Asus P5N32-E SLI (nForce 680i) + Core2Quad Q6600 300FSB wall

[avatar1983]

Hi all,
I've recently rebuilt my system for SLI. I have a Asus P5N32-E SLI board, and a core 2 duo q6600, with an OCZ 4-4-4-15@400 SLI ready memory kit. My problem is this. I've been trying to overclock this board beyond 300 fsb, but I just can't. I can get 300 (for 2.7Ghz CPU frequency) no problem, but beyond that it crashes each time during post. It's always at the same point as well, just before the CPU identification comes up. I've tried increasing both vcore and nb voltage by considerable margins, but no luck. Tried with vcore up to 1.5, no dice. At the stable 2.7GHZ with all voltages at auto CPU-Z reports a vcore of 1.23 at idle. My memory during all these experiments was set to its rated timings and frequency.

My question is this, do I just have a board that overclocks badly, or am I overlooking something? Anyone have much experience with this board and can tell if this is likely to be a board issue, or a cpu issue, or even a ram issue?

Any information would be appreciated!

 

[ionoxx]

Here we go again!

BonzaiDuck... where are you?

Which BIOS version do you have?

I'm you need an older BIOS. If you're using the newest BIOS out there, it's been optimized for 45nm processors and will not go fater than 300FSB. I had the same issue with my Striker Extreme 2 weeks ago!

 

[krnmastersgt]

Care to share what stepping your Q6600 is? In any case try upping the fsb to 333 and lowering the multiplier to 8, if it posts and you can get it to run at least somewhat stable then I'd say your chip probably has a wall of 2.7, if you can't get it stable then I'd say theres a problem with your board and you should contact Asus about it and see if they'll send a replacement.

Edit: Why would the newer BIOS limit the fsb to 300? Even with an E8400, if the fsb wall changes to 300 then you won't get more than the stock clock of 3 ghz but I guess if you had the problem already you would know, unusual problem imo.

 

[avatar1983]

I have tried with both the 1205 and 1302 bios revisions.

I have tried 333*8, and the effect was exactly the same.

My stepping is G0.

 

[krnmastersgt]

So you couldn't get into windows with 333x8? Then I'd say it's the chip, it's not bad since you can actually run it, but it seems like a bad overclocker :/

 

[avatar1983]

Originally posted by: krnmastersgt
So you couldn't get into windows with 333x8? Then I'd say it's the chip, it's not bad since you can actually run it, but it seems like a bad overclocker :/

Yes, crash at post. I can reach 2700 by doing 300*9 though, so I have run it at more than the 2664 that 333*8 gives. So I'm thinking probably a bad (overclocking) board.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Once again, the P5N32 folks will need to work this out. And there are a few model variations to that board.

AdairUSMC got a B3 stepping of his Q6600 last summer, and we swapped tips about OC'ing. He was running his at 3.0 Ghz on his P5N32 board.

The other intelligence in the matter comes from me and a few others who had a 680i Striker Extreme board. With B3 stepping, and even with G0 stepping (I can't recall precisely), version 1305, designed to "improve overclocking on processors made for 1,333 FSB," wouldn't allow any stable overclocking of my B3 and Q6600s -- possibly either stepping -- beyond 2.7 or 2.8 Ghz.

Dropping back the BIOS versions 1301 or 1303, everything is fine again.

Don't ask me why. But even though you have a different motherboard model, I still think it's an nForce chipset -- even 680i -- and you probably should check with the ASUS website for BIOS revisions before end July, 2007. I'm just suggesting you look into it.

 

[avatar1983]

Yes, it is a 680i board. There is no 1301 or 1302 for the P5N32-E SLI, it's either 1205 or 1302. There are some older ones as well, actually: 1103, 1102, 1101, 1002, 0903, 0802, 0602, 0501, 0405 and 0302. 1103 is from 06/07, so that would qualify, I guess.

1205, which the board came with when I bought it lists the following as its changelog:

1. Enhance overclocking capability
2. Enable support for ASUS SK-2690 keyboard
3. Enable support for Razer Copperhead USB Mouse
4. Added CPU UCode to support new processors
5. Enhance memory compatibility
6. Finetune Q'Fan operation algorithm

Still, I guess I can give it a try.

 

[avatar1983]

I've downgraded to the 1103 bios, which lets me post at 333mhz fsb, (but not at 320). However, I get an instant reboot when the windows desktop starts appearing. This is with vcore on auto.