9800GX2 and Asus P5E3 Premium = slow?

[MateoTTR]

I really don't see how re-installing windows would help in my case, but who knows...

I have made the following test 10 times in a row:
- Power on the computer and boot windows
- Run canyon flight test 3dmark06 right after getting to desktop
- Shutdown the computer completely, wait 10s, then start again

4 times I booted without the graphics performance bug, 6 times I had it.
I am not touching any bios setting, nor changing anything to my OS install / drivers.
This board behaves completely erratic. You boot once, it's not right, switch off, boot again, then it's ok... Makes no sense at all.
Once I have booted up in the 'right' configuration, everything is ok until the next restart/shutdown.

[dinos22]

far out man
i am so relieved that corruption issues on 790i are over

last night i fired up my replacement board and clocks my GPU to lesser clocks it was on previous setup and my nature was 1410 ...... with higher clocks it would obviously increase

there is definitely an issue of some sort even on that P35 board even if performance hit is smaller

[Gautam]

I had the same problem believe it or not a P5E64 WS Pro (X38) with 2900's in CrossFire. The nature in 01 was abysmal, though still not as bad as what you guys are seeing with the GX2's relatively. It was about 120 FPS too low. I never solved it, chalking it up to a faulty board. Single card performance was fine though.

The AM3 also seemed to suffer considerably.

P5E64- http://www.hwbot.org/result.do?resultId=682892 309k
BlackOps- http://www.hwbot.org/result.do?resultId=707977 317k

[MateoTTR]

I think I have made considerable progress in understanding when the graphics performance issue happens with the P5E3 premium + 9800 GX2 combo.

In fact I have no problem when I power on the computer and go straight into windows.
I can run 3dmark06 and will get the correct fps. Even after multiple hours of up time I can launch the benchmark again and get the expected performance again.

The bug shows off as soon as I restart the computer, without powering off.
I will also get the bug if I power on, enter the bios, save changes and reboot without powering off.

The bug has definitely something to do with the board adopting a different behavior under reset.
I am convinced about this, as I spent the last few days running Canyon Flight in all kind of situations to come to this conclusion.

What I do now as a workaround is power off everytime I want to restart, or power off after each modification of the bios, wait 10s and then start the computer.
I would really like to see if others could confirm the above, and possibly draw the attention of asus engineers on this issue...

[dinos22]

hmmm very interesting

have you got another PSU around by any chance???

[MateoTTR]

I do have another PSU on my older rig, but I fear it doesn't provide enough wattage (enermax 550) for 9800 GX2 + QX9650 but I might be wrong.
It might not have the 6 + 8 pin plugs, but it can worked around.

Do you think it is worth testing my other PSU?
The Zalman 1000-HP I got could be the culprit?

[dinos22]

sure it does
in fact very easy even with max OC on air for both

[MateoTTR]

The beta bios 0503 seems to have solved my performance issues with 9800 GX2.
I will do more testing to confirm...

[pmp]

Yes, this one fix bad performance

[MateoTTR]

pmp I know you have close contacts with Asus.
Do you care to elaborate what was wrong with the previous bios and what was then fixed in 0503?

Just wanna understand.

[pmp]

If i understood you correctly, you would like to know from technical side what were the reasons of slow performance of 9800GX2 ?

[MateoTTR]

absolutely.
Sorry my post was not so clear.
Sorry as well if you have no clue what the technical problem was and how it was solved.

[]siNNer[]

In my P5E WS Pro the problem seems to continue with the new 0704 & 0801 bios. I just gave up and bought a P5Q Deluxe, lets see if the P45 is any good and if I don't have the same performance issue. Anyway, I'm still keeping the P5E WS Pro for the time being and waiting for Asus to release a bios that fixes it.

[]siNNer[]

As I thought, with the P5Q Deluxe there's no bug. Nice to finally see the GX2's full power

[BenchZowner]

AFAIK there's a beta BIOS for the P5E WS Pro that fixes the 9800GX2 issue.

There are beta BIOSes coming out for the 9800GX2 affected boards coming out soon ( we already have BIOS fixes for the P5E3 series )

[]siNNer[]

AFAIK there's a beta BIOS for the P5E WS Pro that fixes the 9800GX2 issue.

There are beta BIOSes coming out for the 9800GX2 affected boards coming out soon ( we already have BIOS fixes for the P5E3 series )

Which bios is that ?

[BenchZowner]

P5E3 Premium v0503

P5E64 WS Evolution v0501

For the "non-deluxe" and "pro" and boards I don't have the BIOSes, and don't know if they're available yet, because I haven't requested them.

[pmp]

So...

P5E WS Professional BIOS build 0802 - fix 9800GX2 bad performance

[]siNNer[]

So...

P5E WS Professional BIOS build 0802 - fix 9800GX2 bad performance

pmp

really thankful for that, gonna change the P5Q for the P5E right away

[M4TR4]

hi
i have this problem with my ASUS P5E64 WS PROFESSIONAL
i was thinking to sell the board but sinner as told me that is possible to correct de bios.

i love my 9800gx2 can someone help me?

[BenchZowner]

You just need to flash your board with the new BIOS M4TR4
Use the one pmp linked.

[M4TR4]

You just need to flash your board with the new BIOS M4TR4
Use the one pmp linked.

my board is a p5e64 ws pro and sinner's board is p5e ws pro, mine is ddr3 his ddr2, do they booth use the same bios?

[BenchZowner]

You need the new BIOS for YOUR motherboard.
You can't flash a BIOS for a different motherboard.

[pmp]

my board is a p5e64 ws pro and sinner's board is p5e ws pro, mine is ddr3 his ddr2, do they booth use the same bios?

Go Go Go... ;-)

ASUS P5E64 WS Professional BIOS build 0802

[M4TR4]

well iam a bit desapointed de bios did not work as planed...
i evan got worse score....