Testing / comparing : Intel D975XBX2 / Asus P5B DX ***56K WARNING***

[ChaosMinionX]

Guys,

Does anyone know if when installing WinXP I *must* use the floppy for the Intel RAID drivers (I have a RAID 10 setup). Or can I use a CDROM?

I don't want to try it until I know because if I need a floppy I have to tear apart my system again to get it in there.

Thanks,

scaryogre

To do it on a CDROM, you would either

1. Have Vista
2. Slipstream your copy of windows xp with the desired RAID/AHCI drivers
3. Use Nlite to integrate the RAID/AHCI Drivers as well as customize your entire winxp cd.


Few choices. I personally used Nlite

[Circaflex]

could you post steps on how you did that with nlite?

[Chosen.]

Just got the board and it's been a few days that I read this thread, so could someone remind me:

1) Which dimm slot (ram killer) are we trying to avoid? 3rd from proc (blue)?
2) Which BIOS is the one voted most stable? Intel has 2674 listed as the latest, but I remember gtj recommending 23xx as the best.
3) Any issues installing XP? iirc I have to disable Firewire or something like that?
4) There was a known issue with SATA optical drives, no?

thanks all

[Speederlander]

1) Which dimm slot (ram killer) are we trying to avoid? 3rd from proc (blue)?
thanks all

There is no "ram killer" slot. A few people had an issue that could be caused by dozens of variables. That is far far from anything on the board being a "ram killer".

[scaryogre]

To do it on a CDROM, you would either

1. Have Vista
2. Slipstream your copy of windows xp with the desired RAID/AHCI drivers
3. Use Nlite to integrate the RAID/AHCI Drivers as well as customize your entire winxp cd.

Few choices. I personally used Nlite

Well, the reason I am wanting to install WinXP is because I want to get rid of Vista. Guess I will need to put the floppy in...seems like the easiest method.

[ChaosMinionX]

So I got my board stable again after getting new ram worked out....


Running

400x9 at 1.45v

Ram at DDR2 800 1:1 3-3-3-8 2.28v

1.4vFSB
1.6vMCH

Hows that lookin?


Idle temps on chip are 38C, load never goes above 55C

[tomati]

Could someone make a summary of this board ?

I would also like to know if a sata dvd burner can fit on the marvell controller ?

Is it worth the extra cash over the dfi 975x ( ~ 120€ agaisnt the 220€ for the bad axe 2) ?

Thanks.

[Chosen.]

Where is the boot strap option in this BIOS?
Jeebus, after decades of mostly Award Phoenix and a few AMI bioses, Intel's interface is repulsive!

Right, here's what I got:
The QX6700 and the 2GBNK on the XBX2 (and everything else that the sig says)
Passes everything at 10x333 default Vcore, 1.3V Vfsb & 1.55V Vmch.
Knowing that this cpu was relatively stable at 3.8GHz with 1.5-1.55 on other boards (benchmark stable, nothing too prolonged like orthos etc.) can someone tell me where should I be looking at in the BIOS?
I was able to boot a few times at 370x10 and ran Wprime and a few other benchmarks, but since then I can't make it into Windows with 350x10 (freezes in Windows right after logon) or 333x11 (never POSTs)...
Memory is kept at default (under 800MHz w/ 4-4-4 and 1.95V) and I tried up to 1.45V Vfsb and 1.65V Vmch.
One thing I don't understand is the two options over the timings (iirc "Relative frequency" and "Memory frequency", something like that).

Any hints?

PS: Running on the BIOS that the board was shipped with (BX97520J.86A.2333.2006.1127.1450)

[gtj]

Where is the boot strap option in this BIOS?
Jeebus, after decades of mostly Award Phoenix and a few AMI bioses, Intel's interface is repulsive!

Right, here's what I got:
The QX6700 and the 2GBNK on the XBX2 (and everything else that the sig says)
Passes everything at 10x333 default Vcore, 1.3V Vfsb & 1.55V Vmch.
Knowing that this cpu was relatively stable at 3.8GHz with 1.5-1.55 on other boards (benchmark stable, nothing too prolonged like orthos etc.) can someone tell me where should I be looking at in the BIOS?
I was able to boot a few times at 370x10 and ran Wprime and a few other benchmarks, but since then I can't make it into Windows with 350x10 (freezes in Windows right after logon) or 333x11 (never POSTs)...
Memory is kept at default (under 800MHz w/ 4-4-4 and 1.95V) and I tried up to 1.45V Vfsb and 1.65V Vmch.
One thing I don't understand is the two options over the timings (iirc "Relative frequency" and "Memory frequency", something like that).

Any hints?

PS: Running on the BIOS that the board was shipped with (BX97520J.86A.2333.2006.1127.1450)

"Memory Frequency" does NOT set memory frequency by itself. Go figure.

Read http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...58#post2073058

Then look at the Calculator in my sig.

[Chosen.]

The board definitely has a weird behaviour. I just flashed to the latest BIOS (BX97520J.86A.2674) and it let me go straight in 389x9 (!)
I ran 4x SuperPi 32M, wPrime 1024M, a few full Cinebench runs and a couple of loops of Aquamark. Everything was looking fine, until I started Unreal Tournament 2004 and the computer crashed with a BSOD, a split second after I double-clicked on the icon :/
And then, it let me run a couple of things again at 360x10 and then again chaos...

Won't post at 334x10, posts fine at 333x10 and I tried every possible combination of reference frequency (strap/4) and memory frequency, except the ones that send my ram over the 800MHz mark.

I also noticed some new options in the BIOS (HPET & Watchdog) which I have no clue what they do, but my gut told me to disable them

The worst thing of all is that there is nothing else in the BIOS to change, try out and tweak. I kind of miss my DFI NF4

Very confused...

[scorpion]

gtj- thanks for the advise on the water cooling. i went with swiftech H20-220 apex ultra very nice. thanks again

[Circaflex]

what mods can be done to this board for added overclockability? Ive already sinked the rest of the area, and while I am waiting for the rest of the parts what can i add to the board?

[likewhoa]

what mods can be done to this board for added overclockability? Ive already sinked the rest of the area, and while I am waiting for the rest of the parts what can i add to the board?

make use of the search feature :p but here is one link with mods..
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...ad.php?t=99298

[Circaflex]

i know of this so called search feature, but i didnt know what mods are there so searching for badaxe2 mods brings up a lot of useless info. and thats for the badaxe1

[gtj]

make use of the search feature :p but here is one link with mods..
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...ad.php?t=99298

That's the thread for the original Bad Axe, not the Bad Axe 2.

[gtj]

The board definitely has a weird behaviour. I just flashed to the latest BIOS (BX97520J.86A.2674) and it let me go straight in 389x9 (!)
I ran 4x SuperPi 32M, wPrime 1024M, a few full Cinebench runs and a couple of loops of Aquamark. Everything was looking fine, until I started Unreal Tournament 2004 and the computer crashed with a BSOD, a split second after I double-clicked on the icon :/
And then, it let me run a couple of things again at 360x10 and then again chaos...

Won't post at 334x10, posts fine at 333x10 and I tried every possible combination of reference frequency (strap/4) and memory frequency, except the ones that send my ram over the 800MHz mark.

I also noticed some new options in the BIOS (HPET & Watchdog) which I have no clue what they do, but my gut told me to disable them

The worst thing of all is that there is nothing else in the BIOS to change, try out and tweak. I kind of miss my DFI NF4

Very confused...

A little more info on exactly what your settings were when you got the BSOD would help. Voltages, Frequencies, Timings, etc.

[gtj]

what mods can be done to this board for added overclockability? Ive already sinked the rest of the area, and while I am waiting for the rest of the parts what can i add to the board?

There really isn't much to do. What were you thinking you needed?

[Circaflex]

the usual voltage mods, vmch? im used to asus here so im always having to deal with a droop

[gtj]

the usual voltage mods, vmch? im used to asus here so im always having to deal with a droop

Not needed. This board has one of the lowest droops around.

[ChaosMinionX]

Are the settings im running 24/7 a little too much on the FSB voltage and MCH?

If nobody read post above I got

400x9 1.45v

ddr2 800 3-3-3-8 2.28v

1.4v vFSB
1.6v vMCH

Seems just about right no? Temps are perfect for everything I can see.

[gtj]

Are the settings im running 24/7 a little too much on the FSB voltage and MCH?

If nobody read post above I got

400x9 1.45v

ddr2 800 3-3-3-8 2.28v

1.4v vFSB
1.6v vMCH

Seems just about right no? Temps are perfect for everything I can see.

That's pretty good. You could try knocking down the vFSB and vMCH a notch but I don't think it's an issue if they need to be that level to be stable.

[Zucker2k]

what mods can be done to this board for added overclockability? Ive already sinked the rest of the area, and while I am waiting for the rest of the parts what can i add to the board?

Go here and click on the mods link:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=129677

[Maglin]

Personally the way I see the RAM dieing issue it this. If it was just random death of sticks in any slot I would think bad ram, but being that it's always the stick in bank 2 dieing it's got to be something with the board. If I could test individual ram slots vDimm then I would definitly test it out. But both sticks seemed to be about the same temps when I touched them. I'm just not going to run over 2.2v on my ram now. It very well could be just running ram out of spec on the voltage and that led to the death of one stick.

[Chosen.]

A little more info on exactly what your settings were when you got the BSOD would help. Voltages, Frequencies, Timings, etc.

Right, here we go:
**389x9 (3500MHz) -> Vcore=1.45V, Vfsb=1.4V, Vmch=1.6V, Ref=333, Freq=667 -> ran 3d benchmarks and everything looked ok, BSOD right when I started a game. Now it won't even POST with these settings...
**375x10 (3750MHz) -> Vcore=1.55V, Vfsb=1.4V, Vmch=1.6V, Ref=333, Freq=667 -> Ran Wprime 1024M, Cinebench95, Crystalmark, etc. No games unfortunately. Never crashed here, but never been able to go back after I tried a +5 on the fsb :/
**360x10 (3600MHz) -> Vcore=1.5V, Vfsb=1.4V, Vmch=1.6V, Ref=333, Freq=667 & 533 -> Attempts to load Windows, but freezes right when I start seeing the icons on the desktop.
**350x10 (3500MHz) -> Same as above + I tried Ref=266 & Freq=400 -> Can't fully load Windows, as above.
**333x11 (3666MHz) -> Vcore=1.55V, Vfsb=1.35V, Vmch=1.55V, Ref=333, Freq=667 -> Won't POST.
**333x10 (3333MHz) -> Vcore=1.35V, Vfsb=1.35V, Vmch=1.55V, Ref=333, Freq=667 -> Everything's ok (that's how I'm using it it atm).

As a reference, the proc was 24/7 stable at 3466MHz (266x13) with 1.4V and ran loads of benchmarks and games at 3800MHz (292x13) with 1.55V, on my previous board (P5N32-E SLI Plus)
Cooling it with h2o and temps never go over 60c at around 3.5GHz

[Maglin]

BTW I have found one interesting thing out. I have 3 HDD's on the intel RAID in RAID 5. A SATA DVD burner also on the intel SATA chipset. I also have a VIA VT6421A RAID controller for other reasons installed currently with nothing on it. When I run the Marvell RAID controller with a samsung DVD drive attached to it I start to get some strange issues on the Marvell controller. The Drive on the Marvell controller will randomly drop off and require a reboot to come back. If I run an certain app that scans memory it will lock that process up and kept that process in a loop that can't be killed and requires a hard reboot.

I'm wondering if vMch has any effects on the controllers? I did give it some more voltage with no effects. This is also with the newest drivers for the marvell and intel controllers. Everything works fine if I hood the DVD drive to the intel controller and leave the marvell controller disabled. Just wondering if anyone else has experienced any strange issues with both the intel and marvell controllers enabled.