Asus P5N-E SLI small review

[PanteraGSTK]

is it safe to assume linked is more stable than unlinked in the bios? and is the q6600 compatible with my board?

It should be, but I haven't seen a quad core on this bard yet. Buy one so we can all see your results You know you want to.

[RAMMAN]

not before the q3 price drops.anyway the qx6700 has been supported since day 1 according to the asus website but no mention of the q6600.

[specofdust]

Can anyone with an HR-05 or HR-05 SLI do me a favour and measure the length of the bracket they used to stick it to their P5N-E please? I got an HR-05(which some people are managing to fit to their P5N-E's) and I only recieved one flat bracket, a 65mm one. The guy at the shop I got it from though, says that the only bracket they have is a flat 75mm one. The length the P5N-E needs is 55mm. If anyone with either of the HR-05 variants could measure the bracket they used that'd be great, as I'm trying to find out if thermalright are shipping different lengths of bracket without telling people, or what.

[PanteraGSTK]

Can anyone with an HR-05 or HR-05 SLI do me a favour and measure the length of the bracket they used to stick it to their P5N-E please? I got an HR-05(which some people are managing to fit to their P5N-E's) and I only recieved one flat bracket, a 65mm one. The guy at the shop I got it from though, says that the only bracket they have is a flat 75mm one. The length the P5N-E needs is 55mm. If anyone with either of the HR-05 variants could measure the bracket they used that'd be great, as I'm trying to find out if thermalright are shipping different lengths of bracket without telling people, or what.

I got an HR-05 SLI and it came with three sizes of brackets. With my infinity an HR-05 would not fit, I had to get the sli version because my Infinity eclipses about half of the NB and the sli fits between my video card and my infinity great. There is plenty of room for the 92mm fan I put on it.

[PanteraGSTK]

not before the q3 price drops.anyway the qx6700 has been supported since day 1 according to the asus website but no mention of the q6600.

I've got my eye on a q6400 when they are out. Or even a Xeon version.

[specofdust]

I got an HR-05 SLI and it came with three sizes of brackets. With my infinity an HR-05 would not fit, I had to get the sli version because my Infinity eclipses about half of the NB and the sli fits between my video card and my infinity great. There is plenty of room for the 92mm fan I put on it.

Thanks very much for the info. I finally got the HR-05 attatched to my northbridge, but only with the pins at about a 30-40 degree angle. The single bracket I got is clearly 10mm too large for my NB, and the whole thing is working only because the pins are bending so much. Not very satisfactory

I'm planning on fitting an infinity, so I guess I'll have to get an HR-05 SLI for my northbridge and just use the vanilla HR-05 for my southbridge. Which direction is the heatsink part of your HR-05SLI pointing in? It seems like you're saying it's pointing downward but surely that'd be stopped by the graphics card?

[stealthbomber]

The NB still runs hot after installing a 40mm fan on the right side of the heatsink, the naked SB on the board is toasting!

Don't wonna spend that much more on this board as 2x HR-05 SLI would cost £33 + cost of 2x 70mm fans £15 plus delivery, thats well over £50 just for the cooling, might as well bought the P5N32-E Plus SLI for that kind of money!

Anyone found a more cost effective solution for NB/SB cooling?

[Ron 61]

@ stealthbomber all you need is a 60mm fan and 4 12mm x 12mm mosfet heatsinks. Take off nb heatsink and re-apply good thermal paste. Get rid of crappy push pins and replace with small screws and nuts. The screws have to be short to avoid possibly grounding out mb. You'l get much better heat transfer with nb attatched with screws and nuts. Attatch 60mm fan with long sheet metal screws screwed between hs fins. For the south bridge put 4 12mm mosfet heatsinks on it. I've ran mine this way since december. The nb and sb get warm but nothing like they did at stock. I had to file down the 2 bottom hs on sb so vid card would fit.

[specofdust]

What voltages have people been sticking through their northbridges? Is it pretty much just safe so long as the cooler isn't insanely hot, or is there a point at which it's not smart to go above?

[Ron 61]

1.56v is what I'm using now. I was at 1.74v for about 3 months but decided to back it down to 400 fsb 1T.

[specofdust]

Thanks. Can anyone confirm if the boot problems are solvable or not? I was getting no POST repeatedly earlier today, I removed a PCI card, flipped the SLI connector, cleared the CMOS and changed the RAM slots and it finally booted. But if no-one who's been having boot problems got it sorted in the end with BIOS'es perhaps I should just RMA now?

[PanteraGSTK]

Thanks very much for the info. I finally got the HR-05 attatched to my northbridge, but only with the pins at about a 30-40 degree angle. The single bracket I got is clearly 10mm too large for my NB, and the whole thing is working only because the pins are bending so much. Not very satisfactory

I'm planning on fitting an infinity, so I guess I'll have to get an HR-05 SLI for my northbridge and just use the vanilla HR-05 for my southbridge. Which direction is the heatsink part of your HR-05SLI pointing in? It seems like you're saying it's pointing downward but surely that'd be stopped by the graphics card?

I thought the graphics card would get in the way, but there is a cm or so between the HR-05 and the graphics card. It doesn't impede airflow at all. I'll try to post some pics later if I can.

[specofdust]

Yup, I got my infinity fitted. There's a surprising ammount of room between my graphics card and the HR-05, and the HR-05 and the infinity. It all fits pretty well, apart from the mounting bracket. I'd be very curious to see closeups of your mounting bracket if you could post some, because I think thermalright are either just shoving random sized brackets in the boxes. There appears to be no logic behind some people being able to get them fitted to P5N-E's and others(I've read on other forums) not.

[stealthbomber]

@ stealthbomber all you need is a 60mm fan and 4 12mm x 12mm mosfet heatsinks. Take off nb heatsink and re-apply good thermal paste. Get rid of crappy push pins and replace with small screws and nuts. The screws have to be short to avoid possibly grounding out mb. You'l get much better heat transfer with nb attatched with screws and nuts. Attatch 60mm fan with long sheet metal screws screwed between hs fins. For the south bridge put 4 12mm mosfet heatsinks on it. I've ran mine this way since december. The nb and sb get warm but nothing like they did at stock. I had to file down the 2 bottom hs on sb so vid card would fit.

Well I took off the 40mm fan and fitted a 60mm panaflo fan and it made zero difference to the temps, gonna have to take out the entire board to refit the heatsink with better thermal paste.

I actually have those exact silver heatsinks shown on your pic (3x3 fins) but the stock TIM that came with it was used before (old gfx card).

I'm not sure if I should use epoxy incase I need to RMA the board and risk pulling the entire heatsink + SB chip out with the epoxy stuff.

Still got this SB sink that recovered from my old NF2 board: http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/misiso.html

There seem to be high rates of the 6xxi boards failing right now, not sure these boards will survive that much longer with stock cooling!

[Ron 61]

Its a bit of a PITA to mount nb with screws but it does help lower nb temps. After I attatched my nb with screws I booted pc without fan on nb and felt the nb and it felt much hotter than before indicating better heat transfer. I would not epoxy sb, use the one from sidewinder. The TIM asus uses on nb is crap. It hardens and breaks loose if you bump nb during board installation. Mine was not making good contact at all.

[PanteraGSTK]

Its a bit of a PITA to mount nb with screws but it does help lower nb temps. After I attatched my nb with screws I booted pc without fan on nb and felt the nb and it felt much hotter than before indicating better heat transfer. I would not epoxy sb, use the one from sidewinder. The TIM asus uses on nb is crap. It hardens and breaks loose if you bump nb during board installation. Mine was not making good contact at all.

This is a good idea. The thermalright clips suck big time. I can move the hsf easily and pressure doesn't seem to be all that great. I pressure mounted my infinity with 4 screws and springs and it worked very well. It is actually easier to remove than the stock clips. I hate those things and they break too easy. Both of my HR-05 SLI's came with the same three mounting brackets. I think it would be very easy to fabricate a better mountng system. I may have to do that this weekend.

[stealthbomber]

I got all the cheap sticky TIM off the NB heatsink and refitted it with some cheap arctic silicone paste (came with the GFX card cooler), I had to resuse the plastic push pins as I can't find suitable sized nuts and bolts around.

I installed 4x small ally sinks on the SB that I had spare with the standard TIM that came with the sinks instead of proper epoxy, low grade passive heatsink cooling seems enough for the SB.

The NB is currently running at 38C at full load with both cores, that is the same as before, I'm still trying to resist getting an HR-05 heatsink for the NB, I can see the NB temps increase closer to 50C in the summer heat.

[specofdust]

Sorry to be a noob but I searched, and I can't find an example of pressure mounting. Can someone enlighten me as to what it is please?

[775911]

He just means spring loaded, so springs between the board and the screws instead of washers

[Minstadave]

Sorry to be a noob but I searched, and I can't find an example of pressure mounting. Can someone enlighten me as to what it is please?

You remove the standard push pin LGA775 fittings of the Infinity and replace it with screws just like fitting a waterblock.

The guide is here:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=117054

[rbendorf]

I got all the cheap sticky TIM off the NB heatsink and refitted it with some cheap arctic silicone paste (came with the GFX card cooler), I had to resuse the plastic push pins as I can't find suitable sized nuts and bolts around.

I installed 4x small ally sinks on the SB that I had spare with the standard TIM that came with the sinks instead of proper epoxy, low grade passive heatsink cooling seems enough for the SB.

The NB is currently running at 38C at full load with both cores, that is the same as before, I'm still trying to resist getting an HR-05 heatsink for the NB, I can see the NB temps increase closer to 50C in the summer heat.

I installed the HR-05 SLI and am running about 44C with ortho full blast. I think it is a great HS, but took some ingenuity to get it in. I also have a Tuniq 120 in the case, so it is a bit close, but no mods. I am not sure if you are going to OC or not, but if you don't, then I would just put a fan on the existing NB. The SB is not really a problem. Good Luck.

[GerardodK]

sorry, how set the strap 1066 for 4300 in the p5n e sli?

SORRY for my BAD english

[SharkerSk]

Could this mobo break 520 fsb THX ( I'll be happy for max fsb around 500)
I am looking for something cheap and OC friendly for my e6320

[stealthbomber]

520 FSB I doubt it, only the best boards can make it to 520 never mind break it with stock cooling.

Maybe if you get lucky and get a gem of a C2D chip that runs that high FSB, volt mod the boards NB along with some beefy cooling on it.

[ahpaul82]

Just got this board last week,
it seem cannot change the CPU multiplier with new BIOS (0505) ?