ASUS P5Q-E (P45) pre-view

[ReverendMaynard]

I've given up on it. I guess I'll hunt down a nice x38, the P45 all together has left a bad taste.

[Dee]

I wonder if it can be saved by BIOS later on. Sometimes it takes ages for small bugs to be ironed out, so I'm really not sure what to do. Either wait and hope, or sell it on and find something else. Trouble is I have no idea what I'd want if I got rid of the P5Q-E. You think you found the right board, but then after doing more research there are people with equally as many issues as we're getting with the inconsistent P5Q series.

AAARRGGHH!! I am starting to hate computers! Some of the most reliable systems I've had have been built from cheap, no nonsense parts. I feel kinda ripped off by my most recent (and most expensive) purchases.

[Dee]

I'm telling you guys, this board is temperamental! I just was able to boot up to 530 x 8, whereas a couple of days ago it wouldn't even do 450. Couple of BIOS settings were changed though, so maybe I hit the magic combination. A 59% FSB OC is pretty nice.

I did this on 1.26v for the north bridge, which is nice. I think I can take it lower too. At 1.12 vNB it booted to a white screen. I'll try going higher with the FSB Freq tomorrow when the CellShock RAM gets here. Only reason I wasn't able to do so today is because there's no setting low enough for my DDR800 Ballistix, it tops out at 1065 on the voltage I'm using (1.86v).

[ThugsRook]

I'm telling you guys, this board is temperamental! I just was able to boot up to 530 x 8, whereas a couple of days ago it wouldn't even do 450.

yes we know, they all are. weve all seen the same oddities given enough OCing time.

to the P45

[Dee]

Shut it, smart ass.

[ahmad]

Haha no need to get too excited..

I think the flaw lies in the AUTO settings. Never guaranteed to give you the same result on two reboots..

Lets be honest, most people keep most settings on auto.

[ThugsRook]

Haha no need to get too excited..

I think the flaw lies in the AUTO settings. Never guaranteed to give you the same result on two reboots..

Lets be honest, most people keep most settings on auto.

i agree with this. get rid of the "ASUS AI" junk and ill bet these boards will all behave very differently

ASUS = fail

[ThugsRook]

Shut it, smart ass.

im not making fun of you, just welcoming you to the ASUS frustration club

[ReverendMaynard]

Haha no need to get too excited..

I think the flaw lies in the AUTO settings. Never guaranteed to give you the same result on two reboots..

Lets be honest, most people keep most settings on auto.

Other than some sub timings, I have no settings on auto and so much time has been wasted on restarts with settings that should work. My P5K-Premium kicked this boards ass all over the place.

[ahmad]

Other than some sub timings, I have no settings on auto and so much time has been wasted on restarts with settings that should work. My P5K-Premium kicked this boards ass all over the place.

Well get this: if I keep the subtimings at auto, I get stability. If I take those exact timings and put them in manually, I am no longer stable.

For high end RAM, this board is uber fail unless SPD has perfect data for all your frequency ranges.

I just got kets 1406 bios, i was able to run memtest at 550MHz fsb, but then it kept going crazy, so I am back to testing at 530MHz.

[Dee]

im not making fun of you, just welcoming you to the ASUS frustration club

Meh. I was just messing with you anyway. It's all good.

I am still happy that my board doesn't have a problem hitting FSB's north of 440-ish. Mind you, all that could change sometime within the next hour or two...

[ReverendMaynard]

Well get this: if I keep the subtimings at auto, I get stability. If I take those exact timings and put them in manually, I am no longer stable.

For high end RAM, this board is uber fail unless SPD has perfect data for all your frequency ranges.

I just got kets 1406 bios, i was able to run memtest at 550MHz fsb, but then it kept going crazy, so I am back to testing at 530MHz.

Tried the auto route, and pretty much every combo of mixed auto/manual settings. I've done my part with this board so I'm going to move on from it.

[thehinge1]

And in typical P5Q-E style: as I mentioned before I went back to stock ASUS bios 1103 with my E0 8400. 12+ hours dual prime95 stable at 4005MHz/445fsb/DDR1068 and never hit above (a very brief) core temp over 55c with the case fans on uber-low. The darned thing even cold boots consistently again. It even seems happy above 4050 with the same RAM timings and voltages (1.240 loaded Vcore).

Dee, I'm starting to think this is may indeed be a BIOS related thing after all.

-Although- I can get a P5K Deluxe around $20US or so cheaper than a Biostar TPower I45 after MIR and at least I know the board should be reliable while being able to run the E6400, 7200, or 8400... Hmmmmmmmm. TPower tempting but reliability questionable and memory mfrs seem to LOVE the P5K Dlx.

Either way I definitely will keep a P5Q-E, it just may be an RMA'd one.

[Dee]

That's good news man, glad you got it sorted out!

[wongnog]

Here's a bit of a general overclocking question for you all. I have a P5Q-E board running 1402m bios, and a Q6600 (G0 stepping, VID=1.300) and 2x2gb OCZ DDR2-1066 ram. My question is, is it better to see how far my chip can OC with as little VCore increase as possible, or is it better to push my chip as far as it can by increasing VCore?

If I have VCore at 1.31250 V, my system is stable at 8x405 (I ran Intel Burn Test for 20 runs on max ram, then Prime95 for 18 hrs). Max temps running IBT reach 79°C while P95 gets to 67°C, which are pretty good temps I think. But if I bring VCore up to 1.41250 V, my system is stable at 8x425. However IBT temps reach 95°C and P95 gets up to 79°C. Just wondering which speed you guys think is better, 3.4 GHz or 3.24 GHz.

[thehinge1]

Thanks! Me too

I'm probably pressing my luck but would like to see the 8400 at fsb higher than 445 stable - may switch back to the 2GB Reaper1150 temporarily so I can push for DDR 1220+ again as my 4GB 2x2G 1066 kit caps out around DDR1130ish on this board and really does limit some options. Details will be posted if successful, of course.

Let me know how yer new RAM kit works out!

That's good news man, glad you got it sorted out!

[bayer]

Does anyone have issues where the board will boot into windows fine, but then if restarted, it'll fail to boot? I think this has something to do with the FSB Termination Voltage (VTT). Right now I'm on Ket's 1402 BIOS.

[Dee]

Yep, had the same issue. Not sure what it is.

[Dee]

Let me know how yer new RAM kit works out!

Definitely will do, Hinge. Cheers.

[thehinge1]

Absolutely! At & above 400FSB with mine the issue went away by raising CPU PLL to 1.54v in BIOS - 1.52v was extremely inconsistent although it would pass testing without issue once it actually did boot. My E7200 required as much as 1.26VTT (could do 550FSB there) and 1.24v for 400FSB no matter what the GTL settings while the E8400 is fine at 1.20VTT for 400FSB.

Does anyone have issues where the board will boot into windows fine, but then if restarted, it'll fail to boot? I think this has something to do with the FSB Termination Voltage (VTT). Right now I'm on Ket's 1402 BIOS.

[ahmad]

Does anyone have issues where the board will boot into windows fine, but then if restarted, it'll fail to boot? I think this has something to do with the FSB Termination Voltage (VTT). Right now I'm on Ket's 1402 BIOS.

Its probably one of your auto settings. More than likely one of the voltages.

[Quad-Damage]

I can't get prime stable anything over 430 buss at 9.5 with 1.37 v core and everything else on auto

Anyone with a E8500 have some settings i can check out

I mean 4.1ghz is cool, but i want more

[Quad-Damage]

This is very stable for me, but if i go any higher it gets very unstable



I have a E8500
P5Q-E
4 Gigs of PC 8500 DDR2 Gskills
Ati 4850 512mb (Might do crossfire soon)
1Tb and 320 HD's
Swiftech GTZ
Swiftech 655
Swiftech Quite and Cool 3 120 Ram
6x 120 S E fan's very quite!
Antec 650

I know i can push this more, just need to crank up the stable settings

[Dee]

I can't get prime stable anything over 430 buss at 9.5 with 1.37 v core and everything else on auto

Anyone with a E8500 have some settings i can check out

I mean 4.1ghz is cool, but i want more

Try

North Bridge Voltage: 1.26v
CPU PLL voltage: 1.54v
FSB Termination Voltage: 1.20v
Play with the 3 different modes of CPU Margin Enhancement.
Try higher Performance Level numbers (10+) under Ai Transaction Booster.
Try disabling/enabling Load-Line Calibration.

I would try upping the North Bridge, CPU PLL and FSB Term first.

What error messages are you getting in Prime?

[Quad-Damage]

Hardware Error 5 or something, i happens within the 1st min of testing

I'm also getting ati2dvag.dll infinite loop error
Not the blue screen, i did the fix already

Right click-mouse over My Computer
Properties
Hardware(Tab)
Device Manager(button)
Click [+] next to System devices
right-mouse on CPU to AGP Controller (or whatever your controller is called, mine was SiS AGP)
Update Driver(button)

Select Install from a list or specific location (Advanced)
Next(button)
Select Don't search. I will choose the driver to install.
Next(button)
Select PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge
Next(button)
Finish(button)
Reboot.

I get a error after like 20 to 25 mins of TF2, but i don't blame the board.

ati2dvag.dll error