Intel E8400 + Asus P5N32 = Problem

[hts]

Hello,
I'm having trouble getting my processor to work at its full capacity and I was wondering if someone around here could help.
My PC specs are as follows:

Motherboard: Asus P5N32-SLI Premium: link

Processor: Intel E8400 @ 3.0Ghz: link

Memory: GeIL CL4-4-4DDR2-800: link

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Probably irrelevant, but -> video card: Asus EN8800GT: (most likely, this one) link

Again irrelevant for this problem, but still -> Harddisk: Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB 7200 RPM

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My problem is as follows: my processor runs at only 2.4Ghz (as seen in Control Panel; ~2200 Mhz as reported by CPU-Z), when instead it should run at 3.0 Ghz. I took the PC today to the vendor (custom built, I just got all the parts from them) as it is still under warranty and they said the processor is limited by the FSB of the motherboard, which is (maximum) 1066 Mhz, while the processor is supposed to run with a FSB of 1333 Mhz.

CPU-Z reports a bus speed of 266 Mhz, a rated FSB of 1066 Mhz and a multiplier of 8.5.
E1C and Speedstep are disabled in BIOS.

Even though I'm no expert at this, I've tried several settings in the BIOS using Asus AI Overclock (some sort of predefined parameters for overclocking). I chose some options to raise the FSB to 1333/800 Mhz (or something like that).
I'd first get a BSOD right before getting to the logon screen, and after restart, I wasn't even able to get into BIOS. I had to flash the BIOS by taking out the battery for a while.

Again, the E8400 is supposed to run at 3Ghz, there's no overclocking involved here... I might say that my processor is "underclocked" by the default settings of the BIOS.

Is there any *surefire* possibility to raise the processor frequency to 3.0 Ghz? (by increasing the multiplier, since it seems I can't increase the FSB... or..dunno, you tell me :-D )

If you need any more details, just let me know.
Thanks a lot for reading this & hopefully I'll get the darn processor working at full capacity, with your help.

 

[yomamafor1]

P5N32 board is based on Nvidia's 680i chipset, which is notoriously known for their support (or the lack of) of the Intel 45nm processors (and 65nm quads). However your board will still support 45nm processor fine. If you have a floppy disk or a thumb drive, you should be able to upgrade the BIOS to the most current ones for optimal 45nm processor support.

If you're unable to upgrade the BIOS, you should also contact ASUS's tech support. Good luck!

 

[RJR]

Take it back and DEMAND your money back. They don't have a clue what they or you are doing. Then find someone who knows what they are doing to build your computer.

 

[hts]

P5N32 board is based on Nvidia's 680i chipset, which is notoriously known for their support (or the lack of) of the Intel 45nm processors (and 65nm quads). However your board will still support 45nm processor fine. If you have a floppy disk or a thumb drive, you should be able to upgrade the BIOS to the most current ones for optimal 45nm processor support.

If you're unable to upgrade the BIOS, you should also contact ASUS's tech support. Good luck!

Hi yomamafor1,
Have you read what I said ? It's a matter of my motherboard not being able to support FSBs higher than 1066Mhz. I'm not so sure whether a BIOS update would solve the problem. Nevertheless, I'll check out with the ASUS website to see whether I have the latest BIOS installed. I don't have a floppy disk, but from what I know, I could use a USB drive, too. I'll see to it.

Hi RJR to you too.
I'm not so sure this is a viable solution. I've had this computer for more than a year now, used it without problems - just underclocked. Even though I realized pretty soon after buying it that the processor was running at a lower frequency than it should, I was too lazy/busy to get it back. I suppose now it's too late for that.

Thank you both for your replies. Anyone else knows whether it is possible to clock my e8400 processor up to its normal 3ghz?

 

[uchinanchu]

hello hts

I just check asus website and your motherboard does not support E8400. The reason why yomanafor1 said try new bios is because some manufacture supplies beta bios for unsupported cpu. For example I am running E7200 45 nm on intel P965 chipset with Gigabytes beta bios.
Take care.

 

[yomamafor1]

Hi yomamafor1,
Have you read what I said ? It's a matter of my motherboard not being able to support FSBs higher than 1066Mhz. I'm not so sure whether a BIOS update would solve the problem. Nevertheless, I'll check out with the ASUS website to see whether I have the latest BIOS installed. I don't have a floppy disk, but from what I know, I could use a USB drive, too. I'll see to it.

Actually I retract my old statement. The P5N32-SLI Premium, based on Nvidia's 590i chipset, does NOT support Core 2 Duos with FSB 1333Mhz. It is a chipset problem, not a board or CPU problem. Therefore the only thing you can do at the moment is go back to where you buy the computer from, and throw the computer on their faces. Either that, or you'll have to go for the old 65nm Core 2 Duos (E63x0, E64x0, E6600, E6700, and X6800).

Other things you can do include getting a new board that supports the newer Core 2 Duos (Intel P965, P35, X38, P45, X48, or Nvidia 6x0i, 7x0i), or just get an older CPU that your board does support (I have an E6700 if you're interested ). I sincerely apologize for the lack of research on my part.

 

[ainarssems]

Overclock motherboard to 1333MHz FSB. You might need to raise some voltages to keep it stable overclocked. Also probably need to change FSB:RAM ratio to avoid memory overclocking or raise memory voltage as well if You choose to overclock memory

 

[hts]

Overclock motherboard to 1333MHz FSB. You might need to raise some voltages to keep it stable overclocked. Also probably need to change FSB:RAM ratio to avoid memory overclocking or raise memory voltage as well if You choose to overclock memory

Well, that's the one step I wasn't able to accomplish successfully.
As I said my original post, I tried to change some settings in the BIOS, but I ended up with a BSOD after booting and right afterward, a PC that couldn't even get into BIOS (pressing "DEL" right after startup will get me a black screen, dunno why). I had to flash the BIOS to get my computer working again.

If someone knows the steps that need to be taken to overclock this motherboard or there's someone who can simply think of how it should be (kinda hard to find, but still...), please help! It'd be very much appreciated.

However, as far as the previous posters are concerned, it seems my motherboard is not compatible with the E8400, which kinda removes from the start even the attempt to overclock the motherboard in order to clock-up the processor, now doesn't it?

So, is it possible to overclock, in some way, using certain settings, as ainarssems said, or there's nothing I can do, since the 2 components are incompatible, in which case I should throw the MB out the window or something like it.

Thank you very much for your help until now. I appreciate it .