Asus P5N-E SLI small review

[malik22]

I used the 15.00 from nvidia website are there any other nforce drivers for this chipset ou there?

[Ham]

Hey, ive got this board and im a bit confused. Ive had some fair results with my E4300 (3.6ghz) all under water.

But here's my problem. Im running atm at 3Ghz, a supposed 1.475v. Speedfan and PC probe are both showing up 1.49v. All is well there. Then i hook up my DMM too the place indicated by VRzone, gorunded straight too a molex. And its telling me ive only got 1.415 tops going through the CPU.

Is my ground place wrong? Or does this board undervolt THAT much.

Btw im running the 6040 bios and all its done is make my post times stupidly slow... Vdroop is still there.

[Leonardo Aucar]

What is the best BIOS for this board? I'm using a E4300

[stealthbomber]

The vdroop on this board (common problem on all Asus boards nowadays?) is pretty bad, there is a simple vdroop pencil mod you can perform.

The NB also undervolts a bit when set to anything other than 1.39v, you should calibrate it with the DMM with the NB set at 1.5xv and then 1.7xv, you'll find the NB volt mod around here somewhere...

[Ham]

Sorry, Forgot too mention I've done the vdroop mod. vdroop isn't a concern really, its the undervolting that's worrying me.

Idle im getting 1.49 in software and 1.415ish on the dmm, loaded 1.355 on the dmm and 1.42 in the software.

Edit: Also just noticed they've taken the 6040 beta bios off the asus site (UK at least)

Best bios ive had so far is 4010 i think...

[stealthbomber]

I've not experienced any problems with under volting on the CPU, the values you are reporting are seriously bad, have you measured the PSU's 12v line at idle and load?

http://www.vr-zone.com/index.php?i=4450&s=12

[Ham]

I've not experienced any problems with under volting on the CPU, the values you are reporting are seriously bad, have you measured the PSU's 12v line at idle and load?

Just have and 12.08 load with orthos and ATI tools GPU test too make my 8800 suck up. No problem there.

Any other places too ground other than a molex? I have a feeling that the extra component or two the vcore circuit might make up the difference.

Also how low did you take you vdroop mod? mines at about 100k, at about 77k i found the idle volts jumped up a fair bit.

Cheers for the help!

[stealthbomber]

Pre mod vdroop pencil mod vcore 1.55v in bios, under load reads 1.48v~ with DMM, post mod vcore 1.55v bios, under load DMM 1.54v~, close enough to zero drop.

Speedfan gives a reading of 0.04v higher than the vcore set in bios, but when I measure it directly with DMM it's pretty much the same as set in bios.

[malik22]

Does this board have any problems with 4gb installed?

[malik22]

Any help on my last question does this board have problems with 4gb of ram installed?

[ceemic]

malik22, it might depend on chips. I have tried once w 4x1GB Micron D9 and it worked just fine

[CikaNovo]

I'm running 4 x 1gb of 667 ram on this board for 3 months now,no problem.You won't be able to go over 730 mhz on memory thou, no matter what ram you use.

[malik22]

I'm running 4 x 1gb of 667 ram on this board for 3 months now,no problem.You won't be able to go over 730 mhz on memory thou, no matter what ram you use.

Even with the ram unlinked? Can other boards run 4 dimms at higher than 730

[malik22]

can anyone help me on my last question.

[CikaNovo]

730 is max,even unlinked!And i'm beeing lucky because most are stuck at 711 with 4 x 1 gb on this mobo.

[malik22]

Thx CikaNovo so I need another mobo if i want to run 4 dimms at 800mhz?

[elmonen]

hello everyone! I'm thinking of buying this board as it seems to be a great overclocker at this price! and there are few questions I'd like to ask..

1. Will my memory work with his board? I've read that the board is picky about memory.. and the memory I have isn't in the P5N E-SLI QVL :/

2. Is additional/better cooling for NB or SB (as it has no cooling at all!!) necessary? I'm not trying to push the limits of my cpu or anything.. at first I'm aiming at about ~330fsb which should be a breeze with this board? what would be a safe max oc with the stock cooling for 24/7 use? I know that every board are different but what would be safe at stock cooling..

my Specs:

Intel C2D E6420 (stock cooler)
Asrock ConroeXfire-Esata2
PQI 2x1GB DDR2 667Mhz
Sapphire x1950Pro 256mb
Antec Sonata II case (atm I have one case fan, but I'll probably get another to better draw air from the from the front intake)

[Shampoo]

This board CAN handle 4GB of ram at greater than 800MHz speeds.

I have 4GB of OCZ Titanium PC6400 EPP ram and I had problems as well, but I messed around and am still trying to get it stable, but supposedly this 650i chipset has an fsb hole from 700 something to 800 something when using all 4 slots.

Mine wouldn't boot and had issues when set at 800MHz, but then it runs fine even at 1066MHz. 5-5-5-15, 2T right now, but still trying to get it stable.
Ran memtest fine for over 2 hours at 1020MHz (1018.6MHz actual in bios), but when I ran orthos in mixed cpu and ram mode it failed after 30mins or so.

Still trying to work out the details, but I think it was my cpu.

Will let you guys know, but don't be afraid to bump up the ram past rated speeds. Try 900 or 950 or 1000?

Cheers,
Mike

[TMFX]

I've got the following config:

Pentium D 945
Asus P5N-E Sli
2x2gb Corsair xms2
Sapphire x1950 xt
7team 550w power supply
Samsung 250gb
Creative Audigy
Samsung 226bw

I already had the processor, hard disk and sound card, the others are new.

The motherboard wouldn't boot and there's nothing in the screen. After 30 seconds what's happened? "pii.. pi pi pi" and nothing more..

Help



P.S: sorry for my bad english haha

[TMFX]

I've got the following config:

Pentium D 945
Asus P5N-E Sli
2x2gb Corsair xms2
Sapphire x1950 xt
7team 550w power supply
Samsung 250gb
Creative Audigy
Samsung 226bw

I already had the processor, hard disk and sound card, the others are new.

The motherboard wouldn't boot and there's nothing in the screen. After 30 seconds what's happened? "pii.. pi pi pi" and nothing more..

Help



P.S: sorry for my bad english haha

Somebody?

[WeldZilla]

you know I have had pure fun with this little board. It is not my main system but it could be. It is a little powerhouse! It really likes the G.Skill memory.
With G.Skill let's say you are running a processor that just won't really go well beyond 400FSB The G.Skill will help you out here.

OK lets say you just can't get past 475 fsb. Again the G.Skill will help you out.

My little system is air Cooled ust a TT ultra 90 it was only $16 at SVC!!
Then I added 2 x 90mm Side fans and one 120mm fan right over the cpu cooler. It never goes over 54C and that is folding 24/7.

So pour the cool air in and it will thankyou for it!! I also have an 80mm fan right over my memory!
Nice board, it is a kick to play with.

WZ

[Shampoo]

I totally agree with the above poster.

I just finished a 26 hour orthos run with mixed cpu and ram stress test.

I've already tested the cpu which is good for 3.4GHz, so I was just testing for my ram and cpu together since I have 4GB of OCZ PC6400 Titanium EPP Ready ram.

I have my E6420 at 1700 FSB and my ram at 510MHz, which is 1020MHz even.

I finally found the sweet spot for my setup.

I'm so happy and relieved since I was struggling to find a stable spot for my 4GB of ram.

Ram timings are 5-5-5-15, 2T 4GB with EPP enabled in expert mode with 2.08x voltage for the ram and my cpu is on 1.4xxx volts with the vdroop mod.

It goes up and down from 1.440 to 1.424 volts.

I can now play my games without worrying about stability and watch my dramas too .

I will post screen shots soon, just too tired now.

So for those that are stuck at 700MHz for their 4GB of ram, this board is definitely capable of more if your ram is up for it.

Cheers,
Mike

[WeldZilla]

You said it exactly right shampoo. "The sweet spot for MY SYSTEM".

WZ

[Shampoo]

WZ...that's fair, but like I said give it a shot if you have 4GB of ram.

I've discussed this with the ocz staff over at their support forum and they've experienced FSB holes with 4GB of ram running on 650i chipset boards.

Doesn't hurt to try.

Just shoot past the 800 MHz point and see what happens.

[CikaNovo]

Somebody?

Try with only one memory module.