZM-NBF47 i currently have on my SB be an upgrade? it's so much smaller, though it did very well in this review:
http://www.madshrimps.be/?acti...tpage=1980&articID=473

How large is the north bridge chip?