ASUS P5B: New BIOS Adds Unlocking & Improved Overclocking
by Wesley Fink on August 24, 2006 3:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
The introduction of Core 2 Duo about a month ago delivered a new processor with about a 25% improvement in performance over the fastest chips in the market. The top-line X6800, running at 2.93GHz, was the most flexible of the new processors, with completely unlocked multipliers up and down. This allowed settings like running at a 13x multiplier (stock is 11x) at 277 FSB (3.6GHz) at default voltage - the result of the incredible head room exhibited by the new Conroe processors.
Unfortunately, the X6800 costs $999 which is way out of the budget range for many buyers - and it's even more at retail right now due to demand and availability, with the best price we're currently tracking at $1150. The good news is the lowest-priced E6300 outperformed every previous Intel chip. Compared to AMD the E6600 outperformed every AMD processor, and costs $364 to $433 compared to the $825 to $950 for the AMD top-line FX-62. (Almost all of the Core 2 processors are being marked up 10% to 20% at retail, though we expect prices to drop over the coming months.)
So is there a catch? The answer is yes and no. The X6800, as stated, is unlocked up and down, allowing the flexibility to do anything you wish with the outstanding head room of the Core 2 Duo architecture. The rest of the Core 2 Duo chips are hard-locked up and down, which greatly limits the flexibility of the head room which often runs 1000MHz, 1500 MHz, or more - depending on the CPU and motherboard. You could only access this extra power at the stock multiplier. This is actually a big negative compared to AM2 processors, where all chips are at least unlocked down.
ASUS has a history of incredible creativity in their mainstream motherboards. Those who recall the P865 Springdale will remember ASUS was the first to implement the "875 only" PAT speedup on the mainstream 865 - making the 865 just as fast as the more expensive 875. On the 925, where Intel had implemented a clock lock, ASUS was the first to find a way to break the clock lock and unleash extended speeds on their 875 motherboards. With this history in mind, it should not come as a surprise that ASUS has just introduced some very creative thinking in a new BIOS for their 965P chipset P5B Deluxe motherboard.
The new 0507 BIOS for the P5B Deluxe, dated 8/10/2006, has two new and exciting features:
Even more exciting is that ASUS says they have found a way to unlock up or down most Conroe chips. This will be a significant new feature that is highly desired by many Core 2 Duo buyers. It didn't take but a few minutes for us to get the new BIOS flashed and a Core 2 Duo chip mounted to check this out.
A pattern has been developing for some time in test results from Core 2 Duo chips. The 2MB Cache chips, the E6300 and E6400, are generally overclocking a bit better than the 4MB E6600, E6700, and X6800 chips. Since performance of the 2MB is a bit lower than the 4MB cache at the same frequency, this means you can make up for some of the 2MB cache deficiency with the ability to run at a faster speed. With this in mind, testing was performed with all 4 of the Core 2 Duo chips that are multiplier locked - the 4MB E6700 and E6600, and the 2MB E6400 and E6300.
| Intel Core 2 Processors | |||
| CPU | Clock Speed | L2 Cache | Price |
| Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 | 2.93GHz | 4MB | $999 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 | 2.66GHz | 4MB | $530 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 | 2.40GHz | 4MB | $316 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 | 2.13GHz | 2MB | $224 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 | 1.86GHz | 2MB | $183 |
Unfortunately, the X6800 costs $999 which is way out of the budget range for many buyers - and it's even more at retail right now due to demand and availability, with the best price we're currently tracking at $1150. The good news is the lowest-priced E6300 outperformed every previous Intel chip. Compared to AMD the E6600 outperformed every AMD processor, and costs $364 to $433 compared to the $825 to $950 for the AMD top-line FX-62. (Almost all of the Core 2 processors are being marked up 10% to 20% at retail, though we expect prices to drop over the coming months.)
So is there a catch? The answer is yes and no. The X6800, as stated, is unlocked up and down, allowing the flexibility to do anything you wish with the outstanding head room of the Core 2 Duo architecture. The rest of the Core 2 Duo chips are hard-locked up and down, which greatly limits the flexibility of the head room which often runs 1000MHz, 1500 MHz, or more - depending on the CPU and motherboard. You could only access this extra power at the stock multiplier. This is actually a big negative compared to AM2 processors, where all chips are at least unlocked down.
ASUS has a history of incredible creativity in their mainstream motherboards. Those who recall the P865 Springdale will remember ASUS was the first to implement the "875 only" PAT speedup on the mainstream 865 - making the 865 just as fast as the more expensive 875. On the 925, where Intel had implemented a clock lock, ASUS was the first to find a way to break the clock lock and unleash extended speeds on their 875 motherboards. With this history in mind, it should not come as a surprise that ASUS has just introduced some very creative thinking in a new BIOS for their 965P chipset P5B Deluxe motherboard.
The new 0507 BIOS for the P5B Deluxe, dated 8/10/2006, has two new and exciting features:
- Provide better maximum overclocking.
- Add the ability to adjust the multiplier of most Conroe CPUs even if they are not Extreme Edition.
Even more exciting is that ASUS says they have found a way to unlock up or down most Conroe chips. This will be a significant new feature that is highly desired by many Core 2 Duo buyers. It didn't take but a few minutes for us to get the new BIOS flashed and a Core 2 Duo chip mounted to check this out.
A pattern has been developing for some time in test results from Core 2 Duo chips. The 2MB Cache chips, the E6300 and E6400, are generally overclocking a bit better than the 4MB E6600, E6700, and X6800 chips. Since performance of the 2MB is a bit lower than the 4MB cache at the same frequency, this means you can make up for some of the 2MB cache deficiency with the ability to run at a faster speed. With this in mind, testing was performed with all 4 of the Core 2 Duo chips that are multiplier locked - the 4MB E6700 and E6600, and the 2MB E6400 and E6300.
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ZachSaw - Thursday, August 24, 2006 - link
"the ability to unlock the previously locked Conroe chips is so significant that every other manufacturer will have to follow the ASUS lead or lose market share to the motherboard giant."LOL. Perhaps ASUS is the one who is the follower. All of Gigabyte's 965 boards have had this ability since the very beginning. ASUS had to release an update to their BIOS to support this, after seeing Gigabyte's feature.
In any event, this is a VERY SIMPLE function to implement -- what innovation? It simply uses the EIST feature in your CPU to implement multiplier "unlock". In fact, it's technically wrong to say "unlock", since we don't lock the multiplier you managed to select in the first place! That's the whole point of EIST. Unless you can select upwards, then you can claim to have unlocked the multiplier. Otherwise, it's just legally and technically a wrong term to use. You can claim to support Multiplier Adjustment, but do not EVER say it's unlocked. Be warned.
Please clean up your article. Too many mistakes.
Also, it'll be good to put a foreword in your article to mention that your oc is based on Engineering Samples (B1 step), which are different from retail (B2). Retail ones have some differences which make it a little faster clock to clock, but not as overclockable. You do not want people to rush out to buy those processors, based on your table of overclocked frequencies.
Madellga - Thursday, August 24, 2006 - link
Correct. Reviews like this should be based on Retail samples, not Golden Cherry Picked units.Otherwise people are misled by the results.
Frumious1 - Thursday, August 24, 2006 - link
Yeah, "Golden Cherry Picked units" like the freaking RETAIL E6400 and E6300 stepping B2 that overclocked higher than the "cherry" ES B1 E6600/E6700? OMFG the world is coming to an end!!!The only thing potentially misleading is that the B2 E66/6700 might do better than shown here. The bottom line is that the B2 is a later, IMPROVED stepping that should actually at least match these results.
The Gigabyte information is more of a problem, but given my experience with a DS3 I can't say I'm too happy with GB right now. F4 seems to have cleared up most of the problems. F2 was an absolute joke, however.
ZachSaw - Thursday, August 24, 2006 - link
You simply do not know enough. B2 is a later step, no doubt. But, who says later steps increase oc-potential??? It's pretty weird how the community came to this "conclusion". It might be true for later steps (C and above), but usually not the earlier ones such as B1 and B2. So don't jump to conclusions when you have never tested out A0 parts before.
All I'm asking them to do is, to use retail parts. That's all.
Frumious1 - Thursday, August 24, 2006 - link
Maybe you can pull some strings with Intel and get them to send new B2 or later retail samples to Anandtech? I'm sure the AT guys don't want to go out and buy a bunch of new CPUs when the current ones work fine. We all recognize that there is an element of marketing to hardware enthusiast sites - that's why there are a shitload of ads at all the sites, right? (Thank you, AdBlock!) AMD and Intel (and Asus, Gigabyte, Asrock, etc.) send parts for free to AT and they review them. "No such thing as bad publicity!"You keep ignoring the fact that the E63/6400 were NOT B1/ES steppings, and yet they overclocked better. That's where I drew my conclusions. Sure, less cache has an impact, but at the very least it's safe to say B1 isn't amazingly better than B2. Anyway, all overclocks are largely CPU dependent. Everyone in the community knows that. YMMV: Your Mileage May Vary. That the P5B hits 500+ MHz FSB is more than enough for me. I don't particularly like to run at "mostly stable" settings, so if I can POST and run most benches at a 68% OC, I'll drop to 50% for 100% stability and peace of mind. $185-$200 for a chip that can match stock X6800 performance is pretty tasty.
shecknoscopy - Thursday, August 24, 2006 - link
1) How is it possible that they can do this? I thought the multiplier lock was something phyiscally hard-wired in the manufacture of the processor - akin to those graphics cards that absolutely cannot unlock extra pipes.2) Any chance that we'll see it appearing on the other ASUS conroe boards? Or is the answer to (1) intricately linked to the north bridge?
3) How about other manufacturers? Now that ASUS has set the stage, are we going to see the Gigabyte (or what's left of 'em), MSI, DFI, etc... boards following suit? Or is this patentable technology?
4) Anyone else had it with these <explicative> snakes on this <explicative> plane? I wish someone would do something about them, already....
-Sheq
ZachSaw - Thursday, August 24, 2006 - link
Write a few bytes into the MSR. Read the PRM of conroe. You'll find out how easy it actually is. Under Windows, you'll need a driver's help to access MSRs, but the BIOS has complete access to MSRs.
ASUS followed Gigabyte -- AFAIK, Gigabyte already has this feature since they introduced 965P-series boards. They did it so early that they didn't need any updates.
Sh0ckwave - Thursday, August 24, 2006 - link
I can confirm this. I just tried it on my DS3 with and E6400. I was able to set the multi to 6, 7, and 8.Calin - Friday, August 25, 2006 - link
Who knows, after the Gigabyte-Asus union (partial union with a manufacturing purpose), maybe they do share some know-howtombomba2 - Thursday, August 24, 2006 - link
Sorry, but as long as anandtech doesn't have conroes which can be unlocked up, I think this is a very questionable feature of the board.