Hardware questions!

[RadishTM Veteran]

The IDE connector is in a weird place on the ASUS P5N32-E SLI Plus, in-front of the PSU connector :s

I agree with you with the issues with the nVidia chipsets (then again, it's also the implementation on the motherboards), I know Intel chipsets are rock solid.

And since I'm an occasional gamer, SLI would be wasting money IMHO. Then later on in the year I can go back to ATi with CrossFire if I really need it (and it would be a good change from nVidia) :p

It's more or less looking like the ASUS P5W DH Deluxe for me! :D

That ASUS P5K3-Deluxe is one fully-featured motherboard, the back panel says it all :|

Radish?

[chconline Veteran]

Yep yep, good choice (Y) I was actually holding off some of the Asus motherboards because of stuff like eSATA... only high end boards has eSATA, but boards like the Asus Commando does not have it :| The Asus P5K3-Deluxe has it all, and dropping a PS/2 port for two additional USB is definitely a plus. Also, actual firewire without internal to PCI bracket on the back I/O panel is an added plus :D Plus, dual eSATA which is always welcome.

The only thing I can complain about is the odd placement of IDE connector, but since SATA optical drives are so popular, most people can live with it. I don't understand why the Asus P5K3-Deluxe has much better cooling (Dual heatpipes over full perimeter around the CPU socket, and additional VRM cooling) than the standard Asus P5K-Deluxe that uses standard DDR2 RAM. Either way, I am picking up one when it comes out :D All solid caps too, you might actually want to get one if you can wait just a short while. Otherwise the Asus P5W-DH is a very solid board IMO. Asus doesn't really NEED solid caps to make good mobos. I've been using cheap and high end motherboards from Asus for all these years, zero problems -- even an Asus K8V-X (Which was like literally dirt cheap a few years back when I was darn poor) lasted well until today. In fact I am using that Athlon 64 comp right now as I post :p

[RadishTM Veteran]

I couldn't wait for the ASUS P5K3-Deluxe (also a lot of money), got a E6600 gathering dust here :laugh:

Radish?

[ultimate99]

Yep yep, good choice (Y) I was actually holding off some of the Asus motherboards because of stuff like eSATA... only high end boards has eSATA, but boards like the Asus Commando does not have it :| The Asus P5K3-Deluxe has it all, and dropping a PS/2 port for two additional USB is definitely a plus. Also, actual firewire without internal to PCI bracket on the back I/O panel is an added plus :D Plus, dual eSATA which is always welcome.

The only thing I can complain about is the odd placement of IDE connector, but since SATA optical drives are so popular, most people can live with it. I don't understand why the Asus P5K3-Deluxe has much better cooling (Dual heatpipes over full perimeter around the CPU socket, and additional VRM cooling) than the standard Asus P5K-Deluxe that uses standard DDR2 RAM. Either way, I am picking up one when it comes out :D All solid caps too, you might actually want to get one if you can wait just a short while. Otherwise the Asus P5W-DH is a very solid board IMO. Asus doesn't really NEED solid caps to make good mobos. I've been using cheap and high end motherboards from Asus for all these years, zero problems -- even an Asus K8V-X (Which was like literally dirt cheap a few years back when I was darn poor) lasted well until today. In fact I am using that Athlon 64 comp right now as I post :p

Interesting info there chconline, it's new to me. :D I've never heard of the P5k3-Deluxe nor that DDR3 will be out soon. When are they expected to be out? WTH, I'm struggling on what to get in the next couple of months, maybe 3 :p, and now you say DDR3?? Also new C2D with 1333mhz FSB??? Man, where's my trusty 486x or PII 333mhz...

[RadishTM Veteran]

How stable are the Geforce 8 series drivers under Windows XP?

I'm thinking about the 8800 GTS 320MB, hmm ....

Radish?

[RadishTM Veteran]

Just wanted to say thanks to who posted in the thread with their advice, especially chconline :)

More questions will be arriving in due course as I setup the new hardware :whistle:

Radish?

[chconline Veteran]

Lol you are welcome :p By the way when you get the stuff, post some pics up :D

[RadishTM Veteran]

Some good news and bad news.

Good news - all the hardware came today.

Bad news - the motherboard came with a hole in the box due to some sort of pressure placed on it, the card has been depressed all the way through damaging the WiFI card onboard (45 degree angle).

Weird thing is that the hole has been taped, and the delivery box is not damaged at all. So it must of been an idiot at Ebuyer's warehouse. They are sending me a brand new motherboard tomorrow and getting the old one picked up as well.

Radish?

[RadishTM Veteran]

Got the new motherboard the next day, Ebuyer rule (Y)

Set it all up, all working as it should. My E6600 temperature (with the side panel off) is 21 degrees on idle, on load about 28 degrees with the Arctic Cooler Freezer Pro 7 fan running at full speed.

I'm a bit annoyed that the WiFI card cannot be disabled from the BIOS, the card has to be removed totally.

Installed Half-Life 2 and Test Drive Unlimited to test the graphics on the 8800 GTS, with all settings being maxed out @ 1680 x 1050 = smooth as butter :D

One thing worrying me, the temperature of the 8800 GTS. Normally running at 49/50 degrees on idle, about 57/58 degrees on load - are they meant to run this hot? :s

Will be doing a clean install this week as well.

Radish?

[chconline Veteran]

No the temps are fine. GPUs can run really hot :p Like, it can go to 80 and it's not really an issue.

HL2 is actually not a very demanding game. I tried maxed out on my X1950 Pro at 1680x1050 and it works without issues. Try a more demanding game to impress yourself :)

[cchasem]

youre right, hl2 is not a demanding game at all (but it does look marvelous!). i can max it out smoothly @ 1440x900 on my AGP 7600GS OC (p4 2.8ghz, 1gb ram).

Try Supreme Commander on for size!

[RadishTM Veteran]

Will do :)

Now an update, I've moved the hardware from my test case into my Antec P180 - and the temperatures have dropped :D

The CPU now runs at 18C on idle, motherboard is 34C and the 8800 GTS is 45C :happy:

I've got 3 120mm Antec Tri-Cool fans running at medium, and the AC Freezer Pro 7 fan running at full speed - 2700 RPM = all I can hear is a gentle hum from the tower (Y)

Radish?

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

how are your temps so low :|

[gummyz]

yeah Radish, ur temps are superlow. You need to give us the secret :) (u're watching this from PC Probe II and nTune?). For cooling, I'm using 5 case fans now (3x120mm - Scythe, Lian-Li, SilenX and 2x80mm SilenX). Not entirely quiet but very bareable sound.

Just for comparison

CPU

25C idle

31C load

System

45C idle but not sure about load yet

GPU

69C idle

74C load

I'm not at home to confirm, this is off the top of my head. So ur temps are absolutely perfect.

Radish, I'm sorry to hijack ur thread, but just going back to my slow post issue. I'm just wondering if u've got garbage on ur screen when the post screen switches (ie IDE detection, to summary of devices, to Windows progress bar screen/bootloader)?

Also if u're really concerned about ur GPU temps, the newer nvidia drivers seem to have broken the fan control. They run ur GPU fan @ 60% and it doesn't ramp up when in 3d mode either (according to RT and other forum posts). I used RT to turn the fan to 80% and the sound is not noticeable at all over my other fans (I think my PSU fan is the loudest)

One last thing, did u remove the Digital Home and Asus stickers from ur chipset heatsinks?

[RadishTM Veteran]

Yep, I'm getting the temperatures from PC Probe II. No secrets to be honest (well cable management FTW) ;)

The P180 has excellent air flow IMO, 1 exhaust fan at the top, one at the back and the last one is in the bottom chamber infront of the PSU.

Temeratures now are -

CPU - 21C

Motherboard - 38C

GPU - 47C

The PC has been on for 12 hours +. I know about the nVidia fan control, I use RivaTuner to change fan speed if needs be. Since my Corsair HX520 PSU is in the bottom chamber, it's 120mm fan blows cold air up to the 8800 GTS :D

Regarding the POST issue, I have some display corruption. I've emailed BFGTech, and they told me to update to the latest BIOS for my motherboard (which I already told them I did). I've downgraded from v2004 to v1901 and the issue is still there.

I'm going to try v1701 to see if it makes a difference. I don't seem to have the stickers on my chipset heatsinks, maybe I'm not trying hard enough to get them off :laugh:

Radish?

[gummyz]

Yes, I hear the P18x series are awesome (it was my 3rd choice in cases along with my current Lian Li and a Silverstone TJ07)

btw I checked last night and I'm using 1001 right now and have not updated my bios since I got the board. I did some benchmarking with FEAR and Source and no artifacts. Is the text on the POST corrupt or is there lots of garbage on it? My POST screen looks fine, just garbage when switching b/w POST screens. I'm gonna run further tests over the weekend, and will post more of what I find. Since we have pretty much the same card and same board, possibly we can help each other out ;) Altho don't expect me to start ripping hardware Mr. Optimus Prime :)

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=106563

I'm just posting the above link for the stickers on the heatsink, or are they more like adhesives? Mine had 2 layers, I took off the first layer which protects the words, and there's the 2nd layer that actually has the words printed on them. I think my chipset temps went from 50s to 45C idle. It will probably drop to 40s if I remove the 2nd layer tho I'm asking around before I do it. The post has the person do it tho :)

[RadishTM Veteran]

In Windows XP the card runs great, no corruption and stable under load. But when booting up, switching between BIOS screens there is corruption and the BIOS pages are a bit slow to redraw.

Radish?

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

i have the Lian Li PC65 PlusII and as far as im concerned, the airflow is terrible. my cable management is stellar imo, but i think the included fans are awful. anyone confirm if they suck or not? im going to look into replacing them soon.

btw, the case came w/ a rear 80mm, a top 80mm (blocked by PSU cables mostly, but still works), and a 120mm intake

[rajputwarrior]

jees radish, you moved away from the asrock already... (i don't blame you at all). good to hear you are loving your new setup

[RadishTM Veteran]

jees radish, you moved away from the asrock already... (i don't blame you at all). good to hear you are loving your new setup

Yep, the amount of problems I was having with that motherboard was unbelievable :|

Radish?

[gummyz]

hmm urs sounds worst than mine does. My garbage is barely noticeable, but like I said, I'll take a look more over the weekend. In terms of the bios part, it is a little laggy but nothing I can't really live with. Again, I'll take a look closer tho, I've not been in the bios too much lately. I have tried switching the video boot from PCI-E/PCI to PCI/PCI-E but that made no difference. omg u had an Asrock before, I think I remember that thread from a while ago. Decent board for those who are not able to fully upgrade

Jdawg, yeah Lian-Li fans aren't really that great imo. For me tho, case fans don't really do too much. I usually have the strongest one become exhausts and the slower ones as intakes. I personally don't bother replacing the case fans in terms of airflow, unless they are noisy. It may help drop temps by a little but nothing staggering from my own testing. I would first try and reconfigure the side fan if u are worried about temps. Sometimes following the specs from the manufacturer can cause turbulance which doesn't help.

[RadishTM Veteran]

The BIOS is laggy for me too, it's not at the default VGA resolution for the BIOS. The corruption only exists between switching screens (POST to JMicron BOOTROM).

Radish?

[gummyz]

Yeah it sounds like the garbage I'm seeing, tho I disabled my JMicron since it's useless to me, so I don't see too much of it. Have you tried disabling the Fan monitoring in the bios yet to see if it helps with slow POST or more responsive bios? I tried it myself but nothing changed for me

[RadishTM Veteran]

I don't use the QFan option (if that's what you're asking). I'm thinking it could be a manufacturing fault with the card :/

Radish?

[RadishTM Veteran]

I've run 3DMark 06 on the new hardware and got 8913 points, any good? :unsure:

Radish?