N00b's Guide to Conroe Based Performance Computing and OC Results

[thegreek]

I am not sure on the P5B, but IIRC, the WiFi on the P5W can act as an AP. I haven't even looked into it, but that might make it worth it over the non-WiFi if it is on the P5B too. Personally, I never used the on-board WiFi on any mobo, whether AP or wireless card, for anything. I don't care what anyone says, direct connection is faster and less problematic.

I hear there are some pre-orders available for the MSI 975 board and that's one I've been really waiting to see results from in retail form.

Is that the one with the digital PLL or something like that?

 

[greenmaji]

WOW.. the MSI still to come.. we do have some waiting to do
well.. you have some hardware swaping to do

 

[Evilsizer]

yes yes i do have the beta bios but the other day tictac posted a link to the offical bios11. Im not suse but i think es are now supported i could be wrong. I got my c4's the other day just need my E6600 to get here. there are guys using 930's/940's gettting them up to 4.7ghz on water i beleive so that show promise right there. in the abit forums here one gent has some problems i encountered with my lg-81 and the early bios it had on it. where setting something like 4-4-4-12 would actaully be 4-4-4-10 for the mem timings. There are still a few bugs that need to be worked out. From a few that have contacts, abit has a board that is going to be able to do 425-450fsb 24/7. ATM i dont remember who said it and which board we dont know. It could be the aw9d-max or the ab9-pro with a finally complete bios. trust me when i get my conroe there will be pics!!

 

[Eldonko]

Ross, you seem to be the Intel guru around here, I've read there are a lot of differences in chipset latencies, and a clock for clock 32M compare can differ by 2 minutes + on the same chipset depending on how the latency auto adjusts. Any input there?

Which Conroe board do you suppose will give the best max fsb and PI time of P5W DH, DQ6, DS3?

 

[Jame Gumb]

There are still a few bugs that need to be worked out. From a few that have contacts, abit has a board that is going to be able to do 425-450fsb 24/7. ATM i dont remember who said it and which board we dont know. It could be the aw9d-max or the ab9-pro with a finally complete bios. trust me when i get my conroe there will be pics!!

Was it skou, the senior ABIT aficionado.... a mod over at the Abit forums? Need ABIT help, PM him.

 

[Evilsizer]

Was it skou, the senior ABIT aficionado.... a mod over at the Abit forums? Need ABIT help, PM him.

nah i dont need help, yea i think it might have been him. I did read it at xs though about the 425-450fsb abit board. Dont know if that was him under another name.

 

[Ross]

Ross, you seem to be the Intel guru around here, I've read there are a lot of differences in chipset latencies, and a clock for clock 32M compare can differ by 2 minutes + on the same chipset depending on how the latency auto adjusts. Any input there?

Which Conroe board do you suppose will give the best max fsb and PI time of P5W DH, DQ6, DS3?

2m is a big chunk to be different on 32M, but could even be from cooling solutions or how much stress is on the NB I guess. It's tough to say without seeing a side-by-side comparison. I know there's one at XS somewhere, but I keep missing it

I think a lot of the issues between chipsets and SPi's/latencies is solely based on how the manufacturer tweaks just like you said. The DQ6 I have is definitely WAY messed up, for mem in particular, and apparently it's not the only 965 board that has similar issues with timings and ratios. Mine booted with timings that aren't even in the SPD programming AFAIK and refused to hold manually set timings.

965s may still get a decent bump in performance as BIOS's mature. Many of the Conroe boards out there still have trouble just running them. I've never seen such a streak of BIOS releases from manufacturers...ASUS seems to have a new one every week for the P5W DH. I think the first order of business for manufacturers is to get something that "works" 100% and then hopefully they will concentrate on improving performance, especially for the 965s, since it seems like even the heavyweights aren't immune from buggy boards/BIOSes.

Maybe Abit or MSI are walking quietly and carrying a big stick

 

[mkorpal]

Has anyone seen any new info on the C2 965 chips that were supposed to start popping up about now. I wonder if that could fix some of the problems as well. Also, has anyone seen any info on NB temps for the DS3. I was thinking on getting a DS3 and possibly an Thermalright HR-05 if it's worth it and I have room.

 

[Evilsizer]

Maybe Abit or MSI are walking quietly and carrying a big stick

Of course they do all the other companies have tipped there hand with early EE boards. Even if they have some slight bugs in the bios out the door. I see no reason way right now they may look like the "drunk man" being robbed but really be the "police", OMFGOWNTBBQ

 

[Super Nade]

Ross, my P5W-DH does not POST if I have a PS2 KB in there. It seems to love the USB KB though. Everything is at stock, the BIOS is 7-21 (something like that) and the boot-up was with a Prescott, toaster oven.

 

[Ross]

Ross, my P5W-DH does not POST if I have a PS2 KB in there. It seems to love the USB KB though. Everything is at stock, the BIOS is 7-21 (something like that) and the boot-up was with a Prescott, toaster oven.

Weird, I always need a PS2 keyboard in there for a fresh XP install because it hates my Logitech USB/wireless. If yours will not boot at all (normal boots, after XP install) with a PS2 keyboard in there, that sounds like a conflict with something...might want to check IRQs and drivers.

The DQ6 lists all H/W during POST and I know it sets about 8 things on IRQ 10 and it's not the only IRQ with multiple devices, nor is the DQ6 the only Conroe board that piles them on a single IRQ to that extent. I read that someone was getting like 20 devices automatically assigned to the same IRQ with a Conroe board (don't remember which though)

 

[greenmaji]

Check the properties of the PS2 port bus, if there's a confilict XP should see it, Its safer to reasign an IRQ in safemode.
(btw.. I though you guys were tweekers.. don't you reasign the IRQ's for max performance )
@mkorpal.. No news other on C2 stepping 965 chipsets other then they are comming soon on my end.

 

[Super Nade]

Guys, I have not installed XP yet. Sorry for being unclear on that.

So far I have:

Presscot
X1800XL
KB
Wireless Riser card

No HDD, no sound (except onboard) . This was just a quick POST test.

 

[Ross]

green, I never manually assign IRQs...too lazy for that

S_N, that's strange and I wonder if the problem has anything to do with the wireless card? I was going to ask if you had any extra cards installed that might be a source of conflict. If/when you get into the BIOS, there's an EZ Flash utility for BIOS under the Tools menu. If you can get a newer BIOS on floppy (CD or HDD supposedly work too), you can flash directly from BIOS. The latest "official" 801 BIOS is dated 7/28, but I personally haven't installed it yet...I am on 901, which is the 801 beta from 7/24. Might want to give a flash a shot and/or temporarily removing the wireless card?

 

[Super Nade]

Roger that. I'll do it and report back.

 

[Jame Gumb]

Weird, I always need a PS2 keyboard in there for a fresh XP install because it hates my Logitech USB/wireless. If yours will not boot at all (normal boots, after XP install) with a PS2 keyboard in there, that sounds like a conflict with something...might want to check IRQs and drivers.

The DQ6 lists all H/W during POST and I know it sets about 8 things on IRQ 10 and it's not the only IRQ with multiple devices, nor is the DQ6 the only Conroe board that piles them on a single IRQ to that extent. I read that someone was getting like 20 devices automatically assigned to the same IRQ with a Conroe board (don't remember which though)

It was lestat over at XS, his DS3 and IRQs were jacked up. He's created a few different threads on this wack stuff that's causing problems. http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/search.php?searchid=1903604

 

[Eldonko]

2m is a big chunk to be different on 32M, but could even be from cooling solutions or how much stress is on the NB I guess. It's tough to say without seeing a side-by-side comparison. I know there's one at XS somewhere, but I keep missing it

I think a lot of the issues between chipsets and SPi's/latencies is solely based on how the manufacturer tweaks just like you said. The DQ6 I have is definitely WAY messed up, for mem in particular, and apparently it's not the only 965 board that has similar issues with timings and ratios. Mine booted with timings that aren't even in the SPD programming AFAIK and refused to hold manually set timings.

965s may still get a decent bump in performance as BIOS's mature. Many of the Conroe boards out there still have trouble just running them. I've never seen such a streak of BIOS releases from manufacturers...ASUS seems to have a new one every week for the P5W DH. I think the first order of business for manufacturers is to get something that "works" 100% and then hopefully they will concentrate on improving performance, especially for the 965s, since it seems like even the heavyweights aren't immune from buggy boards/BIOSes.

Maybe Abit or MSI are walking quietly and carrying a big stick

Denny did a comparo of p5w dh and dq6 at xs, dq6 was 1minute slower in 32M =/ Link

In this thread p5w dh is slower in everything compared to ds3 except PI when asus pwns it (2 mins).

Im not holding my breath for the msi or abit boards, their am2 boards suck IMO and I am not expecting anything special from them.

Would like to hold off for the RD600 (if its even still coming) but I cant stare at this 6600 and not use it.

 

[Volt]

One thing I haven't quite figured out is why the hard-core members in here overclock. Do you do it as a hobby, just to see how far you can push the limit and compete against others? Or do you do it to set up your rig to get the highest performance out of it in order to use it for something else, like gaming?

After visiting here for the last few months, I can see how it could become addicting, but I'm just curious as to the reason most of you do it.

 

[Evilsizer]

One thing I haven't quite figured out is why the hard-core members in here overclock. Do you do it as a hobby, just to see how far you can push the limit and compete against others? Or do you do it to set up your rig to get the highest performance out of it in order to use it for something else, like gaming?

After visiting here for the last few months, I can see how it could become addicting, but I'm just curious as to the reason most of you do it.

I dont compete with anyone i just dont have the funds for some of the stuff they do or the contacts they have. I do it to have my pc last me longer before having to upgrade, as well as for better gaming performance.

 

[Eldonko]

One thing I haven't quite figured out is why the hard-core members in here overclock. Do you do it as a hobby, just to see how far you can push the limit and compete against others? Or do you do it to set up your rig to get the highest performance out of it in order to use it for something else, like gaming?

After visiting here for the last few months, I can see how it could become addicting, but I'm just curious as to the reason most of you do it.

I oc because of all those reasons and I like learning new things. One thing about ocing is there is always something you dont know that you can learn.