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

[screwtech02]

Has anyone else confirmed ANY working memory dividers like 3:4, 4:5, ect???

I can get NOTHING but 1:1 to work on my board even at STOCK speeds....

[Circaflex]

Is 2333 still king? Im on that currently but saw a lot of new bios files since i last visited the intel site, anything new that is better?

[Idontreallyknow]

Hello everyone!

I must say this thread saved this motherboard from going straight to the trash. Thanks for the help!

I've been having some intolerable yet somewhat "resolvable" issues with my bad axe... I'm wondering if anyone else has had these issues or if perhaps my mobo is a defect...

The first issue has to do with the bios forgetting that it can actually boot with the current oc settings after being unplugged for about an hour or more. (Of course I don't unplug my computer everyday) When I try to re-power the computer, the bios thinks I changed something and fails to post. It prompts if I would like to enter the bios to correct the changes I made. "What changes did I make?! It was OFF."
Could the battery be dead already? I purchased this mobo about 2 months ago.
I thought I read somewhere in this thread that if one completely removes the power from the mobo, it will reset the bios which then allows you fix any fatal oc settings.

To get the bios "fixed" I found I have to remove the battery for about a minute, then enter the bios and reset the memory timings. It seems to remember the FSB settings and CPU clock though.

Another issue I have had is with the network card. It completely drops connections, and absolutely will not work with Windows XP network. I know the issue is with the network card because I plugged in an el-cheapo card ($10) and now everything works perfectly. Unbelievable. At first I thought my cable modem was dieing ($60), perhaps my router ($60), but now I know for a fact it's the on board Ethernet card. WTF?

Has anyone else had issues with their on board Ethernet cards??

At this point I would guess that the first issue shows signs of mental retardation. As for the later, well I have a feeling this on board Ethernet card was fine, but recently gave up.

Talk about stability and reliability.

The Core Stuff:
CPU: E6600 @ 2.7GHZ
Cooling: stock
Motherboard: Intel D975XBX2KR
RAM: Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 (PC2 8000) @ 4-4-4-12
PSU: Corsair HX620W

Thanks again!

[craftsman]

idontreallyknow, i figuratively pull the plug every night by flippng a wall switch
that feeds all my computer paraphernalia. it never fotgets any settings that includes a variety of enables/disables and about a 20% overclock. maybe it is the battery and maybe the board is koo koo. that's all i got, so if a fresh battery does'nt help there...well, i don't think that should be a problem for anynody.

[Woland]

Has anyone else confirmed ANY working memory dividers like 3:4, 4:5, ect???

I can get NOTHING but 1:1 to work on my board even at STOCK speeds....

Yep I have. Have run at 266:667 and 266:800 at various fsb´s.

[gtj]

Has anyone else confirmed ANY working memory dividers like 3:4, 4:5, ect???

I can get NOTHING but 1:1 to work on my board even at STOCK speeds....

4:5 and 2:3 working fine here. Can't run 3:4 because that means dropping to the 800 strap which is just too tight for me.

Is 2333 still king? Im on that currently but saw a lot of new bios files since i last visited the intel site, anything new that is better?

2747 seems to be pretty damn good. A few people reporting that they need less vcore.

Hello everyone!

I must say this thread saved this motherboard from going straight to the trash. Thanks for the help!

I've been having some intolerable yet somewhat "resolvable" issues with my bad axe... I'm wondering if anyone else has had these issues or if perhaps my mobo is a defect...

The first issue has to do with the bios forgetting that it can actually boot with the current oc settings after being unplugged for about an hour or more. (Of course I don't unplug my computer everyday) When I try to re-power the computer, the bios thinks I changed something and fails to post. It prompts if I would like to enter the bios to correct the changes I made. "What changes did I make?! It was OFF."
Could the battery be dead already? I purchased this mobo about 2 months ago.
I thought I read somewhere in this thread that if one completely removes the power from the mobo, it will reset the bios which then allows you fix any fatal oc settings.

To get the bios "fixed" I found I have to remove the battery for about a minute, then enter the bios and reset the memory timings. It seems to remember the FSB settings and CPU clock though.

Another issue I have had is with the network card. It completely drops connections, and absolutely will not work with Windows XP network. I know the issue is with the network card because I plugged in an el-cheapo card ($10) and now everything works perfectly. Unbelievable. At first I thought my cable modem was dieing ($60), perhaps my router ($60), but now I know for a fact it's the on board Ethernet card. WTF?

Has anyone else had issues with their on board Ethernet cards??

At this point I would guess that the first issue shows signs of mental retardation. As for the later, well I have a feeling this on board Ethernet card was fine, but recently gave up.

Talk about stability and reliability.

The Core Stuff:
CPU: E6600 @ 2.7GHZ
Cooling: stock
Motherboard: Intel D975XBX2KR
RAM: Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 (PC2 8000) @ 4-4-4-12
PSU: Corsair HX620W

Thanks again!

Boot to the maintenance menu and disable the "watchdog". That's what's reporting the failed settings.

Can't help with the ethernet port. Not heard of any problems with it. When you used the el-cheapo card, did you use the same cable or a different one?

[Idontreallyknow]

Boot to the maintenance menu and disable the "watchdog". That's what's reporting the failed settings.

Can't help with the ethernet port. Not heard of any problems with it. When you used the el-cheapo card, did you use the same cable or a different one?

I'll try this thing out with the watchdog disabled, thanks for the tip!

The el-cheapo card is using the same cable as the one plugged into the on board. It's also plugged into the same port on the router so that effectively rules out the cable and at least one port on the router. I actually tried a different piece of Ethernet cable plugged into the on board LAN. Same results. It's funny actually, if I restrict XP to use the on board, XP will NOT find my other computer which is on the same network. However, if I restrict XP to use the el-cheapo, XP works flawlessly. Very strange...

BTW, what is the most popular option for audio drivers for XP? I've been using option 1 and have been having some issues with the drivers/software. One of them seems to forget that I have a 5.1 stereo hooked up. Basically the software doesn't display any activity for any of the speakers, yet sound still comes from the front left & right. No others. Reconfiguring my setup doesn't work. I found I have to reboot to get the software to work again.

I'm giving option 2 test run now...

Thanks!

[nealh]

hmm..I got a new e6600 L629F221..hits 3600 at 1.4v bios setting(run a quick 4 hrs of Prime 95 as a test...but it seems anything higher will need alot of vcore..weird..)
I tried 3800 and could not get it to post ..even bumped vcore to 1.5v....

even 3700 need too much vcore IMHO...

I did of course lower ram timings and increased vdmm to take ram out of the equation...

wonder if it has to do with vfsb/vmch....I tried 1.4/1.6v...with fsb of 410/425

wonder if I should move to 2747

[nealh]

damn double post sorry

I guess my real question is there a fsb hole at 425 on this mobo...does it only like even numbered fsb

would over 400 fsb typically need greater than 1.4 vfsb and 1.6 mch

[CedricFP]

Just got my rig together, trying to get into the bios but I just get a printout saying "A bootable device has not been detected."

My HDD AND CDRom are plugged in.

Any ideas?

Either that or my keyboard isn't being detected, and F2 is getting me nowhere... anyone had problems with USB keyboards before?

I can't seem to get into the bios.

EDIT: Hmm, PS2 keyboard works and got me into bios fine. Strange. I wonder why it didn't detect the USB one. Oh well, glad I kept this hunk of junk lying around. It's missing a few keys as well

[Lyshen]

For the USB keyboard, make sure USB Legacy Support is enabled. I believe you can access that setting in Maintenance mode.

[Comp-Freak]

Has anyone else confirmed ANY working memory dividers like 3:4, 4:5, ect???

I can get NOTHING but 1:1 to work on my board even at STOCK speeds....

4:5 and 2:3 working for sure over here.

Is 2333 still king? Im on that currently but saw a lot of new bios files since i last visited the intel site, anything new that is better?

2747 is fine. Doesn't oc worse than 2333 (I did use other versions too without probs) and does have some interresting fixes.

Btw, cpuz reports my bios as 2745 I think Intel had a typo in the bios string of the early 2747 bios downloads

[rbsmontemor]

4:5 = no go with Gskill 6400HZ, but works fine with Crucial 8500 Tracer.

Oh, about the bios version:




Rbs.

[nealh]

where are the fsb hole over 400 fsb

[rbsmontemor]

where are the fsb hole over 400 fsb

My BX2 does 440 FSB @ 266 strap, and 465 @ 333 strap. No Mods.

Rbs.

[nealh]

My BX2 does 440 FSB @ 266 strap, and 465 @ 333 strap. No Mods.

Rbs.

nice..what vFSB amd MCH voltages?

[rbsmontemor]

1.70MCH, vFSB 1.4

Rbs.

[nealh]

1.70MCH, vFSB 1.4

Rbs.

Using bios 2333...

I picked up a L629F221 it has VID 1.25v....it will hit 3600 at 1.4v in bios(4hr of blend ..still testing...and by DMM my real vcore's are about 0.03 lower than reported by bios and speedfan etc)

anyway..the chip and or board seems to need alot more voltage to get to 3700....
in fact..I am testing 3700(9 x 412) @ 1.4625v bios with my 10th anniv(5-5-5-15) at 333:667..the 266 strpped locked up within 5min using vFSB of 1.4/MCH of 1.6
DMM load vcore is 1.43v(occ 1.42v)

my ram will do 5-5-5-15 @ 2.16 memtest stable

the chip is not scaling well above 3600

[rbsmontemor]

Using bios 2333...

I picked up a L629F221 it has VID 1.25v....it will hit 3600 at 1.4v in bios(4hr of blend ..still testing...and by DMM my real vcore's are about 0.03 lower than reported by bios and speedfan etc)

anyway..the chip and or board seems to need alot more voltage to get to 3700....
in fact..I am testing 3700(9 x 412) @ 1.4625v bios with my 10th anniv(5-5-5-15) at 333:667..the 266 strpped locked up within 5min using vFSB of 1.4/MCH of 1.6
DMM load vcore is 1.43v(occ 1.42v)

my ram will do 5-5-5-15 @ 2.16 memtest stable

the chip is not scaling well above 3600

Bios 2747 is the best for me...better overclock with same voltage.

You got a good chip...my E66 needs 1.49v (everest reading) to be stable @ 3700Mhz.

Something like that:
3600 --> 1.43v
3700 --> 1.49v
3800 --> 1.55v



Rbs.

[AndyM]

+1 on the new BIOS being good. I read this thread today and thought I'd try it out. Did a 45 minute 3.8 run at 1.51 volts, seems like it would go longer where before it was kinda flakey at this speed/volts looking at my notes. I tried 3.9 but would reboot before fully loading windows where in past times and voltage levels it would?? I think this has something to do with some weird 2-3 minute hang XP is doing before fully booting and letting certain other progs like Riva, IE's access to the internet, etc., actually run. Of course this happened coincidentally today after flashing the bios. Seems to be related to Media Center and .NET related processes not loading or being blocked from loading...more research needed. But getting back to the bios, I then went back down to my usual 3.6 and stepped the voltage down one notch to 1.37 from the usual 1.3875 and currently running Orthos stable for over an hour. I'll let that burn in overnight to see what happens, then try the next level down after that. Good thing this new lower voltage, helps with the temperatures for sure.

[CedricFP]

Hmm, I've got a funny little problem.

E6600 w/ BX2, however, in the Performance Overrides screen, it says my multiplier is 10, not 9!

Any ideas why?

Also, after having disabled C1E / EIST in both normal and maintenance mode, CPU-Z is still reading a multiplier of 6x.

Any ideas? Thanks.

[Derek]

Even with C1E/EIST disabled in maintenance mode, C1E is still technically turned on. Don't worry, it shouldn't make a difference with your overclock.

[CedricFP]

Even with C1E/EIST disabled in maintenance mode, C1E is still technically turned on. Don't worry, it shouldn't make a difference with your overclock.

I see. Thanks for your help Derek, but forgive my ignorance, why is it still technically on? BIOS 2333, BTW.

Got a nice 27B E66, stable at 3.8 @ 1.46v. Too bad my RAM craps out at about 500 FSB (was running 4:5 fine until 400 FSB bios) so I've had to take it down to 1:1 - at least I can tighten the timings. It's 10th Anny ram as well, so D9GMH...

I am still having the problem of the bios reading the multiplier as 10, not 9 though. In the bios screen, it says I am running at 4000MHZ when really I'm running at 3600... a curious error. Has anybody else had a similar experience?

[redphil]

Hello,
i am using the board with an ek wave as cpu-cooler.
The problem is, that it has contact to the capacitors at the upper side of the socket, so I mounted it just carefully and now I am not sure if i've the full performance of the cooler.
Temperatures under load (boinc) are around 55 degrees celsius, e6400@3,2Ghz,
dual-radiator, everything laying free on my kitchentable.

[CedricFP]

Hello,
i am using the board with an ek wave as cpu-cooler.
The problem is, that it has contact to the capacitors at the upper side of the socket, so I mounted it just carefully and now I am not sure if i've the full performance of the cooler.
Temperatures under load (boinc) are around 55 degrees celsius, e6400@3,2Ghz,
dual-radiator, everything laying free on my kitchentable.

You're temperatures seem pretty good to me.

I am using a MCR220 (dual) rad and these are my temps at various frequencies:

3.4 GHZ (1.325v) : 44 idle 58 load, ambient 35-39
3.6 GHZ (1.400v) : 45 idle 61 load, ambient 36-39
3.8 GHZ (1.460v) : 45 idle 63 load, ambient 39

(All centigrade), so I'd say your temps are within bounds. I use Speedfan to look at my temps. Core 2 ALWAYS = CPU temp, for some reason, and CORE 1 is always 2 degrees cooler than CORE 2.

I too had a problem with mounting an Apogee GT - vertically, it wouldn't fit because of the mofset sinks, and so I had to mount horizontally, even then, the block is pushing quite hard against the mofset sinks on the left of the socket.