Wanna Dace?

[lopri]

Sorry about the obscure title. It's just another rant on A8N-SLI Premium.

I know many people seem to be happy with their board, but I'm having a very bad VCore issue. I know that it's not only me, since I've talked to other peeps regarding this matter, but the freaking AUSU hasn't gotten any clue?

ASUS, I'd like you pick up one of your best-selling mobos: A8N-SLI Premium
Try seetting your VCore at 1.35 then boot up to the window. What do you see?? 1.36? not bad.. you say? well now it's at 1.392. Hmmm.. Eh? It just went down to 1.309..

Well, It's something like this. No matter what VCore you set at, it the CPU-Z reading and even ASUS' own Probe reports the VCore wrong. Not just a wrong VCore - well that would be easy cause all we have to do is the right combination to streighten the mess out.

Thing is, whereever you set the VCore at, it doesn't matter. It boots up with a VCore whatever the board feels like to give, and once in Windows, now the voltage dance starts.

It's near impossible to predict the voltage fluctiation behavior and it seems to change along wih the BIOS update. That is, the dance pattern/style/width changes every revision but they can never seem to get it right.

DO NOT BUY THIS BOARD IF YOU'RE PLANNING TO OVERCLOCK. PERIOD.

lop

P.S.: For example, I set the voltage at 1.4 from bios right now, but if I look at the CPU-Z, it's like 1.408-1.404-1.392-1.306(!!)-1.392-1.462-1.433....... It's literally dancing.

 

[Linearsoup]

not had one problem with mine

 

[wanderer27]

This board is fine for Overclocking to a point. If you want to go extreme on your OC, then yea, maybe you need to get a DFI.

I'd venture a guess that you have a X2 don't you ?

 

[lopri]

Surely I have X2.. I guess it only happens with X2? I didn't know that. For this voltage reason I'm currently running at 2.64GHz w/ stock VCore (surfing) or 2.76GHz w/ VCore 1.5V (gaming). And I know my chip can do 2.8GHz with less voltage. At 1.5V dual Prime95 goes cranks the temp up to 59C!@$@!?!

:roll:

 

[Lithan]

Originally posted by: lopri
DO NOT BUY THIS BOARD IF YOU'RE PLANNING TO OVERCLOCK. PERIOD.

Don't shove a fork in your eye if you don't like pain. period.

 

[Markbnj]

I have a Gigabyte K8NS Ultra-939, and I see voltage fluctuations as reported by cpu-z, speedfan, and other tools of up to a quarter volt or more. The problem is determining whether these are real fluctuations, or a discrepency introduced by the sensor. Even if you meter the PSU and find it rock solid, how do you know the mb itself isn't introducing variances?

 

[Capt Caveman]

What bios are you using? Based on what you are using for a hsf, dual prime and overclocked at 1.5v can easily get you to 59c. If I oc to 2.75 at 1.525v and dual prime, I'm in the low to mid 50c and have reached 58c.

With bios 1008 and 1008.003, the vcore when set manually will be .04-05 higher than the bios consistently and the fluctuation is .02 consistently. When you know this information, it's actually very easy to overclock with this board.

 

[Topweasel]

Might be a stupid qustion but do you have CnC enabled in the bios I could see it having fun with the voltage. Also with the exception of the 1.306 and maybe a stretch with 1.466 they all seem to within varience limits.

 

[rise]

Originally posted by: Markbnj
I have a Gigabyte K8NS Ultra-939, and I see voltage fluctuations as reported by cpu-z, speedfan, and other tools of up to a quarter volt or more. The problem is determining whether these are real fluctuations, or a discrepency introduced by the sensor. Even if you meter the PSU and find it rock solid, how do you know the mb itself isn't introducing variances?

put a dmm on the vcore measuring points on the board. that will give you a better but by no means precise idea.

 

[lopri]

I've tried BIOS 1004, 1006, and the beta 1009.003 but none of them fixed the problems. I've just seen a new BIOS (1008, not beta) on their website. Anyone tried? Please let me know if so. I'd appreciate it.

Howz the VCore stability with DFI boards? I'm seriously considering a switch.

 

[onn2000]

It's not just the motherboard, I suppose. You've also got to take into account the fluctuations of the PSU. Besides, motherboard voltage readings can be misleading, thus you need to measure the voltage with a multimeter.

The best that we can do right now is to blame the temp readings of the mobo, but blaming the mobo for giving unstable voltages is a bit harsh, I think, untill someone measures them with a multimeter.

 

[lopri]

onn2000 I fully understand that. While I know the software reading of PSU reading can be way off, but at least it tells you when it's stable, I think? I've got a Seasonic S12 600W, and no matter what voltage I give to the CPU or RAM, it stays rock solid all the time.

lop

 

[jiffylube1024]

Originally posted by: Lithan

Originally posted by: lopri
DO NOT BUY THIS BOARD IF YOU'RE PLANNING TO OVERCLOCK. PERIOD.

Don't shove a fork in your eye if you don't like pain. period.

LOL come on now Lithan. Not everybody knows that ASUS hasn't had steady voltage on their top mobos since the early P4 days (minus droop mods).

ASUS is still great for running a stock system. But it's not the overclocker's choice anymore, that's for sure!