Asus P5N32-SLI Deluxe

[LarsK]

A few more results with 24/7 settings: Aquamark 114.993 and a HD Tach 3 test of 2x 74GB Raptors in raid0.

[LarsK]

I hope some of you guys are interested in more results. I know there has been a lot of interest in a viable Intel + SLI solution in here, so here are some PCMark results. Also done @ 5067 Mhz, 1066 Mhz fsb, DDR2-710 but both Gainward 7800GTX @ default speed, i.e. 480/1300 Mhz, stock driver and windows set for best appearance. I don't know if I mentioned it in here, but I also just reinstalled windows on 2 fresh 74GB Raptors in raid0 this morning. I have pretty much been benching and gaming/surfing all day now (~12 hours) and pcmarks were run without a reboot as well.

PCMark04: 7819 http://service.futuremark.com/compare?pcm04=3129758

PCMark05: 6961 http://service.futuremark.com/compare?pcm05=188844

I think this is actually quite ok for a single core chip. The P5N32-SLI may not be a super overclocker, but it is actually able to yield a decent gaming/overclocking performance. It just takes a LOT of time messing with bios settings getting the most of it, i.e. speed AND stability.

[NightWish]

my P5N32 Sli Deluxe at stock don t work anymore without reason ...after 1 day
Let's hope the one i will get from RMA will be more friendly ....
sorry for my english

[LarsK]

my P5N32 Sli Deluxe at stock don t work anymore without reason ...after 1 day
Let's hope the one i will get from RMA will be more friendly ....
sorry for my english

Seems like I may have gotten the 1 only good P5N32-SLI in the world then.......

[NightWish]

kinda lol
maybe with vmods the board won't be that bad...
with mine the vcore was changing so badly even in idle .. at stock..
on the next one, i will check that out with a multimeter ...

good luck with the board
if you have time could you post some sandra memory bandwith test please

[LarsK]

kinda lol
maybe with vmods the board won't be that bad...
with mine the vcore was changing so badly even in idle .. at stock..
on the next one, i will check that out with a multimeter ...

good luck with the board
if you have time could you post some sandra memory bandwith test please

I haven't done any mods at all. I think it's ok for a gaming system, but not what you'd want for a benching system. Here's a Sisandra mem test for you:

[Shnorque]

Ill test SLI on P5WD2 again with newest bios first.

how is SLI on a P5WD2 possible?

[LarsK]

how is SLI on a P5WD2 possible?

It's only a matter of Nvidia allowing the drivers to work with the 955X platform. Physically there's absolutely no reason it wouldn't work. In the Xtreme 3D section a russian guy has a pair of 6800U's running in SLI in his P5WD2

[Shnorque]

It's only a matter of Nvidia allowing the drivers to work with the 955X platform. Physically there's absolutely no reason it wouldn't work. In the Xtreme 3D section a russian guy has a pair of 6800U's running in SLI in his P5WD2

I have a feeling i am going to take this off topic a bit?

Anyway, I was aware that it physically would work, hoever, nVidia dont have drivers for SLI on 955X? So how does the russian guy have the 6800Us running in SLI? Hacked drivers? If so where can I get them?

[Charles Wirth]

A specific driver lets SLI work on 955x and doesnt support 7800's only 6800

[I_G]

I have a driver that was custom written for me that it "supposed" to let two 7800's run in SLi on my P5WD2-Premium. I'm just waiting on a second 7800 GTX.

I don't know what kind of improvement to expect at x16 and x4, but I'm hoping it's respectable. With it's external dongle, I would speculate that the P5WD2 will do much better with CrossFire than SLI.

Single card scores:

'05 = 10162

'03 = 22492

[VictorWang]

P5N32 SLI Deluxe... I've got in my hand for 1 weeks.

It really disappointed me.

[White]

So, today i wiil buy Asus P5N32 SLI. Ofcourse with moneyback :-) I don't need to overclock my system higher than 266MHz FSB and i hope, that all be fine at least at 245 MHz FSB. Will see :-)

[Kzobel]

I know i am new and i dont want to sound like an expert on my first post, but i just recently got the P5ND2-SLI and i have had nothingbut good luck with it since. Maybe i got a good version or something? I managed to run 3dMark06 with Two 7800gt's and got over 5700. Its sli Performance may not be stellar, but the increase from 1 7800gt was quite noticeable (from ~3500). I also really like the fact that I can set the FSB at whatever I want and set the Memory at any frequency i would like. I'm thinking it just finds the best divider, but its still a nice feature. I got my P4 541 3.2Ghz up to 4.25 stable with a Thermalright xp-120. My (2x512) OCZ Gold 667 DDR2 was at 700mhz. With 3dmark06 i managed to get a 1300 cpu score, and superpi gave me about 33 seconds on the 1mb test. I guess the p5wd2 is a great overclocker, but f you dont want to wait for supported sli support (955x) and arent wanting to overclock over 6ghz, then this is a great board and a great performer......just my two cents. and again, im not claiming to be an expert, i just like to try things out myself before I judge them. look forward to joining the xtremesystems community!

[Charles Wirth]

If you are hitting 266fsb then you got a good board.

As far as memory bandwidth you are maxed out unless you go higher on FSB.
It doesnt matter what you run your memory at, without the bus speed increasing too you will not see any performance gains in bandwidth benchmarks.

With an Intel chipset much higher bus speeds can be reached.

Welcome to XS

[Major]

I know i am new and i dont want to sound like an expert on my first post, but i just recently got the P5ND2-SLI and i have had nothingbut good luck with it since. Maybe i got a good version or something? I managed to run 3dMark06 with Two 7800gt's and got over 5700. Its sli Performance may not be stellar, but the increase from 1 7800gt was quite noticeable (from ~3500). I also really like the fact that I can set the FSB at whatever I want and set the Memory at any frequency i would like. I'm thinking it just finds the best divider, but its still a nice feature. I got my P4 541 3.2Ghz up to 4.25 stable with a Thermalright xp-120. My (2x512) OCZ Gold 667 DDR2 was at 700mhz. With 3dmark06 i managed to get a 1300 cpu score, and superpi gave me about 33 seconds on the 1mb test. I guess the p5wd2 is a great overclocker, but f you dont want to wait for supported sli support (955x) and arent wanting to overclock over 6ghz, then this is a great board and a great performer......just my two cents. and again, im not claiming to be an expert, i just like to try things out myself before I judge them. look forward to joining the xtremesystems community!

Welcome to XtremSystems !!

I looked at going to the P5ND2-SLI too with a 955XE for my work rig, really liked the specs and the Idea I could keep my 7800GTX in SLI. I don't think its a bad mb, just doesn't live up to the OCing ablility of the P5WD2. Good luck with the board and enjoy your time here at XS !

[LarsK]

Well, for what it's worth I don't think many people have managed better overclocking results with 800 Mhz fsb chips on the P5N32-SLI (and Abit NI8-SLI) as I have. Still, I'm really not impressed with the P5N32-SLI board. Mine's actually dead now after a BIOS update (yes I have done this for 15 years+ and it went well), and I'm back on the P5WD2-P.

I've had 3 different Nvidia Nforce 4 boards, and compared to Intel chipsets they're just NOT worth it from an overclockers perspective. Loosing anywhere from 300-600 Mhz in max cpu overclock and between 100-150 Mhz in max fsb overclock over my P5WD2-P Intel 955X chipset with the same cpu's is way beyond disappointing. It's pathetic really.

I have also sold my 2x 7800GTX cards, I'm getting 2x x1900xt's instead. I just hope Abit will put out a good 975x chipset motherboard soon.

[VictorWang]

tried 0306 beta bios....
955xe es and retail both not boot
950es can post, but cannot boot into system
661/631/CedarMill Celeron is ok
630 is ok, and can reach 1083fsb stable @>@

[tombman]

I think p5n32 has a problem with running 266fsb of the 955XE with TWO cores.

All that crap because of f*** nvidia not releasing a driver which will work SLI with intel chipsets....grrr.

Maybe i will get two X1900XT and keep using the p5wd2-p until the p5wdg2-ws arrives ....

[Kzobel]

Thanks for the warm welcome. I just realized today oddly enough that my reason for not being able to get the 14x multi with the cpu lock free function is because i have not got a speedstep capable p4. it looks like only the 6xx series procesors carry that technology. oh well, back to shopping.

[BiFfMaN]

Sorry to bring up a dead subject about this mobo....but the 0212v BIOS seems to run just fine for the system i built for a friend with the Intel Pentium D 920 Presler..stable and loaded up windows XP just fine..just posted this because i have seen alot of posts about others with this same problem.

BIOS 2020 will not post with the new duel cores(920,930,940,950)....you need to use a older 775 chip just to load the new bios...asus really dropped the ball on this one IMO.

[tombman]

Sorry to bring up a dead subject about this mobo....but the 0212v BIOS seems to run just fine for the system i built for a friend with the Intel Pentium D 920 Presler..stable and loaded up windows XP just fine..just posted this because i have seen alot of posts about others with this same problem.

BIOS 2020 will not post with the new duel cores(920,930,940,950)....you need to use a older 775 chip just to load the new bios...asus really dropped the ball on this one IMO.

This only confirms my assumption. All 800fsb preslers seam to work, but 1066fsb cpus do not...

Anandtech had this mobo checked for maximum fsb frequency and he could only reach 261mhz, which is not enough for 1066fsb (=266mhz) cpus. Maybe that is why i can sometimes boot and sometimes not (but alway unstable no matter what).

I will check this week if i can get into bios, quickly change fsb to 800 (underclock), save and then watch what happens afterwards...

[Charles Wirth]

The 3.73EE works fine, mine was is an ES as well. It has 1066FSB stock and I reached 300FSB for benches.

I have been asking for this mod to be put into reference design many months ago but Nvidia doesn't listen.