ASUSTeK Computer Inc.-Forum- Post Your Stable Settings for P5N-T (Various CPU/RAM/GPU)

OS: Windows XP Pro SP3 (32-bit)
BIOS: 1402
CPU: Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 3.0 GHz - 9.0X 1333 FSB (1)
RAM: 2 x 2 GB OCZ Reaper CL4 HPC Edition 800 MHz - EPP: 4-4-4-15, 2.0V
Slots: A1 & B1
VIDEO: 2 x XFX 8800 GTS 512 (XFX's clocks) in SLI - GeForce PhysX enabled (2)
AUDIO: Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer
PSU: Seasonic 700W Modular (80Plus)
Boot: 2 x 150 GB WD Raptor 10k-rpm SATA on 3ware 9650SE-2LP RAID card (x1 in black x16 slot)
Storage: 2 x 1 TB Hitachi SATAII, 2 x Asus DRW-2014L1T (SATA), Lite-On DVDRW LH-18A1P (IDE)
Other: Hauppauge WinTV HVR-1250, Logitech G15 (blue), MS Laser 6000, cpu & gpus on water cooling, extra fans
AI Tuning = Auto (all stock clocks)
Spread Spectrums disabled
Memory Timing: All Auto
Over Voltage: All Auto
NVIDIA GPU Ex = Disabled (3)
SLI-Ready Memory = Expert (4)

(1) Passes 20-pass max stress run of IntelBurnTest successfully at 3.67 GHz (VCore 1.37500 - 1.264 idle/1.232 load) and 3.5 GHz (VCore Auto - 1.216 idle/1.200 load); even went 10.5 hours of Prime95 at 3.83 GHz. But something about this POS motherboard (or maybe a card) just doesn't accept the cpu oc'd even at 3.17 GHz! Finally don't care anymore. (5/12/09)

(2) I have found GPU PhysX is definitely a must for Mirror's Edge (one of the first games to extensively integrate PhysX), it is great on the GPU but is simply unplayable on the CPU. On the other hand, CUDA support in TMPGEnc 4 Xpress actually makes encodings take longer than with CUDA off. So the PhysX stuff is highly optimized but CUDA seems to have too much overhead, at least with my card model.

(3) Seems no true explanation of the NVIDIA GPU Ex setting can be found anywhere! Here's what I could find:

From old ForceWare release notes: "This is a performance optimization for nForce motherboards." Great, thanks nvidia, that says a frickin lot!
A reputable review site states: "The NVIDIA GPU Ex option enables a chipset specific option that controls automatic performance tuning between the chipset and specific NVIDIA graphics cards that support the NVIDIA GPU Ex feature." But it doesn't explain in what way at all!
A forum poster states: "This enables an driver level overclock of an nvidia card, leave it to disabled for optimal performance and set the attainable oc manually." I believe this is false.
A forum poster states: "it speeds up the GPU when heavier apps (games) start becoming more demanding." I doubt this one too.
A forum poster states: "turn it off as it can cause a conflict with certain chipsets and actually cause slowdown." Well, maybe, but no explanation.
A forum poster states: "Disable that, that is only for Quadro video cards." So how would he know if nothing else can be found about it?
From an actual motherboard manual (AN9 32X): "Stands for “GPU Extra Performance”. Enable this item to work for certain NVIDIA SLI graphics cards with certain driver version, but only minor performance will be expected." Well, that still doesn't disclose what it actually does!

The general consensus is the NVIDIA GPU Ex setting potentially does more harm than good. A test site found it to add barely 1 FPS anyway, but maybe it improves the "feel" in games because of increased bus throughput or whatever. My experience with this setting is that it does seem to sometimes cause trouble in games that otherwise never happens when it is disabled, but then again can never be sure it is really the reason!

(4) The SLI-Ready Memory setting (on Expert -- the CPUOC ones are useless) simply sets timings and voltage from the EPP profile in SLI-Ready compatible ram modules. However, with the latest bios it is disabled when using more than 2 modules, but you can always set the timings (AND voltage!) manually and get the 100% same effect. At the same MHz, I have compared all memory timings when set by EPP vs. when disabled and having put in the 4 main timings manually, and both ways come out exactly the same for all of the other timings.