DitchDoctor Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 Ok, let me start with my list. I'm an expert computer builder, but new to overclocking so... here goes.. Asus P5N-T Deluxe 780i (at the time, the ONLY board that was 775 and had SLI capabilities that would recognize my processor... I know there is a EVGA and a XFX out now if you can find one.) Intel QX 9650 4 core 3ghz Corsair DHX XMS Dominator Twin2X2048-10000C5DF Two (2) BFG NVidia 8800 GTXs Factory Danger Den Water Cooled Edition SLI'ed Danger Den Black Ice Xtreme III Radiator with 6 120mm Turbine Fans Mounted Externally Enzotech Sapphire Series SCW-1 Extreme Performance CPU Liquid Cooling Block ThermalTake Black Armor case ThermalTake 750w PS Thermal Take Water Cooling/Temperature Monitoring Safety System SO.... I had to RMA my first set of Dominators, one of the heatsinks fell off and took one of the Ram chips with it. (Hey I figured out why it wouldn't post....) So, the new ones came in.. everything runs great stock. As imagined with my ludicrous cooling system, stock under full load I'm hitting about 48-50c on the processor depending on Ambient/Room temperature So, I tried to start overclocking, I knew the Ram would do 1250 and I tried for hours to get it there, and keep it stable. I started by unlinking my FSB and Memory Clock. I left the FSB at 1333 with a CPU multiplier of 9, that gave me 3 GHZ (drop the one, then 333x9 for 2970 and it rounds up right?) Then changed my CPU mulitplier to 12, which gave me 4 GHZ and starting trying to play with the RAM settings. I directly entered the MHZ I wanted it to run at (1250) and set my voltage at 2.41 (for some reason, ASUS thought 2.39 or 2.41 were good choices, you can't manually enter 2.40).. At some point I missed a number and had my memory timed at 5-5-5-5-2T (yeah whoops missed the 18 at the end there) but as long as I left the SLI control set to off, it seemed to work... sorta.. I got some hard freezes after Vista 64 would load, or after playing COD4 for 30 minutes or so at max settings. I never ran MEMTEST... When I started doing some research, and tried to set my RAM timings where they were supposed to be, I couldn't post. It got SO bad (after hours of tinkering and NO FREAKING room to reach the CMOS reset jumper without disconnecting the water cooling and removing one of the two graphics cards that I actually soldered in three wires, removed the jumper and added a double throw double pole switch and cut it into the front of the case since I was having to reset the CMOS every 30 seconds and try again on my settings..) So.. I'm not sure where I'm going wrong. I thought I understood the basic math, but maybe I don't. What am I missing? Everything I haven't talked about I left set to Auto.. I wasn't sure about the PCI-E clocks so I left them at 100 mhz.. If I used the ASUS retarded person auto overclocking feature It runs fine at 20% CPU 3.6g and mem at 960.. I could only get it to post manually with the SLI mem control on was if it was set to Expert and I had to slow the mem clock down to 1066 (actually linked it back to the FSB at 5:4) but even then it would post and boot, but was never stable or usable. Anyone want to help out a bit. Post some math that I'm missing, or tell me what the hell I'm doing wrong. I have the gear, and I know its capable of going WAY faster than it is now.... and I can't find any info on it. The ASUS M'board manual is useless, and all I can find on the memory is the basic timings I posted above, but when I set to them, it won't post. I read a bit on speeding up your FSB to force your memory clock to speed up, I imagined that meant if you couldn't unlink it and set it directly...? I've also tried FSB of 1700 with CPU mulitplier of 6 (4.2ghz right?) and dropping the mem down to 1066 but couldn't get it to post with those settings. Would appreciate any help you guys could throw my way... thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobhoppel Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 I have almost the same exact setup except running 32 bit Vista. I had both 10000C5DF sticks running at 1250 and the FSB at 1600 and my QX9650 at 4.2 GHz. Evertything was super stable (Everest, 3DMark06, Crysis Benchmark etc)---that was when the P5N-T MOBO was on a piece of Cardboard--everything else was inside my Themaltake Armor case. Then I put the MOBO into the case and am having the same problems you have!!!!. My CPU is watercooled and the temps are good(same as when MOBO was outside.) I am using the Corsair fan and have Antec spot fans on my NB and SB---they feel the same(slightly warm to the touch) as when the MOBO was outside of the case. My two 8800 Ultra's are running 45 to 65 degrees Celsius. The AI 20% overclock was the only stable configuration!!! I was running the 0602 BIOS, then tried the 0703 BIOS and now am on the 0801 BIOS. All esentially exhibit the same problem!! From what I can tell all the ASUS BIOS's undervolt the CPU'S and the NB Chip by at least .1volts and overvolt the DDR2 MEM by the .1 volts. I put together the ASUS P5E3 DELUXE WIFI board last fall and was really happy. The P5N-T has been a horible experience so far!! I think ASUS did not come out with a good BIOS and the real problem lies in the Nvidia Chipsets. My current status is that I have found some stability with CPU=4.000 GHz at 1.45000v setting(CPU-Z shows 1.36v idle and 1.312v when loaded-- talk about V Droop!!). NB is set at 1.36 volts and Corsairs are set at 2.29v. I am now tweaking NB Bro4 at 1.30v --- still don't know if that will make it more stable. Hope this helps and I will post any new results. Please keep me posted on your progress and feel free to contact me via email. P.S. By the way the first set of 10000C5DF's I got had one of sticks with the heatsink missing on the backside. Corsair immediately sent me a new pair -- that's why I keep coming back to them!! I own four Corsair XMB 1800MHz DDR3 that are working really well in my P5E3 Deluxe WiFi Setup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DitchDoctor Posted February 5, 2008 Author Share Posted February 5, 2008 I'm not sure what the problem is. I've been reading a bit about some of the ASUS motherboard major BIOS problems. Their Striker Extreme apparently had some major problem with posting even with normal settings. I read in one forum that someone had to flip their BIOS Lithium battery upside down for 24 hours to get the BIOS to completely flush, then add just one memory stick in one of the black slots to get the POS to post. I was waiting to read about someone having to throw salt over their right shoulder to get it running. Anyway where did you find BIOS version 0801? I've got 0703 and I'm on their site right now and don't see anything newer.... It wouldn't be so aggravating if it was something like my old FX-60, $200.00 computer... It really pisses me off to have this much money tied up in something that won't work right.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobhoppel Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 I feel your pain - I got the 0801 BIOS off of the ASUS P5N-T Forum. Here is the download link: http://www.keepandshare.com/doc/view.php?id=378920&da=y and here is the link to the forum: http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?id=20080130074830921&board_id=1&model=P5N-T+Deluxe&page=1&SLanguage=en-us Good Luck!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobhoppel Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 This latest 0802 was posted today and seems to be the most stable BIOS for the QX9650 and the memory. If you have or haven't flashed the 0801, I would go straight to the 0802. Here is the ASUS P5N-T ftp site: ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/mb/socket775/P5N-T_Deluxe/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DitchDoctor Posted February 11, 2008 Author Share Posted February 11, 2008 I'm headed there now. I'm so F*ing sick of freeze ups that I've dropped back to standard.:mad: Been Running the CPU at 3.0 and the memory at 800. Its been basically un-usable with any other settings... Even with the ASUS auto overclocking... I'll post up if I get any better results. What are you running now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DitchDoctor Posted February 11, 2008 Author Share Posted February 11, 2008 I flashed to 0802.. No change. Odd though, when I loaded my saved BIOS profile some things had changed like ASUS was trying to help out a bit.. Anyway, tried all my old settings, new settings, overclocked, I can't get anything to work now at all except stock. Even the AI overclock just locks it up. What are your settings? I got it to boot with the FSB at 1333 and the mem clocked up to 1250 unlinked but it blue screened when it got to vista (4 tries..) Fastest I got the processor up to was a whopping 3.3 ghz and then had a freeze up after it booted up. I give up. Really expensive paperweight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerekT Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Odd though, when I loaded my saved BIOS profile some things had changed like ASUS was trying to help out a bit. When I flash my BIOS I test first for boot and then immediately load setup defaults, save setup defaults and set my DRAM voltage (Vdimm) to an acceptable setting. I then reboot and enter my BIOS to reset and test my overclock. I have learned that the saved BIOS profile settings DO NOT apply to a new flash and almost always have lead me to instability when I tried to use them. You would do well to follow the same procedure and rebuild/retest your overclock anew after every BIOS flash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DitchDoctor Posted February 11, 2008 Author Share Posted February 11, 2008 When I flash my BIOS I test first for boot and then immediately load setup defaults, save setup defaults and set my DRAM voltage (Vdimm) to an acceptable setting. I then reboot and enter my BIOS to reset and test my overclock. I have learned that the saved BIOS profile settings DO NOT apply to a new flash and almost always have lead me to instability when I tried to use them. You would do well to follow the same procedure and rebuild/retest your overclock anew after every BIOS flash. I'll give it a try. I did test for boot, but I never saved Default settings, I booted and went immediately into the BIOS and made the normal changes first (turned RAID back on, etc.) Then went back and loaded one of the saved profiles that was working. I had one saved as the AI Overclock and one as manual... I'll give what your saying a try. I know I've made a decent change when it tells me its updating its ROM/SIP table and hasn't ignored what I've entered.. but the profiles that I've saved are the same things that I change every time. Your saying load defaults, save them, then re enter everything manually and re save it, even if its the same stuff (memory timings, voltage and mhz, FSB mhz and CPU multiplier)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DitchDoctor Posted February 11, 2008 Author Share Posted February 11, 2008 Another interesting note, right now its standard settings.. 1333 FSB, 3.0 on the processor and mem at 800 mhz 5-5-5-18-2t-22 at 2.39 volts and it STILL is turning itself off after a few hours.. not a windows snooze but actually powering itself down and I don't know why... this has been a regular occurance whether overclocked or not here recently. (I have sync-back running in, been trying to move over a terabyte of movies from the server to this computer) and something seems to make it act up and power off after I quit using/looking at it after 4-5 hours or so. I've checked the Speed Fan and Its never been an overheat/safety power off (not logged anyway) and running stock I'm staying around 52c under load on the processor anyway... suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DitchDoctor Posted February 11, 2008 Author Share Posted February 11, 2008 Another really freaking strange thing. I'm looking at CPU-Z. I have banks 2 and 4 populated. I heard always use the black slots, not the yellows.. after this BIOS update, CPU-Z is now reporting (incorrectly) that banks 1 & 3 are populated and 2 & 4 are empty. Its never been wrong before. I'm going to try what you said first... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerekT Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Your saying load defaults, save them, then re enter everything manually and re save it, even if its the same stuff (memory timings, voltage and mhz, FSB mhz and CPU multiplier)? Yes, I have found that previously found stable settings set to a profile do NOT carry over, even though they are the same. I flash to a new BIOS, load default, save default, set DRAM voltage and reboot. Then if I just load a previously saved profile I have found instability. When I load default, save default and then manually set the previous settings I find it stable. I have found this through Commando, P5K-E and P5K-Premium as well as Striker Extreme... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DitchDoctor Posted February 12, 2008 Author Share Posted February 12, 2008 Here's another odd ball... I moved the memory over to slots 1 & 3, and turned the SLI mem on and set it to OC MAX and it actually booted (never has before...) then got a BIOS error and wouldn't boot again. I've been doing a CMOS clear all afternoon. Going to start again tonight with the basics and work up from there. Again, what are your settings? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerekT Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Again, what are your settings? My settings wouldn't work for your system. Totally different systems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DitchDoctor Posted February 12, 2008 Author Share Posted February 12, 2008 My settings wouldn't work for your system. Totally different systems. Ahh.. I thought we started the conversation with the fact that we had almost identical setups... Over at ASUS on their forums everyone is bashing the P5N-T Deluxe... Oh well.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerekT Posted February 12, 2008 Share Posted February 12, 2008 Ahh.. I thought we started the conversation with the fact that we had almost identical setups... Over at ASUS on their forums everyone is bashing the P5N-T Deluxe... Oh well.. Actually I entered this thread to regard the issue of flashing a BIOS and using a profile of a previous BIOS and how this has proven to be problematic on more than a few systems under my care. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DitchDoctor Posted February 14, 2008 Author Share Posted February 14, 2008 Yeah sorry, I just realized I was talking to someone else.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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