ASUS A8R32-MVP: Taking the Overclocking Route via the 0404
by Gary Key on April 20, 2006 3:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Overclocking Performance
The overclocking performance screenshots allow for a better comparison on the actual overclocking capabilities and settings utilized during for our test suite. For more details on the BIOS settings utilized please refer to the Overclocking and Memory chart below or click on the screenshots for an enlarged image of specific memory settings.
The ASUS A8R32-MVP offers a wide range of BIOS settings for improving performance. We have listed the base settings utilized during testing as well as additional important details within the BIOS. The memory and CPU voltages along with timings will be based upon the components utilized and their capability. We caution anyone overclocking their systems to be aware that failures can and will occur - in our case they occurred quite often.
Our first test is designed to see how high we can push the HTT setting while retaining the stock memory settings. This is more an indication of memory performance than overall system capability. The board did reach a stable 227HTT and would actually POST at 230HTT.
Our second test looks to see how high we can push the HTT setting while retaining the stock CPU multiplier, 1:1memory ratio, and a command rate of 1T. Our ability to reach a 12x256HTT setting is excellent and indicates a well engineered board and high quality peripherals. This setting provided our highest CPU overclock while retaining a memory setting that should be attainable for most performance oriented memory modules. We could have increased the HTT setting further but we reached the limit of our CPU on air cooling.
In our third test, we drop the CPU multiplier to 10X and find out how high we can push the HTT setting, knowing our CPU will do over 3GHz on air cooling. The main question is if the board will still allow us a 1:1 memory ratio and a command rate of 1T at a 300HTT or higher setting. The board answered our question in the affirmative and was able to reach a 302HTT setting before requiring the command rate to be changed to 2T, though the CPU would POST and enter XP at a 307HTT. This is interesting based upon the results of our fourth test.
Our fourth test is designed to find the maximum HTT setting possible while utilizing the common 9X multiplier for overclocking. Our board was able to reach 312HTT while retaining the 1:1 memory ratio and 1T command rate. This is the absolute best the board would do and still pass our benchmark requirements. However, while testing at a 9X CPU multiplier we noticed several oddities during testing. The board would generate random pass results at HTT settings right above or below our test suite approved 312HTT setting. Some benchmarks would pass while others failed at one setting, and different benchmarks would pass or fail at another setting. This phenomenon did not occur once we lowered to a 307HTT setting or below.
We dropped the CPU multiplier to 8X for our fifth test - the lowest multiplier anyone is likely to use for overclocking - and once again we will see what our maximum 1:1 memory ratio setting is. Our board reached a 345HTT setting while retaining the 1:1 memory ratio but required the command rate be increased to 2T. This was the maximum setting our memory would allow us in synchronous operation; any setting above a 348HTT level resulted in the board failing to POST.
The goal of our final test is to find the maximum HTT setting while retaining a maximum CPU clock. We reached a stable 350HTT setting at a 8.5X CPU multiplier that generated at CPU clock of 2975MHz, just slightly below our maximum CPU speed. However, even though we retained a synchronous memory ratio in the BIOS, the actual memory speed was 330.5MHz (DDR-660) due to the ODC rounding effect with the multiplier setting. We will go into detail about Odd Divisor Correct and its effects on benchmarking results in a future overclocking article.
The overclocking performance screenshots allow for a better comparison on the actual overclocking capabilities and settings utilized during for our test suite. For more details on the BIOS settings utilized please refer to the Overclocking and Memory chart below or click on the screenshots for an enlarged image of specific memory settings.
The ASUS A8R32-MVP offers a wide range of BIOS settings for improving performance. We have listed the base settings utilized during testing as well as additional important details within the BIOS. The memory and CPU voltages along with timings will be based upon the components utilized and their capability. We caution anyone overclocking their systems to be aware that failures can and will occur - in our case they occurred quite often.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
Our first test is designed to see how high we can push the HTT setting while retaining the stock memory settings. This is more an indication of memory performance than overall system capability. The board did reach a stable 227HTT and would actually POST at 230HTT.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
Our second test looks to see how high we can push the HTT setting while retaining the stock CPU multiplier, 1:1memory ratio, and a command rate of 1T. Our ability to reach a 12x256HTT setting is excellent and indicates a well engineered board and high quality peripherals. This setting provided our highest CPU overclock while retaining a memory setting that should be attainable for most performance oriented memory modules. We could have increased the HTT setting further but we reached the limit of our CPU on air cooling.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
In our third test, we drop the CPU multiplier to 10X and find out how high we can push the HTT setting, knowing our CPU will do over 3GHz on air cooling. The main question is if the board will still allow us a 1:1 memory ratio and a command rate of 1T at a 300HTT or higher setting. The board answered our question in the affirmative and was able to reach a 302HTT setting before requiring the command rate to be changed to 2T, though the CPU would POST and enter XP at a 307HTT. This is interesting based upon the results of our fourth test.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
Our fourth test is designed to find the maximum HTT setting possible while utilizing the common 9X multiplier for overclocking. Our board was able to reach 312HTT while retaining the 1:1 memory ratio and 1T command rate. This is the absolute best the board would do and still pass our benchmark requirements. However, while testing at a 9X CPU multiplier we noticed several oddities during testing. The board would generate random pass results at HTT settings right above or below our test suite approved 312HTT setting. Some benchmarks would pass while others failed at one setting, and different benchmarks would pass or fail at another setting. This phenomenon did not occur once we lowered to a 307HTT setting or below.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
We dropped the CPU multiplier to 8X for our fifth test - the lowest multiplier anyone is likely to use for overclocking - and once again we will see what our maximum 1:1 memory ratio setting is. Our board reached a 345HTT setting while retaining the 1:1 memory ratio but required the command rate be increased to 2T. This was the maximum setting our memory would allow us in synchronous operation; any setting above a 348HTT level resulted in the board failing to POST.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
 |
| Click to enlarge |
The goal of our final test is to find the maximum HTT setting while retaining a maximum CPU clock. We reached a stable 350HTT setting at a 8.5X CPU multiplier that generated at CPU clock of 2975MHz, just slightly below our maximum CPU speed. However, even though we retained a synchronous memory ratio in the BIOS, the actual memory speed was 330.5MHz (DDR-660) due to the ODC rounding effect with the multiplier setting. We will go into detail about Odd Divisor Correct and its effects on benchmarking results in a future overclocking article.
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SLI - Monday, July 10, 2006 - link
New BIOS v502. Available here:ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/mb/so...-MVP%20DELU...">ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/mb/so...-MVP%20DELU...
abakshi - Thursday, April 20, 2006 - link
Anything new for the A8R-MVP?I'm having some performance issues with my system (A64-X2 4400+, A8R-MVP, 2 GB OCZ EL Platinum DDR400, 250GB WD 7200/16/SATA2, ATI X1800XT 512, Enermax 450W, Win XP SP2).
Specifically, it multitasks very poorly in Windows -- e.g. whenever I insert a CD in the drive, the system basically freezes until the autoplay is done reading. Despite the dual-core A64 setup, it's actually worse at multitasking than my older P4 2.8C / 865PE (P4P800-D) machine. I've tried formatting and reinstalling Win XP, swapping out RAM sticks, different HDDs, etc.
Games are generally fine, but I do have some stuttering issues, and benches are lower than they should be. I set the RAM timings manually to spec at stock clock (no OC until this is fixed) and made sure everything else was set up right -- no effect.
The board's been disappointing, and I've seen a lot of other people have issues with it. I've had so many solid Asus Intel-based boards (P4P800-D, P4C800-D, P4T533-C, etc.), and I saw AT and others' reviews of this, so I figured it would be a halfway decent board. It's only faster than my old P4 system in games -- and that too, probably from the video card boost more than anything (X1800XT vs 9800 Pro).
Gary Key - Friday, April 21, 2006 - link
We have discovered stuttering issues in games and internet applets when utilizing the ADI on-board audio along with the latest version of JAVA 1.5 being loaded on the system. It has been tracked down to the ADI audio driver. Asus is working with ADI on a fix.
Are you using the AMD X2 driver or Microsoft Dual-Core patch? If not, you will get stuttering and lower than normal performance in certain games and applications.
Please email us and we can work on your issues with you directly.
goinginstyle - Thursday, May 4, 2006 - link
Any updates?XrayDoc - Thursday, April 20, 2006 - link
Are you sure your tested revision number was 1.3G? I just bought the same board from Newegg. It is a revision 1.03G.Gary Key - Thursday, April 20, 2006 - link
Sorry about that, 1.03G, article corrected. :)mino - Thursday, April 20, 2006 - link
AFAIK K8 memory controler operates in synchronous mode all the time - there is no such a thing as an asynchronous mode in this architecture.What you referred to was ratio between clock generator frequency and memory frequency. However memory freq. depends only on the CPU freq. and memory divider employed, clockgen(also called FSB in BIOS-es) freq is irrelevant here as far as memory performance is concerned.
I hope you consider this in the future when you refer to various memory speed ratios tested.
Gary Key - Thursday, April 20, 2006 - link
I appreciate the comments. We fully understand the technicalities of the K8 memory architecture and would have utilized the "correct" terminology. In doing so our sentence structures would have turned into small paragraphs. ;-) We knew our terminology would be an issue with certain readers. However, we decided to go with synchronous or 1:1 as the majority of people are extremely familiar with this terminology when discussing memory settings, right or wrong. I will see about adding an additional statement clarifying the architecture design and setup.
FireTech - Thursday, April 20, 2006 - link
Gary, I know you're busy but what's the rough timeframe for the All Crossfire MB Round-up appearing?Gary Key - Thursday, April 20, 2006 - link
Hi,The lab is backed up right now. ;-) The DFI article will be out next week, Abit following in about a week we hope (board delay). If you want Intel CrossFire we also have the little Yonah that could article coming up shortly.
Thanks....