Asus P5E3 Premium Wi-fi-AP

[deachus]

Ok cool I was thinking along the same lines. Ok I had another question, well a few, now I've changed my testing procedure (as recommended above) and now I'm doing the following:

1-run DOS memtest first before booting into windows Test#5&7 with 10 Passes, if get no errors then I move on to step 2.

2-boot into windows and start running HCI Memtest for about an hour (keep it overnight after checking quick stability)

3-Then I move on to Linx, max memory 100 times, if this passes then I move on to step 4

4- Test with Prime 95 overnight.

My questions are what settings would I need to play with if I get errors in tests 1, 2, 3, 4? I know that if I pass 1+2 but fail LinX then I should play around with Vcore, Vtt, GTL's. Maybe Vnb but I don't think so. (From Deachus). So if anyone could shed some light as to what errors on test 1-4 would indicate I would really appreciate it (Just trying to expand my knowledge on OC'ing)

I would say with Steps 1 & 2 if you get errors you are going to need to adjust one of the following: Vdimm, Vnb, Memory Timings, Performance Level, NB GTL since you are testing the memory with these first two tests.

If you pass steps 1-3 with no errors then you have a very good chance of passing Prime95 error free.

I finally got my 2x2GB D9GTS 24/7 stable last night. That is at the settings I posted above. I am going to work on getting them DDR3-1800Mhz 1:1 stable today.

[Defratos]

I'm envious of you guys who can stabilize their system in a few days, well then again this is my first OC with retarded memory sticks which the MB doesn't like, so I guess it aint too bad. BTW how many times do I have to run test7 with memtest on boot up?

[deachus]

I'm envious of you guys who can stabilize their system in a few days, well then again this is my first OC with retarded memory sticks which the MB doesn't like, so I guess it aint too bad. BTW how many times do I have to run test7 with memtest on boot up?

If Memtest86+ Test#5-7 passes 5 times each then I boot into windows.

[deachus]

I just looped 3DMark Vantage 3 runs with 9800GTX running 825/1190/2052. I am not impressed with the GPU score but that CPU score is looking great! LinX passed 60 runs before I stopped it to run Vantage.

[Defratos]

Ok I've got a silly/noob question or you guys. What would I notice more performance gains from:

1- Running tighter timings to my 4GB ram (Current 7-7-7-24-2N/2T)

2- Lowering the Dram Frequency from 1601Mhz to around 1200Mhz (as it stable at this frequency) and adding another 2GB stick (so 6GB total or even 8GB since I've got 2x2gb sticks lying around)

[kaskuli]

Ok I've got a silly/noob question or you guys. What would I notice more performance gains from:

1- Running tighter timings to my 4GB ram (Current 7-7-7-24-2N/2T)

2- Lowering the Dram Frequency from 1601Mhz to around 1200Mhz (as it stable at this frequency) and adding another 2GB stick (so 6GB total or even 8GB since I've got 2x2gb sticks lying around)

Running DDR3 @ 1200 is a crime punishable by public hanging...

[Defratos]

Running DDR3 @ 1200 is a crime punishable by public hanging...

Looooool , ok thanks for that I get it now , but would adding another 2GB stick help speed wise? or would I only notice it when I have a lot of programs and games up and running?

and why are you running your DDR3 @ 1000Mhz?

[deachus]

You are not going to gain any speed by adding more ram, you are probably going to loose speed because you are most likely going to have to lower your frequency to get 6GB-8GB stable. Your current setup of 4GB should be more than enough memory unless you are using Photoshop or something extremely memory intensive.

I would try running a mem divider and raising your FSB to get your CPU in the 3.6Ghz-3.8Ghz and your memory in the 1400Mhz-1550Mhz range with 6-6-6-18-1T timings. This configuration has proved to be the fastest for me.

[Defratos]

sounds like a good idea, I'll let you know how I get on

[Defratos]

BTW how do you go about setting a memory divider? I know its one of the options in the bios but I'm a bit confused?

[Pyr0]

The bios doesn't show the ratios or dividers, instead it gives DDR3 speeds.
In the AI Tweaker section, depending on the FSB Strap selected, you will have different memory speeds to choose from under the setting "DRAM Frequency"

[deachus]

As Pyr0 has stated you will have to pick your DDR Memory Frequency which is the memory divider. For instance, if you had your FSB to 450Mhz your DDR Memory Frequency would say 1800Mhz. If you select the DDR Memory Frequency you will see you have the option to change your memory to DDR 1400Mhz and lower and lower frequencys.

Hope that helps.

[CyberDruid]

I just built a P5E3 primo and used G Skill DDR3 1600 ( the ones with the odd heatspreaders) and they run great at their rated speed. I simple set FSB to 400 and RAM to 1600 and called it a day lol...no tweaks required to run 2.0V 7 7 7 18

[deachus]

I just built a P5E3 primo and used G Skill DDR3 1600 ( the ones with the odd heatspreaders) and they run great at their rated speed. I simple set FSB to 400 and RAM to 1600 and called it a day lol...no tweaks required to run 2.0V 7 7 7 18

Are you running 2x2Gb set or 2x1GB set? I have 2 sets of 2x1GB G.Skill D9GTS and they run fine all the way up to 2000Mhz. I also have a set of Mushkin 1600Mhz 2x2GB D9GTS that are a litter tougher to get stable at 3.6Ghz and up. The problem is with either 4x1GB or 2x2GB getting stable at or above 3.6Ghz. I have achieved stability with 4x1GB and 2x2GB at and above 3.6Ghz 450FSB but I have to say it is not easy and takes many many many hours of testing and tweaking. That is currently Defratos problem.

At their rated speed and timings (1600Mhz 7-7-7-18-2T) they run fine.

[Razmatazz]

I just built a P5E3 primo and used G Skill DDR3 1600 ( the ones with the odd heatspreaders) and they run great at their rated speed. I simple set FSB to 400 and RAM to 1600 and called it a day lol...no tweaks required to run 2.0V 7 7 7 18

2.0V seems a bit high for this board. I've heard that it overvolts by a fair margin. I am currently running 1.78V for 4GB at 1600MHz 7-7-7 Performance lvl 6

[Defratos]

Thanks for the clarification on the mem dividers guys.

My problem is that the memory that I have OCZ reapers 1600Mhz 7-7-7-24 do not go well with the P5E3 Motherboard, I've read loads of threads on this over at the OCZ forum, an they all end up tweaking the Skews which I don't want to get into unless its a real must. its fine on the second highest speed i.e. 1200Mhz or 1300Mhz or 1400Mhz, I only get instability problems once I run it at stock 1600Mhz (but I blame the specific memory I have)

I managed to get Linx to run yesterday for 1:21:13s (1.29CPUv - 1.54 PLLv - 1.32 VVT - 1.90 Dramv - 1.47NBv - 0.67 NB GTL v ref) until it found an error, the computer was fine to use for a good 3hrs after that without any issues. So I raised the NB voltage again to 1.49 and I managed to run 2:49:45s then the system froze, but at least its an improvement. I still have more tweaking to do, I'm thinking of raising the CPU v a little bit more.

BTW Deachus when you said earlier that I might need to play with GTLs now I wanted to clarify this, by GTLs do you mean only the NB GTL v Reference? or do you mean to also play around with CPU GTL Voltage Reference (0/2) & (1/3)???

[deachus]

I was referring to the CPU GTL's when I responded to you above.

[Defratos]

Thanks for that Deachus, you seem willing to help me out, so I'll push my luck and ask more questions :

I'm confused as to what values to place in CPU GTL v Ref (0/2) & (1/3). I've read a few articles that have said GTL Ref values are a % of VTT some mention 67% for the high end and 63% for low end. but 'm still confused what does the 0/2 and 1/3 mean? which one would be higher and which should be lower? i.e. would one be 67% of VTT and the other 63%? and if so does that mean I would have ref (0/2) @ 0.67 and (1/3) @ 0.63?

I'm not really sure whats a good starting point and how to go about fine tuning it.

On another note, I did some tweaking last night, the day before I mentioned that Link found an error around 2hrs into the test, so yesterday I increased the Vcore to 1.30 just to see what happens, now it passed memtest in dos (test 5 & 7) so I just booted into windows and ran Link (I know I should have run memtest first) but I was in a hurry and just wanted to see what would happen. Well I came back home and found that it had finished Linx 2:57:57 with 0 errors found, but one problem, the computer was frozen (not too sure how long after the test finished that the system froze). so I restarted the computer and ran Memtest in windows which froze within 20min. So here's my dilemma I doubt that setting Vcore to 1.30 was the right way to go about it, I believe leaving it at 1.29375 was better (as it nearly finished Linx error free but found an error 20min before the end of the test) so if anyone can give me some advice as to where to start tweaking the GTL Ref with I'd really appreciate it.

I hope I haven't confused anyone (or bored anyone with my Noob like questions)

[Defratos]

Ok I found out that CPU GTL Ref V (0/2) stands for core 0 & core 2, and (1/3) are for cores 1 & 3 , learning something new everyday. I'm going to start with setting cpu (0/2) @ 0.63 (63%) and (1/3) @ 0.67 (67%) which I believe is supposed to be the default. But how would I go about tweaking this? I.e. if it's slightly unstable would I start by only increasing one GTL or would I increse both CPU GTLs in line with each other? Could they both be kept at the same values? or do you always need a higher and lower value?

[SoulsCollective]

0.63 is default for 45nm CPUs, 0.67 is the default value for 65nm CPUs. Both 0/2 and 1/3 should be the same for default. I'd recommend having a look at the GTL guide.

[Defratos]

Oh I see, so both should be the same, so I'll start with 0.63 and work my way up, I always thought they had to be different.

BTW The link doesn't work

[Defratos]

wait I got the link to work now thanks

[Defratos]

wow ok that link sort of confused me even more. He gives equations to use to work out what the 0.67 value would be based on my VTT, this is what I get:

1.30 x 0.667 + Y = 1.30 x 0.635
0.8671 + Y = 0.8255
Y = 0.8255-0.8671
Y = 0.0416
Y = -41mv

Now where the hell would I use this 41mv? whats the point? is it supposed to be the difference in voltage between the two GTLs? if so aren't the GTLs supposed to be the same figure?

and which of the two would you use this 41mv to add or subtract from? What am I missing here?

[Defratos]

Ok just read a bit more, I guess I don't have to do any of this calculation nonsense since my board doesn't give me the option to enter a Y value in. So I'll just start with 0.63, but could someone still clarify whats the best way of going about tweaking? would I just slowly start raising both GTLs to see where it gets stable at?

P.S. I didn't mean to spam like this, just learning new things on the way

[SoulsCollective]

Yeah, the link is bad, somehow a v crept into the http part. Fixed. As for GTL values, the link explains that .63 is the multiplier based on default vTT - which for our boards is 1.1. GTL needs to stay at around default values for optimum stability, so when raising vTT, you need to compensate by lowering the GTL multipliers accordingly to make sure you end up with about the same value. If you raise GTL multiplier and raise vTT, your GTL value will now be far too high. For example, I'm currently running a GTL multiplier of 0.585 to compensate for my vTT value of 1.24 - this gives me a higher GTL than stock, but I found this to be more stable.