New build: Pushing an ASUS P5E x38 until it cries "Uncle!"

Just got my new P5E x38 today. Going to pop it in tonight and see how far I can push my Q6600 on water.

First impressions, a LOT of copper.

Edit: sorry, the heatpipe is copper, the heat sinks are copper colored anodized aluminum.

Initial results.

Initial result, doesn't boot with Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500 RAM, at least my sticks. Though it looks like some of my sticks may be worse than others. A-DATA PC2-6400 boots it just fine.

EDIT: Looks like my problem with it was 2 of my sticks were dead. The other two are working fine, and I've RMA'd the bad ones.

I've had it up and running for a few hours. Main difference is I'm noticing is that I'm running on half the RAM I usually do, so I'm going to need to fix that. However, I'm already running at 3.0Ghz with everything at stock other than the FSB. With my old 680i, I topped out at about 3.2ghz, and I was already adding the voltage on at about 2.7Ghz. I'm hopeful I'll be getting over 3.6ghz without too much trouble. Bios is a lot different than the DFI flavor I'm used to. However there appears to be plenty of options available.

Given the limits that I've seen most people have with their Kensfield cored quads, I'm not expecting to reach or pass 4.0Ghz on water, but I'm hoping to get close. At 3.0Ghz, I'm idling around 34°C, and full load it is peaking at 48°C.

I should be able to get some better results around the weekend.

Edit: Not quite the weekend, and I'm up to 3.2Ghz runing about 1.33V Vcore, with 1.25V under load, according to CPUZ.

Also, I can tell this is the bottom end of this design model. There are a lot of marked out places and solder spots that aren't used.

Settling in...

I'll post some screencaps in a bit, but so far it is looking good. I'm running at 3.6Ghz, which was the minimum I wanted to be able to run at. I might not be quite prime95 stable though. I'm running at 1.518Vcore. Running it at 1.5125Vcore it was stable for about an hour before 1 of the cores would get an error. Up to about 3.5Ghz, I was able to run with only the default "Auto" on everything except the FSB settings. It looks like it was set for about 1.425-1.43Vcore at that range (Vdroop showed 1.38Vcore in CPUZ). At 1.518, it shows Vcore in CPUZ to be 1.43-1.44 idle, and 1.414 under Prime95 load. It looks like when I was running at 1.5125, or 1.5062, it would drop under 1.41 to 1.408 or such and that was when a core would error out.

I'll have to do some more research and testing, but it could probably be a bit more stable at a slightly lower voltage. Maybe a Vdroop mod to keep it from dropping quite so much under load.



Well, bumping up the northbridge voltage seems to have helped the stability. About 2 hours of prime95. Previously once it got over about 1.45V, it would not generate any errors, but it would blue-screen after 1 hour like clockwork. Putting a fan on the NB might also have helped, so I'm going to go up a bit on the speed and drop the VCore a bit because the temps are getting up, and I'm thinking the Vcore isn't what is helping all this much at this time. I'll drop the Vcore back down to 1.5 from 1.525 and see what I get.

Reserved for later overlcocking results.

Final comments.

I think you're going to be disappointed, but look forward to your results. The quads tend not to clock well past 450 FSB. I had to pick up an E6850 to get to 500+ FSB. LMK what settings work for you and I'll offer some input after having screwed with mine for so long.

One thing, your NB will need at least 1.6v

cw823 said:

I think you're going to be disappointed, but look forward to your results. The quads tend not to clock well past 450 FSB. I had to pick up an E6850 to get to 500+ FSB. LMK what settings work for you and I'll offer some input after having screwed with mine for so long.

One thing, your NB will need at least 1.6v

Click to expand...

Considering I'm going from a 680i where I could barely get to 3.2ghz, getting above 3.6ghz will make me very happy.

Thanks for the tip on the NB.

Of course my "nice board curse" has kicked in. It won't boot. No signal to the monitor. Powers up and down using the switches, but with one stick of ram, video card and CPU it still doesn't do anything.

torin3 said:

Considering I'm going from a 680i where I could barely get to 3.2ghz, getting above 3.6ghz will make me very happy.

Thanks for the tip on the NB.

Of course my "nice board curse" has kicked in. It won't boot. No signal to the monitor. Powers up and down using the switches, but with one stick of ram, video card and CPU it still doesn't do anything.

Click to expand...

Mine worked out of the box, but I had to update the BIOS to get my 6850 to work....would do exactly what you described. One wierd thing on my board, the jumper to clear the CMOS does NOT work. I have to take the battery out every time (first board I've ever had this issue with).

I'm still playing with settings to get my 6850 @ 500*8.....needs more power somewhere to stay stable

Well, the cmos clear on this board is a switch, and the instructions say you have to pull the battery before using it.

I've got a e6300 I can pull from work to try (its mine, but I'm using it there). I was planning on bringing home the 5200fx (old pci) as well along with a case speaker to toubleshoot.

Do you regret buying this board? I regret mine (p5kr) and in future, i will go with abit/gigabyte.

Seams mine have problems getting high mhz on RAM (above 900) with the old BIOS and not going above 450 mhz for the CPU no matter what I did.

Good god's luck.

I don't regret it yet. I've gotten used to high end boards not working for me out of the box.

However, I've just about gotten everything installed again, and working well. I think I'll pick up some 2x2gb sticks to go with this.

I still haven't gotten to overclocking it yet though...

Blazing fire said:

Do you regret buying this board? I regret mine (p5kr) and in future, i will go with abit/gigabyte.

Seams mine have problems getting high mhz on RAM (above 900) with the old BIOS and not going above 450 mhz for the CPU no matter what I did.

Good god's luck.

Click to expand...

What CPU....that may not be the boards fault. I thought mine wouldn't go past 450 with a Q6600 but this 6850 does 500 easily. I also had to upgrade the bios....wouldn't boot with the 6850 until I did. But hey....it's fresh out of the factory, may have been boxed up a few months.

Last SAS card I bought from newegg I had to flash it to the latest BIOS before it saw ANY drives. Not really the mfgrs fault.....the price of technology

E6750. Does 1.46 volts at 3.5GHz. Not the best out there but good IMO.

cw823 said:

What CPU....that may not be the boards fault. I thought mine wouldn't go past 450 with a Q6600 but this 6850 does 500 easily. I also had to upgrade the bios....wouldn't boot with the 6850 until I did. But hey....it's fresh out of the factory, may have been boxed up a few months.

Last SAS card I bought from newegg I had to flash it to the latest BIOS before it saw ANY drives. Not really the mfgrs fault.....the price of technology

Click to expand...

I've noticed no one seems to be able to pass a 450 fsb(x9) with a q6600.. Whats up with that? I couldnt make it into Windows at 450fsb, even after increasing the voltage substantially. But, I dropped the FSB to 445, vwala. Also work fine at or above 450 if I drop the multi. Seems like they are engineered not to exceed 4ghz.



Torin, is the proc a q6600 Slacr? And 2x2gig(PC-8000 5-5-5-15) GSkill was $115 on Newegg, Ive gotten 3 sets of it so far but havnt pushed any of them beyong 1ghz.

RikeMinBlaze said:

I've noticed no one seems to be able to pass a 450 fsb(x9) with a q6600.. Whats up with that? I couldnt make it into Windows at 450fsb, even after increasing the voltage substantially. But, I dropped the FSB to 445, vwala. Also work fine at or above 450 if I drop the multi. Seems like they are engineered not to exceed 4ghz.



Torin, is the proc a q6600 Slacr? And 2x2gig(PC-8000 5-5-5-15) GSkill was $115 on Newegg, Ive gotten 3 sets of it so far but havnt pushed any of them beyong 1ghz.

Click to expand...

As to the 450fsb, I'm wondering if maybe there is a strap that you have to jump to get it to work. Like maybe between 450 an 480 is an unstable zone, but above 480 it might work again. Just thinking... Probably not though, because I'm sure somebody hast tried it at least once.

Yes it is a SLACR (GO) q6600. Thanks for the Newegg comment. If I can't get my 2 'known good' sticks of Ballistix (as in when they are in another computer it boots) to work in it, I'll probably go for that.

RikeMinBlaze said:

I've noticed no one seems to be able to pass a 450 fsb(x9) with a q6600.. Whats up with that? I couldnt make it into Windows at 450fsb, even after increasing the voltage substantially. But, I dropped the FSB to 445, vwala. Also work fine at or above 450 if I drop the multi. Seems like they are engineered not to exceed 4ghz.



Torin, is the proc a q6600 Slacr? And 2x2gig(PC-8000 5-5-5-15) GSkill was $115 on Newegg, Ive gotten 3 sets of it so far but havnt pushed any of them beyong 1ghz.

Click to expand...

Seems like that is just an issue with quads. I had to get that 6850 just to prove my board could do higher (which it can). Maybe has something to do with the 2x2 core structure? Who knows.

I'm stuck right now trying to decide if I want a 6850 @ 3.8-4.0ghz or a Q6600 @ 3.3-3.5.

torin3 said:

As to the 450fsb, I'm wondering if maybe there is a strap that you have to jump to get it to work. Like maybe between 450 an 480 is an unstable zone, but above 480 it might work again. Just thinking... Probably not though, because I'm sure somebody hast tried it at least once.

Yes it is a SLACR (GO) q6600. Thanks for the Newegg comment. If I can't get my 2 'known good' sticks of Ballistix (as in when they are in another computer it boots) to work in it, I'll probably go for that.

Click to expand...

Once Im off work I will drop my multiplier and try an FSB above 450, and try your suggestion at 500fsb, though I have no other Intel procs to myself to compare against.

I just find it wack that that the limits seems to always be the same with the q6600 at least. Im coming from an AMD background so I dont know much about the history of Intels products and their performance, and Ive focused on the q6600 and the P35/X38. Anyway, it reminds me of the issue with ATI 3870's where no one could get the GPU to go beyond 864(rounded) due to instant hard locks.

I flashed my cards so they dont have that issue anymore btw.

cw823 said:

Seems like that is just an issue with quads. I had to get that 6850 just to prove my board could do higher (which it can). Maybe has something to do with the 2x2 core structure? Who knows.

I'm stuck right now trying to decide if I want a 6850 @ 3.8-4.0ghz or a Q6600 @ 3.3-3.5.

Click to expand...

If my somewhat uneducated sugegstion counts Id go with the q6600. It was pretty easy to get it to 3.8ghz for me. My goal is to make 4.0 completely stable. So far its looking good. And though Ive set the voltage to 1.6 everything reporting like 1.55. My friend just got the e6850 and he is running at 4.0ghz on air with a Zalman 9500 and a P35 Gigabyte board. Proc is at 1.5v though I cant gaurantee its entirely stable.

We are both playing FFoW Beta and the game has locked both of my systems and his at times. Before I got this new setup I had a phenom 9500 and had the same problem, it locks hard sometimes. Crazy too, even with no OC. Vista shouldnt do that, even XP was good about at least rebooting if it crashed. But its the only game Ive experienced problems with other games and it is in beta, I dont know how it manages to do it but Im not so programming elite to have a real oppinion on that side of the wall.

torin3 said:

I don't regret it yet. I've gotten used to high end boards not working for me out of the box.

However, I've just about gotten everything installed again, and working well. I think I'll pick up some 2x2gb sticks to go with this.

I still haven't gotten to overclocking it yet though...

Click to expand...

The board looks nice for sure =)

RikeMinBlaze said:

If my somewhat uneducated sugegstion counts Id go with the q6600. It was pretty easy to get it to 3.8ghz for me. My goal is to make 4.0 completely stable. So far its looking good. And though Ive set the voltage to 1.6 everything reporting like 1.55. My friend just got the e6850 and he is running at 4.0ghz on air with a Zalman 9500 and a P35 Gigabyte board. Proc is at 1.5v though I cant gaurantee its entirely stable.

We are both playing FFoW Beta and the game has locked both of my systems and his at times. Before I got this new setup I had a phenom 9500 and had the same problem, it locks hard sometimes. Crazy too, even with no OC. Vista shouldnt do that, even XP was good about at least rebooting if it crashed. But its the only game Ive experienced problems with other games and it is in beta, I dont know how it manages to do it but Im not so programming elite to have a real oppinion on that side of the wall.

Click to expand...

I'm having some NB heat issues. These heatpipe things are a real PITA as I can't just replace the NB heatsink....

DDR3 at 1800 just won't cut it for me....