ASUS P5W DH - Problems + Fixes Thread

Hiya there, I'm new to the board, and was hoping I could get some help and feedback here. So thanks in advance!


My P5W-computer just turned 2 years old, and to celebrate I decided to start learning how to overclock and thus simultaneously give the comp a now well needed boost.

I'm running an E6400 with two 1GB Corsair PC2-5300 sticks, and BIOS version 2801. Now, since I haven't been able to (well, haven't been arsed to, really), I haven't installed proper cooling in my box yet, so I didn't want to up the CPU speed at first.

I started with upping the FSB to 333 from 267 to get a 1:1 ratio, however, when I tried setting the multiplier down to 6 from 8, the setting just wouldn't stick. By this I mean that the number 6 was shown in the option after rebooting, and POST told me that the CPU was at 2 GHz, however as soon as POST was done with memory calculation the CPU fan went wild, and in Windows CPU-Z told me the multiplier was still 8 (and my CPU thus at 2,66 GHz). After rebooting BIOS said the speed was 2 GHz, but still showed a multiplier of 8 even though the option read 6. So even though I have the setting at 6, I still have a multiplier at 8. I have no software clocking programs installed, I should add.

It turns out there's no significant increase in temperature at 2,66 (still around 52 idle, sigh), so I'm quite happy about that, but I'd like to know what the hell I'm doing wrong for future ventures. Why isn't the multiplier sticking, and why does BIOS and POST tell me it is?


Also, I seem to have scared off the ability to change Vcore somehow, and I don't have an option to disable EIST. I could change it before I started doing a bunch of changes, so I'd really like to know what it is I've managed to wreck.

Lastly, when it comes to DRAM frequencies, I seem to only have certain options to choose from. From 666 it goes straight up to 800, and I'd like it somewhere in between (when I manage to sort the multiplier out, that is). Is this motherboard-revision-specific or something?


Many thanks for any help I might get, and thanks for a great forum! :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tomcug

If I understand well, then you've already increased CPU Voltage to 1.45V but it hasn't made your system stable. I think you should try to increase FSB Termination Voltage too. This makes 45nm CPUs more stable, I've experienced it with my E7200.

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I set vCore to 1.45V, vFSB to 1.50V, vMCH to 1.55V and the FSB itself to 333. The memory has been at 2.10V for ages.

This rebooted before loading Windows XP...

BinaryT - I would definitely upgrade the Ram if I were you.

I am in the process of getting 4Gb of RAM that I am trying to get to 4-4-4 timings.

I spent only $55 for FOUR gigs on Newegg. I will be posting most likely Tuesday when they arrive to let everyone know if I hit the timings.

Upgrading from 2Gb of PC-5300 ram to 4Gb of PC-8000 ram can and will make a big diff. plus its cheeeeeeeeeeeaaaaapppp!!

As for your other questions, I am too tired. :) I am sure you will get a detailed response from some of the other guys here.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BinaryT

Hiya there, I'm new to the board, and was hoping I could get some help and feedback here. So thanks in advance!


My P5W-computer just turned 2 years old, and to celebrate I decided to start learning how to overclock and thus simultaneously give the comp a now well needed boost.

I'm running an E6400 with two 1GB Corsair PC2-5300 sticks, and BIOS version 2801. Now, since I haven't been able to (well, haven't been arsed to, really), I haven't installed proper cooling in my box yet, so I didn't want to up the CPU speed at first.

I started with upping the FSB to 333 from 267 to get a 1:1 ratio, however, when I tried setting the multiplier down to 6 from 8, the setting just wouldn't stick. By this I mean that the number 6 was shown in the option after rebooting, and POST told me that the CPU was at 2 GHz, however as soon as POST was done with memory calculation the CPU fan went wild, and in Windows CPU-Z told me the multiplier was still 8 (and my CPU thus at 2,66 GHz). After rebooting BIOS said the speed was 2 GHz, but still showed a multiplier of 8 even though the option read 6. So even though I have the setting at 6, I still have a multiplier at 8. I have no software clocking programs installed, I should add.

It turns out there's no significant increase in temperature at 2,66 (still around 52 idle, sigh), so I'm quite happy about that, but I'd like to know what the hell I'm doing wrong for future ventures. Why isn't the multiplier sticking, and why does BIOS and POST tell me it is?


Also, I seem to have scared off the ability to change Vcore somehow, and I don't have an option to disable EIST. I could change it before I started doing a bunch of changes, so I'd really like to know what it is I've managed to wreck.

Lastly, when it comes to DRAM frequencies, I seem to only have certain options to choose from. From 666 it goes straight up to 800, and I'd like it somewhere in between (when I manage to sort the multiplier out, that is). Is this motherboard-revision-specific or something?


Many thanks for any help I might get, and thanks for a great forum! :)

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I imagine the multiplier's not sticking because you have EIST enabled. Save you current bios settings in 1 or 2, go to load defaults, reboot, load from previous saved slot (1 or 2) but before rebooting and telling it to save your settings, go to cpu configuration and disable EIST and C1E, the settings should be available.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LordX

BinaryT - I would definitely upgrade the Ram if I were you.

Upgrading from 2Gb of PC-5300 ram to 4Gb of PC-8000 ram can and will make a big diff. plus its cheeeeeeeeeeeaaaaapppp!!

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Heh, well, at the moment I really don't have anything that requires a lot of memory. But yeah, I'll have to upgrade them sooner or later, and 8000 ones seem pretty performance-per-dollar friendly.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lawrywild

I imagine the multiplier's not sticking because you have EIST enabled. Save you current bios settings in 1 or 2, go to load defaults, reboot, load from previous saved slot (1 or 2) but before rebooting and telling it to save your settings, go to cpu configuration and disable EIST and C1E, the settings should be available.

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Yeap, I managed to make the EIST setting reappear by resetting everything and then loading the old stuff. The EIST still disappeared when unlocking the multiplier setting, though. Thanks a lot!

Also got another DRAM frequency option (711) upon reloading the defaults, which is nice.

About the Vcore, is it any use to set it manually, or does auto work fine?


Take care!

Depends, when you get a new cooler you might want to bump vcore a bit to reach higher cpu clocks and remain stable otherwise auto is fine for now.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tomcug

No, P5W DH Rev. 1.02G can overclock and adjust voltage for both Wolfdale and Yorkfield CPUs. The only limitation is that voltage can't be set to any value lower than 1.4V. However our board has only two GTL reference voltage dividers. And this makes it quite poor at overclocking quad-core CPUs. So if you want to change CPU, then go for E8600 or change motherboard.

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My 1.04G board can run my QX9650 @ 4 ghz and 1.3868-1.376v (real), and I've gamed at 1.392v and 4.1 ghz, as well as passed 3dmark06 CPU test without any problems (but i'm sure it wouldn't pass prime here).

Note that you can't even adjust the GTL REF on this board.
(newbie question: Isn't GTF Ref related to stabilizing cpu's at higher FSB speeds but with less vcore? or is it for stabilizing CPU's even at low FSBs?)

I wouldn't come halfway CLOSE to 4.1 ghz (much less 4 ghz) if I didn't have an unlocked multiplier....I remember I couldn't even pass 1 loop of Prime at 380x10 (3.8 ghz) and 1.4vcore (!) although I was at 1.65v vmch; perhaps 1.75v would have helped there, while 333x12 (4 ghz) and 1.3875vcore runs for hours and hours....
(this is with vdroop mod btw).

You really don't want to run a quad on this board with intention to overclock it unless you have an unlocked multiplier.

I found the maximum overclock stable for an E8600 with all voltages in AUTO, (cpu vcore too):

With my P5W DH DELUXE Rev. 1.02g:

FSB 385 (3.85GHZ)
MEM - 770MHZ
PCI - 100
PCI CLOCK - 33.33
ALL VOLTAGE IN AUTO

SUPER ESTABLE.


I hope that helps someone. For 4GHZ i have posted in the page 324.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by G40RoCkEt

Hello people,

After my new upgrade (E8600), i put some screenshots of my modest overclocking.

Thanks again to my friends Tomcug and Firestarter here.

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Thanks for the pictures and settings for your very nice results. This should be encouraging for 1.02g owners like me who are looking at the e8600. Still, I can't help but think that without a new bios and manual control over vcore, I'm not going to get as lucky as you (i.e. heat or a mysterious FSB limit will do me in).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Falkentyne

You really don't want to run a quad on this board with intention to overclock it unless you have an unlocked multiplier.

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Can you give your current BIOS settings? What is your stable overclock with QX9650?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tomcug

No, P5W DH Rev. 1.02G can overclock and adjust voltage for both Wolfdale and Yorkfield CPUs. The only limitation is that voltage can't be set to any value lower than 1.4V. However our board has only two GTL reference voltage dividers. And this makes it quite poor at overclocking quad-core CPUs. So if you want to change CPU, then go for E8600 or change motherboard.

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Somehow I am seeing core voltages from 1.20V and I am running my proc at 1.21 V.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bodka

Can you give your current BIOS settings? What is your stable overclock with QX9650?

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Hmm.....
FSB 333, multi x12
DRAM timings 3-3-3-8-3
vMCH 1.65v (didn't seem to make any difference from 1.55)
Dram voltage 2.1v (2.05v if using my gskills but 1 stick is dying; needs 2.3v to post but then runs at lower voltages after POST; Corsair XMS needs 2.1v to be cas 3 stable at 333 fsb and 2.15v for 340 FSB at cas 3).
CPU vdroop pencil mod applied.
CPU vcore 1.375v (not 100% prime stable over several hours; sometimes does a full 3.25 hour small FFT prime run complete pass (8k-64k), sometimes errors out on one core after like 2 hours; i do NOT want to run prime 12 hours and raise the heat and stress my CPU even more; if it doesn't crash in games that's fine). I consider this to be fully stable as nothing can make the CPUs reach 71C except quad prime.
Rybka multiprocessor Chess engine (4 threads) stable.

Vcore 1.3875v runs prime just fine but gets WAY too hot; I stopped it as soon as temps got to 80C; Tuniq tower 120 simply has trouble dealing with 4 cores giving off this much heat, plus nothing is lapped. Linpack makes things get so hot that the entire system just freezes (1 test with 5 loops is fine but do a 2nd test and boom...; Got up to 88C....followed by the absolute WORST horrible screeching sound you've EVER hard in your life, coming from the speakers (even if I set the volume to 10%); i think it startled some apartment neighbors at 1 am in the morning...it was THAT bad.

4.1 ghz @ 1.4v bios (1.392v loaded) runs Rybka chess 4 threads, and 3dmark 2006 as many times as I need it to; seems game stable but I need to run a lot more games; don't ask me to prime at this voltage; pretty obvious it won't pass that; may need a TRUE Black 120 for that.....
FSB 315, multi x13 for this.

Got my new Ram, trying to decide which kit to keep.

OCZ gets 5-4-4-14...

Crucial gets 5-5-4-12...

Which timings are better? What is a good program that I can use to test the speed of my Ram? That will tell me Gb/Second and such? So I can test these timings and their affects..

If I were you, I would :banana::banana::banana::banana: timings and just find out which kit runs at the highest FSB your P5W can hit with your CPU.

Everest is a good program for testing memory speed, i think the option is benchmark or cache something.

There shouldn't be much difference in the bandwidth, so you definitely want the most FSB possible. Intel systems like FSB more than timings, while AMD systems like timings more than FSB.

No kit I have ever had will boot faster than 940mhz...

I have my FSB @ 376... I will not change that.

No idea why even a PC-8000 kit wont boot @ 1003mhz.... :(

So now that I am MHZ limited, I am looking for the best timings.

It appears that a 4Gb Kit will not function at the same timings as a 2Gb kit. (this may be common knowledge from what I saw on Google).

The best timings I could achieve with all the kits I tried was 940 Mhz @ 5-5-4-12. (FSB @ 376) (Voltage @ 2.1 - May go lower but I didn't try)

The system would boot @ 5-4-4-12, but error on Memtest repeatedly. Even when I tried slamming these kits with up to 2.35V....

I even tried a more expensive, and higher rated kit, to no avail.

Since all the kits I tried worked at the same timings and speed, the best priced one I found was the Crucial Ballistix kit.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148212

I got them for $41, they are at $43 now. That is NUTS for 4Gb of Ram IMO. An upgrade that seriously begs the question: Why Not?

did you try bumping your nb voltage up it may help
Rich

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Falkentyne

Hmm.....
FSB 333, multi x12
DRAM timings 3-3-3-8-3
vMCH 1.65v (didn't seem to make any difference from 1.55)
.

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What memory ratios worked best for you ( above 333 and below 333 ) ?

For me, above 320, 1:1 and 4:5 are the only ratios which seems to be stable. But this is with RAM underclocking. Below 320, I am able to run at almost all ratios.

Hi

I would like some advice i currently have:
Buffalo FireStix PC2-6400 2GB DDR2
Asus P5W motherboard
Intel core2duo 6420 oc @3.20ghz
8800GTS 640MB
Corsair 520W PSU
Windows XP SP2 Pro

so i was wondering if getting the Corsair 4GB Kit (2x2GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 XMS2 would be a good idea to beef it up even more

Bodka - Yeah, with my FSB so high, I am limited to that same thing. But I am not willing to sacrifice my CPU overclock for the ram timing. No chance. :)

Ruud - With WinXP, 2Gb of ram never failed me. However, when I moved to Vista 64 (in order to get DX10 for Fallout3), I found that Fallout3 used sick amounts of Ram in combination with Vista. That was my final straw in order to upgrade.

I guess the question is what are you using your system for? Have you ever experienced a time where your memory utilization was at 100% like I did?

I never used anything except 1:1
I'm also not really familiar with how setting different DDR ratio speeds affects straps....I think I tried it once a long time ago (to see if the ram would run at ddr2-1000, i forgot though....i remember having some no posts though....)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LordX

Bodka - Yeah, with my FSB so high, I am limited to that same thing. But I am not willing to sacrifice my CPU overclock for the ram timing. No chance. :)

Ruud - With WinXP, 2Gb of ram never failed me. However, when I moved to Vista 64 (in order to get DX10 for Fallout3), I found that Fallout3 used sick amounts of Ram in combination with Vista. That was my final straw in order to upgrade.

I guess the question is what are you using your system for? Have you ever experienced a time where your memory utilization was at 100% like I did?

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well i am hoping to play GTA 4 on my pc , i know it will run it at the moment but i think 4GB will give it a little more boost

my inbuilt audio control panel keeps disappearing from the system tray for some reason. It's annoying because I loop my 360 through the line-in and so I need to control the volume for this port separately from Windows volume.

The last time the realtek audio was updated on the Asus page for this motherboard was back in 2007 though - and I have this version.

Can I use the the more recent HD audio stuff on the Realtek website - it says this

Quote:

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Audio drivers available for download from the Realtek website are general drivers for our audio ICs, and may not offer the customizations made by your system/motherboard manufacturer. To be sure you obtain the full features/customizations provided in your original audio product, please download the latest drivers from your system/motherboard manufacturer's website.

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though :)

Will this version work with the P5W?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by radlord

my inbuilt audio control panel keeps disappearing from the system tray for some reason. It's annoying because I loop my 360 through the line-in and so I need to control the volume for this port separately from Windows volume.

The last time the realtek audio was updated on the Asus page for this motherboard was back in 2007 though - and I have this version.

Can I use the the more recent HD audio stuff on the Realtek website - it says this



though :)

Will this version work with the P5W?

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Yes, you can download and use this software, it'll work with P5W DH without any problems.

Has anyone recently attempted to contact asus about adding TRD and TRFC to the memory timings? How would I do this myself ? Or has everyone just given up? I honestly don't think this would be hard for them to add...IF someone can find the right people to talk to.

Surely someone here has contacts with Asus?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Falkentyne

Has anyone recently attempted to contact asus about adding TRD and TRFC to the memory timings? How would I do this myself ? Or has everyone just given up? I honestly don't think this would be hard for them to add...IF someone can find the right people to talk to.

Surely someone here has contacts with Asus?

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memset will allow to do these settings. But it is always better to have it in BIOS.

Falkentyne, I'm going to contact Asus about adding more memory timings to BIOS today. I don't think this'll change anything but the more people write about this, the more chances we have that they'll make new BIOS.

Tom,
Thanks and please let us know what happens.
Just adding TRD (performance level) and TRFC to the bios would do wonders. I think the 965 board, the P5B, has those settings, right?
And it wouldn't be THAT Hard to add...

I wonder why a BIOS modder hasn't attempted this?
Unless the bios has to be rewritten, but don't most bioses have the registers for this anyway?

I mean, apparently, hyperpath 3 simply does nothing except lower the TRD by 1 (from 6 to 5)....heck if hyperpath3 were REMOVED and replaced with a TRD entry field...

Tomcug (or anyone): has there been any news?
It's feeling awfully lonely here...

Well I might as well liven things up by a few things i've observed.

First, Gskill 2x2 GB "Pi" black PC-7200 dimms have no problem in this board, and you can run 1:1 manual timings past 370 FSB. The quad core limitations are holding the memory back. In fact, with the 4:5 (or the other divider), I was able to reach full RAM spec of 450 Mhz with this memory, timings 4-4-4-12, and 2.1 volts (2.0 did not POST), but this required either 1.85 vmch or 1.75 vmch+1.30 vFSB. I was at 338 FSB to reach 450 mhz on the RAM so i forgot what divider thats called; it was second to the one under the 1:1. i know one is 4:5 but what was the other ? So it's good to see that this board can run the RAM at that frequency of 900 mhz. And it's 2 GB dimms too, which is good for people who are memory starved. So if you have a high multiplier chip or unlocked quad core, you're still good to go for some high mhz on a 1.04g board. Too bad it wont get there 1:1 on the quad (i wonder if TRD and TRFC might help things slightly?)

My QX9650 is stable with vdroop mod, at 4 ghz (333 x 12) @ 1.3625vcore (1.344 idle, 1.350 load), or at 4.09 ghz (364 x 11), and vmch 1.55, vfsb=1.20.

Early on in this thread, someone took a multimeter to the Mch and determined that raising the FSB termination voltage affects the vmch voltage directly! It wasn't a fixed value, but it was something like every +.1 vfsb caused the measured vmch value to increase by about 0.8. I cant find the post right now but it was something like 1.60vmch +1.30 vfsb came out to 1.68 vmch measured, and 1.60mch+1.40 vfsb came out to 1.74 vmch.

I've actually confirmed this in a FSB test in how the board is acting with my qx9650. Note I'm using the 1.04g board, serial# 71xxxxx and g0aaY (showing it was made january 2007)

First, absolute max FSB i can use with my QX9650 is about 380 FSB. 380 FSB require 1.85v vmch to pass loop memtest86+ test 5. BUT, i got the same stability by using 1.75v on the vmch WITH increasing the vFSB to 1.30. This seems to support that the vFSB is somehow giving the mch more voltage for some reason.

370 fsb was fine with 1.65v and 364 FSB had zero problems with the lowest 1.55v value.

Note that all these settings were with the RAM running 1:1 with timings 4-4-4-12. Gskill hz D9's (2x1gb) ran as expected. My corsair XMS2's required a volt bump to 2.1 or 2.15v at 380 FSB. The 2x2GB gskills didn't.

390 FSB was not usable. 1.85 vmch with 1.20 (stock) vFSB crashed memtest86+ almost instantly. I mean crashed. 1.30 vFSB (which as above, im sure raised the vmch above 1.90) caused constant errors in test #5 at almost each address.
1.40 vFSB did a LOT better, with only 3-4 errors per pass on test #5. I fear of how much voltage, without a multimeter, the northbridge is getting here. With 1.50 vfsb, either 390FSB might work, might degrade the QX9650 or cause the entire northbridge to blow up or go into overvolt protection mode, since it would be getting over 2v, if it's following the pattern from the other person's multimeter measurements.

It goes without saying that 400 FSB didn't post. I think I remember it posting with my X6800 but i forgot. If I recall, the "POST" multiplier feature, where the board tries to post at the default multiplier, before reading and setting the requested multiplier, was causing failure to post here, because the board was trying to POST at 400x11 and then switch back to the x9 multiplier. I obviously have no such problem with the high multiplier of 12 on the QX9650, instead it's just the board (GTL signals? reference point?) cant handle the high FSB with a quad, but 380 FSB is still quite nice for such an old board.

I think the comment about the vmch increasing its voltage with a percentage of the vFSB being added may be interesting for some people.

So anyway, it's not the CPU mhz of quads that the board cant handle, it's the FSB limitations by lack of the other two gtl reference dividers that limit quad core overclocking at high FSB. Unlocked CPU's help circumvent this, and 1.04 version (with rectangular shaped northbridge MCH, newer 975X chipset like in the Intel badaxe 2) can overclock FSB on quads more.

It is still unclear whether the 1.04g version has the two missing GTL reference points that freecableguy mentioned that he couldn't find in the board he tested, although he didn't say if that was a 1.02 or 1.04 board.

But its still good news to know that using 2x2GB dimms isnt hurting the FSB overclock any more than the 2x1GB gskills i was using--the Quad is limiting the FSB. I just wonder how 2x4GB would work :)

I hope this thread doesn't die.....

*edit*
switched tuniq tower 120 for a TRUE Black 120+NBT Panaflo medium output fan, for my QX9650, and not only did my temps DECREASE at least 10C, but 1.3625v (1.52v real) is once again quad prime stable at 333x12 (4 ghz) thanks to the huge temp reduction. Tuniq Tower cant handle overclocked quads...

Hehe, new Core 2 E8700 =) 3.5GHz, 10.5 ratio
http://ark.intel.com/cpu.aspx?groupId=37019

Update: Interesting Intel deleted page on site after a day about E8700.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Falkentyne

Tom,
I mean, apparently, hyperpath 3 simply does nothing except lower the TRD by 1 (from 6 to 5)....heck if hyperpath3 were REMOVED and replaced with a TRD entry field...

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Nope, the main effect of HP3 is to change the strapping on the 975x from 1066 to 800 so simple benchmarks would look better. This of course is overclocking the NB, which as we've all learned is the limiting factor to performance of this MB. The tRD value change (in some versions of the BIOS) also helped improve benchmark results, but that was just IMO a tweak.

I didn't have time but I managed to ask Asus about adding those timings. Now we just have to wait for their answer :).

I've just read Asus replay. I've got bad news, the wrote that they won't make new BIOS supporting TRD and TRFC timings change :(.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tomcug

I've just read Asus replay. I've got bad news, the wrote that they won't make new BIOS supporting TRD and TRFC timings change :(.

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Relply back, please, and ask about the 40nm voltage issues on the 1.02G boards. See if they have a REASON why the old boards can't put out low voltages...

Tom, if you call them, -remind- them that the P5B (the LESSER board) has TRD and trfc in the bios, while the P5W does not. Remember you need to reach someone who is higher level than a grunt.

Then, if they still try to play hardline, remind them that the P5W64-WS (i think that's the name of this board?) DOES have these timings, so why doesn't the P5W have it?

Why would they NOT add it to the P5W but add it to a lesser board and a workstation board?

BTW I heard that someone actually flashed a P5W64-WS bios onto a P5WDH and the board actually POSTED with it? I wonder what functionality was lost, though....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mikepaul

Relply back, please, and ask about the 40nm voltage issues on the 1.02G boards. See if they have a REASON why the old boards can't put out low voltages...

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^^

ASUS should be held to account for claiming 40nm compatibility on boards in which half the board revisions don't work properly.

Hello, This is my first post but I have followed this thread for a long time. I was previously hitting fsb wall at 360 with my Dual core Conroe E6600 (2.4 Gig) processor.

Following a recommended setting by Tomcug:

CPU Frequency: 400MHz
DRAM Frequency: 800MHz
Performance Mode: Auto
PCI Express Frequency: 100MHz
PCI Clock Synchronization Mode: 33.33MHz
Memory Voltage: 2V
CPU VCore Voltage: Auto
FSB Termination Voltage: 1.3V
MCH Chipset Voltage: 1.65V
ICH Chipset Voltage: 1.05V

I was able to hit 400 mhz bus with cpu core voltage in the 1.6 volt range, however system was not prime 95 stable. I tried higher voltage since my processor was conroe class vs. the penryn in Tomcug's above recommendation. I was unsure how high to push my cpu voltage (maybe higher voltage would make System Prime 95 stable?).

I then thought possibly bios upgrade would help, so I switched from bios version 1707 to version 2801

Now that I am running Bios 2801, I find that I don't know how to adjust the CPU Vcore. I can not change the setting manually- it is stuck on Auto. A note recommends disabling C1E and EIST to be able to adjust CPU VCore

I have Disabled Enhanced C1 Control and Disabled Virtualization Technology.

How do I disable EIST? Are there other settings in this bios version that might be preventing me from adjusting the CPU Vcore.

Also, what are considered safe Vcore ranges for my Conroe class dual core cpu. Any other recommendations for a Stable 400MHZ fsb?

Finally, how do I know what the revision # (1.04g -1.02g) my motherboard is- I might wish to upgrade my cpu to penryn.

Thanks in advance for any support that you can provide- Paul

voltages are set to auto after a flash; but changing AI settings to manual, saving the bios settings then rebooting will free up voltages.

I think someone said EIST appears if you change cpu ratio control or something, then you can set it back afterwards.

You did clear the cmos, by putting the jumper on the "clear" position (with the power supply unplugged!) for 30 seconds, right?

Your board revision is right above the RAM slots.

Thank you Falkentyne for your response.

I have not cleared the cmos, and never have. I just downloaded the bios as a file on my desktop and used the Asus Update utility to install it.

I will have some time to work with this tomorrow. I have never cleared the cmos. If I do, will windows load so I can use the Asus update utility to install, or will clearing the cmos prevent windows loading and have to install from command prompt?

I don't have experience working with command prompt, and have no floppy drive in my computer.

If I need to work from the command prompt, can I save the new bios file to a cd , or flash drive and load it from there?

Thanks Again,

Paul

First of all, you shouldn't flash from windows. You should only do that if you have NO other options. If something goes wrong, your board could be bricked. There are many explanations on how to flash with ez-flash and putting the bios file on a formatted floppy disk, USB drive or CD.
Flashing from a bootable floppy or flash drive with AFUDOS does an even more complete flash than Ezflash or asus update;
You will notice that your overclock profiles are erased if you use AFUDOS; that's how complete the flash is, but in most cases, ezflash is good enough.

Second, clearing cmos has nothing to do with windows.
You clear cmos only after a bios flash, not BEFORE one.

You clear the cmos after a flash (after the computer reboots, enter the BIOS right after a flash is over and the computer restarts (if you flashed with AFUDOS and a floppy disk, you can power off after it says "Press F10 to reboot, or power off"), then power off, unplug power supply, open case and move cmos RTC jumper to blocks 2-3 for 30 seconds, then put it back on 1-2, replug power, reboot, enter BIOS, set AI overclocking to manual, disable speedstep, eist, etc, then save, exit, enter BIOS again, then you should be able to adjust vcore).

EIST in the CPU subsection of the BIOS is called Intel TM (Thermal Monitoring or something like that).
This can be set to 'disabled'.
When everybody calls it by its proper Intel name, but noone uses the Asus-Bios naming, no wonder
that there are misunderstandings.

Funny thing is, with my E8400, stepping e0, it doens't matter how often I set this (after first having
cleared my CMOS), I still end up with 'Auto' CPU Voltage (even when following Falkentyne's instructions
word for word). Plus, when I try to change the multiplier, the P5WDH will not POST: I have to clear CMOS
again to even be able to enter the Bios. All this on a revision 1.04G motherboard.
It's bloody annoying.

Are E0 steppings currently supported?

Multiplier settings (which use EIST to work in the first place) don't work with wolfdales (besides extreme edition Yorks). Search back in the thread; Asus explained they disabled this for wolfdales, but i don't know or remember why.

You may want to send Asus an email about the auto vcore issue.

Hi Guys,

I am so frustrated with the P5W DH Deluxe Asus board.

All of a sudden in the last few days when I turn on the computer after it hasn’t been used overnight, the stupid computer hangs with a black screen, no boot up noise comes up, so I stop and restart the computer, then it hangs on the post, and complains some about Voltage .

Then I go into Bios, and the first 2 drives I have in there aren’t auto-detected, only the 3rd drive and the DVD rom drive. (So obviously it won’t boot, it doesn’t know that there is a boot drive connected)
But If I restart it again, once or twice, I will get through and it boots into windows just fine.

This is my second board, and the first and now second board are acting flakey after a year and change of usage.

Anyone have any suggestions? Should I flash the Bios to the latest version? Will that somehow make the problem worse? By totally not recognizing the hard drives? The current bios that i have is 1.5 years old, so not the latest.

Sounds like a power supply issue to me. But you could be right too, if it´s a problem with the voltage regulators or caps on the mobo.

Guys, i need a little help with some overclocking. Here are my specs so far.

E6750 - OC to 3.2ghz. Thermaltake V1 PL Cooler
Idle at 21-25 Full load 40-45
Asus P5W DH - Not sure what bios version i am running, but i have updated it several times using asus website.
2xCorsair 6400 @ 800Mhz
1x4870 1gb @ 790/1100Mhz
800W PSU
24 INCH Monitor 1910x1200
All volts at stock

Now i want to squeeze a little more juice out of my CPU. But anytime i go slightly over 3.2ghz i get errors in prime within 30 seconds. I have tried 3.3ghz-3.5ghz but i cannot get it stable. I can play games, login to windows etc, but prime crashes almost immediately (error). I have tried CPU volts from stock -1.45 no i don't think its that. I have tried overclocking mem with the cpu overclock to 850mhz-900mhz and upping the volts to 2.05-2.10. I have also tried running the cpu overclocks, and decreasing the mem speed just to rule that out. I have run out of idea's. At the moment, i have settled for 3.2, but i really want to squeeze a little bit more out of it.

I have heard about FSB,MCH,ICH, but i have no idea what there stock value is, or what they mean. I know this motherboard runs hot, so i don't really want to damage it, so i am sceptical about increasing any of those. But if i just have to make a small tweak to get 3.4-3.5ghz then i will do it.

I don't have any money to spend on fans for motherboard cooling at the moment.

Cheers

Are you failing prime with small FFT's or are you failing in Blend?
Does Intel Burn test / Linpack also fail ?

Try removing the northbridge heatsink and the push pins mounting it and the mosfet heatpipes (you will need to remove the motherboard to carefully use tweezers (do NOT damage the pins by pushing too hard) to gently push them in), then use goo-gone or alcohol to remove the caked on "adhesive" stuff on the northbridge and on the back of the heatsink, and be very careful when you do this. You can take a knife if you want, and CAREFULLY, with the help of some alcohol, very slowly help loosen the caked on adhesive compound on the northbridge; this is safe but you have to be very careful; your job is to get the compound removed, not scratch the northbridge. When you're finally done, apply some arctic Ceramique (I would not recommand AS5 because there are too many exposed resistors around) or even some generic white silicone compound, and then remount the heatsink.
If you have a small fan (they're less than $10) you can screw that into the northbridge.

Then reboot and set the mch voltage to 1.65v then if that's not enough, try 1.75v. Increase FSB termination voltage to 1.30v, and then try 1.40v only if you need to. Do not go to 1.50v.

You can also see your board revision when you're doing this; its written above the RAM slots. All 1.03 and 1.04 boards can go to 1.85 vmch, but it's a bit risky to go that high on the mch, even with it actively cooled; 1.75v should be ok with active cooling.

After you do all of this, Do some memtest86+ loops, and especially focus on test #5. See if you can get that to pass 10 loops; if you can, then your memory and northbridge should be stable.

Then run prime95 small FFT's and try a couple of 5 loop passes of Linpack if you want.

Something to keep in mind: Raising the FSB termination voltage also increases the vmch voltage slightly; about .06v for ever +.1v of FSB. Tested by someone using a DMM. I do not know if this applies to boards with 1.65v max vmch.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Falkentyne

Are E0 steppings currently supported?

---

:shocked: :eek:

You are right!

I just had a look at the list of supported CPUs, and the E8400 is in there
only as stepping C0:

Quote:

---

Core 2 Duo E8400 (3.00GHz,1333FSB,L2:6MB,rev.C0)

---

Holy cr*p on a cracker!
They had the CPU with stepping E0 included in that list before, now they
have taken it out. That explains everything!

A big :down: to ASUS. As the board hasn't seen any new Bios for half a year
now, I am not counting on this getting fixed ever.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by crishan

:shocked: :eek:

You are right!

I just had a look at the list of supported CPUs, and the E8400 is in there
only as stepping C0:



Holy cr*p on a cracker!
They had the CPU with stepping E0 included in that list before, now they
have taken it out. That explains everything!

A big :down: to ASUS. As the board hasn't seen any new Bios for half a year
now, I am not counting on this getting fixed ever.

---

I'm rather sure C1 stepping is fully supported, as I think bios 2801 supported that.

If you look back in the thread, there was a link to an AMI Bios editor, where you can see the cpu stepping "Raw" codes; if you edit bios 2801, you should be able to see the steppings that are supported. I know c1 is, though i don't know which total Wolfies/Yorks are supported. I don't know about E0 though. I also don't know what the raw codes mean. You can check yourself...

To a different issue:

Tomcug: were you able to call Asus about those TRD and TRFC settings?

Guys, i have a E8600 with Revision E0 and bios 2801.

It's fully compatible!

vcore settings work down to 1.225v?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Falkentyne

vcore settings work down to 1.225v?

---

Yes, at the first time that you boot the bios (after a good clear cmos) , but in the second boot bios change the value to 1.400v.

The P5W DH revision 1.02g not fix vcore lower than 1.400v

But my 1.400vcore in windows is variable between 1.36-1.40

And with my E8600 i can get 3.850Ghz with all voltages in auto and vcore too.

To get 4Ghz and more vcore is necessary set to 1.400v and more.

The important thing is that the bios 2801 accept all CPU revision E0.

Just noticed something, with my board not matter how i try it I can´t get past 890 MHz stable. To get there I had to put 1.34V Vcore when I try 400 MHz it posts but but it ain't stable.
Tried puttin' Vcore to 1.40 and even 1.50 but no dice. The only conclusion I can take is that the P5W doesn't like 400MHz FSB on Quads.

Just a quick question what happens when I change the PCI Express Frequency? Does it make any interference OC wise?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Daimao

Just noticed something, with my board not matter how i try it I can´t get past 890 MHz stable. To get there I had to put 1.34V Vcore when I try 400 MHz it posts but but it ain't stable.
Tried puttin' Vcore to 1.40 and even 1.50 but no dice. The only conclusion I can take is that the P5W doesn't like 400MHz FSB on Quads.

---

Daimao:
You're using a 1.04g board right? (i assume you are since you can go down to 1.34v on your Q9450).

The highest stable FSB i can get on mine with a QX9650 is 380 fsb and that requires 1.85v mch or 1.75v mch+1.30 FSB (someone posted that FSB voltage affects mch voltage but i can't find the post right now, and search isn't helping). 390 FSB gives errors in memtest at 1.85v mch and 1.40 FSB so its unusuable, and 400 FSB won't post on mine. I'm sure it would post fine with a dual though. Note that with a divider my RAM can handle 450 mhz @ 2.1v, cas 4-4-4-12, but once again, to do that, I need 1.85v on the mch (or 1.75+1.30 vfsb); its the 2x2GB Gskill pc-7200.

The reason the P5W doesnt' do well on quads is not just because of lacking TRD and TRFC (Tomcug where are you??), but also there seems to be only one GTL/REF divider on the board, so the CPU has to handle the other one internally, which limits highest FSB. I just use an unlocked multi (333x12) for 4 ghz on mine (1.3625v).

PCI-E frequency MIGHT improve HDD loading benchmarks SLIGHTLY (I wonder if someone has done a HDtach or that other bench tool with different PCIE speeds), barely improves 3dmark, but some people say that it helps you overclock the core or memory on some video cards a few more mhz. Don't go above 110 if your using RAID (105 is safe) or 115 mhz for normal SATA.

Thanks Falkentyne, but ain't 1.85V MCH a bit high. I normally use 1.50 and my temps are 20 (cpu) and 40 (board).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by G40RoCkEt

Yes, at the first time that you boot the bios (after a good clear cmos) , but in the second boot bios change the value to 1.400v.

The P5W DH revision 1.02g not fix vcore lower than 1.400v

But my 1.400vcore in windows is variable between 1.36-1.40

---

OK, but even 1.4Vcore didn't stabilize my Q9450 at 333 FSB. I did move up to 295 successfully at AUTO.

Any advice on the other voltage settings for a 1.02G revision using a 45nm CPU?...

I'm really not sure what to do about the 1.02 version.
Perhaps try to pick up a cheap 1.04 or grab a P45 board? Did you try to call Asus and demand to speak to level 3 support about the 1.02g boards and the vcore bug with those 45nm cpu's? (not the grunts at the basic level?). A 1.04 should get you 360-380fsb, and 360fsb should be doable at 1.55 mch.

BTW i got mine to post at 400 FSB with the QX9650, with 2x1GB gskills, 5-5-5-15, and 2.2v but didn't even try to enter memtest... 1.85vmch+1.30 vfsb gave a "slow" post then cpu ucode error (i was surprised it let me enter BIOS without everything crashing or corrupting the chip), 1.40 vfsb was normal speed POST without that error, but was too unstable to even enter memtest86+

Even with 6 GB RAM installed in all 4 slots, 380 FSB+1.85 vmch was stable except some weird things happening when I had the 6 GB of RAM in there (2x2 GB and 2x1GB filled), PCIE link was being set to 8x; set vfsb to 1.30 and it was 16x again; power off, set it back to 1.20 and 16x again O_o....guess its something to do with that much FSB with a quad and all 4 dimms filled... fully stable tho. But since I don't have windows 7 yet (i was too slow to register) and am on XP/32, I pulled the 2x2GB dimms (4-4-4-12) so I could run the 2x1gb gskill d9's at 3-3-3-8.

And yes 1.85vmch is high; even with fan mounted on NB I don't know if that will cause eventual damage or degrade, so I don't keep it at those settings; I usually use 333x12, 1.3625v (1.375v for linpack) if I need 4 ghz for a game or quick stress test. Board is pencil vdroop modded.

I mailed ASUS' German tech support, and guess what:

There'll NEVER be support for Core2Duos with the E0 stepping. Never. :eek: :down: :mad:

Off to the Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P then.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Falkentyne

I'm really not sure what to do about the 1.02 version.
Perhaps try to pick up a cheap 1.04 or grab a P45 board? Did you try to call Asus and demand to speak to level 3 support about the 1.02g boards and the vcore bug with those 45nm cpu's? (not the grunts at the basic level?).

---

Nope, didn't escalate. I noticed over the weekend that the email I sent with my specs was in November. I guess I'll have to ask about that.

And I don't WANT to spend more money on a board for this CPU. That's for the i7 I want to get next year. This year's Top Of The Line will be cheaper then...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by crishan

I mailed ASUS' German tech support, and guess what:

There'll NEVER be support for Core2Duos with the E0 stepping. Never. :eek: :down: :mad:

Off to the Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P then.

---

Don't email them.
All you're doing is reaching grunts.

You need to reach their taiwan office--on the phone. That's the ONLY way.
And you will have to *fight* to pass your way through the grunts of level 1 support until you can reach someone at level 3 / bios area. Once you do that, then you will be in business and be talking to someone who actually knows something. This won't come to you free--you have to fight-hard- for it.

If you're able to do this with the taiwan office, also inquire about "TRFC" and "TRD" memory settings in the BIOS (remind them that the P5B board has this, and basically ALL of their boards they made except the P5W deluxe has it and ask them WHY they didn't include this--which is EASY to add, for the P5W). Also for the benefit of mikepaul, inform the taiwan office, that there is a bug with the 1.02g version boards and voltage selection on 45nm cpu's; (1.04g boards are fine); you can't select lower than 1.4 or 1.45v core with 1.02g boards with 45nm).

Crishan, E0 stepping is fully supported with latest 2801 BIOS. You can find this info even at ASUS site. I bet that all those grunts' job is to tell people to buy better motherboard. I already experienced that when I asked them about timings support. I'm still fighting with them but I don't think I'll win :(. It's really hard to reach someone at higher level who knows something :(.

Tom, you called their Taiwan office, right?

Can you also try emailing one of the BIOS developers? I remember that someone in another thread posted the email for one of them, because they were trying to get a serious problem fixed and it took a _lot_ of phone calls and emails, but eventually a beta bios came out...

It was either in the Rampage 2 extreme thread (the core i7 board) or the P5Q Deluxe discussion thread (for pre-1406 BIOS); I think the latter, but you can check both; I know there was contact with bios engineers in both threads though...

I'm 100% sure the email was posted; see if that helps...

BTW we also need a new BIOS (not just to fix mikepaul's problem, but also for new cpu's) for those 1066 FSB wolfdales that just came out recently....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Falkentyne

Tom, you called their Taiwan office, right?

Can you also try emailing one of the BIOS developers? I remember that someone in another thread posted the email for one of them, because they were trying to get a serious problem fixed and it took a _lot_ of phone calls and emails, but eventually a beta bios came out...

It was either in the Rampage 2 extreme thread (the core i7 board) or the P5Q Deluxe discussion thread (for pre-1406 BIOS); I think the latter, but you can check both; I know there was contact with bios engineers in both threads though...

I'm 100% sure the email was posted; see if that helps...

BTW we also need a new BIOS (not just to fix mikepaul's problem, but also for new cpu's) for those 1066 FSB wolfdales that just came out recently....

---

Negative, I've only called Polish office where I live, but I can try to call to Tainwanese office. Just one question, do they speak English? About writing to BIOS developers, I can do that if you give me their e-mails. This shouldn't be a trouble, I'll explain all problems and write why they should fix that. Now I'm waiting for you answer.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tomcug

Crishan, E0 stepping is fully supported with latest 2801 BIOS. You can find this info even at ASUS site. I bet that all those grunts' job is to tell people to buy better motherboard. I already experienced that when I asked them about timings support. I'm still fighting with them but I don't think I'll win :(. It's really hard to reach someone at higher level who knows something :(.

---

Um NO, it ISN'T.

Check for yourself by going here:
http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/c...Language=en-us

Choose Motherboard, socket type (775) and name (P5WDH);
The list you'll be getting only incorporates these cpus:

Core 2 Duo E8200 (2.66GHz,1333FSB,L2:6MB,rev.C0) ALL 2504

Core 2 Duo E8300 (2.83GHz,1333FSB,L2:6MB,rev.C0) ALL 2704

Core 2 Duo E8400 (3.00GHz,1333FSB,L2:6MB,rev.C0) ALL 2504

Core 2 Duo E8500 (3.16GHz,1333FSB,L2:6MB,rev.C0) ALL 2504

There is no, repeat NO, REPEAT, NO SUPPORT FOR E0-STEPPING CPUs
(sorry for shouting, but you are just making assumptions. ASUS clearly
don't support the E0-stepping, they say so on their own CPU support page).

And yes, for some time after the 2801 Bios was released, they had the
E0-Stepping CPUs in the list. However, they took them out again, for
whatever reason.

Crishan, stop writing such bull*****! I know that they removed E0 revision CPUs from their site but 2801 BIOS fully supports them! Many people have E8600 with P5W DH Deluxe and they don't have any troubles! Check this out man:

Quote:

---

Will support: E8400 revE0, E8500 revE0, E8600, Q9400 revR0, Q9550 revE0, Q9650 revE0

ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/asus/mb/so...eluxe-2801.zip

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tomcug

Negative, I've only called Polish office where I live, but I can try to call to Tainwanese office. Just one question, do they speak English? About writing to BIOS developers, I can do that if you give me their e-mails. This shouldn't be a trouble, I'll explain all problems and write why they should fix that. Now I'm waiting for you answer.

---

Yes most of them do speak some English. Patience is needed, though. They may answer the phone in chinese of course.

Not sure where their taiwan number is; pretty sure you can find it. The emails may be hard to find; I remember at least 1 email was in either the R2E thread or P5Q Deluxe discussion.

Crishan : what motherboard revision do you have?

And on a lighter note,
I think I can do 4.1 ghz with my QX9650 relatively prime stable with 1.4v (didn't try, no point in risking degradation), as 1.3875v at 4.1ghz passed 8k FFT but when i went straight to 40k, in-place, core 4 failed shortly (seems like 8k, 10k and 40k are most stressful). Linpack is 50 loops stable at 1.375v and 4 ghz (for some odd reason, with 2x1GB, Linpack needed 1.3875v for 50 loops, but for 2x2GB, 1.375v? temps only 2C higher at 1.3875v), and fully prime stable at 1.3625v. The cores were screaming for mercy at 4.2 ghz and 1.4v in Prime (cores 1, 2 and 4 didn't last more than 5-20 seconds without one of them erroring out). I can probably game safely at 1.425v but that's already too high to risk degradation (even tho the TRUE keeps temps down), and I'm sure it won't prime very long. Seems like the most realistic MAX goal is "possibly" prime stable at 4.1 ghz/1.4v (1.392v load-which should be 100% stable in games) or possibly game stable 4.1 ghz 1.3875v (1.384v load), and a safe goal is 4 ghz 1.35v for normal stability and 4 ghz/1.3625v for max stability in everything except Linpack.

enough numbers I guess...things start getting hard after 4.0 ghz :( 100 mhz to 4.1g doesn't seem like its worth .0375v though

Crishan: I have 2 Asus P5W DH Deluxe motherboards with E0 C2D cpu's.
The only thing you must have is the latest BIOS 2801
My Pc : Asus P5W DH Deluxe revivion 1.04g with Intel C2D E8600 E0 stepping
Second pc: Asus P5W DH Deluxe revision 1.02g with Intel C2D E8500 E0 stepping
Hopefully the C2D E8700 will be supported.

What's the voltage ranges?
The 1.02g can't select less than 1.4v on any 45nm cpu.
Can your 1.04g do it with that E8600 ? Ragdd ?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tomcug

Crishan, stop writing such bull*****! I know that they removed E0 revision CPUs from their site but 2801 BIOS fully supports them! Many people have E8600 with P5W DH Deluxe and they don't have any troubles! Check this out man:

---

Oh, nice. When you're out of arguments, you try ad hominem attacks, right? :mad: .

Since when is simply STATING what the manufacturer writes on their CPU
support page considered, to quote yourself,

Quote:

---

writing such bull*****!

---

Hmm?
Or is that the way one treats one another where you come from?
Never learnt any manners, have you? :shrug:

AGAIN, I DO HAVE a E8400. E0-Stepping, on a revision 1.04G board, with Bios 2801. Yes, it works, BUT, I am unable to change vCore, the Bios just displays 'Auto'; It also undervolts the CPU slightly (I get 1.168 Volts under load, while my VID is actually 1.2125 Volts).

Quote:

---

Many people have E8600 with P5W DH Deluxe and they don't have any troubles!

---

Not having troubles isn't equal to being unable to change vCore which is my issue with my combination of board and CPU. Note that I didn't write of having troubles, but that I am unable to set vCore.
Through the undervolting, I am e.g. unable to even run LinX for more than a minute; Games, benchmarks etc. run fine, though. I am just very annoyed that such a fine board like the P5WDH is hampered by bugs in its Bios.

Maybe they screwed up at ASUS, putting the E8600 in, while not doing this for the E8400 (stepping E0). This so far seems to be the most logical conclusion. G40RoCkEt, with a revision 1.02G board, at least gets vCore displayed, Ragdd's E8600 works on his 1.04G revision board, although he doesn't write if he's able to change vCore.

Crishan, once again, with 2801 BIOS all E0 CPUs are fully supported. Didn't you read that man?

Quote:

---

Will support: E8400 revE0, E8500 revE0, E8600, Q9400 revR0, Q9550 revE0, Q9650 revE0

ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/asus/mb/so...eluxe-2801.zip

---

About your problem, it happens usually. Many people had such troubles with E7200 (M0) and E8500 (C0). So it's not because of E0 revision of your CPU. Send me some shots of your BIOS settings, so I'll be able to compare them with my settings. Sorry for being a little angry but you were just writing fake information from ASUS. They just removed those CPUs from their site because they want people to buy newer boards.

I use the E8600 with Revision E0.

No problem here.

I have had my P5W DH Deluxe for over two years. I had my X6800 running reliably at 3.6GHz (360MHz * 10) on air (Arctic Freezer Pro 7). I have 2x2GB Patriot RAM running at 4-4-4-12 on 2.1V.

I only now realize how great the unlocked multiplier was on my X6800. I put a new Q9650 (Revision E0) in, and got it working at the defaults (333 * 9 = 3.0 GHz). I started my overclocking by upping the FSB to 366MHz * 9 = 3.3GHz, and I started running into problems. Windows starts fine, but under load it would restart.

I ran Memtest86+ on these settings, and it ran for 8 hours with no problems.

Then I started tinkering with various voltages, but couldn't make it any more reliable.

Can somebody suggest some baseline settings to start with? And an idea of what I might be able to achieve?

Thanks.

What board revision is that? 1.02, 1.03 or 1.04g? This matters.
vmch, vfsb and what vcore in bios? What vcore is shown in cpu-z?
You should have 1.225-1.7v ranges. If you're getting 1.168v in cpu-z at idle, then you're not going to be doing 3.3 ghz if that board droops down to 1.09v load.

Try vcore 1.35v, as I don't think your board is vdroop modded, so that vcore will drop under load.
vmch 1.65v
FSB term:1.30v
Throw a small fan on the northbridge.
Disable automatic restart in windows in control panel/system/hardware/startup and recovery.

Your FSB isn't going anywhere with a Quad without at least a 1.03g board.

The highest realistic FSB I can be stable with on my QX9650 is 380. (380x9 1.225vcore or 380x10 1.275v), but that requires 1.75 vmch+1.30 vfsb or 1.85vmch and 1.20vfsb. 390 fsb can only be done with insane voltages (like 1.85 mch+1.40 fsb+RAM at 5-5-5-18 at 2.2v, as raising vFSB also raises the vmch slightly (1.85vmch+1.40 vfsb gives about 1.96v vmch which someone measured in a post I can't seem to find anymore...), and even that isn't stable enough to pass all stress tests.

With 333x12, lower on FSB but 4 ghz by raising multi, I can pass prime all day at 1.3625v and pass Linpack 50 loops at 1.375vcore with 2x2GB Ram, or 1.3875v with 2x1GB (huh....).

I found that I can go up to 365 FSB with a Quad fully stable without needing to increase vMCH or vFSB values past the lowest settings. Duals will obviously go much higher.

I'm not sure which board revision I have; I can't find a sticker, and my searches don't turn up any clues about where the revision might be. But I bought it in August, 2006, so I'm assuming it's not a 1.03 or 1.04.

I have a North Pole fan on the Northbridge chip.

Right now, I am running everything at defaults (333 x 9 = 3.0GHz, all voltages set to 'Auto'), and CPU-Z says my Core Voltage is 1.200 - 1.216 V.

I'm going to start tinkering with your suggestions. I just wish that Intel didn't charge such a premium for the 'X'. I paid it 2.5 years ago for my X6800, but chose not to this time.

Thanks.

Edit: At stock everything, and idle, Asus PC Probe II says my CPU temperature is 28 to 30 Celsius, and my MB is 30 to 31 Celsius.

Well there's a clue; I can't go below 1.400 on vCore. I'll try that.

So now I have:

FSB = 370 MHz (x 9 = 3.33 GHz)
vCore = 1.400
vMCH = 1.65v
vFSB = 1.30v

CPU-Z says the Core Voltage is 1.360v to 1.376v.

PC Probe says the CPU is idling at 32 Celsius.

I'm saving this message now because I'm about to put it under load...

I am trying to run 4 instances of Super Pi. One runs fine, but when I run more, I get "Not convergent in SQR05" errors.

But for the 10 seconds or so that I can manage to get 100% CPU utilization, PC Probe tells me the CPU is 45 Celsius, which seems pretty good.

Let me try some other ways to load this guy up...

Edit: I got Core Temp 0.99.4, and I am loading this thing at about 75% now, and Core Temp shows some peaks at 57 Celsius.

You have a 1.02g revision board. You can see the revision clearly right above the top RAM slot; just open the case and look right there.

That revision will NOT get high FSB with a quad. The 1.04g will get higher, but most people can't stablize 400 FSB with a quad. Weldzilla managed to reach 395 FSB, but 400 FSB was too unstable. And I think that was with a Q6600 that had no problems with 1.4 vFSB and 1.85 vmch. (45nm chips are usually recommended to keep vFSB at 1.3 or lower although people have used them at 1.4 VTT (vFSB), but I personally wouldn't go above 1.3v.

Mine does 364 FSB at 1.55vmch but 370 FSB gives about 24 errors in memtest per "test 5" loop but putting vmch at 1.65v fixes that (vfsb at 1.30 with vmch at 1.55v MIGHT also work, since as I mentioned before, increasing vfsb also raises the vmch a bit, like .06v for every .1 increase). So I managed to get stable at 370fsb with 1.65 vmch and vfsb at just 1.20v. But it's really hard to say if its better running 370 FSB x 10 for 3.7 ghz, with 4-4-4-12 timings, or 337 fsb x 11 for 3707 mhz, cas 3-3-3-8 timings (both with 2x2GB PC7200 Gskill Pi's). Too lazy to test.
But for 4 ghz, I just do 333x12, then if I ever want a little more, I have to mess around with multpliers and fsb; 0.5x multipliers would be very useful (cpu supports them; board doesn't....)

and 380 FSB requires 1.75 mch+1.30 vfsb OR 1.85 mch. Dont like running the mch that high though even with the fan I have on it and the Arctic Ceramique which keeps temps semi decent. (I shudder if it's getting 1.96v at 1.85vmch+1.40 vfsb).

Try running Prime 95 version 25.8 at your 370 FSB.
First try about 3 hours of small FFT's. Hopefully that will pass (that Q9650 should be able to do that on a lot lower than 1.36 vcore).

Then try "Blend". Also give OCCT RAM/Blend test a try as well.
You may also want to go back into memtest86+ 2.10 and try LOOPING test #5 in it over and over (test 5 finishes a lot faster than a few of the other tests....I think test 4 and 7 take like 10 minutes each?).

If you get errors in Blend or OCCT (RAM test) then it's the chipset.
Try raising your DRAM voltage by .1v higher, and try 1.40v on the vFSB.
That should get you stable. 370 FSB is pretty good for that 1.02g board...I've seen people that had problems at 340 FSB with a quad on 1.02's....nicely done.

Anyway as I said, get OCCT 3.0 and Prime 95 25.8 and try a combination of small FFT for prime/cpu test and Blend and OCCT Ram tests for chipset stability. 1.40 vfsb should hopefully get you stable.

OK, I'm running Prime95 now, small FFTs. Core Temp says Core 0 is 66C, while the other three are 59C.

So it sounds like this is about as fast as I'm going to get the Q9650 on this board. What if I were starting over; what board would be perfect for the Q9650?

Thanks for all of your help!

I'm not sure.
That one Gigabyte P45 one is supposed to be pretty good (UD3P or something?)
The P5Q Deluxe is supposed to be a good board, but I keep reading all those posts about BIOS problems and losing settings and stuff. It's a great board if the BIOS problems don't hold you back; check the p5q deluxe thread and the UD3P gigabyte thread and see what board you will like better.

X48's are "supposedly" better but they are DDR3.

Since I do have a QX9650 I can keep my board until it's time for an i7 (or unless my chip degrades to the point of useless overclock). I figure as long as I can keep 4 ghz, I'll be fast enough until i7's with improved IMC's (memory controllers) come out, that aren't limiting the chips so much. But in all actuality there's really zero point in upgrading from 4 ghz quad to an i7 unless you want to run SLI or Tri/quad SLI. And I do care about my electric bills, so...

Anyway did you increase vFSB to 1.40v? Did that solve any stability problems?

Definitely get a new board asap though; P5W at this point is only good if you get an unlocked multiplier. It's definitely a stable board, compared to some of the boards out there. (never seen a BIOS die from a failed overclock on P5W yet). Your chip should be able to exceed 4 ghz (not guaranteed but still pretty decent chance) as it's an E0. I think you need 445 FSB (?) for 4 ghz with x9 multiplier ...a piece of cake on a P45 board; only the cpu will hold you back.

My vFSB is still 1.30, and I'm finding that this is stable. Prime95 has been running for almost an hour with no problems. Core Temp says core #0 is up to 69C, which is higher than I would expect. But no crashes yet.

Are you running small fft or blend?
if its small fft i would expect that to be stable.

I just ran the Blend test for about 20 hours with no blips.

So this is great, 3.33 GHz. But I just ordered a Gigabyte UD3P...

When you get the Gigabyte board, good luck on joining the 4 ghz club as your cpu should fly in that board. Some people are reaching 4.5 ghz on air with these quads now. With 4.5 ghz on a quad, there's absolutely zero reason to move to core i7 unless you want Tri/Quad SLI--for a good long while. I'm just hoping my QX9650 will not degrade to the point where 4 ghz won't work below 1.4v anymore (if i can just stop repeatedly doing 50 loop Linpacks at 1.375 (usually passes all 50 but ocassionally misses 1 test out of 50 if ambient's too high) or 1.3875v (always pass) each few days...); Prime runs forever at 1.3625v....

Keep in mind that I believe Gigabyte's BIOS settings for voltage are different than 'standard'; similar to DFI's; I could be wrong, as I mainly just read the P5Q and Rampage 2 extreme threads. Just make sure you read all the posts in that thread so you are prepared to get right to tweaking.

And as always, make sure you have a Floppy/CD bootdisk for Memtest86+ so you can make sure your overclocked system will at least boot to windows without memory or chipset (or severe cpu stability) errors hosing your OS.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Falkentyne

With 4.5 ghz on a quad, there's absolutely zero reason to move to core i7 unless you want Tri/Quad SLI--for a good long while.

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That's why I'm doing this; to defer the i7 upgrade for at least a year. The price premium is just too high right now.

Thanks for all your help.

No problem; hope your new boards works fine for you.
I'll be watching the p45 threads; after all if my board decides to up and die, I'll need a replacement... board has been good to me so far.
Overclocked stability is alot better than my Northwood on IC7 max 3... that chip acts weird....runs 3D fullscreen for hours and bluescreens in maple story at 3.7 ghz and even 1.65 vcore, no bluescreen at 3.6 ghz and 1.55 vcore... O_o...
I mean, no "crashes"....just "blue screen"...my Core 2 doesn't act like that...
My backup Max3 has been reliable, but my P5W 1.04g+QX9650 has simply been more fun and stable...and the cpu doesn't act so "weird" when overclocked (like bluescreening for no reason in a game when it can run Prime for God knows how long)...and pass Linpack too! oh well ...

I thought that my P5W was the problem that limited my E6700 OC, but I wasn't right: in fact, I have just tested my CPU on a DFI P45 motherboard and it walls at only 410MHz... now I have overclocked it at 400x9 = 3.6GHz @ 1.45V

I'll never get 500MHz FSB with my B2 CPU :shakes:

So I got my GA-EP45-UD3P, and within 10 minutes, I'm crusing along at 445 * 9 = 4.0 GHz. Running Prime95 blend on 4 cores gets the temperature to about 60C.

Anybody want to buy a used P5W DH Deluxe (1.02g)?

vcore and chipset voltages needed on that overclock?
Though you should post that in the UD3P thread also...

Hello,
I've been having this problem for quite some time, but it only happens when I try to copy file to or from the drive it will work for a few minutes and then will tell me that the device has been disconnected and totally disappears from the explorer window. I don't hear and clicking sound and I used WD tools to check and it didnt give me any erros.

Has anyone had the same problem? I'm starting to think that is something to do with the my P5W Deluxe.

I'm running Vista 64, all drivers updated, 4gb, 8800GT

Windows log gave me this error The device, \Device\Harddisk1\DR1, is not ready for access yet.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rafaeldb

Hello,
I've been having this problem for quite some time, but it only happens when I try to copy file to or from the drive it will work for a few minutes and then will tell me that the device has been disconnected and totally disappears from the explorer window. I don't hear and clicking sound and I used WD tools to check and it didnt give me any erros.

Has anyone had the same problem? I'm starting to think that is something to do with the my P5W Deluxe.

I'm running Vista 64, all drivers updated, 4gb, 8800GT

Windows log gave me this error The device, \Device\Harddisk1\DR1, is not ready for access yet.

---

I had the same for a while back and it turned out to be a flaky sata connection. Reinserting the cable cured it. If that´s not it, if you are running in ahci mode try switching to IDE (enhanced) or try the latest intel ahci driver which seems to have cured some issues.
Hope this helps.
Vincent

Quote:

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Originally Posted by secretworld

I had the same for a while back and it turned out to be a flaky sata connection. Reinserting the cable cured it. If that´s not it, if you are running in ahci mode try switching to IDE (enhanced) or try the latest intel ahci driver which seems to have cured some issues.
Hope this helps.
Vincent

---

That one thing I didn't try yet, changing the cables, I have another one that I could try.

Thx for the help!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Artmic

Hi Guys,

I am so frustrated with the P5W DH Deluxe Asus board.

All of a sudden in the last few days when I turn on the computer after it hasn’t been used overnight, the stupid computer hangs with a black screen, no boot up noise comes up, so I stop and restart the computer, then it hangs on the post, and complains some about Voltage .

Then I go into Bios, and the first 2 drives I have in there aren’t auto-detected, only the 3rd drive and the DVD rom drive. (So obviously it won’t boot, it doesn’t know that there is a boot drive connected)
But If I restart it again, once or twice, I will get through and it boots into windows just fine.

This is my second board, and the first and now second board are acting flakey after a year and change of usage.

Anyone have any suggestions? Should I flash the Bios to the latest version? Will that somehow make the problem worse? By totally not recognizing the hard drives? The current bios that i have is 1.5 years old, so not the latest.

---

Same problems here. My mobo has been acting real strange lately.
Fails to boot into windows at the boot screen, restarting it causes a failure to post. Sometimes, after a shutdown it would fail to start at all (pressing the power button multiple times would do nothing).
With my previous PW supply, the green LED that's on the mobo would change intensity, flicker (as if there was an unstable voltage) noticeably during such situations.
With Corsair HX1000 (which I installed yesterday, thinking it was a power supply issue due to the aforementioned LED flicker) the board now starts every time, but still fails to load Windows XP normally (had to start in a safe mode with networking to boot into Windows). Also, the board sometimes will beep: one long beep and three short ones. Or it would say that overclocking, overvoltage failed.
It seems like it's dieing.

Have you tried removing 1 stick of RAM and testing, or swapping to the other stick? failing RAM can cause these problems as well.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Falkentyne

Have you tried removing 1 stick of RAM and testing, or swapping to the other stick? failing RAM can cause these problems as well.

---

No, I haven't. Will try.

Btw, I just cleared CMOS (was gonna update to 2801 from 2004 (or was it 2007?)) and removed one of the vid cards. Instead of fixing the issue, weirder things started happening. Basically, my comp refused to continue to boot, randomly restarting itself even before WinXP boot screen, and/or prompting to "F1 enter setup".
Upon entering BIOS setup, after a short while, it would sometimes also restart itself (from a BIOS page! - never happened before). Also, "BIOS bad checksum" message flashed in there somewhere.
I was unable to load new BIOS, because EZflash utility didn't see the file on my USB drive and the page itself was missing a few items.

I then proceeded to setup my BIOS as it had been before(before clearing cmos), and restart. WinXP booted up normally. I installed Ati 9.2 driver and restarted. The comp restarted normally, went trough POST and froze on the the WinXP boot screen. Back to safe mode with networking. :mad:

Sounds alot like bad RAM or something failing on the chipset or power regulation. You'll have to do some testing then if you can't come to any conclusion, RMA the board...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Falkentyne

Sounds alot like bad RAM or something failing on the chipset or power regulation. You'll have to do some testing then if you can't come to any conclusion, RMA the board...

---

I'd add another thing: corrupted BIOS.
Otherwise how do you explain it when, after a normal shutdown, (you know, through Windows>Start>Turn off computer) the system shuts completely down (hard drives, fans, everything) and then, after ~ 20 seconds proceeds to power itself up again like I just pushed the PW button (except I didn't) :confused:

I think this horse has run its course.
Shame it only lasted 2.5 years. My previous Asus mobo, the A7V266-E, lasted twice as long and was fully working by the time it was retired.

Too bad EVGA x58 classified isn't out yet, as I was planning on building a new system anyway.

That can happen if something is plugged into the two USB ports for the remote.

You can try buying a new bios chip or just RMA the board if possible.
Did you test 1 stick of ram separately yet?

Hey guys, need help in sometin'. Just got Vista 64, and when I use the memory remap feature Vista becomes extremely slow, if a disable it, it runs ok. Another thing I've noticed is the fact that when I had a single card the Bios recognized all 4 gigs of ram, with crossfire it recognizes 3.99 gigs (i thought that 64 recognized all u'r ram despite the video cards u use).

my specs are in the new sig.

After a few tests I've noticed that the slowdown only happens when I use both 3870x2 and enable the memory remap feature, if I disable it, it runs fine. If I take one of the cards (no matter what card) and enable the feature it runs fine too. So my question is, can this board run a crossfirex config with 4Gb of ram in vista 64?