My review on 2900xt 1Gb Crossfire; P35 vs X38 - Page 2 - Overclock.net

binormalkilla · 11-10-07

You shouldn't go over 1.55V MAX on air or you will experience electron migration. The transistors on the CPU can cross paths when this happens.....not good. At a certain point only sub zero temps can prevent electron migration.

BTW I installed the maximus and it won't POST.....can't detect the memory SPD data.
I have tried all possible combinations of my DIMMs and it just won't POST. This sucks.
I'm going to try one last time when I get home from work today, then I'm going to just reinstall the P5K and hope it posts.....still haven't shipped it out for RMA yet.
I'm going to order the Gigabyte model....this is trash. No more ASUS for me man.

gtarmanrob · 11-10-07

Quote:

Originally Posted by binormalkilla

You shouldn't go over 1.55V MAX on air or you will experience electron migration. The transistors on the CPU can cross paths when this happens.....not good. At a certain point only sub zero temps can prevent electron migration.

BTW I installed the maximus and it won't POST.....can't detect the memory SPD data.
I have tried all possible combinations of my DIMMs and it just won't POST. This sucks.
I'm going to try one last time when I get home from work today, then I'm going to just reinstall the P5K and hope it posts.....still haven't shipped it out for RMA yet.
I'm going to order the Gigabyte model....this is trash. No more ASUS for me man.

haha. dude i cant stand ASUS, but thats just me.

hey with regards to the highlighted bit, what if im running water cooling? @ 3.9ghz, 1.54v (1.55 @ load) CPU idles at 38c, full load 55-56c. i think those temps are pretty reasonable. whats the max recommended water cooling voltage?

Zulli85 · 11-10-07

What is that Crysis bechmark thing you ran via Run??

TnB= Gir · 11-10-07

Quote:

Originally Posted by binormalkilla

Ok here's an update with the Lost Coast bench. The exact same settings as above.

That's weird, how come I don't get the 64 bit mode active when I play a source game? And yes I have xp pro x64.

gtarmanrob · 11-10-07

Quote:

Originally Posted by TnB= Gir

That's weird, how come I don't get the 64 bit mode active when I play a source game? And yes I have xp pro x64.

i get it. i have Vista 64-bit too though. for me, when i installed Vista and then Steam and got my games going, they seemed to download extra content automatically. im assuming the 64-bit texture packs or files or whatever. Half-Life 2 runs in 64-bit mode as well.

binormalkilla · 11-10-07

Quote:

Originally Posted by gtarmanrob

haha. dude i cant stand ASUS, but thats just me.

hey with regards to the highlighted bit, what if im running water cooling? @ 3.9ghz, 1.54v (1.55 @ load) CPU idles at 38c, full load 55-56c. i think those temps are pretty reasonable. whats the max recommended water cooling voltage?

As long as your temps are ok then you're all good. Just be sure to stay under 1.55V. BTW is that voltage actual or in the BIOS?

Regarding the question about the crysis bench, you can find it under (forgive me if it's incorrect, but it's something like this)
c:\Program Files (x86 for me)\Electronic Arts\Crytek\Crysis SP Demo\x64 files (or something like that)
The files are GPUbench.bat and CPUbench.bat in the respective folder for your version. I ran the x64 benches, but they're the same I believe. I don't think the demo supports x64. I think these files are merely for compatibility.

Anyhow, I got my X38 up and running. The issue was that the mobo sets the voltage to 1.8V by default. I went by Circuit City today and bought a stick of Kingston Value RAM DDR2-667 for $45 and it booted on the first try. I then set my VDIMM to 2.2V and shut down. I then installed 2 Ballistix DIMMS and it POSTed! I set the timings and I'm good now.
As soon as I have the same OC as on the other board I'll post my benches. I'm still installing drivers and hotfixes, so it should be around an hour or so.

gtarmanrob · 11-11-07

Quote:

Originally Posted by binormalkilla

As long as your temps are ok then you're all good. Just be sure to stay under 1.55V. BTW is that voltage actual or in the BIOS?

Regarding the question about the crysis bench, you can find it under (forgive me if it's incorrect, but it's something like this)
c:Program Files (x86 for me)Electronic ArtsCrytekCrysis SP Demox64 files (or something like that)
The files are GPUbench.bat and CPUbench.bat in the respective folder for your version. I ran the x64 benches, but they're the same I believe. I don't think the demo supports x64. I think these files are merely for compatibility.

Anyhow, I got my X38 up and running. The issue was that the mobo sets the voltage to 1.8V by default. I went by Circuit City today and bought a stick of Kingston Value RAM DDR2-667 for $45 and it booted on the first try. I then set my VDIMM to 2.2V and shut down. I then installed 2 Ballistix DIMMS and it POSTed! I set the timings and I'm good now.
As soon as I have the same OC as on the other board I'll post my benches. I'm still installing drivers and hotfixes, so it should be around an hour or so.

BIOS is 1.54v, actual volt is 1.54v. with full load, its 1.55v. i have applied the pencil mod to my board, i think a little too much so it slightly overvolts at full load. i think it kinda helps in a way.

lol dont go over 1.55v ay .... oops

i tried 1.59v for 4.05ghz to bench. didnt work. i rekon 1.6v would do it.

good work on getting urs goin, cant wait to see those results.

binormalkilla · 11-11-07

Well I can't get over 400 FSB ATM....running the latest 0701 beta BIOS, so I may try an earlier one. Here are some benches that I ran at 3.2 GHz.....
I have to install my games to run benches so those will be tomorrow.....leaving Steam installing all night tonight. I'm also DLing Crysis retail and the demo again.

binormalkilla · 11-11-07

Ok well.....still can't boot at over 400 FSB so I'm going to keep the CPU at the same internal clock with a lower FSB and lower RAM to run the game and 3dmark tests. I'm going to increase it back to 400 MHz for 24/7 use because I took a HUGE hit on bandwidth and latency for lowering the FSB and RAM frequencies.....