ASUS P6T6 WS Revolution @ [H]

Many many thanks!

I wasn't aware there's a 0407 bios. The Asus techs even told me that 0311 is the latest. Amaziing.
 
It's weird according the bios history and descriptions these updates do very little
 
IanY said:
Gents,

My P6T6 WS Revolution came with a 0311 Bios.

I've tried and tried and tried for 3 days to get Tri SLI to work. Tried 64 bit and 32 bit Vista. Tried four different video drivers.

I even bought a fourth GTX 285 card just to make sure it isn't one of the cards that is busted, and I verified each video card in a separate machine.

Windows Device Manager sees all the video cards. GPU-Z reports all the video cards.

All I can get is Two Way SLI. Enabling Tri SLI is not an option, and the third video card gets disable. I have swaped the video cards around in limitless combinations.

I am at wits end and I have no idea what else to do.

Nvidia says it isn't them. Asus is amazingly quiet, even after I invoke the Kyle Bennett name. I have triple checked the Bios version a million times to make sure that I am not blind and dumb. It is bios 0311 on board.

I don't know what to do. Help please! Please! Pretty please? !? !!

Anyway, I'm supposed to be folding, and not gaming (going to use five video cards in single slot water cooling), but it would be nice for once for the darn hardware to work properly!
Click to expand...
I have Tri SLI working with my rig posted above. I did however add 1 card at a time and get that card working first. Also I added first slot then 5th slot, then 3rd slot. i used the tri sli bridge for 2. I also am currently using Vista x64 with all updates and NVidia driver 182.08. Hope this helps. Also I booted to the Bios with each new card and saved the changes. I am using ASUS for plug and play not the OS.
 
Thanks very much for your advice.

I think I have arrived at the preliminary conclusion that I have a bum Tri SLI connector. Its a simple thing to replace, but nowhere to buy one :) I found it at EVGA though.. for $20. It should be at Asus' cost!

The reason I said that is that I have reversed the connector and then the other two cards get SLIed. Reverse it the other direction and its vice versa. Maybe I'm wrong with my guess.

I will take your advice and install the video cards in the order you prescribe, and see how it works out.
 
You can use three flex sli bridges as well, if you have some to test with.
 
Thanks Gentlemen. I don't happen to have three spare flex bridges and I have ordered a Tri connector from EVGA.

I followed the proceedure recommended by Churley818 above, and it didn't work. I am convinced its the Tri SLI connector.

Thanks very much.
 
IanY said:
Thanks Gentlemen. I don't happen to have three spare flex bridges and I have ordered a Tri connector from EVGA.

I followed the proceedure recommended by Churley818 above, and it didn't work. I am convinced its the Tri SLI connector.

Thanks very much.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear that. BTW I upgraded my BIOS to 0407 and everything still seems to work including the Tri-SLI for those who care.
 
Well gentlemen,

As an update, I re-installed Windows 3 times this past weekend, using both 64 bit and 32 bit Vista Ultimate. I used the Nvidia 182.08 drivers.

The motherboard bios is now 0407, but I hear there's a 0501 bios now. I spent ***EIGHT*** hours doing nothing but toyinga nd trying to get Tri SLI to work. I installed nothing else.

Well, all four video cards work beautifully independently (three EVGA and one BFG). What they won't do is work in a Tri SLI setup.

I remained convinced its the Tri SLI connector, and I have an EVGA version coming in the mail. ***Asus wants nothing to do with me, and I really think they want me to just go away and disappear***

If the EVGA Tri SLI connector doesn't work, then its the motherboard, and unfortunately, I'm going to relegate it to an office PC for my wife.

I've spent enough time on this, and going the EVGA Classified route is not my first choice, but if I have no other options, its what I would have to do.

And Asus.. you are big and powerful and don't need me as a customer.. I'm sure of that... but I have bought easily 50 Asus mobos over the course of my hobby life. With the way you are ignoring me and with the time I have spent/wasted, this will be my last....
 
IanY said:
Well gentlemen,

As an update, I re-installed Windows 3 times this past weekend, using both 64 bit and 32 bit Vista Ultimate. I used the Nvidia 182.08 drivers.

The motherboard bios is now 0407, but I hear there's a 0501 bios now. I spent ***EIGHT*** hours doing nothing but toyinga nd trying to get Tri SLI to work. I installed nothing else.

Well, all four video cards work beautifully independently (three EVGA and one BFG). What they won't do is work in a Tri SLI setup.

I remained convinced its the Tri SLI connector, and I have an EVGA version coming in the mail. ***Asus wants nothing to do with me, and I really think they want me to just go away and disappear***

If the EVGA Tri SLI connector doesn't work, then its the motherboard, and unfortunately, I'm going to relegate it to an office PC for my wife.

I've spent enough time on this, and going the EVGA Classified route is not my first choice, but if I have no other options, its what I would have to do.

And Asus.. you are big and powerful and don't need me as a customer.. I'm sure of that... but I have bought easily 50 Asus mobos over the course of my hobby life. With the way you are ignoring me and with the time I have spent/wasted, this will be my last....
Click to expand...

I had one last thought for you, you probably know way more than me on PCs it sounds but could it be your power supply is not powerful enough to drive all your parts and the third card, are the lights on the third card green?
 
Oh yes. I have PSUs to use and try. Three very capable ones that are available.
 
argoth said:
Really enjoying this board so far. Hate the ps/2 port blemishing its perfection.
Click to expand...

You crack me up! Believe it or not I use it because I have old IBM keyboards (PS/2 ports) with the best clicking I love to use. The board is the bomb!
 
churley818 said:
You crack me up! Believe it or not I use it because I have old IBM keyboards (PS/2 ports) with the best clicking I love to use. The board is the bomb!
Click to expand...

I also use the ps/2 port for my mame controller.. it's the only legacy I use though so it's all good.
 
churley818 said:
You crack me up! Believe it or not I use it because I have old IBM keyboards (PS/2 ports) with the best clicking I love to use. The board is the bomb!
Click to expand...

PS/2 is also nice because it Just Works (tm), being a low-level interface. I'd much rather see PS/2 ports as some headers on the mainboard than having them removed completely, as some people seem to suggest. Humans haven't changed much since the PS/2 port was first used, so why should we use another interface? :p
 
churley818 said:
I had one last thought for you, you probably know way more than me on PCs it sounds but could it be your power supply is not powerful enough to drive all your parts and the third card, are the lights on the third card green?
Click to expand...


Now, I'm starting to enjoy this motherboard!

As I suspected correctly, the Tri SLI connector from Asus was busted. I ordered a Tri SLI connector from EVGA and it took forever to arrive, and then it took two delivery attempts because EVGA refuses to sell without a signature for the UPS parcel, even though I have a no-signature-required contract with UPS. Of course, nobody's home during the business day.. doh!

The wait was worth it, because Tri SLI works beautifully now. In fact, I went overboard with the excitement and have since installed a fourth 285 card with single slot water block for Physx. Now, I want a fifth 285 card :)
 
IanY said:
Now, I'm starting to enjoy this motherboard!

As I suspected correctly, the Tri SLI connector from Asus was busted. I ordered a Tri SLI connector from EVGA and it took forever to arrive, and then it took two delivery attempts because EVGA refuses to sell without a signature for the UPS parcel, even though I have a no-signature-required contract with UPS. Of course, nobody's home during the business day.. doh!

The wait was worth it, because Tri SLI works beautifully now. In fact, I went overboard with the excitement and have since installed a fourth 285 card with single slot water block for Physx. Now, I want a fifth 285 card :)
Click to expand...

What are your 3DMark vantage scores?

My best on air cooled only is 36059 with 12 GB memory (this much memory keeps me from increasing the BClk to get real serious overclocks)

Here is my Vantage link: http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dmv=921320
 
How come there is no mention of the P6T6 Workstation board. (the one with PCI-X slots)?

I'm using the Revolution - will never use SLI let alone Tri SLI and am concerned about the heat output of the NF200! That puppy is the hottest thing in the case and the IR thermometer confirms Kyle's findings as well.

Furthermore, I need 1394a which this board does not have and had to purchase a PCI-E 1X card (1394a/b) based on the LSI chipset which the WS board has onboard along with a PCI slot.

I'm wondering at this point if it would be worth it to go the WS route? Stability and speed is perfectly fine.

12GB Corsair Dominator at 1600-8-8-8-24, 1.6V etc. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCTiWgntIMM&
 
churley818 said:
What are your 3DMark vantage scores?

My best on air cooled only is 36059 with 12 GB memory (this much memory keeps me from increasing the BClk to get real serious overclocks)

Here is my Vantage link: http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dmv=921320
Click to expand...

No idea. Never run 3D Mark Vantage before. Will have to get back to you on that.

Can't you relax your ram timings to achieve a higher overclock? Anyway, beyond a certain extent, this overclocking game is silly.
 
Just installed this motherboard and so far it is great!!! I have 12gig of OCZ Platinum DDR3-1600 running at 8-8-8-24 2T @ 1.64v and it is 100% rock solid. I may try for the 7-7-7-18 that they are rated for, but I'll be doing that in baby steps.

On a side note, does anyone know where I can get the latest 0501 beta bios? I flashed to the 0407 with no issues, but was just wanting to give it a go.
 
Rubycon said:
How come there is no mention of the P6T6 Workstation board. (the one with PCI-X slots)?

I'm using the Revolution - will never use SLI let alone Tri SLI and am concerned about the heat output of the NF200! That puppy is the hottest thing in the case and the IR thermometer confirms Kyle's findings as well.

Furthermore, I need 1394a which this board does not have and had to purchase a PCI-E 1X card (1394a/b) based on the LSI chipset which the WS board has onboard along with a PCI slot.

I'm wondering at this point if it would be worth it to go the WS route? Stability and speed is perfectly fine.

12GB Corsair Dominator at 1600-8-8-8-24, 1.6V etc. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCTiWgntIMM&
Click to expand...

I wouldn't worry about it. All nForce MCPs run hot. They can handle it. As for the PCI-X version of the board, I'd avoid it unless you need PCI-X slots. People upgrading existing systems that do not have the money or desire to replace the PCI-X cards may find value in it but for new builds I'd say just go all PCI-Express.
 
I am also running 12GB at 1600 8-8-8-8-24 without issues. This has been the best board I have ever used.
 
I also have my memory at 1600 8-8-8-24 and it runs fine with 12MB. But now try to increase your CPU BCLK. It won't go up near as high as if you take out 6GB. The intel memory controller treats the second 6GB as single channel I think or some issue there. I still overclock the heck out of it by raising the multiplier and the volts and I get a stable 4154MHz on air w/12GB. But I haven't tried it yet, I should get a 4500-5000MHz if I take out 6GB on air.
 
Here is what the Corsair tech said to me:

When populating all 6 DIMM slots your board will not be able to run the CPU or memory as high as when you are only using 3 modules. This is a limitation of the memory controller on the CPU and not the memory itself, here is an article which may help explain this limitation (although it does not mention X58 specifically, the same limitation is true for all motherboards):

http://www.corsair.com/_appnotes/AN806_Memory_Upgrade_Resource_Guide.pdf

If you have all 6 memory modules running without stability issues at 1600MHz, then I would not suspect that it would go much higher. In most cases you would have to drop the memory frequency to 1333MHz when populating all 6 slots.
 
spenny2112 said:
yea but not with HT on.
Click to expand...

I have to seriously wonder the value of HT. The original HT slowed the box down in our tests under load it didn't help because it shared resources (I believe thats why they took it off the market it was defective). I haven't had time to inspect the new HT.
 
churley818 said:
This is a limitation of the memory controller on the CPU and not the memory itself, here is an article which may help explain this limitation (although it does not mention X58 specifically, the same limitation is true for all motherboards):
Click to expand...

This isn't quite true. Boards supporting registered or fully buffered DIMMs do not have these issues. I get your point but it is somewhat inaccurate to say "all boards have the same limitation."
 
Dan_D said:
This isn't quite true. Boards supporting registered or fully buffered DIMMs do not have these issues. I get your point but it is somewhat inaccurate to say "all boards have the same limitation."
Click to expand...

I didn't say it I was quoting the Corsair tech from a support ticket he responded to me on. I guess my only point is 12GB in this motherboard causes issues with overclocking try 6GB and you will get much better results due to Intel's memory controller which is not the boards fault. I love the board it rocks!
 
Last edited:
Wow I had a big scare with 3D Mark Vantage. I guess I'll try again tomorrow.

I ramped up the overclock and let it rip. At the end, I was puzzled why my graphics score was so low, and I saw that only one video card was enabled. No SLI. I opened device manager and I saw only one video card! I genuinely thought, in an instant, I had killed three expensive video cards totalling $1100, with only one remaining!! A reboot and reset all to default saw the Tri SLI return. I guess my blood pressure shot through the ceiling lol

I guess 3D Mark Vantage needs specific drivers lol
 
Dan_D said:
I wouldn't worry about it. All nForce MCPs run hot. They can handle it. As for the PCI-X version of the board, I'd avoid it unless you need PCI-X slots. People upgrading existing systems that do not have the money or desire to replace the PCI-X cards may find value in it but for new builds I'd say just go all PCI-Express.
Click to expand...

I could actually use the PCI-X slots with regular PCI peripherals (audio interface).

How would this compare to the EVGA classified?
 
Rubycon said:
I could actually use the PCI-X slots with regular PCI peripherals (audio interface).

How would this compare to the EVGA classified?
Click to expand...

Rubycon,

Apples and oranges. The WS Pro mobo is fabulous, for sure. And so is the Classified. However, its a different ballgame. The Classified is meant for gaming machines, and the WS Pro is great as a workstation.

As for me, I chose the Revolution because I have ambitions to run five video cards (now knowing that six video cards is problematic) to maximize my folding contribution. I cannot do that with PCI-X slots, and therefore I chose the PCI-E mobo.
 
IanY said:
Rubycon,

Apples and oranges. The WS Pro mobo is fabulous, for sure. And so is the Classified. However, its a different ballgame. The Classified is meant for gaming machines, and the WS Pro is great as a workstation.

As for me, I chose the Revolution because I have ambitions to run five video cards (now knowing that six video cards is problematic) to maximize my folding contribution. I cannot do that with PCI-X slots, and therefore I chose the PCI-E mobo.
Click to expand...

Well I choose the WS for many reasons, gaming, folding, development, etc. In my limited experience opinion its the best x58 motherboard period. Oh BTW it does SAS too which decimates velociraptors SATA.
 
I'm building a Classified system myself, which will handle my gaming pursuits, leaving the important stuff to the Revolution.
 
churley818 said:
Oh BTW it does SAS too which decimates velociraptors SATA.
Click to expand...

Yes but I don't use the onboard SAS - I have an Areca 1680ix with 10 15K Fujitsu MBA's. :D

I DO like having a plain vanilla SAS controller just in case I get a drive that acts weird and I want to run a program on it to check it out. Most diagnostic programs don't work right "proxied" through a smart host.

My only gripe with this board is the choice of NIC. Realtek? Should be at least Marvell/Broadcom or Intel IMO. Probably a nitpick but no complaints of speed as I hit mid to upper 90% on transfers on our gigabit LAN using Catalyst switches. :cool:
 
Rubycon said:
Yes but I don't use the onboard SAS - I have an Areca 1680ix with 10 15K Fujitsu MBA's. :D

I DO like having a plain vanilla SAS controller just in case I get a drive that acts weird and I want to run a program on it to check it out. Most diagnostic programs don't work right "proxied" through a smart host.

My only gripe with this board is the choice of NIC. Realtek? Should be at least Marvell/Broadcom or Intel IMO. Probably a nitpick but no complaints of speed as I hit mid to upper 90% on transfers on our gigabit LAN using Catalyst switches. :cool:
Click to expand...

I also use the Fujitsu 15K RPM drives but I just have 2. I don't have a PCIe available for an Areca or I would have one of those too. I too dislike Realtek and find performance and stability issues on my Gig LAN as well. Too bad they choose Realtek my only serious complaint about the board.
 
Well Churley818,

I don't know much about 3D Mark Vantage. My score stinks.. 35+K.

http://service.futuremark.com/resultAnalyzer.action?resultId=948896&resultType=19

And that cpu is not overclocking properly because Turbo is not recognized within Vantage. I'm losing a full 200 Mhz. Tomorrow, I'll pump it up to 4.15 Ghz (sort of my max overclock at the max voltage I'm willing to use long term.. 1.4 volts). Anyway, my cpu overclocked is not doing so well in Vantage. I have to figure what's going on. 12 GB of memory seems to be a big advantage. Looks like 32 bit OS takes a hit as well. It looks like non-NF200 mobos like the Rampage II and EVGA are netting an extra 1K points.

Plus my video cards need to go on water before I'm willing to really push them. So far,the overclock has been conservative at 703/1601/1328.. and its not performing to expectations... yet.

Will get back to you on how I do on Vista 64 and 12 GB of ram.
 
Last edited:
IanY said:
Well Churley818,

I don't know much about 3D Mark Vantage. My score stinks.. 35+K.

http://service.futuremark.com/resultAnalyzer.action?resultId=948896&resultType=19

And that cpu is not overclocking properly because Turbo is not recognized within Vantage. I'm losing a full 200 Mhz. Tomorrow, I'll pump it up to 4.15 Ghz (sort of my max overclock at the max voltage I'm willing to use long term.. 1.4 volts). Anyway, my cpu overclocked is not doing so well in Vantage. I have to figure what's going on. 12 GB of memory seems to be a big advantage. Looks like 32 bit OS takes a hit as well. It looks like non-NF200 mobos like the Rampage II and EVGA are netting an extra 1K points.

Plus my video cards need to go on water before I'm willing to really push them. So far,the overclock has been conservative at 703/1601/1328.. and its not performing to expectations... yet.

Will get back to you on how I do on Vista 64 and 12 GB of ram.
Click to expand...

Thats a good air score first time out!
 
Well IanY,
I see posts from you in other forums on cooling (water, german stuff) seems there is a lot I can learn from you
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top