[18th Anniversary] Asus Black Pearl - P5k-Premium Testing Report

[sesdave]

This board is an excellent overclocker and stable as heck. It is also very easy to overclock. I just don't see why so many people are having trouble with it. (Knock on wood)

Got to agree. Earlier problems were mainly around ICH9R and SataII compatibility. Couldnt get them to run AHCI/RAID .Latest BIOS's and MB revisions seem to have cured it for most. me - I never had any problems and its a great overclocker - even using the MB -HS setup which works for me -MB temp currently 35c with a little 40mm fan on the NB. I am using a cheap EZCool 550H case with a great big 250mm fan on the side which I suspect is helping a bit -lol!

[sesdave]

Here it is, my P5K Premium plunge.


First thing is to remove the crappy stock cooler (in my opinion, it is crappy, but I didn't give it a single chance)

Nice work - in case you hadnt noticed on previous post to help removal of stock heatsinks - use the small end of the barrel of a click type pen to compress the plastic compression pins . It just fits nicely and out they pop with no effort or damage to the MB and pins unlike trying to do it with pliers.

[Shocky]

Just installed this motherboard and all is well but there seems to be a cold boot issue, when first starting up it will reset itself and then powerup, why is it doing this? as it seems completely stable in windows/games and during prime.

I'm using the latest bios, 0508 I think.

[situman]

Its fine. Its a strap change thing.

[Shocky]

Its fine. Its a strap change thing.

Hmm, ok, just seems odd that it needs to do it everytime is all.

[wilson]

Just out of interest what volt`s are you using for your Q6600 go .
up to 3.0 Ghz 1.275v
3.0 - 3.2 Ghz 1.3v
3.2 - 3.4 Ghz 1.35v
Then anything above that i need 1.4v but i also found that if i ran a fsb of 380 then i would get alot of bsod when booting up. But above or below this then it was fine so is there a fbs hole at 380 ish or is the strap for my ram that caused it. What i would like is to run at 3.4 Ghz with my ram as high as i can so what strap and cpu volt should i be looking at for a stable overclock as my ram is rated for 1066.
Any info would be great..
Cheers Paul

[sesdave]

Just out of interest what volt`s are you using for your Q6600 go .
up to 3.0 Ghz 1.275v
3.0 - 3.2 Ghz 1.3v
3.2 - 3.4 Ghz 1.35v
Then anything above that i need 1.4v but i also found that if i ran a fsb of 380 then i would get alot of bsod when booting up. But above or below this then it was fine so is there a fbs hole at 380 ish or is the strap for my ram that caused it. What i would like is to run at 3.4 Ghz with my ram as high as i can so what strap and cpu volt should i be looking at for a stable overclock as my ram is rated for 1066.
Any info would be great..
Cheers Paul

This link is for a deluxe but read the section on FSB strap and take your pick - the rest is interesting as well. http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mai...overclock.html

[jonny_ftm]

Nice work - in case you hadnt noticed on previous post to help removal of stock heatsinks - use the small end of the barrel of a click type pen to compress the plastic compression pins . It just fits nicely and out they pop with no effort or damage to the MB and pins unlike trying to do it with pliers.

I missed that one. Looks simple but never though at it. This tip will for sure help me in a near future

Hmm, ok, just seems odd that it needs to do it everytime is all.

It happens to me when my overclock is unstable, either a low vcore or too stressed RAM with insufficient vDDR. Give your overclock a test with something like OCCT in RAM mode. Or, try to increase the vcore or vDDR, or loosen the memory timings just to see if it helps you. Then you could solve it.

Just out of interest what volt`s are you using for your Q6600 go .
up to 3.0 Ghz 1.275v
3.0 - 3.2 Ghz 1.3v
3.2 - 3.4 Ghz 1.35v
Then anything above that i need 1.4v but i also found that if i ran a fsb of 380 then i would get alot of bsod when booting up. But above or below this then it was fine so is there a fbs hole at 380 ish or is the strap for my ram that caused it. What i would like is to run at 3.4 Ghz with my ram as high as i can so what strap and cpu volt should i be looking at for a stable overclock as my ram is rated for 1066.
Any info would be great..
Cheers Paul

The board is stable for sure, just look at my signature and review on previous page. For your settings, you should be fine anywhere in strap 333 to 400. Also, the first divider on strap 266 should work fine but harder to stabilize. I'll go with strap 333 manual selecting it. Loosen your timings or set them to Auto. Set your vDDR at what is adviced by your RAM manufacture. The vNB to 1.40 and vFSB to 1.45. Set your vcore one notch above least stable voltage. And go from there. Later you can try to lower the NB voltage, vDDR, vcore and tighten your timings or test other straps. It will take you time, but don't skip the steps

[jonny_ftm]

I edited my post with my setup and review (link in my signature)
I corrected some entries in the table and added a column with the transaction booster relaxed to 3. Also updated Bios screens and OCCT/SuperPI benchmarks.

It is still full stable with the low voltage after 12h on OCCT RAM and Prime95 small FFT.

Less relaxation on the transaction booster gave the memory another real boost without any voltage increase:

[Shocky]

It happens to me when my overclock is unstable, either a low vcore or too stressed RAM with insufficient vDDR. Give your overclock a test with something like OCCT in RAM mode. Or, try to increase the vcore or vDDR, or loosen the memory timings just to see if it helps you. Then you could solve it.

Already have, did blend for over 4 hours with no errors.

[wilson]

Thanks all for the info..
Im now running as below
cpu volt 1.3625... is this about right for 3.4Ghz?
cpu pll 1.5
fsb volt 1.4...... was 1.3 but does it matter ?
nb volt 1.4
sb volt 1.05
clock over-charging volt ???? what is this????
cpu gtl 0.63x
nb gtl 0.67x

This is with the 266 strap and 380 fsb and this gives me 953Mhz ram. Now when i use the 333 strap then it gives me 913 Mhz ram but this also causes some blue screens for me when booting in to windows also ive not had one yet using the 266 strap " touch wood" but i may run memtest just to be sure.

Its just passed the occt 30 min test so i think prime is in order now..

[stepinrazor]

I was reading the P5K-E thread and people on there say that at the lowest voltage setttings for VMCH, VPLL, VFSB it overvolts. Is this the case with the P5K-Premium too? If I had a multimeter I'd test it myself if someone would give me the measuring points.


Per Barbornet on P5K-E Thread

VMCH BUG
Bios ---------------- Tester

1,25v(or AUTO) --- 1,55v
1,40v -------------- 1,40v
1,55v -------------- 1,55v
1,70v -------------- 1,70v


VPLL BUG
Bios ---------------- Tester

1,5v(or AUTO) --- 1,8v
1,6v -------------- 1,6v
1,7v -------------- 1,7v
1,8v -------------- 1,8v


VFSB BUG
Bios ---------------- Tester

1,2v(or AUTO) --- 1,4v
1,3v -------------- 1,3v
1,4v -------------- 1,4v
1,5v -------------- 1,5v

[jonny_ftm]

Already have, did blend for over 4 hours with no errors.

Prime95 Blend won't reveal the NB-RAM unstability as F@H or OCCT in RAM mode will do. OCCT is though faster than F@H, the last one needing more than 12h to reveal the problem. Look at the system temperature when you OCCT in RAM mode or F@H, it really cranks

What I mean, try to loosen your OC. If the problem disappears, than, like it or not, your OC is unstable. If the problem persists at stock or when you loosen your memory and CPU OC, than it could be a board/bios issue.

We don't have all the same testing rigour for defining stability. Most XS members will go with a SuperPi and 1h of priming. For me, this is just good for world records or gaming, not to be called stable for 7/24 use. It is a personal choise, no need to launch that hot debate anyway.

Thanks all for the info..
Im now running as below
cpu volt 1.3625... is this about right for 3.4Ghz?
cpu pll 1.5
fsb volt 1.4...... was 1.3 but does it matter ?
nb volt 1.4
sb volt 1.05
clock over-charging volt ???? what is this????
cpu gtl 0.63x
nb gtl 0.67x

This is with the 266 strap and 380 fsb and this gives me 953Mhz ram. Now when i use the 333 strap then it gives me 913 Mhz ram but this also causes some blue screens for me when booting in to windows also ive not had one yet using the 266 strap " touch wood" but i may run memtest just to be sure.

Its just passed the occt 30 min test so i think prime is in order now..

cpu volt 1.3625... is this about right for 3.4Ghz?
Will depend on the CPU, no way to know. You have to run Prime95 Small FFT which is quiete only sensible to the vcore/vPLL and vFSB, ruling out memory and NB OC issues (providing they have a minimum stability)

cpu pll 1.5, fsb volt 1.4...... was 1.3 but does it matter ?, nb volt 1.4
sb volt 1.05
At the 333 strap, look at the link in my signature, these voltages took me rock stable up to 475FSB on my Q6600. My board is very well cooled. I removed all stock cooling though. This suerely helps.

clock over-charging volt ???? what is this????
No need for it for now. Just set it to 0.8v. For a slight 3.4GHz, no need to touch vPLL or this setting

cpu gtl 0.63x
nb gtl 0.67x
No harm here, but for 3.4GHz only, you can set them to Auto for now. Once stable, look at them maybe, even if useless at 3.4GHz


Its just passed the occt 30 min test so i think prime is in order now..
This is only a quick test. I wil go only with OCCT in CPU mode or Prime95 Small FFT for overclocking the CPU. Set you RAM timings and voltage on Auto and don't overclock it till your CPU is stable (so lower your memory frequency to DDR2-800 even if it is rated at 1200MHz). If you keep like you do overclocking the RAM and CPU, you can't know where lies your problem. Once you're stable on the CPU, go to the memory and NB settings and test with OCCT in RAM mode

I was reading the P5K-E thread and people on there say that at the lowest voltage setttings for VMCH, VPLL, VFSB it overvolts. Is this the case with the P5K-Premium too? If I had a multimeter I'd test it myself if someone would give me the measuring points.


Per Barbornet on P5K-E Thread

VMCH BUG
Bios ---------------- Tester

1,25v(or AUTO) --- 1,55v
1,40v -------------- 1,40v
1,55v -------------- 1,55v
1,70v -------------- 1,70v


VPLL BUG
Bios ---------------- Tester

1,5v(or AUTO) --- 1,8v
1,6v -------------- 1,6v
1,7v -------------- 1,7v
1,8v -------------- 1,8v


VFSB BUG
Bios ---------------- Tester

1,2v(or AUTO) --- 1,4v
1,3v -------------- 1,3v
1,4v -------------- 1,4v
1,5v -------------- 1,5v

Humm, the vPLL issue is wired. But the X38 ASUS boards are all known to have overvolting issues. I lowered my vPLL to 1.5 and I didn't see any temperature increase (or decrease) compared to 1.6v, so I don't think it overvolts that much. Also vFSB and vNB. I'm not stable at lowest values while I'm stable at respectively at 1.3 FSB and 1.4 NB. So, it shouldn't overvolt in manual settings. In Auto, ASUS boards overvolt when you OC, so I will never put a voltage on AUTO

[Shocky]

Prime95 Blend won't reveal the NB-RAM unstability as F@H or OCCT in RAM mode will do. OCCT is though faster than F@H, the last one needing more than 12h to reveal the problem. Look at the system temperature when you OCCT in RAM mode or F@H, it really cranks.

12 hours?

Thats impossible as I'm not around long enough for that and I'm not leaving it on well i'm out or well i'm sleeping, but i'll try it for as long as I can, so what if that also gives no errors?

Anyway, what would you recommend I set for the other voltage settings, I've only changed core and memory voltage, the rest are all still set too auto.

[jonny_ftm]

12 hours?

Thats impossible as I'm not around long enough for that and I'm not leaving it on well i'm out or well i'm sleeping, but i'll try it for as long as I can, so what if that also gives no errors?

Anyway, what would you recommend I set for the other voltage settings, I've only changed core and memory voltage, the rest are all still set too auto.

OCCT RAM in 2h to 4h is where most errors will occur, so should be a rather stable test for the NB-RAM. Small FFT in Prime95 is a long debate :-)
List your confing and bios settings, and we can see
Also, at stock, does your mb dual boot too?

[Shocky]

OCCT RAM in 2h to 4h is where most errors will occur, so should be a rather stable test for the NB-RAM. Small FFT in Prime95 is a long debate :-)
List your confing and bios settings, and we can see
Also, at stock, does your mb dual boot too?

Ok, 4 hours shouldn't be a problem, to be honest I havent tested it at stock but I don't think it does, i'll try it later.

System.
Q6600 G0 (425x8) + 0504
P5K Premium
8800GTX
3GB (2x1GB + 2x512MB) 4.4.4.12
X-FI XtremeMusic
3x500GB Seagate drives
Tagan TG700-U33

All i've changed in the bios is is core, memory voltage, multipler, FSB and also strap to 400, also disabled C1E, CPU TM, everything else I set to auto I think.

[jonny_ftm]

Ok, 4 hours shouldn't be a problem, to be honest I havent tested it at stock but I don't think it does, i'll try it later.

System.
Q6600 G0 (425x8) + 0504
P5K Premium
8800GTX
3GB (2x1GB + 2x512MB) 4.4.4.12
X-FI XtremeMusic
3x500GB Seagate drives
Tagan TG700-U33

All i've changed in the bios is is core, memory voltage, multipler, FSB and also strap to 400, also disabled C1E, CPU TM, everything else I set to auto I think.

Ok. I'd really try stock. If it doesn't do it, than you have really to enhance your OC.

What I see is a memory issues maybe. You have 4 slots of mixed DDR2 sticks.
- strap goes to 333 (400 was revealed to be really unstable by many)
- memory voltage: must meet the minimum needed by the most demanding two sticks
- Memory frequency: don't set it to Auto as you have mixed sticks. Go to manual and select the multiplier giving the closest memory frequency to the lowest performant sticks. In your case, if you setup a 1:1 multiplier, your memory will be at 850MHz, be sure all sticks can do it at those agressive timings you put. In your case, I'll begin with manual and set 5-5-5-18-5-42-12-12-12. Static read control and transaction booster disabled at relax 3.
- vPLL to 1.50 or 1.60 (to avoid crazy killing auto overclock by ASUS
- vNB to 1.40 or 1.55 as you have 4 sticks of memory
- vFSB to 1.30 or 1.45

Now see if still dual boot. If all is ok, you can now tighten your memory timings and lower voltage to check for stability

Let us know

[Shocky]

Ok. I'd really try stock. If it doesn't do it, than you have really to enhance your OC.

What I see is a memory issues maybe. You have 4 slots of mixed DDR2 sticks.
- strap goes to 333 (400 was revealed to be really unstable by many)
- memory voltage: must meet the minimum needed by the most demanding two sticks
- Memory frequency: don't set it to Auto as you have mixed sticks. Go to manual and select the multiplier giving the closest memory frequency to the lowest performant sticks. In your case, if you setup a 1:1 multiplier, your memory will be at 850MHz, be sure all sticks can do it at those agressive timings you put. In your case, I'll begin with manual and set 5-5-5-18-5-42-12-12-12. Static read control and transaction booster disabled at relax 3.
- vPLL to 1.50 or 1.60 (to avoid crazy killing auto overclock by ASUS
- vNB to 1.40 or 1.55 as you have 4 sticks of memory
- vFSB to 1.30 or 1.45

Now see if still dual boot. If all is ok, you can now tighten your memory timings and lower voltage to check for stability

Let us know

Well heres a screen showing 5hr run of OCCT, i'll check those settings tomorrow and see if they make any difference, also it doesnt reset on default settings but it only does when first powering up so i'll leave it on defaults tonight and see if it does it tomorrow.

Thanks for the help.

[jonny_ftm]

Well heres a screen showing 5hr run of OCCT, i'll check those settings tomorrow and see if they make any difference, also it doesnt reset on default settings but it only does when first powering up so i'll leave it on defaults tonight and see if it does it tomorrow.

Thanks for the help.

no problem
Yes, give my settings a try and let me know. Also, strap 333 will give you a nice performance boost over strap 400 and the 1:1 multi is still available

[Shocky]

no problem
Yes, give my settings a try and let me know. Also, strap 333 will give you a nice performance boost over strap 400 and the 1:1 multi is still available

Changed them all to the lower values and it hasn’t made any difference, also changed the strap, why will the lower strap boost performance?

It's only a minor inconvenience really and everything does seem to be working fine, so might just live with it for now, future bios update might solve it.

[jonny_ftm]

Changed them all to the lower values and it hasn’t made any difference, also changed the strap, why will the lower strap boost performance?

It's only a minor inconvenience really and everything does seem to be working fine, so might just live with it for now, future bios update might solve it.

Really strange, in deed. The only times this happens to me is when I force an unstable OC on the memory. Also when OC fails, but it comes with an F1 OC failure message. You can always in fact try a bios update... who knows

About strap, the lowest it is, the shorter NB delays are. Strap 200 is the most performant, 400 the less. For high OC, strap 333 is the best compromise. Strap 200 and 266 will OC the memory too high with the FSB

[wilson]

Ok guys what should i get vista 32 or 64??
And can i use duel boot and still keep my xp set up on raid 0 while setting up vista on another raid 0 config ???

[turtletrax]

Ok guys what should i get vista 32 or 64??
And can i use duel boot and still keep my xp set up on raid 0 while setting up vista on another raid 0 config ???

I run X64 and I am impressed with the driver support.

With the amount of RAM available and some programs and games that can use it, I would not shell out for 32 bit.

[godsa]

ay if you want my settings pm me and Ill send you an excel file w them all.

Here is my validation I can do 4k easy but temps cause it to reboot once in a blue..at this level it never reboots WOW...CS...LORDS w/e

http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=317641

Changed them all to the lower values and it hasn’t made any difference, also changed the strap, why will the lower strap boost performance?

It's only a minor inconvenience really and everything does seem to be working fine, so might just live with it for now, future bios update might solve it.

[KumKum]

Hi all

I summarize my story ^^
I have buy a first P5K Premium it there have 2 month ago approximately
I had moree Pb with this first :
Large vdroop even with the pencil MOD, not very powerful in the OC with my Dual core and pentium4 and at the end of first week it be die
A potentiometer have burn with starting

She was guaranteed, Asus sent to me a new (after 2 months...), which I received today
They returned me all my bundle of origin, same the box.
Only the MOBO is new
I have the impression seen more details on the MOBO, that it has used or tested in the laboratories of Asus ^^

Since 4H of tests under AC (to start), it is another MOBO which my first
No vdroop for begging
For example, my powerful E2140 made in Max bench on AC (aircooling) of 3603Mhz under a P5KC Green with 1.44v of vcore (1.50v idle, tks vdroop in P5KC ^^), stock +125%!
http://picasaweb.google.fr/PhilMorni...54606138548130
Not possible to do better whith this MOBO

The same E2140 in the same conditions AC and same Vcore of 1.44v made held a max bench with 3641Mhz on my new P5K Premium Black Pearl (stock +127.59% on AC )
http://picasaweb.google.fr/PhilMorni...93610287129474

I was disappointed by my first and I thought them bad
But after my new MOBO and the first bench i say "P5K Premium (black pearl) POWEEE !!!"