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

[hotchoc]

Let's say a new bios is released and you need to update it, do you need to remove this noC1e inf file?

[Lome]

Let's say a new bios is released and you need to update it, do you need to remove this noC1e inf file?

just delete the noC1E.sys from your system32\drivers folder
if your realy anal you can also delete
"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servi ces\noc1e"

edit: heh i just woke up and misread your post
the anwser is: only if you want to turn c1e back on

[nealh]

Bingo. Your DMM reads low or your sensor chip reads high. I'm betting it's the DMM.

Ok..I have not gone back to the BIOS readings

I bought a second DMM(sears has a nice one for $12)
http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...TOOL&ihtoken=1

I tested both DMM on batteries(gave exact same readings on AAA/AA?C batteries) and my system

From post #3338..I cant recall but I may have used a molex that was fan only as a ground and with both DMM this gave a reading of 1.46/1.47v underload

From my previous post:
BIOS Readings(vcore set as 1.525v with powerslope enabled)
12v= 12.375
5v= 5.058
3.3v= 3.353
1.5v= 1.607
Vcore= 1.535


DMM #1 Reading (hmm now that I think about it, I was using a molex adapter from attached to the 4 pin that went into GPU molex on the mobo)
12v= 12.10v
vcore= 1.49v

I have a 4pin molex cable with 2 plug one into the gpu molex on the mobo...I had previously used the free one with a molex adapter so I could see color of the wires..the cable on the HX620w are all black

so this time no adapter just used the 4pin molex and I used one of the inner plugs as ground...tested 12v line DMM #1 ..12.10/12.09v...new DMM 12.13v

OK so grounded and test at the same power choke..upper left one in pic from Gtj link
Bios 2333
Powerslope enabled
vcore 1.525v as bios setting
load is P95 v251 blend

speedfan 4.32 .... reads idle of 1.54v/load 1.53v
DMM #1
1.50v idle/1.50v load

New DMM
1.50v idle/1.50v load

so the difference vs speedfan is .03/.04 this time

so unless both DMM are bad...I am pretty happy my DMM readings are accurate

[gtj]

I bought a second DMM(sears has a nice one for $12)

so unless both DMM are bad...I am pretty happy my DMM readings are accurate

It isnt out of the realm of possibility that the sensor chip isn't calibrated correctly. and as long as you're happy, that's all that counts.

[nealh]

It isnt out of the realm of possibility that the sensor chip isn't calibrated correctly. and as long as you're happy, that's all that counts.

Hey for $12(reg price is $25), if my first DMM was bad...I needed a new one anyway

I am only happy that my DMM readings are pretty accurate(or I have terrible luck and both are bad) and it appears the mobo sensor is off, I am not happy about this if it is true..but what can I do to fix that... RMA the board ...no thanks..that's way too much of a pain in the A$$ since I was using this as a replacement board, already for a crappy RD600

[J@mmer]

Well most of my problems with this board have been fixed. I can now OC much further with less VCORE. Before I struggled to get anything over 3GHz but now I'm on 3.2GHz on stock VCORE. I have also managed to disable C1E. I am very happy again. How did I do it you ask? I bought an Asus P5W64-WS Pro!

The Axe2 has potential to be a killer board but Intel refuse to make a decent OC BIOS for this board. I should have never strayed from Asus, but I have learn my lesson. So... The Axe2 will be retired to my server to do what it does best, run at stock speeds!

[jschoef1]

A little of subject but it could be good for the guide. I have built 4 computers using identical parts using the BadAxe2 with Raid 1 on the Intel SATA controller and I have some interesting results.

First is an incompatibility with Intel's Raid 1 and Vista ( I didn't try XP). When the computer is shut down improperly (reset button, power outage, etc) the computer will not reboot 99% of the time. It will just hang on the vista scroll bar for a long time then you might get a black screen with a mouse arrow. I called Intel about this and they said that it is normal behavior for Raid and that it will boot but could take up to 36 hours.....real good solution. I then asked if it would work on the Marvell side, they said it would do the same thing. I obviously didn't believe them. What happens is the Matrix Storage Manager detects a dirty shutdown and goes into verify mode but it doesn't work properly. The only work around I found to get your computer working that day...is to shut it off, unplug a drive, boot it up, it then starts right up. After its up and running I attach the unhooked hard drive and it goes into rebuild mode. It works fine in rebuild mode.

I have now switched 3 out of the 4 computers to the Marvell controller and it works ALMOST perfectly. the only problem is sometimes on reboot it gives me an Apache error which you have to cancel out of 2 times then everything is fine (I prefer to keep the Apache monitor running to check on things).

Intel has leaked out there new Matrix Storage Manager #7 on the web. I installed this on 2 of the computers and the bug still exists...it also exists on a customers Dell. Interestingly enough, with #7 on the BadAxe and last months Bios update, it seems to be fixed, but only with the latest Bios. It will boot up slow but still will boot in about 5 minutes after a dirty shutdown which is much more acceptable then 36 hours. It will then verify for hours and be back up to speed (but still very usable in verify mode, just not quite as fast).

I cannot tell a real difference in real world speed tests with regular programs but one computer running 2x 320gig raid 1 Seagate drives on the Intel side gives me a burst speed of up to 210. The Marvell Burst on the other computer is 155. Average speed is within 1 number of each other on both controllers with a reading of 67-68. Random access is 11 on Intel and 13 on Marvell.

I decided to test 2 brand new drives (they are a little slower then the 320 gig drives but are SATA 2) I keep in stock on the same board but different controllers. This is in Raid 1 setup. I used 2 unformatted 160gig Seagate SATA Drives for the test. First one with the faster burst speed in the Intel controller. Second one is the Marvell.

[MuttonFlanks]

Hey gtj, need your expertise please

I've got my E6600 overclocked at 3.24GHz (360 FSB @ 1.350v). I plugged this into your strap calculator and on the 1066 strap for a 1:1 ratio I should run 266 ref freq 533 mem freq, which is what I have it set to now.

Now my question is, how low should I go on the timings? I have it at 4-3-3-6 @ 2.12v and it passed memtest+ 5 times. Should I try to go lower? Is there one number that affects performance more than others?

I look in CPU-Z and my mem freq is 1:1 at 360.x. But in some OC threads I see people running all the way up to high 600s or even into the 700s. Is a 1:1 on the 1066 strap better than these high memory frequencies?

Thanks

[shimmishim]

the only way to tell is to test for yourself.

in the 360 range, 4:5 (266/667) will be the max ratio you should be able to use so test it out.

at 360, you should be able to do 3-3-3-8 with less than 2.2-ish voltage as well. see if this gives you a gain as well.

[MuttonFlanks]

the only way to tell is to test for yourself.

in the 360 range, 4:5 (266/667) will be the max ratio you should be able to use so test it out.

at 360, you should be able to do 3-3-3-8 with less than 2.2-ish voltage as well. see if this gives you a gain as well.

I tried 3 for Tcl from 2.04 to 2.20v and it won't work. I'll give 266/667 a try. How do I tell if one setting is faster than the other? By running 32M SuperPi and comparing the times?

[shimmishim]

I tried 3 for Tcl from 2.04 to 2.20v and it won't work. I'll give 266/667 a try. How do I tell if one setting is faster than the other? By running 32M SuperPi and comparing the times?

Yes, that works or seeing what the latency is by using everest. lower latency = better.

and that's strange that it won't work 3-3-3-8 from 2.04 to 2.2 hmm...

have you tried 2.25? that might work.

[nealh]

I would becareful on the vdimm..it seems as you increase over 2.2v...many are reporting D9 chips can die...it seems on the badaxe2 it is the stick in slot 3 or 4...so I am not sure if this becasue different slots can more vdimm

Interestingly...if I recall correctly at 1:1 my latency is better than at 4:5 and I see almost no difference in performance running 3500 with ram at DDR780 4-4-4-12 vs 3500 and ram DDR 975 5-5-5-18

test and see what feels better

[gtj]

A little of subject but it could be good for the guide. I have built 4 computers using identical parts using the BadAxe2 with Raid 1 on the Intel SATA controller and I have some interesting results.

First is an incompatibility with Intel's Raid 1 and Vista ( I didn't try XP). When the computer is shut down improperly (reset button, power outage, etc) the computer will not reboot 99% of the time. It will just hang on the vista scroll bar for a long time then you might get a black screen with a mouse arrow. I called Intel about this and they said that it is normal behavior for Raid and that it will boot but could take up to 36 hours.....real good solution. I then asked if it would work on the Marvell side, they said it would do the same thing. I obviously didn't believe them. What happens is the Matrix Storage Manager detects a dirty shutdown and goes into verify mode but it doesn't work properly. The only work around I found to get your computer working that day...is to shut it off, unplug a drive, boot it up, it then starts right up. After its up and running I attach the unhooked hard drive and it goes into rebuild mode. It works fine in rebuild mode.

I have now switched 3 out of the 4 computers to the Marvell controller and it works ALMOST perfectly. the only problem is sometimes on reboot it gives me an Apache error which you have to cancel out of 2 times then everything is fine (I prefer to keep the Apache monitor running to check on things).

Intel has leaked out there new Matrix Storage Manager #7 on the web. I installed this on 2 of the computers and the bug still exists...it also exists on a customers Dell. Interestingly enough, with #7 on the BadAxe and last months Bios update, it seems to be fixed, but only with the latest Bios. It will boot up slow but still will boot in about 5 minutes after a dirty shutdown which is much more acceptable then 36 hours. It will then verify for hours and be back up to speed (but still very usable in verify mode, just not quite as fast).

I cannot tell a real difference in real world speed tests with regular programs but one computer running 2x 320gig raid 1 Seagate drives on the Intel side gives me a burst speed of up to 210. The Marvell Burst on the other computer is 155. Average speed is within 1 number of each other on both controllers with a reading of 67-68. Random access is 11 on Intel and 13 on Marvell.

I decided to test 2 brand new drives (they are a little slower then the 320 gig drives but are SATA 2) I keep in stock on the same board but different controllers. This is in Raid 1 setup. I used 2 unformatted 160gig Seagate SATA Drives for the test. First one with the faster burst speed in the Intel controller. Second one is the Marvell.

Good info, thanks. I'm going to test this out as well.

[gtj]

Hey gtj, need your expertise please

I've got my E6600 overclocked at 3.24GHz (360 FSB @ 1.350v). I plugged this into your strap calculator and on the 1066 strap for a 1:1 ratio I should run 266 ref freq 533 mem freq, which is what I have it set to now.

Now my question is, how low should I go on the timings? I have it at 4-3-3-6 @ 2.12v and it passed memtest+ 5 times. Should I try to go lower? Is there one number that affects performance more than others?

I look in CPU-Z and my mem freq is 1:1 at 360.x. But in some OC threads I see people running all the way up to high 600s or even into the 700s. Is a 1:1 on the 1066 strap better than these high memory frequencies?

Thanks

the only way to tell is to test for yourself.

test and see what feels better

What they said.

[nealh]

why is it that no C2D mobo has a good secondary sata controller?
RD600 sucked as well
does using the marvell controller affect OCing abilities

[gtj]

why is it that no C2D mobo has a good secondary sata controller?
RD600 sucked as well
does using the marvell controller affect OCing abilities

It's better than the early 680i boards where the PRIMARY sucked.

I've had absolutely no problems with the Marvell. "Ernie" has 4xWD2500KS drives in a RAID 10 using the Marvell RAID under Vista. "Elmo" has 4xWD2500KS drives in a RAID 10 connected to the Marvell but using Linux's mdraid.

Not a single problem with either since I've had the boards and no effect on overclocking.

[nealh]

It's better than the early 680i boards where the PRIMARY sucked.

I've had absolutely no problems with the Marvell. "Ernie" has 4xWD2500KS drives in a RAID 10 using the Marvell RAID under Vista. "Elmo" has 4xWD2500KS drives in a RAID 10 connected to the Marvell but using Linux's mdraid.

Not a single problem with either since I've had the boards and no effect on overclocking.

I am going to try it out...does it only support RAID...

I would think you could hook up a sata drive since it has the eSATA port ..which what I want it for

[aicjofs]

Well most of my problems with this board have been fixed. I can now OC much further with less VCORE. Before I struggled to get anything over 3GHz but now I'm on 3.2GHz on stock VCORE. I have also managed to disable C1E. I am very happy again. How did I do it you ask? I bought an Asus P5W64-WS Pro!

The Axe2 has potential to be a killer board but Intel refuse to make a decent OC BIOS for this board. I should have never strayed from Asus, but I have learn my lesson. So... The Axe2 will be retired to my server to do what it does best, run at stock speeds!

Not really suprising I suppose. The P5W64 and P5WDG2 WS Pro both overvolt the Vcore so I guess you would be more stable at a lower BIOS voltage.

"To each thier own" I guess. I'm not in love with this board, but it overclocks just fine, and is a solid product.

[GamingDaemon]

I'll hunt something up tomorrow and see if I get same errors. Maybe it's a Vista thing.

But now it's tail hour

Have you tried a file copy with the external SATA? It seems like all you need is a file over 100MB, at least on my ThermalTake Max4 external SATA enclosure. Not sure if it is the enclosure, the cables, or the BadAxe2 that is causing the problem. I keep having to use the USB interface to move large fiels around.

[jschoef1]

Good info, thanks. I'm going to test this out as well.

When you ghost a vista partition from one raid controller to another (assuming you know how to), make sure the ghost worked properly by doing a check disk and make sure you don't get the error saying it cant write to the secondary ntfs volume...or something like that. It wont effect the test and it will boot if you get that error, but for a permanent install, that error will lead to troubles in the future (like the backup feature in vista will fail everytime). I found ghosting a Vista install gives me that error about 25% of the time and I just redo it and all is good.

You also have to do a repair to the newly ghosted hd with the vista disk, only takes a min...this is 100% of the time.

[gtj]

I am going to try it out...does it only support RAID...

I would think you could hook up a sata drive since it has the eSATA port ..which what I want it for

Plain disks are just fine and eSATA works fine for me.

[nealh]

Plain disks are just fine and eSATA works fine for me.

thank you very much as usually

[J@mmer]

Not really suprising I suppose. The P5W64 and P5WDG2 WS Pro both overvolt the Vcore so I guess you would be more stable at a lower BIOS voltage.

"To each thier own" I guess. I'm not in love with this board, but it overclocks just fine, and is a solid product.

Yes I am well aware of this and hence why I set the VCORE lower than stock to compensate. I did have a P5WDG2-WS pro previously so I was aware of this OV problem. And when u factor in the Asus Vdroop, the OV is pretty much cancelled out.

Also the Asus watchdog feature works a treat. Intel could also learn a thing or two from this.

I never said the Axe2 was not a solid board. It's a great board but when it comes to overclocking, it has NOTHING on the P5W64-WS Pro.

[nealh]

Plain disks are just fine and eSATA works fine for me.

I tried to find drivers for the Marvell controller and at Badaxe2 website..I saw no drivers except for RAID use, I thought you needed drivers to install the Marvell controller

HMM..did I need to install the RAID drivers to use the MArvell for nonRAID use..ie, eSATA or just single HDD..when installing the OS

[ArcticOC]

Badaxe2 and Penryn support:

Finally, with regards to motherboard support, Intel isn’t making any guarantees about Penryn’s backwards compatibility. While Penryn will still use the LGA-775 socket that Prescott and Conroe have used, motherboard support will require more than just the presence of the socket. If the appropriate VRM spec is implemented, then Penryn will work on your LGA-775 motherboard, the problem is that motherboard manufacturers haven’t yet released information on which of their boards will support the Penryn VRM changes. If history repeats itself, you can expect very limited official support for Penryn in currently shipping motherboards and guaranteed support with boards based on Intel’s new 3 series chipsets (e.g. P35). We did see Penryn up and running on an Intel BadAxe2 board, but it had a hardware VRM modification done to it in order to properly support Penryn. Penryn may also be able to work on boards without a VRM mod, however at increased (potentially out-of-spec) voltage settings.

Source: http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...spx?i=2968&p=2