The Unofficial ASUS P5N-E SLI 650i Board Thread

[Tuvoc]

Originally posted by: Shampoo
Tuvoc, I believe I remember reading somewhere, probably this thread, that this board doesn't handle quads very well, because of the power phase design or something.

It runs them at up to 3 GHz rock solid. But beyond that, yes the cheap 3-phase power design can't handle it.

 

[Shampoo]

That's too bad, but at least it got to 3 and since it's a quad core I bet it's plenty fast for all your multitasking needs.

Must encode video files like no tomorrow, haha.

I'm still considering the E8400. It's 224.99 CDN at NCIX.com. limited quantities.

Sooooooooo tempted, but I recently got screwed over for 100 dollars over a bad motherboard and ram over at redflagdeals.com from some user.

What a jerk, wouldnt' refund my money, so I'm out 100, and I just bought some parts and put together an HTPC system which cost me about 350 or so, but more like 450 or so because of the sour deal.

I dunno if I should spend more money right now, but we'll see, so tempting.

 

[Gastric]

Quick update on my issue, and maybe it's the 4-stick "memory hole" that's been referenced. I don't know but either way I chalk it up to a POS board. Running 803, wiped CMOS, tried 100% default settings, tried setting RAM to spec, haven't tried underclocking the RAM.

I have a quad CPU and whenever I stick 4 sticks of RAM (two 512s and two 1GBs) in there I get memory errors galore. That's on crappy slow 5-5-5-18 settings, 4-4-4-12 settings which is spec for the ram, proper RAM voltate, over RAM voltage. There seems to be no rhyme or reason but when I stick 4 sticks of RAM in there I see MemTest just skip running tests (starts a test, 30% of the way thru one it skips to the next) or generates hundreds of errors, and on an on.

I tried to call ASUS today, the support number in the manual is no longer valid and has changed, and they were out "honoring the holiday". What are they, a bank?

Anyway, it'll be a small expense to return the board to NewEgg and get a replacement without it's own set of issues. But this board will get a big thumbs down from me. But that's what I'm leaning towards. Does anyone have a specific board that's around $100 I can just drop a quad CPU and my RAM into and not have to spend 20 hours screwing with the thing? I don't mind plugging in some settings but I shouldn't have to spend 2 weeks trying different RAM slots, testing each stick of RAM, blah blah blah. It's freaking ridiculous.

 

[Tuvoc]

I sympathise. But there are dozens of boards out there that have trouble with 4 x 1GB, not just this board. And it is not all ASUS's fault either, NVIDIA must take most of the blame for a buggy chipset (the 650i) that they released too early.

There is nothing really wrong with underclocking the RAM, especially if it then works. You are extremely unlikely to notice any performance difference. Try it.

I suggest that you try an Intel P35 based board from say Gigabyte, or the newer X38 or X48.

 

[Shampoo]

Could be because you're mixing ram sizes. I don't know what kind they are, but I'm running 4GB (4 x 1GB) of ram in my system with no problems at all.

I also can overclock them quite nicely.

Did you set the timing to 2T over 1T?

With 4 sticks of ram in a motherboard you can't run 1T.

You have to be more specific with your issues.

Many people are running 4 sticks or 4GB of ram in this board without issues.

One of my previous customers when I used to work at a local computer store bought this board and 4 sticks of ram (mix and matched like you have) and he's running just fine with different brand name ram modules.

Check your timings and loosen them, not just the standard timings, but the command rate (CR) change that from 1T to 2T

If it's already at 2T then I guess you should try another board or try another set of ram, since ram is so cheap lately.

 

[Tuvoc]

Indeed, I've been running 24/7 for one year now with 4 x 1GB sticks with 100% stability, and that's all 4 cores fully loaded. So it's not a POS motherboard, but it isn't perfect either

 

[panfist]

So...has anyone been able to get any Penryns working on this board? I flashed the latest stable BIOS, released on 12/28 or something, and it boots but it forces the multiplier to 6 instead of 9. Anyone?

 

[panfist]

delete me

 

[jimmor]

Originally posted by: panfist
............. I flashed the latest stable BIOS, released on 12/28 or something, and it boots but it forces the multiplier to 6 instead of 9. Anyone?

Sounds to me like you need to Disable the bios's "EIST/Speedstep" option ?

 

[sblake]

Originally posted by: panfist
So...has anyone been able to get any Penryns working on this board? I flashed the latest stable BIOS, released on 12/28 or something, and it boots but it forces the multiplier to 6 instead of 9. Anyone?

The last stable BIOS I see is 703 dated 8/16/2007. Is this the BIOS you flashed to?

 

[panfist]

speedstep was not enabled...but it turns out I don't have this motherboard! I have the p5n32-e. oops.

 

[Shampoo]

Soooooooo, panfist, haha, honest mistake.

GUESS WHAT GUYS? This board officially supports Wolfdale processors.

I'm on it right now!!!!

I ordered one through my company because I couldn't find any at retail stores, except Infonec for 235 CDN.

I'm in Toronto by the way.

So I picked it up from the office today and slapped it in.

I reset my cmos, threw in the cpu and slapped on my Ultra 120 Extreme heatsink.

At first boot it showed this text on a black screen saying ROMSIP Table Update do not reset or power off.

Freaked me out, since I've never seen this before EVER.

So I finally get into the bios and set everything to the way I like it, but leave the cpu to auto for now, including the voltage.

Set my ram to 500MHz (1000MHz DDR) and get going. It says the same thing in the bios, romsip table updating do not etc., then it hangs after posting when windows should start up. Windows XP by the way, Vista on another harddrive, but wanna get into XP first and test things to stability.

So I go back into the bios disappointed, thinking this chipset doesn't support Wolfdales even though people said it will.

Go looking around and notice stupid spread spectrum options are enabled in the bios. I turn them all off.

Get back to saving the bios to cmos and bam, same message about romsip table.

Guess the bios had to accomodate certain changes for the cpu. COOL.

I'm in windows now!!!!!!

Stock settings here's a shot.

Edit:: I'll get back with some OC shots once I get around to it after playing with it for a while.

 

[Shampoo]

Quick update. I reseated my heatsink because Core 0 and Core 1 were off of each other by 3 degrees at idle, like the screenshot above, but on load it would be up to 5-7 degrees off each other.

Reseating did nothing. Oh well.

Realized I wasn't at default voltage, because I have done the pencil mod which overvolts things for me. So I was at 45 and 50 degrees for the cores on full load orthos with 1.36vcore according to the bios. Didn't check within windows.

Still nice temps for such high voltage.

 

[sblake]

What BIOS came with the board and where did you buy it. I have one on the way from the egg and I hope the BIOS is new enough to recognize the new CPU. Anybody received a board from Newegg lately. If so, what BIOS was it shipped with?

 

[Shampoo]

BIOS?

Mine came with 0202 when it was first released a while back, but I have 0803 on it.

Goodluck with your build!

I don't think I got such a great chip...running 1.36vcore trying to get 450x9 stable for 4050MHz overclock.

Temps are: Core0:54, Core1:57 Full load orthos so far 5 minutes.

 

[Genuine Imitation]

Wow, I can't believe this thread is still alive and kicking, and that core2 and tuvoc and some others are still participating! Great job guys! Anyways I've had this board since about this time last year and it's been a pretty solid board overall.

So last night I go to move my current setup to a new case. Dismantle watercooling, check. Tear out all the PSU wiring and move to the new case, done. Reassemble HSF on previously watercooled 7800GT, that took a while to get right. Got everything in the new case just fine.

Go to boot up, no video, no beeping! This thing has been running solid at 3.5ghz since last year, and I move it and now i have problems. So I cycle the power a couple times, finally get some beep codes. 1 long, three short, the internet tells me the video card is having issues.

So I try to reseat it, no change. Ok, I've got 2 indentical cards, i'll try the other. Same thing. Hmm. I had moved the SLI paddle from dual to single since i was no longer going to play with SLI, moved it back to dual cards and still the same beeps. Tried other slot while in dual mode, still getting the same beeping. It started getting late and I had been working on this beast about 4 hours, I went to bed.

I've got new parts here now as of this morning as I'm selling the P5N-E setup to a friend. So i've got a brand spanking new 8800GT i'm going to make sure is working then try in this P5N-E board. But if that doesn't work i'm gonna be pretty upset if i have to replace the P5N, it was working fine!

So, after all that rambling I have a question, I'm not sure I attempted to reset the bios properly from memory since I hadn't done it in about 10+ months. What I did was move the jumper, then take out the battery for about a minute. Should that do it? Was there some other step I missed?

I'd also love to hear any other suggestions on figuring this thing out. Thanks guys.

 

[Tuvoc]

Yes I've had problems in the past when moving a system to a new case, highly annoying. In theory it should be fine, but now it's not something I do lightly.
As for the CMOS - remove ATX power plug, take out battery, and move the jumper and leave it for a few mins or even longer. I presume the video card does have the power connectors plugged in ? Usual stuff...

 

[Genuine Imitation]

Yeah, I made sure I had everything plugged in properly. Thanks for clearing up the cmos reset for me.

 

[carrizojim]

Noob here... Hello everyone!
I bought one of these boards, which is my second build up from scratch, awesome board, very happy with it and the easy to use features...

I'm running:
E6300 at stock clocking for the moment (1.86ghz)
2gb A-data 5-5-5-18
EVGA 8800 gts 320mb
Xfi-Fatal1ty
Maxtor 250 IDE
Thermaltake Silent 775D (No change in temps from factory fan)
Thermaltake Soprano w/ 4 case fans

I've had little or no problems clocking it all the way to 3.2ghz without some minor voltage changes to the processor and NB (fan installed), using settings from other people on this thread (Thanks for everyone's hard work).. Rock stable... Played Warhammer all day Sunday, clocked at 3.2ghz...
My issues are with cooling... I've been monitoring temps with Speedfan and TAT...
My problem is my core temps after about 15 minutes of Ortho are 63C...
The trick CPU fan I bought isn't any better than the factory fan. Clocked it back to factory setting, as I didn't want to shorten the longevity of the CPU too much...

I'm looking for some fan suggestions, or should I go for liquid (expensive and a hassle to install) cooling? Money wise, if I lay out another couple of hundred for liquid cooling, the boss of my house will be asking some very pointed questions like "why do you need to overclock it anyway?"... Uh Ummm, because I can!

Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme seems to be a good choice, but I don't think it will fit in my box. Up to date tests of fans on the net are scarce... Thanks in advance!

 

[Genuine Imitation]

I got it cleared up. It definitely just needed a good cmos reset. It booted right up after that. Thanks

 

[sblake]

My P5N-E SLI 650i Board and E8400 are due to be delivered today. Has anyone successfully gotten the E8400 to run on the P5N-E SLI 650i Board? Just wondering if I am facing any problems when I start my build.

 

[Gastric]

sblake - let me know if this board gives you problems with that RAM. Looks like you have the same exact RAM I have and the board will NOT work well with the 1GB sticks at all. Runs fine with the 512 sticks on auto but taking them off auto for me causes issues. I'm suspecting a bad board and have a Gigabyte being delivered to test against as I have no other options for testing the RAM out of this specific system.

 

[Gastric]

MOTHERBOARD: ASUS P5N-E SLI otherboard
POWER: Rosewill RP600V2-S-SL 600W SLI Ready-ATX12V V2.01 Power Supply
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz B0 stepping w/stock retail cooling, but have a Zalman CNP9500 en route
RAM: Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Model BL2KIT12864AA804
RAM: Crucial Ballistix 1GB (2 x 512MB) DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Model BL2KIT6464AA804
VIDEO: EVGA 512-P2-N773-AR GeForce 8600GTS 512MB
CARDS: ZoNet PCI USB controller (4 external, 1 internal)
CARDS: ASUS 2 port USB slot cover (connected to rear MB USB header)
DRIVE: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA
DRIVE: Two Seagate 500GB IDE drives for media storage
DRIVE: SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S203B
DRIVE: Rosewill RCR-102 52-in-1 USB 2.0 Black Card Reader (connected to front MB USB header)
CASE: COOLER MASTER Mystique RC-632S-KKN1-GP Black Aluminum/ SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

 

[Shampoo]

I couldn't get my board stable at stock settings with an E8400, I have a couple threads going over at xtremesystems.org, but yeah there are a couple guys who claim to have their E8400s stable with this board.

I exchanged emails with an anandtech editor and he said he's going to contact Asus to see if there is a bios coming out soon and he also said he's going to update his article next week.

If you can cancel your order, I would suggest doing so and go with another board if you're going to be purchasing everything new and your goal is overclocking an E8400 or E8500 wolfdale based cpus.

Thing is this board doesn't have official support yet, so no one can guarantee anything.

I'm going to give this board another try with the E8400 I have Q740 stepping, but I dunno. I tried everything last time and couldn't get it stable even at stock settings.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[Beagus]

Hi all. Im new to this forum, though I have been reading posts for a few days now.

I got a problem getting my E6600 stable at 3.0/1333. Followed the guide on p92, but Othos gives error after around 15 minutes.

I have tried:
Vcore. 1.325->1.375 + 100mA offset. (CPU-Z reads 1.40-1.44 under load at Vcore 1.375)
Have tried NB Volt at auto and 1.39.
Mem is set per at 4-5-4-12 2.087V and tested mem. Unlinked at 800.
I have never gone above 57 Core Temp 0.96.1
MB temp reports at 39 with PC Probe(CPU 47)
All temps are at load.
Its stable at stock and 2.7/1200

My rig config is:
E6600(6-6 F-F 6-B2 2T) Scythe Mine Rev.B. 120mm fan.
P5N-E SLI +40mm fan on NB
4GB 2x1 Mushkin 6400 + 2x1 Corsair 6400
Asus 8800GTS 320 (stock speeds)
2 x 320 seagate Baracuda Nvidia RAID 0.
Sonata III(500W PSU) + 120mm intake fan.
Vista Premium.

Im running out of ideas.. Should I push Vcore higher? Shouldnt it be able to run 3.0/1333 on Auto?
Any help would be most welcome.