Rampage V Extreme and Problems with Intel Pro 1000 Quad Port Card. Any ideas?

[swisscheese]

Hi there!

FIRSTLY: FORGIVE ME FOR THIS LONG MESSAGE, I PREFER TO PROVIDE AN ABUNDANCE OF INFORMATION RATHER THAN A LACK THEREOF. FOR THOSE WHOM DON'T WISH TO SPEND MANY MINUTES READING (WHICH I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND), SCROLL DOWN TO THE CLIFFNOTES/SUMMARY AT THE BOTTOM.

I am a newbie here and also in general to overclocking, computer builds etc. I used to be the guy that always bought simple HP or DELL desktops et cetera and now this year I've decided to get into building computers. I've only built two thus far (both were successful) but I have a lot to learn.

I have built a gaming machine which I am now using for video editing (since my other systems are not sufficient for rendering 4K videos and general editing but it was okay for 1080P HD). (My new build edits really well 4K videos). I am a one man videographer/editor/gaffer etc. and do corporate videos predominantly although right now I am working on a documentary and have some intense deadlines. This brings me to my problem.

Due to the intense amount of layers needed in my AE projects, rendering is just taking too long (despite having a pretty good spec - I'll list at end of this message). In the past what I've done using my HP Z800 workstations which both had HP Quad Port cards was to distribute rendering by using my HP 1910-24G switch and configuring port teaming (all four ports). One of the workstations is setup as a server (basically sharing a folder where the files are) and boom, they both can render together. This is infinitely faster than one alone. Now, I don't have a 10Gb switch or cards, otherwise I'd use that, and unfortunately just using 1Gb port is a huge bottleneck after the HDDs (which are 4 x WD Reds in RAID 5 and is okay speed overall) that it isn't worth doing. And here I come to the meat of this message. Forgive my overindulgence of background information, I just figured it would lend more context to the "why" of why I need a quad port card in a gaming build.

As I really need this documentary gig to workout, I wish to provide everything to them in a timely manner and at the current rate of rendering I will not achieve this. I have two HP z800s already to go but the master files are stored on my main gaming machine (which is now my main editing machine). So, I figured I'd buy myself an Intel quad port NIC. The model I got was the Intel Pro 1000 PT Quad Port Card. And here it begins...

So, unfortunately this card is NOT detected in my system at all on any PCIe slot (i tried them all). Naturally I didn't try in the x1 slot, as the documentation here: http://www.intel.com/content/dam/doc/product-brief/1000-pt-quad-port-server-adapter-brief.pdf says to avoid.

I tried with cables plugged in and without. So, I naturally became concerned that the card was duff, however, I decided to try and see if it works by testing in my HP z800 workstations. No problems at all. It worked successfully in both and I did testing to make sure it was completely fine and each port worked. No issues found. Tried it for a day and it worked flawlessly in all my testing.

So, it seems I've thrown $180 down the drain at this point, as my main gaming (editing) machine cannot see nor detect this card at all. Now, just to test whether quad port cards at all can be detected by my system, I put in the HP NC375T and it was detected. All four ports showed up in network connections (aswell as device manager). But, it caused a weird issue with crashes upon closing ANY application. It didn't matter what application it was. Spotify, Chrome, After Effects, CPU-Z... you name it, the system just froze. No error messages, no blue screen, nothing. As soon as I took the card out (which I already figured would not be compatible as I've found HP stuff to be very specific to their systems.) the system was fine again.

So, my questions to you. Any of you. Anyone whom might have an idea of what I could to resolve this situation, are as follows...

a.) Are there perhaps BIOS settings that I may need to change in order to view this NIC? Perhaps disabling on-board NIC? (I tried a few settings but ironically haven't disabled on-board NIC).
b.) Does anyone know what quad port NIC would work in my system (specs following) if the one I bought (Intel Pro 1000 PT Quad Port Adapter) is deemed by the experts as being incompatible?
c.) Would there be a way to resolve the HP NC375T freezing issue in my system? If so, I'd happily put that in and give the Intel to my HP z800 workstation...

Before anyone tells me that the adapter I bought is for servers rather than desktops... I know. I am a newbie to all this, but I know enough to know that server architecture is considerably different than desktop architecture. And therefore, yes, I will admit I took a gamble with this, one born from my experience with the Intel Dual Port Server adapter which works fine in my other basic HP Desktop X97 system... so I was hoping for lady luck on my side with the Quad Port version too. I didn't take a blind gamble, I did plenty of Googling, but didn't find anything definitive to say yes or no.

My current spec: Intel i7-5960X, ASUS Rampage V Extreme, nVidia GTX980 4GB x 2, 1500w PSU, 64GB DDR4 RAM, 2x 256GB Samsung 850 Pro SSD in RAID 0, Samsung 850 1TB SSD, Samsung 850 512GB SSD, ThunderBoltEx Dual Card, watercooling kit.

BTW - I had a lot of problems with this build early on - lots of random freezing (even after only being booted up for 5 minutes), BSODs, problems with cold boots etc and all of this without any overclocking. From what I've read, a lot of people suffered similar issues and it was firmware related. Therefore a month ago or maybe a bit longer I updated the firmware to 1201 (which I see is no longer listed on website). This resolved everything. Cold boots are not an issue at all. I can (but often don't) leave my system running for a week without it even being rebooted or shutdown once. HOWEVER, this is ONLY without ANY overclocking. Once I go up to 4.2GHz or beyond, stability starts to decrease. Albeit not terribly so, but at 4.5GHz it is unreliable and I know the recommendation is to spend more time tweaking, but I have yet to find this time.

So does anyone recommend upgrading firmware to latest release? Would this potentially resolve issues with my NIC?

Anyway, any advice or recommendations greatly appreciated guys. I've learned everything I know thus far from overclocking from this site rog.asus.com and the generous advice dished out.. I hope to repay in some way in the future.

Have a good day!

Mike (from Switzerland)

SUMMARY/CLIFFNOTES
===============
Motherboard: ASUS RAMPAGE V EXTREME
CPU: i7-5960x
Firmware: 1201

Tried Intel Pro 1000 PT Quad Port Adapter in every PCIe slot except x1. System cannot detect card at all. Port lights don't come on with cables plugged in. Card works fine in my HP z800 workstations.

Tried HP NC375T quad port card in system afterwards. Card is detected. Ports show up in network connections. But causes freezing upon closing ANY application. Very weird behaviour.

Tried Intel Dual Port adapter in system afterwards. Detected. Works fine.

Any suggestions on a.) how to get my Intel quad port card detected (and usable)? b.) alternatively how to stop freezing with HP NC375T card? or c.) what quad port card would work successfully with my build?

Thanks! 🙂

[Chino]

Running 64GB of RAM is a burden on the CPU's IMC. So you might have to spend extra time tweaking your overclock and dialing everything in. It can be achieved with a little time and patience.

As for your original problem, go ahead and update to the latest 1401 to see if it works. Disabling the Intel LAN controller is an option as well. You can do so in the Advanced tab in the BIOS under the Onboard Devices Configuration section.

[swisscheese]

Hey Chino!

Oh thanks for the pointer about 64GB of RAM being a burden on the IMC. As I mentioned, I still know very little and have just spent time reading overclock guides and posts here on this forum! 🙂

With that in mind, anything specific I should look out for whilst tweaking my overclock?

I will firstly disable the Intel LAN controller and report back if that had any effect. If not, I will update to the latest 1401. I will update my thread here irrespective, just so others whom may run into similar issues have an idea of what worked or what doesn't work.

Thanks Chino! 🙂

[Chino]

Overclock each component separately. Then combine and tune when necessary. Personally, I use ROG Realbench for stability testing. For vcore, I would try to keep the voltage below 1.35V.

[MHzTweaaker]

swisscheese wrote:
Hi there!

F

a.) Are there perhaps BIOS settings that I may need to change in order to view this NIC? Perhaps disabling on-board NIC? (I tried a few settings but ironically haven't disabled on-board NIC).
b.) Does anyone know what quad port NIC would work in my system (specs following) if the one I bought (Intel Pro 1000 PT Quad Port Adapter) is deemed by the experts as being incompatible?
c.) Would there be a way to resolve the HP NC375T freezing issue in my system? If so, I'd happily put that in and give the Intel to my HP z800 workstation...

Before anyone tells me that the adapter I bought is for servers rather than desktops... I know. I am a newbie to all this, but I know enough to know that server architecture is considerably different than desktop architecture. And therefore, yes, I will admit I took a gamble with this, one born from my experience with the Intel Dual Port Server adapter which works fine in my other basic HP Desktop X97 system... so I was hoping for lady luck on my side with the Quad Port version too. I didn't take a blind gamble, I did plenty of Googling, but didn't find anything definitive to say yes or no.

My current spec: Intel i7-5960X, ASUS Rampage V Extreme, nVidia GTX980 4GB x 2, 1500w PSU, 64GB DDR4 RAM, 2x 256GB Samsung 850 Pro SSD in RAID 0, Samsung 850 1TB SSD, Samsung 850 512GB SSD, ThunderBoltEx Dual Card, watercooling kit.

BTW - I had a lot of problems with this build early on - lots of random freezing (even after only being booted up for 5 minutes), BSODs, problems with cold boots etc and all of this without any overclocking. From what I've read, a lot of people suffered similar issues and it was firmware related. Therefore a month ago or maybe a bit longer I updated the firmware to 1201 (which I see is no longer listed on website). This resolved everything. Cold boots are not an issue at all. I can (but often don't) leave my system running for a week without it even being rebooted or shutdown once. HOWEVER, this is ONLY without ANY overclocking. Once I go up to 4.2GHz or beyond, stability starts to decrease. Albeit not terribly so, but at 4.5GHz it is unreliable and I know the recommendation is to spend more time tweaking, but I have yet to find this time.

So does anyone recommend upgrading firmware to latest release? Would this potentially resolve issues with my NIC?

Anyway, any advice or recommendations greatly appreciated guys. I've learned everything I know thus far from overclocking from this site rog.asus.com and the generous advice dished out.. I hope to repay in some way in the future.

Have a good day!

Mike (from Switzerland)

SUMMARY/CLIFFNOTES
===============
Motherboard: ASUS RAMPAGE V EXTREME
CPU: i7-5960x
Firmware: 1201

Tried Intel Pro 1000 PT Quad Port Adapter in every PCIe slot except x1. System cannot detect card at all. Port lights don't come on with cables plugged in. Card works fine in my HP z800 workstations.

Tried HP NC375T quad port card in system afterwards. Card is detected. Ports show up in network connections. But causes freezing upon closing ANY application. Very weird behaviour.

Tried Intel Dual Port adapter in system afterwards. Detected. Works fine.

Any suggestions on a.) how to get my Intel quad port card detected (and usable)? b.) alternatively how to stop freezing with HP NC375T card? or c.) what quad port card would work successfully with my build?

Thanks! 🙂

I hope I can help with some experiences.

#1 Get your system stable at stock speed with as few cards as possible first.

#2 Make small changes. Overclock if you wish but make small changes and test test test for stability.

#3 Keep in mind that all devices consume resources. If you are not using the on-board NIC, Sound, WiFi or whatever, turn it off in the BIOS.

I had a wonderful stable system until I added an Intel 10GB NIC. My problem was that the NIC has Option ROM that allows the system to do a network boot involving the NIC firmware. I don't network boot but the firmware consumes valuable address space used by ROMs. It was interfering with my RVE x99 chipset RAID. I used an Intel DOS based utility booting from a USB DOS stick to turn off the NIC boot ROM. No more problems.

I had tried to use a dual port NIC to gain more bandwidth by running LACP or Link Aggregation. It just does not work that way. Some bandwidth can be gained by teaming links because now there are separate ports for sending and receiving but this does not double or quadruple bandwidth. You would be better with a switch that has a few 10GB uplinks or just using a pair of 10GB NICs and a crossover cable (many NICs will automatically crossover).