The Unofficial ASUS P5N-E SLI 650i Board Thread

[MaxisOne]

P5N-E Is out the gates !!

Ill be watching that thread like a hawk .. especially since i ordered the board yesterday over the 965 due to me needing the 2 ide controllers.

Cheers

 

[mordrid52]

Originally posted by: Ilikepiedoyou
Who else is selling the board now?

So far, I've seen it for sale at Newegg, ZZF, Ajump, and XPC Gear.

 

[mordrid52]

Originally posted by: MaxisOne
P5N-E Is out the gates !!

Ill be watching that thread like a hawk .. especially since i ordered the board yesterday over the 965 due to me needing the 2 ide controllers.

Cheers

Good to see that the 412MHz for the FSB isn't a hardcoded BIOS limitation.

 

[EKTELESTES]

hmm...one of these guys says he got a 500fsb, the other can't even get it to 400 though.....

let's see...my Gigabyte s3 is coming on Tuesday, let's see if I cancel it or not

 

[Gary Key]

THe 412 limit has been removed from the BIOS, have one board that does around 505 stable and another around 490.

 

[MaxisOne]

Gary ... any Chance of a Review so i we can compare the 650I components to the P965 components in terms of performance ?

Cheers

 

[irrationalJohn]

Originally posted by: Gary Key
THe 412 limit has been removed from the BIOS, have one board that does around 505 stable and another around 490.

One of the things I'd really be interested in finding out about would be why on earth there was a 412 limit in the first place? Looking in from the outside it seems to make little to no sense.

-john, the redundant legacy dinosaur

 

[SUNSfan]

Originally posted by: Gary Key
THe 412 limit has been removed from the BIOS, have one board that does around 505 stable and another around 490.

I have to buy my new comp by monday night, so will there be a review of this mobo by then? Thanks

 

[Gary Key]

Originally posted by: SUNSfan

Originally posted by: Gary Key
THe 412 limit has been removed from the BIOS, have one board that does around 505 stable and another around 490.

I have to buy my new comp by monday night, so will there be a review of this mobo by then? Thanks

No, just got it working this morning. The original limit on the BIOS was due to possible binning issues with the MCP, apparently ASUS is confident this will not be an issue at this time. I have a third retail board coming from one of the etailors tomorrow so I will see what the average overclock is at that time. Otherwise, the board seems to be pretty good at this time, especially for the price. However, I still like the 975X boards for most Conroe applications.

 

[Zim]

I am waiting for the 650i Ultra. People who are building an SLI setup, almost by definition, are not going to scrimp on their mobo. If they can afford two video cards, they can afford a 680i board. The 650i Ultra is what most of us "ordinary" folks would be interested in IMHO. Anyone know when it will make its debut?

 

[Sinuous]

Originally posted by: Zim
I am waiting for the 650i Ultra. People who are building an SLI setup, almost by definition, are not going to scrimp on their mobo. If they can afford two video cards, they can afford a 680i board. The 650i Ultra is what most of us "ordinary" folks would be interested in IMHO. Anyone know when it will make its debut?

QFT

At the very least, news that the 650i SLI is a good overclocker bodes well for the 650i Ultra.

 

[Dainas]

Would be nice if they came out with a $200 dollar motherboard with 2x16 PCIe... To buffer from the current exorbitant priced 680i and strip-me-down 650i.

 

[aka1nas]

So, do we have any consensus on this board yet? I am looking for a reasonably priced board that will do some light to medium OC'ing for a friend's build. Will he be ok with the P5NE or does he need to go up to a 680i board?

 

[Zim]

Originally posted by: aka1nas
So, do we have any consensus on this board yet? I am looking for a reasonably priced board that will do some light to medium OC'ing for a friend's build. Will he be ok with the P5NE or does he need to go up to a 680i board?

Have a read thru the xtremesystems thread.

 

[Mavtech]

Mwave has the 650i board for $141 plus shipping. They have it described as a 680i.

http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec.hmx?scriteria=BA23362

 

[Ilikepiedoyou]

I ordered it, I am very excited, goodbye 700 mhz Duron

 

[Sinuous]

I've heard tell that the 650i boards mainly suffer from a memory clock limitation; being unable to go past 800 mhz, and dropping below that the closer the FSB gets to 500 mhz. That would be a deal breaker for me, as I've got a couple sticks of Crucial Ballistix lying around for my e6600 system that are rated at 1000 mhz, and can undoubtedly do even better. Can we get some information as to how the memory is clocking Gary or others who have purchased this board?

 

[Gary Key]

1066 is borked unless you want to run 5-6-6-24 2T timings at this point. ASUS has the memory sub-timings tweaked tightly on this board and hence the issue currently. I found 4-4-4-12 1T at 800 to be the sweet spot for this board and it performs just as well as the 680i at 3-4-4-10 1T if the balance of memory timings are left at auto. Personally, on the 680i/650i boards, running 1T between 800~900 is far more effective for system performance than just about any 2T setting from 1000 to 1280. I had to hit 5-4-4-15 at 1310 on the Striker board to get equal with 860 3-4-3-9 1T in the game and application benchmarks.

 

[Xcom1Cheetah]

So when should we expect the comprehensive board review.? i hope its before x-mas. i have still not been able to finalize the board for my next system build with E6600 in January '07... So far MSI 965 platinum is winning the race.

 

[BlitzAceYuna]

Yes please.. I am eagerly awaiting a comprehensive review of this board.

Is the Vdroop really as bad as it's made out to be?

Also, are the voltage settings a limiting factor? I saw the word "only" being used on the xtremesystems boards.

 

[BlitzAceYuna]

Heh.. One more question.. Why exactly is the 975X chipset still appealing?

I mean.. It doesn't overclock nearly as well as the P965 and Nforce6 chipsets.. And the newer chipsets have newer memory controllers and southbridges to boot..

 

[lopri]

Originally posted by: BlitzAceYuna
Heh.. One more question.. Why exactly is the 975X chipset still appealing?

I mean.. It doesn't overclock nearly as well as the P965 and Nforce6 chipsets.. And the newer chipsets have newer memory controllers and southbridges to boot..

Stable. No BIOS fuss such as FSB holes, etc. Faster than anything out there clock-for-clock. If your CPU has a >9 multiplier, you don't need a sky-high FSB for maximum OC. And these days lots of 975X boards seem to be good beyond the usual 420FSB boundary. (up to 440~450FSB)

Granted it's probably the most boring chipset to play with, but if you're not much into tweaking but more about easy and stable operation, 975X can't be beat.

 

[KayKay]

for $129 this is a board I am willing to pay for. with that said, im still going to wait until most of the major issues are ironed out.

 

[Gary Key]

Originally posted by: Xcom1Cheetah
So when should we expect the comprehensive board review.? i hope its before x-mas. i have still not been able to finalize the board for my next system build with E6600 in January '07... So far MSI 965 platinum is winning the race.

I will have a three page preview up tomorrow, just to answer the basic questions in about 1200 emails I have received on the board since Monday.

 

[Gary Key]

Originally posted by: lopri

Originally posted by: BlitzAceYuna
Heh.. One more question.. Why exactly is the 975X chipset still appealing?

I mean.. It doesn't overclock nearly as well as the P965 and Nforce6 chipsets.. And the newer chipsets have newer memory controllers and southbridges to boot..

Stable. No BIOS fuss such as FSB holes, etc. Faster than anything out there clock-for-clock. If your CPU has a >9 multiplier, you don't need a sky-high FSB for maximum OC. And these days lots of 975X boards seem to be good beyond the usual 420FSB boundary. (up to 440~450FSB)

Granted it's probably the most boring chipset to play with, but if you're not much into tweaking but more about easy and stable operation, 975X can't be beat.

If you buy 975X at this time, I have to say the Intel BadAxe2 is the best of the lot and the next BIOS release will pretty much put it ahead of any Intel board on the market in clock for clock performance. I am running at 9x432 with a E6600, nothing special really, but the board has been doing it for a week now, 24/7 with constant loops of Nero Recode and 3D06 for about 16 hours a day and Orthos for the other eight with X1950CF, three WD150 in RAID 5, and two 750GB Seagate External drives hanging off the USB ports for running the test apps. If you have a X6800, run this board at 12x330, it stays in the 200 strap, and just walks off and leaves the other Intel boards in the dust. The next BIOS will give us additional timings and tweaks for the memory along with some internal timing improvements on the MCH clock. Review coming shortly and the Kentsfield is now running at 9x415 on it.