FIRST LOOK: Asus P5AD2-E - 1066FSB & DDR2-711
by Wesley Fink on November 29, 2004 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Asus P5AD2 Premium: Overclocking and Stress Testing
FSB Overclocking Results
| Front Side Bus Overclocking Testbed | |
| Processor: | Pentium 4EE LGA 775 (Gallatin Core) 3.46/3.2GHz |
| CPU Voltage: | 1.55V (default) |
| Cooling: | Thermaltake Jungle 502 |
| Power Supply: | OCZ PowerStream 520W |
| Maximum OC at Stock Multiplier: | 300x13 - 3900MHz (+12.7%) |
| Maximum FSB OC: | 324FSBx12 (+21.8% Bus OC) |
The 3.46EE CPU Intel supplied for testing was unlocked, but the only available multipliers were a stock 13X and 12X. Since the 3.46EE is the only current 1066FSB CPU, this means that options for bus overclocking are limited. However, having said that, we were still able to reach 324FSB at 12X for a DDR2 1:1 memory overclock of 648. Asus also provides an additional memory multiplier of 711 on the P5AD2-E, so we tried out the higher memory frequency with some of the latest OCZ 1GB DDR2 DIMMs rated at 3-2-2-8. This memory ran great in the P5AD2-E and also allowed us to reach DDR2-750 with a modest overclock at the DDR711 setting.
The P5AD2-E provides the best overclocking that we've seen on an Intel 925XE/925X board, although the Abit Fatal1ty AA8XE, based on the same 925XE xhipset, reaches virtually the same levels in overclocking. The 711 multiplier for memory opens new options for memory overclocking that are unique to the P5AD2-E.
Memory Stress Test Results:
The memory stress test measures the ability of the Asus P5AD2-E to operate at its officially supported memory frequency (533MHz DDR2), at the best performing memory timings that Crucial/Micron PC2-4300U will support. Memory stress testing was conducted by running DDR2 at 533MHz (stock 1:1 ratio) with 2 DIMM slots operating in Dual-Channel mode.| Stable DDR533 Timings - 2 DIMMs (2/4 DIMMs - 1 Dual-Channel Bank) |
|
| Clock Speed: | 266MHz |
| Timing Mode: | 1:1 |
| CAS Latency: | 3.0 |
| Bank Interleave: | Auto |
| RAS to CAS Delay: | 3 |
| RAS Precharge: | 3 |
| Cycle Time (tRAS): | 10* |
| Command Rate: | N/A |
The Asus P5AD2-E was completely stable with 2 DDR2 modules in Dual-Channel at the settings of 3-3-3-10, at 1.8V default voltage. Intel has updated memory timings on the 925XE series boards and now specifies 3-3-3 as default timings compared to the 4-4-4 timings specified at the 925X/915 launch.
Filling all four available memory slots is more strenuous on the memory subsystem than testing 2 DDR2 modules on a motherboard.
| Stable DDR533 Timings - 4 DIMMs (4/4 DIMMs - 2 Dual-Channel Banks) |
|
| Clock Speed: | 266MHz |
| Timing Mode: | N/A |
| CAS Latency: | 4.0 |
| Bank Interleave: | N/A |
| RAS to CAS Delay: | 3.0 |
| RAS Precharge: | 10T* |
| Precharge Delay: | 3.0 |
| Command Rate: | N/A |
As we first saw in the 925X roundup, four DDR2 DIMMs are not stable at CAS 3 as 2 DIMMs are. We required 4-3-3 timings when using 4 DDR2 DIMMs, though the 4-3-3 timings did work fine at default voltage.
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ceefka - Monday, November 29, 2004 - link
oh yeah and of course EE, 1-2MB caches.ceefka - Monday, November 29, 2004 - link
#12 Makes you wonder why Asus would go through their trouble ;-) The 1394b is nice of course, but not with a CPU like that. If a boost in FSB isn't doing it for Intel, then what will?#8 I have been wondering about Intel's answer to AMD64 since it came out. There's no (real) answer still, but we've seen Prescott, 1066 FSB, DDR2, BTX and 3.8GHz. They're missing a key element to improve performance and it's not been in the above.
jimmy43 - Monday, November 29, 2004 - link
This is depressing...I honestly dont see the point of any of these intel reviews, its like their purpose is to remind us occasionaly about that other company that makes cpus, what was their name? OH RIGHT! IntelAikouka - Monday, November 29, 2004 - link
It's nice to see ASUS whomp on the sell-out and his fancy little board ;). But I think the Gigabyte NF4 board Anandtech showed a little bit ago may either win or tie in features. The Gigabyte board does lack an awesome sound codec, though.Maybe nVidia will be the saving grace of Intel like it was for AMD back in the nForce 2 days. We certainly know VIA wasn't helping to raise performance by a lot :P.
j@cko - Monday, November 29, 2004 - link
Obviously, Intel didn't learn from it's previous lessons..j@cko - Monday, November 29, 2004 - link
Moving to new standard is a rather old trick from Intel. If you look back at Pentium III with PC1333 in which involved VIA's PC133 and INtel's RAMBUS...Now, Intel is doing it again... While cannot beat AMD with its DDR, they move on to DDR II...
overclockingoodness - Monday, November 29, 2004 - link
It is being speculated that dual-core from Intel and AMD will bring them closer in performance, but until then Intel is in deep waters. Seriously, what was the world's largest chip maker thinking by moving to newer standards so suddenly?While Intel is facing some serious loses right now, I have a feeling that Intel may get the last laugh in a couple years when it is back in lead. By that time, all these technologies will mature and slowly start to spread out in the market. AMD is moving to PCIe soon so that's good news, but what about DDR2?
Ah well, it's a constant debate that will never settle. :)
Bozo Galora - Monday, November 29, 2004 - link
Intel has checkmated itself.They have no options - except dual core.
robbase29a - Monday, November 29, 2004 - link
So Mr. Fink, did you say that you can put an intel 560 in this and it would still work, and probably work better than in a 925x motherboard? I would like to see those numbers along with some overclocking numbers too.bob661 - Monday, November 29, 2004 - link
Oh, one more thing. Let the flaming begin!!!!!