Re: P5N32-SLI DL

BC wrote:
Hi all,

I have been having nothing but problems with this board. As I see it it is not fit for purpose.

I have a 3.2mhz extreme edition processor with corsair XMS2 6400 DDR2 ram. I am on my third motherboard an 6th set of ram, I also tried patriot DDR 2G8000 and this fails as well. In all cases the system locks up after a while and when I run Microsoft's Ram tester I get errors on the LDAP test on the third pass and every pass after that. The patriot ram will not even boot every time it mostly fails the post test.

I have loaded the latest beta bios and that has improved things slightly but the system still locks up and the memory tester fails again on the random LDAP test but less frequently.

Has anybody got any ideas - asus just ignore my emails.

Bob


Hi Bob,

I do not have one of these boards, but, it does look a bit problematic, from various reviews.

Here is one thread from Newegg customers:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/CustratingReview.asp?item=N82E16813131564

One reviewer on Newegg said:

****

Pros: 6-layer PCB for stability. Heatpiped chipset and voltage regulator cooling. Excellent bundle of cables and accessories. Good stability once you get enough power and cooling.

Cons: Latest Rev 1.02 DOES NOT overclock well AT ALL. Anandtech's review was performed on a Rev 1.01 board. Motherboard REQUIRES a minimum 550W PSU with EPS12V connector. 600W+ recommended! Motherboard generates a LOT of heat so great airflow is a requirement or will become unstable. NForce 4's TCP/IP offload still corrupts packets, so use the secondary GigE port. Some older HDDs with NCQ can become corrupt and will need a firmware update. You'll need BIOS 308 or higher for dual-core CPU support or else go through ASUS's lackluster support and PAY to ship you a new BIOS chip.

Other Thoughts: This is a great board with a LOT of caveats. Its a PCIe-32 lane board, so you MUST install the correct SLI-32 drivers and NOT the SLI-16 drivers. This board is POWER HUNGRY and you WILL need a min 550W PowerSupply with an EPS12v 8-pin connector. NO, a 4-pin to 8-pin adaptor is NOT acceptable. The N.Bridge and Voltage Regulators get HOT; have adaquate airflow over their heatsinks. If your CPU HS/Fan is ducted, you'll need to install the included chipset fans for stability. ASUS's support is horrendous, so don't depend on them. If you plan on using a dual-core P4, CONFIRM that the board has BIOS 308 or higher or else ASUS will CHARGE YOU to ship you a new BIOS chip. Some Maxtor and Seagate HDDs with NCQ can become corrupt due to Nforce4's improper handling of NCQ; the HDDs' firmware will need to be upgraded. Do NOT use the TCP/IP Hardware offloading feature on NForce4; you'll have instability issues and corrupt downloads. Use the secondary non-Nforce GigEthernet por

****

In looking through the reviews, several others had experiences similar to yours.

Seems somewhat unlikely that 3 motherboards and six sets of RAM would be bad--might be the way the motherboard and RAM interacts with the rest of the system.

Specifically, I notice that PC Power and Cooling recommends their $500 *one kilowatt* power supply for this board: man, that's a lot of juice. Not sure what power supply you are using, but it's not likely that it's in the 1KW class....

http://www.pcpowercooling.com/products/viewproduct.php?show=TC1KW4E

Case: looks like this board and the Intel processor put out a lot of heat: is it adequately cooled? (Using a "Thermally advantaged case" and all that?)

Is there a short between the board and the case?

Stability: I have sworn off VIA chipsets forever....and, sounds like you have had a 'stable system epiphany'--I am more than willing to take a bit less performance for a stable system. AMD/nVidia, or Intel/Intel chipset combinations seem to work well, but, Intel/nVidia: maybe not ready for prime time yet....

HTH,

BC


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