** The Official ASUS P5N-E SLI & Ultra 650i Thread **

[WJA96]

Sorry - yes. 2T Editing errors.

 

[OC_A64]

Sorry - yes. 2T Editing errors.

Still a damn nice clock. Try and see if you can run TRP4 @ that speed/voltage.

 

[WJA96]

No - it's not really stable at 600MHz - 550 is fine though.

 

[silversurfer]

My ram wont do 1T even at stock but then it was never supposed to :/

Im at 3ghz only at present, havent tried especially hard but I dont want to use too much voltage or anything.

My present vcore is 1.41 on speedfan but Ive set it at like 1.45 in the bios. Everything else is stock apart from northbridge at 1.4v or so. The next jump up is like 1.6v? Its allready cooking away with a fan directly over it and half a dozen others near by.



Im down from 3 fan headers to 2 after attaching a 92mm fan to the far left chassis header. It was just ticking over most of the time but I turned it up some to test and now its no more It still reads the fan speed, I guess I just used too much voltage through it.

I should have known better but a warning/reminder about this in the manual would have been good too.
[edit: actually it does warn I just didnt check carefully enough, my bad. 0.28A it says on the fan and the manual says 2000ma maximum ]


The cpu core temp doesnt go far from 60c but more vcore seems to make it more unstable


Anyone feel like putting up some screenshots of their voltages, etc.
Would lowering LDT to 4x make it more stable maybe?


Running this thing completely async results in a 20sec pi time at 3ghz..

 

[EvilGrin]

1. E6300 OEM
2. Your choice of CPU cooler (but I like the AC Freezer 7 Pro for cheapo rigs)
3. OcUK PC6400 Value RAM
4. P5N-E SLi

So for £360 you have the core of a 3.5GHz SLi rig that would not disgrace a pair of 7900GTO's and will run almost any game at medium-high resolutions with almost all the eye-candy turned on. That's a really good deal.

Think a 3.5 GHz rig would disgrace an 8800 GTS? I'm almost convinced to go for this mobo now, I was thinking of picking up this stuff as ram: GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit and a BFG 8800 GTS. Think you could push an E6300 further than 3.5 GHz on a stable overclock on this mobo with a cooler like the tuniq tower?

Going OT slightly - As i'm going to be getting a single 8800 GTS and doubtfully ever using SLi, think the DS3 would be a better option and an equally good overclocker?

 

[silversurfer]

3.5ghz is 16% faster then the x6800 so thats dam fast and I think its good enough to go with that gpu. The tuniq is gigantic, if it fits then I think you have a good shot. Ive seen 3.3 just messing around with a AC7. Not sure on a ds3, whichever is less fiddly

 

[waso_dude]

how do people find the 8x pci-e when in sli?

Much of a compomise compared to 16x?

i'm just waiting for a paycheck to get this board and another 7900


Aim is 3.3ghz+

 

[silversurfer]

It only compromises a 8800 very slightly Ive read so you will be fine

 

[WJA96]

Think a 3.5 GHz rig would disgrace an 8800 GTS?

Even a stock E6600 can hurl data at any current graphics card faster than the graphics card can make use of it. That's why in games the extra speed of the Core2Duo's tends not be seen in gaming benchmarks. The graphics cards bottleneck the processors, not the other way around.

I'm almost convinced to go for this mobo now, I was thinking of picking up this stuff as ram: GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit and a BFG 8800 GTS. Think you could push an E6300 further than 3.5 GHz on a stable overclock on this mobo with a cooler like the tuniq tower?

I think for a long-term ultra-overclock you really are looking at water cooling. OC_A64 showed here that 3.5GHz was perfectly feasible with stock air cooling. I don't think he was particularly trying at that point either. However it is worth bearing in mind that the current crop of E6300's are displaying worrying symptoms of running very, very hot indeed and that is upsetting a lot of people who bought them to clock them. If you get one that idles at 35 with a Tuniq Tower on it then it's still not going to clock well - particularly if you've not yet applied the extra 100mV to overcome the Vdroop. My E6300 on passive water idles at 48 but maxes out at 62. That's because even at rest I'm pumping masses of power through it that is unused and when it's idling that power is being disappated as heat. When the extra voltage is actually required the amount of heat shed is lessened.

The real benefit with this board is that provided you have the right E6300 you don't need expensive RAM to get a mega-overclock because unlike the S3/DS3/DS4 the RAM isn't running on a fixed divider.

Going OT slightly - As i'm going to be getting a single 8800 GTS and doubtfully ever using SLi, think the DS3 would be a better option and an equally good overclocker?

The DS3/E6300 combination is almost always limited by RAM because of the fixed divider. So to guarantee 2.8GHz on an E6300 with a DS3 you have to be running PC6400 RAM. Anything over 400MHz FSB means overclocking the RAM too, slackening the timings etc. With the P5N-E SLi you set the RAM speed to whatever you think is the sensible maximum and forget it. The NVidia chipset also allows you to run 1T and vary the speed of the hypertransport bus, neither of which are available on the P965 chipset.

In comparison with the NVidia 650i chipset the P965 chipset is a very crude tool for overclocking. You ramp up the voltages and ramp up the CPU FSB and make sure you have fast enough RAM to cope. The change in bootstrap at 425MHz on both boards means that with the DS3 you need RAM that will run to 460MHz+ or the PC actually runs slower than it did at 425MHz. That is easily overcome on the P5N-E SLi.

The P5N-E with it's original BIOS is as a good a clocker as the DS3 is with half a dozen BIOS revisions under it's belt. Add to that the fact that no-one who actually has the board is finding any major "Gotcha's" with it and I do think this is the better board at the moment. Both are very good clockers though.

To answer the original question - either board would make a very nice system, but the P5N-E SLi could be made faster for less money because of the RAM speed issue.

 

[waso_dude]

It only compromises a 8800 very slightly Ive read so you will be fine

What are we talking? a couple or tens of fps?

 

[WJA96]

how do people find the 8x pci-e when in sli?

Much of a compomise compared to 16x?

In the one test that has been done the difference was less than a couple of percent until you went to really big resolutions (2560x2048 levels) then you were losing 20% plus. That was with a pair of GTX's.

i'm just waiting for a paycheck to get this board and another 7900

With 8800GTS's available for £250, you might be better off selling your 7900 and buying a single 8800GTS instead. You would probably get the same level of performance at 1440x900 type resolutions and you don't need an SLi profile in the game to get the extra performance either.

Aim is 3.3ghz+

What's holding you back on the P5B? If it's RAM, then OK, you should be able to overclock more freely on the P5N-E, but if it's anything else then you may not get any additional improvement in processor speed.

 

[EvilGrin]

First of all, thanks a lot for your post, very helpful indeed! Have a few questions still though!

I think for a long-term ultra-overclock you really are looking at water cooling. OC_A64 showed here that 3.5GHz was perfectly feasible with stock air cooling. I don't think he was particularly trying at that point either. However it is worth bearing in mind that the current crop of E6300's are displaying worrying symptoms of running very, very hot indeed and that is upsetting a lot of people who bought them to clock them. If you get one that idles at 35 with a Tuniq Tower on it then it's still not going to clock well - particularly if you've not yet applied the extra 100mV to overcome the Vdroop. My E6300 on passive water idles at 48 but maxes out at 62. That's because even at rest I'm pumping masses of power through it that is unused and when it's idling that power is being disappated as heat. When the extra voltage is actually required the amount of heat shed is lessened.

Very worrying that the E6300s are running so hot... I doubt i'd realistically try and push past 3.5 GHz, i'd probably be quite happy running somewhere between 3 and 3.5, stability (and longevity) is most important to me tbh. How hot do you think the processor can run before you should start worrying? Hopefully investing in the tuniq and some good heatsink compound should allow me to get a respectable oc! Oh yeah also as you said OC_A64 managed 3.5 with stock air cooling, any idea what temps he was getting and what cooler he has?

The real benefit with this board is that provided you have the right E6300 you don't need expensive RAM to get a mega-overclock because unlike the S3/DS3/DS4 the RAM isn't running on a fixed divider. The DS3/E6300 combination is almost always limited by RAM because of the fixed divider. So to guarantee 2.8GHz on an E6300 with a DS3 you have to be running PC6400 RAM. Anything over 400MHz FSB means overclocking the RAM too, slackening the timings etc. With the P5N-E SLi you set the RAM speed to whatever you think is the sensible maximum and forget it. The NVidia chipset also allows you to run 1T and vary the speed of the hypertransport bus, neither of which are available on the P965 chipset.

It seems to me just now that the difference in price between the ocuk 5-5-5-12 PC2-6400 RAM and the GeIL 4-4-4-12 PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 is only £18, and presumably the geils come with heat spreaders too? Think it would make sense to go for them instead? I can't really see any RAM going for much less than the £140 mark (I go by ex. vat as i claim vat back through my business) for 2 Gb...

In comparison with the NVidia 650i chipset the P965 chipset is a very crude tool for overclocking. You ramp up the voltages and ramp up the CPU FSB and make sure you have fast enough RAM to cope. The change in bootstrap at 425MHz on both boards means that with the DS3 you need RAM that will run to 460MHz+ or the PC actually runs slower than it did at 425MHz. That is easily overcome on the P5N-E SLi.

Forgive my ignorance, but my knowledge of the way current ram works is pretty limited, so I don't quite understand how that works. Is there anything you could point me to, to read up on and be a little more savvy when it comes to the way of the ram?

The P5N-E with it's original BIOS is as a good a clocker as the DS3 is with half a dozen BIOS revisions under it's belt. Add to that the fact that no-one who actually has the board is finding any major "Gotcha's" with it and I do think this is the better board at the moment. Both are very good clockers though.

To be quite honest, i've never been a huge fan of gigabyte anyway, so i'm very heavily leaning to the 650, so much so that I think i'm sold! I just need to figure out what other bits and pieces i'll need now too, mainly ram, PSU, cpu fan to go with this lovely mobo. I'm thinking Geil for the ram, something around the £65 mark for the PSU and either the tuniq or the acf7.

Cheers again for the reply, much appreciated!

 

[OC_A64]

Very worrying that the E6300s are running so hot... I doubt i'd realistically try and push past 3.5 GHz, i'd probably be quite happy running somewhere between 3 and 3.5, stability (and longevity) is most important to me tbh. How hot do you think the processor can run before you should start worrying? Hopefully investing in the tuniq and some good heatsink compound should allow me to get a respectable oc! Oh yeah also as you said OC_A64 managed 3.5 with stock air cooling, any idea what temps he was getting and what cooler he has?

It seems to be the "B" batch chips which are running hot. Believe this is the same across the board if you get a B code chip. The hotter running chips tend to need less voltage for a given clockspeed though, so its a case of swings and roundabouts.

Cooling = totally stock intel cooler. It's not stable there though on stock cooler due to temps. Vcore = 1.30 or so and temps are in the 70's loaded. Watercooled she's orthos stable at 3.75ghz w/ 1.42v - again temp limited. If you can keep these chips cool they'll scale very nicely indeed.
Your results may differ to this CPU though, it seems to be "above average" and clocks are really only limited on air by temps. Stock cooling gives pi 1m stable @ 100% OC, have to drop it a lot to get the chip orthos stable due to temps. Afaik someone around here has a chip which also clocks nicely (blknoel perhaps?) also a "B" batch chip but his seems to run at much lower temps which is great news for him.

 

[WJA96]

It seems to be the "B" batch chips which are running hot. Believe this is the same across the board if you get a B code chip. The hotter running chips tend to need less voltage for a given clockspeed though, so its a case of swings and roundabouts.

Thanks for clarifying that - there is a lot of chatter in the Processors forum about cores not making good contact with heat spreaders and so forth.

Cooling = totally stock intel cooler. It's not stable there though on stock cooler due to temps. Vcore = 1.30 or so and temps are in the 70's loaded. Watercooled she's orthos stable at 3.75ghz w/ 1.42v - again temp limited. If you can keep these chips cool they'll scale very nicely indeed.

'kin 'ell. Incredible. Truly incredible.

Afaik someone around here has a chip which also clocks nicely (blknoel perhaps?) also a "B" batch chip but his seems to run at much lower temps which is great news for him.

BlkNoel got 4GHz I believe on a P5B-E with Crucial Anniversary RAM I think.

 

[WJA96]

It seems to me just now that the difference in price between the ocuk 5-5-5-12 PC2-6400 RAM and the GeIL 4-4-4-12 PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 is only £18, and presumably the geils come with heat spreaders too? Think it would make sense to go for them instead? I can't really see any RAM going for much less than the £140 mark (I go by ex. vat as i claim vat back through my business) for 2 Gb...

There seem to be so many issues with the GeIL RAM - check out the Memory forums for lots and lots of threads about the PC6400 Ultra Low Latency stuff that I'd be loath to recommend it. If you can stretch to the Crucial Anniversary it's exceptional - truly exceptional. Anything by Corsair also tends to be very stable with ASUS.

Forgive my ignorance, but my knowledge of the way current ram works is pretty limited, so I don't quite understand how that works. Is there anything you could point me to, to read up on and be a little more savvy when it comes to the way of the ram?

I've had a quick search about and couldn't find anything sensible. Maybe I'll write my own and stick it up to be shot down.

To be quite honest, i've never been a huge fan of gigabyte anyway, so i'm very heavily leaning to the 650, so much so that I think i'm sold! I just need to figure out what other bits and pieces i'll need now too, mainly ram, PSU, cpu fan to go with this lovely mobo. I'm thinking Geil for the ram, something around the £65 mark for the PSU and either the tuniq or the acf7.

I like the AC7, I genuinely wouldn't touch the GeIL with a bargepole at the moment. but £65 for a PSU (excl. VAT) should be ample. I like Akasa, FSP and Seasonic. Corsair are the current flavour of the month (made by Seasonic).

 

[waso_dude]

What's holding you back on the P5B? If it's RAM, then OK, you should be able to overclock more freely on the P5N-E, but if it's anything else then you may not get any additional improvement in processor speed.

p5b atm i think, i can't get it to go anyhigher than 3.09 :S

i've got 1gb geil 6400c4 so that ent a problem...

so i hope this board will sort that for me

gfx wise... i'll prob stick with my 7900 single for a few months, until the 8800 refresh and hope they get slightly smaller and less power specific...

(and how u knoe i run 1440x900 )

 

[WJA96]

and how u know I run 1440x900

Lucky guess?

 

[waso_dude]

i'll let ya off then....

just read this:

Note: These cards require PCI-E x16 slots, they will not function in a x8 slot so for SLi you need dual x16 mainboard. Finally 500W minimum for PSU and 600W+ is recommended.

so i cant' use a 8800 in sli on this board

looks like i might have to push to a 680i

 

[WJA96]

Note: These cards require PCI-E x16 slots, they will not function in a x8 slot so for SLi you need dual x16 mainboard. Finally 500W minimum for PSU and 600W+ is recommended.

It's not true, thankfully. The 8800's run just fine all the way down to 4x.

 

[waso_dude]

yey

how much do you think i could get for my p5b(not the delux one)?

so tempted to order the mobo today