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I've been running on a reference XFX 680i board for a while now and I've been very happy with it. At lower multipliers my 680i is good for better than 450 MHz FSB and it ran my Q6600 perfectly stable at 3.6 GHz (9x400). I could get Windows to boot all the way up to 4.05 GHz (9x450) but it required tons of voltage and wouldn't last long enough to run a benchmark. I managed to get it to run 3DMark at 3.825 GHz but it took 1.55V and it wasn't stable.
Because my 680i board was so awesome I wasn't very excited when I had the chance for a free P5N-T Deluxe. However, after going online and reading bad reviews of this board and reading of a huge number of people who couldn't even install Windows at stock clocks, I just HAD to try it for myself. After getting a board I opened up the box and found exactly what I expected from a pricey Asus board; good layout, great build quality, all the accessories and fixings, etc. After plugging all my crap in the first thing I did was update to the latest BIOS. The built-in BIOS update feature that allows you to browse your attached devices for the BIOS file and update it without having to boot DOS, or dare updating in Windows is totally awesome. After a perfectly clean (and fast) install of Windows I started testing the overclocking and stability. The board had no problem matching my 680i's CPU OC of 3.6 GHz stable. I dropped the multiplier to find the max FSB and was disappointed to see it start losing stability after about 425 MHz. I tried upping the voltages (this board has more voltage options than you can shake a dead cat at) to no avail; 425 MHz was as fast as she'd go.
Out of pure curiosity I figured I'd try this board at its max multiplier and max OC, which made my Q6600 run at 3825 MHz. To my surprise the OC was stable. I started dropping the voltage down and found that it was perfectly stable at 3825 MHz at 1.475V. To get through a benchmark on my 680i board I needed 1.55V at this clock and the system was NOT stable.
So the plus side is; I can overclock further than I could before. The downside is that I think my CPU could go farther (4GHz?!) if the board could run at a higher FSB.
Just wanted to share my experience for those thinking about this board.
Because my 680i board was so awesome I wasn't very excited when I had the chance for a free P5N-T Deluxe. However, after going online and reading bad reviews of this board and reading of a huge number of people who couldn't even install Windows at stock clocks, I just HAD to try it for myself. After getting a board I opened up the box and found exactly what I expected from a pricey Asus board; good layout, great build quality, all the accessories and fixings, etc. After plugging all my crap in the first thing I did was update to the latest BIOS. The built-in BIOS update feature that allows you to browse your attached devices for the BIOS file and update it without having to boot DOS, or dare updating in Windows is totally awesome. After a perfectly clean (and fast) install of Windows I started testing the overclocking and stability. The board had no problem matching my 680i's CPU OC of 3.6 GHz stable. I dropped the multiplier to find the max FSB and was disappointed to see it start losing stability after about 425 MHz. I tried upping the voltages (this board has more voltage options than you can shake a dead cat at) to no avail; 425 MHz was as fast as she'd go.
Out of pure curiosity I figured I'd try this board at its max multiplier and max OC, which made my Q6600 run at 3825 MHz. To my surprise the OC was stable. I started dropping the voltage down and found that it was perfectly stable at 3825 MHz at 1.475V. To get through a benchmark on my 680i board I needed 1.55V at this clock and the system was NOT stable.
So the plus side is; I can overclock further than I could before. The downside is that I think my CPU could go farther (4GHz?!) if the board could run at a higher FSB.
Just wanted to share my experience for those thinking about this board.
