ASUS P5N-E SLI 650i Thread

[DonNiger]

i have some results, benched a couple of weeks ago. In SLI mode, the VGA core does not go as high as in a single mode. This board does not have an extra power connector to support PCI-E slots.

SLI GF6600GT 600/650

Single GF6600GT 610/650


71% improvement.

In 3DMark06 my results were 2245 versus 3549, it makes about 63% (but that is only because of the C2D)

As far as I have seen before, there is a difference between 2x16 or 2x8, and it is up to 10%. With my last MB (Asus P5N32-SLI Deluxe), the difference was above 80%.

Originally Posted by Perry

I know I've posted before saying I planned on picking up this board and that hasn't changed but I'm curious to know if anybody has any sites that show benchmarks with this board running a single video card vs. two.

Essentially 1x16 vs. 2x8.

[trevorrs]

all i have to say is

holy crap 52 pages!

possibly getting this mobo so better start reading................

Trevor

[Raikku]

What you ppl(this mobo's users) think about these few, not so good, reviews?
(ie. this from Xbit)

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mai...5ne-sli_9.html

Is there faulty mobos out there, or do this board have some odd habits what you just have to know when you use it(?)


And, although it's not Asus, what you think about MSI's similar mobo, better/worse ?

[dpawl31]

Originally Posted by trevorrs

all i have to say is

holy crap 52 pages!

possibly getting this mobo so better start reading................

Trevor

Here's an example of a quote from my REPs...

Thanks for making this post w/ all the great Info. it was a great read... for 2 1/2 hours! ha

lol. Glad I started the thread- means I don't have to read it all.
lol Enjoy!

**EDIT**
That was roughly 10 pages ago. LOL

[Perry]

I did some reading on the MSI board and while I do like the addition of some southbridge cooling, I've had bad luck with boards that arent' Asus.

I'll stick with this because Asus seems to have better support than MSI...that's my opinion anyway.

I can't see myself going SLI but once I do my upgrade and the 8800's come down in price, I may just induldge myself.

[dpawl31]

Originally Posted by Raikku

What you ppl(this mobo's users) think about these few, not so good, reviews?
(ie. this from Xbit)

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mai...5ne-sli_9.html

Is there faulty mobos out there, or do this board have some odd habits what you just have to know when you use it(?)


And, although it's not Asus, what you think about MSI's similar mobo, better/worse ?

OK I am going to break down this review for you. It is a bad review, and what I mean is they did a bad job reviewing it.

Moreover, it allows using graphics cards with Nvidia’s GPUs in SLI mode, even through at a lower speed than you would have with the more expensive nForce 680i SLI-based mainboards.

"Lower Speed". It's been shown no more than 10%. If you are dualing 8800GTXs on this board... you really don't need that 10%. But, when in the future it does require more power (ie DX10 games...) it may be in your interest to get another board. But honestly, 10% is the HIGHEST difference seen, it is usually around 4%, and considering the cost of the 16x boards... DAMN.



Highs:

Good performance

-obviously

Can overclock the FSB almost to 500MHz

-proved @ other sites OVER 500

Can overclock system memory independently

- agreed, this is GREAT

Appealing price

- no kidding?!


Lows:

Chipset and the CPU voltage regulator are not cooled enough

-Quite obvious, anyone even trying to buy it knows that. Also ASUS is known for bad thermal paste, so you usually remove the HS's anyway, why not upgrade to active? Even some of the high end boards have passive cooling

A FSB hole from 400 to 450MHz

- That's news to me... first time I've read it. Seems to be something just they experienced.

Faulty PCB design

- Now this part irritates me. Read below

Six-channel integrated audio

Who cares.. it works great, and most people get soundblaster cards anyway.

OK now in reference to the PCB, this is sections from what they said:

The elements of the CPU voltage regulator, including capacitors, are located on the PCB right around the CPU socket, which is not good. They may prevent you from installing a cooler with a massive base (the North Bridge heatsink may be an obstacle, too).

My Freezer 7 sits just about as low as any of them, and its pretty wide. No issues at all with the caps and regulators. I DID however hit the NB HS, but that is because its huge, and it only touched a millimeter of my Freeezers fan bracket. Solved it by removing the ASUS logo, and bending down the center fin. Also in relation to cooling the Freezer 7 has bent fins (stock) at the back that blow over the regulators, thus cooling them

You can also find it difficult to connect the additional 12V power cable. The mainboard has a 4-pin connector, and the modern 8-pin connector doesn’t plug into it easily due to the jumper indiscreetly placed nearby.

If you don't have a removable motherboard tray (ie my Antec 900) it really is a slight pain in the batooky to get the 12v power in. BUT, not really that bad it just takes a little handy work with your hand (pun intended). I think they only had a problem because of the type of connector they used- I had the 4 pin 12v (most PSUs come with 8 pin, that seperates into two 4's., they had a straight 8 pin... hah!)

The FDD slot is placed very inconveniently behind the last PCI. The placement of the SATA ports is not good, either. You may find it difficult to use them if you’ve got two graphics cards in your system. The inappropriate choice of places for the various slots may be explained by the reduced area of the PCB (to make it cheaper), but what we can’t explain and justify is that the mainboard offers only three fan connectors. That’s not enough for a mainboard of that class that carries a lot of hot elements on board.

Floppy drive.. who the hell uses a floppy drive anymore lol. And if you do, it still works, just a wierd spot. So what?
SATA cables are tiny, easily routed around video cards. Plus, in most cases the HDDs are in the middle if not the bottom, so why is it a bad spot for them?
3 Fan connectors. Guess how many I am using with 3 120mm, 1 200mm, and my CPU fan.
ONE. My CPU fan. Most people building a system with this board will have 1)fans with switches 2)a fan speed controller 3)who needs more than two additional fan connectors? I'd rather have power straight from the PSU anyway, less strain on the MOBO's power.

In conclusion- I think a 15 year old reviewed this board. hah.
I am biased... but I think I covered everything well. Maybe I should make a real review and put in on OCN? I'll have you guys help edit it and such, then we'll post it with all our names

**EDIT**
Holy mother of Jesus that's a long post. HAHA!

[dpawl31]

Originally Posted by Perry

I did some reading on the MSI board and while I do like the addition of some southbridge cooling, I've had bad luck with boards that arent' Asus.

I'll stick with this because Asus seems to have better support than MSI...that's my opinion anyway.

Yup. SB cooling = good, but also not a reason to buy over this board.
You can get a HS for the SB for $2.

[Kopi]

Thats my plan...the stock NB looks so damn cool though

Pook go up to 3.4ghz on his e6300 and his NB temp was 52c if i recall correctly, thats not too bad for such high clocks. I think that was with either 1.5 r 1.45 volts going through...which i wouldn't keep anyways, i'd consider that a suicide run..probabl run 3.2 or 3.0 for day to day use.

I laugh at all the things they say went wrong lmao...check out anandtech who loved it, thats a reputable review. And for 150 bucks canadian (which i got mine for) paying the extra 20 for nb and sb cooling isn't so bad

[Kopi]

Anyone here running TAT? I can't get mine to work, neither can Pook (we both have this mobo). Just wondering if its a mobo problem. I get this error.

[exnihilo]

Originally Posted by Kopi

Anyone here running TAT? I can't get mine to work, neither can Pook (we both have this mobo). Just wondering if its a mobo problem. I get this error.

From what I've seen bro., it's a common issue right now. Maybe they'll (Intel) will get it sorted out soon.

cg