ASUS Crosshair?

[BiGg RiE]

Ok, here are the pix i promised, keep in mind I took these with my cell phone, it was like 1am and I didn't feel like looking for the digital.
Hope this gives you some insight.



This pic shows the tight fit of the grfx card and the ide connection with the cable plugged into it.



Same as above different angles.



This one shows how my Grfx card is almost as long as the board itself.


This one shows the HDD bay and Gfx card fit tightly, there's a little less than a cm between them. Which is why i had to move that HDD and free up the bay directly behind the gfx card as I couldn't get the sata or pci-x power connections between the two.


Same as above but a closer shot.



This one shows the gfx and hdd pluged in. Notice how I had to fish the IDE and pci-x connections through the one free HDD slot in the bay. Oh, where are the sata connectors? If you look closely near the "t" in fit u can see a 'lil piece of'em. See the next pic.


Same as above notice the coverage of the sata connections on the mobo.

So there you have it the pix on the problems with the install.

The temps were taken with the stock HSF installed.
Unfortunately I broke it and had to replace it with this http://www.compusa.com/products/product ... sal_Cooler which droped the cpu temp to 37.

So far most of my os tweaks are in and I've gotten a stable overclock of 2.475Ghz. I tried ovrclcking my ram but can't seem to find any good timings that work other than the default 5-5-5-18 2t I saw someone on newegg post 4-4-4-12 timings on the same ram I have but those don't work for me.

As far as performance goes I can notice a very big difference in multitasking ie; watching a movie on one monitor, while downloading and surfing the web on the other.

Oh and speaking of networking I used the one ethernet jack for the first few days then I plugged both into my router and my bandwidth felt like it doubled litterally.

Overall I'm very satisfied with the board, my games run and load faster. so far I've tested Tomb Raider: legend, Fear, NFS carbon & most wanted, Condemned, Jade empire, Stalker, R6: Vegas, Prey and Hitman: BM. They all run much smoother now.

BiGg RiE

[camaroguy1998]

Ok so the HDD cage was the only case related problem, all the other problems are board related! Thats not too bad!
My plan right now doesnt involve the IDE port so I should be good there.

OCing your RAM..... did you try to raise the voltage to see if it will stabilize?

I'm still a few weeks away from ordering everything so if anything else comes up post it!(good or bad)

Thanx BiGg RiE!

[BiGg RiE]

Ok so the HDD cage was the only case related problem, all the other problems are board related! Thats not too bad!
My plan right now doesnt involve the IDE port so I should be good there.

You have a sata optical drive? I've heard bad things about them how does it run?

OCing your RAM..... did you try to raise the voltage to see if it will stabilize?

I tried up to 2.02 but it still wouldn't post and I had to clear the cmos. The fastest timings of 4-4-4-12 were at 2.0 from what I read. I'm not to keen on ovrclcking this ram either so Who knows, I would really like to get faster timings to cause i know I'll be killin'em if I could.

I'm still a few weeks away from ordering everything so if anything else comes up post it!(good or bad)

Thanx BiGg RiE!

Will do, and ur welcome

[camaroguy1998]

What RAM are you using? Where you able to get any OC from it?
I'm still undecided on RAM, floppin' between OCZ and Corsair.
With everything I've read about Corsair lately I've been leaning their way.
I'm on a budget so cost & quality are the 2 big factors in deciding.

Thanx Again!!! :D

[BiGg RiE]

What RAM are you using? Where you able to get any OC from it?
I'm still undecided on RAM, floppin' between OCZ and Corsair.
With everything I've read about Corsair lately I've been leaning their way.
I'm on a budget so cost & quality are the 2 big factors in deciding.

Thanx Again!!! :D

I've got the 2GB kit of crosair ddr2 6400 xms2 extreme

I got it down to 5-5-5-12 but anything else and it won't post and then it has to be cmos cleared.

Here are my new 3dmark06 Numbers with a cpu oc of 2.585 on air cooling @ 1.5v

old: 25,211
3dmark 03 w/ o/c = 21751

old: 8,333
3dmark 05 w/ o/c = 9,054

old: 4,917
3dmark 06 w/ o/c = 6,429

Don't ask me why there's such a hit with the 03 scores maybe somwthing to do with dual core support?

[camaroguy1998]

What RAM are you using? Where you able to get any OC from it?
I'm still undecided on RAM, floppin' between OCZ and Corsair.
With everything I've read about Corsair lately I've been leaning their way.
I'm on a budget so cost & quality are the 2 big factors in deciding.

Thanx Again!!! :D

I've got the 2GB kit of crosair ddr2 6400 xms2 extreme

I got it down to 5-5-5-12 but anything else and it won't post and then it has to be cmos cleared.

Here are my new 3dmark06 Numbers with a cpu oc of 2.585 on air cooling @ 1.5v

old: 25,211
3dmark 03 w/ o/c = 21751

old: 8,333
3dmark 05 w/ o/c = 9,054

old: 4,917
3dmark 06 w/ o/c = 6,429

Don't ask me why there's such a hit with the 03 scores maybe somwthing to do with dual core support?

OK, heres a better question....... What speed to you have your RAM running at?
800mhz, 1000mhz or faster?
If your breaking the 1000mhz barrier you will have a problem getting it much tighter than 5-5-5-12

I'm no expert at OCing memory so maybe someone else could chime in and give a little advice???

[BiGg RiE]

OK, heres a better question....... What speed to you have your RAM running at?
800mhz, 1000mhz or faster?
If your breaking the 1000mhz barrier you will have a problem getting it much tighter than 5-5-5-12

I'm no expert at OCing memory so maybe someone else could chime in and give a little advice???

In the bios i have it set to run @ 800 what option in cpu-z will tell me the actuall speed at which they are running?

[Zertz]

In the bios i have it set to run @ 800 what option in cpu-z will tell me the actuall speed at which they are running?

Yeah you can check it with CPU-Z; Memory tab, then Frequency. You have to multiply that by 2 because it's DDR2.

You will most likely need to run it as DDR2 667.

DDR2800 = CPU clock/6 (2.4 Ghz)
667 = CPU clock/7 (2.8 Ghz)
533 = CPU clock/8 (4.264 Ghz)

[BiGg RiE]

ok cpu-z gives a frequency of 430.8 which would be 860 not 800

so your saying that if I change the frequency to 667 in the bios the ram will run faster?

Isn't 800 faster than 667?

[BiGg RiE]

ok I got a stable overclock of 2.706Ghz using the 667 mode and on air cooling with idle cpu temp of 40-43.

I couldn't get it to post at anything higher even when dropping the multiplyer to 7.

But that's a pretty good overclock on air cooling with a cpu that comes defaulted at 2.2ghz

I'll post new 3dmark scores when i get a chance 2 run it.

[camaroguy1998]

ok I got a stable overclock of 2.706Ghz using the 667 mode and on air cooling with idle cpu temp of 40-43.

I couldn't get it to post at anything higher even when dropping the multiplyer to 7.

But that's a pretty good overclock on air cooling with a cpu that comes defaulted at 2.2ghz

I'll post new 3dmark scores when i get a chance 2 run it.

Ok you're running it at 667 instead of the 430, thats one big increase!
Your 3dmark scores should increase pretty good!

Have you put it under a load yet? Maybe do some folding for Legit Reviews and see what kind of temps you get under a load!

[BiGg RiE]

ok so after running it at 2.7ghz for a few hours I got a BSOD so I bumped my fsb back down to 240 x11 = 2.64.

I have a question though...

In cpu-z my memory frequency reads @ 385 or so whch equals 770mhz
but in Nvidia monitor it reads @ 799mhz

Which one is accurate.

Following nVidia Monitor I was getting an overclock of 900+ on the memory before I bumped the frequency down to 667 in the bios.

I tried droping the multiplier to 7 & 8 but couldnt break 2.5ghz on the cpu.

[Zertz]

ok so after running it at 2.7ghz for a few hours I got a BSOD so I bumped my fsb back down to 240 x11 = 2.64.

I have a question though...

In cpu-z my memory frequency reads @ 385 or so whch equals 770mhz
but in Nvidia monitor it reads @ 799mhz

Which one is accurate.

Following nVidia Monitor I was getting an overclock of 900+ on the memory before I bumped the frequency down to 667 in the bios.

I tried droping the multiplier to 7 & 8 but couldnt break 2.5ghz on the cpu.

CPU-Z is right.

The reason to drop the memory to 667 is because when you OC your CPU, you don't want to OC your memory at the same time because you won't know hich of the two is having problems. So keep loose timings, probably something like 5-5-5-15

So you should keep it around 400Mhz (x2 since it's DDR2).

If you get a BSOD try increasing the voltage on the CPU, then run Orthos for as long as you can, if it survives for a few hours the system is rock solid and then you can play with your memory.

Dropping the multiplier will allow you to really tweak the frequency of your memory if the board let's you hit a high enough FSB. I like to keep a calculator around when tweaking like, it helps.

[BiGg RiE]

Can Someone please tell me what is a better option for use with music, gaming, movies?

This:

http://www.creative.com/products/produc ... 4257&nav=0

or the default sound option that comes with the crosshair:

http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3 ... odelmenu=1

The sound blaster has the EAX ADVANCED HD 3.0 I don't see anything comparable on the onboard solution but it seems to be a better audio solution.

Thanks

[camaroguy1998]

The Crosshairs on board audio was one of the many features that attracted me to the Crosshair in the first place!
The Audigy's EAX ADVANCED HD 3.0 is the only feature the SupremeFX doesnt have.
But, the SupremeFX was designed with gaming in mind(Multi channel)
I would hope the difference between the 2 would be minimal!

[BiGg RiE]

The Crosshairs on board audio was one of the many features that attracted me to the Crosshair in the first place!
The Audigy's EAX ADVANCED HD 3.0 is the only feature the SupremeFX doesnt have.
But, the SupremeFX was designed with gaming in mind(Multi channel)
I would hope the difference between the 2 would be minimal!

I have both so i guess I'll just have to test them. What would be the best way to go about that?

the crosshair has 105dB signal to noise ratio
the sound blaster has 100dB signal to noise ratio.

What is it and which one is better high or low numbers?

[kenc51]

The Crosshairs on board audio was one of the many features that attracted me to the Crosshair in the first place!
The Audigy's EAX ADVANCED HD 3.0 is the only feature the SupremeFX doesnt have.
But, the SupremeFX was designed with gaming in mind(Multi channel)
I would hope the difference between the 2 would be minimal!

I have both so i guess I'll just have to test them. What would be the best way to go about that?

the crosshair has 105dB signal to noise ratio
the sound blaster has 100dB signal to noise ratio.

What is it and which one is better high or low numbers?

High numbers are better!

[camaroguy1998]

The Crosshairs on board audio was one of the many features that attracted me to the Crosshair in the first place!
The Audigy's EAX ADVANCED HD 3.0 is the only feature the SupremeFX doesnt have.
But, the SupremeFX was designed with gaming in mind(Multi channel)
I would hope the difference between the 2 would be minimal!

I have both so i guess I'll just have to test them. What would be the best way to go about that?

the crosshair has 105dB signal to noise ratio
the sound blaster has 100dB signal to noise ratio.

What is it and which one is better high or low numbers?

Its been a few weeks did you ever get a chance to compare the 2 audio setups?
I still haven't bought anything yet, waiting to see what happens with contract talks. I hate to go out and spend $2k and go on strike the next week! I'll know more this weekend!

[camaroguy1998]

I finally ordered most of what I need

Here’s what I have and what I have on order!

AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000 (Ordered)

Zalman CNPS 9700LED (Have)

ASUS CROSSHAIR Socket AM2 (Ordered)

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS(Ordered)

OCZ 8800GTX (Have) http://forums.legitreviews.com/viewtopic.php?t=9961

OCZ 2G (2x1G) DDR2 800mhz Platinum (Have)

OCZ GameXstream PSU (Have)

SAMSUNG 226BW Black 22"(x2) (Have)

Logitech MX3200 KB/Mouse Combo (Ordered)

Lite-On LH 20A1S 20x SATA Super All Write Drive (Ordered)

Microsoft Windows XP Pro SP2b (Ordered)

If anyone has any additions to the list lets hear it!

[BiGg RiE]

My south bridge fried on reboot! I woke up restarted and on restart I heard and saw sparks the smelled a new smell fried mobo.

Asus was great at replacing the board just had to hold the value on my CC until they recieved the defective one and then they refunded the hold.

So I RMA'd and got my new mobo. Everything is runnig great but I am officially done with trying to overclock at least by adjusting voltages.

I don't know why the system fried could have been a bad board or something but I'm not willing to try it again. I'm getting like 2.3ghz on stock voltage settings anything higher will not post. I'm not willing to bump down my ddr because when I do I never get better preformance.

Plus with the X2 6000 priced at 220 @ new egg I'll just get one of those in a few months. I've got a 8800gts on it's way so for gaming I should be pretty much set.

As far as the sound I couldn't get the stock sound to work properly in my games or in general, ie; only 2 channels when playing music and in games. SO the sound blaster won this battle which sucks because I got much better mic performance from the onboard.