The Maximus Formula Thread - Help/OCing/Guide/Rampage conversion

[wreckwriter]

If you are using g. skill ram this is a good beginners guide
here (http://www.gskill.us/166.pdf)

That's what I used to get my RAM to 1066 but it does only RAM settings.

[Skyguy]

Just so you know, if only one HDD connected the Intel ICHxR in RAID or AHCI enabled, you will NOT see any list of drives during POST. This is noraml and has been. BIOS can only see 2 or more HDD's connected to the hub. A single is or will be there, it is just not displayed in POST.

You must however leave the Intel RAID driver installed after you converted your OS to single disc in RAID ready mode. Were you coming from a 0 back to non RAID sinle or from 1?
How did you convert your RAID to single? Windows based or DOS?

But if you cannot boot to XP even as IDE mode off Intel SATA ICHxR, then something else went wrong during conversion.

I can't remember if I installed the OS on the RAID first or the single drive. It *might* have been the RAID...?

Is there some order of operations that I should be doing in order to get Vista working with a single drive to work, and then a RAID??? In case I want to remove the RAID later, I'd like to be able to use a single drive obviously.

[wreckwriter]

I have never had an issue with 1004 and it can be reverted using Asus Update or the proper version of AFUDOS

1004 offers a higher trfc options so 4GB users will benifit and its very 45nm friendly

I think I'll give 1004 a shot tomorrow. Thanks for all your time.

[wreckwriter]

someone can tell me what temps you have in NB, SB, FSB

CPU- 29-31
NB- 28-30
SB- 31-32

[trt740]

This is running a E8400

from memory I think it was.....

Extreme Tweaker
Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up : AUTO
CPU Ratio Control : Manual
- Ratio CMOS Setting : 9
FSB Frequency : 500
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 333
PCI-E Frequency: 110
DRAM Frequency: DDR2-1200
DRAM Command Rate : 2T
DRAM Timing Control: Manual
CAS# Latency : 5
RAS# to CAS# Delay : 5
RAS# Precharge : 5
RAS# ActivateTime : 18
RAS# to RAS# Delay : 3
Row Refresh Cycle Time : 45
Write Recovery Time : 6
Read to Precharge Time : 3

Read to Write Delay (S/D) : 8
Write to Read Delay (S) : 3
Write to Read Delay (D) : 5
Read to Read Delay (S) : 4
Read to Read Delay (D) : 6
Write to Write Delay (S) : 4
Write to Write Delay (D) : 6
DRAM Static Read Control: Disabled
Ai Clock Twister : moderate
Transaction Booster : Disabled
Relax level: 0

CPU Voltage : 1.475
CPU PLL Voltage : AUTO
North Bridge Voltage : 1.53
DRAM Voltage : 2.12
FSB Termination Voltage : 1.40
South Bridge Voltage : 1.050
Loadline Calibration : Enabled
CPU GTL Reference : 0.63X
North Bridge GTL Reference : 0.67X
DDR2 Channel A REF Voltage : AUTO
DDR2 Channel B REF Voltage : AUTO
DDR2 Controller REF Voltage : DDR2-REFF
SB 1.5V Voltage : 1.5


hope it helps

All it appears need changed really from what I had was the AI twister. Why would that matter so much from strong to meduim. Also ive seen a program that cptures bios setting in windows anyone remember that program and where to download it?

[trt740]

All it appears need changed really from what I had was the AI twister. Why would that matter so much from strong to meduim.

we need a thread with nothing but the chips and settings listings Fsb, voltage ,bios settings etc... Then make this a discussion thread.

[icecpu]

Ok mission accomplished for me
Eliminated DET DRAM hang permanantly
I had turn off/on pc and restart them 5 times a day in the last 4 days and No More DET Dram hang.

One simple setting : Northbridge core at v1.63

[Nuckin_Futs]

I have never had an issue with 1004 and it can be reverted using Asus Update or the proper version of AFUDOS
How do you make a CF or Pro stick Dou bootable to use? THe tick box for MS Bootable is not selectable for external USB memory stick. I want to use the Afudos but recent ROM files are too big for floppy.

oh ja, what happened to the ASUS FTP server site, it ask for log in now? Any new links?


I can't remember if I installed the OS on the RAID first or the single drive. It *might* have been the RAID...?

Is there some order of operations that I should be doing in order to get Vista working with a single drive to work, and then a RAID??? In case I want to remove the RAID later, I'd like to be able to use a single drive obviously.
For VISTA, nothing speciall really, since the ioStor driver is already integrated into Vista and if you want you can still F6 & direct to newest driver (ioStor v7.8.0.1012) from USB or HDD, as long as RAID is selected in BIOS. This is better since you will often end up updating anywayz.

[golfjam]

adjust your settings, I only use the 333 strap and run my ram rock solid at 1175MHz.

Post your current settings and we can see where adjustments need to be made
Thank you for the reply. It was a bad stick. So much for the "Dominator" name. My system is rock stable again.

[ElEctric_EyE]

So easy to trash a name. Try wearing a ground strap handling your silicon. Corsair has gotten me to 1253. Tested for 1066

[ElEctric_EyE]

oh ja, what happened to the ASUS FTP server site, it ask for log in now? Any new links?

Lose the TW in the link...

[dimsdale]

Greetings. I just built a rig with a Maximus Formula, QX9650, and 8 GB G.Skill 8500.

So far, I can get prime95 stable at 3.6 GHz at VCORE of 1.26, but 3.85 GHz is just not happening!

My settings for 3.6 GHz are 400 FSB, 9X multipler, Load Line Calibration enabled, DRAM at 2.00V. Everything else auto (except VCORE). Full load temps are about 63*C with a Thermalright 120 extreme and AS5.

But I'm having a nasty time trying to get prime stable at 3.85 GHz. When I was working on this last night, I was applying VCORE around 1.40+, getting load temps of 70*C, and still wasn't fully prime95 stable.

I thought I could get a QX9650 to 3.85 on a MF with far less VCORE than that.

Can anyone suggest some settings or tell me what major mistake I'm making?

Thanks!

[XtremeTiramisu]

:up:
Ok mission accomplished for me
Eliminated DET DRAM hang permanantly
I had turn off/on pc and restart them 5 times a day in the last 4 days and No More DET Dram hang.

One simple setting : Northbridge core at v1.63

Yep, indeed you need quite a bit NB volt for X38 chipset mobo to permenantly eliminate DET RAM hang. I had to set mine for 1.65v in bios to get 99.9% stability at 465+ FSB with a Q6600 G0 using *8 multi.
NB temp is idling at ~46c, full load ~52c ish depends on application. So no worries about higher than average volt on the NB. X38 is meant to take this much volt and beyond. However past 1.7v on the NB isn't recommended on a daily basis. Intel spec does state the max volt on the x38 MCH is up to 1.93v IIRC. Temp is really what you should worry about. Great case ventilation is highly recommended

[zlojack]

Greetings. I just built a rig with a Maximus Formula, QX9650, and 8 GB G.Skill 8500.

So far, I can get prime95 stable at 3.6 GHz at VCORE of 1.26, but 3.85 GHz is just not happening!

My settings for 3.6 GHz are 400 FSB, 9X multipler, Load Line Calibration enabled, DRAM at 2.00V. Everything else auto (except VCORE). Full load temps are about 63*C with a Thermalright 120 extreme and AS5.

But I'm having a nasty time trying to get prime stable at 3.85 GHz. When I was working on this last night, I was applying VCORE around 1.40+, getting load temps of 70*C, and still wasn't fully prime95 stable.

I thought I could get a QX9650 to 3.85 on a MF with far less VCORE than that.

Can anyone suggest some settings or tell me what major mistake I'm making?

Thanks!
Check your NB voltage.

I had a hard time with this. I need 1.41v for 100% stable 4.0 GHz on this. I found that bumping up the NB and FSBTerm helped stabilize it.

[Nuckin_Futs]

:up:

Yep, indeed you need quite a bit NB volt for X38 chipset mobo to permenantly eliminate DET RAM hang. I had to set mine for 1.65v in bios to get 99.9% stability at 465+ FSB with a Q6600 G0 using *8 multi.

Wow, that is way more then I ever used. 2 of mine on known good BIOS will and have always booted fine on minimal NB and or VDIMM so I dont know whats up with all this. I can onl guess it has a lot to do with the BETA BIOS of v907 and up. I only use1.504v on NB all the way to 502FSB as daily user and many Primed sessions (loaded it droops to 1.488) and even on my current 5:6 at a reasonable 480FSB. FSBT is up to 1.488v This includes many S3, s4 and cold boots, at each stck and several OC profiles.

For me, 907 most certainly corrupted something in BIOS chip, cause this never happened before and was so even after trying to go to any other BIOS even to 1st. I refused to accept this is normal, so I asked for an RMA and it just came back last week. So I will stick with known stable v903 till I find an absolute need to venture above.

[trt740]

This is running a E8400

from memory I think it was.....

Extreme Tweaker
Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up : AUTO
CPU Ratio Control : Manual
- Ratio CMOS Setting : 9
FSB Frequency : 500
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 333
PCI-E Frequency: 110
DRAM Frequency: DDR2-1200
DRAM Command Rate : 2T
DRAM Timing Control: Manual
CAS# Latency : 5
RAS# to CAS# Delay : 5
RAS# Precharge : 5
RAS# ActivateTime : 18
RAS# to RAS# Delay : 3
Row Refresh Cycle Time : 45
Write Recovery Time : 6
Read to Precharge Time : 3

Read to Write Delay (S/D) : 8
Write to Read Delay (S) : 3
Write to Read Delay (D) : 5
Read to Read Delay (S) : 4
Read to Read Delay (D) : 6
Write to Write Delay (S) : 4
Write to Write Delay (D) : 6
DRAM Static Read Control: Disabled
Ai Clock Twister : moderate
Transaction Booster : Disabled
Relax level: 0

CPU Voltage : 1.475 The only thing I changed I lowered this voltage. I needed 1.36v
CPU PLL Voltage : AUTO
North Bridge Voltage : 1.53
DRAM Voltage : 2.12
FSB Termination Voltage : 1.40
South Bridge Voltage : 1.050
Loadline Calibration : Enabled
CPU GTL Reference : 0.63X
North Bridge GTL Reference : 0.67X
DDR2 Channel A REF Voltage : AUTO
DDR2 Channel B REF Voltage : AUTO
DDR2 Controller REF Voltage : DDR2-REFF
SB 1.5V Voltage : 1.5


hope it helps

and it's gonna go higher it's priming now :shocked: :clap:

[dimsdale]

Check your NB voltage.

I had a hard time with this. I need 1.41v for 100% stable 4.0 GHz on this. I found that bumping up the NB and FSBTerm helped stabilize it.


What NB voltage would you recommend? The "AUTO" setting in the 1004 bios was volting the NB at 1.61 or thereabouts, which was causing the NB to reach about 60*C at sustained load in prime95.

So I just manually set the NB voltage to 1.50 and it seems to be doing better. NB is holding around 55*C and system seems just as stable.

I'm just a noob, but it almost seems that having too high a NB voltage might have been a problem!

[khamo]

Hi guys can anyone help me??
I have just built my sytem up and everything is ok apart from when i turn everything off and then try to boot up again the next morning. It seems to start up with fans at 100% but then nothing else no beep and no boot up screen. Now i can press the cmos button and then it will boot fine but why is it not booting when its been fully powered down . I can restart from windows fine and can have the system of for 10 mins or so it it boots fine. It just seems to be when its left for a few hours or so??
I am using bios 0907 and think it could be a bios setting unless somebody has had the same problem.
Cheers paul
PS im using the same parts as in my sig

I had the same issue with Blitz formula. It had to do with DRAM voltage, when st to > 2.08v the system wolud powerup but not boot after being off for a few hours. Many others reported the same with Blitz Formula in Asus forums. I have my DRAM at 1.9 v and resolved the problem. Not an elegent solution but works for me at present:)

[XtremeTiramisu]

Wow, that is way more then I ever used. 2 of mine on known good BIOS will and have always booted fine on minimal NB and or VDIMM so I dont know whats up with all this. I can onl guess it has a lot to do with the BETA BIOS of v907 and up. I only use1.504v on NB all the way to 502FSB as daily user and many Primed sessions (loaded it droops to 1.488) and even on my current 5:6 at a reasonable 480FSB. FSBT is up to 1.488v This includes many S3, s4 and cold boots, at each stck and several OC profiles.

For me, 907 most certainly corrupted something in BIOS chip, cause this never happened before and was so even after trying to go to any other BIOS even to 1st. I refused to accept this is normal, so I asked for an RMA and it just came back last week. So I will stick with known stable v903 till I find an absolute need to venture above.

If you're using the same CPU as stated in your sig, there is nothing to be surprised about the high NB it needs for a 65nm Quad 6600 G0. I don't really care if i can boot into windows and post a reply on XS using NB 1.51v but fails or get blue screens in Prime blend or OCCT Mix. 1.65v is what this X38 MF mobo needs to get the job done at high fsb with a 65nm quad, whereas my P35 P5K-Dlx can get away with 1.55v bios set(not sure the actual NB volt). So for now I don't really see a real benefit going from a P35 to X38 besides the PCI-E 2.0 interface ready and better "futureproof" friendly? like all you 45nm cpu OCers are having fun with this board. However, x38 MF is definetely faster than p35 clock for clock in Everest bench and even in real world applications...if I go with the *9 multi route, I can even clock the CPU mhz pass 3800s and prime/occt stable with lower NB volts than going with the *8 multi route. When I get a 45nm quad possibly a Q9550 8.5x multi, I'm sure the whole OC config will be affected by this change in a positive way. MF favours 45nm CPUs or vice versa.

[DerekT]

So easy to trash a name. Try wearing a ground strap handling your silicon.

Word!

[leon_in_melb]

Many thanks to the OP, flashed my p5e without any dramas.

[vikings]

Hi, I tested my pc in sign, with few benchmark in default mode:

-memtest
-prime
-orthos
-3D mark06
-everest stability test
-OCCT

First 5 tested worked fine didn't find any issue. Only occt found a problem.
Ran in auto mode (1h), after few minutes my pc shoutdown and reboot.
Why? Can be my psu (undersize)?

[Nuckin_Futs]

This may only be usefull to CPU tower coolers of wich a 120mm fan can be placed in rear as well.

I had to remove the front fan of my Ultra 120 eXtreme cause of HR-07 RAM coolers. This fan in rear under loading (high to 1600rpm) and 92mm on RAM facing right down on NB open barbs appears to help in system temps bt a few C's. On warm days w/ a NB of 1.50v and FSBT of 1.488, SB 1.10v and SB 1.5 of 1.60v, I only get 42c regular use, and not much over 44c loaded for several hrs in Prime 95 v25.5. I used to reach 50c on slightly warmer day (just near the end of fall) but with NO fan on RAM.

I did remove the X38 chipset IHS below the Fusion block and mounted directly w/ AS#5 so this is also helping.

My 2nd mobo also fluxes on NB & FSBT during 100% loading, and SB 1.5 when set to 1.55 now bumps to 1.6, not 1.58v like 1st mobo, but still runs much cooler so it's fine.

[junkun13]

does anybody have a qx9650 profile here? i can't go beyond 4Ghz

[Grnfinger]

How do you make a CF or Pro stick Dou bootable to use? THe tick box for MS Bootable is not selectable for external USB memory stick. I want to use the Afudos but recent ROM files are too big for floppy.

use this to make a bootable USB stick, then toss AFUDOS and the rom file on it and your set.

http://www.elektroni.fi/Stilt/Asus_Rampage/HPUSBFW.zip

http://www.elektroni.fi/Stilt/Asus_Rampage/USB-Boot.zip

[Durkadurka]

does anybody have a qx9650 profile here? i can't go beyond 4Ghz

From my experience, you need to bump the vcore and CPUpll alot with QX9650 when going further than 4 GHz in order for it to be stable.
I needed 1.54v set in BIOS for vcore and 1.58v set in BIOS for CPUpll for it to be stable at 4.45GHz. As opposed to 1.40v vcore/1.50v CPUpll for 4GHz.
(9x445v for 4GHz and then 10x445v for 4.45GHz)
Didnt like the temps I was seeing, so I therefore settled on 4GHz to keep my temps nice and cool (with 25C ambient my cores gets to 53-54C after a day of stresstesting (Prime95 small FFT's).

[wreckwriter]

I think I'll give 1004 a shot tomorrow. Thanks for all your time.

That did the trick. Flashed to 1004, entered the setting Grnfinger gave me yesterday, system posted and booted into Windows no problem. Prime95 running now 15 or 20 minutes so far.

Should I now try to reduce CPU voltage or work towards getting the RAM speed faster?

You guys rock! Thanks so much for your help!

[wreckwriter]

That did the trick. Flashed to 1004, entered the setting Grnfinger gave me yesterday, system posted and booted into Windows no problem. Prime95 running now 15 or 20 minutes so far.

Should I now try to reduce CPU voltage or work towards getting the RAM speed faster?

You guys rock! Thanks so much for your help!

Well, Prime stable we are not just yet. Research time :)

[Grnfinger]

Well, Prime stable we are not just yet. Research time :)

Run prime using small fft's if you are not, let her run 2 hours or so, if it passes your CPU is stable, then run it again on blend that will test the ram
if your crapping out on small ftt's up the vcore a notch or 2, you might need a notch on the NB as well

Anyways glad the settings worked out for you

[wreckwriter]

Run prime using small fft's if you are not, let her run 2 hours or so, if it passes your CPU is stable, then run it again on blend that will test the ram
if your crapping out on small ftt's up the vcore a notch or 2, you might need a notch on the NB as well

Anyways glad the settings worked out for you

I tried on small ffts to start, thread 1 crapped out after about 20 minutes. Now the baby is sleeping so I'm on my other son's pc doing research for an hour or 2. When he wakes up I'll tweak volts a bit and retry. Definitely though the 1004 bios made a huge difference. Could even post with these same settings yesterday but today at least I'm in the game. I'm sure stability is just a notch or 2 away :)

[Grnfinger]

your on the right path, I'm sure stability is right around the corner
keep us posted.....

[zlojack]

What NB voltage would you recommend? The "AUTO" setting in the 1004 bios was volting the NB at 1.61 or thereabouts, which was causing the NB to reach about 60*C at sustained load in prime95.

So I just manually set the NB voltage to 1.50 and it seems to be doing better. NB is holding around 55*C and system seems just as stable.

I'm just a noob, but it almost seems that having too high a NB voltage might have been a problem!

Yeah. I think your high temps might have been an issue there.

Do you have good airflow? Spot coolers might help too.

[Zucker2k]

Is there a thermographic shot of this board somewhere? Should help in isolating and cooling very hot spots.

[Grnfinger]

Do to miss information bios 215 will not be available, mc2k's board shipped with bios 219:(

[Webster]

OK, I'm having some serious trouble with OCing this board. It doesn't help that I am a super noob at OCing, but I just dont get it. I recently flashed 0219 to my Maximus SE a few days ago, I did use the .bat files, so if that might have caused some problems, let me know.

OK, basically what is happening is I am getting a DET RAM with every OC setting I try. I have tried messing with my sticks, with no avail, I have run memtest, and tried taking the voltage up. I also tried taking the PCI-E frequency up to 112. I have also tried just running a very non agressive OC of 333x9 with a 333strap, and a 667 RAM Speed. I also tried using the other regular settings that everyone else has been getting quad stability with. My proc is a GO Q6600, and my ram is 4x1 G.Skill F2-6400.

I am tempted to flash back to MF1004 and see if I can get anywhere there, although I would like to keep my Maximus Rampage if possible.
:(

[rcjian]

Definitely though the 1004 bios made a huge difference. Could even post with these same settings yesterday but today at least I'm in the game. I'm sure stability is just a notch or 2 away :)


Yup, please keep us posted, Coz I'm in the same boat as you were yesterday!!!

[zlojack]

Webster, check the specs on G.Skill in the support forums on here.

I found out that a pair of G.Skill I had would only be stable at their rated speed with a FSB of 333. Otherwise I would get errors in Memtest86+ and random crashes while gaming.

[Grnfinger]

The Rampage bios is a real bugger to get set right, once you do you will have a very stable and fast rig.
Post your current bios settings so suggestions can be made.
What clock are you trying for?

[wreckwriter]

Yup, please keep us posted, Coz I'm in the same boat as you were yesterday!!!

Tweaking NB volt and CPU volt in smallest increments. Getting a bit farther in prime with each tweak. If you are where I was yesterday are you still on bios 0907?

[rcjian]

Tweaking NB volt and CPU volt in smallest increments. Getting a bit farther in prime with each tweak. If you are where I was yesterday are you still on bios 0907?

Yes my mobo is still running with bios 0907! And thinking of going to 1004 too!

[Grnfinger]

Yes my mobo is still running with bios 0907! And thinking of going to 1004 too!

I would highly recommend 1004

[wreckwriter]

I would highly recommend 1004

As would I. I couldn't get anywhere with 0907. It was stable though at stock speeds. 1004 seems stable so far too.

[rcjian]

I would highly recommend 1004

Ok thanks, I'll give it a shot!


As would I. I couldn't get anywhere with 0907..

I hear you! Same here!

[Webster]

Here are my settings

Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up : AUTO
CPU Ratio Control : Manual
- Ratio CMOS Setting : 9
FSB Frequency : 333
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 333
PCI-E Frequency: 112
DRAM Frequency: DDR2-800/DDR2-667 (Neither avoid DET DRAM)
DRAM Command Rate : Auto
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel A : Normal
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel B : Normal
DRAM Timing Control: Manual
CAS# Latency : 5
RAS# to CAS# Delay : 5
RAS# Precharge : 5
RAS# ActivateTime : 15
RAS# to RAS# Delay : Auto
Row Refresh Cycle Time : Auto
Write Recovery Time : Auto
Read to Precharge Time : Auto

Read to Write Delay (S/D) : Auto
Write to Read Delay (S) : Auto
Write to Read Delay (D) : Auto
Read to Read Delay (S) : Auto
Read to Read Delay (D) : Auto
Write to Write Delay (S) : Auto
Write to Write Delay (D) : Auto

Write to PRE Delay : Auto
Read to PRE Delay : Auto
PRE to PRE Delay : Auto
ALL PRE to ACT Delay : Auto
ALL PRE to REF Delay : Auto

DRAM Static Read Control: Disabled
Ai Clock Twister : Auto/Strong (Neither works)
Transaction Booster : Manual

C/P: A1 A2 | B1 B2
LVL: 08 08 | 08 08

Common Performance Level [5]

Pull-In of CHA PH1 Disabled
Pull-In of CHA PH2 Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH1 Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH2 Disabled

CPU Voltage : Auto
CPU PLL Voltage : Auto
North Bridge Voltage : Auto
DRAM Voltage : Auto/ but have messed around up to 2.2V
FSB Termination Voltage : Auto
South Bridge Voltage : Auto
Loadline Calibration : Auto
CPU GTL Reference : Auto
North Bridge GTL Reference : Auto
DDR2 Channel A REF Voltage : Auto
DDR2 Channel B REF Voltage : AUTO
DDR2 Controller REF Voltage : Auto
SB 1.5V Voltage : Auto

CPU Spread Spectrum : Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum : Disabled

I would really like to get to 4Ghz, but I would be happy with at least 3.6, I have the water to handle it. I tried to clock it up, but no luck there, so I thought this might be a good place to start.:shrug:

[wreckwriter]

Temporarily (I hope) stuck here. Started with these settings:

Extreme Tweaker
Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up : AUTO
CPU Ratio Control : AUTO
- Ratio CMOS Setting : 9
FSB Frequency : 445
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 333
PCI-E Frequency: 100
DRAM Frequency: DDR2- 890
DRAM Command Rate : 2T
DRAM Timing Control: Manual
CAS# Latency : 5
RAS# to CAS# Delay : 5
RAS# Precharge : 5
RAS# ActivateTime : 15
RAS# to RAS# Delay : 3
Row Refresh Cycle Time : 50
Write Recovery Time : 6
Read to Precharge Time : 3

Read to Write Delay (S/D) : Auto
Write to Read Delay (S) : Auto
Write to Read Delay (D) : Auto
Read to Read Delay (S) : Auto
Read to Read Delay (D) : Auto
Write to Write Delay (S) : Auto
Write to Write Delay (D) : Auto
DRAM Static Read Control: Disabled
( enabled will give better bandwidth but might create instability in ram)
Ai Clock Twister : Strong
Transaction Booster : Disabled
Relax level: 0


CPU Voltage : 1.35 ( you may need to adjust this)
CPU PLL Voltage : AUTO
North Bridge Voltage : 1.49
DRAM Voltage : 2.00
FSB Termination Voltage : 1.40
South Bridge Voltage : 1.050
Loadline Calibration : Enabled
CPU GTL Reference : 0.63X
North Bridge GTL Reference : 0.67X
DDR2 Channel A REF Voltage : AUTO
DDR2 Channel B REF Voltage : AUTO
DDR2 Controller REF Voltage : DDR2-REFF
SB 1.5V Voltage : 1.5

testing with Prime95 Small FFTs:

Prime failed on core 1 after about 15 minutes during the 10K test.

Changed NB voltage to 1.55- Prime failed after 17 minutes during 10k test.

Left NB at 1.55 changed CPU voltage to 1.35625- Prime failed after 23 minutes during 10k test.

Changed NB voltage to 1.57 left CPU voltage at 1.35625- Prime failed after 19 minutes during 10k test.

Dropped NB voltage back to 1.55, changed CPU voltage to 1.36250- Prime failed after 22 minutes during 10k test.

Seems to indicate something other than NB or CPU voltage is holding it back. Ideas?

Thanks!

[Grnfinger]

I would really like to get to 4Ghz, but I would be happy with at least 3.6, I have the water to handle it. I tried to clock it up, but no luck there, so I thought this might be a good place to start.:shrug:

I dont run a quad anymore so try this for a start and we can tweak it up after 3.6GHz is running smooth.

Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up : AUTO
CPU Ratio Control : Manual
- Ratio CMOS Setting : 9
FSB Frequency : 400
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 333 / 400
PCI-E Frequency: 110
DRAM Frequency: DDR2-961 / 1066
DRAM Command Rate : 2T
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel A : Auto (leave this to auto for now)
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel B : Auto (leave this to auto for now)
DRAM Timing Control: Manual
CAS# Latency : 5
RAS# to CAS# Delay : 5
RAS# Precharge : 5
RAS# ActivateTime : 15
RAS# to RAS# Delay : Auto
Row Refresh Cycle Time : 45-50
Write Recovery Time : Auto
Read to Precharge Time : Auto

Read to Write Delay (S/D) : Auto
Write to Read Delay (S) : Auto
Write to Read Delay (D) : Auto
Read to Read Delay (S) : Auto
Read to Read Delay (D) : Auto
Write to Write Delay (S) : Auto
Write to Write Delay (D) : Auto

Write to PRE Delay : Auto
Read to PRE Delay : Auto
PRE to PRE Delay : Auto
ALL PRE to ACT Delay : Auto
ALL PRE to REF Delay : Auto

DRAM Static Read Control: Enabled
Ai Clock Twister : Stonger
Transaction Booster : Manual

Common Performance Level 7

Pull-In of CHA PH1 Disabled
Pull-In of CHA PH2 Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH1 Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH2 Disabled

CPU Voltage : 1.45 ( you may need to go higher )
CPU PLL Voltage : Auto
North Bridge Voltage : 1.53 ( this might need adjustment)
DRAM Voltage : 2.1
FSB Termination Voltage : 1.40
South Bridge Voltage : 1.050
Loadline Calibration : Enabled
CPU GTL Reference : 0.63x
North Bridge GTL Reference : 0.67x
DDR2 Channel A REF Voltage : DDR2-REFF
DDR2 Channel B REF Voltage : DDR2-REFF
DDR2 Controller REF Voltage : DDR2-REFF
SB 1.5V Voltage : 1.5

[ElEctric_EyE]

Temporarily (I hope) stuck here. Started with these settings:

Extreme Tweaker
Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up : AUTO
CPU Ratio Control : AUTO
- Ratio CMOS Setting : 9
FSB Frequency : 445
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 333
PCI-E Frequency: 100
DRAM Frequency: DDR2- 890
DRAM Command Rate : 2T
DRAM Timing Control: Manual
CAS# Latency : 5
RAS# to CAS# Delay : 5
RAS# Precharge : 5
RAS# ActivateTime : 15
RAS# to RAS# Delay : 3
Row Refresh Cycle Time : 50
Write Recovery Time : 6
Read to Precharge Time : 3

Read to Write Delay (S/D) : Auto
Write to Read Delay (S) : Auto
Write to Read Delay (D) : Auto
Read to Read Delay (S) : Auto
Read to Read Delay (D) : Auto
Write to Write Delay (S) : Auto
Write to Write Delay (D) : Auto
DRAM Static Read Control: Disabled
( enabled will give better bandwidth but might create instability in ram)
Ai Clock Twister : Strong
Transaction Booster : Disabled
Relax level: 0


CPU Voltage : 1.35 ( you may need to adjust this)
CPU PLL Voltage : AUTO
North Bridge Voltage : 1.49
DRAM Voltage : 2.00
FSB Termination Voltage : 1.40
South Bridge Voltage : 1.050
Loadline Calibration : Enabled
CPU GTL Reference : 0.63X
North Bridge GTL Reference : 0.67X
DDR2 Channel A REF Voltage : AUTO
DDR2 Channel B REF Voltage : AUTO
DDR2 Controller REF Voltage : DDR2-REFF
SB 1.5V Voltage : 1.5

testing with Prime95 Small FFTs:

Prime failed on core 1 after about 15 minutes during the 10K test.

Changed NB voltage to 1.55- Prime failed after 17 minutes during 10k test.

Left NB at 1.55 changed CPU voltage to 1.35625- Prime failed after 23 minutes during 10k test.

Changed NB voltage to 1.57 left CPU voltage at 1.35625- Prime failed after 19 minutes during 10k test.

Dropped NB voltage back to 1.55, changed CPU voltage to 1.36250- Prime failed after 22 minutes during 10k test.

Seems to indicate something other than NB or CPU voltage is holding it back. Ideas?

Thanks!

Either you reached your limit, or you don't have enough volts on the cpu. With me, high volts (1.7 BIOS) on the cpu with water cooling, it is stable... I am responding to you because I know I can't go above 440 with my Q6600 on 9x. On 8x I get to 470, so logically it's not a FSB issue, it's cpu. More Volts on the cpu i'd say...

[Grnfinger]

I agree with E E more vCore should do the trick, just watch your temps

[wreckwriter]

Yea, that does seem to be the trick. 1.375 in bios, indicates in Everest as 1.35. Prime is running the 20k tests now, well over an hour running. What is the limit Intel says for normal operation? I seem to recall 1.38? Is that right? CPU temp is hovering around 50.

[Grnfinger]

At 50c I wouldnt worry to much about what Intel has to say
Glad its working out for you

[wreckwriter]

At 50c I wouldnt worry to much about what Intel has to say
Glad its working out for you

50C being good or too high? Cores are about 10c higher of course. If one uses RealTemp its all 10C cooler :)

It crapped out again, 1 hour 22 minutes. Getting better for sure now though. CPU volt now at 1.38125 in bios, indicates 1.36 in Everest. RAM volt at 2.10. Priming yet again.

[Grnfinger]

50c is more than respectable temps for load.
I hit around 55c full load, even 60c if the fireplace is on and the ambiant air is warm enough

[wreckwriter]

50c is more than respectable temps for load.
I hit around 55c full load, even 60c if the fireplace is on and the ambiant air is warm enough

Cool thanks! Ambient is about 75-78. I'm in Florida, no fireplaces (or winters) :)

[Grnfinger]

Sure rub it in :rofl:
It's actually nice here today around 15c

[wreckwriter]

Sure rub it in :rofl:
It's actually nice here today around 15c

Don't know my Cs very well but I think that's cold!

[cajer]

I get the det. dram error everytime I go above 440 fsb. I have tried uping the voltages, jumping the wall, and flashing to older and newer bioses. I am sure that it is not my memory or cpu because they can run much higher on other boards. These are my settings. I hope that you guys can help me reach 480 fsb.



Extreme Tweaker
Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up : AUTO
CPU Ratio Control : Manual
- Ratio CMOS Setting : 8
FSB Frequency : 430
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 333
PCI-E Frequency: 112
DRAM Frequency: DDR2- 1033
DRAM Command Rate : 2t
DRAM Timing Control: Manual
CAS# Latency : 5
RAS# to CAS# Delay : 4
RAS# Precharge : 4
RAS# ActivateTime : 12
RAS# to RAS# Delay : 3
Row Refresh Cycle Time : 35
Write Recovery Time : 6
Read to Precharge Time : 3

Read to Write Delay (S/D) : 8
Write to Read Delay (S) : 3
Write to Read Delay (D) : 5
Read to Read Delay (S) : 4
Read to Read Delay (D) : 6
Write to Write Delay (S) : 4
Write to Write Delay (D) : 6
DRAM Static Read Control: disabled
Ai Clock Twister : strong
Transaction Booster : disabled
relax: 0
CPU Voltage : 1.225
CPU PLL Voltage : 1.62
North Bridge Voltage : 1.63
DRAM Voltage : 2.16
FSB Termination Voltage : 1.4
South Bridge Voltage : 1.1
Loadline Calibration : enbled
CPU GTL Reference : .63
North Bridge GTL Reference : .67
DDR2 Channel A REF Voltage : auto
DDR2 Channel B REF Voltage : auto
DDR2 Controller REF Voltage : ddr2_ref
SB 1.5V Voltage : 1.5

NB LED Selection : NB Volt
SB LED Selection : SB Volt
CPU LED Selection : CPU VOlt
Voltiminder LED :

CPU Spread Spectrum : Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum : Disabled

Advanced CPU Configuration
CPU Ratio Control : Manual
- Ratio CMOS Setting :
C1E Suppport : Disabled
CPU TM Function : Disabled
Vanderpool Technology : Disabled
Execute Disable Bit : Disabled
Max CPUID Value Limit : Disabled

[ZenEffect]

I get the det. dram error everytime I go above 440 fsb. I have tried uping the voltages, jumping the wall, and flashing to older and newer bioses. I am sure that it is not my memory or cpu because they can run much higher on other boards. These are my settings. I hope that you guys can help me reach 480 fsb.



clock twister to auto and or relax level 1 might help. sorry for the stupid response but i dont have that ram or cpu :(

[Grnfinger]

I get the det. dram error everytime I go above 440 fsb. I have tried uping the voltages, jumping the wall, and flashing to older and newer bioses. I am sure that it is not my memory or cpu because they can run much higher on other boards. These are my settings. I hope that you guys can help me reach 480 fsb.



Extreme Tweaker
Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up : AUTO
CPU Ratio Control : Manual
- Ratio CMOS Setting : 8
FSB Frequency : 430
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 333
PCI-E Frequency: 112
DRAM Frequency: DDR2- 1033
DRAM Command Rate : 2t
DRAM Timing Control: Manual
CAS# Latency : 5
RAS# to CAS# Delay : 4
RAS# Precharge : 4
RAS# ActivateTime : 12
RAS# to RAS# Delay : 3
Row Refresh Cycle Time : 35
Write Recovery Time : 6
Read to Precharge Time : 3

Read to Write Delay (S/D) : 8
Write to Read Delay (S) : 3
Write to Read Delay (D) : 5
Read to Read Delay (S) : 4
Read to Read Delay (D) : 6
Write to Write Delay (S) : 4
Write to Write Delay (D) : 6
DRAM Static Read Control: disabled
Ai Clock Twister : strong
Transaction Booster : disabled
relax: 0
CPU Voltage : 1.225
CPU PLL Voltage : 1.62
North Bridge Voltage : 1.63
DRAM Voltage : 2.16
FSB Termination Voltage : 1.4
South Bridge Voltage : 1.1
Loadline Calibration : enbled
CPU GTL Reference : .63
North Bridge GTL Reference : .67
DDR2 Channel A REF Voltage : auto
DDR2 Channel B REF Voltage : auto
DDR2 Controller REF Voltage : ddr2_ref
SB 1.5V Voltage : 1.5

NB LED Selection : NB Volt
SB LED Selection : SB Volt
CPU LED Selection : CPU VOlt
Voltiminder LED :

CPU Spread Spectrum : Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum : Disabled

Advanced CPU Configuration
CPU Ratio Control : Manual
- Ratio CMOS Setting :
C1E Suppport : Disabled
CPU TM Function : Disabled
Vanderpool Technology : Disabled
Execute Disable Bit : Disabled
Max CPUID Value Limit : Disabled

Adjust your ram timing back to 5-5-5-15, and enable Dram Static Read Control and see if it posts

[ZenEffect]

@ webster

what is the batch and voltage id of your processor?

voltage id (vid) can be found using coretemp

batch is on the box.. i.e. L745A675

ive oc'd a few quads all with different vid's (to finally settle on the one i am using currently) and the vid usually can give a ballpark of the expected volts.

also, what water cooling setup are you using to cool the quad?

[wreckwriter]

My Prime has been running for almost 4 hours now. It completely finished one Prime run and has started a second. If everything goes ok I'll get to test about 2 more hours before I have to shut down (my wife and baby sleep in the room too or I would let it fly all night).

Tomorrow night I'll start playing with the RAM I hope.

[jwfitt]

There are no stupid questions right? :D

What should my limit be when monitoring my temps under load on my qx9650. I've seen various numbers thrown about, but I wasn't sure if they were referring to the generic CPU temp read-out or the read-outs for the individual cores.

Thanks!

[binormalkilla]

I'm thinking about flashing mine....I dunno though....I have a nice stable OC....I really want those memory settings though. Thoughts anyone?

[Webster]

Just thought I'd say thanks for the replies. I will try the settings, and check the Quad vid and batch tomorrow, and post back then.

As for my W/C setup, I'm running a DDCw/petras top, to a PA120.2, a Fuzion with a quad nozzle and the MFSE block with 7/16" tubing.

[dimsdale]

I get the det. dram error everytime I go above 440 fsb.

I've also had DET DRAM hangs as well on higher FSB settings. I was able to get around that with these settings:

DRAM Static Read Control: AUTO
Ai Clock Twister : MODERATE
Transaction Booster : DISABLED
relax: 1 [had to be 1. 0 didn't work for higher FSBs]

[Marvin54]

i´m searching a intel x3350, Someone knows where

[cyrixMII300]

:confused:

hello everyone. First of I apologize if this has been resolved before but i couldnt find the info anywhere though i checked. If there is, i would appreciate it if someone could point me in the right direction.

My problem is this, my system is oc'ed to 3.6GHz and is rock stable with Prime95 ver25.3 for 24hours without errors. everything is you could say is hunky dory. however, my crucial ballistix is being identified by MF bios ver 0907 as PC6400 instead of PC8500??? I am all confused on the reason. it is clocked at 1066MHz in the bios and is running with 3:4 divider based on 400x9multi.

how do i resolve this? I am sure this discussion has cropped up before and resolved but for the life of me i cant find the post.

[Durkadurka]

:confused:
My problem is this, my system is oc'ed to 3.6GHz and is rock stable with Prime95 ver25.3 for 24hours without errors. everything is you could say is hunky dory. however, my crucial ballistix is being identified by MF bios ver 0907 as PC6400 instead of PC8500??? I am all confused on the reason. it is clocked at 1066MHz in the bios and is running with 3:4 divider based on 400x9multi.

how do i resolve this? I am sure this discussion has cropped up before and resolved but for the life of me i cant find the post.

That's just the way it is. There's nothing to resolve. It's a-okay! :)

[cyrixMII300]

u mean everyone has an identical problem?

[Sources]

u mean everyone has an identical problem?

Yes. They are PC6400 that can just run at PC8500 easily =)

Mine say the same thing

[zlojack]

Guys, I need some advice.

I'm having a tough time finding some memory that will go above 1000 MHz stable on this board. I've had the ReaperX 2x2GB kit (PC28000), the famous G.Skills (PC28000) and I'm currently on the Mushkin Redlines, but all three of them give me back errors in Memtest86+ when I try to go above the rated speed.

I'm waiting on a set of the Dominators PC28500 2x2 kit but they're back ordered and taking forever.

I'm also thinking about trying a 4x1 setup as that might give me more bandwidth. I'd like to go to 1200MHz ideally, but at least be able to run above 1100MHz for 24/7.

Any recommendations on a 2x2 or a 4x1 that plays nice with this board above 1100MHz?

[cyrixMII300]

Yes. They are PC6400 that can just run at PC8500 easily =)

Mine say the same thing


That's just the way it is. There's nothing to resolve. It's a-okay! :)


thank goodness guys. i was starting to get worried that my oc was nothing. :up: anyway, time to get home and do little bit more tweaking on my pc.

[Leeghoofd]

thank goodness guys. i was starting to get worried that my oc was nothing. :up: anyway, time to get home and do little bit more tweaking on my pc.

Do you need 1.7NB voltage for 400FSB ? did you try to lower it or is the settings on auto in the bios ?


There are no stupid questions right? :D

What should my limit be when monitoring my temps under load on my qx9650. I've seen various numbers thrown about, but I wasn't sure if they were referring to the generic CPU temp read-out or the read-outs for the individual cores.

Thanks!

Try to keep the cores under 65°C real temp reading mate under load, coretemp apparently is 8-10°C off...


Guys, I need some advice.

I'm having a tough time finding some memory that will go above 1000 MHz stable on this board.

Did you try 1004 bios and set TRFC to a value at or above 55 ? My Gskills PC8000PQ kit were good up to 1081mhz with 5-5-5-15 2T at 2.1 volts 4gig kits or 4 dimms also need more NB voltage

[wreckwriter]

Since my RAM was brought down to 890 from 1066 to achieve this overclock, what additional changes are likely needed to get the RAM back to 1066 now that the overclock is stable?

[CERO]

Well I just re-did the stockcooling of my Rampage formula, they used just like on the Maximus a cement-like TIM, was really a pain in the **s to remove those junk. However I applied some MX-2 , I was wondering if this amount is enough, I just put a small drop @ the center, and put the stock cooling back and tighten all 4 screws firmly. So is this amount of TIM enough?
With 1.41NBv I am ideling with 27c tho, not sure if it could be better if the TIM wasnt applied properly at first

[wreckwriter]

Well I just re-did the stockcooling of my Rampage formula, they used just like on the Maximus a cement-like TIM, was really a pain in the **s to remove those junk. However I applied some MX-2 , I was wondering if this amount is enough, I just put a small drop @ the center, and put the stock cooling back and tighten all 4 screws firmly. So is this amount of TIM enough?
With 1.41NBv I am ideling with 27c tho, not sure if it could be better if the TIM wasnt applied properly at first

That looks to be applied as the goop manufacturer recommends, should be fine. 27 on the NB is not bad anyway.

[ericab]

I'm thinking about flashing mine....I dunno though....I have a nice stable OC....I really want those memory settings though. Thoughts anyone?

there are 40 pages of thoughts already. :cool:

[CERO]

Cheers :up:

well I am then gonna crank the volts up and see how it goes under load.

[Stanley Pain]

there are 40 pages of thoughts already. :cool:

Heheh, I was going to post this as well :).


TL;DR: MOST people are getting slightly better OC results and better memory bandwidth with the Rampage BIOS. As always YMMV :D

[zlojack]

Did you try 1004 bios and set TRFC to a value at or above 55 ? My Gskills PC8000PQ kit were good up to 1081mhz with 5-5-5-15 2T at 2.1 volts 4gig kits or 4 dimms also need more NB voltage
I had NB volts up as high as 1.65 and TRFC at 60 and still got errors in Memtest86+ with the G.Skills.

In their product sheet they say they will function with this board but only at 333 FSB...:confused:

I've tried loosening all the memory timings and going for more MHz and then walking them back down, but it gives errors no matter what. I actually RMA'd a set to NCIX and they couldn't find anything wrong with them even though they gave me errors at stock and below on my board.

Unless I have an issue with my board...but my Mushkins run at 5-5-5-12 1003MHz on the 266 strap with 400 fsb no problem.


I've tried 1004 and now Rampage bios 0219 and still getting the same issue.

[cajer]

I've also had DET DRAM hangs as well on higher FSB settings. I was able to get around that with these settings:

DRAM Static Read Control: AUTO
Ai Clock Twister : MODERATE
Transaction Booster : DISABLED
relax: 1 [had to be 1. 0 didn't work for higher FSBs]

I have tried both of these and they still don't help me once I am above 440 fsb. Another other options?

[Grnfinger]

I'm thinking about flashing mine....I dunno though....I have a nice stable OC....I really want those memory settings though. Thoughts anyone?

I would recommend it. It makes for a much more stable board and you do get better bandwidth.
I would also recommend a clean OS install after the conversion, some say you dont need it, and I'm not saying you do but I had a few small bugs/issues that were gone after a clean install

[vbo]

http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/7452/over9922seg7.jpg

[mitra-]

If I flash Maximus to Rampage the warranty is lost?

[Grnfinger]

If I flash Maximus to Rampage the warranty is lost?

As long as you dont brick the board you can flash back at any time

[cyrixMII300]

Do you need 1.7NB voltage for 400FSB ? did you try to lower it or is the settings on auto in the bios ?



Try to keep the cores under 65°C real temp reading mate under load, coretemp apparently is 8-10°C off...



Did you try 1004 bios and set TRFC to a value at or above 55 ? My Gskills PC8000PQ kit were good up to 1081mhz with 5-5-5-15 2T at 2.1 volts 4gig kits or 4 dimms also need more NB voltage

actually the volts are on auto. i was wondering though about the volt. it does seem rather high doesnt it?

[Grnfinger]

actually the volts are on auto. i was wondering though about the volt. it does seem rather high doesnt it?

You shouldnt be running volts on auto, 1.7 for NB is way to high imo

[ZenEffect]

Grnfinger, save and post the stock bios for the rampage in the maximus to rampage thread. bios 0215 is proving to be pretty elusive...

[GlowingBulb]

Ah, still struggling to hit a remotely stable FSB of anything over 435MHz, I've tried all the various configs out there that you guys have shared & just cant get there, regardless of MF BIOS version or after swapping over to the Rampage BIOS. A big thanks to Kup, The Stilt et al for all their hard work allowing me & thousands of others to reap the benefits of their efforts though :)

I've finally resigned myself to sticking with a cool 24/7 3.6GHz, would have liked to have posted at 4GHz but I think I've been unlucky with my Q6600 (VID 1.30, Batch L734B293) that wont let me get there.

Would I see any real increases if I got myself a nice new Q9450 or with its lower multiplier & early days would I be running a very real risk of seeing minimal, if any performance increases?

I'll post my BIOS settings tomorrow if any think it'll help, personally I feel I've just hit that FSB wall.

Thanks for the advice in advance :)

[Dostoyevsky77]

I'm thinking about flashing mine....I dunno though....I have a nice stable OC....I really want those memory settings though. Thoughts anyone?

I say yes, do it. :up:

It's easy, reversible, and beneficial. I do not see any drawbacks whatsoever.

[kup]

Ah, still struggling to hit a remotely stable FSB of anything over 435MHz, I've tried all the various configs out there that you guys have shared & just cant get there, regardless of MF BIOS version or after swapping over to the Rampage BIOS. A big thanks to Kup, The Stilt et al for all their hard work allowing me & thousands of others to reap the benefits of their efforts though :)

I've finally resigned myself to sticking with a cool 24/7 3.6GHz, would have liked to have posted at 4GHz but I think I've been unlucky with my Q6600 (VID 1.30, Batch L734B293) that wont let me get there.

Would I see any real increases if I got myself a nice new Q9450 or with its lower multiplier & early days would I be running a very real risk of seeing minimal, if any performance increases?

I'll post my BIOS settings tomorrow if any think it'll help, personally I feel I've just hit that FSB wall.

Thanks for the advice in advance :)

My pleasure dude, but I think the real thanks should go out to EVERYONE who contributed to the 3 Maximus/Rampage threads!!! :cool:

Post your settings here if you're using the Rampage bios and in the Maximus Part 2 thread if you're on a Maximus and we'll do out best to get you even higher! 1.3v VID isn't the highest it could have been, pretty average IMO, so not bad at all. :up:

[Grnfinger]

Ah, still struggling to hit a remotely stable FSB of anything over 435MHz, I've tried all the various configs out there that you guys have shared & just cant get there, regardless of MF BIOS version or after swapping over to the Rampage BIOS. A big thanks to Kup, The Stilt et al for all their hard work allowing me & thousands of others to reap the benefits of their efforts though :)

I've finally resigned myself to sticking with a cool 24/7 3.6GHz, would have liked to have posted at 4GHz but I think I've been unlucky with my Q6600 (VID 1.30, Batch L734B293) that wont let me get there.

Would I see any real increases if I got myself a nice new Q9450 or with its lower multiplier & early days would I be running a very real risk of seeing minimal, if any performance increases?

I'll post my BIOS settings tomorrow if any think it'll help, personally I feel I've just hit that FSB wall.

Thanks for the advice in advance :)

I would avoid the q9450 like the plaque, it is :banana::banana::banana::banana: for overclocking.
With a VID of 1.30 I would assume 3.8GHz will be the limit, my quad has a vid of 1.325 and I cant run any higher than 3.8GHz for the volts needed to go higher is insane. Post your setup so we can see what adjustments need to made.

[Grnfinger]

mc2k's board shipped with bios 219, he was told it was 215 from the supplier.
So I cannot provide 215 , With the board released now I would expect to see another bios shortly.


Cheers :up:

well I am then gonna crank the volts up and see how it goes under load.

Keep us posted on the results plz, want to see if there is any advantage to a "real" Rampage

[ZenEffect]

mc2k's board shipped with bios 219, he was told it was 215 from the supplier.
So I cannot provide 215 , With the board released now I would expect to see another bios shortly.



Keep us posted on the results plz, want to see if there is any advantage to a "real" Rampage
asus website says that it ships with 0215... oh well guess i will just wait. thanks for the speedy response as always.

[cajer]

I can't make my usb stick bootable with the hp utitily that we are supposed to use in the mod. I have tried 4 different usb sticks, vistia, xp sp3, and xp sp2 all of which still do not work. Is there any other way to perform the mod?

[ZenEffect]

the 737B668 i had had a 1.325 vid... to get to 3.8Ghz i needed 1.64 volts, 1.8ppl in bios to get stable....

i quickly returned it and got another... then returned that one... repeated about 20x to settle with the quad i have now.

[Nuckin_Futs]

I get the det. dram error everytime I go above 440 fsb. I have tried uping the voltages, jumping the wall, and flashing to older and newer bioses. I am sure that it is not my memory or cpu because they can run much higher on other boards. These are my settings. I hope that you guys can help me reach 480 fsb.

Extreme Tweaker
Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up : AUTO
CPU Ratio Control : Manual
- Ratio CMOS Setting : 8
FSB Frequency : 430
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 333
PCI-E Frequency: 112
DRAM Frequency: DDR2- 1033
DRAM Command Rate : 2t
DRAM Timing Control: Manual
CAS# Latency : 5
RAS# to CAS# Delay : 4
RAS# Precharge : 4
RAS# ActivateTime : 12
RAS# to RAS# Delay : 3
Row Refresh Cycle Time : 35
Write Recovery Time : 6
Read to Precharge Time : 3

Read to Write Delay (S/D) : 8
Write to Read Delay (S) : 3
Write to Read Delay (D) : 5
Read to Read Delay (S) : 4
Read to Read Delay (D) : 6
Write to Write Delay (S) : 4
Write to Write Delay (D) : 6
DRAM Static Read Control: disabled
Ai Clock Twister : strong
Transaction Booster : disabled
relax: 0
CPU Voltage : 1.225
CPU PLL Voltage : 1.62
North Bridge Voltage : 1.63
DRAM Voltage : 2.16
FSB Termination Voltage : 1.4
South Bridge Voltage : 1.1
Loadline Calibration : enbled
CPU GTL Reference : .63
North Bridge GTL Reference : .67
DDR2 Channel A REF Voltage : auto
DDR2 Channel B REF Voltage : auto
DDR2 Controller REF Voltage : ddr2_ref
SB 1.5V Voltage : 1.5

NB LED Selection : NB Volt
SB LED Selection : SB Volt
CPU LED Selection : CPU VOlt
Voltiminder LED :

CPU Spread Spectrum : Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum : Disabled

Advanced CPU Configuration
CPU Ratio Control : Manual
- Ratio CMOS Setting :
C1E Suppport : Disabled
CPU TM Function : Disabled
Vanderpool Technology : Disabled
Execute Disable Bit : Disabled
Max CPUID Value Limit : Disabled
For starters, DO enable the Static Read contyrol for stability climbing over 450FSB, 2nd relax them timings and reduce Ai Twister to Mod or even light, 3nr if still unstable, relax boost to 1 - 7 as need be. But w/ that RAM Ai of Moderate, + boost to auto is fine if Static read is enabled. Plus depends on your VDIMM for 1066, I needed 2.224v at 1050 @ 4-4-4-13 (same PC2-6400 but, Golds). Next, try strap to Auto, as I have had many BIOS versdion not like to be forced to a set speed. Besides, most the time a given DRAM spd for a certain CPU/RAM ratio, can only use one strap and it will fix to that one automatically. And if testing for CPU FSB, fix to 1:1 by also setting DRAM frequency to Auto as it will also fix 1:1 for you. Again, many BIOS I tested for my CPU dont like to be manually set for 1:1 but do fine on say, 5:6. Lastly, some of your volts are either too much for the OC or some not enough, but hard to tell since you not clear if this is actual or as set.

So members PLEASE, if not gonna specify wich voltages (as set or as reported in CMOS), then at least only use actual voltages reported by CMOS, not as set (since we know this and many mobos overvolt but at different rates). Anybody can figure on how to set to get teh volts they need as actual. ThanX!


:confused:

hello everyone. First of I apologize if this has been resolved before but i couldnt find the info anywhere though i checked. If there is, i would appreciate it if someone could point me in the right direction.

My problem is this, my system is oc'ed to 3.6GHz and is rock stable with Prime95 ver25.3 for 24hours without errors. everything is you could say is hunky dory. however, my crucial ballistix is being identified by MF bios ver 0907 as PC6400 instead of PC8500??? I am all confused on the reason. it is clocked at 1066MHz in the bios and is running with 3:4 divider based on 400x9multi.

how do i resolve this? I am sure this discussion has cropped up before and resolved but for the life of me i cant find the post.
This is normal, it's cause of the RAM Jdec specs. All overclocking RAM above Jedec speced PC-6400 is just spd binned to perform at the overclocker speeds we pay for. So even PC2-9200 is gonna' look like PC2-6400 to BIOS but will just OC a lot better. It has to be able to boot as DDR800 for mobo's that cannot OC, or else it would not POST. So even timings will be relaxed to ensure this. That's why it's totally OK to buy even this OC quality RAM if @ stock 800MHz or mild OC cause of the ability to tighten up timings.


Well I just re-did the stockcooling of my Rampage formula, they used just like on the Maximus a cement-like TIM, was really a pain in the **s to remove those junk. However I applied some MX-2 , I was wondering if this amount is enough, I just put a small drop @ the center, and put the stock cooling back and tighten all 4 screws firmly. So is this amount of TIM enough?
With 1.41NBv I am ideling with 27c tho, not sure if it could be better if the TIM wasnt applied properly at first
Not bad temp on the NB. I removed even the IHS off the X38 and got even less. Now I never really run mine so low, but on 1.5v on nB and @ 500FSB, I only get 37c idle and 42c loaded. On warm days, it hits 39c idle and 43c. I used to hit 48c before I removed the IHS completely but reseating the Fusion block directly to chip set die.

[Nuckin_Futs]

O.K. I admit I am getting better stability with my returned RMA. But I still get occassional failures to resume from S3 Sleep (Stabd By) on my 5:6 divider on a modest OC to 4750FSB and above (havent test daily mild 450FSB on 5:6 yet).More vdimm or vcore and a tad more NB did not matter. I went as high as 1.488v, (the 2nd Mobo in my sig @ 480x8) PLL: 1.648v, FSBT: 1.504v, NB: 1.54v, and CPU+NB GTL_Ref = 63x/67x respectively. Even tested RAM to 1.288v and still no go even though it passed with colors and temps were always good. Passed several hrs of all modes of Prime 95 v25.5 each time. Yet on a given day after many functions of S3, sometimes into S3 and back again, it just fails either in the morning after hrs of sleep or middle of the day when only in Sleep for few hrs.

Anybody find a butter zone for this? Note, S4 (Hibernate) always workes in any of the test. And S3 always works on a 1:1 even over 500FSB and with lower voltages all accross the board. So what gives?

[cajer]

Also could I do the mod once windows is booted up under command prompt?

[ericab]

Also could I do the mod once windows is booted up under command prompt?

no.

well.... its POSSIBLE...
but dont do it.


just dont.

if you want proof just read all of the horror stories people have talked about w/ updating BIOS within windows. (asus update anyone ?)

[Webster]

I get to sit down today and start to work, and to my suprise, my computer starts up @ 333x9 with the settings previously mentioned. However it was extremely unstable, it was still surprising. Anyways, I took Grnfinger's settings, and booted with some little stability at 1.336v. Eventually gained stability, and passed 2 hours of prime with 1.45v in BIOS, 1.436 in CoreTemp. Idle temps about 35 and load temps between 50-55. So I give my sincere gratitude to Grnfinger. My only question now is what do I do next? Also, my VID is 1.2625v, Batch L728A924.

[safan80]

S3, sometimes into S3 and back again, it just fails either in the morning after hrs of sleep or middle of the day when only in Sleep for few hrs.

Anybody find a butter zone for this? Note, S4 (Hibernate) always workes in any of the test. And S3 always works on a 1:1 even over 500FSB and with lower voltages all accross the board. So what gives?

I have the same problem so now I'm testing bios 1004 because I don't like bios 0907 but read this
http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=Maximus%20Formula


Fix system freezes if been interrupted by USB devices before entered S3

[ZenEffect]

now go for 400x9 :)

this is the about the settings i had for same vid cpu (owned 2 days then exchanged... retail stores and return policys)

Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up : AUTO
CPU Ratio Control : Manual
- Ratio CMOS Setting : 9
FSB Frequency : 400
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 400
PCI-E Frequency: 100
DRAM Frequency: DDR2-800
DRAM Command Rate : 2T
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel A : NORMAL or DEFAULT (dont remember what it says)
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel B : NORMAL or DEFAULT (dont remember what it says)
DRAM Timing Control: Manual
CAS# Latency : 5
RAS# to CAS# Delay : 5
RAS# Precharge : 5
RAS# ActivateTime : 15
RAS# to RAS# Delay : Auto
Row Refresh Cycle Time : 55
Write Recovery Time : Auto
Read to Precharge Time : Auto

Read to Write Delay (S/D) : Auto
Write to Read Delay (S) : Auto
Write to Read Delay (D) : Auto
Read to Read Delay (S) : Auto
Read to Read Delay (D) : Auto
Write to Write Delay (S) : Auto
Write to Write Delay (D) : Auto

Write to PRE Delay : Auto
Read to PRE Delay : Auto
PRE to PRE Delay : Auto
ALL PRE to ACT Delay : Auto
ALL PRE to REF Delay : Auto

DRAM Static Read Control: Enabled
Ai Clock Twister : AUTO (was strong on mf)
Transaction Booster : AUTO

CPU Voltage : 1.5
CPU PLL Voltage : 1.54
North Bridge Voltage : 1.56 4 sticks of ram needs more volts so probably a smidge less than this for stability.
DRAM Voltage : 2.1
FSB Termination Voltage : 1.51
South Bridge Voltage : 1.050
Loadline Calibration : Enabled
CPU GTL Reference : 0.67x
North Bridge GTL Reference : 0.67x
DDR2 Channel A REF Voltage : AUTO
DDR2 Channel B REF Voltage : AUTO
DDR2 Controller REF Voltage : DDR2-REF
SB 1.5V Voltage : 1.5

[Signal64]

Just started messing with an E8400 on a Maximus Formula 1.03G board.

Load Line Calibration is on but haven't tried the pencil mod yet.

But does this look right?
Seems pretty jagged compared to some other OCCT graphs I've seen.

http://img399.imageshack.us/img399/1714/2008040607h01vcorejg8.th.png (http://img399.imageshack.us/my.php?image=2008040607h01vcorejg8.png)

Guessing it's my crummy Enermax Liberty 620W.

[GlowingBulb]

My 24/7 settings for 3.6GHz. Rock stable, I could probably lower my NB & FSB a little lower. I am working from memory here & will edit / update this post when I get home from work.

I hope this helps somebody anyhoo :)

Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up : AUTO
CPU Ratio Control : Manual
- Ratio CMOS Setting : 9
FSB Frequency : 400
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 400
PCI-E Frequency: 100
DRAM Frequency: DDR2-1066
DRAM Command Rate : 2T
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel A : NORMAL
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel B : NORMAL
DRAM Timing Control: Manual
CAS# Latency : 5
RAS# to CAS# Delay : 5
RAS# Precharge : 5
RAS# ActivateTime : 15
RAS# to RAS# Delay : Auto
Row Refresh Cycle Time : 35
Write Recovery Time : Auto
Read to Precharge Time : Auto

Read to Write Delay (S/D) : Auto
Write to Read Delay (S) : Auto
Write to Read Delay (D) : Auto
Read to Read Delay (S) : Auto
Read to Read Delay (D) : Auto
Write to Write Delay (S) : Auto
Write to Write Delay (D) : Auto

Write to PRE Delay : Auto
Read to PRE Delay : Auto
PRE to PRE Delay : Auto
ALL PRE to ACT Delay : Auto
ALL PRE to REF Delay : Auto

All of my memory subtimings that are shown as "Auto" above are manually set to whatever value the board is showign in the BIOS

DRAM Static Read Control: Enabled
Ai Clock Twister : Stronger
Transaction Booster : Enabled
Performance Level: 6

CPU Voltage : 1.475
CPU PLL Voltage : Auto
North Bridge Voltage : 1.56
DRAM Voltage : 2.1
FSB Termination Voltage : 1.42
South Bridge Voltage : 1.050
Loadline Calibration : Enabled
CPU GTL Reference : 0.67x
North Bridge GTL Reference : 0.67x
DDR2 Channel A REF Voltage : DDR2-REF
DDR2 Channel B REF Voltage : DDR2-REF
DDR2 Controller REF Voltage : DDR2-REF
SB 1.5V Voltage : Auto

[Webster]

Oh god, I forgot to mention that the 1.45v acheived stability for 400x9 and the settings previously mentioned by Grnfinger. Honestly, how did I forget to mention that?:shrug:

Sorry for the confusion, i feel stupid now :(

[dimsdale]

I'm running an ASUS Maximus Formula (bios 1004) and trying to max out my overclock on a QX9650. When I stress test the machine using prime95, I'm getting either rounding errors or fatal errors only on Thread 4, which seems to correspond to CPU Core #4.

I can get the CPU stable at 3.4 GHz and 3.6 GHz with a 400 MHz FSB, but when I try to go to 3.8 GHz, it's always Core #4 that fails after about two hours.

Have you guys seen that the same core repeatedly fails stress testing after a few hours? I think I was 10 hours prime95 stable at 3.6 GHz and 1.26V, but I can't get that kind of stability on Core 4 even with 1.36V.

Anyone have a suggestion on what might be going wrong or any BIOS setting that might help with the same core failing after a few hours of stress testing? BTW, Core #4 (the core that keeps failing), is actually running a degree or two cooler than Core #1.

Thanks in advance!

[wreckwriter]

Since my RAM was brought down to 890 from 1066 to achieve this overclock, what additional changes are likely needed to get the RAM back to 1066 now that the overclock is stable?

The answer was no additional changes, just kicked the RAM back up. Still stable :))

[tc17]

I can't make my usb stick bootable with the hp utitily that we are supposed to use in the mod. I have tried 4 different usb sticks, vistia, xp sp3, and xp sp2 all of which still do not work. Is there any other way to perform the mod?
I haven't done the mod, but recently I had made my usb stick bootable. Not sure if it helps you but I followed these directions:

http://www.bay-wolf.com/usbmemstick.htm

Do your usb sticks have preinstalled software?

[zlojack]

Still no results from an X48 RF vs. X38 RF?

I haven't seen any so far.

[cyrixMII300]

i need help everyone. could someone who has done 4.0GHz on air with a Q6600 please post your bios setting and also volts? I am at 3.6GHz now and cannot possibly go over even a MHz but i know that the baby can do it. so please could someone post your settings?

in the case that it has already been done, please let me know which thread and i will find it. thanks a gazzillion...

[Ric2L]

How are you guys keeping your N/B temps down on your non SE boards. If I try to run 400 fsb my N/B temps go up over 52 deg. while stressing with Prime95. From what I read at the start of this thread you should not let it go over 47? I have a thermal sensor on mine ran to the front panel. With a 3.2Ghz overclock on my Q6600 (356x9) it runs at 45 deg while stressing, and 40 idle. I'd like to try 400x8, or maybe 3.6ghz once my ultra 120 extreme gets here, but the N/B temps worry me. Don't want to fry this thing.

Heres my bios setup:

Extreme Tweaker
Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up : AUTO
CPU Ratio Control : Manual
- Ratio CMOS Setting :9
FSB Frequency :356
FSB Strap to North Bridge :333
PCI-E Frequency:100
DRAM Frequency: DDR2-855
DRAM Command Rate :2T
DRAM Timing Control: Manual
CAS# Latency :5
RAS# to CAS# Delay :4
RAS# Precharge :4
RAS# ActivateTime :12
RAS# to RAS# Delay :4
Row Refresh Cycle Time :55
Write Recovery Time :5
Read to Precharge Time :Auto

Read to Write Delay (S/D) :9
Write to Read Delay (S) :5
Write to Read Delay (D) :5
Read to Read Delay (S) :4
Read to Read Delay (D) :6
Write to Write Delay (S) :4
Write to Write Delay (D) :6
DRAM Static Read Control:Disabled
Ai Clock Twister :Auto
Transaction Booster :Disabled

CPU Voltage :1.2625
CPU PLL Voltage :Auto
North Bridge Voltage :Auto
DRAM Voltage :1.88
FSB Termination Voltage :Auto
South Bridge Voltage :Auto
Loadline Calibration :Auto
CPU GTL Reference :Auto
North Bridge GTL Reference :Auto
DDR2 Channel A REF Voltage :Auto
DDR2 Channel B REF Voltage :Auto
DDR2 Controller REF Voltage :Auto
SB 1.5V Voltage :Auto

NB LED Selection : NB Volt
SB LED Selection : SB Volt
CPU LED Selection : CPU VOlt
Voltiminder LED :Enabled

CPU Spread Spectrum : Auto
PCIE Spread Spectrum : Auto

Advanced CPU Configuration
CPU Ratio Control : 9.0
- Ratio CMOS Setting :
C1E Suppport : Disabled
CPU TM Function : Enabled
Vanderpool Technology : Enabled
Execute Disable Bit : Enabled
Max CPUID Value Limit : Disabled


USB Configuration
USB Functions: Enabled
Legacy USB Support : Disabled

[dimsdale]

Quick Question: Spread Spectrum in the BIOS, as in:

CPU Spread Spectrum : Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum : Disabled

What the heck is this? Should it be disabled, enabled, or AUTO for overclocking??

Thanks~!

[ZenEffect]

next logical step would be 9x422

it shouldnt be too big of a hassle and should be around the stated volts i mentioned before. if those were your volts for 9x400 then you should be able to hit 4.8 with this board, cpu, and memory config granted you are in the 1:1 memory divider. your memory should easily reach 844.

if you are happy with your current overclock, the next step would be to tighten down your memory (test with memtest86... boots off a cd/usb)

higher clock speeds are going to result in higher temps... though with the temps and volts you have now i think 3.8 is attainable and fairly safe.

how is your bandwidth in everest at this point?

[cyrixMII300]

disabled disabled.. it is something to eliminate the electrical disturbance created by the pc components. if i remember well thats the definition.

[wreckwriter]

How are you guys keeping your N/B temps down on your non SE boards. If I try to run 400 fsb my N/B temps go up over 52 deg. while stressing with Prime95. From what I read at the start of this thread you should not let it go over 47? I have a thermal sensor on mine ran to the front panel. With a 3.2Ghz overclock on my Q6600 (356x9) it runs at 45 deg while stressing, and 40 idle. I'd like to try 400x8, or maybe 3.6ghz once my ultra 120 extreme gets here, but the N/B temps worry me. Don't want to fry this thing.

Heres my bios setup:

Extreme Tweaker
Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up : AUTO
CPU Ratio Control : Manual
- Ratio CMOS Setting :9
FSB Frequency :356
FSB Strap to North Bridge :333
PCI-E Frequency:100
DRAM Frequency: DDR2-855
DRAM Command Rate :2T
DRAM Timing Control: Manual
CAS# Latency :5
RAS# to CAS# Delay :4
RAS# Precharge :4
RAS# ActivateTime :12
RAS# to RAS# Delay :4
Row Refresh Cycle Time :55
Write Recovery Time :5
Read to Precharge Time :Auto

Read to Write Delay (S/D) :9
Write to Read Delay (S) :5
Write to Read Delay (D) :5
Read to Read Delay (S) :4
Read to Read Delay (D) :6
Write to Write Delay (S) :4
Write to Write Delay (D) :6
DRAM Static Read Control:Disabled
Ai Clock Twister :Auto
Transaction Booster :Disabled

CPU Voltage :1.2625
CPU PLL Voltage :Auto
North Bridge Voltage :Auto
DRAM Voltage :1.88
FSB Termination Voltage :Auto
South Bridge Voltage :Auto
Loadline Calibration :Auto
CPU GTL Reference :Auto
North Bridge GTL Reference :Auto
DDR2 Channel A REF Voltage :Auto
DDR2 Channel B REF Voltage :Auto
DDR2 Controller REF Voltage :Auto
SB 1.5V Voltage :Auto

NB LED Selection : NB Volt
SB LED Selection : SB Volt
CPU LED Selection : CPU VOlt
Voltiminder LED :Enabled

CPU Spread Spectrum : Auto
PCIE Spread Spectrum : Auto

Advanced CPU Configuration
CPU Ratio Control : 9.0
- Ratio CMOS Setting :
C1E Suppport : Disabled
CPU TM Function : Enabled
Vanderpool Technology : Enabled
Execute Disable Bit : Enabled
Max CPUID Value Limit : Disabled


USB Configuration
USB Functions: Enabled
Legacy USB Support : Disabled

First thing, get NB voltage off AUTO. I believe mine is at 1.55 or 1.57 (will have to check tonight if you need). Also I use a waterblock on mine. My NB is about 30 at idle and around 40 at load.

[Sources]

If you want ot keep AIR on your mobo then you should remove the stock heat sink form the NB and SB and put some after market coolers on like the Thermaltake NB (http://thermaltakeusa.com/product/cooler/VGAnCHIPnMEM/cl-c0034/cl-c0034.asp) cooler and the SB (http://thermaltakeusa.com/coolers/chipset/a1899.htm)

I went with water cooling my self, but those should give you NO problem when overclocking. When I removed the stock heat pipe from the SB it was cooler than with it on. All the heat from the NB was being transfered down the pipe and heating the SB more than cooling it. It was reverse engineering :P

PS you should only need 1.47v on your NB to reach 3.6 easily stable.

[Sources]

Anyone have a template for a Q6600 at around 4.0Ghz with the Rampage bios ?

[cajer]

I haven't done the mod, but recently I had made my usb stick bootable. Not sure if it helps you but I followed these directions:

http://www.bay-wolf.com/usbmemstick.htm

Do your usb sticks have preinstalled software?

Nope no preinstalled software and the guide does not work.

[Grnfinger]

Still no results from an X48 RF vs. X38 RF?

I haven't seen any so far.

There will be some shortly, working on getting some numbers together

[Grnfinger]

instead of asking for a quick bios setup, it is better to post your current bios settings and hardware.
Then we can see what needs to be adjusted and everyone can make suggestions

[Grnfinger]

Just started messing with an E8400 on a Maximus Formula 1.03G board.

Load Line Calibration is on but haven't tried the pencil mod yet.

But does this look right?
Seems pretty jagged compared to some other OCCT graphs I've seen.

http://img399.imageshack.us/img399/1714/2008040607h01vcorejg8.th.png (http://img399.imageshack.us/my.php?image=2008040607h01vcorejg8.png)

Guessing it's my crummy Enermax Liberty 620W.

This is with a Corsair 620HX, Load Line enabled and NO pencil mod
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff267/Grnfinger/2008-03-30-19h27-VCore.png

[iadstudio]

Just started messing with an E8400 on a Maximus Formula 1.03G board.

Load Line Calibration is on but haven't tried the pencil mod yet.

But does this look right?
Seems pretty jagged compared to some other OCCT graphs I've seen.

http://img399.imageshack.us/img399/1714/2008040607h01vcorejg8.th.png (http://img399.imageshack.us/my.php?image=2008040607h01vcorejg8.png)

Guessing it's my crummy Enermax Liberty 620W.

You might want to try bumping up the voltage a bit.

[Nuckin_Futs]

i need help everyone. could someone who has done 4.0GHz on air with a Q6600 please post your bios setting and also volts? I am at 3.6GHz now and cannot possibly go over even a MHz but i know that the baby can do it. so please could someone post your settings?

in the case that it has already been done, please let me know which thread and i will find it. thanks a gazzillion...

MAXIMUX FORMULA SE BIOS v0903 (new return)

[set as] = reported
------------------------
Extreme Tweaker Settings

Ai Overclock: [Manual]
OC From CPU Level Up: [Auto]
CPU Ratio Control: [Manial]
Ratio CMOS Setting: [8]
FSB Frequency: [500]
FSB Strap to North Bridge: [Auto]
PCI-E Frequency: [115]

DRAM Frequency: [Auto] (can try divider later if stable)
DRAM Command Rate: [2T]
DRAM Timing Control: [Manual]
Primary Info : 5-5-5-15-3-42-6-3 (try 4-4-4-13 @ 2.24v when stable)
Secondary Info : 8-3-5-4-6-4-6

DRAM Static Read Control: [Enabled] (helps with FSB on these core and mobo
Ai Clock Twister: [Light] (moderate if stable later)
Transaction Booster: [Disabled] (Auto later if stable)
Relax Level [0] 0-7 for more stability or Auto, if stable)

CPU Voltage ----------------- [1.58xxv] = 1.58v (some need 1.60v for stability @ 4GHz)
CPU PLL Voltage ------------- [1.54v] ==== 1.648v (may need upto 1.712v, not more then 1.79v) EDIE: I used 1.712 afterall)
North Bridge Voltage -------- [1.49v] ==== 1.520v
DRAM Voltage ---------------- [2.12v] === 2.224v (or whaterver you need)
FSB Termination Voltage ----- [1.44v] ==== 1.504v (shouldnt need more then 1.54v here)
South Bridge Voltage -------- [1.075v] === 1.104v (1.114 for RAID set stability)
Loadline Calibration -------- [Enabled]
CPU GTL Refference ---------- [0.63%] --
North Bridge GTL Reference -- [0.67%] --
DDR2 Channel A REF Voltage -- [Auto] ---
DDR2 Channel B REF Voltage -- [Auto] ---
DDR2 Controller REF Voltage - [Auto] =====
SB 1.5v Voltage ------------- [1.55v] ==== 1.600v

CPU + PCI-E Spread Spectrum --------- [Disabled]

This for example of 4GHz @ 1:1 for DDR1000, most stable for mine, but Quads are already hard to keep this high so try dividers at your desired risk. I did get some to hold. 450x9 as well, much easier but less RAM in 1:1 so try dividers here if you can get away with it.


How are you guys keeping your N/B temps down on your non SE boards. If I try to run 400 fsb my N/B temps go up over 52 deg. while stressing with Prime95. From what I read at the start of this thread you should not let it go over 47? I have a thermal sensor on mine ran to the front panel. With a 3.2Ghz overclock on my Q6600 (356x9) it runs at 45 deg while stressing, and 40 idle. I'd like to try 400x8, or maybe 3.6ghz once my ultra 120 extreme gets here, but the N/B temps worry me. Don't want to fry this thing.
minimal voltages and more airflow for SE users on air. I found for SE on air, leaving barbs open but "stove piping" them to outside or one in line of fresh air and other in draft of exhaulst adds a tad of cooling effort, as well as good draft of air from cool sorse blowing over. The tiny fans just buckled directly onto it didntr seam to halp as much, and only made more noise.

[ZenEffect]

so... i guess we are taking bets then :p:

my bet...
THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE WHAT SO EVER.

[cyrixMII300]

instead of asking for a quick bios setup, it is better to post your current bios settings and hardware.
Then we can see what needs to be adjusted and everyone can make suggestions

alright, as per the posting on page 101, here are my settings.

Current Bios Version Used is 0907 with XP SP2.

Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up : AUTO
CPU Ratio Control : Manual
- Ratio CMOS Setting : 9
FSB Frequency : 400
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 400
PCI-E Frequency: 110
DRAM Frequency: DDR2- 1199
DRAM Command Rate : 2T
DRAM Timing Control: Manual
CAS# Latency : 5
RAS# to CAS# Delay : 5
RAS# Precharge : 5
RAS# ActivateTime : 12
RAS# to RAS# Delay : 3
Row Refresh Cycle Time : 42
Write Recovery Time : 6
Read to Precharge Time : 3

Read to Write Delay (S/D) : 8
Write to Read Delay (S) : 3
Write to Read Delay (D) : 5
Read to Read Delay (S) : 4
Read to Read Delay (D) : 6
Write to Write Delay (S) : 4
Write to Write Delay (D) : 6
DRAM Static Read Control: Disabled
Ai Clock Twister : Strong
Transaction Booster : Enabled
Boost Level : 0
CPU Voltage : Auto
CPU PLL Voltage : Auto
North Bridge Voltage : Auto
DRAM Voltage : Auto
FSB Termination Voltage : Auto
South Bridge Voltage : Auto
Loadline Calibration : Enabled
CPU GTL Reference : 0.63x
North Bridge GTL Reference : 0.67x
DDR2 Channel A REF Voltage : Auto
DDR2 Channel B REF Voltage : Auto
DDR2 Controller REF Voltage : Auto
SB 1.5V Voltage : Auto

NB LED Selection : NB Volt
SB LED Selection : SB Volt
CPU LED Selection : CPU VOlt
Voltiminder LED :

CPU Spread Spectrum : Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum : Disabled

Advanced CPU Configuration
CPU Ratio Control : Manual
- Ratio CMOS Setting :9
C1E Suppport : Disabled
CPU TM Function : Enabled
Vanderpool Technology : Disabled
Execute Disable Bit : Enabled
Max CPUID Value Limit : Disabled


USB Configuration
USB Functions: Enabled
Legacy USB Support : Enabled

[zlojack]

so... i guess we are taking bets then :p:

my bet...
THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE WHAT SO EVER.


That's what I'm thinking we'll see.

[Grnfinger]

MAXIMUX FORMULA SE BIOS v0903 (new return)

[set as] = reported
------------------------
Extreme Tweaker Settings

Ai Overclock: [Manual]
OC From CPU Level Up: [Auto]
CPU Ratio Control: [Manial]
Ratio CMOS Setting: [8]
FSB Frequency: [500]
FSB Strap to North Bridge: [Auto]
PCI-E Frequency: [115]

DRAM Frequency: [Auto] (can try divider later if stable)
DRAM Command Rate: [2T]
DRAM Timing Control: [Manual]
Primary Info : 5-5-5-15-3-42-6-3 (try 4-4-4-13 @ 2.24v when stable)
Secondary Info : 8-3-5-4-6-4-6

DRAM Static Read Control: [Enabled] (helps with FSB on these core and mobo
Ai Clock Twister: [Light] (moderate if stable later)
Transaction Booster: [Disabled] (Auto later if stable)
Relax Level [0] 0-7 for more stability or Auto, if stable)

CPU Voltage ----------------- [1.58xxv] = 1.58v (some need 1.60v for stability @ 4GHz)
CPU PLL Voltage ------------- [1.54v] ==== 1.648v (may need upto 1.712v, not more then 1.79v) EDIE: I used 1.712 afterall)
North Bridge Voltage -------- [1.49v] ==== 1.520v
DRAM Voltage ---------------- [2.12v] === 2.224v (or whaterver you need)
FSB Termination Voltage ----- [1.44v] ==== 1.504v (shouldnt need more then 1.54v here)
South Bridge Voltage -------- [1.075v] === 1.104v (1.114 for RAID set stability)
Loadline Calibration -------- [Enabled]
CPU GTL Refference ---------- [0.63%] --
North Bridge GTL Reference -- [0.67%] --
DDR2 Channel A REF Voltage -- [Auto] ---
DDR2 Channel B REF Voltage -- [Auto] ---
DDR2 Controller REF Voltage - [Auto] =====
SB 1.5v Voltage ------------- [1.55v] ==== 1.600v

CPU + PCI-E Spread Spectrum --------- [Disabled]

This for example of 4GHz @ 1:1 for DDR1000, most stable for mine, but Quads are already hard to keep this high so try dividers at your desired risk. I did get some to hold. 450x9 as well, much easier but less RAM in 1:1 so try dividers here if you can get away with it.


minimal voltages and more airflow for SE users on air. I found for SE on air, leaving barbs open but "stove piping" them to outside or one in line of fresh air and other in draft of exhaulst adds a tad of cooling effort, as well as good draft of air from cool sorse blowing over. The tiny fans just buckled directly onto it didntr seam to halp as much, and only made more noise.

9x450 @1080 ram is very easy to do on the 333 strap, you have to disable Dram static tho but on the up side you can run Trans Booster on strong to compensate bandwidth.


alright, as per the posting on page 101, here are my settings.

Current Bios Version Used is 0907 with XP SP2.

Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up : AUTO
CPU Ratio Control : Manual
- Ratio CMOS Setting : 9
FSB Frequency : 400
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 400
PCI-E Frequency: 110
DRAM Frequency: DDR2- 1199
DRAM Command Rate : 2T
DRAM Timing Control: Manual
CAS# Latency : 5
RAS# to CAS# Delay : 5
RAS# Precharge : 5
RAS# ActivateTime : 12
RAS# to RAS# Delay : 3
Row Refresh Cycle Time : 42
Write Recovery Time : 6
Read to Precharge Time : 3

Read to Write Delay (S/D) : 8
Write to Read Delay (S) : 3
Write to Read Delay (D) : 5
Read to Read Delay (S) : 4
Read to Read Delay (D) : 6
Write to Write Delay (S) : 4
Write to Write Delay (D) : 6
DRAM Static Read Control: Disabled
Ai Clock Twister : Strong
Transaction Booster : Enabled
Boost Level : 0
CPU Voltage : Auto
CPU PLL Voltage : Auto
North Bridge Voltage : Auto
DRAM Voltage : Auto
FSB Termination Voltage : Auto
South Bridge Voltage : Auto
Loadline Calibration : Enabled
CPU GTL Reference : 0.63x
North Bridge GTL Reference : 0.67x
DDR2 Channel A REF Voltage : Auto
DDR2 Channel B REF Voltage : Auto
DDR2 Controller REF Voltage : Auto
SB 1.5V Voltage : Auto

NB LED Selection : NB Volt
SB LED Selection : SB Volt
CPU LED Selection : CPU VOlt
Voltiminder LED :

CPU Spread Spectrum : Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum : Disabled

Advanced CPU Configuration
CPU Ratio Control : Manual
- Ratio CMOS Setting :9
C1E Suppport : Disabled
CPU TM Function : Enabled
Vanderpool Technology : Disabled
Execute Disable Bit : Enabled
Max CPUID Value Limit : Disabled


USB Configuration
USB Functions: Enabled
Legacy USB Support : Enabled

I doubt you will ever get your rig stable at 1200 mhz ram with those timing, your looking for 4.0GHz on a Q6600?

[loften]

How are you guys keeping your N/B temps down on your non SE boards.
until i get water i have a fan screwed to the sink with 2wood screws. the screws go right inbetween the pins on the sink.. i droped about 15 degrees with the fan on it even with bumping up my nb volts to 1.51....

[Grnfinger]

Anyone have a template for a Q6600 at around 4.0Ghz with the Rampage bios ?

Here try this for starts and post back any issues

Extreme Tweaker
Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up : AUTO
CPU Ratio Control : Manual
- Ratio CMOS Setting : 9
FSB Frequency : 445
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 333 / 400
PCI-E Frequency: 110
DRAM Frequency: DDR2-1069 / 1186
DRAM Command Rate : 2T
DRAM Timing Control: Manual
CAS# Latency : 5
RAS# to CAS# Delay : 5
RAS# Precharge : 5
RAS# ActivateTime : 15
RAS# to RAS# Delay : 3
Row Refresh Cycle Time : 35
Write Recovery Time : 6
Read to Precharge Time : 3

Read to Write Delay (S/D) : 8
Write to Read Delay (S) : 3
Write to Read Delay (D) : 5
Read to Read Delay (S) : 4
Read to Read Delay (D) : 6
Write to Write Delay (S) : 4
Write to Write Delay (D) : 6

Write to PRE Delay : 14
Read to PRE Delay : 5
PRE to PRE Delay : 1
ALL PRE to ACT Delay : 5
ALL PRE to REF Delay : 5

DRAM Static Read Control: Enabled
Ai Clock Twister : Stronger ( set to strong/moderate if running 400 strap@1186)
Transaction Booster : Manual

Common Performance Level [7]

Pull-In of CHA PH1 Disabled
Pull-In of CHA PH2 Disabled
Pull-In of CHA PH3 Disabled
Pull-In of CHA PH4 Disabled
Pull-In of CHA PH5 Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH1 Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH2 Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH3 Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH4 Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH5 Disabled

CPU Voltage : Set what your cpu needs (maybe 1.40 to start?)
CPU PLL Voltage : AUTO
North Bridge Voltage : 1.51
DRAM Voltage : 2.10
FSB Termination Voltage : 1.40
South Bridge Voltage : 1.050
Loadline Calibration : Enabled
CPU GTL Reference : 0.63X
North Bridge GTL Reference : 0.67X
DDR2 Channel A REF Voltage : AUTO
DDR2 Channel B REF Voltage : AUTO
DDR2 Controller REF Voltage : DDR2-REFF
SB 1.5V Voltage : 1.5

[Grnfinger]

so... i guess we are taking bets then :p:

my bet...
THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE WHAT SO EVER.

Dunno, waiting on the results from the Rampage owner, But I would suspect that the rampage will pull slightly better numbers

[jwfitt]

After lots of tweaking I've gotten 4 ghz stable on small fft tests in prime. However, I cannot pass Blend mode (usually one thread dies in 30-50 min, while the other 3 chug on for hours - tested up to 10 hrs this morning).

I've tried all kinds of RAM settings as I've seen suggested here: Twister-Light, Transaction Booster disabled 0-7/auto/etc.

Looking for suggestions! Thanks.



Extreme Tweaker
Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
CPU Ratio Control : Manual
- Ratio CMOS Setting : 10
FSB Frequency : 400
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 333
PCI-E Frequency: 112
DRAM Frequency: DDR2- 801 Mhz
DRAM Command Rate : Auto
DRAM Timing Control: Auto
DRAM Static Read Control: Auto
Ai Clock Twister : Auto
Transaction Booster : Auto

CPU Voltage : 1.4375
CPU PLL Voltage : Auto
North Bridge Voltage : 1.49
DRAM Voltage : 2.0
FSB Termination Voltage : 1.4
South Bridge Voltage : Auto
Loadline Calibration : Enabled
CPU GTL Reference : Auto
North Bridge GTL Reference : Auto
DDR2 Channel A REF Voltage : Auto
DDR2 Channel B REF Voltage : Auto
DDR2 Controller REF Voltage : Auto
SB 1.5V Voltage : Auto

NB LED Selection : NB Volt
SB LED Selection : SB Volt
CPU LED Selection : CPU Volt
Voltiminder LED : Enabled

CPU Spread Spectrum : Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum : Disabled

Advanced CPU Configuration
CPU Ratio Control : Manual
- Ratio CMOS Setting : 10
C1E Suppport : Disabled
CPU TM Function : Disabled
Vanderpool Technology : Disabled
Execute Disable Bit : Disabled
Max CPUID Value Limit : Disabled


USB Configuration
USB Functions: Enabled
Legacy USB Support : Auto


The DRAM Volts show up as 2.1 in Everest which is suggest for the G.skill I have, However CPU-Z shows a 1.8v rating for running it at 400 mhz (vs the default 533). I tried lowering the DRAMV to 1.8 in the bios but that didn't help either.

[cyrixMII300]

9x450 @1080 ram is very easy to do on the 333 strap, you have to disable Dram static tho but on the up side you can run Trans Booster on strong to compensate bandwidth.



I doubt you will ever get your rig stable at 1200 mhz ram with those timing, your looking for 4.0GHz on a Q6600?

yes i am. trying to get this Q6600 up to 4.0GHz without sending him straight to heaven. :D


MAXIMUX FORMULA SE BIOS v0903 (new return)

[set as] = reported
------------------------
Extreme Tweaker Settings

Ai Overclock: [Manual]
OC From CPU Level Up: [Auto]
CPU Ratio Control: [Manial]
Ratio CMOS Setting: [8]
FSB Frequency: [500]
FSB Strap to North Bridge: [Auto]
PCI-E Frequency: [115]

DRAM Frequency: [Auto] (can try divider later if stable)
DRAM Command Rate: [2T]
DRAM Timing Control: [Manual]
Primary Info : 5-5-5-15-3-42-6-3 (try 4-4-4-13 @ 2.24v when stable)
Secondary Info : 8-3-5-4-6-4-6

DRAM Static Read Control: [Enabled] (helps with FSB on these core and mobo
Ai Clock Twister: [Light] (moderate if stable later)
Transaction Booster: [Disabled] (Auto later if stable)
Relax Level [0] 0-7 for more stability or Auto, if stable)

CPU Voltage ----------------- [1.58xxv] = 1.58v (some need 1.60v for stability @ 4GHz)
CPU PLL Voltage ------------- [1.54v] ==== 1.648v (may need upto 1.712v, not more then 1.79v) EDIE: I used 1.712 afterall)
North Bridge Voltage -------- [1.49v] ==== 1.520v
DRAM Voltage ---------------- [2.12v] === 2.224v (or whaterver you need)
FSB Termination Voltage ----- [1.44v] ==== 1.504v (shouldnt need more then 1.54v here)
South Bridge Voltage -------- [1.075v] === 1.104v (1.114 for RAID set stability)
Loadline Calibration -------- [Enabled]
CPU GTL Refference ---------- [0.63%] --
North Bridge GTL Reference -- [0.67%] --
DDR2 Channel A REF Voltage -- [Auto] ---
DDR2 Channel B REF Voltage -- [Auto] ---
DDR2 Controller REF Voltage - [Auto] =====
SB 1.5v Voltage ------------- [1.55v] ==== 1.600v

CPU + PCI-E Spread Spectrum --------- [Disabled]

This for example of 4GHz @ 1:1 for DDR1000, most stable for mine, but Quads are already hard to keep this high so try dividers at your desired risk. I did get some to hold. 450x9 as well, much easier but less RAM in 1:1 so try dividers here if you can get away with it.


minimal voltages and more airflow for SE users on air. I found for SE on air, leaving barbs open but "stove piping" them to outside or one in line of fresh air and other in draft of exhaulst adds a tad of cooling effort, as well as good draft of air from cool sorse blowing over. The tiny fans just buckled directly onto it didntr seam to halp as much, and only made more noise.

alright thanks man. i am going to try this shortly and see what happens. i have a question though. isnt the volt of 1.58 for the core not too high?

[Nuckin_Futs]

It's a tad high, but then it isnt really the daily user profile. Just cool to know it can stable and Prime at such FSB and clock. the 480x8 is more reasonable but just lower a lil' of vcore. 1.488 worked for mine, but still needed the 1.712 PLL and 1.504 FSBT.

My m8 I loaned this too got better on his DFI x38 cause of the GTL_RTef and Pll tweaks better on his mobo. The quads really need better individual GTL and PLL tweaking to keep the loaded heat down. I can hit 67c easy on a warm day w/ the 1.58v, just cause 2 cores get more GTL then they need.

[dimsdale]

jwfitt,

I'm in exactly the same position you are...QX9650, Maximus Formula (1004 bios), and even the G.Skill 8500s and Thermaltake eXtreme with Scythe fan.

I've been having trouble getting stable higher than 3.6GHz. Same failure as you as well - one thread will fail after about 30 mins in prime95 blend mode while the other three run indefinitely.

I'll let you know what bios profile I'm able to come up with. Any other QX9650 people here care to share a profile?
Thanks in advance!

[zlojack]

I would think you need more NB voltage with that much RAM.

Also, I wouldn't leave PLL on auto. There have been suggestions that the infamous 45nm degradation is caused by high PLL, and you never know what your board could be doing there. I leave mine at the minimum 1.5v.

[Grnfinger]

Auto PLL gives about 1.60, you can monitor the voltage in the bios

[ElEctric_EyE]

I predict water cooled, over volted X38 = air cooled, stock X48

[tc17]

Would the Thermal Paste that comes installed on the heatsinks on this motherboard, have a longer life than putting our own paste on?

I was debating whether I want to change the paste or not. I don't care to be replacing it every 12 months (my Thermalright Chill Factor paste says to replace it every 12 months).

[zlojack]

Auto PLL gives about 1.60, you can monitor the voltage in the bios

Yeah, but I've had instances where I boot into bios with settings on Auto and all of a sudden in the monitor in the bios I get a huge overvolt. That's why I'm careful about auto.

(Although, it hasn't happened with PLL yet, but with SB a couple of times)

[Nuckin_Futs]

Auto PLL gives about 1.60, you can monitor the voltage in the bios
Yet for me, if I allowed it, Auto gives me 1.712, but can drop when unexpected, or I supose it can go higher. It hasnt, to my knowledge. at 500FSB, my Auto for NB wants to use 1.6v, yet I never needed that high for anything yet. O' ja a quad w/ 4 sticks on a divider.

Obviously, different CPU's and BIOS overvolt at a various rate, so this is why it makes so much sence for all of us if we give or refference our voltages as REPORTED, not what we set.

[safan80]

Does the mod show correct temps for the NB and SB? I just flashed to the MF bios 1004 and now the NB and SB are showing the same temps when before the temps were different with bios 0903.

[Stanley Pain]

Does the mod show correct temps for the NB and SB? I just flashed to the MF bios 1004 and now the NB and SB are showing the same temps when before the temps were different with bios 0903.

What're you using to read the temps?

[jwfitt]

jwfitt,
I'm in exactly the same position you are...

Nice rig!! :D

I've been testing a bunch of RAM settings to no avail. I finally started pumping up the CPU Voltage...last place I thought to check since I passed small FFT tests w/ no issues at my current settings.

Anyhow, I'd start tweaking the cpu voltage up a bit and take it from there...so far blend is hanging in there for almost an hour now with all 4 threads still going.

UPDATE: One thread crapped out right around the hour mark...gonna take a different approach and see how Blend handles similar settings at 333x12 (vs 400x10).

[safan80]

What're you using to read the temps?

everest. I should add I only have this problem with the system running at stock when I OC the NB and SB temp are where they should be.

[Stanley Pain]

Odd, I had to update Everest and everything seems fine. Oldder version wasn't showing NB/SB, or the proper voltage readings.

[Krav]

Im running my q6600 @ 3ghz could anyone tell me if my voltages look okay, mainly the 3.3 v, 5 v and 12 v. As i have a friend who has almost same settings but his voltages are lower than mine for the 3.3 5 and 12 sections in everest.

Thanks


Voltage Values
CPU Core 1.22 V
+3.3 V 3.26 V
+5 V 4.90 V
+12 V 11.93 V
+5 V Standby 4.97 V
FSB VTT 1.36 V
North Bridge Core 1.36 V
South Bridge Core 1.09 V
South Bridge PLL 1.55 V
DIMM 2.14 V
DIMM VTT 1.07 V

[dimsdale]

jwfitt,
Were you able to get the QX9650 stable at 3800 MHz? (Or are you jumping straight to 4000 MHz?)
I'm very stable at 3600 MHz with 1.28125 V (bios) / 1.2640 (Everest) and load line calibration enabled. But I can't even get stable at 3800.
I'd be interested to know your key bios settings if you were stable at 3800.
-dimsdale

[Levesque]

Can anyone tell me where does the MB temp reading is taken on the Maximus?

My temps are all pretty good (NB 34-38, SB 30-35 and core 28-38) even on high load and OC (E8400 at 400 FSB, 3600) on air, but my MB temp gets to 48 on load (from 36 idle to 48 on load)!

[Sources]

Can anyone tell me where does the MB temp reading is taken on the Maximus?

My temps are all pretty good (NB 34-38, SB 30-35 and core 28-38) even on high load and OC (E8400 at 400 FSB, 3600) on air, but my MB temp gets to 48 on load (from 36 idle to 48 on load)!

Are you running your hard drives raid?
is the Vid card cooler stock ? single or dual slot? and does it exit hot air out the back or into the case ?

How many case fans do you have and are they set up with a good air flow path ?

Plus those ballistix get HOT ! unless you are cooling them directly somehow.

[jwfitt]

jwfitt,
Were you able to get the QX9650 stable at 3800 MHz? (Or are you jumping straight to 4000 MHz?)
I'm very stable at 3600 MHz with 1.28125 V (bios) / 1.2640 (Everest) and load line calibration enabled. But I can't even get stable at 3800.
I'd be interested to know your key bios settings if you were stable at 3800.
-dimsdale

I'm actually testing 3.8 Ghz right now. I've given up on the 4 ghz being stable...more cpuv seemed to give longer stability, but the voltages were getting too high for my liking.

I let a blend test run before I left for work, gonna see how it did and try some more tweaking tonight. I have gotten 3.6 perfectly stable w/ blend and small ffts.

I'll let you know if I find any good settings for 3.8 when/if I find them!

[dimsdale]

Nice rig!! :D
UPDATE: One thread crapped out right around the hour mark...gonna take a different approach and see how Blend handles similar settings at 333x12 (vs 400x10).

Let me just say that trying to debug bios settings that cause your computer to crash prime95 after an hour SUX!

[dimsdale]

The funny thing is that on my QX9650, when I'm fine tuning the OC, it's always Core #4 that fails and, amazingly enough, Cores #3 and #4 always reports the lowest temps by 1 or 2 degs.
I guess the temps could be off... but still odd that the supposedly coolest core(s) would fail and not the hotter ones.

[jwfitt]

Let me just say that trying to debug bios settings that cause your computer to crash prime95 after an hour SUX!


Hahaha! No kidding!! I'm glad there's an emoticon that sums up my feelings...
:horse:

But yeah running blend and having to wait an hour every time you run a test...ugh.

I'll be more than happy at 3.8 if I can get that to work. The real puzzler to me is that 4ghz passes small fft testing with no issues. The manual RAM settings are the area I am least comfortable with, but I've gotta think 4 ghz can be stabilized if the right settings were applied there... sigh...

[dimsdale]

Anyone know if the FSB Strap setting actually affects performance? Is running the Strap at 400 MHz better than running the strap at 333 MHz?

[iadstudio]

all other things equal, the lower strap will increase performance, but it is hard to get this board stable at high fsb clocks on the 266 strap. 333 seems to be the best of both worlds and the 400 strap seems to be the easiest to stabilize.

[jwfitt]

Not sure if you've seen this, but damn...

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1138241

4ghz stable at 1.3625 volts on air?? Must be one lucky chip! i see a few others with similar g.skill ram at 4ghz too...

[dimsdale]

Here are my currently testing settings for FSB 450 / CPU 3.825 GHz / DDR2 1081 on a QX9650. (Update: currently 45 mins prime95 blend stable). Currently I'm seeing load temps of 70, 70, 69, 69.

I think the problem getting higher CPU clocks on the Maximus Formula and at least the QX9650 might be the FSB Term Voltage. In connection with the P5E3, Anandtech said "FSB Termination Voltage: Maximum of 1.50V. Undeniably the Achilles' heel of this fine board, 1.5V (VTT) is simply not enough to carry most 65nm quad-cores above ~500MHz FSB. Most CPUs/MCHs require this voltage to quickly ramp up from the default (1.20V) to near maximum when overclocking from about 450MHz FSB and higher." (See http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3156&p=6)

Extreme Tweaker
Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
Ratio CMOS Setting : 8.5
FSB Frequency : 450
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 333
PCI-E Frequency: 100
DRAM Frequency: DDR2-1081
DRAM Command Rate : 2T
DRAM Timing Control: Auto
DRAM Static Read Control: Enabled
Ai Clock Twister : Moderate
Transaction Booster : Diabled
Relax: 0
CPU Voltage : 1.36875 (1.3520 in Everest) [UPDATED]
CPU PLL Voltage : Auto
North Bridge Voltage : Auto (1.6160 in Everest)
DRAM Voltage : 2.04 (2.0960 in Everest)
FSB Termination Voltage : 1.50 (1.4240 in Everest)
South Bridge Voltage : Auto
Loadline Calibration : enabled
CPU GTL Reference : .63
North Bridge GTL Reference : .67
DDR2 Channel A REF Voltage : Auto
DDR2 Channel B REF Voltage : Auto
DDR2 Controller REF Voltage : Auto
SB 1.5V Voltage : Auto

CPU Spread Spectrum : Auto
PCIE Spread Spectrum : auto
________________________________
QX9650
Asus Maximus Formula (1004)
G.SKILL 8GB (4 x 2GB) DDR2-1066
Thermaltake eXtreme 120+AS5+Scythe
WD 150GB Raptors in RAID 0
EVGA 8800 GT

[Spyrus]

My current ~air settings 24/7 on full load (Rampage 0219@bios)

http://www.imageshack.gr/files/maai8nmbpa6ibccy4t2x.jpg (http://www.imageshack.gr/view.php?file=maai8nmbpa6ibccy4t2x.jpg)

[Sources]

Not sure if you've seen this, but damn...

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1138241

4ghz stable at 1.3625 volts on air?? Must be one lucky chip! i see a few others with similar g.skill ram at 4ghz too...

LMFAO did you see how the Nvidia chipset needed 1.68v to clock 4ghz.

OUCH !

[dimsdale]

The real puzzler to me is that 4ghz passes small fft testing with no issues.

Hmm.... If you are passing small fft at 4ghz, but not blend, that (supposedly) suggests it's more of a RAM problem than a CPU problem directly, right?

If so, maybe it is your FSB Termination Voltage then. You are on AUTO for that, right? What is the bios (and everest as "FSB VTT", I think) reporting as your voltage there under the AUTO setting?

[jwfitt]

Hmm.... If you are passing small fft at 4ghz, but not blend, that (supposedly) suggests it's more of a RAM problem than a CPU problem directly, right?

I thought that's what it suggested, since small fft was focused on testing your cpu and blend seems more like a RAm and overall system test. Most people I've seen seem to tweak their cpu settings first (using fft as feedback), then move onto RAM and blend mode...



If so, maybe it is your FSB Termination Voltage then. You are on AUTO for that, right? What is the bios (and everest as "FSB VTT", I think) reporting as your voltage there under the AUTO setting?

Hmm...well at the time of success with small FFTs I was manually set at 1.4 in the BIOS for the FSB VTT, not sure what everest reported it as.

I never did try pumping the FSB VTT up into the yellow numbers. Maybe I'll give that a go when I get home in 2 hours...weee!

[Aldy402]

so you CAN flash back to MF bios? I just need some confirmation
there seems to be some mixed reports over the internet and the search feature doesn't seem to work for me..

[nordien]

Yes you can flash back, already did................

[theonlybabyface]

Yes you can flash back, already did................

Why? The RF bios is far better than any of the MF bios'...far more stable.

[nordien]

Why? The RF bios is far better than any of the MF bios'...far more stable.

To be sure the flashback can be done !

[ericab]

To be sure the flashback can be done !

its been confirmed many times over :wiggle:

[Nuckin_Futs]

You guys with the QX9650, are you shooting for 4GHz only on highest multi and then using a divider to make results? Cause if a 1.5yo Q6600 can do 450~505 on air on even my P35, I find it odd that a new Penryn cant keep up if not pass it by by just a tad. I use the 8x on just about all my systems even if they offer 1 or 2 higher.

What happened to overclocking the old reliable way, where we check for max clock v/s max FSB but isolated from the rest of the system? are you guys disabling ALL performance options related to chipset and RAM? Do you keep RAM in 1:1 w/ relaxed timings and adiquite volts to insure stability?

Keep in mind when aiming for FSB, it is not just the CPU, but the mobo as well. creative use of FSBT, GTL and PLL can all play an important role in higher CPU FSB improvements. On our mobo, Static Read Control helps smooth out the curve on higher FSB climbs. This mobo tested better then most in this area since a lot dont offer this setting.

What is the box labeld max for each QX9650 and Q9450 as opposed to Intel MAX?

[zlojack]

My QX9650 is not the greatest. I started with loose RAM and lots of AUTO and went after the FSB.

I've got it at 421x9.5 right now for 4GHz and I left it priming this morning, so we'll see how it does when I get home.

I'd like to run higher FSB but it doesn't seem to like to go much above 450. I'll post my settings later when I get home.

[cyrixMII300]

yo mates. i know this is premature but i am just exhilarated that i got this far that i just got to tell u guys. based on the input from nuckin futs and so many other personal from this site, i have just got to 3.96GHz. going to start Prime 95 Blend test shortly. If everything is ok, will post more info tomorrow. for now find the screenie and bios settings.

btw, everyone, please comment if my volts are acceptable based on the screenie coz this IS my weak point. also please comment my bios settings in case i crash. ;)

alright, here are some updates with readings from BIOS



Ai Overclock: [Manual]
OC From CPU Level Up: [Auto]
CPU Ratio Control: [Manual]
Ratio CMOS Setting: [9]
FSB Frequency: [440]
FSB Strap to North Bridge: [400]
PCI-E Frequency: [118]

DRAM Frequency: [1173]
DRAM Command Rate: [2T]
DRAM Timing Control: [Manual]
Primary Info : 5-5-5-15-3-42-6-3
Secondary Info : 8-3-5-4-6-4-6

DRAM Static Read Control: [Enabled]
Ai Clock Twister: [Light]
Transaction Booster: [Disabled]
Relax Level [0]

CPU Voltage------------------1.475 [1.456v]
CPU PLL Voltage ------------- 1.68 [1.792-1.808v]
North Bridge Voltage -------- 1.51 [1.552v]
DRAM Voltage ---------------- 2.20 [2.304-2.320v]
FSB Termination Voltage ----- 1.48 [1.552v]
South Bridge Voltage -------- 1.100 [1.120v]
Loadline Calibration -------- [Enabled]
CPU GTL Refference ---------- [0.63%]
North Bridge GTL Reference -- [0.67%]
DDR2 Channel A REF Voltage -- [Auto]
DDR2 Channel B REF Voltage -- [Auto]
DDR2 Controller REF Voltage - AUTO [1.152v]
SB 1.5v Voltage ------------- 1.55 [1.616v]

CPU + PCI-E Spread Spectrum --------- [Disabled]


please take note that the figures in bold are actual readings from BIOS

[jwfitt]

I'd be perfectly happy at just 400 FSB with my 9650, I've gotten to 450 on the FSB and stayed fine on small FFT testing. It all comes crashing down when I get into Blend testing though.

However, I've just bumped a few things up to see if blend would stabilize at 10x400, and it's looking good. Well over an hour going at the following settings:



Extreme Tweaker
Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
Ratio CMOS Setting : 10
FSB Frequency : 400
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 333
PCI-E Frequency: 100
DRAM Frequency: DDR2-801
DRAM Command Rate : 2T
DRAM Timing Control: Auto
DRAM Static Read Control: Disabled
Ai Clock Twister : Moderate
Transaction Booster : Disabled
Relax: 7
CPU Voltage : 1.4875
CPU PLL Voltage : 1.60
North Bridge Voltage : 1.67
DRAM Voltage : 2.00
FSB Termination Voltage : 1.70
South Bridge Voltage : Auto
Loadline Calibration : Enabled
CPU GTL Reference : .63x
North Bridge GTL Reference : .67x
DDR2 Channel A REF Voltage : Auto
DDR2 Channel B REF Voltage : Auto
DDR2 Controller REF Voltage : DDR2_REF
SB 1.5V Voltage : Auto

CPU Spread Spectrum : Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum : Disabled


Gonna start scaling back some settings and see where it goes...

[cyrixMII300]

last update for the night before bed. system boots well into windows without any glitch. however, prime95 is no go. fatal error the moment the the blend test is run.

anyone with ideas on this? i am guessing perhaps there is shortage of Vcore here but hope someone can give me some ideas more. will try again tomorrow after work.

[Nuckin_Futs]

@ cyrixMII300, Great job on that so far.

What happened to all those RAM tweakers on here? Never even made a comment on my RAM sub timings POST a week ago. I thought this had become a heavy RAM sub timing tweakers tread. Oh well!

So any other RAM tweakers left here? I was wondering if any of you coming from previous single phase DDR voltages have noticed an OC performance either in stability or temps w/ same 4 stick configurations when moving to this w/ new 2 phase DDR? Hows overclocking on the 2x2g looking for top end OCZ offerings compared to the 2x1g? Is 2x2g @ DDR1200 realistic for everyday use and good temps?

[zlojack]

I haven't been able to get my 2x2 sticks to even DDR1100.

I've been through ReaperX, G.Skill and now these Mushkins (all PC28000)

[Grnfinger]

@ cyrixMII300, Great job on that so far.

What happened to all those RAM tweakers on here? Never even made a comment on my RAM sub timings POST a week ago. I thought this had become a heavy RAM sub timing tweakers tread. Oh well!

So any other RAM tweakers left here? I was wondering if any of you coming from previous single phase DDR voltages have noticed an OC performance either in stability or temps w/ same 4 stick configurations when moving to this w/ new 2 phase DDR? Hows overclocking on the 2x2g looking for top end OCZ offerings compared to the 2x1g? Is 2x2g @ DDR1200 realistic for everyday use and good temps?

I dont run 4GB so I cannot say, Dominators 2x1GB PC8500 will do 1275 on this board with a little extra cooling

While the timing is rather relaxed, A high FSB will compensate for any bandwidth loss, this board really likes 500FSB and 1200+ ram

DRAM Command Rate - 2N
Dram Timing Control - Manual
*In Brackets are timings that can be optimized later, outside of the brackets is a good starting point*
CAS# Latency - 5
RAS# to CAS# Delay - 5
RAS# PRE Time - 5
RAS# ACT time - 18
RAS# to RAS# Delay - 4(3-4)
Ref Cycle Time - 45(25-55)
Write Recovery Time - 6(3-6)
READ to PRE Time - 4(2-5)

READ to Write Delay (S/D) - 9 (7-10)
WRITE to READ Delay (S) - 5 (3-6)
WRITE to READ Delay (D) - 5 (4-6)
READ to READ Delay (S) - 4 (3-5)
READ to READ Delay (S) - 6 (5-7)
WRITE to WRITE Delay (S) - 4 (3-5)
WRITE to WRITE Delay (D) - 6 (5-7)

DRAM Static Read Control - Disabled (Enabled)
Ai Clock Twister - Light (Strong)
Transaction Booster - Disabled
Relax Level - 2 (0-3)

A few numbers changed for improved bandwidth but this setup got my Dominators stable at 1274MHz 3 hours OCCT and still running

[dimsdale]

jwfitt,
CPU Voltage at 1.4875 for 4ghz with a Thermalright eXtreme 120!
What kind of temps is that generating??

[dimsdale]

In prime95 testing, all four core temps are hanging around 70*C.

How can I tell if my CPU is throttling? I used to use ThrottleWatch, but that hasn't been updated in forever it seems and won't run on my rig.

[Gunlance]

I totally give up on my board and chip. I've went through 3 quads(vid's of 1.2875, 1.325, and 1.2125) and still haven't touched 3.6ghz without going over 1.45volts(voltage damper off which puts about 1.35 to chip under load). I've tried testing cpu pll, fstb, cpu volts, nb volts, switching from 4x1 to 2x2 for ram. CPU is on its on loop with a thermochill pa 120.3.

THe chip with vid 1.2125 will do 9*365 at 1.275v(in bios again with damper disabled) all day but as soon as I go for 9*370 volts have to take an exponential leap.

If ANYONE can lend any advice AT all, I'm all ears. If there is something quirky about this board that I don't know about like jacking up the sb volts help, let me know.

Sorry had to vent my frustration. :)

[dimsdale]

->FSB Termination Voltage

Folks, take a look at your FSH Term Voltage. BIOS allows you to set it up to 2.00 V. However.... it seems that the highest voltage the board will actually put out (according to Everest) is about 1.50V.

Anyone seen Everest actually report something higher than 1.5 V?

[jwfitt]

jwfitt,
CPU Voltage at 1.4875 for 4ghz with a Thermalright eXtreme 120!
What kind of temps is that generating??

Hehe. Hot! RealTemp was hanging around 61-66 for Core 0, all the others were low 60s (this is at full load). Everest/CoreTemp show it 8-10 C higher than Real Temp, but alot of people seem to think Real Temp is the more accurate reading for this CPU...

I'm not too thrilled with those settings, working on getting a 3.8 configuration that I'm more comfy with going at the moment. I still can't figure out what my bottleneck is since small fft passed with lower cpu voltages.

Does anyone know how high you can safely push the FSB Voltage setting? What does it directly affect in regards to overheating if you push it too far?

Thanks

[jwfitt]

->FSB Termination Voltage

Folks, take a look at your FSH Term Voltage. BIOS allows you to set it up to 2.00 V. However.... it seems that the highest voltage the board will actually put out (according to Everest) is about 1.50V.

Anyone seen Everest actually report something higher than 1.5 V?

Now that you mention it I'm not sure I've ever seen it over 1.55 ... I'll check on my next reboot/tweak run...

[loften]

will ddr3 run on the maximus with rampage bios??

[Nuckin_Futs]

I dont run 4GB so I cannot say, Dominators 2x1GB PC8500 will do 1275 on this board with a little extra cooling

While the timing is rather relaxed, A high FSB will compensate for any bandwidth loss, this board really likes 500FSB and 1200+ ram

DRAM Command Rate - 2N
Dram Timing Control - Manual
*In Brackets are timings that can be optimized later, outside of the brackets is a good starting point*
CAS# Latency - 5
RAS# to CAS# Delay - 5
RAS# PRE Time - 5
RAS# ACT time - 18
RAS# to RAS# Delay - 4(3-4)
Ref Cycle Time - 45(25-55)
Write Recovery Time - 6(3-6)
READ to PRE Time - 4(2-5)

READ to Write Delay (S/D) - 9 (7-10)
WRITE to READ Delay (S) - 5 (3-6)
WRITE to READ Delay (D) - 5 (4-6)
READ to READ Delay (S) - 4 (3-5)
READ to READ Delay (S) - 6 (5-7)
WRITE to WRITE Delay (S) - 4 (3-5)
WRITE to WRITE Delay (D) - 6 (5-7)

DRAM Static Read Control - Disabled (Enabled)
Ai Clock Twister - Light (Strong)
Transaction Booster - Disabled
Relax Level - 2 (0-3)
O.K., mine look pretty close to yours, however, all my sub timings are set as WAuto, till I learn otherwise of their tweaking performance results. Here's a recap of my settings for rig 2 in sig;

DRAM Frequency: [DDR2-1153]
DRAM Command Rate: [2T]
DRAM Timing Control: [Manual]
Primary Info : 5-5-5-15-3-42-6-3
CAS# Latancy: [5]
RAS# to CAS# Delay: [5]
RAS# Precharge: [5]
RAS# Active Time: [15]
RAS# to RAS# Delay: [Auto] = 3
Row Refresh Cycle Time: [Auto] = 42
Write Recovery time: [Auto] = 6
Read to Precharge Time: [Auto] = 3

Secondary Info : 8-3-5-4-6-4-6
Read to Write Delay(S/D): [Auto] = 8
Write to Read Delay(S): [Auto] = 3
Write to Read Delay(D): [Auto] = 5
REad to Read Delay(S): [Auto] = 4
Read to Read Delay(D): [Auto] = 6
Write to write Delay(S): [Auto] = 4
Write to Write delay(D): [Auto] = 6
DRAM Static Read Control: [Enabled]
Ai Clock Twister: [Moderate]
Transaction Booster: [Auto]

Can you give feedback on the sub timings in BOLD as to how they can be improved and in wich direction (wich ones equal higher or lower as better/tighter)? I'm not looking to tighten for beyond realistic everyday use, just better number crunching, or media encoding performance.

Also, Inoticed you use Ai of "strong" yet booster disabled and further relaxed to 3. What difference did this make (for real world stability, NOT scores as much) v/s Ai Moderate or light w/ booster to Auto or disabled 0. I always get lagging if forcing Ai Strong or booster to enabled when at 1153MHz+.


I totally give up on my board and chip. I've went through 3 quads(vid's of 1.2875, 1.325, and 1.2125) and still haven't touched 3.6ghz without going over 1.45volts(voltage damper off which puts about 1.35 to chip under load). I've tried testing cpu pll, fstb, cpu volts, nb volts, switching from 4x1 to 2x2 for ram. CPU is on its on loop with a thermochill pa 120.3.

THe chip with vid 1.2125 will do 9*365 at 1.275v(in bios again with damper disabled) all day but as soon as I go for 9*370 volts have to take an exponential leap.

If ANYONE can lend any advice AT all, I'm all ears. If there is something quirky about this board that I don't know about like jacking up the sb volts help, let me know.

Sorry had to vent my frustration. :)
Wow, it has to be the BIOS settings then cause I have a GO q6600 w/ 1.3000 VID and it has lil' trouble to 500FSB. Look at the previous POST I made about this. NOTE the featutres to try and enable v/s the ones to disable.


will ddr3 run on the maximus with rampage bios??
NO, this mobo is not socketed for DDR3.

[loften]

i get it.. thanks..

[fordf250]

I totally give up on my board and chip. I've went through 3 quads(vid's of 1.2875, 1.325, and 1.2125) and still haven't touched 3.6ghz without going over 1.45volts(voltage damper off which puts about 1.35 to chip under load). I've tried testing cpu pll, fstb, cpu volts, nb volts, switching from 4x1 to 2x2 for ram. CPU is on its on loop with a thermochill pa 120.3.

THe chip with vid 1.2125 will do 9*365 at 1.275v(in bios again with damper disabled) all day but as soon as I go for 9*370 volts have to take an exponential leap.

If ANYONE can lend any advice AT all, I'm all ears. If there is something quirky about this board that I don't know about like jacking up the sb volts help, let me know.

Sorry had to vent my frustration. :)

Did you try 2x1G of ram? Is the nb water cooled with one of those chipset coolers you have listed? Try the ram at 1:1 to start?

[dimsdale]

I'd be perfectly happy at just 400 FSB with my 9650, I've gotten to 450 on the FSB and stayed fine on small FFT testing. It all comes crashing down when I get into Blend testing though.

However, I've just bumped a few things up to see if blend would stabilize at 10x400, and it's looking good. Well over an hour going at the following settings:



Transaction Booster : Disabled
Relax: 7


Gonna start scaling back some settings and see where it goes...

You realize what the Relax 7 does to your memory performance, right? It makes your performance level 7 + 7 = 14. I tried that and ran the quick benchies in Everest. It's really high latency and slow thruput.

I sure hope that's not why you are passing prime.

[safan80]

Odd, I had to update Everest and everything seems fine. Oldder version wasn't showing NB/SB, or the proper voltage readings.

when I'm using 4.50.1330

[Nuckin_Futs]

Quick question. MB temp dropped out of detection and mis-read by PC ProbeII for a moment? I know many of you must have experienced this at some point. For example, right now just out of the blue, mine just read as 32c but dropped out of detection by Everest. PC ProbeII now shows in the RED @ 154c for a few seconds.

Has anybody come accross a cure for this, or notice at wich point it appears to stop or not happen as much. It's happend to 2 of my MAXIMUS mobos and more on older one. I noticed it happens more w/ higher FSB and NB voltages.

[cyrixMII300]

Quick question. MB temp dropped out of detection and mis-read by PC ProbeII for a moment? I know many of you must have experienced this at some point. For example, right now just out of the blue, mine just read as 32c but dropped out of detection by Everest. PC ProbeII now shows in the RED @ 154c for a few seconds.

Has anybody come accross a cure for this, or notice at wich point it appears to stop or not happen as much. It's happend to 2 of my MAXIMUS mobos and more on older one. I noticed it happens more w/ higher FSB and NB voltages.


yes i have seen this too. also happens to nb temps and sometimes to various other PCprobe items such as fan rpm. i am thinking its something to do with the refresh cycle of the software. apart from that no clues since this happens randomly.

[youraa]

Hi guys
I was working stable on 450x8 strap 400 with 2gb ocz reaper 1150@1199, but suddenly one of the modules stopped working, it hang on restart with detecting dram info. At the store they checked both modules and their were working fine, but still I thought that maybe it's good to switch them, and I did. To geil black dragon 2x2gb 800mhz and set them to 1081 strap 333 2.16v. 3dmark stable, cod4 stable, crysis stable (although from time to time i see something like a little stutter in graphics, which I didn't see with my ocz 2gb pair). the geil mem conf fails occt test after 5minutes. It doesn't matter for me to be 100% stable as long as the games work fine, but maybe the cause of the stutter is the memory issue? What do you think about geil black dragon 2 x2gb 800mhz 5 5 5 5?
thx :)

p.s. Maybe I should gt ballistix 4x1gb 1066?

[Grnfinger]

Quick question. MB temp dropped out of detection and mis-read by PC ProbeII for a moment? I know many of you must have experienced this at some point. For example, right now just out of the blue, mine just read as 32c but dropped out of detection by Everest. PC ProbeII now shows in the RED @ 154c for a few seconds.

Has anybody come accross a cure for this, or notice at wich point it appears to stop or not happen as much. It's happend to 2 of my MAXIMUS mobos and more on older one. I noticed it happens more w/ higher FSB and NB voltages.

You need the newer version of Everest 4.50.1330 or the beta 4.20.1307
I had the same problem till I upgraded Everest.

I will look at your ram and see if I can make any suggestions and post later today, setting Booster to strong improved Latencey and slightly better read/write/copy scores in Everest.

So I run on strong if it dosent effect stability

[Grnfinger]

when I'm using 4.50.1330

The beta 4.20.1307 works very well with this board.
I'm using it and have all temps/volts reporting normally.

[Leeghoofd]

Hi guys
switch them, and I did. To geil black dragon 2x2gb 800mhz and set them to 1081 strap 333 2.16v. 3dmark stable, cod4 stable, crysis stable (although from time to time i see something like a little stutter in graphics, which I didn't see with my ocz 2gb pair). the geil mem conf fails occt test after 5minutes. It doesn't matter for me to be 100% stable as long as the games work fine, but maybe the cause of the stutter is the memory issue? What do you think about geil black dragon 2 x2gb 800mhz 5 5 5 5?
thx :)

run the GEILs at 900Mhz and try again... 2gb dimms don't clock as good as 1gb dimms... why didn't you just buy 1066Mhz dimms to have some headroom... could also be ya memory controller is getting dodgy...

and for the 4 Ballistix sticks I think you are going for even more trouble as many many users have issues with them running in 2 pair configuration on the Maximus...

[Webster]

Sorry for taking my sweet time to reply. I hit 3.8 with some stability, and 9x440 long enough to get a screen cap. I really haven't had much time to experiment with voltages, but it is priority #1 when I get home this afternoon. Thanks for all of your help so far. My only remaining question is could I get any possible performance gains by dropping my multiplier to 8 and raising my FSB? Thanks again for your kindness.

[Grnfinger]

Sorry for taking my sweet time to reply. I hit 3.8 with some stability, and 9x440 long enough to get a screen cap. I really haven't had much time to experiment with voltages, but it is priority #1 when I get home this afternoon. Thanks for all of your help so far. My only remaining question is could I get any possible performance gains by dropping my multiplier to 8 and raising my FSB? Thanks again for your kindness.

definately, lower multi and high FSB will always give you better performance

[aussie-revhead]

Hi guys , great thread here !!!

I have a Maximus Formula on the way , is there only one mod for these (as shown in the OP) ? It says there :


Use a HB / 3B / 4B pencil, 2 or 3 strokes only.

So there is no resistance value for this ? Are there any other mods to do before I install it ?

:up:

[dimsdale]

Do you folks ever see prime95 crash as in "prime95 has stopped working" and the application quitting out from under you? What do you make of that?
Do you suppose that is a bug in prime95 or is that a bad OC?

[Grnfinger]

Do you folks ever see prime95 crash as in "prime95 has stopped working" and the application quitting out from under you? What do you make of that?
Do you suppose that is a bug in prime95 or is that a bad OC?

I have had that happen b4 when my FSB was around 475 or higher and not enough NB volts.
I would suspect you need a drop or 2 more NB volts

[ygor.almeida]

Well well well ... after reading 42 pages i´m still not sure where is the latest information on how to do this, ( the 1st page ) ... can someone resume or indicate where (post) is the most new guide on this flash ... btw, any problem if i translate this guide to Portuguese BR - offcourse i will leave username and link back to here !

[Grnfinger]

make a bootable media device ( USB Stick... CD.. ect)
you will need these

http://www.elektroni.fi/Stilt/Asus_Rampage/HPUSBFW.zip
http://www.elektroni.fi/Stilt/Asus_Rampage/USB-Boot.zip

Download AFUDOS and toss it on the media along with the RF Bios

Latest Rampage bios http://rapidshare.de/files/38827325/RF0219.zip.html
AFUDOS http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=74089&d=1205468995

Once you have everything ready boot from your media and then type
AFUDOS /iRF0219.rom /pbnc /n
reboot and your done.

[jwfitt]

I've been running at 3.8ghz rock solid as of last night (in Blend), I'm currently tweaking my RAM settings and adjusting voltages to see how low I can bring them down before I lose stability. I'll post the exact config later tonight.

Edits are in Bold

Last Edit: 8:31pm EST, 4/10/08



Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
Ratio CMOS Setting : 9.5
FSB Frequency : 400
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 333
PCI-E Frequency: 100

DRAM Frequency: DDR2-961
DRAM Command Rate : 2T
DRAM Timing Control: Manual
CAS# Latency : 5
RAS# to CAS# Delay : 5
RAS# Precharge : 5
RAS# ActivateTime : 15
RAS# to RAS# Delay : Auto
Row Refresh Cycle Time : 60
(All Other Timings on Auto)

DRAM Static Read Control: Disabled
Ai Clock Twister : Strong
Transaction Booster : Disabled
Relax: 0

CPU Voltage : 1.375
CPU PLL Voltage : 1.50
North Bridge Voltage : 1.41
DRAM Voltage : 2.00
FSB Termination Voltage : 1.30
South Bridge Voltage : Auto
Loadline Calibration : Enabled
CPU GTL Reference : .63x
North Bridge GTL Reference : .67x
DDR2 Channel A REF Voltage : Auto
DDR2 Channel B REF Voltage : Auto
DDR2 Controller REF Voltage : DDR2_REF
SB 1.5V Voltage : Auto

CPU Spread Spectrum : Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum : Disabled

[Guacamole]

Hello can anyone help me I just returned a Maximus Formula because a USB port was blown so I got a new board from FRY's and it seems to work great until I try to OC it heavy. I have a Q6600 and I was running it on the previous Max at 3.9 I can't get close but here is the thing: It runs everyhting at much lower volts than the other board.. I can stabilize 3.7 at 1.38Vcore which amazing in my opinion but as I try to raise it and put prime on the board just turns off??? Very strange I understand blue screen freezing and other stuff but it just turns off... I haven't read the entire thread to see if others have had this problem, but if anyone could help me that would great...

[dimsdale]

jwfitt,
Good to see your settings! I was just about to give up on 3.8. I will try these today. I look forward to your exact config!
Many thanks,
dimsdale

[Anuaja]

Hi everyone, this is my first post.
http://img388.imageshack.us/img388/7333/160055515ht4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[zlojack]

Man, EVERYONE is getting better results than me with their quad. I wonder if it's the chip or the board....

I'm going to try another quad and see what happens.

[Sources]

Anyone tried OC gold edition in this board, 1G or 2G modules ?

[Anuaja]

1 Hour OCCT Stable
http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/4720/occtstableog7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

my settings

Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up : AUTO
CPU Ratio Control : Manual
- Ratio CMOS Setting : 8.5
FSB Frequency : 483
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 333
PCI-E Frequency: 100
DRAM Frequency: 1160
DRAM Command Rate : 2N
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel A : Normal
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel B : Normal
DRAM Timing Control: Manual
CAS# Latency : 5
RAS# to CAS# Delay : 5
RAS# Precharge : 5
RAS# ActivateTime : 15
RAS# to RAS# Delay : 3
Row Refresh Cycle Time : 50
Write Recovery Time : 3
Read to Precharge Time : 4

Read to Write Delay (S/D) : 8
Write to Read Delay (S) : 3
Write to Read Delay (D) : 4
Read to Read Delay (S) : 5
Read to Read Delay (D) : 4
Write to Write Delay (S) : 5
Write to Write Delay (D) : 4

Write to PRE Delay : 13
Read to PRE Delay :
PRE to PRE Delay :
ALL PRE to ACT Delay : 5
ALL PRE to REF Delay : 5

DRAM Static Read Control: Disabled
Ai Clock Twister : Moderate
Transaction Booster : Manual

Common Performance Level 7

Pull-In of CHA PH1 Disabled
Pull-In of CHA PH2 Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH1 Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH2 Disabled

CPU Voltage : 1.3875
CPU PLL Voltage : 1.56
North Bridge Voltage : 1.65
DRAM Voltage : 2.14
FSB Termination Voltage : Auto
South Bridge Voltage : Auto
Loadline Calibration : Enable
CPU GTL Reference : 0.63
North Bridge GTL Reference : 0.67
DDR2 Channel A REF Voltage : Auto
DDR2 Channel B REF Voltage : AUTO
DDR2 Controller REF Voltage : Auto
SB 1.5V Voltage : Auto

CPU Spread Spectrum : Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum : Disabled

[Nuckin_Futs]

Hello can anyone help me I just returned a Maximus Formula because a USB port was blown so I got a new board from FRY's and it seems to work great until I try to OC it heavy. I have a Q6600 and I was running it on the previous Max at 3.9 I can't get close but here is the thing: It runs everyhting at much lower volts than the other board.. I can stabilize 3.7 at 1.38Vcore which amazing in my opinion but as I try to raise it and put prime on the board just turns off??? Very strange I understand blue screen freezing and other stuff but it just turns off... I haven't read the entire thread to see if others have had this problem, but if anyone could help me that would great...
I had this a few times and I found for mine it was Futz'd Up drivers from nVidia and the Intel chipset. after cleaning complete w/ CCleaner of old drivers and reg files, it was fine again. I had the same model on another Maximus and it was just restarting anywhere from 2hrs or even in 1 hr just like that, but after cleaning it went for hrs on end exactly as was. I believe it was because of hard crashing too many time previously.


Anyone tried OC gold edition in this board, 1G or 2G modules ?

OCZ? No, the Crucial Ballistix, yes, each the PC2-6400 & PC2-8500. They play well on this mobo and OC great. Even the 800's go over 1066.

If OCZ, I'd guess just as good. I ran several sticks of Platinums of each 2x2 and 2x1g and they did great. Even if the OCZ Gold dont OC as far, they are pretty rock solid in my experiences on oldrr mobos.


I take it back, S3 on a 5:6 @ 480+ sucks again. I guess it was the one week special or maybe the oS and driver issue. Cause now it fails so often that I have to use S4 now. It does continue to function if on 1:1 at any FSB to 525 so it has to be a chipset and or driver instability. What makes little sence, is it has passed with flying colors for several months on this profile and is in use as daily profile @ 485x8. Could it be the BIOS versions? Cause I know for sure just before I got the corrupted v907, S3 failed at any FSB (even stock) and divider. I realize most will not use since most here are built for benchmarking and always on, but if anybody useing as a real world app workstation can comment.

[zlojack]

Anuaja, what RAM are you using and how many GB?

[zlojack]

Here's a question for you guys with more experience.

Is it possible to wear a motherboard out? I think I probably used too much voltage on mine in the early days before I figured out the settings and stuff, since this is the first BIOS I've had where you can do anything...

Either I've had really bad luck with 4 different CPUs and 10 different kits of RAM, or else my board maybe isn't getting it done. I guess since voltage can degrade other components, it could also do the same to the board, right?

[Guacamole]

Thanks Nuckin I think I will just reinstall an operating system and see if that does it I have been OCing the living crap out of my 9800GX2 and that probably makes the most sense because I really think the board is fine..

[youraa]

run the GEILs at 900Mhz and try again... 2gb dimms don't clock as good as 1gb dimms... why didn't you just buy 1066Mhz dimms to have some headroom... could also be ya memory controller is getting dodgy...

and for the 4 Ballistix sticks I think you are going for even more trouble as many many users have issues with them running in 2 pair configuration on the Maximus...

thx for the response :)
will try 900mhz in a mom. Hmmmm you're saying that with 4gb crucial I may have problems, good thing I didn't order them yet, maybe I'll go back to 2gb then and set the crucial to 1199 strap 400 450x8 as I had before.

I ran those geils 1117mhz :))) but only for 3dmark - new record 16700 :)

But I yhink there is something fishy with them though, you were saying about the memory controller is there any way to check that?
thx

[Grnfinger]

I take it back, S3 on a 5:6 @ 480+ sucks again. I guess it was the one week special or maybe the oS and driver issue. Cause now it fails so often that I have to use S4 now. It does continue to function if on 1:1 at any FSB to 525 so it has to be a chipset and or driver instability. What makes little sence, is it has passed with flying colors for several months on this profile and is in use as daily profile @ 485x8. Could it be the BIOS versions? Cause I know for sure just before I got the corrupted v907, S3 failed at any FSB (even stock) and divider. I realize most will not use since most here are built for benchmarking and always on, but if anybody useing as a real world app workstation can comment.

I run S3 on a 5:6 divider 489FSB with NO issues

This is how its set in bios

http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff267/Grnfinger/DSCF0260.jpg

[dimsdale]

I've been running at 3.8ghz rock solid as of last night (in Blend), I'm currently tweaking my RAM settings and adjusting voltages to see how low I can bring them down before I lose stability. I'll post the exact config later tonight.

(These are my guesstimates as to what the settings were - will edit later)


Tried those.....based on my results, I think you will be telling me that some of those voltages you had in your original post were actually a little higher....:D

[Grnfinger]

every setup is different, you cant take 1 persons settings and apply them to your rig and expect them to work.
Better to take it as a starting point and adjust things from there on your own.
8GB's of ram you'll need very high trfc settings probably 55 or higher

[Nuckin_Futs]

I run S3 on a 5:6 divider 489FSB with NO issues

This is how its set in bios
Odd, I have the same except even added the ACPI 2.0 support, and yes, it was all enabled during BIOS flash and new OS install, so I dont understand. I had understood that that disabling 2.0 just forces BIOS to function as ACPI 1.0, so this works for you, not 2.0?

Maybe you can PM me with you BIOS version voltages to compare. As well as RAM, as maybe it might help to determine what's going on.

So you can do S3 throught the day as well as for long sleep times of over 12hrs and resume on cold mornings? Mine used to be OK during the day, but failied often on resume in cold mornings.

[dimsdale]

8GB's of ram you'll need very high trfc settings probably 55 or higher

Interesting! I'm at trfc=52 now (board default). That's exactly the type of setting that's probably causing me the problems. I get prime95 failures at 2 hours, or 8 hours. If I had a setting that was off by about 6%, that might explain why its so darn hard to reproduce and intermittent.

Thanks for the tip. I'll work that into my testing.
Here's some more on the topic : http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35435

Testing now at FSB 400 / DDR 1066 / auto memory timings+tfrc=60. Got my fingers crossed!

[jwfitt]

dimsadale, see my earlier post for edited values :)

Interesting discussion on the trfc. I may do some reading and play with the RAM options some more.

[cyrixMII300]

well latest update is that i am giving up on 4.0GHz for now. got to 3.9GHz and am sticking to it for the moment while trying to stabilize enough until i can run Prime95 for at least 16hours. if that passes then we'll see what happens. right now it doesnt pass a minute with rounding error. will keep u guys posted. btw, i realized that this chip runs with 1.184v in bios at default. ;)

[initialised]

Would be really interesting to check maximum stable FSB on a quadcore with this bios. It will show if it's the maximus bios that s**ks or it is the PCB designRampage+Reaper+QX9650+9800GX2 installed, on the bench and waiting to be tweaked.

Air, water (120 + 240 Rad, Apogee, FlexXLC blocks & 100lph pump) and TEC (225W Qcmax and Titan Amanda/Ultra) are available cooling options.

Aiming for 5.0GHz with as high FSB & memory bandwidth as possible.

Any suggestions?

[dimsdale]

dimsadale, see my earlier post for edited values :)

Interesting discussion on the trfc. I may do some reading and play with the RAM options some more.

Ok. I set my tRC to 60 and still got a rounding error at about 2 hours.

However, I looked at the EPP for the G.Skill 8500 memory in Everest and saw that the tWR was specified as 13 for 533 MHz operation. Bios was setting it for 11. Now testing at 13.

[ericab]

Anuaja, what RAM are you using and how many GB?

i was gonna ask the same thing...
Anuaja, what RAM are you using and how many GB??

[Nuckin_Futs]

I let mine set itself (row refresh) in Auto to 42, wich is the max for 903 and it is good enough. So is lower # here actually tighter or more relaxed?

UPDATE; Today I tested on 2nd mobo w/ 903 and the FSB strap only works if I choose 333 when on my 5:6 divider. I noticed no big difference in selecting 333 strap v/s auto since the only one that mine could use is 333. What do you guys noticing is setting fixed 333, if using a divider that only belongs to 333?

[dimsdale]

jwfitt,
Are you still prime95 blend stable? I don't think this is a matter of voltages.
Rather, our lovely blue G.Skill 8500's are requiring some rather particular memory timing settings.
Time to dive in!

[Anuaja]

My RAM Corsair CMX2x2048-8500C5D rev 1.1 2x2gb, you can see at my first post :D

[Ric2L]

Well I was board, had a couple of beers, decided to lap cpu & hs, it went pretty well, easier than I thought it would be. However my temps really did'nt drop that much??? Before lapping my idle temps were 40, 39, 36, 35.
Load running prime95 was 58, 56, 47, 46. Now after lap, Idle is 35, 33, 32, 31, Prime 57, 56, 54, 52. There definatly more even on each core, but while priming there not all that much lower. Now, i just did this 1/2 hour ago, hopefully will improve after AS5 sets in better. One thing I did do different was applied the AS5 the way there web site suggests instead of spreading a thin layer over the entire cpu (that is the way I had done it origionally, before lapping)

I also tried the pencil mod for the vdroop, that really worked well, went from 1.26 w/droop to 1.18, now @1.26 w/droop to 1.25, as per everest. so that went well.

I know the temps arn't bad for an air setup, but I want to go for a 3.6GHz overclock, and try to keep temps under 60.

I'll let run for a couple of days like it is see if it improves, if not I guess I should order that Ultra 120 exterme I've been drooling over, just dont have the extra funds till the end of the month.

Rick

[jwfitt]

jwfitt,
Are you still prime95 blend stable? I don't think this is a matter of voltages.
Rather, our lovely blue G.Skill 8500's are requiring some rather particular memory timing settings.
Time to dive in!

I was around 1.375 cpu vcore, and auto ram timings. Right now, it's looking pretty good for 9.5x400, 333 strap, 801 Ram with manual timings at 4-4-4-12, and 55 trfc, twister:moderate, booster:disabled @ 3 (gonna try to bring to 0). Same everything else as my previous post...well over an hour now, gonna let it run while i go sleep! :)

[Eastcoasthandle]

Which is better performance wise:
445*8 = 3560MHz with DDR2 @ 1066MHz giving you a 12:10 ratio.
OR
400*9 = 3600MHz with DDR2 @ 1066MHz giving you a 16:12 ratio

Shouldn't you be able to reduce cpuv going from 9 multi to an 8?

[initialised]

Thanks for that. My Maximus is now a Rampage. Slick mod, but could you put a link to the latest 219? BIOS and to the Asus Rampage downloads page on the first post?

[Grnfinger]

Which is better performance wise:
445*8 = 3560MHz with DDR2 @ 1066MHz giving you a 12:10 ratio.
OR
400*9 = 3600MHz with DDR2 @ 1066MHz giving you a 16:12 ratio

Shouldn't you be able to reduce cpuv going from 9 multi to an 8?

I would think the 8 multi would do slightly better, but you'd have to bench it to be sure.
Another option is 450x8 3600MHz @ 1080MHz and that with the right timing is no a bad setup, or wasnt for me anyways when I still had my Q6600

[trt740]

I have read in some reviews about 3870 cards not working in maximus motherboard. Was going to buy a Diamond 3870 512mb DDR4 512mb anyone every heard of this problem.

[Sources]

I have read in some reviews about 3870 cards not working in maximus motherboard. Was going to buy a Diamond 3870 512mb DDR4 512mb anyone every heard of this problem.

No problem at all. I had the Diamond HD3870 512 and it ran perfect, now I have the Diamond HD3870X2 1G and it runs prefect.

[yobi]

http://rapidshare.com/files/99518261/Rampage_Formula_219.zip

[ghost_recon88]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but is it better to flash this board to the Rampage Formula BIOS, or the latest Maximus Formula beta BIOS? I have a board coming, and I want to get it set right the first time. I know the Rampage BIOS is a little dated compared to the Formula one, but I'm not sure if they've increased the FSB capability with the Formula one or not. Last I heard the Rampage one was getting higher FSB on peoples boards. Thanks

[ghost_recon88]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but is it better to flash this board to the Rampage Formula BIOS, or the latest Maximus Formula beta BIOS? I have a board coming, and I want to get it set right the first time. I know the Rampage BIOS is a little dated compared to the Formula one, but I'm not sure if they've increased the FSB capability with the Formula one or not. Last I heard the Rampage one was getting higher FSB on peoples boards. Thanks

[sofarfrome]

I am setting mine up this weekend and I am certainly going to use the latest Asus bios that is specific to this board. If it doesn't do what I want it to then I will perhaps flash to the Rampage bios. Not sure if I would want to void my warranty in hopes of better performance or sell it and buy something different.

[Krav]

Ive overclocked my q6600 to 3.3 and running prime95 my temps are good for cpu but my northbridge is reaching 55 sometimes, it idles at 48 which is same as what it was on my 3ghz setting.

My southbridge is running at 49-50 on full load.

Am i looking at trouble down the road if its running at these temps?

Also my cpu voltage is 1.30volts but as soon as i run prime 95 it drops to 1.26 s this normal?

[dimsdale]

What do you folks make of this "Write Recovery Time" (tWR) setting in the BIOS? According to the BIOS, it likes the default to be 6.
Now looking at the EPP for my G.Skills 8500s in Everest, it seems to be saying that this Write Recovery Time (tWR) should be set for 13!

I've looked at a lot of people's settings, and I've never seen anyone post a tWR that high. Does 13 make any sense?

[dimsdale]

Ive overclocked my q6600 to 3.3 and running prime95 my temps are good for cpu but my northbridge is reaching 55 sometimes, it idles at 48 which is same as what it was on my 3ghz setting.


What is your NB voltage? You might not need it as high as you have it. Try dropping it in .1 increments and see if you can maintain stability.



Also my cpu voltage is 1.30volts but as soon as i run prime 95 it drops to 1.26 s this normal?

Do you have Load Line Calibration enabled?

[MrHydes]

no way back turn this difficult choice ...serious thought at least.. double
the good things are so much better than the new bios available?

The Stilt thanks for this tutorial very nice, very sharp :clap:
congratulations, fabulous job for the comunity. :up:

[Krav]

What is your NB voltage? You might not need it as high as you have it. Try dropping it in .1 increments and see if you can maintain stability.

my NB voltage is at 1.31 in bios = 1.36 ( real ) i had it at 1.33 (real) and lost stability

I should say i have the SE version but not using watercooling on the NB also.


Do you have Load Line Calibration enabled?

Nope guess i should give that a bash then? Ive been purposely setting my voltages in the bios at higher volts due to the overvolt thing does this make the bios values same as the real values?

[ZenEffect]

no way back turn this difficult choice ...serious thought at least.. double
the good things are so much better than the new bios available?

The Stilt thanks for this tutorial very nice, very sharp :clap:
congratulations, fabulous job for the comunity. :up:

page 13 tells you how to go back. ;)

[Stanley Pain]

Would be great to have the OP updated with the latest info so people can stop asking the same questions over and over again. It'll also make it easier to search for information.

[zlojack]

Would be great to have the OP updated with the latest info so people can stop asking the same questions over and over again. It'll also make it easier to search for information.
+1 Agree

[dimsdale]

Nope guess i should give that a bash then? Ive been purposely setting my voltages in the bios at higher volts due to the overvolt thing does this make the bios values same as the real values?

Loadline Calibration will make the BIOS voltage and actual voltage much closer when the CPU is under load. It's generally helpful for overclocking as you won't have to have your CPU jacked up with extra volts at idle just so that you have enough after the drop that takes place with load.

Google on maximus formula and "vdroop". Or just search this thread!

[ZenEffect]

yes it would be nice, but i imagine the stilt has alot of other stuff going on atm :p:

perhaps someone (not me, im lazy) should start a part2 as kup has done on the maximus

[GlowingBulb]

Or perhaps people should read through the thread as there's a lot of good info in there. I know it's a long thread but it saves asking the same question that must have been asked many times before. Took me the best part of a month to read the 1st Maximus Formula thread but I found the answers to a lot of what I wanted to know in there. I was also able to see the results of each of the BIOS releases before I decided whether to upgrade or not.

Patience young Skywalker :)

[ZenEffect]

Or perhaps people should read through the thread as there's a lot of good info in there. I know it's a long thread but it saves asking the same question that must have been asked many times before. Took me the best part of a month to read the 1st Maximus Formula thread but I found the answers to a lot of what I wanted to know in there. I was also able to see the results of each of the BIOS releases before I decided whether to upgrade or not.

Patience young Skywalker :)

very true, those people interested in the mod SHOULD read through all the pages to gather as much info as they can, all i was stating was that the basic information could be consolidated into a really useful guide :up:

[Krav]

Loadline Calibration will make the BIOS voltage and actual voltage much closer when the CPU is under load. It's generally helpful for overclocking as you won't have to have your CPU jacked up with extra volts at idle just so that you have enough after the drop that takes place with load.

Google on maximus formula and "vdroop". Or just search this thread!

kk thanks for help :)

[Nuckin_Futs]

O.K. I tested since last night by Disabling ACPI 2.0 and repost of VGA was already off too and as I stated, I alwayz use S3 only, and of corse ACPI suprt On. 3 time of S3/STR and out again and so far, so good. On day 2, yet it was a warm morning here in California.

Also, to the guy about BIOS overvolting. You already know this mobo overvolts just about all the settings. so you need to set as LESSER value to get what you might want in actual as reported and used and not go to high. That is why it makes sence to POST here with actual or as reported by CMOS, not as set. It is simple, set a voltage, then reboot entering CMOS to read it in Power management. Just like that. And these should be the only voltages we need to see in POST since each mobo will overvolt a tad different and especially in a combo of variuos PLL and GTL settings as well as FSB level.

[TheScavenger]

Loadline Calibration is definitely a must. Without it enabled my voltages were all over the place and my system was really unstable.

That HD 3870 compatability nonsense mentioned above is silly.