The Unofficial ASUS P5N-E SLI 650i Board Thread

[mantras]

Originally posted by: Ajay
Quick note on the latest nForce i650 drivers(8.43_nforce_650i_winxp32_english). Install was a biatch! The installer would ask if it was ok to remove the existing ethernet drivers, and then would reboot. Upon reboot a screen would popup saying it was waiting for Windows hardware wizards to finish, then when it was ready to run it would ask to uninstall the current ethernet drivers - blah. So I updated the ethernet drivers manually (instead of using nVidia's setup). I rebooted and ran the setup and it went fine.

The VAM wasn't install, so I went to the ethernet driver folder to install it, it said it wouldn't work with this version of the drivers!!! So I went to the old install, those installed and seem to be working, except the web interface is slow and cause a reboot when changing one of the settings. So nVidia needs to work on it's ethernet install and straighten things out.

Overall, everything seems to be running more smoothly than b/4 with no additional errors. I didn't do any benchmarking before or after - so I don't have anything to say there.

Did you remove the other drivers before installing new ones? I had no problem at all installing the new drivers and they work great. Didn't have to install anything manually. I ignored the windows hardware wizard when it popped up. Sorry it gave you a hard time.

 

[mantras]

Originally posted by: rbendorf
At present I have no fans blowing on the board other than the air movement of the Zalman. I have an Antec P180 case and will have 4 internal fans in the case, which should provide all the cooling I need. One of the fans will blow directly on the video boards. I am not an extreme OCer so air cooling should suffice. I printed out your Page 92 info and will additionally put fans on the SB and NB when it finally goes into the case. Any difference between the Arctic and the Zalman...I notice that you have the Arctic?

The P180 is awesome huh? You should be plenty fine with 4 fans and the Zalman. I haven't altered the SB or NB yet but probably will in the future based off suggestions on page 92. My setup has been great for a month now.

 

[Ajay]

Originally posted by: ElAguila
Did you cancel the windows hardware wizard? When I did that instead of letting it find drivers the install went fine for me.

Well, the odd thing is that even though the installer said there were wizards running, I didn't see any pop up (and usually I do). So, apparently, something was a little borked on my machine.

 

[acivick]

Just wanted to check in now that I've got my DS3 in. It does appear this E6600 is just a poor performer, as I still can't break 3 GHz. On the up side, this board is much more stable than the P5N-E, at least for me, and allows me to get 4-4-4-15 timings with my memory, which I could never do on the P5N-E.

Looks like I'll try to get a E6400 and see if I can't get this board to strut its stuff.

 

[darkshippo]

I think I finally got my rig stable. 12 hours on Orthos Small FFT and Blended tests.

 

[rbendorf]

Originally posted by: mantras

Originally posted by: rbendorf
At present I have no fans blowing on the board other than the air movement of the Zalman. I have an Antec P180 case and will have 4 internal fans in the case, which should provide all the cooling I need. One of the fans will blow directly on the video boards. I am not an extreme OCer so air cooling should suffice. I printed out your Page 92 info and will additionally put fans on the SB and NB when it finally goes into the case. Any difference between the Arctic and the Zalman...I notice that you have the Arctic?

The P180 is awesome huh? You should be plenty fine with 4 fans and the Zalman. I haven't altered the SB or NB yet but probably will in the future based off suggestions on page 92. My setup has been great for a month now.

Yeah...I really like the P180. I am about ready to put the rig into the case but also have not yet added any SB/NB coolers. I live in Hawaii and have to have eveything shipped in...so that also takes time. I am happy so far and do not anticipate any problems.

 

[dlxmax]

Originally posted by: Core2
Don't you remember me saying there is FSB HOLES in the 400 - 424 area???? We have said that since the beginning. Try 425 or stay below 400. Re-test your ram again with Memtest. Chips can fail. Leave your FSB at default ( 1066MHz ) and overclock your ram to see how good they really are and Memtest them at there highest level.

I disagree with that statement. From 400-424 memory timings start to tighten, and therefore it is likely that many people lose system stability due to the increased timings.
Dropping out of 1T and down to 2T could fix some problems. You may even be quicker at 424 with 2T than at 425 with 1T.
I was able to post, boot, and bench all throughout 400-424 (x8), and acheived my highest stable clock at 420x8 (3360). Though not one to ride the razor's edge, I've happily set my system at 412.5x8 for a rock stable 3.3ghz.

I think the notion of "holes" is an innacurate descriptor. More of a "timing ramp" from 400 to 424, with a HUGE drop at 425. Look back around 10 pages for my memtest benchmarks at 424 and 425 and you'll see that 425 is downright slow in comparison.

 

[dlxmax]

Originally posted by: DeadMan3000
I am having some issues with this board and an IDE hard drive. Power keeps cutting out on it. I had it on the same power connector as the SATA drive but the SATA never pooped out (I don't think). Now put the IDE on it's own connector.

Maybe you've taxed a single voltage rail? Try using a different power connector on a different line coming out of the power supply. 580 watts is way more than enough for your system, so that's not the issue. I'm using many more watts with a smaller power supply--and I still have watts to spare.

 

[idiotekniQues]

Originally posted by: rbendorf
Thanks Core2...

I just started ORTHO and it is stable at 2600MHZ, so it did throttle up...good learning point for me!

Also I have observed the following temps during ORTHO test:
temp1:50c
temp2:42c
temp3:25c
HD0:39c
temp1:40c
core0:68c
core1:67c

I have the board out of the case with the Zalman 9500 on high...it is just sitting on the CPU. Are these temps excessive? For some gaming (not heavy) do you think I need SB and NB coolers?

Thanks for all you great input.

Rich

those core temps are pretty high considering your board is not even in a case. heck, i can just open the side door of my case and lean it a bit off to the side so a large crack of open area is exposed and my temps go down noticeably. outside the case temps should be phehnomenal.

what is your voltage?

 

[idiotekniQues]

core2 whyat stepping is your chip

 

[Art Vandaleigh]

What kinda temps are you guys averaging for the NB on load? Is 50C seem normal after an hour of gaming? I have no fan on it at this time, but will add an antec spot cool shortly.

 

[Playmaker]

I'm putting together a computer for my bro with an E6600 and the Asus P5N-E. He would like to OC to 3ghz and have a stable setup he won't have to worry about. We plan on installing a Tuniq Tower...

What sort of SB/NB cooling would be adequate in this situation? Would getting that Cooler Master Blue Ice HS/Fan setup and putting the HS on the SB and adding the fan to the NB be adequate as mentioned on page 92? Or should we invest in more cooling? Also, is mounting a HS on the SB and adding a fan to the NB straightforward with all the parts included with the Cooler Master Blue Ice? Or would we need an additional device/adhesive to attach?

Thanks.

 

[Core2]

Originally posted by: dlxmax

Originally posted by: Core2
Don't you remember me saying there is FSB HOLES in the 400 - 424 area???? We have said that since the beginning. Try 425 or stay below 400. Re-test your ram again with Memtest. Chips can fail. Leave your FSB at default ( 1066MHz ) and overclock your ram to see how good they really are and Memtest them at there highest level.

I disagree with that statement. From 400-424 memory timings start to tighten, and therefore it is likely that many people lose system stability due to the increased timings.
Dropping out of 1T and down to 2T could fix some problems. You may even be quicker at 424 with 2T than at 425 with 1T.
I was able to post, boot, and bench all throughout 400-424 (x8), and acheived my highest stable clock at 420x8 (3360). Though not one to ride the razor's edge, I've happily set my system at 412.5x8 for a rock stable 3.3ghz.

I think the notion of "holes" is an innacurate descriptor. More of a "timing ramp" from 400 to 424, with a HUGE drop at 425. Look back around 10 pages for my memtest benchmarks at 424 and 425 and you'll see that 425 is downright slow in comparison.

If your running 0202 bios my statement is pretty accurate. Since you came in around the upgrade to 0401 you didn't see much of the FSB problems we did. If you read through some of our early FSB clocks you will see we reported FSB holes that were unreachable especially for me was 418 - 422 no matter how much voltage was applied. At 424 was always reported as the end of the strap and 425 was the strap change. For most people and I 424 has been always attainable so I think your statement that memory timings tighten is true just wouldn't explain why 418- 422 was not reachable along with other areas that people reported . For most people 425 was the next attainable FSB. Now with 0401 we reported no FSB holes for adder1971 and myself. Still some people have had problems in that area either their board or chip ( especially a chip with a multiplier greater then 8 ) were not as functional as ours so that is why I recommend them to bypass that area.

 

[Core2]

Originally posted by: Art Vandaleigh
What kinda temps are you guys averaging for the NB on load? Is 50C seem normal after an hour of gaming? I have no fan on it at this time, but will add an antec spot cool shortly.

We all have some kind of extra cooling supplied to the NB. I would recommend you put a small chipset fan on there and a low profile heatsink on the SB. Be aware that if your intentions are to run in SLI mode that you choose the right SB heatsink and that your VC will clear it. My temps run at 96f Default - 106f OC for the NB and 86f for the SB and I have senors on both to record those temps. Load does not seem to effect it as much as overclocking does.

 

[Core2]

Originally posted by: Playmaker
I'm putting together a computer for my bro with an E6600 and the Asus P5N-E. He would like to OC to 3ghz and have a stable setup he won't have to worry about. We plan on installing a Tuniq Tower...

What sort of SB/NB cooling would be adequate in this situation? Would getting that Cooler Master Blue Ice HS/Fan setup and putting the HS on the SB and adding the fan to the NB be adequate as mentioned on page 92? Or should we invest in more cooling? Also, is mounting a HS on the SB and adding a fan to the NB straightforward with all the parts included with the Cooler Master Blue Ice? Or would we need an additional device/adhesive to attach?

Thanks.

Check out page 92 for options on cooling. I feel a small fan on the NB and a low profile heatsink is more then adequate for this board. Be aware that if your intentions are to run in SLI mode that you choose the right SB heatsink and that your VC will clear it.

 

[ProNooB]

Has anyone got the P5N32-E SLI PLUS

 

[Hackendorn]

Originally posted by: Hackendorn
I am running at (400x9)=3.6Ghz with 1.5v Vcore, 1.563v for NB, Memory at Auto, and Vcore Offset at +100mv but Orthos errors around 22 minutes. What should I do from here?

Temps: 42c for core and 34c for motherboard. This temps are from the Asus Probe.

I up the Vcore voltage to 1.575 but Orthos still errors after 30 minutes. However, I am able to play BF2142 for several hours without any issues. I tried overclocking the settings for my memory clock speed to 750Mhz but it would not boot. I set the timing to 5-5-5-15 2T and the voltage to Auto. No boot. I changed the voltage to 2v then to 2.2v, same issue. I am afraid to up the voltage on the memory & Vcore any higher.

P.S. Memory is unlinked.

 

[Core2]

Originally posted by: ProNooB
Has anyone got the P5N32-E SLI PLUS

Try here
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=131452

 

[BAMAVOO]

Any comments on overclocking a Pentium D 930? I have used the AI OC feature and 20% runs easily. I only have DDR 667, but it will run at 800 nice and easy. (that is 3.6ghz from 3.0)


Thanks

 

[Core2]

Originally posted by: BAMAVOO
Any comments on overclocking a Pentium D 930? I have used the AI OC feature and 20% runs easily. I only have DDR 667, but it will run at 800 nice and easy. (that is 3.6ghz from 3.0)


Thanks

See if the overclocking guide I put on page 92 ( the first post about 3/4 of the way down ) of this thread will help

 

[Hackendorn]

Originally posted by: nosleep

Hey, get some sleep nosleep. Welcome
Nice OC. Good job

Hey thanks for the welcome!

Ok, so I am not officially stable yet at 3.5 but am dual superpi/orthos 20min no errors stable :b My ram is giving me problems, it's rated at 533 but it won't boot above 650, even though I've clocked it to 750 before on a different board. It doesn't boot OC'ed with lax timings or auto settings. When it boots on auto settings, stock speeds it wacks out my tRAS to 31. Not sure why it does this...

Anyway, I am thoroughly satisfied with this board. I'll just have to invest in some better ram and/or wait until a better bios gets released.

Hey Nosleep,

What brand of PNY memory do you have? I think I have the same memory but the 667Mhz version.

 

[Nevets Drassel]

Damn - Just too many pages to read to keep up with. Good job Core2 for staying on top of things.

Finally got my RMA'ed board back and decided to get the Crucial Ballistix AA804's (2X1Gig). What I learned so far is that no matter how good the memory this board just does not want to breach the 1950 barrier on the FSB. I have tried with three different P5N-E SLI boards. three different sets of memory (Geil, Corsair, Crucial), two different CPU (E6400 and E6400ES), and tons of cooling with so many different voltage combinations that nothing seems to break the barrier.

Currently at 3850 (1925 by 482 1:1) which of course means 3850/964. My voltages are high so I need to back down on them. Unfortunately that also means that I will loose my 3850 and probably wind up around 3800. But it also means that I may get more out of the memory.

Think I'll try 1900 by 1045 @ a 10:11 ratio. Wonder if I can get this memory up to 1066???


Will keep you posted.

 

[BAMAVOO]

I guess I am just stupid, but how do you know when you get to (Core2 431x8)? When I am ocing the PD it is like 240 or 250 x 15, but I can't find where to change the multiplier for the cpu nor where to up the mulitplier.

Is it even possible to change the multiplier on the PD?

Thanks

 

[nosleep]

Hey Nosleep,

What brand of PNY memory do you have? I think I have the same memory but the 667Mhz version.

Did you see it's fixed now? It won't take over 2.1v, that was the problem.
I managed to OC to 820 5-5-5-8 trc8 2t

PNY Optima 2gb 533

 

[Core2]

Originally posted by: Nevets Drassel
Damn - Just too many pages to read to keep up with. Good job Core2 for staying on top of things.

Finally got my RMA'ed board back and decided to get the Crucial Ballistix AA804's (2X1Gig). What I learned so far is that no matter how good the memory this board just does not want to breach the 1950 barrier on the FSB. I have tried with three different P5N-E SLI boards. three different sets of memory (Geil, Corsair, Crucial), two different CPU (E6400 and E6400ES), and tons of cooling with so many different voltage combinations that nothing seems to break the barrier.

Currently at 3850 (1925 by 482 1:1) which of course means 3850/964. My voltages are high so I need to back down on them. Unfortunately that also means that I will loose my 3850 and probably wind up around 3800. But it also means that I may get more out of the memory.

Think I'll try 1900 by 1045 @ a 10:11 ratio. Wonder if I can get this memory up to 1066???


Will keep you posted.

Hey, Its good to see a familiar face. Welcome back. I was wondering what happened. I thought you might have RMA your board. Where did you do if from retailer or Asus?.