*** Official ASUS P4P800/Deluxe (865PE) Thread ***

[Slammy1]

I think you need to drop your VAGP back to 1.5V. I get (IIRC) ca 5300 default on 3dMark03 with a similar set up. I use rage3d to o/c it, which puts me 5900-6000 at 372/341.

 

[sblake]

1) I just completed putting a new system together using an ASUS P4P800 Deluxe. AI have not installed the operating system yet. As far as I can tell everything is working at power up. The manual says I should hear one short beep when the logo is being displayed. I have tried reversing the speaker connector to the motherboard but that did not produce a beep. Is there reason for concern or does anyone have an idea of the problem.

2) Should I update the Bios prior to installing the OS (WinXP Pro) or after? It came with version 1005. I have read on this board that I should go to 1006 before going to the latest (1010) but I can?t find 1006. Is it really necessary or can I just go from 1005 to 1010?

3) Is it necessary to install the Via RAID driver if I am not going to use RAID. I will be using the RAID connectors on the motherboard for my hard drives but not in RAID configuration.

4) Should I run Windows Update before or after installation of the drivers?

Thanks for any help anyone can give.

 

[bawaji]

1) If the system powers up OK, I doubt it. It's been long since I rebooted my system and I don't even remember whether it beeps once on startup or not! Hope someone else can answer this.

2) Doesn't matter. You can find older BIOSes at ftp://ftp.cizgi.com.tr/pub/ASUS/mb/sock478/p4p800. I am currently running the 1008 bios since that is the one many users have reported as the most stable some time ago. I had bad experience s with the 1009 bios which is keeping me from updating unless it fixes a problem on the 1008 bios!

3) I am not sure. However, I am in the same situation as you and have installed the VIA drivers off the CD. I have a folder for VIA Raid in my Start Menu but have never used it.

4) Before. However, you may need the drivers for your network port to get that to work. What I did was I downloaded the Service Pack and saved it on a CD on another machine. Try getting an XP with SP1 CD or create a Slipstream XP1 CD using the info here. Check out Mr. Steveo's Excellent OS Install Guide for how best to do a new install.

You can also download Memtest86 and run it through a bootable floppy or bootable CD to check out the stability of your memory before even installing an OS!

 

[sblake]

Thanks Bawaji. You gave me some really good info. I'm going to use Steveo's install guide for my OS.

 

[tallman45]

I am looking into getting this board but need to find out something out first, and I bet many people can help.

Do SATA power connectors, USB, and firewire adapters (via cable) come with the deluxe version ?

I have had these included in the 8knxp and IC7 boards that I have built but cannot find any reference if they are packaged with the P4P800 Deluxe.

Thanks all

 

[bawaji]

Of the two P4P800 Deluxe boards I received (first one was RMA'ed), one (former, July 2003) did not have any power connector for the SATA drives and another (latter, Aug 2003) had a cable with a 4-pin molex at one end and SATA power connectors (not molex) at the other end and middle for two SATA drives.

There were no USB or Firewire adapters in either board. The only other cables were 4 IDE cables (40- and 80-pin versions) and 2 SATA (data) cables.

Newegg carries ASUS adapters which may work with this board. Check here.

 

[DannyLove]

nevermind. i just had to reinstall windows hehe

danny~!

 

[TheBigZ]

*edit oops*

 

[Sickpuppy]

I have 2 sticks of corsair in the blue mem slots, when i boot it says linear mode.

What should it say for dual channel mode, and how can I get it to switch to dual channel mode?

P4P800 deluxe
2x512 pc3200 corsair
P4 3.0
Audigy 2 Platinum Pro
Matrox G450 millenium dual head (this is not a gaming rig)
(2)WD800JB IDE RAID0
Plextor 8x DVDR
Sony 52x CDRom

 

[anxman69]

Ok, I've tried two different sets of ram chips now. A stick of 512mb Performance OCZ 3200 Ram and now the Asus manual recommended 2x256mb Kingston chips.

Whenever I approach 480mb of ram usage, my computer starts to hork (out of memory errors). I have my pagefile set to automatic in Windows, and I'm experiencing the EXACT same problems with both memory sticks.

Furthermore, a friend of mine, who purchased these items with me, including the newer Kingston ram replacements, has the same problems.

Is there something in ths bios I need to tinker with? If so, please inform me.

Setup:

P4P800-Deluxe
P4 2.4C
2 x 256mb Kingston (KVR400X64C25)
Onboard lan enabled
Onboard sound enabled
1 x wd120jb, 2x180jb, 1x160gb maxtor
eVGA 128mb GF4 Ti4200 VIVO

I think that's everything in the box, and I'm running:

Bios: 1009
OS: Windows XP SP1 (Legit Copy)

-Ankur

 

[Slammy1]

Sickpuppy: Check CPU-Z memory values to see if you're running DCM. I think the modes are more related to PAT.

Anxman: Are you entirely stable to Prime95? If so, you might be experiencing some hardware compatability problems. For example, I got the BSOD the other day despite being 2XPrime95 stable. It turned out to be an Audigy2 problem (Creative software is not 100% HT compatable).

 

[anxman69]

Unfortunately, I pass all of the stress/torture tests that I put my system through.

I don't really have much hardware in the system that it could be except my video card, I just wouldn't expect that from an Nvidia chip.

Any further suggestions?

-Ankur

 

[Sickpuppy]

Creative soundcards have ALWAYS been a problem with dual processor systems, you would figure they would fix that especially now when HT will be used on a very large share of new desktops.

 

[Slammy1]

I guess I can throw some darts at the problem... Are you running full PAT? My system will pass Prime95 with full PAT (Turbo and MAM both enabled), but will BSOD when I exit Prime95. Also, I lhave to reinstall the catalyst drivers whenever I enable full PAT. Did you do the boot sector update using either BIOS 1006 or 1008? I have a lot of problems with the NIC if I use the boot sector from any of the other BIOS (through the -cnps switch). What voltage do you run for VDIMM. I have Kingston HyperX (the BH5 version), and it's very power hungry. I can't run spec without increasing VDIMM to 2.75V (I run 2.85V).

Sickpuppy, does CPU-Z report DCM OK? I always have probs reading the initial BIOS screen, it goes by too quickly, so I really haven't studied it like I should.

 

[Sickpuppy]

Heh, what is cpu-Z?

I dont have the actual computer HERE, nor the manual, I work on it occasionally and want to try to get the ramin dual channel mode.

 

[Slammy1]

CPU-Z

Download this. It will tell you if you're running DCM or not, the initial BIOS screen is a red-herring.

 

[Sickpuppy]

Since when was CPUID CPU-Z?

 

[Slammy1]

Actually, I'm not sure, but if you download the latest version of CPU-Z from that link, run it, switch to the memory tab, the channels # box will show if you're running dual or single channel. You can also tell by SiSoftware Sandra memory bandwidth scores. I think CPUID simply makes both WCPUID and CPU-Z.

 

[Sickpuppy]

Heh i dont know what i did, but now it no longer says linear mode. And CPU-Z shows dual channel.

Now how should i try to tweak the timings? I am not sure if i can just lower each, one at a time till it no longer works properly and then go to the next, or specific combinations matter.

 

[FHG8R]

Hi, new to these boards. I need help. Have recently built a new computer. I don't know much about computers, but my roommate helped me build it. Anyway, I have this P4P800 motherboard, along with a Pentium 4-800FSB processor. I put in Corsair pc 3200 platinums with "heat spreader". My roommates computers, which have lower stats, always beat mine out in 3dmark2001/2003. The computer runs great, but it seems that I have missed something that would allow me to take full advantage of it. I get marks of about 3100 in 2003, and 10600 in 2001. I would appreciate any help and suggestions. I have the cas-ras set to 3.0, with the others to 2.5,3,3,8. Let me know what other info is needed, I will provide it. Thanks to anyone that can offer help, I need to get this machine running at its potential.

 

[Slammy1]

^ 3dMark01/03 are mostly dependent on video card. For gaming, the video card will be the bottleneck for modern systems. Don't put too much stock in artificial benchmarks. They give some indication of system performance, but their primary usage is to optimize settings.

SP. What I do to optimize timings is start out at rated settings for the memorythen tweak from that. I then try to tighten them as you indicated, running SisSoftware Sandra Memory Bandwidth benchmark for a quick analysis of their effect. Record the bandwidth at each setting, if you go too far you'll see a drop in bandwidth due to errors. Once optimized to Sandra, run 2 instances of Prime95 simultaneously (1 normally, 1 through the run command "C:\Program Files\Prime95\Prime95.exe -a1" running half the memory settings for each). You'll probably need to back off a bit on the memory timings to get stability. Also, I'd recommend 2.75V VDIMM.

 

[odde]

I am thinking about putting a new system together.
I already have most of the parts including the P4P800 Deluxe board (planning on getting 2.4C cpu).
I was wondering if you guys can give me recommendation for the memory (about 1 gb) for this board.
At the moment, I don't think I will be doing any overclocking, but I may want to do it in the future.
Thanks.

 

[FHG8R]

 

[FHG8R]

Thanks for the info, I forgot to put that I have an ATI 9600 pro video card, am running the 1.8 version of the BIOS. Are there any settings in the bios that I should look at. For example, what should I set the cas ras, or the memory latency. Whatever it is set to, the system is not running very stable. Also, what should I set the Video card settings to. There is an option for AGP set to 4x or 8x, what is best. I appreciate anyone that helps. Oh, and how do I change the voltage to 2.75V.

 

[Slammy1]

For possible o/c in the future, I'd go with Micron or Buffalo PC3200. Just make sure to get the BH-5 and NOT the CH-5 chips.

If you want to improve your marks, download Rage3d Tweak as seen here:
Rage3d Tweak
You can play with the overclock feature, that will get you the most bang (far more than memory optimizations). Go until you start to see artifacts when you run 3dMark03, then back off a bit. As far as memory tweaks, as well as the suggestions earlier set the idle timer to infinite, refresh rate as high as possible while stable (a last step optimization, start at 7.8us I run 64us), enable delayed transactions and disable spread spectrum.

A really good source of information (where the P4P800 guys congregate) is:
ABX Zone
Those guys know a lot more about this board than I do.