P5B + Q6600 + latest BIOS == 9x ONLY multiplier??

[jkc120]

I just bought a Q6600 to plug into my P5B. Prior to doing so, I upgraded the BIOS to the latest revision. My problem is, I can't LOWER the multiplier. It's stuck at 9x. I want to run at 8x400, but if I set the FSB to 400, it boots at 3.6 GHz, despite the 8x multiplier being set. This used to work on the old revision of the BIOS I had (1102 I think), but that revision doesn't support the Q6600 G0 stepping. Is this a known issue? If so, is there a beta BIOS I can use? Or am I stuck waiting for Asus to fix this? The last BIOS release was over a month ago...surely they would have gotten enough complaints by now that they'd fix this?

TIA!

[annaconda]

How do you know you cannot change it. I mean when you go to the CPU setup in BIOS and change the Miltiplier to 8 it changes back to 9 automatically?

[jkc120]

How do you know you cannot change it. I mean when you go to the CPU setup in BIOS and change the Miltiplier to 8 it changes back to 9 automatically?

It changes fine, and when I reboot the summary screen indicates "Actual multiplier - 8". However, it's running at 3.6 GHz instead of 3.2 GHz. So it's not honoring the value.

[jkc120]

How do you know you cannot change it. I mean when you go to the CPU setup in BIOS and change the Miltiplier to 8 it changes back to 9 automatically?

This is what it says under the CPU settings sub-menu:

Frequency :3.61GHz
FSB Speec :1600MHz
Cache L1 :128 KB
Cache L2 :8192 KB
Ratio Status:Unlocked (Max: 09, Min: 06)
Ratio Actual Value :8
CPUID: :6FB

The settings I have are:

Modify Ratio Support [Enabled]
Ratio CMOS Setting: [8]

[eklipze]

Use other programs like everest and such. to check if the CPU is running at 3.6ghz or 3.2ghz. It mostly shows 3.6 because the normal cpu is x9 multi...

[sam95ta]

This is a common problem,many posts about it on the Asus forums website.Im also stuck with a 9multi with my Go Q6600.

[jkc120]

This is a common problem,many posts about it on the Asus forums website.Im also stuck with a 9multi with my Go Q6600.

So when the hell are they going to fix this? This is ridiculous. It's been 2 months!! I guess they've given up any customer satisfaction for their older boards and are content to only support the newer P35/P38 stuff. Sigh. Guess I'll have to replace this damned board now. You can bet your ass it won't be an Asus after this ordeal.

[jkc120]

This is a common problem,many posts about it on the Asus forums website.Im also stuck with a 9multi with my Go Q6600.

Is there any workaround? Is there an older BIOS that works with the Q6600 but allows you to change the multiplier properly? Or am I SOL until (if) Asus fixes this?

[drynyks]

I think we are stuck waiting for Asus to get that working again in an updated bios. It's weird how it shows up in windows too. Some programs think the multi is changed and even the bios will show it changed but it isn't. BTW does changing the multi still work for anyone on 1216 that is using something besides a Q6600?

[jkc120]

I think we are stuck waiting for Asus to get that working again in an updated bios. It's weird how it shows up in windows too. Some programs think the multi is changed and even the bios will show it changed but it isn't. BTW does changing the multi still work for anyone on 1216 that is using something besides a Q6600?

Bummer.

I'm quite frankly not even expecting them to fix it. If they haven't fixed it by now (2 months after the last release), I don't see them bothering to fix it at all. Although they did announce that Penryn support will be there, so maybe they are waiting to roll up the fix and Penryn support? If so, that will suck as we'll be waiting for a while and be lucky to see a BIOS update in 2007.

[ChaosMinionX]

NOTE: The 400mhz FSB on P5B Deluxe as per new bios is a grammatical error when you use a multi lower than 9x, it does not display correctly.....if you boot into Windows and use CPU-Z you will see it is in fact 3.2ghz and just an error on the bios's part. So that being said, treat it as if you would 3.2ghz (8x multi) and so on and so forth.

[jkc120]

NOTE: The 400mhz FSB on P5B Deluxe as per new bios is a grammatical error when you use a multi lower than 9x, it does not display correctly.....if you boot into Windows and use CPU-Z you will see it is in fact 3.2ghz and just an error on the bios's part. So that being said, treat it as if you would 3.2ghz (8x multi) and so on and so forth.

Then why is mine running at 43 C at 400x8 and 33 C at 378x9? It's not just displayed incorrectly, it's flat out wrong.

[johnsally]

Then why is mine running at 43 C at 400x8 and 33 C at 378x9? It's not just displayed incorrectly, it's flat out wrong.

have you run any benchmarks verifying this? run pi at 378x9 and den 400x8 and see what the scores are. if 400x8 scores higher then 378 you will have your answer.

[drynyks]

The multiplier change is not working for anyone on the P5B using a Q6600 that I have read (I've yet to find a single post) and it has been verified by a bunch of posts as broken. I also tested it and found it to be not working correctly. It for sure was still using the 9x multi even if it read 8x anywhere. I tested it extensively using the 1216 bios.

[elec999]

Are you using the clean Asus P5B, non deluxe. Just plain P5B.
Thanks

[jkc120]

have you run any benchmarks verifying this? run pi at 378x9 and den 400x8 and see what the scores are. if 400x8 scores higher then 378 you will have your answer.

Well it's not even stable at 400x"8" (3.6 GHz) at the moment, so I can't test it...but based on the temps alone, it's pretty indicative of the actual clock rate If it were really running at 3.2, the idle temps would be closer to 32-33 C, not 43-44.

[ChaosMinionX]

Then why is mine running at 43 C at 400x8 and 33 C at 378x9? It's not just displayed incorrectly, it's flat out wrong.

Please run CPU - Z

[jkc120]

Please run CPU - Z

I can't, this is a FreeBSD box. dmesg reports 3.6 GHz, and the temps corroborate that. If you know of something similar to CPU-Z for FreeBSD, I'm willing to run it.

[ChaosMinionX]

Havent got a clue about temp programs for FreeBSD....however are you changing voltages to go from 400x8 to 378x9?

Because it does same thing with my B3 quad it reports 400x9 instead of 400x8...thus far it has been 24hr prime stable.

[highoctane]

Its just he bios reporting the wrong speed, EDITED

I have a P5B Deluxe I used with my q6600 for a while, it is simply the bios reporting the wrong speed during posting but the actual speed will be whatever you have it set to in the bios. If you have it set to 8x400 in the bios then your real speed will be 3.2ghz not the 3.6ghz being reported during the post.

[jkc120]

Are you using the clean Asus P5B, non deluxe. Just plain P5B.
Thanks

I'm using the plain P5B, non-deluxe, non-e, non-*. Just P5B

[jkc120]

Its just he bios reporting the wrong speed, EDITED

No it's not. It's running at the wrong speed. Again, why would it run 11-12 C HOTTER at 400x8 than 378x9? It wouldn't. Both cases the voltage was set to Auto. So unless the BIOS is setting the voltage via AUTO anticipating a 3.6 GHz clock, when it's actually 3.2, then I don't see how this would have higher temps.

At boot time, FreeBSD reports the CPU at 3.6 GHz, not 3.2 GHz.

[jkc120]

Havent got a clue about temp programs for FreeBSD....however are you changing voltages to go from 400x8 to 378x9?

Because it does same thing with my B3 quad it reports 400x9 instead of 400x8...thus far it has been 24hr prime stable.

I'm using Vcore=auto, because no matter what voltage I try with 400x8 it doesn't post, or it isn't stable (again, I'm thinking because it's running at 400x9 not 400x8).

[ChaosMinionX]

Your using auto #1 so the board is adjusting voltage to compensate for the increase in FSB regardless. My chip takes more voltage at 500x7 than it does 400x9 or 450x9.... Set your vcore to like 1.45 or so and see if it posts, then check it again..that was your first mistake to setting it to auto.

Not to mention theres several other factors that come into play, but with my B3 quad on the other rig...it reports 3.6ghz (set to 400x8) CPUZ and all other programs read 3.2ghz. Its a BIOS error, nothing more.

[highoctane]

No it's not. It's running at the wrong speed. Again, why would it run 11-12 C HOTTER at 400x8 than 378x9? It wouldn't. Both cases the voltage was set to Auto. So unless the BIOS is setting the voltage via AUTO anticipating a 3.6 GHz clock, when it's actually 3.2, then I don't see how this would have higher temps.

At boot time, FreeBSD reports the CPU at 3.6 GHz, not 3.2 GHz.

Just about every program reported the wrong speed with mine except CPUZ, trust me I wish my B3 q6600 would run 3.6ghz at 1.4vcore but thats just not possible with my q6600, it won't even do 3.6ghz with 1.55vcore.

My q6600 requires 1.4 vcore with 100% load on all four cores to be prime stable at 8x400(3.2ghz) on my p5b which was like 1.5x in the bios due to massive vdrop on the mb.