Asus K8N4-E (Deluxe)

[Wentelteefje]

Hi,

I am still looking for a S754 PCIe mobo that will overclock my Sempron 64 2800+ to the max... DFI and EPoX both have some, but those aren't available here in Belgium...

So I looked up other alternatives, such as the MSI K8N Neo3, Abit NV8, GigaByte K8NE and the Asus K8N4-E... Of all those, the Asus seems the best one (according to PCStats' review), so I'd like to ask if you people have overclocking experience/troubles with this board...

Thanks!

 

[Wentelteefje]

Desperately in need of a bump!

 

[Wentelteefje]

C'mon people... There need to be some of you that own this mobo...

 

[Assimilator1]

I got one for my brother ,yet to install XP.

Having problems with the clock in the bios atm

Will let you know if I get anywhere......

 

[powerBar]

Hi!
I'm using the K8N4-E Deluxe with a A64 Venice. The overclock process was nice & easy and I could oc to 250x10 with default vcore (1.4V). With increased vcore (1.525V) I'm at 265x10 rock solid but I'm a litle limited with my low spec PSU regarding higher vcore. hope it helps.

cheers

edit:
CPU: Athlon 3000+ (Venice core, 200x10 -> 265x10)
RAM: Kingston VR, 1GB

 

[Assimilator1]

Interesting ,if you lower the CPU multi right down what FSB can you get?

Btw I've had nothing but trouble with this K8N4-E Del mbrd
It's been forgetting bios settings (battery is ok),& also these problems have been occuring intermittently, clock freezing ,IDE devices vanishing,USB keyboard not working ,failing to boot :| ,probably going to RMA it.

Welcome to AT forums btw

 

[powerBar]

Sorry for not checking in earlier.
My system is rock solid at this overclock - not a single BSOD or system freeze - and its up & running 24/7 @ 100% load for weeks without ANY problems. The temps are CPU/MB: 29C/25C idle and ~40C/32C @ 100% load with stock aircooling.

When I was tweaking the oc settings i could boot into windows at 295x8 (2355MHz, primestable) but not at 295x9. I haven't tried other settings. Could it be that your PSU or RAM is having some issues?

edit:
PS: which bios version do you use? i've got the latest 1010
PPS: i guess you have lowered the HTT multiplier to 3x?

 

[Assimilator1]

Nice FSB you can hit!

Tried mbrd with RAM from others PCs ,still the same problems.
I updated the bios from 1008 to 1010 which reduced the number of times the problems happened but didn't stop them.
Checked out PSU with a multimeter ,12v line was just out of spec (11.71) but not enough to cause problems I think,besides which I have that PSU running my 2nd PC now (Asus K8N,Semp 3100 @2.51GHz,GF4) without problems.The 12v line voltage does not drop when going on/off load (starting & stopping Prime95).

Didn't touch the HTT multi as I haven't overclocked ,all the problems mentioned occur at POST or in bios.
Tried an old PCI vid card I had ,no real difference.

Anyway I've RMAed the mbrd now (was picked up Friday) so hopefully the replacement mbrd will work properly!.
I hope so as I really like the spec of this mbrd.

Thanks for your input & its good to know these can hit high FSBs

[edit]after comparing my MultiMeter to a calibrated one at work I noticed it was reading low ,after taking it apart & putting back together again it was then spot on! ,even though I did nothing ,I guess some dirt must of dropped out?
Anyway ,here's the correct readings for the above mentioned Hiper 425w PSU
12v = 12.13
5v = 5.13
3.3v = 3.41
So the PSU's fine

 

[powerBar]

MAx HTT update:
So I tested how far i can go up with the HTT and i was really surprised that the board reached a max HTT of 330MHz!
First i went up to 315x8 and no problem so I thought maybe I could reach my max oc with a lower multi and it worked.
1. 2520MHz = 315x8, HTTx2, Mem: 133 divider (~210MHz), vcore = 1.5V?
CPUZ_315
2. Approx. my current and max oc 2640MHz = 330x8, HTTx2, Mem: 133 divider (~220MHz), vcore = 1.525V
CPUZ_330
To my surprise, the oc with HTT @ 330MHz completed superpi 1M and primed for 45min (didn't have time for more) w/o problems.
Here is the mb info: CPUZ_MB

Encouraged by those results, i tried to imropve my oc but i had no success getting anything stable better than 2.65GHz. At least i could boot into windows @ 2.75 and 2.8GHz but unfortunately both settings were highly unstable.
CPUZ_280

Good luck with you new mb.

 

[Assimilator1]

Wow! 330FSB is awesome! ,especially for a mid range mbrd

Thanks for doing that (& it sounds like you've found some extra speed with your PC too )

I hope the new mbrd works!

 

[hawgorn]

PowerBar, what clock is the PCI bus on your MB after oc'ing? I'm asking because I have the non-deluxe K8N4-E with Sempron 2600+, and when overclocking reach only HTT of 236MHz before PCI bus reaches 38MHz as it is set to track the HT bus (according to NVidia nTune). To my understandind that is approx. the safe upper limit for PCI bus before all things bad can happen. Oc'ing options between the MB's as far as I can tell are more or less the same, ie. I can't find any mention of being able to lock the PCI bus. Then again, I'm new with this, I haven't oc'd since my old Pentium 75Mhz days.... maybe I'm missing something?

 

[powerBar]

I've never used ntune for overclocking, just bios. But if you must oc from windows, you should try >ClockGen<.

The PCI bus is lcoked automatically when you increase HTT through bios and in the latest BIOS (beta) version from asus, the PCI lock/frequency has been added to the settings. (deluxe).

You can simply increase HTT by 1Hz in your bios and do the rest w/ntune with a locked pci frequency.

 

[hawgorn]

Ok, thank you. I don't need to oc from windows, it was just convenient especially when the PCI bus MHz was shown. I presumed it would increase also when oc'ing from BIOS so I didn't want to risk it. I did wonder when on the ASUS site it is mentioned on both boards specification that the bus is fixed but in the manual that part is missing.

I tried ClockGen but for some reason the program window doesn't show its whole content, it cuts off part of it so I couln't use it.

There is a beta BIOS available for non-dlx also, maybe I should try that too. Thanks again.

 

[Assimilator1]

For PCI lock (if it's shown) ,look for Asynchronous PCI bus ,I think that's its name anyway

 

[hawgorn]

It isn't shown but I corfirmed that the lock holds as per PowerBar's advice. Now I just need to check my PSU voltages with a multimeter before starting the real deal, I'm a little worried that the rails might be a bit on the low side.

 

[Assimilator1]

Allowed tolerance is 5% for the 12,5 & 3.3v lines

 

[hawgorn]

The rails are within specs, though the 12V is a little underpowered, it gives only 13A. I'm running Sempron 2600+ @2,4GHz now with loose memory timings and default Vcore, Prime95 is doing a torture test in the background.

edit. damn 53minutes and error. donwards we go.

 

[Assimilator1]

13A on the 12v line is terrible!:Q lol that's just 1A more than my cheapo 350w Casecom PSUs I keep as spares
Still , as long as the voltage holds I guess it'll do, does it drop much when you go on/off load?

 

[hawgorn]

During bootup 11.77-11.83V, idle 11.77V, load 11.72-11.75V measured with a multimeter. I don't think there's too much variance?? 3.3V is rock solid, 5V varies between 4.99-5.03V bootup - load.

The PSU is a "Component Pro" in an Aopen case, but the model number and specs are identical to Fortron/AOpen ATX-300 GTF, so I'm not overly concerned. It is a bit noisy, but I'm used to it. If and when I upgrade the graphics card I'll switch the PSU to a more powerful and quieter one.

 

[Assimilator1]

Hmm ,that 12v reading slips just outside of recommended limits under load ,11.75v is the min.
I guess its ok if you have no crashing problems ,though I hope your not running the PSU to its max limit under load ,probably not a good idea for long term reliabilty if its is

 

[hawgorn]

11.75V.. huh, didn't know that. To be honest, I don't know if I have crashing problems Well, I do know I don't have problems with default settings, I've had the board and CPU for couple of months. Running oc'ed... yet to be seen. I'm still testing what the memory can handle. But maybe I'll satisfy with not so aggressive oc for the time being to be on the safe side. Thanks for the heads up.