Unofficial ASUS K8N-E thread

[Kador]

Yes I know, I saw it right after triyng A64Tweaker, but this tool enables other settings that aren't in bios !

IMHO you could push you OC more, this OCZ should be good enough to do 1:1 with 2.5 CAS, see my signature ! This config is stable with domm3 and al !

 

[LocutusX]

Well my OCZ isn't the really good one... it's "Performance" series which OCZ themselves consider only good for "moderate" overclocking.

Your Ballistix sounds quite nice... but until Asus releases a BIOS with V_dimm adjustments I fear it's not running at its full potential. 2.7v isn't enough; they need to allow adjustments up to 2.9v at least.

Yup actually I did try 1:1 mem dividers at 220 to 230 HTT with CL2.5 - problem is computer reboots after 10 minutes of Prime. Maybe its just starved for voltage and 2.8v would do the trick, if it was available


Gonna put everything back to stock speeds after this weekend though... no point in such a nice overclock with a stock-running Rad98Pro...

 

[mbor]

The manual mentions that RAID 0 uses 2 drives.

Is it possible to create a 4 disc RAID 0 array with any of the controllers?

 

[LocutusX]

Yes, with the Silicon Image controller, which controls 4 SATA ports located at the south end (bottom of case) of the mobo.

Unfortunately, it runs off the PCI bus, so if you string up 4 drives in a striped configuration, you'll inevitably run into the limits of the PCI bus.

On the bright side, with this mobo you probably won't have very many other devices using the PCI bus, so at least you'll get all ~120MB/s of it dedicated for your 4-drive SATA RAID (133 minus overhead - assuming Nvidia's PCI implementation is roughly equal to VIA's).

On an unrelated sidenote I've decided to forgo installing my Santa Cruz for the time being. I've discovered that my Altec Lansing 4.1 speakers have a digital input for the front channels so I plugged that into the on-board SPDIF and voila... audio quality improves as it uses the DAC on the Altec Lansing rather than the supposedly crappy Realtek one on the mobo. Sucks that I can't control volume now, though...

 

[mbor]

I've read twice that the perforamance of Sil3114 on this board really sucks - way below 120MB/s.

I was hoping you could do a 4 drive RAID 0 SATA/PATA combination with NVRaid.
Too bad, this board seemed really cool after the latest bios update, but I guess I'll just wait for a mobo with 4 drive RAID 0 capability from the chipset.

 

[LocutusX]

Well, I really doubt there are very many more S754/NF3-250 boards coming out after the DFI. If the DFI doesn't have what you're looking for, have a look at the S939 offerings.

Also, I read somewhere that the MSI K8N Neo might actually have what you're looking for.

 

[mbor]

Thanks! I've checked MSI's website and Neo Platinum indeed does support 4xRaid 0 with NVRaid.
Anyway, I think I'll wait for Asus to release a S939/NF3 board and then I'll make up my mind.
I'd rather stick with Asus if I can, I like the color and all

 

[mbor]

Also, I haven't seen any NF3 boards from Abit yet. It seems their NF-7S is at the very top when it comes to SocketA overclocking. Maybe they'll keep up the good work...

 

[jkresh]

Has anyone with sp2 tried to install/reinstall the nvidia chipset drivers? I uninstalled my gart driver (which didn?t even turn out to be causing the problem) and I can?t reinstall it. Disabling antivirus, trying from safe mode, both are ineffectual. If I try outside of safemode install shield comes up, it extracts the drivers, and then the nvidia black/grey install setup comes up and promptly disappears. Any suggestions?

 

[xDanielx]

jkresh, did you try changing the compatibility of the file to windows 2000? works for the via 4 in 1 drivers so worth a shot I guess.

I have a different problem, if I install the IDE SW driver I get a BSOD on bootup, and have to try safemode around 8x (or last good config, varies) to get back into windows to rollback the driver (usually windows figures it out and does that itself with the multiple bsods) I have tried like every software version from 4.24, 4.27, 4.40, 5.03, all do the same.

I also have another issue, my USB and firewire are dead from the massive overclocking I have done (I think). Anyone know how to fix that? I swear I have heard of dead USB before. I have tried flashing the bios in both Windows and Dos (to 1.04, and 1.04.003) with no help. Any command line switches in dos with afudos I can try? I think a BIOS flash may fix this because one time I left the ASUS cd in the drive and it rebooted and said corrupt bios, it auto reflashed the bios (I wasnt about to stop it halfway through) and after that my USB worked again. When I plugin USB devices I get an error, "USB Device Not Recognized" Firewire drives don't do anything.

With the 1.04 bios I also have overclocked the bus pretty well, I could get into windows at 270-275 bus. 265 is stable enough to run 3dmark03 and doom3. I did put a small fan on the chipset, seemed to help a little bit. 3dMark doesn't improve much with the higher bus though. I only get around 11100, when I normaly get 11000. Is there really performance gains with this? Right now I am running 225x10.5 at 2-2-2-10 (I have read 10 is always faster on nforce boards) Stupid ASUS and their 2.7 DDR voltage!!!

Anyone know how far I should/can/safely up the voltage on my CPU? It is a CG stepping newcastle.

 

[jkresh]

gave up and did a clean install, everything worked after that. I doubt you fried your usb2/firewire by overclocking (possible but unlikely), driver coruption maybe? try booting into knoppix or another live linux distro and see if your usb/firewire works there? or check if you can use a usb keyboard in the bios menu (ie boot withh usb keyboard and see if you can enter bios and change settings)

 

[xDanielx]

I am pretty sure the USB is dead, the bios would detect a mouse before, now it doesn't.

 

[jkresh]

do you have any usb devices that light up? if you they are not getting a light and unplugging/replugging doesnt help then could be that the port is dead (have you tried other ports or other usb devices?) if you are getting a light then it may be a windows driver issue

 

[jinu117]

GART removal for SP2 reinstall will really screw you up. You can uninstall just about all stuff but that... I spent few days figuring it out myself.

 

[mbor]

Originally posted by: xDanielx

265 is stable enough to run 3dmark03 and doom3. I did put a small fan on the chipset, seemed to help a little bit. 3dMark doesn't improve much with the higher bus though. I only get around 11100, when I normaly get 11000. Is there really performance gains with this?

What was your CPU multiplier, memory speed and timings at HTT=265?

Increasing the bus speed won't improve performance by itself because the bandwidth is huge anyway. It's just a convienient way around the locked CPU multiplier and to overclock you memory. CPU & memory is where the true OC potential lies

Good luck!

 

[LocutusX]

Originally posted by: xDanielx
normaly get 11000. Is there really performance gains with this? Right now I am running 225x10.5 at 2-2-2-10 (I have read 10 is always faster on nforce boards) Stupid ASUS and their 2.7 DDR voltage!!!

question: when you say 10 is always faster... you mean when compared with 5 and 6?

why would that be the case?

 

[mbor]

To quote Anandtech's Socket 754 Roundup: Comparing Generation 2 review:

Several memory tests have shown that memory performs fastest on the nVidia nForce and VIA K8T800 chipsets at a TRas (RAS Precharge) setting in the 9 to 13 range. We ran our own Memory Bandwidth tests with memtest86 with TRas settings from 5 to 15 at a wide range of different memory speeds. The best bandwidth was consistently at 9 to 11 at every speed, with TRas 10 always in the best range at every speed. The memory bandwidth improvement at TRas 10 was only 2% to 4% over TRas 5 and 6 depending on the speed, but the performance advantage was consistent across all tests. Since best performance was achieved at 2-2-2-10 timings, all Athlon 64 benchmarks were run at a TRas setting of 10.

 

[xDanielx]

I tried every usb port and no light comes on. If the device was gunna work it would show up in the bios as well (check it out for yourself, you have the same bios)


I have ran 250 fsb at a 1 to 1 ratio with my ram (at 2.5-2-2-10, this ballistix rox) and I still didn't see much of a gain. Of course I still got 9800 in 3dMark03 when I ran my cpu at 1200mhz (was testing high fsb).

So does anyone know what a safe voltage is on a64's if I want to reach 2.5ghz?

 

[jkresh]

have you tried a different usb device? As for safe voltage depending on cooling 1.65 or 1.7 should be ok, anything higher thne that would not be good for long term use.

 

[Kador]

I run 2520 mhz at 1.6V, no problem after a week of such a treatment. Coulnt do 250 FSB 1:1. Dunno if it's related to my ballistix or something else, but it doesn't post.

 

[xDanielx]

We have exactly the same ram, and almost exaclty the same setup I don't see why you can't reach DDR 500.. I see your running 2.5-2-2-5... why? Especially if TRAS 10 has been proven to be faster.. Did you try it with 2.5-2-2-10? I might have had to use 2.5-2-3-10 to be stable.

 

[xDanielx]

On the USB, I have tried a bluetooth adapter, a microsoft optical mouse, and a logitech mx700 mouse.

 

[otispunkmeyer]

will geil value ram work with this board.....ASUS has no compatability list...and geils list doesnt feature this board

also will a 6800GT with a arctic cooling VGA silencer fit as the chipset heatsink is pretty close to the agp slot

 

[LocutusX]

Originally posted by: mbor
To quote Anandtech's Socket 754 Roundup: Comparing Generation 2 review:

Several memory tests have shown that memory performs fastest on the nVidia nForce and VIA K8T800 chipsets at a TRas (RAS Precharge) setting in the 9 to 13 range. We ran our own Memory Bandwidth tests with memtest86 with TRas settings from 5 to 15 at a wide range of different memory speeds. The best bandwidth was consistently at 9 to 11 at every speed, with TRas 10 always in the best range at every speed. The memory bandwidth improvement at TRas 10 was only 2% to 4% over TRas 5 and 6 depending on the speed, but the performance advantage was consistent across all tests. Since best performance was achieved at 2-2-2-10 timings, all Athlon 64 benchmarks were run at a TRas setting of 10.

Wow, I must have totally missed that.

Gotta try that out when I go home... and pay closer attention to AT articles in future

 

[mbor]

Originally posted by: otispunkmeyer
.....ASUS has no compatability list...

The list is in the board's manual, which is available for download in PDF here.

No geil modules are listed, but that doesn't mean they won't work!
Updates to the list are supposed to appear on their website, I haven't found anything though.