The Official P45 Asus P5Q Motherboard Thread

Thanks for your input.
I have read two "stories" on the Xeons:

1.) What you say, that these are the chips with lower VID, best quality.

2.) That there are a few pin differences in the Xeons, i.e. since they support 24/7 operation, a few minor sleep functions of the desktop processors are not supported. There have been a few articles saying this, no idea if they are true or total BS.

I would think that if I got it from newegg, and within 7 days found that it was not recognized that I could return it as incompatible?

re: number 1- not based in fact but speculation. there are many who say that would make sense for a server application. no one has proven it.

re: number 2- again, speculation both ways. i have yet to see if proven. everyone i've seen with a xeon raves about how great they are with the intel chipsets for overclocking. i'm in canada and we can't buy from newegg so i better not comment on that one..i know of them, can't buy there..sob:)
 
Got my P5Q-Pro installed tonight with my Q6600. I'll update my sig when I get everything up and running right. So far it's ok, haven't tweaked anything yet just wanted to make sure I didn't have anything DOA.

Looking at the bios screen my CPU temp 41 and MB temp 29. Ran into a problem with my 2nd Sata drive not being recognized/causing my system to not boot up into Windows. I still have to finish installing all the MB drivers & Video Card driver and activate Windows. Sata problem no big deal I was worried about something major happening.

How's those temps anything unusual there?

re: sata problem..does that board have the orange and white ports for the drive xpert function and is the non functioning one of the white port? the manual leads you to believe you can run both the orange port and white port for non raid applications. not true for me and the manual for my p5q says yes..then says make sure a drive for normal ide operation if using one of those 2 is mounted on the orange port. my drive on the white port was no detected until i decided to use drive xpert and raid 1 and it's all good.
 
Well the manual is all over the place not to mention the type-o's.

A check on the Asus forum regarting the Pro users are having various problems with all functions. That's one thing I hate about being an early adopter but I never really had big problems like others are with any of my gear in the past or present.
 
Looks like a lot of us were busy last night! :D My build went very smooth. Just a couple of issues so far. Vista keeps reloading the USB drivers on boot. Also the EPU doesn’t recognize my graphic card. That confuses me as it’s an Asus 4850. I would think if there were one card it would certainly recognize, it would be that one! Oh well, I’ll get it all sorted out this evening.

If anyone gives a rats fanny, here’s some pics….

http://members.cox.net/michael.sabo/P5Q Build 1.JPG
http://members.cox.net/michael.sabo/P5Q Build 2.JPG
http://members.cox.net/michael.sabo/P5Q Build 3.JPG
 
Looks like a lot of us were busy last night! :D My build went very smooth. Just a couple of issues so far. Vista keeps reloading the USB drivers on boot. Also the EPU doesn’t recognize my graphic card. That confuses me as it’s an Asus 4850. I would think if there were one card it would certainly recognize, it would be that one! Oh well, I’ll get it all sorted out this evening.

If anyone gives a rats fanny, here’s some pics….

http://members.cox.net/michael.sabo/P5Q Build 1.JPG
http://members.cox.net/michael.sabo/P5Q Build 2.JPG
http://members.cox.net/michael.sabo/P5Q Build 3.JPG

Nice clean install.
 
Ahh ok looking @ the dimensions of that model seems like the Xigmatek is bigger than yours so most likely it wont fit like yours :( oh well just gonna have to have it facing up instead of sideways like i wanted.... damn mail needs to hurry and deliver it! :mad:

I'm not sure what you guys are referring to exactly, but I just installed my p5q-e today with a xigmatek s1283. The bottom fins just clears the heatsink with the asus logo on it. I have it mounted the same way as the previous picture. Fan blowing across the heatsink into the back exhaust fan.

This is on a Thermaltake Armor junior. I'll have pics on Monday morning.
 
Thx Albanu1800 & jordinho.

So it turns out the EPU can't manage their premium 4850 graphics card. I couldn't get it working so I checked their website for supported cards and sure enough it wasn't listed. I'm going to send Asus support a message on this. Their low end cards are support and not their premium cards???
 
Newegg was running a combo deal on an Asus P5Q Pro and Asus 4850 so they better work together! mine are in the mail, let us know what you figure out.
 
just got my p5q-E today

just wondering about the ATX power connector at the top of the motherboard, its an 8 pin connector but my mobo came with a cap covering 4 of the pins. My corsair 620w modular PSU has both 4 and 8 pin connectors, which should i use?
 
what ram 4GB (2x2GB) kits are you guys using on your P5Q's ? (P5Q-E for me). I'll most likely get 2 kits to bring it up to 8GB for my media server + Q9450. Doubt I'll overclock it at all tho since it's a server.

Is it worth getting 1066 over 800 ?
 
just got my p5q-E today

just wondering about the ATX power connector at the top of the motherboard, its an 8 pin connector but my mobo came with a cap covering 4 of the pins. My corsair 620w modular PSU has both 4 and 8 pin connectors, which should i use?

I don't think it can hurt anything by having the 8-pin on there. I uncovered mine and hooked up the 8. I plan on OC'ing so I'm sure that will be useful.

what ram 4GB (2x2GB) kits are you guys using on your P5Q's ? (P5Q-E for me). I'll most likely get 2 kits to bring it up to 8GB for my media server + Q9450. Doubt I'll overclock it at all tho since it's a server.

Is it worth getting 1066 over 800 ?

Personally I got the G.Skill 1000 to go with my E8400. Depends if you are OC'ing or not. Price is basically the same so it saves you having to OC your ram too.
 
C2D E8400 (3.0Ghz)
Xigmatek S1283 HSF
Asus P5Q-E (New P45 chipset)
XFX 8800GT Zalman Edition
Corsair 520HX PSU
2X2GB DDR21000 G.Skill RAM
WD 320GB HDD
Thermaltake Armor Jr. Case

DSC02005.JPG
 
hmm my e8400 seems to be running at 2ghz while idle in windows, not got anything installed to stress it yet, is this just a power saving feature? if so how do u disable it
 
what ram 4GB (2x2GB) kits are you guys using on your P5Q's ? (P5Q-E for me). I'll most likely get 2 kits to bring it up to 8GB for my media server + Q9450. Doubt I'll overclock it at all tho since it's a server.

Is it worth getting 1066 over 800 ?

ATM I am using dual kits of this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231099

I read there is minimal difference in using the faster memory over the 800 plus pc-8500 ddr2 kits are relatively the same prices as 800.

Once I buy Vista 64bit I'll get another 2gb kit but won't put the memory until the OS is installed. The last thing in my upgrade is the graphics card which I'm gonna buy in a few weeks along with a new game to play it on.

The issue with the HD not being recognized is a thing of the past with the driver install. Got her to 2970 mhz and running Prime 95 on it now. Had a horrible time trying to install the 4 pin Atx connector behind the Xigmatek cooler, should have done it first but I wasn't removing the heatsink once I put it on. Right now doing some cable management and will post some pic's once it's done.
 
Newegg was running a combo deal on an Asus P5Q Pro and Asus 4850 so they better work together! mine are in the mail, let us know what you figure out.

Because the EPU can’t yet manage the Asus 4850, I decided to use the “Smart Doctor” application instead (it comes on the DVD). However I was getting a DLL error and it wouldn’t launch. So I went to the Asus site to see if there was a newer version or one for Vista 64. I found one but the download speed was zilch. Here’s a tip… I searched on google for the zip file within the Asus domain. In this case you do this by entering file name site:asus.com I found an Asus ftp server which served me the file is a few seconds.

I installed and launched Smart Doctor. It was then I found my 4850 was running at 80C! I quickly moved to the fan settings tab and jacked the fan speed up to 100%. It sounded like a weed eater but the temp fell to 39C in a couple of minutes. I began to play with the fan settings manually. On my system, a fan setting of 41% speed or lower is silent. Also at 41% it held at 54C at idle. So now I wonder if the fan was even running when it the card was at 80C and nothing was managing it.
 
what ram 4GB (2x2GB) kits are you guys using on your P5Q's ? (P5Q-E for me). I'll most likely get 2 kits to bring it up to 8GB for my media server + Q9450. Doubt I'll overclock it at all tho since it's a server.

Is it worth getting 1066 over 800 ?

Not even sure why you need 8GB for a media server.
 
Sorry I should have mentioned I'll be running a few VM's as well as transcoding media.
 
what ram 4GB (2x2GB) kits are you guys using on your P5Q's ? (P5Q-E for me). I'll most likely get 2 kits to bring it up to 8GB for my media server + Q9450. Doubt I'll overclock it at all tho since it's a server.

Is it worth getting 1066 over 800 ?

Of course 4GB of 1066 will cost you an additional ~$35 versus 4GB of 800. You already have a premium CPU, so it appears you are not trying to scrimp on your build. I would think its worth the extra $35. The bigger question is DDR2 vs DDR3 when selecting a new board today. I struggled over that for a while.
 
does anyone have problems with the p5q detecting all your ram? i have the p5q deluxe and it wont detect all 4gb of my ram when there in the channel 1 slots (yellow) only 2gb shows up in the bios, but when i put them in the black channel 2 slots all 4gb shows up in bios? do you think a bios flash to a newer version will fix this?
 
For those of you trying to get Linux working, with legacy (aka PATA/IDE disks and DVD drives):
the hint is that you need to blacklist the "ahci" kernel module, so that the Marvell IDE controller works OK.
For full story of my fight with installation of Fedora 9, see:
http://piters-linux-hacks.blogspot.com/2008/06/asus-5pq-deluxe-fedora-9-and-marvell.html

Note also that latest ATI's "closed-source" Catalyst driver does not work with Fedora 9 so far... Not even worth downloading it.

By the way, ExpressGate simply ROCKS! My wife doesn't even boot the PC to check email, search the web, etc!
 
I decided to use the Q9450 stock HSF on my build. Its low profile, quite, has a solid copper base, and it has TIM preapplied (I understand its Shin Etsu). I’ve read were guys have OCed the Q9450 to 3.2GHz using this stock HSF and there temps were reasonable. However, these stock HSFs can be a bear to install and their performance vary wildly.

Here’s my CPU/HSF install process. I take a coffee filter and cut three strips about an inch wide and an inch or so long. Coffee filters won’t shed fibers like a q-tip for example will. Next pour some rubbing alcohol into its cap and dip one of the strips in. You don’t need a lot. Wipe the strip over the top of the CPU. Use a second strip to wipe off the excess. This cleans any oils and micro debris for better thermal conductivity. Set the CPU aside to dry. (Drys in under a minute) Take the third strip and VERY gently wipe ONCE over the TIM on the HSF. You’ll notice a small amount of the TIM grease on the strip. After the CPU is dry, drop it in as per the instructions.

The instructions say you MUST install the MB before you can attach the HSF. They say this because if you push the pins on the HSF down while the MB is on a flat surface, the pins will likely break off. The stand offs in your case prevents this. However, I recommend you don’t install the MB in the case first. This is because you can’t tell if you have seated the HSF properly, unless you then remove the MB and check it. Instead I use a couple of layers of cardboard to make a ¼ inch stand off. Place the cardboard on the sides of the MB near the HSF holes location on the MB, but make sure you leave the area directly under the four HSF holes open. Place the antistatic bag on top of the cardboard and the MB on top of that. Place the HSF over the holes and press down until you hear a “click”. Install in an X pattern. Often the last one is the most difficult to seat. When you have completed all four, turn the motherboard over and check the pins to ensure they all seated. In my case, sure enough, the last one was only down half way, even though it felt correct when I pressed it in. To reseat the pin, use a screw driver and turn the pin counterclockwise and pop it back up. Then turn it back clockwise and try again. I heard the same “click”, but this time it was correct. My system idles at 38C. I can’t image what my temps would have been with only three positive connections on the HSF.
 
finaly got all my water cooling stuff put together will post q6600 oc's
MB = p5q3 deluxe

update so far. will be overclocking more
overclocksofarop8.png

also temps got a bit high because i just put my watercooling together and when it warmed up it kinked.
 
finaly got all my water cooling stuff put together will post q6600 oc's
MB = p5q3 deluxe

update so far. will be overclocking more
also temps got a bit high because i just put my watercooling together and when it warmed up it kinked.

Could you provide details of your water cooling setup? Did you lap it? Paste? When I get around to OCing my rig, it will be on water.
 
I hit 3.6 ghz and trying to go higher using the Xigmatek air cooler.

Did you use the bolt through kit? How did you apply the thermal paste? I'm using pins and used the five dot method.. 10+ degree difference between core 0 and core 3. Under load core 0 hits high 60s. I did something wrong :/
 
Did you use the bolt through kit? How did you apply the thermal paste? I'm using pins and used the five dot method.. 10+ degree difference between core 0 and core 3. Under load core 0 hits high 60s. I did something wrong :/

might have just gotten a poor chip :(
i've got a friend that IDLES at 50C at 3.0ghz so it could be worse.
 
Did you use the bolt through kit? How did you apply the thermal paste? I'm using pins and used the five dot method.. 10+ degree difference between core 0 and core 3. Under load core 0 hits high 60s. I did something wrong :/

When I first bought the Xigmatek I was using it on my Amd X2. So when I finally got the chance to install my Q6600 my dumbass lost the socket 775 push pins. I was reading up and found out about the bolt thru kit. The bolt thru kit is more stable and makes sure the heatsink doesn't move much & a tighter connection.

I very carefully removed the old AS5 compound from the heatsink and applied a line of AS5 to the top of my cpu and spread it out with my library card. However AS instructions said to apply the line and put the heatsink directly to the cpu and twist from left to right to minimize air bubbles.

AS5 has 200 hours of burnin time so I'm expecting better things in the near future.
 
Did you use the bolt through kit? How did you apply the thermal paste? I'm using pins and used the five dot method.. 10+ degree difference between core 0 and core 3. Under load core 0 hits high 60s. I did something wrong :/

When I first bought the Xigmatek I was using it on my Amd X2. So when I finally got the chance to install my Q6600 my dumbass lost the socket 775 push pins. I was reading up and found out about the bolt thru kit. The bolt thru kit is more stable and makes sure the heatsink doesn't move much & a tighter connection.

I very carefully removed the old AS5 compound from the heatsink and applied a line of AS5 to the top of my cpu and spread it out with my library card. However AS instructions said to apply the line and put the heatsink directly to the cpu and twist from left to right to minimize air bubbles.

AS5 has 200 hours of burnin time so I'm expecting better things in the near future.
 
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