P5N32-E SLI - Is my board a poor example?

Recently put together a system seeing as prices are now pretty good
using the following:-

ASUS P5N32-E SLI
2Gb PC6400 Crucial Balistix Tracer
7900GT
Creative XiFi Soundcard
500GB Hitachi SATA Drive
E4300
Ultra-120 Heatsink

PSU, ive tried a number of PSU from 460W to 700W (a number of different
brand and qualities) with no difference.

I've actually got 2x E4300 atm as one is destined for a friend (ones a
week 44/06 and ones a week 49/06.

Now I know its a crap shoot whether u get a good overclocker or not but
I really dissapointed at what I'm getting.

With the Week 44 cpu I can just about get 3Ghz (333x9) out of it but
needs a whopping 1.468v and it runs extremely toasty 73c under load.
I'd be content with this speed if I could drop the temperatures and
voltages.

With the Week 49 cpu I can barely get about 2.5Ghz with any amount of
voltage and it runs about 4c hotter than the other CPU even at stock
speed/voltages. Also getting the system to boot with any FSB over
about 275(1100QDR) is virtually impossible with this cpu.

I've tried upping voltage on NB/SB/CPU-VTT to suggested levels and it
usually make no difference (in fact NB increase is the only one which
made any noticable difference).

Also what is extremely dissapointing is that I cant get the FSB over
about 350(1400QDR) even with the better cpu and the multiplier dropped.
Most reviews of this board I've seen seem to have no problem getting
the FSB over 400 and a few touching on 500.

So I've come to the conclusion that I've either simply got a bad example
of this board and/or 2 bad examples of cpus.

Would swapping this board out for another P5N32-E SLI or maybe a EVGA
680i based board possibly help in getting maybe a better overclock?

Read my posts and the posts of others using EVGA 680i SLI motherboards to
this newsgoup.

My E4300/EVGA 680i system runs happily at 2.7 GHz with a core voltage set to
1.2500 v.
Any speed higher than ~ 2.9 GHz requires a very CPU high core voltage
(1.5125 v) and a wall is hit above 3.33 GHz using the Intel boxed retail
heatsink/fan and an ambient room temperature of 27 C.

For the system you describe, even a 400 Watt power supply of decent quality
would do fine.
I use an Antec NEO 550 HE (modular power cables)
E4300
EVGA 680i SLI motherboard
2 X 1 GByte PC8500 SLI ready memory
EVGA 8800 GTS 320 MByte video card
2 X 500 GByte Seagate 16 MByte buffer 7200 rpm SATA hard drives
Creative Audigy sound card
Dual layer light-scribe DVD +/- RW drive
CD R/W
3 1/2 inch Floppy
Intel boxed retail heatsink/fan

I am not a big believer in 'week' numbers. There are variations among CPUs
of the same designation.

Overclocking with Core 2 Duo chips and the nVidia 680i chipset is still
developing. I don't find any reliable utilities for reporting and logging
temperatures, voltages, and fan speeds for this combination. nVidia monitor
does not report the nForce temperature, reports only three fan speeds,
reports the BIOS voltages as set, not as they actually are. nTune is nearly
useless. The nTune CPU Stress test uses only one core, and that loaded only
to 5 % to 38%. Changing the FSB speed in nTune usually results in a system
crash, even when LOWERING the FSB speed. The 'Tune' function of nTune that
is supposed to automatically develop good overclocking settings does not
work at all.

Perhaps you can share some of your temperatures and results using
Orthos ( http://sp2004.fre3.com/ , 'SP2004 Orthos Edition' in the middle of
the page.)

Phil Weldon

"Pi" wrote in message
...
|
| Recently put together a system seeing as prices are now pretty good
| using the following:-
|
| ASUS P5N32-E SLI
| 2Gb PC6400 Crucial Balistix Tracer
| 7900GT
| Creative XiFi Soundcard
| 500GB Hitachi SATA Drive
| E4300
| Ultra-120 Heatsink
|
| PSU, ive tried a number of PSU from 460W to 700W (a number of different
| brand and qualities) with no difference.
|
| I've actually got 2x E4300 atm as one is destined for a friend (ones a
| week 44/06 and ones a week 49/06.
|
| Now I know its a crap shoot whether u get a good overclocker or not but
| I really dissapointed at what I'm getting.
|
| With the Week 44 cpu I can just about get 3Ghz (333x9) out of it but
| needs a whopping 1.468v and it runs extremely toasty 73c under load.
| I'd be content with this speed if I could drop the temperatures and
| voltages.
|
| With the Week 49 cpu I can barely get about 2.5Ghz with any amount of
| voltage and it runs about 4c hotter than the other CPU even at stock
| speed/voltages. Also getting the system to boot with any FSB over
| about 275(1100QDR) is virtually impossible with this cpu.
|
| I've tried upping voltage on NB/SB/CPU-VTT to suggested levels and it
| usually make no difference (in fact NB increase is the only one which
| made any noticable difference).
|
| Also what is extremely dissapointing is that I cant get the FSB over
| about 350(1400QDR) even with the better cpu and the multiplier dropped.
| Most reviews of this board I've seen seem to have no problem getting
| the FSB over 400 and a few touching on 500.
|
| So I've come to the conclusion that I've either simply got a bad example
| of this board and/or 2 bad examples of cpus.
|
| Would swapping this board out for another P5N32-E SLI or maybe a EVGA
| 680i based board possibly help in getting maybe a better overclock?
|
|
|
|

Pi wrote partly:
ASUS P5N32-E SLI
2Gb PC6400 Crucial Balistix Tracer
7900GT
Creative XiFi Soundcard
500GB Hitachi SATA Drive
E4300
Ultra-120 Heatsink

I've actually got 2x E4300 atm as one is destined for a friend (ones a
week 44/06 and ones a week 49/06.

With the Week 44 cpu I can just about get 3Ghz (333x9) out of it but
needs a whopping 1.468v and it runs extremely toasty 73c under load.

With the Week 49 cpu I can barely get about 2.5Ghz with any amount of
voltage and it runs about 4c hotter than the other CPU even at stock
speed/voltages. Also getting the system to boot with any FSB over
about 275(1100QDR) is virtually impossible with this cpu.

Also what is extremely dissapointing is that I cant get the FSB over
about 350(1400QDR) even with the better cpu and the multiplier
dropped. Most reviews of this board I've seen seem to have no
problem getting the FSB over 400 and a few touching on 500.

So I've come to the conclusion that I've either simply got a bad
example of this board and/or 2 bad examples of cpus.

It's a bit troublesome overclocking process. Here's my little tale.

I've put together the following system:
Asus P5N-E SLI (650i chipset)
E4300
Kingston DDR2-800 LL
Antec TruePower Trio 650W
eVGA 8800GTS-320
Seagate 320 GB SATA2
Western Digital 120GB SATA

I've had big problems in overclocking. First, I couldnt get my E4300 past
266 MHz FSB. I then found out from Phil (Non Squid) that he had the same
problem, tried a lower multiplier, and found out he could go to over 333
MHz.

I tried that, and I could get to 3150 MHz without a hitch! I just had the
same problems as you, needed 1.475 V to keep it stable. Then, at 58°C I got
a BSOD.

I tried lowering my multiplier, didnt seem to work. I read aposting in a
forum, suggesting that the latest BIOS is crap, and downgrading BIOS to
0401. I did this, managed to change multiplier to 8. Now I'm running at 2667
MHz (1333 MHz FSB), at 1.39V, max 46°C. I think I've found my 'sweet spot'
:-)

--
Met vriendelijke groeten, Thomas van der Horst

I'm currently running a P5N32-E SLI..

System specs:

E6600 week 28A
P5N32-E SLI
2Gb OCZ PC800 Titanium Alpha VX2 (2.2v)
2x EVGA 8800GTX SLI
Danger Den custom water cooling
Danger Den NB water block
Silverstone Olympia 1kw PSU
Samsung 24" LCD.
2x320g Seagate 7200.10 raid 0
2x320g Seagate 7200.10 misc. and back up.
system bios ver 1002 (latest release)

I have been using Asus boards for quite some time now and have been by
and large happy with them.

I run the following settings with this board:
500x8 4.0 ghz nb = 1.50v sb = 1.50v Vcore = 1.48v (probe II) 38/51
idle/load

400x9 3.6 ghz nb = 1.45v sb = 1.5v Vcore = 1.38v (probe II) 33/46
idle/load (24/7)

360x9 3.24 ghz nb = 1.35v sb = 1.5v Vcore = 1.275v (probe II) 28/38
idle/load (surfing).

All settings orthos stable 8 hours
Temps measured with coretemp.
memory stability established with memtest86+
memory: 980 Mhz @ 4-4-4-6 1T

What I've found important:

1. The 680i NB runs VERY hot, and I mean hot..
anything above 1.45v should include after market
cooling of some sort.
2. CPU-vtt should always be maxed out (1.55v)
This has no thermal effect, and helps stability.
3. Early bios versions were buggy. 903 and 1002 are ok.

If you have the Thermalright ultra-120, the those temps are high. Make
sure you are using a good thermal compound (I like AS5), and make sure
you are applying it correctly. The AS5 website has instructions.

I frequent several overclocking forums, and I have seen impressive
amounts of data that do in fact support non-uniformity in manfacture
date versus "overclockability". This varies from chip to chip and
seems to be associated with the particular Intel FAB location and the
grade of silicon used at that time.

Engineering samples are manufactured with a higher grade of silicon
and are known to overclock much more effectively for a given
multiplier setting.

You didn't mention your memory settings, those should be established
carefully with your cpu at stock speed before proceeding further.
Make sure FSB and memory speed are set to unlinked so you have
independent control of these parameters. I've found running my memory
at 1:1 does have a marked effect on bandwidth and also improves
graphics benchmarks.

I disable speedstep, but leave C1E enabled. This results in lower
temps when idle.

Do not under any circumstances allow your chips to exceed 60C.

There's no way you should need to zap any 4300 with 1.468v to achieve
3ghz. Go back and check your memory settings, set nb to ~ 1.40 -
1.45v, make sure fsb and ram are unlinked, and see what you get.

Good luck,

Al




On Fri, 11 May 2007 00:53:27 +0100, Pi wrote:


Recently put together a system seeing as prices are now pretty good
using the following:-

ASUS P5N32-E SLI
2Gb PC6400 Crucial Balistix Tracer
7900GT
Creative XiFi Soundcard
500GB Hitachi SATA Drive
E4300
Ultra-120 Heatsink

PSU, ive tried a number of PSU from 460W to 700W (a number of different
brand and qualities) with no difference.

I've actually got 2x E4300 atm as one is destined for a friend (ones a
week 44/06 and ones a week 49/06.

Now I know its a crap shoot whether u get a good overclocker or not but
I really dissapointed at what I'm getting.

With the Week 44 cpu I can just about get 3Ghz (333x9) out of it but
needs a whopping 1.468v and it runs extremely toasty 73c under load.
I'd be content with this speed if I could drop the temperatures and
voltages.

With the Week 49 cpu I can barely get about 2.5Ghz with any amount of
voltage and it runs about 4c hotter than the other CPU even at stock
speed/voltages. Also getting the system to boot with any FSB over
about 275(1100QDR) is virtually impossible with this cpu.

I've tried upping voltage on NB/SB/CPU-VTT to suggested levels and it
usually make no difference (in fact NB increase is the only one which
made any noticable difference).

Also what is extremely dissapointing is that I cant get the FSB over
about 350(1400QDR) even with the better cpu and the multiplier dropped.
Most reviews of this board I've seen seem to have no problem getting
the FSB over 400 and a few touching on 500.

So I've come to the conclusion that I've either simply got a bad example
of this board and/or 2 bad examples of cpus.

Would swapping this board out for another P5N32-E SLI or maybe a EVGA
680i based board possibly help in getting maybe a better overclock?

"Pi" wrote in message
...

Recently put together a system seeing as prices are now pretty good using
the following:-

ASUS P5N32-E SLI
2Gb PC6400 Crucial Balistix Tracer
7900GT
Creative XiFi Soundcard
500GB Hitachi SATA Drive
E4300
Ultra-120 Heatsink

PSU, ive tried a number of PSU from 460W to 700W (a number of different
brand and qualities) with no difference.

I've actually got 2x E4300 atm as one is destined for a friend (ones a
week 44/06 and ones a week 49/06.

Now I know its a crap shoot whether u get a good overclocker or not but I
really dissapointed at what I'm getting.

With the Week 44 cpu I can just about get 3Ghz (333x9) out of it but needs
a whopping 1.468v and it runs extremely toasty 73c under load. I'd be
content with this speed if I could drop the temperatures and voltages.

With the Week 49 cpu I can barely get about 2.5Ghz with any amount of
voltage and it runs about 4c hotter than the other CPU even at stock
speed/voltages. Also getting the system to boot with any FSB over about
275(1100QDR) is virtually impossible with this cpu.

I've tried upping voltage on NB/SB/CPU-VTT to suggested levels and it
usually make no difference (in fact NB increase is the only one which made
any noticable difference).

Also what is extremely dissapointing is that I cant get the FSB over about
350(1400QDR) even with the better cpu and the multiplier dropped. Most
reviews of this board I've seen seem to have no problem getting the FSB
over 400 and a few touching on 500.

So I've come to the conclusion that I've either simply got a bad example
of this board and/or 2 bad examples of cpus.

Would swapping this board out for another P5N32-E SLI or maybe a EVGA 680i
based board possibly help in getting maybe a better overclock?

I have the same board with an E6600 and there are still a lot of things I
need to sort out as far as the OC'ing settings go. Memory timings seem to be
the major issue for me. I am running two 8800 GTX cards in SLI so I had no
choice but to go to a higher output PSU. I went with the PC Power and
Cooling Silencer 750 Quad SLI PSU. It has all 4 external power plugs for the
video cards and also the 8 pin MB connector. I am not sure if that connector
is necessary for this MB, but it is there anyway so I used it...:-). I can
only get a stable OC up to a bit over 3ghz from the stock 2.4 for the E6600.
This is with all stock voltages for the short haul. I am not sure how
efficient the heat pipe cooling for the north and southbridge chipsets is on
this board. Sure, it is quiet, but I am seeing MB temps into the mid-upper
40s C under heavy load and I really don't like that much. I have backed the
OC down to 2.8ghz for the time being until I can figure out what I need to
do to get some better airflow to the cooling fins of the heatpipes. I am not
sure where the MB temps are read from and if the sensor is near those big
heatpipe cooling units it would be a bogus reading. I am still in the early
learning stages as far as OC'ing this chipset, so I can't say for sure
exactly how good of an OC'er it really is. It is a completely different
animal than what many of us have used over the years. Phil W. has been
posting a lot of good info on his E4300 experiment and I am learning a
little there. Him and I have been involved in ACHO for too many years (don't
want to age us.....:-) and I think the both of us are on a bit of a learning
curve with all the OC'ing options this and his EVGA model have. The 680i
chipset, both the EVGA and the Asus P5N32-E SLI get good reviews from all
the overclocking sites so I went with the Asus only because of my good luck
with their boards over the years. Right now I am trying to get the airflow
figured out to keep the MB temps down a bit. I just reseated my water block
for the CPU and at least have that down to the high 20s-low 30s idle and
below 50C under heavy load. I cleaned the Artic Silver off and applied some
of the white Artic Ceramique (or whatever it is called) and that fixed that
issue right away. I thought I may have over done the Artic Silver
application, but when I removed the water block it was just right. It seems
that this block just likes the other stuff (it came with it) a lot better.
Keep posting your results and any issues you may have as I think there are
at least 3-4 folks doing C2D overclocks here in the group at this time. Good
luck and I wish I had more info to help you out.


Ed