The Unofficial ASUS P5N-E SLI 650i Board Thread

[Tuvoc]

I doubt that the Zalman would be sufficient for the Northbridge. I think I saw someone here who tried it and it wasn't good enough. Most people here seem to just put a fan on top of the existing large heatsink

 

[ElAguila]

I am using the small blue ice pro and I am running at 1600fsb.

 

[JustaGeek]

I agree with Tuvoc - the fan on the NB should suffice. The temps on mine are ~45 deg C, but it gets a steady airflow from the processor's HSF. That's why I prefer the processor HSF's blowing on the processor as opposed to those with the horizontal fan - they might cool the CPU itself better, but the components around don't get enough airflow.

In your case just add a fan or two (depending on their size). Judging by your maximum overclock, and only random reboots every few days, it will be fine.

For my SB I used the heatsink from the kit below - and it comes with a small fan, too.

http://www.compusa.com/product...&Pn=Chipset_Cooler_Kit

I read an article about the modern PSU's, and their fans are designed to spin slowly to keep the noise down. I personally would not count on the PSU as an exhaust for my computer case...

You can check the temps of your components using an inexpensive non-contact infrared thermometer, like the one here:

http://www.harborfreight.com/c...m.taf?Itemnumber=93983

And use either SpeedFan or Everest to monitor other temperatures of your system. I love Everest - it detects every imaginable sensor, including the Video card and Hard Drives.

Good luck!

 

[Rytr]

I found the Thermalright HR-05 SLI to cool the NB a little better than the rest but at more expense than just adding an fan to the existing NB heatsink which works OK and the HR-05 SLI has flimsy mounting solution but it does seem to work none the less.

 

[trpltongue]

Well,

In my quest to get my 4300 running faster, I still can't get the board to go past 1333.

I thought my cpu might be the problem so I dropped the multiplier to 7x and increased fsb to 1500 with no luck. Then I tried 1400, no luck. Then back to 1333 and it worked fine. I then went back to 1400 and tried increasing vcore all the way up to 1.6V with no luck, then I tried increasing nb vcore with no luck. For whatever reason, my board just will NOT go past 1333.

Oh well, that's still a hell of an overclock

Russell

 

[vulcan4d]

I hate to act like a every-day newb but I have no choice, basicly I just need a thumbs up or thumbs down to my question lol . Yes I will admit I did not search the forum, however my motherboard fried this morning and I don't have access to a working computer for a long enough period of time to read this post.

I need a replacement mobo, it's either the P5N-E or P5B. My goal is at least overclock my cpu to 3ghz and I'm happy. If I can do that with my setup thumbs up, if not give me a thumbs down .

CPU: Core2 Duo E6300
Mem: 4x 1GB Crucial Rendition 667mhz (loves higher voltage)
Vid: Geforce 7900GT

Possible to get 3ghz with my setup? If so let me know, gonna have to pick a board asap.

Much appreciated, sorry for being a newb

 

[Tuvoc]

I would not buy the P5N-E today, there are better alternatives

 

[JustaGeek]

If I had to make a choice today, I would have chosen exactly the same MB - P5N-E SLI. But... I have not had any problems. For ~$130.00 you have got an overclocker of a Striker Extreme caliber, for about 1/3 of a price. It has its problems (no SB heatsink!), but they can be easily rectified.

And as Tuvoc has said, there are better alternatives. For about $50.00 more, you can get P5N32-E SLI Plus, with the same great NB, the SB with the proper heatpipe heatsink, and 2x 16 PCIe slots.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813131153

It is a personal preference after all, but I would stick with the manufacturer of the greatest GPU to date - NVidia. And ASUS motherboards are the best - IMHO.

 

[AMelbye]

vulcan 4d: I'd go for the Gigabyte GA-N650SLI-DS4. Very much the same as the p5n-e sli, but with less problems. read here: http://sg.vr-zone.com/?i=4939&s=1

2080 FSB with no mods!!! That'd give you 3.64 GHz, if your cpu can handle it!

I'm struggling to reach 3GHz with my P5n-e sli. Although I've seen people reaching 2000+FSB with the board (with additional cooling), my setup won't let me.

I'm about to give up to be honest. I don't know about the P5B.

ElAguila: I thought there was a memory hole at 1600FSB/800RAM? I always avoided it for that reason.. I'm gonna give that one a try now.

Tuvoc: according to the review I posted, the zalman beats the hr-05 though. If the hr05 is better than the stock heatsink, then the zalman must be better as well, right?

After doing some research, I've reinforced my suspicion that the LDT frequency determines the speed of the SB chip. I'm now gonna reduce it to 4x, and see if that makes things stable at 1820FSB. Everything seems to be fine at 1500 btw.

 

[garikfox]

Originally posted by: JustaGeek
If I had to make a choice today, I would have chosen exactly the same MB - P5N-E SLI. But... I have not had any problems. For ~$130.00 you have got an overclocker of a Striker Extreme caliber, for about 1/3 of a price. It has its problems (no SB heatsink!), but they can be easily rectified.

And as Tuvoc has said, there are better alternatives. For about $50.00 more, you can get P5N32-E SLI Plus, with the same great NB, the SB with the proper heatpipe heatsink, and 2x 16 PCIe slots.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813131153

It is a personal preference after all, but I would stick with the manufacturer of the greatest GPU to date - NVidia. And ASUS motherboards are the best - IMHO.

Ditto !

 

[garikfox]

Originally posted by: AMelbye
vulcan 4d: I'd go for the Gigabyte GA-N650SLI-DS4. Very much the same as the p5n-e sli, but with less problems. read here: http://sg.vr-zone.com/?i=4939&s=1

2080 FSB with no mods!!! That'd give you 3.64 GHz, if your cpu can handle it!

I'm struggling to reach 3GHz with my P5n-e sli. Although I've seen people reaching 2000+FSB with the board (with additional cooling), my setup won't let me.

I'm about to give up to be honest. I don't know about the P5B.

ElAguila: I thought there was a memory hole at 1600FSB/800RAM? I always avoided it for that reason.. I'm gonna give that one a try now.

Tuvoc: according to the review I posted, the zalman beats the hr-05 though. If the hr05 is better than the stock heatsink, then the zalman must be better as well, right?

After doing some research, I've reinforced my suspicion that the LDT frequency determines the speed of the SB chip. I'm now gonna reduce it to 4x, and see if that makes things stable at 1820FSB. Everything seems to be fine at 1500 btw.

I bet you can do 1600 and you dont even know it, Make sure the NB (V) is at 1.56v

 

[Tuvoc]

Originally posted by: garikfox

Originally posted by: JustaGeek
If I had to make a choice today, I would have chosen exactly the same MB - P5N-E SLI. But... I have not had any problems. For ~$130.00 you have got an overclocker of a Striker Extreme caliber, for about 1/3 of a price. It has its problems (no SB heatsink!), but they can be easily rectified.

And as Tuvoc has said, there are better alternatives. For about $50.00 more, you can get P5N32-E SLI Plus, with the same great NB, the SB with the proper heatpipe heatsink, and 2x 16 PCIe slots.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813131153

It is a personal preference after all, but I would stick with the manufacturer of the greatest GPU to date - NVidia. And ASUS motherboards are the best - IMHO.

Ditto !

This is one ASUS board that does not meet their normal high standards, in my opinion.

 

[ElAguila]

I have seen that gigabyte board in action. The big advantage that I think it has over this board is the voltage stability. I have to really put the vcore up there to get 3.6GHz on my 6600 because of the voltage drops. When I dropped it in my friends gigabyte board it took much less vcore. As far as the memory hole, I am running 1600fsb with a multi of 8. The memory is unlinked and it is running at 1GHz.

 

[Tuvoc]

Yes - the vdroop on this board is horrible, and it's far far worse with a quad core

 

[JustaGeek]

Originally posted by: Tuvoc

This is one ASUS board that does not meet their normal high standards, in my opinion.

You are right - the board seems kind of... unfinished, with a strange placement of the mounting holes, and an obvious lack of proper Southbridge cooling. And ASUS seems to be a little ignorant about the issues - the newer boards are equipped with a humongous SB heatsink making SLI impossible! But... it is a ~$130 board after all, and it has the great 650i chipset!

I have had no problems whatsoever with mine, and am really satisfied with my stable moderate overclock. Thats why I would still recommend it, even though I will probably never try to push the board's overclocking limits.

I really like the P5N-32-E SLI Plus though, with its solid-state capacitors, 2x 16 PCIe slots, heatpipe cooling and mounting holes at both edges. It is worth the extra ~$50-60 in my opinion. You might not be able to reach a higher overclock than our boards, but at least you won't have to worry about "frying" the SB chipset, or cracking the PCB during memory modules installation :roll:.

 

[vulcan4d]

Thanks guys, really appreciate the help and thanks for poiting me towards other great motherboards too! In truth the reason why I thought I would have less problems overclocking with the p5n-e is that the fsb and mem does not have to be in sync. Therefore I would not have a problem reaching a high fsb with my 4gb 667mhz ram. I guess this is possible with other 650 chipset motherboards. I'll look into it myself. Thanks again!

 

[EXLINK]

I have the P5N-E and I don't know what my motherboard temperature should be at. According to Asus PC Probe II my Motherboard idles at 46°C-47°C and my Processor (E6420) at 33°C-34°C. If I turn off Q-Fan control (making my Zalman 9700 to run at full speed) the temperature of my CPU drops to 32°C idle and motherboard to 42°C idle (5°C Less!). I currently do not have a side case fan but am thinking about modding a 80mm fan on the side to blow on my Northbridge. Do you think that would cause the temperature to remain at 42°C or less idle without having my Zalman running at 100%? Is it even worth doing so? Are these temperatures normal?

Thanks!

exlink

 

[ElAguila]

I would just go ahead and mod the fan and put on on the nb cooler.

 

[AMelbye]

EXLINK: what's your room temperature? Do you have any intake/exhaust fans at all? My motherboard temp is about 10 less than yours, and I only have an intake fan. You might be better off with your cabinet open

I find it strange that your cpu is significantly colder than the motherboard. maybe one of the sensors are showing the wrong reading, or maybe they're somehow swapped around?

 

[EXLINK]

Originally posted by: AMelbye
EXLINK: what's your room temperature? Do you have any intake/exhaust fans at all? My motherboard temp is about 10 less than yours, and I only have an intake fan. You might be better off with your cabinet open

I find it strange that your cpu is significantly colder than the motherboard. maybe one of the sensors are showing the wrong reading, or maybe they're somehow swapped around?

My room temperature is usually around 25°C-27°C during the summer. This is my second P5N-E motherboard and has the exact same temperatures. I have a Coolermaster Centurion 5 Case with a 120mm fan in the back, a 80mm fan on the HDD bay and a 120mm fan in the 5.25" bay. I'm thinking that if I add a 80mm fan to the side of my case that I could push in cooler air directly onto my CPU, Motherboard, and GPU. My last motherboard, I changed the NB cooler to a Vantec Iceberq and my motherboard temps were still at around 44°C idle.

exlink

 

[Tuvoc]

My motherboard temp is 41C but with my Quad Core under full load. Room temps similar to yours. I have no idea of idle temps because it is never idle.

Lian-Li PC7-plus case - 120mm fans front and rear, and a top blowhole 80mm fan. All low rpm.

 

[EXLINK]

Originally posted by: Tuvoc
My motherboard temp is 41C but with my Quad Core under full load. Room temps similar to yours. I have no idea of idle temps because it is never idle.

Lian-Li PC7-plus case - 120mm fans front and rear, and a top blowhole 80mm fan. All low rpm.

Do you use the stock Intel heatsink? Some people say that the P5N-E's motherboard temperatures go down if you use the stock one because it somehow pulls the heat off the NB heatsink and pushes it out.

exlink

 

[Tuvoc]

Originally posted by: EXLINK

Originally posted by: Tuvoc
My motherboard temp is 41C but with my Quad Core under full load. Room temps similar to yours. I have no idea of idle temps because it is never idle.

Lian-Li PC7-plus case - 120mm fans front and rear, and a top blowhole 80mm fan. All low rpm.

Do you use the stock Intel heatsink? Some people say that the P5N-E's motherboard temperatures go down if you use the stock one because it somehow pulls the heat off the NB heatsink and pushes it out.

exlink

That comment could well be right

But no, I use the Freezer 7 Pro which blows towards the back of the case

I don't think 41C as a motherboard temp is anything to worry about, it's pretty normal. These readings are notoriously unreliable and depend on where the sensor is placed

 

[AMelbye]

garikfox: nah, I just had a crash. That's with nbvcore at 1.3 though. I'm gonna see if increasing it will help, but I don't really think it will.

I guess I'could drill a hole for an exhaust fan. I'd be well pissed off if that doesn't make a difference, though :/

Will applying some better thermal compound to the NB cooler make a big difference? I have some artic silver2 laying around

 

[EXLINK]

Originally posted by: AMelbye
garikfox: nah, I just had a crash. That's with nbvcore at 1.3 though. I'm gonna see if increasing it will help, but I don't really think it will.

I guess I'could drill a hole for an exhaust fan. I'd be well pissed off if that doesn't make a difference, though :/

Will applying some better thermal compound to the NB cooler make a big difference? I have some artic silver2 laying around

Changing the thermal compound will not make a difference since the compound on the NB is already metal based (I think it even is silver). I changed it from stock compound to Arctic Silver 5 and got a 0°C change.

The only time when my motherboard is really cool is when something is directly blowing the heat off of the heatsink (such as when my Zalman is at full speed). I think a side INTAKE fan could lower the temperatures significantly. I emphasized intake because when I have my side cover off of my computer, the temperature still remains the same.

exlink