E6600 and Asus P5N32-E SLI Plus Issues

[jdogg707]

So after being out of the PC game and switching to a Mac, I decided to trade my MacBook Pro in for a MacBook and get a new desktop PC. I bought the following parts:

Intel E6600 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo Retail Processor (46G)
Tuniq Tower w/Default Fan
Asus P5N32-E SLI Plus nForce 650i Motherboard
G.Skil 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2-800 Dual Channel Kit
eVGA 640MB Superclocked 8800GTS Video CardCoolMax CUG-700B 700W Modular Power Supply
Antec Nine Hundred Mid Tower Case

So here's the dilmena. I set it up just fine with Windows XP, installed all the drivers, tested everything out at stock and it seemed to work just fine. The first thing that surprised me were the temperatures it was reporting. My motherboard temperature stayed around 29C at idle, but my processor temp would go as low as 15C at idle and never increase to more than 30C load. I thought something had to be wrong with SpeedFan, so I went into the BIOS and low and behold it gave me the same idle temps. I know the Tuniq is a great HSF, and I do have it on full blast with the 120mm fan and 200mm case fans exhausting the excess heat right next to it...but these are watercooling numbers (at least from my experience).

The second that worried me was the voltage. I know the default voltage of the E6600 is 1.35V, but according to SpeedFan my voltage was 1.26V. My other voltages, like NB and SB looked high at 1.45V and 1.55V, and these are with the voltage settings set to auto.

The third thing that worried me was my overclocking ability. I MemTest86'd my memory all the way up to DDR2-1100 @ 5-5-5-15 2T 2.0V which I was extremely happy with! But when it came to processor testing, I set my memory ratio so my memory was underclocked and then set my processor voltage to 1.35V in the BIOS, and raised the FSB to 340 with a multiplier of 9. My processor speed was 3.06GHz at this point, I booted into Windows, checked SpeedFan and my processor temp was still less than 20C idle and my voltage was 1.26V. I ran Orthos, which caused my system to reboot. I increased the voltage again to 1.4V and the same thing happened when I tried to run Orthos. I increased it again to 1.45V, which so far has allowed me to run Orthos for longer than 5 minutes (left for work, so we'll see what happens when I get home), but still shows up as 1.38V in SpeedFan. My temps have also not really increased, even at 1.45V I am idling around 20C and go to about 38C load.

At this point I don't really know what to do. Is it my processor just being awful or is it the motherboard? Is there anyway those temps could be right? Which voltage is right? I have also tried running at 8x400 for 3.2GHz, which is where I really wanted to be, but when I boot into Windows it comes up as 3.6GHz in both ntune and the Windows System information screen. CPU-Z shows 3.2GHz, but it is the only app that does so. When I go into nTune it show my FSB at 450MHZ, but I set it to 400MHz in the BIOS. This only appears to happen when I run at a 8X multiplier.

Anyway...HELP!!!!

 

[The-Noid]

Board is reading Tcase wrong it should be +15C. Download Core Temp and it will give you accurate temperatures.

From what I can tell SPEEDFAN reads voltage correctly on this board.

 

[jdogg707]

I downloaded Core Temp and it provides the same temps as SpeedFan. Are you saying I need to add 15 degrees to each reading in order to get my actual temp? Like right now Core temp and SpeedFan both say Core 0 is 15C Core 1 is 19C.

 

[cprince]

Your CPU temperature is normal and it is consistent with the results from Anandtech's testing. The motherboard's temperature is also very good. The CPU voltages and multiplier settings are controlled by the CPU depending on load unless you disable it in the bios. I don't think that your RAM can run that high of a clock rate. Play with the multiplier and lower it to around 850MHz. Also, in addition to increasing the CPU and RAM voltages, you also need to increase the FSB and Northbridge voltages. Good Luck!

 

[jdogg707]

The RAM was tested with the CPU unlinked, so the CPU was running at 2.4GHz and the RAM at DDR2-1100 at those settings for 215 passes of MemTest without fail.

 

[Hauk]

I have a similar setup and ran into the same problems. Though your temps are likely accurate due to Tunic Tower and adequate stock NB cooling. Mobo undervolts from what I found. For me, the innacurate readings and issues popped up with fsb over 365ish.

I settled on 3.2cpu, 356fsb, 842mhz memory:

9x multi x 1425
Unlinked memory set to 842, 4-4-4-12 2T
1.39v NB in bios
1.368v cpu in bios which gives me 1.33v in OS

You'll probably find things will smooth out if you shoot for a lower fsb.

 

[jdogg707]

Thanks for the info, I'll give it a try!

 

[gramboh]

Sorry guys but 15c idle is not possible on air cooling if the ambient air temperature is likely 20-25c. The CPU idle can only be as low as the ambient room temperature. Idle of 30c is more realisitic. So if you are seeing 15 idle and 30 load maybe your real temps are 30c idle (realisitic) and 45c load (low considering 1.45V but possible with a Tuniq on on max fan speed).

 

[Hauk]

Yea, what he said...

 

[jdogg707]

Originally posted by: gramboh
Sorry guys but 15c idle is not possible on air cooling if the ambient air temperature is likely 20-25c. The CPU idle can only be as low as the ambient room temperature. Idle of 30c is more realisitic. So if you are seeing 15 idle and 30 load maybe your real temps are 30c idle (realisitic) and 45c load (low considering 1.45V but possible with a Tuniq on on max fan speed).

That is what I thought as well, hence the concern that something wasn't working right. My ambient room temperature is 20C as I keep my apartment about 68-69F during the summer (Electric is included in my rent ). I am guessing this is an issue with my motherboard, so should I RMA it?