ASUS P5W DH - Problems + Fixes Thread

[JimmyDDD]

if you oc do you still set it to turbo or auto

[w2richwood]

i sit mine to standard
Rich

[Cordite!]

if you oc do you still set it to turbo or auto

Trial and Error applies here mate.

Depends on system, CPU and RAM being used plus the height of the O/C.

[Cordite!]

i thought... for pci-e, everything above 100 is possible to harm (burn) your pci-e slot in a 24/7 oc/ed system because of the overvoltage on this slot....

It's stressing it more, not overvolting it !

My pardon for not using multi-qote.. [blush]

[Lurker246]

if you oc do you still set it to turbo or auto

Another one of those "strange" Asus options. I haven't noticed any difference between standard or turbo (although I only tested this in 3dmark06). I think it only has an effect if you use the Asus A.I. Overclocking.

Can anyone alse confirm this?

For the record... I leave mine set on turbo.

[ASTROBOT]

I'm just wondering if the P5W-DH-ASUS-Deluxe-2004-G0-45nm-Edition (Modified by lawrywild) support the new chip E8400 or E8500? If it does is it better than the 2504 bios? Thanks.

[JustusIV]

I just got my e8400 in, is there any way to upgrade the bios without a floppy drive?

[P5WDHdeluxe]

I just got my e8400 in, is there any way to upgrade the bios without a floppy drive?

Yes, through EZ Flash 2 with a usb key...
Check your manual for further details...

[speedyaxon]

Hey guys, weird problem I'd appreciate any help on. Just flashed my Rev. 1.02g P5W to Bios 2406. Popped in a Q6700 and got into Windows. 4 cores show in the device manager. However, only 2 cores show up in the task manager. Also, in the advanced options in the boot.ini tab in WinXP Home, I only have a maximum of 2 processors.

CPU-Z recognizes as quad, so does device manager, but it seems like everything else is seeing it still as a dual-core. (I upgraded from an E6600). I'm set as a ACPI Multiprocessor in the device manager under computer, so that's not the problem.

Any ideas on what's going on? Thanks a ton!

edit: Got it solved. I was using a modified boot.ini that was somehow preventing Windows from using the other 2 cores. I selected originial boot.ini in msconfig, rebooted, and now I have all 4.

[xMrBunglex]

I just got my e8400 in, is there any way to upgrade the bios without a floppy drive?

just extract the BIOS and save it at the root directory of your C: drive. then you can enter the BIOS and flash it from there. it's the safest way to flash imo.

Speedy, i know a guy that upgraded from a dual core to a quad and he had to reinstall Windows to make all four cores run.

[Random Murderer]

I just got my e8400 in, is there any way to upgrade the bios without a floppy drive?

yes, EZFlash is on your driver cd, it flashes from windows.

Hey guys, weird problem I'd appreciate any help on. Just flashed my Rev. 1.02g P5W to Bios 2406. Popped in a Q6700 and got into Windows. 4 cores show in the device manager. However, only 2 cores show up in the task manager. Also, in the advanced options in the boot.ini tab in WinXP Home, I only have a maximum of 2 processors.

CPU-Z recognizes as quad, so does device manager, but it seems like everything else is seeing it still as a dual-core. (I upgraded from an E6600). I'm set as a ACPI Multiprocessor in the device manager under computer, so that's not the problem.

Any ideas on what's going on? Thanks a ton!

check bios and see if there's hyperthreading and toggle it.

Speedy, i know a guy that upgraded from a dual core to a quad and he had to reinstall Windows to make all four cores run.

well, you can do that, too.
when i upgraded from my dual to a quad it was picked up right away, but i have hyperhreading disabled in bios.

[Lurker246]

just extract the BIOS and save it at the root directory of your C: drive. then you can enter the BIOS and flash it from there. it's the safest way to flash imo.

Speedy, i know a guy that upgraded from a dual core to a quad and he had to reinstall Windows to make all four cores run.

Does that work? I was under the impression EZ Flash 2 can only read from FAT drives?

[Falkentyne]

Ok guys, since no one has posted anything substantial about the LAST bios release, is BIOS 2504 worth using, or is it buggy and broken? The few posts I actually saw about this BIOS did not seem favorable at all.

And does 2504 actually detect the L2 cache on QX9650 correctly? (applications do and use it correctly (Tested in everest benchmarker, Sandra memory test, etc), but 2406 (and the one before 2406) show 0 KB, which seems to cause 3dmark to also show 0 KB

And to the person talking about Larywild's bios,
I don't know if it works. It detected 400 something mhz for my QX9650 and completely failed to boot the system past BIOS (lockup on NVRAM if attempting to use default settings, or NO POST after trying to save and exit settings). I was able to flash to 2302 within the BIOS, though. 2004 is stable *if* it works, but i would rather use at LEAST 2302, if not 2406.

[freeza]

Question.

I just picked up an E8400 the other day, oc'd to 3.6 ghz right off the bat with 400*9, okay here's the deal.

I have g.skill pc2-6400 ram 4x2GB (8GB) and i can't seem to make the board run stable @ its rated speed (800 mhz), i have to underclock it to 600 mhz to get it working fine. i even upped ram voltages to 2.05 and still not very stable. Is this a known issue when filling all the ram slots up and/or maxing out the ram capabilities of this motherboard? Should dram thermal throttling be disabled? because it is set at auto and hyperpath 3 is set to disable, and SPD timings are set to auto because nothing else would work.

[Lurker246]

Ok guys, since no one has posted anything substantial about the LAST bios release, is BIOS 2504 worth using, or is it buggy and broken? The few posts I actually saw about this BIOS did not seem favorable at all.

And does 2504 actually detect the L2 cache on QX9650 correctly? (applications do and use it correctly (Tested in everest benchmarker, Sandra memory test, etc), but 2406 (and the one before 2406) show 0 KB, which seems to cause 3dmark to also show 0 KB

And to the person talking about Larywild's bios,
I don't know if it works. It detected 400 something mhz for my QX9650 and completely failed to boot the system past BIOS (lockup on NVRAM if attempting to use default settings, or NO POST after trying to save and exit settings). I was able to flash to 2302 within the BIOS, though. 2004 is stable *if* it works, but i would rather use at LEAST 2302, if not 2406.

I've been running 2504 for about a week. Folding 24/7 on 3 different OS' on various different days. It's been stable as a rock and folding is flying on gutsy 64bit.

I've only had a chance to play COD 4 on XP for a couple of hours, it's been fine when playing that as well.

[Random Murderer]

Ok guys, since no one has posted anything substantial about the LAST bios release, is BIOS 2504 worth using, or is it buggy and broken? The few posts I actually saw about this BIOS did not seem favorable at all.

And does 2504 actually detect the L2 cache on QX9650 correctly? (applications do and use it correctly (Tested in everest benchmarker, Sandra memory test, etc), but 2406 (and the one before 2406) show 0 KB, which seems to cause 3dmark to also show 0 KB

And to the person talking about Larywild's bios,
I don't know if it works. It detected 400 something mhz for my QX9650 and completely failed to boot the system past BIOS (lockup on NVRAM if attempting to use default settings, or NO POST after trying to save and exit settings). I was able to flash to 2302 within the BIOS, though. 2004 is stable *if* it works, but i would rather use at LEAST 2302, if not 2406.

I'm using 2504, no problems here. it seems stable and way better than the previous bios i was on, 1707.

[rvltion909]

So my box was built for strictly DAW purposes. I run some pretty CPU heavy audio plug-ins (VST) and recently picked up a Q6600 to help take some of the load off. I planned to overclock it to 3.0G and although I've been able to do so...sort of... my temps seem VERY high (as in dead CPU high)!

I set the CPU to run @ 333 MHz and the lowest VCORE option (around 1.2)

My RAM says its designed to run at 1.9V 5-5-5-12 ...so I set it at that with a corresponding 667 MHz.

It posted fine and CoreTemp showed idle temps at 48-50 degrees

Next, I ran the latest version of Prime 95. Then saw the cores shoot up to 60,70 then 80....I stopped it when it hit 82 (it had run under 1 min)

The "small fft" test shot all cores up to 82 within about 6 seconds and caused a reboot.

I see posts here for load temps at around high 60's-low 70's and idle temps in the 30's. I hear people running Prime 95 for about 30min-an hour. I wouldn’t dare running it for more than a couple mins at this point.

I must be doing something wrong. I've got six friggn fans running on this thing not including the cpu fan.

Im considering "lapping" the CPU but Im not sure I want to take a risk like that yet. My temps seem to be so extreme from most of the specs I see here that I must be missing something. I might go out and get some Artic Silver (Im using some random Radio Shack knock off ATM) but I dont think that will make a 10+ degree difference.

Im actually pretty disappointed with the board (for OC purposes). Looking at Tomshardware.com I could have spent half the price and gotten MUCH better OC specs (according to their Q6600 testing) if I would have gone with an MSI.

Any ideas guys?

Got it!

Yea...it was the heatsink setting. Im relatively new to this so...the way I set the thing was wrong (it wasnt even touching the CPU). The clips had not been locked in place. I still cant see the sense in this ancient technology sitting on a motherboard with a quadcore micro processor. Am I alone here? I actually wasnt able to lock one of them correctly. The amount of pressure I had to apply was ridiculous and I didnt want to chance breaking the damn board or CPU ( I saw the board begin to bend and collapse).

I literally spent about 5 hours disconnecting all the wires, removing all the screws, removing the old thermal compound, reapplying some new Artic Silver 5, placing the heatsink back in, putting the board back in the box, reconnecting all the wires, making a few more OC settings and stress testing for a bit.

My idle temp is now around 28-29. The Prime 95 stress testing reached about 50-51. I did a half ass "lapping" job on the heatsink (ran some sand paper in one direction for about 10min...the copper layer is still there but its very smooth...?)

I do have a couple questions though:

-I applied the Artic Silver 5 to the CPU and heatsink...is that ok/necessary?

-Is there any advantage or disadvantage to having the box laying on its side rather than right side up?

-After 3 minutes of Prime95 testing I received 1 error. After about 15min I moved the mouse around and got myself a reboot (any way to tell if this is due to a certain RAM setting or CPU specific?)

-I know LarryWild created the 2004 BIOS edit but I see he was not using is...? Was there any specific reason for that? Im running the most recent version on the ASUS site.

(My RAM is running at 1.9V The CPU is set to 333. VCore is set to the lowest option available)

[w2richwood]

Question.

I just picked up an E8400 the other day, oc'd to 3.6 ghz right off the bat with 400*9, okay here's the deal.

I have g.skill pc2-6400 ram 4x2GB (8GB) and i can't seem to make the board run stable @ its rated speed (800 mhz), i have to underclock it to 600 mhz to get it working fine. i even upped ram voltages to 2.05 and still not very stable. Is this a known issue when filling all the ram slots up and/or maxing out the ram capabilities of this motherboard? Should dram thermal throttling be disabled? because it is set at auto and hyperpath 3 is set to disable, and SPD timings are set to auto because nothing else would work.

try uping your nb volts one bump
Rich

[alexlyc]

Question.

I just picked up an E8400 the other day, oc'd to 3.6 ghz right off the bat with 400*9, okay here's the deal.

I have g.skill pc2-6400 ram 4x2GB (8GB) and i can't seem to make the board run stable @ its rated speed (800 mhz), i have to underclock it to 600 mhz to get it working fine. i even upped ram voltages to 2.05 and still not very stable. Is this a known issue when filling all the ram slots up and/or maxing out the ram capabilities of this motherboard? Should dram thermal throttling be disabled? because it is set at auto and hyperpath 3 is set to disable, and SPD timings are set to auto because nothing else would work.

try uping your nb volts one bump
Rich

Dont forget to cool down the nb, it will get hotter as you bump up the voltage. In my experience, the stock nb heatsink even with the included cooler isnt sufficient at stock voltage at all...
I tried 388 fsb with my Q6600 @ 1.35v, NB @ 1.65v, x9 multi, but I still haven't fully stabalize my system.

[JustusIV]

I just wanted to say thanks for helping me get my bios updated to my 2504, i ended up just putting it on a flash key and booted into bios. My bios say the key as drive c and say the new bios on there and bam installed like butta. Anways i have my new e8400 installed and my new ram and heatsink and things are looking good the one concern i have right now is that my temps seem a bit funny. I am using speedfan 4.33 and these are my readings. Cpu 13c and AUX 122c and those never change during idle or load. I am assuming the AUX reading is just a fake reading that doesn't even really exist but why is my cpu always at 13c?
Anywho, you guys have been a big help in this adventure.
thank you.

[Random Murderer]

I just wanted to say thanks for helping me get my bios updated to my 2504, i ended up just putting it on a flash key and booted into bios. My bios say the key as drive c and say the new bios on there and bam installed like butta. Anways i have my new e8400 installed and my new ram and heatsink and things are looking good the one concern i have right now is that my temps seem a bit funny. I am using speedfan 4.33 and these are my readings. Cpu 13c and AUX 122c and those never change during idle or load. I am assuming the AUX reading is just a fake reading that doesn't even really exist but why is my cpu always at 13c?
Anywho, you guys have been a big help in this adventure.
thank you.

eww, speedfan. try coretemp.

[JustusIV]

eww, speedfan. try coretemp.

Thx for the tip. I installed coretemp with slightly different results my my temps are reading 46C for one core and 40-42c on second core under load or idle. Is this strange behavior or is a good heat sink really able to keep my temp that stable? its the ZALMAN CNPS9500

22:05:01 01/26/08	3001.21		46		41		
22:05:02 01/26/08	3001.21		46		41		
22:05:03 01/26/08	3001.21		46		42		
22:05:04 01/26/08	3001.21		46		40		
22:05:05 01/26/08	3001.21		46		40		
22:05:06 01/26/08	3001.21		46		42		
22:05:07 01/26/08	3001.21		46		41		
22:05:08 01/26/08	3001.21		46		42		
22:05:09 01/26/08	3001.21		46		41		
22:05:10 01/26/08	3001.21		46		41		
22:05:11 01/26/08	3001.21		46		41		
22:05:12 01/26/08	3001.21		46		42

Here is a quick showing of coretemp log under orthos

[Random Murderer]

that seems a bit high to me, especially for 45nm...
how much thermal paste did you use, and what kind?

[JustusIV]

that seems a bit high to me, especially for 45nm...
how much thermal paste did you use, and what kind?

Artic silver
I think i put a bit much on but the odd part to me is the temp not moving between idle and full load.

[freeza]

I upped the NB to 1.65 like yours, alexlyc. Should i up any of the other voltages too? such as ram, ICH, cpu or any others or leave it as is?