Nvidia 6150 motherboards and htpc build questions/help - Page 3

I think changing the 'plug and play' or 'MPS' settings in the bios after a windows install may cause problems. I set my BIOS to 'plug and play OS' before installing windows (it wasn't the default). Also my BIOS rev. is 0403 (which seems newer than what ASUS offers on their web page).

Lack of general availabilty after product announcement is typical for computer vendors. It shouldn't cause one to suspect a recall.
As does the application that asus included on the install cd. cpu-z goes into a bit more detail, showing what the clock multipler is set to, and you can see it change when cool-n-quiet kicks in.

Newegg keeps pushing out their date... zipzoomfly has had it in a couple of times (tho with a worse price). Directron has had it as well and is where I got mine. Both of those vendors have it in stock again now.

Of course not, but that's not exactly what happened. What I saw was that the product was announced. A couple weeks later, vendors said they'd have in stock shortly. A bit after that, some vendors said they had it in stock and started taking orders. Not pre-sales, but actual claims of being in stock. Then those vendors reverse themselves and said they didn't have stock and claimed it'd be in stock next week. Next week comes and then it's the following week. Repeat and rinse.

Paper launches happen all the time. Vendors getting stock, then pushing back release dates and not having stock to ship until weeks later is not that typical.

I got my standy issue fixed, not sure how though. It may have been related to a card reader I disconnected or maybe it's resetting the BIOS a few times. Now about the Cool'n Quiet stuff, after changing the power profile and rebooting, Windows was crashing at startup. I disabled the feature in the BIOS and downloaded the drivers from AMD and reenabled in the BIOS. Then it stopped crashing at startup but I don't see the CPU slow down. Is the CPU speed always changing or does it have to be idle for some time before it starts slowing down ?

That's called selling out of product, not a recall. For example after I bought at directron, the product sold out, and is now back in stock. No conspiracy required.

If you install the ASUS cool-n-quiet utility you can watch the processor speed adjust dynamically. Adjusts down basically instantly for me when the CPU is not fully loaded. For linux, with a usb based card reader attached, I've found that enabling legacy USB support in BIOS can be important to prevent boot-time lockups.

Why can't a motherboard manufacturer build a nvidia6150 board that has DVI/Spdif/s-video on the backplate? why why why!!!!

No. What I was talking about happened early/mid October that's when it first appeared in stock and for sale. I'm not aware of any one (at least in the US), that actually got product in hand until November.

You won't see DVI / S/PDIF / S-video on the back plane for space reasons. Many more people use the analog connectors instead of the digital ones. That means you need to have VGA + many audio jacks back there. Add USB, firewire, LPT, COM, and Serial ports and you've run out of room four ports back.

That's called lack of *general* availability. Limited supply. No wait, you're right, there WAS a recall per the inquirer. And the inquirer isn't mad at nvidia for having the nerve to provide others with boards to review but not them.

I was using the Asus utility and the CPU is always at 2000 Mhz. I have cnq enabled in the BIOS and I have the power profile set to minimal power. I don't know what else I need to do. Btw, my BIOS is also version 403.

The ASUS board seems to be available now. Any opinions on whether the Gigabyte or the Asus is better? I like the fact the Asus board has DVI.

Jerry

It was the first revision (shudder). 1.01 I believe. Bios 0403. Bios settings? Lets see, I disabled sata 3&4, enabled cool 'n quiet, disabled the parallel port, set 'plug and play o/s' to yes. set 'resume on pme' to enabled, set 'resume on lan' to enabled, 'power on by ps/2 keyboard' to enabled, 'power on by ps/2 mouse' to enabled, 'cpu q-fan control' to enabled. 'full screen logo' to disabled. 'bootup num-lock' off. I believe that's it. For amd cool-n-quiet, I have version 1.2.2.2 (newer than the 1.2.2.0 included on the asus cd).

You installed the AMD driver? Under 'add-remove-programs' you should see 'athlon 64 processor driver'. I installed version 1.2.2.2 from amd's web page, not the 1.2.2.0 on the ASUS cd.

fwiw, I just went on a Newegg shopping spree (a Christmas Gift to myself). I am going to build a new HTPC based on the Gigabyte board. I will let you guys know how it works out, hopefully by the end of next week.

-Suntan

Thanks for the info. My problems where memory related. I decreased the memory clock and the CnQ started working as well as going in and out of standby. I'll have to try setting the memory timings by hand as Auto obviously doesn't work for my modules. Another thing that was confusing is that clearing the BIOS settings thru the jumper and loading the setup default in the BIOS set various things differently. You probably did your changes after loading the setup defaults. Clearing the settings thru the jumper set the NB/SB speed to 400Mhz (as opposed to 800Mhz via load setup defaults).
I had the same version of CnQ driver.
Overall this is an excelent motherboard and I'm very happy with the way it works. I like the fact that it has two firewire ports - I want to get a second HDTV STB and see how it handles recoring two HDTV streams at once.

Suntan,
I'd love to hear your impressions of the Gigabyte MB.
Are you planning on usin gthe component video outputs?

I gave up on Buy.com and canceled my 15 days of backorder. (The A8N-VM CSM was "In Stock" when I ordered from buy.com, then I got a email saying it was delayed.)
Ended up ordering from XPCGear.com for less money (USD $84.99 + ship) , scheduled to arrive Friday.

@vkristof

No, I don't plan to, my plasma takes regular VGA signals. If I remember, I will switch the component cable (normally fed by my STB tuner) and test it out a bit.

Most of the components are supposed to arrive Thursday, assuming the snow storm here doesn't delay them.

I plan to build it and get as much tweaking done this weekend as possible, but it all depends on how much Christmas shopping she drags me out to do....

-Suntan

If you're rigging for an ultra quiet PC, then the Pentium-M is a great choice. It only requires basic passive cooling for the processor itself, although a quiet running low rpm fan is always a good idea. They're also EXCELLENT gaming CPU's.

The biggest con being the admission price... both the CPU's and motherboards that support them are expensive, although I believe Asus has an adapter for some of their 915 based P4 boards (which are far less expensive and have more features) that will allow the P-M to be used.

Kai

For those that have the Asus mb have you tried to drive two monitors concurrently? Ive read the manual but cant locate any info. on this subject. Id like to drive my fp w/dvi and a touch screen panel at the same time.

Thanks!
Ricky

My brother just received his A8N-VM CSM, along with an X2 3800+, 2x1GB Kingston ValueRAM and a WD RE2 harddrive.
The board is really cute, and simple to install. Although, installing the stock CPU-fan isn't easy because of clearance issues with the northbridge/IGP.
We couldn't get it to output to DVI per default, which would have been optimal with his TFT-display. So for now, it's run with VGA. He doesn't want to use any Microsoft products, so he's currently trying to install Linux on it.
I had a fair share of problems trying to optimize the BIOS. For some reason, it could not run 1T memory, even with default timings. We had to reset BIOS two times, by taking out the battery and moving a jumper. Not as easy as I'd liked it to. In the end, he just wanted it to run at default settings.
The positives, the board has many features, is inexpensive, and quiet due to no fan. It's quite an integrated setup one can assemble with the board and no expansion cards.
I hope some of the issues are resolved with BIOS updates. Unfortunately, the shipping BIOS is more recent than the one on Asus' site.

Yes. First time on, it tells you that the bios settings are corrupt, which is an indication that it's prudent to do this. I think the error message even suggested loading the defaults . Having the bios settings in a random state out of the box is probably burning a bunch of folks.

Thanks bcc and darp, my problems were also memory timings related. I got a Corsair Value select kit, 2x512MB (the 2.5 CAS one). I had to change the memory timings to 183Mhz to be able to use Cool'n quiet, which is now working fine.
In the BIOS, the VGA framebuffer defaults to 64Mb. Shouldn't it be 128 ? Not sure if that makes a difference.
Darp, if you've got the same ram, what settings are you using now ?


rchcah, I have used both the VGA and DVI at the same time without any problem on the Asus board.

Great to hear chayto! Thanks for the info.

Regards,
Ricky

By the way, Newegg does have the Asus A8N-VM CSM instock now. Just ordered it along with the AMD 3200, 1gig ram, Antec Aria case and other stuff.

Hi Folks,

I was reading this thread up to nowsince I am also interested in a MCP 6150 Board. AndI just wanted to mention that, accordingt to an email I got from Foxconn, they are planning to release a 430/6150 Board with DVI by the end of the year.
Sure that Asus already has DVI, but for me the layout of the Asus is bad: When using a PCIe Graphics card (since I already have a 6600GT, I will do so) with a bigger cooler (watercooler in my case for ultimate silence), the neighbouring PCI-Slot is blocked, leaving only one PCI free, which I use for a TV-card. So upgrading the soundcard, maybe to a XPlosion, is impossible. The other free slot is the PCIe 1x which is between the PCIe16x and the CPU-socket. But since there aren´t any PCIe souncards (or other cards one might need in a htpc), I dont see any use for this PCIe 1x,and it will stay empty.

The Foxconn boards have 1 PCIe 16x and 3 PCI,which I definitely prefer, so even if one PCI is bocked by a VGA-cooler, 2 PCI remain for upgrading.

Apart from this, foxconn provides excellent support (In one case, I asked for a BIOS-update of an older Board for X2-CPU support, and 2 days later they made it, just because I asked).

SoI just wait for this Foxconn-Board.
btw. I in no way work for Foxconn, or receive money from them, or know anybody there. I just think that it should be published if a company provides good service.

mariachi76

@mariachi

fwiw, you could get the Gigabyte mobo. It's two PCI slots are below the PCIE 1x slot so even with a double-wide cooler in the gfx slot you can still use them. If you are going to use a 6600gt, you don't really need dvi onboard.

-Suntan

video output is one thing... does this new 6150 board come with a spdif output that does bit perfect output?

I've been trying to build a dirt cheap mini pc that eliminates both the video card and the audio card for a pc meant to be just for music

mariachi,

I don't understand something. If you are already planning on using a PCIe videocard and want to use an add-in sound card as well, why are you considering a MoBo w/ all that on-board?

The reason why I am looking at these 6150 based boards so closely is that I do not want to have a seperate card in my HTPC for video/sound/LAN etc.

Dan