680i SLI is too expensive? Asus as the solution : P5N32-E SLI PLUS

For the SPP reading, you'd need the newest version/build of Everest. I don't know where it's available also, but I always download it from this site here:
http://www.computerbase.de/downloads...chung/everest/

I'm using a driver-mix for this board, which is different for the two OS's I'm using. For Win XP 64-bit, I think it consists of 9.53 (Asus has a download for that I think I remember) for the storage drivers and 18.08 for the network stuff. Same idea when I chose the drivers for Vista, the storage part came from Asus, the network part from the newest available set.

panfist,

Try in this thread. It is where I found the version with spp monitoring.

http://www.lavalys.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=3092

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Originally Posted by Radical_53

For the SPP reading, you'd need the newest version/build of Everest. I don't know where it's available also, but I always download it from this site here:
http://www.computerbase.de/downloads...chung/everest/

I'm using a driver-mix for this board, which is different for the two OS's I'm using. For Win XP 64-bit, I think it consists of 9.53 (Asus has a download for that I think I remember) for the storage drivers and 18.08 for the network stuff. Same idea when I chose the drivers for Vista, the storage part came from Asus, the network part from the newest available set.

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For the ethernet and bus drivers I have found no real benefit in using any others than the ones in the 9.53 680i package. For the Ide and raid drivers I have found the 6.91 drivers included in that package are cpu hogs of about 5% to 8% depending on the usage. Now I use the 6.99 ide/raid driver from a remix package that is readily available that lowered the cpu usage to no more than 2% and 90% of the time it stays idle after read access.

The new beta of Everest does work for me.

My SPP temps are reported at 77C even with a 40mm fan attached directly over the NB blowing down. Is this high?

Another quesiton, the CHA_FAN connector, along with OPT_FAN1, 2 and 3 all seem to be lower power than the CPU_FAN, and OPT_FAN4 and 5. Is this normal? Are the slow fan connectors meant for 5V fans or something?

Also here's a quote from the manual: "If you install 2 VGA cards, we recommend that you plug the rear chassis fan cable to the motherboard connector labeled OPT_FAN1 or 2 for better thermal environment." Why is this...for me the chassis fan connector and opt_fan1 and 2 all seem slow.

@mrbusa: Do you know where you found that package?

Especially in Vista, the newer ethernet drivers do help. Teaming now works correctly, it didn't with the old drivers.

PS: I still haven't gotten any further. I can run any stability test now. Prime, OCCT, SuperPi, even games do work flawlessly. And then this thing freezes at the desktop when some media player is running... or when it's just sitting there. How funny...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Radical_53

@mrbusa: Do you know where you found that package?

Especially in Vista, the newer ethernet drivers do help. Teaming now works correctly, it didn't with the old drivers.

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I find all nforce related drivers here...... http://www.nforcershq.com/ The forums are where you will find all the benchmarks for individual drivers and custom packages for different boards and OS's.
I tried teaming awhile back on xp32 from my main rig with a small three system gigabit network and found no real advantage while transferring files to multiple systems at once or while running a game server. My latency and throughput was the same on all rigs with or without teaming enabled. Did I do something wrong? Is there another purpose besides redundancy?

Ok, I have read with a multimeter and confirmed...

CHA_FAN and OPT_FAN1 only provide output up to 8V even when they are set to 100% in the BIOS.

All of the other fan headers output 12V.

Why isn't this documented? or... Why are my fan headers not outputting 12V when they are supposed to?

(these numbers are rounded...I actually read 8.06 and 12.36V on my multimeter)

@mrbusa: Well, I just tried it because it was there. And because I did like the idea to have a "use" for the second nic ;) That's all basically. Now it works and I'm happy with it.
Thanks for the link, I knew that site once but seems I totally forgot about it.

Some small update from my testing:

I got OCCTs RAM specific test to run now and Super Pi 32M x2 runs too now. To get the RAM specific test of OCCT to run, I had to lower vdimm from 2,025V to 2,00V. Stupid side effect: Now my 2x12 Crysis GPU demo "benchmark" freezes somewhen... Right now I'm checking if the idle stability problem is gone now with some media player running. Maybe I do another step forward.

Sorry guys, I jumped the wagon and moved on to DFI x48 :)

I sold my board to a mate and bought him an e2160 and o/c:d it to 3GHz with less than it's nominal voltage :) VID was 1.313v and it's 100% stable with 1.26v :)

However, I do think that the board's PWM was dying on me. When I installed a 420w power supply (I was using the 1kW Turbo-Cool) the 12v line dropped to 11.2 volts according to Everest (it was 11.7v with the T-C). Now with this DFI board, it reports 11.968v with the 1kW T-C.

Ok, so my Ultra X-pro 600w arrived in the mail today and I'm getting a really strange issue.

I unplugged the old antec SP-500 and got the new ultra situated in my case. It took about 30 minutes to get everything nice. I then tried to power up the machine, and it did the usual thing where when it's been powered off for a long time, the voltages come up slowly. I don't know if it's a defect or if it's designed that way, but basically none of the fans or magneto-optical drives are on right away, then the fans slowly spin up, then the magneto-optical drives come on. About 15 seconds after you hit the power switch, finally you get video output and the POST screen. Except this time, it never posted.

I tried a jumper CMOS clear, and nothing. I tried removing the battery and unplugging the PSU for 30 minutes...twice...and nothing.

Then I tried plugging in the old SP-500 again. Within 15 seconds of hitting the power switch, I get the POST screen.

So I tried a little experiment...what if I connect the Ultra as quickly as possible while the motherboard is still "successfully juiced up?" It worked.

I'm not sure if I should RMA the motherboard...this thing it does where the voltages slowly come up has never really struck me as normal...or if I should RMA the PSU, or both? regardless of whether my motherboard is defective, it's really unacceptable for my 2-year-old craptastic power supply to boot my system on its first try and the universally praised brand new ultra does not...that's pretty unacceptable.

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So enough about the quirks of the PSU, how does it perform? My max stable overclock is higher than it was before. I'm now stable at 397MHz FSB, and I will test higher, soon.

But the weird thing is temps have gone WAY UP! My CPU is 3C hotter, MCP 2C hotter, and my SPP is about 10C hotter.

Strange that the system doesn't power up with the "better" PSU right away. The higher temperatures might have to do with a slower running fan inside the PSU?

@jultsu: Well, I can understand your choice ;) Right now I'm pretty pi**ed as the system is really behaving more than strange. I can't locate the reason why it freezes/bluescreens when idling... where it's stable under load with every benchmark or program I can find.
I even installed the absolutely newest drivers (thanks to mrbusa!), some nice new features but the problem remains.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Radical_53

Strange that the system doesn't power up with the "better" PSU right away. The higher temperatures might have to do with a slower running fan inside the PSU?

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I don't know about the fan running slower...my old antec sp-500 had a fan coming out the "front" of the power supply, where all of the cords come out, in push-pull configuration with a fan on the back of the power supply. They were 2x 80mm fans. This PSU was completely quiet...I never heard it over the noise of my other quiet fans.

The new Ultra has a 135mm fan on the bottom, which as soon as I power on my computer produces a high pitched whine. It's louder than all of the other components in my case combined. I have 2x 40mm fans, 3x120mm fans, and 1x 80mm fan. I has no need to be louder when it's at least 15% more efficient and has a fan blades more than 50% longer.

Ultra products have always had issues with QC. Bigger fans do not always mean quieter fans when you throw quality into the mix. It is all about the bearings and the fan blade shape, spacing, and angle.

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Originally Posted by >GSXR<mrbusa

Ultra products have always had issues with QC.

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I guess it must be a QC issue because every other review claims this PSU to either be very quiet or annoyingly loud. I could try to RMA it I suppose...

To be honest, I'm still trying to find a PSU that has "it all". So far I haven't found one that had 3 perfectly stable rails, nice cables, high efficiency and was quiet.
The TT PSU I have right now has a really strong 5V rail, the 3.3 is quite jumpy under load and the 12V is extremely steady, but a little lower than my Seasonic S12 that I had before. Also it gets annoyingly loud when you put some heavy load on it. Not with my normal setup, but when I put a chiller on and had the QX run at above 4GHz, where it had to "do" something, it really started to go crazy.

PS: Has anyone played around with the tRD value in bios? I read an article of what it does on Intel chipsets, so I had to try. If I'm not wrong the RAM has a little less performance, but needs much less voltage for a given speed.

Radical: If it's quality you want, get a PC Power&Cooling 1,2kW Turbo-Cool, and replace the fan yourself if it's too noisy (there won't be any warranty seals on the screws IIRC)

http://www.pcpower.com/power-supply/...cool-1200.html

or, if you're on a budget:

http://www.pcpower.com/power-supply/...10-eps12v.html

Thanks, I'll have a look at those. It's kinda nice that OCZ bought PC&P, at least for us Europeans, they're easier to get now :D

The problem about the PSU is not the budget (within a margin at least), but rather the size. I do have a Silverstone TJ-03 which is not *that* large. So as I want/need to have my watercooling stuff inside the case, the PSU should not be too long. I can't fit a triple rad for example if the PSU is longer than ~15-16cm, so it's partly questionable if the strongest possible PSU gives me an advantage when I can't get rid of the heat :D Works around the other way too, what would I need a big rad for when the system doesn't clock high enough to take advantage of it compared to a dual rad ;)
I'll keep looking, maybe just order one to check out what happens. I'm still curious how different the two PSUs I have here perform and behave. Adjustable rails would definitely be an advantage, I really loved that when I had an OCZ PSU a couple of years ago.

This here should fit my case -> http://www.pcpower.com/power-supply/turbo-cool-860.html ;) No bargain, but might be worth it (230€... or 350$!).

new bios!!! 1003: http://support.asus.com/download/dow...7;20SLI%20Plus

"Wow" :D

Sorry, I'm a traitor... I got a Striker just a couple of weeks ago. Runs really nice so far ;)
Also, I just got a new PSU -> Enermax Modu82+. Absolutely recommendable. Very high, very stable voltages, very efficient, extremely silent, just perfect so far.

I flashed this because tomorrow my e8400 will be here. The issue with settings not saving in the 1002 version has been fixed. I had to reset with the clear cmos jumper just one time and now it is completely stable with all settings saved. When the new cpu gets here I will post back on the results.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Radical_53

Sorry, I'm a traitor... I got a Striker just a couple of weeks ago. Runs really nice so far ;)

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:D

The Striker is better than its reputation... :yepp:

Yes, and actually I was able to use the same settings/techniques I had from this board on the "full" Striker. Pretty nice actually :) The only thing that changed dramatically was the heat of the NB (terrible!) and it does seem to allow a little higher FSB. So far really only a few problems, I absolutely love this board.
My P5N32 had some minor problems, so I wanted to try a new (in terms of fresh) board to see where they came from. After some thinking I chose the Striker, the price difference was small now and I was curious about the extra features. So far I'm really happy with this decision. One thing was obsolete though, the better stock cooling... I really wanted to try it, yet it was so bad that the system was only stable in idle state. What a mess... :D

Got the e8400 installed and running @stock for now. The motherboard detected the VID at 1.25vcore so I had to set that right off the bat. Core temp reported the VID at 1.1125 and that would not run stable so set it up to 1.13bios/1.12everest and all is well. My only complaint so far is the temp readings on this board for the 8400 diode must be screwy. Idling at 39c,lol, my e6600 never even seen those temps up to 3.2. I have seen many others with the same issue so I am not worried. It is just weird seeing those temps registered. I'm going to have to get a temp probe before I start pushing this thing.

Don't worry, I get up to 80&#176;C under load from the reading, it's nowhere close to something real ;)
You should see the "real" vcore when you run Everest, CPU-Z reports it too low.

That is what is strange because Everest also reports 1.113 for the VID and that will not run stable.
CPUZ reports the VID 1.152 which seems to not be needed @stock.