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

[jonny_ftm]

Upgrade to 0404/0504 were mainly in the hope of fixing the ICH9R/SATAII problem with AHCI/RAID. I didnt have the problem and upgraded in the hope of a higher overclock. Didnt see much difference between the BIOS's apart from some additional voltages/strap settings. I am sure others may offer a different view but I would stay on 0204 until you get to the bottom of this problem. What hard drives are u running IDE or sata or both. ? whats your full spec. Have u run any of the compnents on another MB before building this one?

They also added new CPU support.
http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/c...remium/WiFi-AP

Mainly, all 45nm CPUs (dual / quad) and Pentium/Celeron Dual core CPUs (E2200, E1xxx) and the G0 E4700 CPU

The strap 400 was also added with some memory dividers (but hey, hard to get it to work)

[sesdave]

They also added new CPU support.
http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/cpusupport.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=P5K%20Premium/WiFi-AP

Mainly, all 45nm CPUs (dual / quad) and Pentium/Celeron Dual core CPUs (E2200, E1xxx) and the G0 E4700 CPU

The strap 400 was also added with some memory dividers (but hey, hard to get it to work)

True - I didnt bother mentioning all the details as he has a q6600 which will work fine with 0204 without attempting an upgrade before the source of the problem is identified. The Sherlock Holmes approach - process of elimination without introducing anything new.

[jonny_ftm]

True - I didnt bother mentioning all the details as he has a q6600 which will work fine with 0204 without attempting an upgrade before the source of the problem is identified. The Sherlock Holmes approach - process of elimination without introducing anything new.

true but another approach:
Don't you believe in ASUS claims on every bios revision: "enhance memory compatibility" ? I know usually they worsen it, but you can't know unless you try
Personally, if downgrading bios is not an issue, I would try if a bios upgrade solves it. You can use old AFUDOS burnt on a boot dos CD emulating floppy for bios downgrading if you got screwed

[Gitch]

At any rate, I got it working and appreciate the help. THe machine was stable all night and is working fine today. The KVM is in the closet.

[sesdave]

true but another approach:
Don't you believe in ASUS claims on every bios revision: "enhance memory compatibility" ? I know usually they worsen it, but you can't know unless you try
Personally, if downgrading bios is not an issue, I would try if a bios upgrade solves it. You can use old AFUDOS burnt on a boot dos CD emulating floppy for bios downgrading if you got screwed

Believe Asus claims

[sesdave]

At any rate, I got it working and appreciate the help. THe machine was stable all night and is working fine today. The KVM is in the closet.

Damn - it looked like it might be fun to try and solve. We havent really got anything else to do now

[ReverendMaynard]

Damn - it looked like it might be fun to try and solve. We havent really got anything else to do now

so true

well could be worse....we could all own Strikers. Oh wait I do and no troubleshooting on the planet will bring that dead fish back from the compost pile lol.

[sesdave]

so true

well could be worse....we could all own Strikers. Oh wait I do and no troubleshooting on the planet will bring that dead fish back from the compost pile lol.

Last time I ran out of things to do I tried this http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=467848 I might just get some more drives and try the RAID10 setup - check page 43 - the resulting read/write speeds just looks silly on HD tune or Tach.

[jonny_ftm]

Believe Asus claims

After the P5B deluxe bioses, and looking at Maximus and P5E threads, I can no longer believe them too but I always give it a try if I'm screwed...

I think I'll play with fire and downgrade to 0404 to test the memory, OC and temperatures. I never was used to reach my hopes in an OC so quickely. Now I'm getting annoyed, so I have to mess with it to be sure I can't push it more on 0404

Let you know, if it doesn't get screwed -- > DFI X38

[sesdave]

After the P5B deluxe bioses, and looking at Maximus and P5E threads, I can no longer believe them too but I always give it a try if I'm screwed...

I think I'll play with fire and downgrade to 0404 to test the memory, OC and temperatures. I never was used to reach my hopes in an OC so quickely. Now I'm getting annoyed, so I have to mess with it to be sure I can't push it more on 0404

Let you know, if it doesn't get screwed -- > DFI X38

Know what you mean - it was a lot more fun with the DFI MBs and the opterons. You could always keep tinkering around in the BIOS and playing with all the memory settings to get it a little higher and faster.. Relatively Its a lot easier to o/c with the Conroes on an Intel MB with no real knowledge required.
Make sure you reset to optimum BIOS settings before you downgrade - leaving the O/C settings when BIOS flashing is the quickest road to RMA - as I found out

[ReverendMaynard]

Last time I ran out of things to do I tried this http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=467848 I might just get some more drives and try the RAID10 setup - check page 43 - the resulting read/write speeds just looks silly on HD tune or Tach.

That's almost wrong lol. 1gbps burst rates lol.

[sesdave]

That's almost wrong lol. 1gbps burst rates lol.

Read the posts on thread page 43 if you think 1GB is good -it just gets faster and faster as the thread goes on and they try something new.
I get this using matrix raid 0/1 on my 2 old drives

HD Tune: Intel Raid 0 Volume Benchmark

Transfer Rate Minimum : 109.7 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Maximum : 140.8 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Average : 135.9 MB/sec
Access Time : 8.9 ms
Burst Rate : 1855.9 MB/sec
CPU Usage : 2.2%

[ReverendMaynard]

Read the posts on thread page 43 if you think 1GB is good -it just gets faster and faster as the thread goes on and they try something new.
I get this using matrix raid 0/1 on my 2 old drives

HD Tune: Intel Raid 0 Volume Benchmark

Transfer Rate Minimum : 109.7 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Maximum : 140.8 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Average : 135.9 MB/sec
Access Time : 8.9 ms
Burst Rate : 1855.9 MB/sec
CPU Usage : 2.2%

SICK. I'm in lol.

Now I just need a crap load of 500g Seagates.

EDIT: 4 effing gbps? Ummm...holy

[sesdave]

SICK. I'm in lol.

Now I just need a crap load of 500g Seagates.

EDIT: 4 effing gbps? Ummm...holy

Give it a go- you only need a minimum of 2 drives the same for RAID 0/1 - more for RAID5 and more still for RAID10. Use the guide to get the recommended RAID sizes. It a lot of fun when you see the graphs.

[ReverendMaynard]

will do. yeah man those hdtach charts look like drunk-connect-the-dots lol.

[sesdave]

will do. yeah man those hdtach charts look like drunk-connect-the-dots lol.

As you will have to do a operating system reinstall download the the latest ICH9R raid driver for F6 (winxp) or vista load and the latest intel MAtrix storage manager.
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Prod...ProductID=2101

Once setup remember to enable write back cache in the Matrix storage manager - thats where the burst speed comes in. Under storage manager you select advanced view and right click on the raid volume name which will give you the options.

I setup my RAid 0 with 80GB on 2 x 320GB disks so thats 40GB on each with theremaining as RAID 1. reading the thread it would appear that thinner slicing of RAID0 over more disks gives phenomenal R/W performance with the additional benefit of full resilence for all the data in RAID1/5/10. Acronis True Image 11 seems to be the software to backup the operating system with http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing...cts/trueimage/.

[ReverendMaynard]

As you will have to do a operating system reinstall download the the latest ICH9R raid driver for F6 (winxp) or vista load and the latest intel MAtrix storage manager.
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Prod...ProductID=2101

Once setup remember to enable write back cache in the Matrix storage manager - thats where the burst speed comes in. Under storage manager you select advanced view and right click on the raid volume name which will give you the options.

I setup my RAid 0 with 80GB on 2 x 320GB disks so thats 40GB on each with theremaining as RAID 1. reading the thread it would appear that thinner slicing of RAID0 over more disks gives phenomenal R/W performance with the additional benefit of full resilence for all the data in RAID1/5/10. Acronis True Image 11 seems to be the software to backup the operating system with http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing...cts/trueimage/.

Dude, you rock. As soon as I get some time I'm all over this. Thanks for the tips.

[w2richwood]

i'll try that also when i get some new harddrives sound good tryed with my rapters but there to small only 2x 36 g
Rich

[ReverendMaynard]

bored, noticed that johnny didn't have this particular test in his compiled data previously posted.

266 strap

[Gitch]

So if I were upgrading my bios this weekend, which one would you guys suggest? I have heard some rumblings on each.

[ReverendMaynard]

stick with th 0204....unless you have glaring problems, bios updates should be last resort.

[sesdave]

stick with th 0204....unless you have glaring problems, bios updates should be last resort.

Agree - but on the other hand GITCH see how you get on with o/c on 0204. If you do decide to go and update for the supposed memory compatibility improvement I would recommend 0404. It works nicely for me with a q6600 an 4x1GB ballistix. Bios 0504 got some bad press and is hard to regress from although plenty are using it okay. I just dont want to have to try a regression as it based on using ASUSUPDATE if I dont like it. I have managed to kill one MB with a failed flash using that nasty piece of software. Use Ezflash and usb stick when flashing bios - set all settings to optimum.

[ReverendMaynard]

Agree - but on the other hand GITCH see how you get on with o/c on 0204. If you do decide to go and update for the supposed memory compatibility improvement I would recommend 0404. It works nicely for me with a q6600 an 4x1GB ballistix. Bios 0504 got some bad press and is hard to regress from although plenty are using it okay. I just dont want to have to try a regression as it based on using ASUSUPDATE if I dont like it. I have managed to kill one MB with a failed flash using that nasty piece of software. Use Ezflash and usb stick when flashing bios - set all settings to optimum.

if there is a club for people who shanked their motherboards using ASUSUPDATE, I'd like to join it. ASUS should really axe that program and stop updating it. Or they should rename it to ASUSINSTA-BRICK.

[sesdave]

if there is a club for people who shanked their motherboards using ASUSUPDATE, I'd like to join it. ASUS should really axe that program and stop updating it. Or they should rename it to ASUSINSTA-BRICK.

Good name I am off to Val d'isere for a week to try and break a leg - when I get back I expect to see posts about your incredibly fast matrix RAID setup.

[jonny_ftm]

bored, noticed that johnny didn't have this particular test in his compiled data previously posted.

266 strap

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/3686/266strappj5.jpg

Strap 266 at 9x423 CAS4 and CAS5 + strap 266 at 8x475 CAS5 are there in the table of my post. You maybe missed them
I used 9x423 instead of 425FSB beacause all tests are at 3.8GHz for same processor speed comparisions