Asus P5E-VM HDMI: A microATX C2D board for gamers?

kb9skw · Post by **kb9skw** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 6:53 pm

Reinstalling Windows Vista Ultimate x86 right now. It did not like the new chipset apparently even though it is in the same family.

Anyways, I will post stock benchmarks in a few minutes of SANDRA, SuperPi and 3DMark. Any requests for anything specific?

I am going to be gunning for 10x333 for 3.33GHz. If I can push it higher I will.

mcoleg · Post by **mcoleg** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 8:06 pm

see if it clears 400 fsb...

btw, could you please check how the audio quality is? whatever you've go the hook-ups for, analog or digital.

kb9skw · Post by **kb9skw** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 8:26 pm

Well I was not able to do 10x333. For some reason these newer CPUs just can not post at such a high clock speed, or I just got a crappy CPU. My old E6300 had no problem doing 3.32Ghz at stock voltage but this E2180 needs 1.55 volts to do the 3.2GHz pictured below.

Apologies for the large screenshot but I have a 1600x1050 22" display.
EDIT BY ADMIN: NEVER DISPLAY ANY IMAGE >800PX WIDE HERE AGAIN!!

Orthos failed at this speed so ether I need to bump the voltage higher than 1.55 in the BIOS or clock it closer to 3.0GHz.

http://digitalchaostheory.com/img/c2d/3200.jpg

awx · Post by **awx** » Fri Dec 14, 2007 11:48 pm

I've gotten mine up and running. However I'm afraid to report that the G35 Windows drivers will not work at 1080p on my Westinghouse 37w3. If fact it can't go above 1280x1024. And there is always a big purple line down the left side of the screen and some random colors in the pillarboxes.

Beatless · Post by **Beatless** » Sat Dec 15, 2007 8:14 am

I have this board since a couple of weeks, running Vista x64.

mhv10:
Using the HDMI to output digital sound to a Samsung LCD-TV works perfectly. It worked right out of the box, using the bundled Intel VGA Driver. I was surprised at how easy it was, also having the feeling that this would be something that maybe wouldn't work as advertised.

GamingGod:
I'm running a E2160 clocked to 3.0 Ghz (FSB1333) in this board, entirely stable during Prime95. Core voltage is set to something like 1.275 V (with auto voltage in bios it was only stable up to around 2,7 Ghz). EIST, TM and C1 is enabled in bios.
Idle core temp is around 32C (reported by speedfan), using a Ninja Mini in a NSK-2480 with only two Nexus 120 mm fans @750 rpm (no fan on the heatsink directly). My ambient temp is probably 27C or something. Based on this I would guess it would be easy to take it beyond 3 Ghz, though I haven't tried it myself.

Overall tremendously satisfied with this board.

Locklear · Post by **Locklear** » Sat Dec 15, 2007 2:34 pm

This says that the g35 chipset does 7.1 lpcm via hdmi. if that is so i'm a happy hippo

sganimefan · Post by **sganimefan** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 11:56 pm

Slightly different request this time... :p

Can someone measure and post the height of the northbridge heatsink?

Lawrence Lee · Post by **Lawrence Lee** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 11:40 am

sganimefan wrote:Slightly different request this time... :p

Can someone measure and post the height of the northbridge heatsink?

It's in the review. One of the picture captions:
The northbridge heatsink stands 36mm high.

eugenius · Post by **eugenius** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 3:34 pm

How's the overclocking headroom for 800fsb CPU's?
I run a e2140 @ 3.2GHz at 1.32V on a p5w dh deluxe .... can this board do 400fsb with that processor?

smilingcrow · Post by **smilingcrow** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 6:21 pm

eugenius wrote:How's the overclocking headroom for 800fsb CPU's?
I run a e2140 @ 3.2GHz at 1.32V on a p5w dh deluxe .... can this board do 400fsb with that processor?

A good question as the Gigabyte G33 boards require the RAM to run at a minimum ratio of 2:3.33 with 800MHz CPUs so for an E2140 to hit 400 FSB would require the RAM to run at 1.33GHz.
What memory dividers are available with 800MHz FSB chips?

JackyPerformance.com · Post by **JackyPerformance.com** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 11:32 pm

How is the onboard video handling games?

Fenix · Post by **Fenix** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 1:28 am

Locklear wrote:This says that the g35 chipset does 7.1 lpcm via hdmi. if that is so i'm a happy hippo

I don't know about 7.1 lpcm via HDMI but I can tell you that when I plugged in my P5E-VM HDMI via HDMI to my JVC LCD-TV I got sound at once. When I later plugged in my Audioengine 2 speakers that I use to the HTPC the sound via HDMI was switched off. Haven't tried switching it on again but I'm shure it can be done.

The Audioengine 2 speakers are really great for someone wanting good 2-channel speakers and don't need to much power from the speakers. The WAF is really high...

QuietOC · Post by **QuietOC** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:17 am

protellect wrote:
mhv10 wrote:For Home Theater, I'm curious if digital audio can be routed out the HDMI connector...
unlikely, there is no other hdmi motherboard with this capability.

I suppose this is moot since someone already indicated that this board will do this, but my old Biostar TForce 7050M2 had this capability, so its nothing new.

smilingcrow wrote:A good question as the Gigabyte G33 boards require the RAM to run at a minimum ratio of 2:3.33 with 800MHz CPUs so for an E2140 to hit 400 FSB would require the RAM to run at 1.33GHz.

Considering that the ASUS G33 motherboard allows the 1:1 divider, why wouldn't the G35 version?

It would be nice to see a power comparison with some non-Intel chipset LGA-775 micro-ATX motherboards.

smilingcrow · Post by **smilingcrow** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:52 am

QuietOC wrote:Considering that the ASUS G33 motherboard allows the 1:1 divider, why wouldn't the G35 version?

If Iâ€™d known that the Asus G33 board supported 1:1 dividers I wouldnâ€™t have asked the question! Thanks for sharing.

QuietOC · Post by **QuietOC** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 8:06 am

smilingcrow wrote:
QuietOC wrote:Considering that the ASUS G33 motherboard allows the 1:1 divider, why wouldn't the G35 version?
If Iâ€™d known that the Asus G33 board supported 1:1 dividers I wouldnâ€™t have asked the question! Thanks for sharing.

It is documented on the HardOCP forum thread about the ASUS P5K-VM. FWIW: my P5K-VM is garbage. Something is wrong in that it won't actually change the FSB at all, and won't boot most of the time. It's going back to either Newegg or ASUS soon. I might go with a ATX Abit IP35-E as a replacement.

Voldenuit · Post by **Voldenuit** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 3:39 am

Btw, can anyone confirm if the P5E-VM HDMI supports USB keyboards out of the box?

My checklist involves:
1. BIOS input
2. Windows Installer
3. Boot time defrag/chkdsk
4. Safe mode command prompt
5. Windows logon
6. Windows/Linux GUI

USB support in DOS (flashing BIOS/video cards) is also important.

Thinking of (finally) getting the Das Keyboard - yes, I know it's paradoxical to consider a keyboard that can wake the dead on a silent computing forum :p

Since I want to be able to use it on my laptop as well, I'm looking at the USB version, since I haven't had much luck with USB-PS/2 converters.

Locklear · Post by **Locklear** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 5:50 am

Voldenuit wrote:Btw, can anyone confirm if the P5E-VM HDMI supports USB keyboards out of the box?

I just used an USB keyboard when I booted from the WinXP CD to install. Works fine in BIOS too. Only quirk was that I had to use one of the backpanel usb ports. Keyboard worked fine on the initial installation which is a dos based selection of which XP version to install, and then during the whole actual installation process.

Only things that are giving me headaches atm is the AISuite software which terminates with a "invalid cpu detection" dll error when i start it up (Intel E2140), and the inability to properly control the fans via Q-fan. Wonder if it has something to do with the cpu fan header being 4 pin PWM, while the Noctuas are only 3 pin.

Other then that, the board is a joy to work with.

Edit: after a little tinkering and trying out a few AISuite version it suddenly started to work again. Last error i saw was some registry string warning, and then that old version worked. When i uninstalled and reinstalled the newest version that worked to. Don't ask me how, cause i really don't know. Been seeing a lot of EAccessViolation errors while trying out different stuff.

Voldenuit · Post by **Voldenuit** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 8:06 am

Locklear wrote:I just used an USB keyboard when I booted from the WinXP CD to install. Works fine in BIOS too. Only quirk was that I had to use one of the backpanel usb ports. Keyboard worked fine on the initial installation which is a dos based selection of which XP version to install, and then during the whole actual installation process.

Thanks, good to know.

Only things that are giving me headaches atm is the AISuite software which terminates with a "invalid cpu detection" dll error when i start it up (Intel E2140), and the inability to properly control the fans via Q-fan. Wonder if it has something to do with the cpu fan header being 4 pin PWM, while the Noctuas are only 3 pin.

The Asus P5E and P5K uATX boards can only control 4-pin PWM fans on the CPU header. It's an annoying limitation as some other motherboards can revert to voltage control instead of PWM when a 3-pin fan is used. You can always control your Noctua by hooking it up to the CHA_FAN1 fan header instead. In fact, I'd say the positioning of the CPU_FAN header at the front of the board makes it more suitable for front chassis fans.

AISuite software is the veriest crap, and unfit even to grace the business end of orphanage-grade toilet paper. At least, that's my experience with ASUS software on the motherboards I've worked with

Locklear · Post by **Locklear** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 8:17 am

Voldenuit wrote:You can always control your Noctua by hooking it up to the CHA_FAN1 fan header instead. In fact, I'd say the positioning of the CPU_FAN header at the front of the board makes it more suitable for front chassis fans.

Thanks for the confirmation on my suspicions. I just did exactly that, and it works like a charm for this setup. Set to Auto it's running my fans at approx 60% (~850 rpm) right now. Would be a bit more skeptical if I was using a really hot CPU though. Would probably be most prudent to invest in a few 120mm PWM fans though. I see Nexus are launching a new one in january. 500-2000rpm 120mm PWM. Scythe Kamas would probably be a solid alternative too.

Voldenuit wrote:AISuite software is the veriest crap, and unfit even to grace the business end of orphanage-grade toilet paper. At least, that's my experience with ASUS software on the motherboards I've worked with

this comment had me laughing real good

cpemma · Post by **cpemma** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 11:11 am

Beatless wrote:I'm running a E2160 clocked to 3.0 Ghz (FSB1333) in this board, entirely stable during Prime95.

Is that with the onboard graphics?

I'm very interested in the ATX version, an extra slot or two could come in handy and the current UK price is around the same as the mATX.

Next upgrade will be an expensive one (Socket A board & CPU, PC3200 memory and AGP graphics all obsolete, along with the OEM XP) so integrated graphics and a cheap but overclockable CPU for a while are enticing. Providing it will oc to a useful extent with the obg.

smilingcrow · Post by **smilingcrow** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 3:19 pm

cpemma wrote:I'm very interested in the ATX version, an extra slot or two could come in handy and the current UK price is around the same as the mATX.

Â£105 for a G35 board seems surprisingly expensive; Iâ€™d rather spend the money on a Gigabyte P35 board and add a HD 2x00 card. What do you find so appealing about this board?

cpemma · Post by **cpemma** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 4:54 pm

smilingcrow wrote:Â£105 for a G35 board seems surprisingly expensive; Iâ€™d rather spend the money on a Gigabyte P35 board and add a HD 2x00 card. What do you find so appealing about this board?

It is more than I'd hoped to pay, but it's the first Intel integrated graphics chipset with DVI out AFAIK, HDMI is not really needed; I first favoured one of the nForce 6150/430 AM2 mATX boards (Asus M2NPV-VM), but they now seem semi-obsolete and I'd still prefer ATX. The Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L is an attractive price at around Â£60 and adequate features, but adding a modest DVI card takes it into this price area for far fewer board features. Maybe a forlorn hope, but this board seemed more future-proof than most.

On past showings, the big boys may bring out some decent budget/cut-down G35 versions as they have done with P35; I'm in no rush and a new monitor may take priority.

Beatless · Post by **Beatless** » Sun Dec 23, 2007 5:33 pm

cpemma: yes, 3.0 Ghz using onboard graphics.

cpemma · Post by **cpemma** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 4:13 am

Beatless wrote:cpemma: yes, 3.0 Ghz using onboard graphics.

echn111 · Post by **echn111** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 6:08 pm

Is there a way to disable the onboard video and sound within the BIOS and, if so, does this significantly reduce the board's energy usage?

fingers · Post by **fingers** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 1:12 am

Hello,

Could anyone tell me if this motherboard supports HDCP via HDMI?

I am very interested in using this board along with an LG GGW-H20L HD-DVD/Blueray combi drive for playback of Blueray/HD-DVD movies through my media center

Cheers all.

Fenix · Post by **Fenix** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 8:15 am

According to ASUS website it does.

"High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is a set of digital video standards that delivers multi-channel audio and uncompressed digital video for full HD 1080p visuals through through a single cable. Supporting HDCP copy protection such as HD DVD and Blu-ray Discs, HDMI provides you with the highest-quality home theater experience."
From Asus website

fingers · Post by **fingers** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 2:29 pm

Thanks for the reply, I found the board on the Asus site and was on the edge of buying it when I read this ...

Due to Intel VGA driver for Windows XP does not include screen scraper defense, so HD-DVD and Blu-Ray can only run under Windows Vista OS

Well that will never do, I have no plans on running Vista. Does anyone know anything about this or whether there are any plans to update the drivers for XP to support the HDCP for Blueray and HD-DVD ??

Thanks all

mcoleg · Post by **mcoleg** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 9:10 pm

I got this board a couple of days ago; so far so good.

To those who are interested in overclocking with it, here's a little something:

fsb 529, the maximum I've got it to boot so far, CPUZ verified:

http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=298678

The cpu used is e6600 B2 stepping; video card is x800 pci-e.

I am not 100% sure what voltages are needed for northbridge, fsb termination and so forth so I pretty much eyeballed the settings for those. Somewhere on the middle of the drop-down lists in BIOS.

RAM is Crucial D9, 2GB of 1GBx2 in dual channel, 1:1 ratio. I haven't tweaked the timings either, whatever BIOS assumed would be good. The vmem is set to 2.24 - I was aiming for around 2.2v actual after the droop.

This little board has more tweaks and adjustments in BIOS than my P5W64 WS Pro. I left most on AUTO but I am positive that P5E-VM could be fine-tuned for some nice overclocks.

The board is unmoded; even the original sinks on north- and south- bridges are stock.

The short of it: It doesn't like going above fsb 530; not sure whether it's the chipset or the RAM or it needs more tweaking. 529 is good enough for SuperPI. At 521 it has no problems running Blend in Orthos. I think I am going to keep it around for a while.

hakkafusion · Post by **hakkafusion** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 2:05 am

i think its most likely either

1.) NB voltage not high enough
2.) Ram can't oc anymore/needs higher voltage.

though I have never dared to push my e6750 past 433... lol =b

Asus P5E-VM HDMI: A microATX C2D board for gamers?

HDCP?