Asus A8N32-SLI initial impression....WOW!

[x2o]

Hi guys,

I'm pretty new to all this what's the correct settings to over clock the fx60 to 3ghz on this board using phase cooling?

I'd appreciate any help with this.

[granulf]

I just did a max. HTT test and mine tops out on 410MHz (Clockgen doesn't work any higher )

Mighty impressive, mate. Are you using stock cooling for that? I suspect the stock cooler on my mobo is making bad contact with nb and sb, I might have a look at that later on. Haven't really bothered maxing the mobo, reckon I maxed the cpu with my previous dfi expert anyhow.

Bra jobba uansett

[sacha35]

Hi guys,

I'm pretty new to all this what's the correct settings to over clock the fx60 to 3ghz on this board using phase cooling?

I'd appreciate any help with this.

Read some guides first on overclocking and get to know what things do first even before you start to clock this, it will all help you in the end as you will understand what you are doing.

[luismenendez]

Hi there,

I have this mobo with UCCC memory running at 265 3-4-3-9 1T and at opty 170 CCBBE 0615 EPMW with bios 1401.

My overclocking is 10x265 with memory 1:1 and 1.39v. I tried to increase the overclock to 2750 with a divider but I get errors even at 1.47 volts.

The most stable overclock with this mobo is 270x10 (with an AsRock Dual Sata was 9x305 or 10x274 at 1.41v)

Any recommendation to reach higher clocks? maybe more volts? newer bios? I have the mobo for 1 month so maybe I am missing something about bios etc

I wonder if I reach the maximum of my cpu but the steping is one of the best and many reach 3.0 Ghz

[sacha35]

Hi there,

I have this mobo with UCCC memory running at 265 3-4-3-9 1T and at opty 170 CCBBE 0615 EPMW with bios 1401.

My overclocking is 10x265 with memory 1:1 and 1.39v. I tried to increase the overclock to 2750 with a divider but I get errors even at 1.47 volts.

The most stable overclock with this mobo is 270x10 (with an AsRock Dual Sata was 9x305 or 10x274 at 1.41v)

Any recommendation to reach higher clocks? maybe more volts? newer bios? I have the mobo for 1 month so maybe I am missing something about bios etc

I wonder if I reach the maximum of my cpu but the steeping is one of the best and many reach 3.0 Ghz

Hi mate just go back to basics first, find the max that your ram will clock at and then see what the CPU will do, it is no good trying to clock all at once as it could be a problem with the CPU or ram that is holding you back, so like I said first of all set the ram with a low divider and see what the CPU can overclock to then set the ram back and lower the multy to see what the ram can do, when you have worked out what is the max stable both the items can do then you can start to clock these properly, also a good and proper burn in of the CPU is recommended as over time this will allow you to reach higher clocks with lower volts with again will give lower temps.

[luismenendez]

Hi mate just go back to basics first, find the max that your ram will clock at and then see what the CPU will do, it is no good trying to clock all at once as it could be a problem with the CPU or ram that is holding you back, so like I said first of all set the ram with a low divider and see what the CPU can overclock to then set the ram back and lower the multy to see what the ram can do, when you have worked out what is the max stable both the items can do then you can start to clock these properly, also a good and proper burn in of the CPU is recommended as over time this will allow you to reach higher clocks with lower volts with again will give lower temps.

I already done that.

Max for the memory at 1T is 265 on the Asus (272 at 2T on the Asrock which couldn't run them at 1T, haven't try max at 2T on this mobo yet) and for the opty is 2700 in this mobo (was about 2740 in the AsRock dual sata2)

[sacha35]

Have you tried upping the volts a bit on the asus as when I had mine it did under volt a little bit, and found out from other users that theirs did as well so try upping the volts to the ram and see if that helps, as for 2T you don’t want to be running the ram at this as it will be much slower so stick with 1T.

What is the tcase on your CPU, as some of these have a very low Tcase and will max out at low clocks due to heat, so saying that what sort of cooling have you got in the CPU?

When I had my opty165 and asus M/B, I found it hard to clock to begin with until I did a 100+ burn in on the chip and added some good water-cooling to it as it had a low Tcase of 49c, when I done all this I could clock the chip at 3gig on the asus M/B and 3.1 on the DFI M/B and before I done all this work I could only max the chip out at 2.9gig so I gained 200MHz.

[luismenendez]

Hi Sacha,

The Tcase is 59C which is a bit low comparing to others (your 49C is the lowest I ever seen ). However I had the chip running about 65C when orthos in the past and not failing. TDP is 85W and the different between the cores at load is only 2 or 4C

I am using orthos now for 2 hours and temps are 53-55C

My cooling was before the stock heatpipes heatsink and now a Tt sonic tower with a 12cm fan in the middle. Though the temps are quite similar between the 2 coolers.

I don't think the opty need burning in as I have it for over 4 months running at 2700 and 1.4v, but I might be wrong as I am not an expert in burning in.

[sacha35]

Hi Sacha,

The Tcase is 59C which is a bit low comparing to others (your 49C is the lowest I ever seen ). However I had the chip running about 65C when orthos in the past and not failing. TDP is 85W and the different between the cores at load is only 2 or 4C

I am using orthos now for 2 hours and temps are 53-55C

My cooling was before the stock heatpipes heatsink and now a Tt sonic tower with a 12cm fan in the middle. Though the temps are quite similar between the 2 coolers.

I don't think the opty need burning in as I have it for over 4 months running at 2700 and 1.4v, but I might be wrong as I am not an expert in burning in.

Hi there don’t fall into the trap thinking just because you have had the chip for a few months running with an overclock it will be ok you still need to do a proper burn in, I think X/S have a post on this, I bought a FX60 from a very good bencher hear in the UK, which he used to run the chip on Phase and could only get 3.4 gig out of the chip as one core kept failing, well after I got the chip I removed the cover and just burned in and in and in, this chip was so bad I had to do it for about 150-200 Hours as one core just kept failing, but after I did a proper burn in I found I could now run this chip on chilled water ( not phase) with a higher overclock and less voltages.

So if you take my situation, where I have had two chips and opty and FX which were not great overclockers before I burned them in and after the burn in they are up there with some of the best, then you can see if you have the time just keep burning in as it will pay off in the end and give you a lot better clocks with less heat.

Sacha

[luismenendez]

OK, I will follow your recommendation and burn it in with my actual settings.

I guess 1.5 days running orthos will be enough? I don't like leaving the pc unattended for long periods if working at 100%

[sacha35]

Just follow this and you will be fine.


First things first. I can’t take responsibility for any damage that may be done with this guide. As you probably already know, overclocking is never safe, and if any damage is done with this guide (even something like a CPU losing it’s overclock) then it is NOTHING to do with me. I only accept responsibility for CPU’s running at lower voltages than they used to.

What is a “burn in”?

First off, there is no physical ‘burning’ involved, as some people might assume.
I would define a burn in (for our purposes) as the process of getting a piece of computer equipment to run stably at a set speed, with lower voltage than it was previously capable of doing. In a somewhat more technical way, if your Athlon 64 3500+ can run 2600mhz with 1.5v before the burn in, then afterwards it might be able to run at 2600mhz with a mere 1.45v. That would be a fairly reasonably drop, and is quite likely to happen.
However, burn in doesn’t always work so well, and sometimes you won’t get any drop in voltage. However, there are enough reports of successful burn in for it to be a legitimate technique, to my mind, and worth doing.

Why would I want to do this?

There are two real reasons why you would want to do a burn in.

(1) Lower Power Consumption. Remember that a CPU’s total power consumption is measured as voltage x current. Now you can’t lower the current to your processor, but obviously lowering the voltage means that less power (W) is drawn. Of course, this also means that it will run cooler, so you can keep your HSF quieter.

(2) This is the real reason you’d want to do this: More Overclocking! Having lower voltage at 2600mhz means that you might be able to run at 2700mhz with 1.5v, the same voltage as before. Some people say “who cares, it’s just another 100mhz not worth hours of burn in” but then why bother overclocking at all? For me, it is easily worth it.

All you need for this to happen is a 8-10 hours a day when your computer won’t be doing much (while your at work/school, or asleep is a good time), a stability checker (SP2004 (Prime95 with a fancy front end) is my weapon of choice) and possibly some other program that puts heavy load onto the CPU (Folding@Home is a good one for this, as it always helps to research cures for various diseases).
There are two main schools of thought on how to go about this. The first:

(1) Take your computer to the highest speeds you can run it at, totally stably. Make sure it is just on the edge of stability, i.e. if you lowered the voltage by one notch it would fail Prime. However, it must be able to run for hours without crashing at these speeds. Then, quite simply, just run Prime95 on it for as long as you can bear. It’s quite all right to stop and start it as you need, but it has to run for a long long time. I find that 3 sessions of 10 hours often does the trick, but results may vary. After this, take the volts down that one notch to where it was unstable, and run Prime again. If it is stable (can run SmallFFT’s for at least 2 hours) then Congratulations, you’ve burned it in! However, there’s no need to stop there, keep going until it stops getting lower, or you get bored (I suspect the latter will be first :P). Once you’ve done this, enjoy your cooler running or higher overclocking CPU.

(2) Take your computer to the highest speeds it can run at, totally stably. Then, lower the volts, and take them down just enough so it fails Prime after about half an hour to an hour. Once you’ve found this point, start running Folding@Home for hours on end. If you want something slightly faster, then you can use a piece of software called CPUBurn and run K7. Don’t worry if that the window is blank, it puts the CPU under big load, and doesn’t worry about stability.
So run that for a few sessions of 8+ hours then retest with prime, and see if you’ve gained stability. If not, repeat.

Sometimes your CPU just won’t burn in any further. If that’s the case, then you’re buggered, sorry. If you want it to go further you’ll just have to cool it better . But for the lucky masses, this should do some magic, and gains of 50mhz-300mhz can be had.

[antsh]

Hey guys just got this board this past week, and I have a quick question for the more experienced crowd. Does anyone use this board with a non-stock cooler AND the corsair memory cooler. I ask because I am using the corsair memory cooler on my crucial TD1 chips, and they tend to get really warm. Anybody have any ideas about what my options are as far as cpu cooling while keeping the corsair memory cooler? Thanks in advance.

[sacha35]

Hey guys just got this board this past week, and I have a quick question for the more experienced crowd. Does anyone use this board with a non-stock cooler AND the corsair memory cooler. I ask because I am using the corsair memory cooler on my crucial TD1 chips, and they tend to get really warm. Anybody have any ideas about what my options are as far as cpu cooling while keeping the corsair memory cooler? Thanks in advance.

Have a 120mm fan blowing directly onto the ram, this will kepp it nice and cool.

[SoloRider]

Does the problem with the TCCD has fixed?If yes,wich bios fixed this problem?
I have a pair 2*512 of OCZ4800 Elite Edition and i wanna buy this motherboard.

[sacha35]

Does the problem with the TCCD has fixed?If yes,wich bios fixed this problem?
I have a pair 2*512 of OCZ4800 Elite Edition and i wanna buy this motherboard.

As with all hardware, they are not equal to each other, you will only find out how well your hardware will clock when you start clocking and testing it, I could say a bios to use, but have not had this M/B for some time now so there could be a better newer Bios available to you, as said you will have to find out what your hardware can do and what Bios is best suited to your hardware.

Sacha

[SoloRider]

You don't understand...i don't have the mobo.I wanna buy a new mobo,and after i've read this review the Asus is a good option for me,but it seems it has problems with the TCCD.I was wondering if this problem was fixed.
If not...i'll go for the DFI.
I can't test this mobo because i don't have it.

[sacha35]

You don't understand...i don't have the mobo.I wanna buy a new mobo,and after i've read this review the Asus is a good option for me,but it seems it has problems with the TCCD.I was wondering if this problem was fixed.
If not...i'll go for the DFI.
I can't test this mobo because i don't have it.

If you’re after an overclocking MB then go for the DFI Expert as the ASUS has limitation on the amount of volts you can give the CPU but if you are after an all round MB go for the ASUS.

[SoloRider]

I'm after an all round MB but i have this pair of OCZPC4800 wich are TCCD.
I've seen this mb can hit 300HTT and that's all i want(9x300HTT it's just fine for me).
So...can i use TCCD on this mb or not?

[calvin]

I really didn't expected this kind of result as I was only wishing for slightly more stability than my ultra-D, but looks like this A8N32-SLI pack with a mega punch on BOTH stability and performance, I think newegg dropped the price down to $229 now.

LOL what a difference a year and a bit makes. Just picked up one at my local etailer for $120. Truth is I'm just cheap and like to wait for prices to fall. Certainly have to agree with the opening comment, 3 ghz appears to be a no brainer on this board. My opteron 170 that wouldn't budge over 2400 on my last board just completed two hours orthos at 300x10 no errors. That 8 phase design really works.

So...can i use TCCD on this mb or not?

Thats what I'm running, working great so I'd have to say the answer is definitely yes. Running BIOS ver 1303.

[SoloRider]

hats what I'm running, working great so I'd have to say the answer is definitely yes. Running BIOS ver 1303

Also the OCZPC4800?
Anyway...i've started to read the thread...i'm at page 35.Nice thread i have to say,keep up the good work

[calvin]

Any recommendation to reach higher clocks? maybe more volts? newer bios? I have the mobo for 1 month so maybe I am missing something about bios etc

Hey I am having the same cpu as you! I find with this board and good stepping 3.0 is possible. But you must increase your voltage. To do this enable cpu over voltage (200 mv) in Bios. With over voltage feeding 1.6v to the cpu my max overclock improve from 2.75 to 3.0. Try it! But watch your temperatures, need good cooling

[luismenendez]

Just I quick question about the 8 phase regulation: is enough to overvolt the cpu to activate it?

what does activating the north bridge overvolts do? Helps getting most of the memory or/and cpu memory controller? Before i activated this my cpu volts were a bit more steady by speedfan.

and about dram drive strength and dram data drive strenght?

As you can guess I am trying to get a bit more speed of my supertalent UCCC memory which is running now at 267 mhz at 2.7v and 3-4-3-8

Calvin: 1.6v is too much for my cooling as i am reaching about 55C with only 1.4v. I suspect my cpu IHS might not be very flat as the heatsink is quite good (TT sonic tower + 12cm fan in the middle)

[Wizkid]

I was looking for the BIOS 1403 which somebody found a few postings ago (post 1809 http://http://www.xtremesystems.org/...=80491&page=73, but I found the 1405 here:
http://http://support.asus.com/downl...Language=en-us
looking for A8N32-SLI deluxe.

Anybody any experience yet, it is Beta though?

[QuietIce]

AFAIK 1303 is the latest "official" version ...

[MetalRacer]

I just flashed to the 1405 Beta yesterday and all is well so far.