The Unofficial ASUS P5N-E SLI 650i Board Thread

[idiotekniQues]

it does seem the 650i is not susceptible to the same problems as the 680i.

if you are getting random bsod's and errors with this board and check your ram and hard drives and temps and rails and they are ok, checking the command queue seems to be the way to go unless you have one of the few newer drives that can handle it.

i have seen users who said the command queue fix did solve their issues and this would make it a windows thing - but for some the same errors popped up weeks later anyways. maybe it is a western digital sata thing - although nForce has had this issue before with various HD brands. i do hope that the 650i is where nVidia picked up the ball on this issue.

for the price and features you cant beat this mobo - it overclocks like a champ -all you need is some el-cheapo heatsink on the SB for 5 clams, and some additional cooling on the NB if you plan to OC more than a little bit. plus it is the only core2 board that has 2 ide slots which is great for people that have ide drives that are in good shape. plus sata optical drives are hard to find in stock, even though prices have come down to reasonable ranges.

 

[Nevets Drassel]

Originally posted by: Core2

Originally posted by: skippymchaggis
.....

and i am having some graphics glitches, but i think it's related to the game code getting sloppy on the last patch. i've put speedfan and cpu-z on both machines. everything seems to be running in what you guys have posted as normal temps and speeds, although i'm not sure where to plug in some of the fans to get readings from the other slots on speedfan, right now they're chained off the psu running at constant speed and not being controlled by the board, or psu.

......

anyone have any thoughts?

thanks in advance,
skip

Skip
I would check all the hardware connection and plugs making sure they are securely connected and that you have put all the right wires that connect to the headers in there proper location. Next check your ram and video card make sure they are seated all the way in especially the ram make sure the side clips are locked in place. If that doesn't work try putting your ram in the black slots only. Do this to both machines and compare for any difference in the way they were put together.

What do you mean by "right now they're chained off the psu running at constant speed and not being controlled by the board, or psu
"?

There are three fan headers on the motherboard. 1 is for the CPU Fan and has 4 pins. It is right next to the CPU mounting bracket. There are two other headers both are three pin. One is just to the back of the NB for a chpiset fan. The other is by the CMOS Reset jumper and is for a case fan (as it is read in BIOS). You can use either of the two latter headers to plug anything into, just make sure that the board can handle it, and use the information in BIOS and hence in ASUS ProbeII to track your fan speeds.

I understand you saying that you have all your fans "chained" to the PSU as meaning that all of your fans are powered directly by the PSU and not the fan headers on the motherboard. Does this mean that your CPU fan is also "chained" to the PSU and not the motherboard?

 

[idiotekniQues]

pardon, i meant to say it is the only shipset (besides 680i) i have seen designed for core2 like the p965 that has two ide slots.

p975 boards do have 2 ide slots. when i was shopping i noticed this but i didnt want p975 - basically an older platform. i wanted p965 or the nVidia chipsets. of the latter only the nVidia based boards offered more than 1 ide slot.

 

[Nevets Drassel]

Looks loike Page Computers is the cheap place in town to get this board. > $140.00 shipped.

http://store.pagecomputers.com/catalog/...ssified/Other/1244814.html#tab_reviews

Still a great price for this overclocking board.

 

[Beelziboss]

Im looking at Heatsinks/Fans for the southbridge.

do you think something like this is overkill?

COOLER MASTER SLC-S41-U1

Also, on the northbridge, someone suggested using the TR H-05. Now I have heard that removing the stock heatsink on the northbridge can be very risky and there is a good chance you will damage your board.

So I guess my questuion is it necessary to pull the stock heatsink on the NB if you plan on doing light to medium OCing? and is is relatively safe to do so, if your careful?

 

[hugekebab]

guys can someone give me a safe run down of how to flash the bios for this board.

whats the most reliable way to do it. i went to the asus site to look but its confusing which utility etc i have to use.

sorry i know its a bit of a noobie question, im just paranoid about bios flashing.


another question i have:

i have this ram: 2GB (2x1GB) CorsairTwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12, EPP


what settings would you have this on this board, eg timings, voltage settings. also im a bit confused as to what the best way to keep fsb and memory in sync. im guessing 4-4-4-12-2t for the timings?

i am going to put them in the black slots.

hope this works once ive built i have read sooooo many people having memory issues with this board. asus seem to be lagging with this magical fix it all bios update too lol.


actually it would be good if someone could give a step by step guide to setting this mobo up so its stable!

 

[idiotekniQues]

i would not advise doing it via the windows utility.

the best way to do it is via the bios.

 

[Core2]

Originally posted by: Beelziboss
Im looking at Heatsinks/Fans for the southbridge.

do you think something like this is overkill?

COOLER MASTER SLC-S41-U1

Also, on the northbridge, someone suggested using the TR H-05. Now I have heard that removing the stock heatsink on the northbridge can be very risky and there is a good chance you will damage your board.

So I guess my questuion is it necessary to pull the stock heatsink on the NB if you plan on doing light to medium OCing? and is is relatively safe to do so, if your careful?

Yes, just the heatsink is needed and NO need to take it off just use the fan from the cooler master for the NB

 

[Beelziboss]

Does this Asus board still include the AWD Flash Utility? On my A7N8X-E it made it fairly painless to flash the bios.

 

[Core2]

Originally posted by: hugekebab
guys can someone give me a safe run down of how to flash the bios for this board.

whats the most reliable way to do it. i went to the asus site to look but its confusing which utility etc i have to use.

sorry i know its a bit of a noobie question, im just paranoid about bios flashing.


another question i have:

i have this ram: 2GB (2x1GB) CorsairTwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12, EPP


what settings would you have this on this board, eg timings, voltage settings. also im a bit confused as to what the best way to keep fsb and memory in sync. im guessing 4-4-4-12-2t for the timings?

i am going to put them in the black slots.

hope this works once ive built i have read sooooo many people having memory issues with this board. asus seem to be lagging with this magical fix it all bios update too lol.


actually it would be good if someone could give a step by step guide to setting this mobo up so its stable!

why do you need to flash the bios????? Where here for your question Proceed

 

[Beelziboss]

Originally posted by: Core2

Originally posted by: Beelziboss
Im looking at Heatsinks/Fans for the southbridge.

do you think something like this is overkill?

COOLER MASTER SLC-S41-U1

Also, on the northbridge, someone suggested using the TR H-05. Now I have heard that removing the stock heatsink on the northbridge can be very risky and there is a good chance you will damage your board.

So I guess my questuion is it necessary to pull the stock heatsink on the NB if you plan on doing light to medium OCing? and is is relatively safe to do so, if your careful?

Yes, just the heatsink is needed and NO need to take it off just use the fan from the cooler master for the NB

okay, so I dont need an entirely new NB heatsink?, I can use the Stock one, but just add a fan to it? and just a base heatsink for the SB right?

Thanks again core2

 

[Core2]

the C4's should boot with 2.08 @ 4-4-4-12 2T

 

[adder1971]

Originally posted by: Core2

Originally posted by: Beelziboss
Im looking at Heatsinks/Fans for the southbridge.

do you think something like this is overkill?

COOLER MASTER SLC-S41-U1

Also, on the northbridge, someone suggested using the TR H-05. Now I have heard that removing the stock heatsink on the northbridge can be very risky and there is a good chance you will damage your board.

So I guess my questuion is it necessary to pull the stock heatsink on the NB if you plan on doing light to medium OCing? and is is relatively safe to do so, if your careful?

Yes, just the heatsink is needed and NO need to take it off just use the fan from the cooler master for the NB

excellent idea.

 

[adder1971]

Originally posted by: Beelziboss

Originally posted by: Core2

Originally posted by: Beelziboss
Im looking at Heatsinks/Fans for the southbridge.

do you think something like this is overkill?

COOLER MASTER SLC-S41-U1

Also, on the northbridge, someone suggested using the TR H-05. Now I have heard that removing the stock heatsink on the northbridge can be very risky and there is a good chance you will damage your board.

So I guess my questuion is it necessary to pull the stock heatsink on the NB if you plan on doing light to medium OCing? and is is relatively safe to do so, if your careful?

Yes, just the heatsink is needed and NO need to take it off just use the fan from the cooler master for the NB

okay, so I dont need an entirely new NB heatsink?, I can use the Stock one, but just add a fan to it? and just a base heatsink for the SB right?

Thanks again core2

absolutely, great way to go about cooling both of them.

 

[Core2]

Originally posted by: Beelziboss

Originally posted by: Core2

Originally posted by: Beelziboss
Im looking at Heatsinks/Fans for the southbridge.

do you think something like this is overkill?

COOLER MASTER SLC-S41-U1

Also, on the northbridge, someone suggested using the TR H-05. Now I have heard that removing the stock heatsink on the northbridge can be very risky and there is a good chance you will damage your board.

So I guess my questuion is it necessary to pull the stock heatsink on the NB if you plan on doing light to medium OCing? and is is relatively safe to do so, if your careful?

Yes, just the heatsink is needed and NO need to take it off just use the fan from the cooler master for the NB

okay, so I dont need an entirely new NB heatsink?, I can use the Stock one, but just add a fan to it? and just a base heatsink for the SB right?

Thanks again core2

I think that is what I said??

 

[adder1971]

Originally posted by: Beelziboss
Does this Asus board still include the AWD Flash Utility? On my A7N8X-E it made it fairly painless to flash the bios.

supposedly it can be done with the cd that ships with the mobo. very clever idea. haven't had to try it myself. have only had an overclock go so bad that i had to remove the battery once.

 

[Nevets Drassel]

If you really want to cool both the NB and SB, I would look at the Thermalright HR-05 for the NB and the HR-05 SLI for the southbridge.

The HR-05 SLI radiator sits offset of center. What this will do on the SB is allow you to place the fins to the 'front' of the motherboard which will allow you to use the SLI function if you want.

You can also use the HR-05 SLI on the NB. I would do this by placing the fins toward the PCI slots. You can move your PCIEx VGA card to the 2nd PCIEx slot if not using SLI. This will also give you an option to use a silent fan such as the AcoustiFan (less than .9 Sones). You would be able then to put the fan on either side, blowing air to the CPU or away from the CPU. You could also do it using the HR-05 by reversing the fan flow. I like to have room between my components though, as it makes for better air flow management.

As far as the .9 Sones, much like dBa it is just an arbitrary scale of ones own perception to sound. But the average male of 18 years of age with no abnormalities would not hear the sound of the fan as it is below the threshold of hearing.

See here: http://www.sfu.ca/sonic-studio/handbook/Sone.html

If you had perfect hearing and this was the only fan in your computer, you might be able to hear it - if you are superman or have never heard a loud sound in your life.

 

[Core2]

hugekebab

Don't Flash that bios with the one posted on the Asus forum or you'll be dead before you even start

 

[idiotekniQues]

the reason some of us use the hr-05 is because we dont want to add a fan due to noise issues and we are doing more than tiny oc's. its just personal preference. adding a fan is just fine.

changing the nb heatsink is a bit nerve-wracking the first time you do it but its not so bad if you are careful. but throw a fan on and you are ok.

you can flash the bios in windows but there are plenty of stories online about people getting bsod's during the bios update and if that happens you are toast. do it when you boot up and you are much safer, using a disk. in the bios is an e-z flash option. but dont use this new beta bios, it kills boards like core2 said.

 

[Nevets Drassel]

Originally posted by: Core2
hugekebab

Don't Flash that bios with the one posted on the Asus forum or you'll be dead before you even start

Don't flash the BIOS period. Its only 50-50 that you will succeed. If you can't afford the wait for RMA to have the BIOS reflashed (its a soldered ROM chip), don't do it.

 

[hugekebab]

oh dont worry i was going to use the 0202 bios, or does the board ship with that?

right so i set the voltage to 2.08 and mem timings to same 4-4-4-12-2t.

what about the fsb bit should it be sync, 1:1 or manually set or auto or what?

 

[adder1971]

Originally posted by: Nevets Drassel

Originally posted by: Core2
hugekebab

Don't Flash that bios with the one posted on the Asus forum or you'll be dead before you even start

Don't flash the BIOS period. Its only 50-50 that you will succeed. If you can't afford the wait for RMA to have the BIOS reflashed (its a soldered ROM chip), don't do it.

???

do you have a link? as of yet there is no official bios other than 0202 which ships with the board. and i have not heard good results from the beta bios. (0304-0308) i ahaven't had to flash mine yet but certainly hope doing so in the future would meet with higher than a 50% chance of success. and BTW it is never a good idea to flash a bios in any condition other than at default settings.

 

[idiotekniQues]

guys is there a program that will let me see the voltage real time going to my ram?

asusprobe does not.

im gonna go for a bigger oc tonight and push my stuff as long as reasonable voltages let me.

im also really not sure about switching this mobo. i am so pissed at the previous nForce chipset history with SATA since it seems this 650i issue is with windows setting drivers with it for NCQ but the very recent major issues with it make me wary.

oi vay. what a PITA! what do you all think?

 

[adder1971]

Originally posted by: hugekebab
oh dont worry i was going to use the 0202 bios, or does the board ship with that?

right so i set the voltage to 2.08 and mem timings to same 4-4-4-12-2t.

what about the fsb bit should it be sync, 1:1 or manually set or auto or what?

what cpu are you getting? if it is an e6400 or above i would say run synched 1:1 initially. that way you know your memory won't be an issue until at least your quad fsb hits 1600.

 

[adder1971]

Originally posted by: idiotekniQues
guys is there a program that will let me see the voltage real time going to my ram?

asusprobe does not.

im gonna go for a bigger oc tonight and push my stuff as long as reasonable voltages let me.

im also really not sure about switching this mobo. i am so pissed at the previous nForce chipset history with SATA since it seems this 650i issue is with windows setting drivers with it for NCQ but the very recent major issues with it make me wary.

oi vay. what a PITA! what do you all think?

i know of no current way to get accurate vdimm through software for this chipset. you can get it by using a voltmeter however.