Official ASUS X38 Boards: P5E, P5E3 - Info/BIOS Thread

[vcp-cur]

if i buy the p5e and a xeon e3110 , will the p5e recognize it in 1st boot, or do i need to place like an e6xxx cpu in first to update bios first?

this is going to be my first Intel build since a long time.. so i just want things to work out right at the first time.

[INTREPID]

The P5E requires bios 0604 (now 0605 non-beta) for the E3110 to be properly recognized. This is the latest bios out so your board will likely not ship with this bios version. Some users had no problems posting with an unsupported CPU (they just received a warning) and they flashed the bios. Others had issues. So, unless someone has used your CPU, who knows.

When I built my system, I got one of these while waiting for the release of E8400. Great to have around for $40: Intel Celeron 420 Conroe-L 1.6GHz (will work with any P5E bios): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116040
Or if you have an old Pentium 4, that will due too.

P5E CPU / Bios Compatability List:
http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/c...n-us&model=P5E

[vcp-cur]

alright, thank you intrepid

[WeldZilla]

you say you will pray for my system?? Uh I am praying for yours!!

That some day you will bring it to it's potential.

1st. If you are only going to run 445 fsb why are you running so much v-Core.

2nd. you are running G.Skill 6400HZ on your P5E yet you only run 1:1 with absolutely horrible timings!!!!

Here: I'll show you. Remember I am running 4 sticks of the same 6400HZ as you!! and at these dog slow fsb speeds the mem is just not under much pressure so it is only taking 2.0V to achieve this

We will start with your settings. You won't see much of a difference in pi times at 1M but you will at 32M and you will on the 3D benches.
Here is me emulating you


Note that I only need 1.264V to run this 4000mhz speed on my old beat up prossy. Note the cpu score on Aquamrk of just over 23,000

Now if you would at least speed up your mem you would get much more from your system!! At all the same voltage settings.

Have a look at this. Note the difference in the pi time is not huge but it still is faster. Then note the cpu score on aquamark and again the low vcore.

.

See what a huge difference the ram speed makes on the cpu score
That is a 1000 point increase and that is huge!!!! You will get the same jump even only on the 5:6.

1:1 setting is the worst thing you can do to your system with this board no matter what bios you use.

Guys if you can't get the high clocks from your processor as you can see here, there are still ways to get more performance from your system.

If you insist on running on the 1:1 try 4-4-4-4 or 4-4-3-4 which will only gain you about a 100cpu points on AQMK3 but it is still a gain.

Now that I am done setuning for show I will be cranking back up to a little more for me, acceptable speed.

As you can see 3 months of thrashing and my processor still runs out smooth on low volts!!


here are my timings for you to try.

5-5-5-6-6-25-6-4 Hit those sub timings too. Play with it a little bit Intrepid you have a good cpu and great memory!

Play with that memory, do not be content with your current settings.

WZ

[INTREPID]

Thanks for taking the time to give me some tips. I will play around a little and let you know how it goes!

[WeldZilla]

Hey INTREPID you are always in here helping everyone you can. You are alright in my book!!
Alot of people owe you some thanks in this thread.

WZ

[Milamber]

So would you guys recommend the new BETA 0607 over the 0605>? Perhaps there are just CPU compatibility in this beta?

[mu||et]

INTREPID, is a pretty good egg.

[Stevey5036]

Has anyone gotten wake on lan to work with this motherboard? I have tried everything, but cannot seem to get it to work..

[INTREPID]

Weldzilla,

Unfortunately, boosting my memory speed over 1000 Mhz. (5-5-5-15) results in instabilities with MemTest+ unless I increase vdram over 2.1v That is too high without active cooling, especially since this is Micron D9 based memory. Since this not just a gaming computer, I need to maintain 100% stability. But remember, I'm running 4 of these sticks.

When I attempted your suggested 9x445 with the Ram at 1186 Mhz (5-5-5-15) with 2.1v and NB at 1.45v, MemTest+ failed. I never boot into Windows unless MemTest+ passes.

8 x 500 with the memory at 1000 Mhz. worked well at 5-5-5-15. But are there any benefits or drawbacks in running a 8x multiplier with a 500 Mhz. FSB? Real world benchmarks showed little improvement (PCMark).

Some also believe running the memory 1:1 with the FSB is preferred.

This is what Anandtech has to say about our memory (based on 2 sticks not 4):

G.Skill 2x1GB DDR2-800 CAS4 F2-6400PHU2-2GBHZ Kit
We may sound like a broken record, but again we have a set of memory from G.Skill that provides flawless operation across every DDR2 board we have tested with in our labs. The modules are Micron D9 based and offer excellent overclocking capabilities. This memory will run at DDR2-800 3-4-3-8 timings on 2.0V on most boards. These modules also reach speeds up to DDR2-1066 at 4-4-4-12 timings with 2.2V. Our top overclock on the DFI 680i board was DDR2-1160 at 5-5-5-18 timings with 2.30V.

Review of this memory indicating higher voltages required:
http://techgage.com/article/g_skill_...00phu2-2gbhz/2

Anyway, it was fun experimenting some more and I'm quite happy at the moment with a 100% stable overclock.

[WeldZilla]

Hey Intrepid my 4 sticks won't boot at 5-5-5-15 either but they work fine at 5-5-5-8 or 5-5-5-6 or 5-5-5-5 The 15 just kills them. They were never meant to run that loose! With these sticks, if they fail tighten them up!!
My systems are 100% stable also.
My machines run virtually 24/7 helping to add to my income.
I build machines for people, repair them for people, run them for part of my living, and run the welding department for a major port. It all adds up to a living!!

Try different dividers and tighten up the timings. Oh and put a fan over your memory an 80mm if that is all you have bigger if you have it. I use a 120 as it covers my mem and my Northbridge. It will not hurt your system to turn the Northbridge up to 1.55v And it will help stability.


WZ

[INTREPID]

Never thought about tightening the timings! Sounds counter intuitive, but I'll give it a try right now.
Update: Yes, it worked. I was stable at 1116 Mhz. (using 5-5-5-8 !) at 2.0v. But 1186 Mhz. required higher voltages. Benchmark improvements were relatively minor, so I'm sticking with 890 Mhz. (1:1) at 4-4-4-12 for now. Thanks, it was fun seeing what this memory can do.

This thread and the linked article suggests that higher memory speeds have negligible effects on pc speed: http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?...Language=en-us

My real world bechmarks seem to confirm this (PCMark, 3DMark, PerformanceTest).

[Aleslammer]

I'll throw a thank you to Intrepid, due to his posts I bought some G Skills.

I decided to get a E8400 but my 0107 BIOS wasn't going to work, so last Friday 3/28/08 I flashed to 0605 to see if my existing memory (Corsair 6400C4) was going to function. Only way it would run, was with all RAM timings set to auto, in fact none of the settings used in 0107 would run orthos for more than 10 minutes and the 4:5 mem ratio wouldn't even post. Next I flashed to the Rampage 0219 BIOS, (Why - Good Question), set my settings from 0107, except lowering dram voltage to 2.10v and I'm in Windows no problems. 30 minutes of orthos later I'm feeling confident and drop back into BIOS and start poking around. Find out the Rampage BIOS reads the memory voltage and I see that it reading 2.19+v. I go back to settings and set the men at 2.06v, check it in hardware monitoring, says 2.15+v, boot to Windows another 30 minutes of orthos all is fine. Next I check if all the memory ratios work, everything is fine till I get to 3:4, posts, first screen Windows, BSOD, reboot, change setting in BIOS, posts, can not find system files. Flash back 0107 everything default except RAID set, posts, can not find system files. Repair Windows forgot to load RAID driver, reload Windows, all is back to to the beginning at 5:30 AM. Sunday reloaded Rampage BIOS play around for a few hours, stayed away from the 3:4 ratio, ran everything I'd done with 0107, turned box off and left for work. Friday on the way home I get a speeding ticket, watched my dreams of a E8400 fly out the window as I rolled it down for the CHP. Get home turn on the computer, all settings gone from last week, pull computer out, new battery, replace mem w/G skills, flashed to 0607 everthing working and ready for that now pipe dream E8400.

[Milamber]

Do we know what the 0607 BIOS improves?

[tranngocminh]

My result with P5E & P5K-Pro
P5E (0605) vCore 1,525 (BIOS set) vNB 1,61 - Q9300 max stable at 433x7,5
P5K-Pro (0904) vCore 1,525 (BIOS set) vNB 1,41 - Q9300 max stable at 480x7,5
I 'll try P5K-Deluxe later

[sauria]

Think the core temp readings are correct tranngo..?

[wyemarn]

Can someone post the best BIOS setting in the 1st post? I new to ASUS boards and confused with my P5E. I just got a Q6600 but the VID is 1.325V so I'm not sure how to push it to the max.

[mascaras]

For me the best bios to date is..........

.......601.......

I am running an e8400 chip

I have not tried 607 as yet.... 602 and 05 would not let me clock any where near where the 601 does..........

WZ

im also with 601 bios and E8400


CPU: E8400 @ 4005Mhz (445x9)
NB voltage : 1.43v
Cooler: thermalright Extreme 120
RAM : 4Gb Gskill 8000 PQ @ DDR2-1068Mhz (1.94v set in bios)


work like a charm :

[Milamber]

im also with 601 bios and E8400


CPU: E8400 @ 4005Mhz (445x9)
NB voltage : 1.43v
Cooler: thermalright Extreme 120
RAM : 4Gb Gskill 8000 PQ @ DDR2-1068Mhz (1.94v set in bios)


work like a charm :

I think you need to update your GPUZ, CPUZ and Realtemp versions May give you more accurate results too.

[INTREPID]

F6 ERROR SOLUTION

Here is the tested solution to the F6 Storage Driver install error:

"setup cannot copy the file: iastor.sys. To retry, press enter."

=============

After you create the Intel F6 driver disk, Copy (don't move) all files from the root of the floppy to a subfolder on the floppy as follows:

A:/$OEM$/TEXTMODE/

In other words, the driver files with be in the root directory A:\
AND in a subfolder TEXTMODE contained within another folder called $OEM$

This is what the floppy will look like now:

Contents of (A:\)

<$OEM$>
iaahci.cat
iaahci.inf
iastor.cat
iastor.inf
iastor.sys
readme.txt
txtsetup.oem

Contents of A:\$OEM$\TEXTMODE

iaahci.cat
iaahci.inf
iastor.cat
iastor.inf
iastor.sys
readme.txt
txtsetup.oem

[DrMambo]

Just got my Q9450.


I get the error message about the CPU being unsupported, please update bios, etc.
I'm on Bios 601, and I'm not sure which one to go to. I'm thinking 605 sounds good, from what I've read in the last few pages. Also the temps are *way* out, like 50&#176; at idle (in Coretemp 0.97.1). My room is 14&#176;, and the q6600 idled at ~20, so I know somethings up. The mount is fine, I did it twice and got the same temps (temps in bios say 32, which I still think is a little warm) and the pattern on the thermal paste looked fine. Could this be a problem with the bios, and my unsupported cpu?
One last thing, could someone link me to somewhere in this thread, to the idiots guide to updating the bios :P
TIA

*edit* Ok, that was easier than I thought. Updated.

[INTREPID]

Updating the bios is very easy.

Put the unzippped bios file on a USB Drive. Plug the drive in and reboot. Hit DEL to enter the bios or just hit ALT + F2 to go directly to EZ Flash. Don't flash from Windows (it's risky). See Section 4.1.3 of the P5E manual.


Try RealTemp (you may need adjust the positive or negative calibration):
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=179044

[mascaras]

I think you need to update your GPUZ, CPUZ and Realtemp versions May give you more accurate results too.

same thing


regards

[Cranox]

Is there no bios that gives more then 1.7v to CPU ?
Before u say 1.7v is already to high , its only for benching en below zero temps.

[PaRn ssR]

bios 0607 is pretty good