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

[eSp!s0]

Yeah I kinda noticed the red X on the network icon also, but I thaught it was due to the fact that Vista was busy doing something else and hadn't initialized the nic yet.

Installed the realtek drivers and rebooting...

Edit#1
Rebooted and rex X is still there and the delay is still there, cant open programs or folders for about 30-45 sec's after the OS has loaded.
Once the NIC's red X is gone everything starts working fine, there is alot of drive activity during this delay.
Gonna disable the second NIC in BIOS and see what gives.

Edit#2
I disabled and enabled the proper NIC's in BIOS and hooked up my cat5 cable to NIC port #1, it's the upper one, disabled NIC #2 and now after a couple of reboots my NIC initializes right away and I can now open programs and folders no more delay.

Edit#3
Wow this is weird I disabled NIC #1 in BIOS, hooked up my cat5 cable to NIC #1 and still have connection to the web?!?
Going to try the opposite becaus the delay was happening when I had my cat5 connected to NIC#2 and possibly had IT disabled in BIOS at the time.
Dont know if it's Vista or the board but net ttraffic is redirected to either working NIC independetly if it's disabled in BIOS.

NIC 1 and 2 are changed for me in bios. Means, that NIC 1 runs and NIC 2 is disabled, when disabling NIC 1 and enabling NIC 2 in bios.
NIC 1 in bios is NIC2 in windows for me and NIC 2 in bios is NIC 1 in windows, hope you understand what I mean. :)

[eSp!s0]

X38 DQ6 blown PCI Mosfet = Total Instability when PCI card connected so I RMAe'd it and needed a new one [ i hate to wait] and only Maximus Formula in this category is available. DQ6 was allready set as End of Life product

Yes omg, I had same problem with P35-DQ6 and my PCI X-Fi. Had a lot of hardware conflicts and X-Fi like 30times listened in hardware-manager and things like that.
That`s why I switched to Asus and Formula. Have no problems with my formula and network or my X-Fi :up:
But there are this other issues I have... posted it already :down:

[ZenEffect]

I don't want to dissapoint you guys, but Vista doesn't use boot.ini anymore. Instead it saves its bootsettings in Boot Configuration Data Store (BCD Store) which is in binary format and therefore not editable with a texteditor.

You can change settings using bcdedit. But even don't know without googling if there's a setting for coreamount is required.
http://www.techenclave.com/operating-systems/speedup-vista-startup-with-processor-tweak-97626.html

im on xp so i posted the xp way....i looked up the vista way so here is a link on how to do it with vista... same process really...:up:


anyone here use teaming with their nic's? if so, did you see any diff?

[xgman]

In the beginning of this thread someone posted that the black 1x slot was proprietary for the included sound card. Can I use an Asus Xonar PCiex 1x sound card in that same slot instead? The white ones are blocked.

[iadstudio]

In the beginning of this thread someone posted that the black 1x slot was proprietary for the included sound card. Can I use an Asus Xonar PCiex 1x sound card in that same slot instead? The white ones are blocked.


should be able to. I think that slot was specified in ordere to avoid hardware issues with soundcards in general. not just the one provided. However, I would call them and ask.

[eSp!s0]

I just checked the manual and the black slot is called "audio slot" there, but there are no other useful infos about. I would just try it and then give feedback here ;)

[CERO]

Cool, cheers MC2K!!! I'll give the Blitz a whirl before I choose which board to attach the Phase Change to. I want the most stable of the two when I'm pushing for 4.2GHz 24/7 stable! :cool:

Would the PCI-E v2 really make a huge difference on the Maximus?

Not at all with the current GFX m8. You are good to go:) let me know how it turns out :up:

[Matt C.]

quick question for you guys.. I just got my Maximus. I have the 602 BIOS..should I upgrade to the newer ones? If so, which are the best for quads?

[theonlybabyface]

I'm using 907 with my Quad and it works perfectly. Easily overclocked it to 3.6 ghz in less than 5 mins. Have not tried to push it farther yet as unfortunately, my memory voltage regulator fried...new one is here today though. :)


Here's a pic...

[R3d]

Hey everyone, I'm looking at picking up this motherboard and pairing it with an e8400.. now my question is what bios is needed for it to be compatible out of the box.. I don't have any other s775 cpu's to throw in if need be..

The other motherboard i've been looking at is the DFI LP LT X38-T2R..
Parts that would going into this build would be
2x3870's
2GB mushkin 8500 5-5-4-12's
150gb raptor
corsair 620w
SS TJ09

what i'm looking for is stable overclocks
Cooler i'll be picking up is the ultra extreme 120

The amd quad in my sig is going to be turned into a VM box

[CERO]

0802 or higher, but 0903 or 0907 are needed for the 1/2 mulitpliers, most board that got shipped doesnt have 0802 or higher I think, so I am afraid u got a big chance they might not work right out of the box. Unless some1 here confirm that it does works with older then 0802

[Zucker2k]

602 supports Exxxx too; I think support goes a bit earlier than that even. Don't wanna be the one to find out where it stops tho.

[CERO]

yea hence maximus are "45nm ready", but half multipliers support are from 0903 on.

[WFO]

So the MOBO won't be problematic if good memory is used , correct me if im'm wrong. 4 x 2 GB Geil Black Dragon 800/CL5 not OCed will work and i won't be forced to throw half of them out because of something ... :clap:

I'm running 4 X 2GB G.Skill PC 8000 with no issues. This is the best board I've ever had. Easiest overclocking too. Others have had nothing but trouble. Good board/ Bad board? Or Extreme users being too extreme? Maybe a combination? :shrug: Build it. Run it. You'll love it or RMA it if it doesn't work with known good components. Isn't that always the case though??? :yepp:

[atomicvai]

Well I've finally got XP and Vista dual boot installed and all is stable... no more pause when first loading etc in Vista. Also running at 3.6ghz on air with no issues... board is rock solid... my concern is the temps being reported in Everest and Coretemp. Idle temps show avg 35 degrees on cores at 3.6ghz... does that sound right? I figured they should be higher at that clock. Another weirdness is that some things report my CPU speed wrong, like 3dmark06 thinks I'm at 4.05ghz. Here's settings:

q6600 G0 @ 3.6ghz (450 x 8)
2x2gb Mushkin PC6400 @ 900mhz 4-4-4-10
Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme
p182 case
gt8800 @ 750/1900/1900 with HR03GT

This is with all settings on auto, other than ram timings. Can't get over 15,400 3dmark... guess I need to get a couple 3870x2's.

[chew*]

Its reporting speed based on default multi and fsb.........I get stuff reporting my every day speed at 3.6g but I'm really 8x400........

[Sources]

Woohooo got my NB down to 27 deg and my SB down to 36.. Love that water cooling.

[atomicvai]

Hmmmm.... maybe I should get some active cooling on my NB, it's hovering around 45 or so at 450 fsb.

[binormalkilla]

Is anyone using the SOunMax II PCIe card with a microphone in Vista (x64 preferably...)? I haven't installed the drivers yet, as my speakers seem to work fine without them, but I can't seem to get the mic to work.....


EDIT:
I remember why I didn't install the drivers in the first place......it messed up my 5.1 config. :shrug: The mic works fine.............speakers don't. THe only configuration with my Z5500s and the mic is Dolby PL2 Music 5.1 with the driver installed........I've yet to get the SPD/IF working on this card yet.....I have to use it until I get the Xonar working.................

[Jodiuh]

Hmmmm.... maybe I should get some active cooling on my NB, it's hovering around 45 or so at 450 fsb.
Throw a quiet 5CFM 40mm on the main fin over the NB. I lost 7C that way.

[Robin77]

http://www.techenclave.com/operating-systems/speedup-vista-startup-with-processor-tweak-97626.html

im on xp so i posted the xp way....i looked up the vista way so here is a link on how to do it with vista... same process really...:up:


anyone here use teaming with their nic's? if so, did you see any diff?

So you should read the 2nd answer on this threat too: ;-)

Mindex Mindex is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Mumbai
Posts: 176
Mindex is Mysterious
Default Re: Speedup Vista startup with processor tweak.

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Tried..doesn't make any difference.

Vista automatically identified and uses multiple cores (if available) at boot time and hence this is not needed.

[Robin77]

Hmmmm.... maybe I should get some active cooling on my NB, it's hovering around 45 or so at 450 fsb.

You needn't place a cooler to your NB with your low temps! Official Intel max NB temps are around 96 C under load. This is directly from Intel thermal design spec for X38 Chipset and the only really counting value.

Many users have way higher NB temps than you, so do I. I've around 68 idle and 76 or so loaded. This are oced temps and they are 100% 48 hours prime and 3dmark 06 simultaniously running stable.

With your low NB temps you an be sure NB temp won't be a limiter to your oc results.


greets

[Warboy]

You needn't place a cooler to your NB with your low temps! Official Intel max NB temps are around 96 C under load. This is directly from Intel thermal design spec for X38 Chipset and the only really counting value.

Many users have way higher NB temps than you, so do I. I've around 68 idle and 76 or so loaded. This are oced temps and they are 100% 48 hours prime and 3dmark 06 simultaniously running stable.

With your low NB temps you an be sure NB temp won't be a limiter to your oc results.


greets

Yes, 96C.

The Northbridge is sensitive and can become damaged if it reaches over 54C with high overclocks from my studies.

The Optimized temp for the X38's is 40-45C, If you can get lower then that, Then :clap:

[Kondik]

Warboy;2772898']Yes, 96C.

The Northbridge is sensitive and can become damaged if it reaches over 54C with high overclocks from my studies.

The Optimized temp for the X38's is 40-45C, If you can get lower then that, Then :clap:

Thermalright IFX / SLI non SLI series proppably ? if you put down that defalut cooling, i think they have the "power and technology" to cool it enough. I'll try it at monday and let you know

[JH_man]

Is anyone using the SOunMax II PCIe card with a microphone in Vista (x64 preferably...)? I haven't installed the drivers yet, as my speakers seem to work fine without them, but I can't seem to get the mic to work.....


EDIT:
I remember why I didn't install the drivers in the first place......it messed up my 5.1 config. :shrug: The mic works fine.............speakers don't. THe only configuration with my Z5500s and the mic is Dolby PL2 Music 5.1 with the driver installed........I've yet to get the SPD/IF working on this card yet.....I have to use it until I get the Xonar working.................

I have used a mic with the SoundMax board, got no problem with it.

JH_man

[Sources]

Just removing and re seating your NB will lower the temps about 5deg I bet, they aren't set very well stock. Also if you have the Std edition Formula without water cooled NB then your SB is gonna get hotter being in that heat pipe with the NB, its better off without being attached to the NB pipe.

I have just a heat spreader on my SB and its running around 34-38 where as before when it was on the heat pipe with the NB it was running 50, same as the NB temp.

Ewwwww shame on you Asus. That is horrible design. Why would you punish the SB with teh NB high temps by putting it on the same heat pipe.

[Prodigys]

Northbridge :

Ambient = 25.6°C (PC + heater = warm room :p: )
NB temp = 33°C STRESSED
Voltage NB = 1.57V
Cooling = P5E stock cooling + 120mm fan pointed on it

Mods done : did a extra twist on the mounting screws that's it...

(Besides that, I'm running 445 x 8 on AUTO settings again, and it's now 5 hours prime stable. But 445 x 9 gives me after 5 min a error...)

Could this be the CPU ? He did 4Ghz on 1.40Vcore, and on 1.42Vcore he was 3DMark stable...

So the NB can handle the FSB, also the CPU can handle so far 475 FSB.
But high speeds give me lockups, so I think PLL or GTL ref is not good, am I write ?

[Robin77]

Warboy;2772898']Yes, 96C.

The Northbridge is sensitive and can become damaged if it reaches over 54C with high overclocks from my studies.

The Optimized temp for the X38's is 40-45C, If you can get lower then that, Then :clap:

Than you had low quality boards for your studies. My NB runs even idle on 67 C and my PC runs round clock (cause of downloading ;-)). I've not a single stability issue or even anywhere near.

As said, look at what Intel says what is the max temp (96 C) and look again what I wrote regarding my NB tems and the rockstability with it. Believe me, if you get issues with low NB temps of even under 60 C then you should really RMA your board, because the NB is built to run rockstable up to 96 C. This is not a peakvalue for jus 1 sec or so, it's the max. value for longtime usage.

[Warboy]

Than you had low quality boards for your studies. My NB runs even idle on 67 C and my PC runs round clock (cause of downloading ;-)). I've not a single stability issue or even anywhere near.

As said, look at what Intel says what is the max temp (96 C) and look again what I wrote regarding my NB tems and the rockstability with it. Believe me, if you get issues with low NB temps of even under 60 C then you should really RMA your board, because the NB is built to run rockstable up to 96 C. This is not a peakvalue for jus 1 sec or so, it's the max. value for longtime usage.

The Thermal Letter is alot different then real world performance. Just Like CPUs. Just because the Thermal Letter on a Q6600 G0 is 85C doesn't mean you'll get the same performance from the CPU running at 80C then 30C. Because Ultimately for any Computer Technology, Cooler is better.

My Studies are also based of what I've seen from other people and reviews. Unless you are running a 3.8Ghz - 4.0Ghz+ Overclock, I wouldn't call your answer "rock solid" lol

[xgman]

Ewwwww shame on you Asus. That is horrible design. Why would you punish the SB with teh NB high temps by putting it on the same heat pipe.

I've never understood this trend towards a roller coaster heatsink design. It's just awefull, but they have made it too hard to go 3rd party now and get everything covered without cutting up the stock sink. I just keep fans blowing all over the entire board at this point.

[iadstudio]

what's the safest way to get the NB heatsink off? I did the freezer ,ethod on one board, but I'd rather not do it again as I think that damaged my VIA firewire chip.

[xgman]

In bios 907 if I set my cpu "pll" voltage to 1.7v, in hardwrae monitor it reads over 1.8x volts in red. Anyone else see this over volting?

[iadstudio]

In bios 907 if I set my cpu "pll" voltage to 1.7v, in hardwrae monitor it reads over 1.8x volts in red. Anyone else see this over volting?

yep. the board overvolts the pll and just about everything else.

[xgman]

yep. the board overvolts the pll and just about everything else.

Well, except the vcore which droops a little. Actually, I just saw that my question was answered in the 1st page of this thread. I've never noticed if all recent asus boards overvolt cpu PLL, so should I set it to 1.6 to get 1.7 if I'm used to running other asus boards at 1.7v PLL?

[pazza316]

Hi all,

I have just got 8gb of OCZ reaper memory with spd of 4-4-4-15 at 2.1 800 mhz I set this but my system is very unstable in games. Its weird becasue it can run prime etc all day just no games. Anyone else experiencing this and have a workaround? I have fiddled with all voltages so I dont think that will help.

[Robin77]

Warboy;2773857']The Thermal Letter is alot different then real world performance. Just Like CPUs. Just because the Thermal Letter on a Q6600 G0 is 85C doesn't mean you'll get the same performance from the CPU running at 80C then 30C. Because Ultimately for any Computer Technology, Cooler is better.

My Studies are also based of what I've seen from other people and reviews. Unless you are running a 3.8Ghz - 4.0Ghz+ Overclock, I wouldn't call your answer "rock solid" lol

Whatever you say. I find it a little bit confusing, when I have 67 C idle and far above 70 load temp on NB and I run my 6850 C2D rockstable @ over 3,9 GHz. I'd call this a proof that at least in this case the Intel engineers know more about technologie than you.

What you do is to make people think omg my NB temp of lets say 55C will destroy my Mainboard and maybe my whole PC. This simply isn't anywhere near truth and facts profe it wrong.
So I think it's important for keeping up the level of this forum to post facts where there are facts and mark "I think, and out of my experience" things as such and not as facts.
If that wasn't your intention than it didn't come clearly enough.
But I will tell you when my NB should burn far far away in future.... ;-)

[Ultra Nexus]

Hi all,

I have just got 8gb of OCZ reaper memory with spd of 4-4-4-15 at 2.1 800 mhz I set this but my system is very unstable in games. Its weird becasue it can run prime etc all day just no games. Anyone else experiencing this and have a workaround? I have fiddled with all voltages so I dont think that will help.

I have experienced something similar with a pair of G.Skills 4Gb set. It passes memtest and prime95 blend for hours but I found that doing a CRC check (with .SFV files) show randomly corrupt files.

At first I thought my partition was corrupted or the HDD was failing, but the same data checked on another machine resulted in no errors found.

I lowered the timmings, upped the vmem, set bios at default, nothing helped. The most weird thing was that each time I did a SFV check (on big rar files) a different file resulted in checksum error. Not the previous one that had errored out.

So thinking my Gskill sticks were bad, I installed them on a G33 gigabyte motherboard and there was no CRC checksum errors whatsoever (on the same set of RAR files). Even on their stock timmings of 4-4-4-12.

So I believe that either the BIOS subtimmings on the Maximus are too stiff or there is some incompatibility with these sticks. I also tried BIOSes 505, 802 and 907.

Im currently running my mobo with a pair of cheap Gskills 2Gb 5-5-5-15 kit without problems.

[Grnfinger]

Whatever you say. I find it a little bit confusing, when I have 67 C idle and far above 70 load temp on NB and I run my 6850 C2D rockstable @ over 3,9 GHz. I'd call this a proof that at least in this case the Intel engineers know more about technologie than you.

What you do is to make people think omg my NB temp of lets say 55C will destroy my Mainboard and maybe my whole PC. This simply isn't anywhere near truth and facts profe it wrong.
So I think it's important for keeping up the level of this forum to post facts where there are facts and mark "I think, and out of my experience" things as such and not as facts.
If that wasn't your intention than it didn't come clearly enough.
But I will tell you when my NB should burn far far away in future.... ;-)

Have we not had this useless argument b4?

Can you post your "FACTS" and then this argument can be put to rest

[Zucker2k]

I'll be scared sh*tless if my cpu idled at 67, much more my NB. :eek:

My NB temp is ALWAYS lower than my cpu even though it is after my cpu in my loop.

[Sources]

I'm pretty sure that is already a fact that electronics produce better results when under load keeping lower temperatures. =P


Have we not had this useless argument b4?

Can you post your "FACTS" and then this argument can be put to rest

[Sources]

Ummmm I was worried when mine idled at 52, yet alone 60 something, LoL



I'll be scared sh*tless if my cpu idled at 67, much more my NB. :eek:

My NB temp is ALWAYS lower than my cpu even though it is after my cpu in my loop.

[Jodiuh]

what's the safest way to get the NB heatsink off? I did the freezer ,ethod on one board, but I'd rather not do it again as I think that damaged my VIA firewire chip.
It's all about the heat gun. Here's a recent post on [H] (http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1032070485&postcount=222) I threw up on the issue. There's some pics of my setup which show echo...


I just keep fans blowing all over the entire board at this point.
...that.

The power sinks are fine, but I would like to see pipes come from the board to the right side and then fin out like an HR-05. That would keep them off the boards and out of the way of add in cards/cpu coolers. Ideally, they would blow up and exit from the top/rear of a case.

[CERO]

Mine board is sold 2day, so I am leaving this part.... I am waiting for the rampage.

[binormalkilla]

I would suggest throwing a fan in front of your memory/NB. I just angled mine against my PCI-E1 and my 24 pin ATX so it hits the memory and the NB, and it dropped my NB temps from 52-55 to 40-43! I pretty much idle and load at the same temp now.

[iadstudio]

antec spot cool on low brought my NB from 55c to 42c

[Warboy]

Have we not had this useless argument b4?

Can you post your "FACTS" and then this argument can be put to rest

I would said you just owned Robin77

[punisher69]

Whatever you say. I find it a little bit confusing, when I have 67 C idle and far above 70 load temp on NB and I run my 6850 C2D rockstable @ over 3,9 GHz. I'd call this a proof that at least in this case the Intel engineers know more about technologie than you.

What you do is to make people think omg my NB temp of lets say 55C will destroy my Mainboard and maybe my whole PC. This simply isn't anywhere near truth and facts profe it wrong.
So I think it's important for keeping up the level of this forum to post facts where there are facts and mark "I think, and out of my experience" things as such and not as facts.
If that wasn't your intention than it didn't come clearly enough.
But I will tell you when my NB should burn far far away in future.... ;-)


Download PCPROBE from ASUS:

ftp://ftp.asus.com/pub/ASUS/misc/utils/ProbeII_V10429.zip

and OCCT for stability testing:

http://www.ocbase.com/download.php?fileext=exe

Run PCPROBE to monitor your Northbridge temps. Run OCCT on Infinite mode for a minimum of 12 hours. Post your sceenshot as proof of your claim.

EDIT: I'm really intrested to see this screenshot.

[theonlybabyface]

I'm running 4 X 2GB G.Skill PC 8000 with no issues. This is the best board I've ever had. Easiest overclocking too. Others have had nothing but trouble. Good board/ Bad board? Or Extreme users being too extreme? Maybe a combination? :shrug: Build it. Run it. You'll love it or RMA it if it doesn't work with known good components. Isn't that always the case though??? :yepp:

Hey WFO,

Just picked up 8GB's of the same ram. Care to share all of your settings with me? :)

[pazza316]

Ultra Nexus what subtimings does the G33 set? Could you take a memset screen shot for me?

Thanks

[M-XXXX]

My little achievemen: http://shrani.si/f/23/K7/467LVsva/fsb-515mhz.jpg

This in under water, and this is not the limit;) (im bit short of time lastdays;)

[kup]

What bios settings did that take to achieve? Water on the NB I assume as well?

[Virous]

My NB is gets to about 60*C on load. possibly higher. is it possible to remove the fusion block without taking of the lolocoster. I want to reseat it with AS5 and put a 40mm 7cfm sunon fan on it. Anytips on fan mountage?

[M-XXXX]

What bios settings did that take to achieve? Water on the NB I assume as well?
Procesor, NB, and both GPU under water:cool:

Settings were:

Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up : Auto
CPU Ratio Control : Manual
- Ratio CMOS Setting : 6
FSB Frequency : 515
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 400
PCI-E Frequency: 115
DRAM Frequency: DDR2-1030
DRAM Command Rate : 2T
DRAM Timing Control: Manual
CAS# Latency : 4
RAS# to CAS# Delay : 4
RAS# Precharge : 4
RAS# ActivateTime : 8
RAS# to RAS# Delay : 3
Row Refresh Cycle Time : 30
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: Enabled
Ai Clock Twister : Strong
Transaction Booster : lvl 1


CPU Voltage : 1.63V
CPU PLL Voltage : 1.7v (I think)
North Bridge Voltage : 1.65v(I think)
DRAM Voltage : 2.3
FSB Termination Voltage :1.60
South Bridge Voltage : 1.050
Loadline Calibration : Enabled
CPU GTL Reference : 0.67

Maybe I've messed us one or two things, but nothing big.
I think this CPU/mogo still has potential (I can set higher voltages, and I think last time I was limited by RAM- I haven't changed secondary timing:p: (to lazy) (I had left them as same settings as I have them for 24/7)

[Grnfinger]

Procesor, NB, and both GPU under water:cool:

Settings were:

Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up : Auto
CPU Ratio Control : Manual
- Ratio CMOS Setting : 6
FSB Frequency : 515
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 400
PCI-E Frequency: 115
DRAM Frequency: DDR2-1030
DRAM Command Rate : 2T
DRAM Timing Control: Manual
CAS# Latency : 4
RAS# to CAS# Delay : 4
RAS# Precharge : 4
RAS# ActivateTime : 8
RAS# to RAS# Delay : 3
Row Refresh Cycle Time : 30
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: Enabled
Ai Clock Twister : Strong
Transaction Booster : lvl 1


CPU Voltage : 1.63V
CPU PLL Voltage : 1.7v (I think)
North Bridge Voltage : 1.65v(I think)
DRAM Voltage : 2.3
FSB Termination Voltage :1.60
South Bridge Voltage : 1.050
Loadline Calibration : Enabled
CPU GTL Reference : 0.67

Maybe I've messed us one or two things, but nothing big.
I think this CPU/mogo still has potential (I can set higher voltages, and I think last time I was limited by RAM- I haven't changed secondary timing:p: (to lazy) (I had left them as same settings as I have them for 24/7)

Those are pretty high volts, what kinda temps are you getting or did I miss that post?

[M-XXXX]

As I have said- this are settings for TEST and 515MHZ FSB!
I have much lover voltages for 24/7 but temperatures are still hight (about 75C small FFT)

[pee4]

Hi

Anyone got GSkill 8500 2x2GB (F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK) running on this board? If so, can you please post your bios RAM settings?

Thanks

[binormalkilla]

As I have said- this are settings for TEST and 515MHZ FSB!
I have much lover voltages for 24/7 but temperatures are still hight (about 75C small FFT)

Oh man I wouldn't run it that high 24/7................but hey do each his own! I'm interested to know what memory frequencies you have stable at 4GHz with the trans booster set to advanced 1.

[M-XXXX]

Oh man I wouldn't run it that high 24/7................but hey do each his own!
As I know Q6600 G0 is fine with temperatures below 81C, and I think 75C small FFT is not critical, because real work temparatures doesn't get close to Small FFT


I'm interested to know what memory frequencies you have stable at 4GHz with the trans booster set to advanced 1.
Transaction booster is set to 1, and i have ratio 1:1 (Fsb is 445, so RAM frequency is 890mhz, but RAM doesn't have any problem with 1000+ (this RAM goes up to 1200 4-4-4-8:) )

[binormalkilla]

Hi

Anyone got GSkill 8500 2x2GB (F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK) running on this board? If so, can you please post your bios RAM settings?

Thanks

I bought that kit along with my current kit, keeping the best one......which ended up being the Geil, as I couldn't even POST past DDR2-1050 or something like that.
I would try DDR2-1000 5-5-5-15 with the rest at auto for starters.
Go ahead and set the NBV to something high like 1.60-1.65V.


As I know Q6600 G0 is fine with temperatures below 81C, and I think 75C small FFT is not critical, because real work temparatures doesn't get close to Small FFT


Transaction booster is set to 1, and i have ratio 1:1 (Fsb is 445, so RAM frequency is 890mhz, but RAM doesn't have any problem with 1000+ (this RAM goes up to 1200 4-4-4-8:) )

Hey that's awesome man. Is that totally stable with the trans booster like that? I haven't been able to test at 1:1 with FSB that high, as can't get it stable......but you've inspired me to try tonight :D

[iadstudio]

I'm having strange problems all the sudden with my nVidia driver failing. I though it was just a coupld bad sticks of RAM and when I took the 2 sticks in question out, the problem stopped, but now it persists. Only thig is the system passes Orthos Blend for over 4 hours, super pi, OCCT all no problem. The display driver and the occasional BSOD it brings on are the only symptoms of instability.

Also, my OC was tock solid stable for 3 weeks and thsi happened all the sudden when 2 sticks or RAM died. Any ideas?

[Grnfinger]

I'm having strange problems all the sudden with my nVidia driver failing. I though it was just a coupld bad sticks of RAM and when I took the 2 sticks in question out, the problem stopped, but now it persists. Only thig is the system passes Orthos Blend for over 4 hours, super pi, OCCT all no problem. The display driver and the occasional BSOD it brings on are the only symptoms of instability.

Also, my OC was tock solid stable for 3 weeks and thsi happened all the sudden when 2 sticks or RAM died. Any ideas?

What exactly is the error?

the dredded nvlddmkm?

[Robin77]

Have we not had this useless argument b4?

Can you post your "FACTS" and then this argument can be put to rest

I posted this facts already on this threat. Just too lacy to search the page. But I'm pretty sure you'll find it.
It includes a link to Intel X38 thermal design sheet.
You'll find Intel specs right there.

This is what I (i'm hardware engineer at Siemens) would call a fact. But maybe as engineer of Siemens I see this in a too professional way, at least for you. ;-)

[Grnfinger]

I posted this facts already on this threat. Just too lacy to search the page. But I'm pretty sure you'll find it.
It includes a link to Intel X38 thermal design sheet.
You'll find Intel specs right there.

This is what I (i'm hardware engineer at Siemens) would call a fact. But maybe as engineer of Siemens I see this in a too professional way, at least for you. ;-)

I ask for a link/quote and all you can do is make a snide comment????
yes you are truely a professional.

I see in all your extensive education to become an engineer they overlooked the basic spelling course?? WELL DONE!!!

[Robin77]

I ask for a link/quote and all you can do is make a snide comment????
yes you are truely a professional.

I see in all your extensive education to become an engineer they overlooked the basic spelling course?? WELL DONE!!!

Ok, for you, and extra for you I searched the link again:

http://download.intel.com/design/chipsets/designex/31761201.pdf

It was clear to me that you mightn't understand technical facts as you are a normal PC user with very simple knowledge of complex technical principles. But that's no accusation, you can't know this when you didn't study it.

The very simplified stuff that you can find in internet won't make you to an expert.

But I wish you fun reading the Intel specs. Maybe you're able to find the facts (I believe in the good in people ;-)).

ps.: my spelling could be result of my origin (Austria). Maybe you are even able to find out which language there is spoken (I'm sure, you're a clever guy....:ROTF: )

[Grnfinger]

I'm sure that was an insult but then again the spelling and grammer are so bad I cannot tell what exactly your trying to say if anything at all, perhaps a more educated man/woman like yourself can help me with that.
Yes it is true your are surely a more(on) highly educated person than myself, My university degree(s) in bio-chemistry / physics is surely no match for the intellegence of Siemens ppl, now that we have the education part out of the way lets return to the topic at hand....
If you took offense to my first post than I apologize, there was none intentended, I was trying to say instead of arguing the matter of NB temps why not post your facts then this would not continue any further and avoid an argument. But instead you choose to argue and toss around snide comments when all there was is a simple misunderstanding on your part. You have clearly displayed your level of intellengence.
BTW thanks for finally posting something related to your comments regarding NB temps. I will read it now and maybe you can help me with anything I dont understand for I have a really hard time when they group letters together......very confusing to me, I prefer pictures:rofl:

[Robin77]

:up:
I'm sure that was an insult but then again the spelling and grammer are so bad I cannot tell what exactly your trying to say if anything at all, perhaps a more educated man/woman like yourself can help me with that.
Yes it is true your are surely a more(on) highly educated person than myself, My university degree(s) in bio-chemistry / physics is surely no match for the intellegence of Siemens ppl, now that we have the education part out of the way lets return to the topic at hand....
If you took offense to my first post than I apologize, there was none intentended, I was trying to say instead of arguing the matter of NB temps why not post your facts then this would not continue any further and avoid an argument. But instead you choose to argue and toss around snide comments when all there was is a simple misunderstanding on your part. You have clearly displayed your level of intellengence.
BTW thanks for finally posting something related to your comments regarding NB temps. I will read it now and maybe you can help me with anything I dont understand for I have a really hard time when they group letters together......very confusing to me, I prefer pictures:rofl:


Looks like you really don't understand me. Surely because I'm too simple for you and your really impressing studies :clap: .
But you managed it to finaly get it, that I answered your questions. Or should I say you will answer them by yourself after reading the doc from the link.
By the way, to toss around snide comments and at same time measure the IQ of another person by accusing him to toss snide comments clearly displays your level of intelligence. :up:

ps.: if you are that clever guy you try to show here you surely have no problem to check the meaning of the text I wrote. My 10 year old brother understood all of my posts. :rofl:

pps.: the right english would be "you are", not "your are" ;-)

[jorgito05]

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj165/jorgito05/overclocked.jpg

Re: your question about my mem; It's on my sig.

OK, got a little better. Bios now set as Follows:

AI Overclock Tuner: (manual)
CPU Ratio: (8)
FSB Frequency: (400)
FSB Strap: (400)
PCIE: (100)
Dram Frequency: (800)
Dram Comand: (2T)
Dram Timings: (auto)
Dram Static Read: (auto)
AI Clock Twister: (auto)
Transaction Booster: (Disabled)
Relax Level: (0)
Load Line Calibrator: (disabled)
CPU Voltage: (1.275)
CPU PLL Voltage: (1.52)
NB Voltage: (1.35)
Dram Voltage: (1.8)
FSB Termination Voltage: (1.3)
SB Voltage: (1.075)
CPU GTL: (.063x)
NB GTL: (.067x)
Channel Ref A & B and Channel Control Voltages all: (auto)

What do you suggest?

[Grnfinger]

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj165/jorgito05/overclocked.jpg

Re: your question about my mem; It's on my sig.

OK, got a little better. Bios now set as Follows:

AI Overclock Tuner: (manual)
CPU Ratio: (8)
FSB Frequency: (400)
FSB Strap: (400)
PCIE: (100)
Dram Frequency: (800)
Dram Comand: (2T)
Dram Timings: (auto)
Dram Static Read: (auto)
AI Clock Twister: (auto)
Transaction Booster: (Disabled)
Relax Level: (0)
Load Line Calibrator: (disabled)
CPU Voltage: (1.275)
CPU PLL Voltage: (1.52)
NB Voltage: (1.35)
Dram Voltage: (1.8)
FSB Termination Voltage: (1.3)
SB Voltage: (1.075)
CPU GTL: (.063x)
NB GTL: (.067x)
Channel Ref A & B and Channel Control Voltages all: (auto)

What do you suggest?

Are you wanting to oc your processor or run it a stock speed?

[Nuckin_Futs]

Procesor, NB, and both GPU under water:cool:

Settings were:

Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up : Auto
CPU Ratio Control : Manual
- Ratio CMOS Setting : 6
FSB Frequency : 515
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 400
PCI-E Frequency: 115
DRAM Frequency: DDR2-1030
DRAM Command Rate : 2T
DRAM Timing Control: Manual
CAS# Latency : 4
RAS# to CAS# Delay : 4
RAS# Precharge : 4
RAS# ActivateTime : 8
RAS# to RAS# Delay : 3
Row Refresh Cycle Time : 30
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: Enabled
Ai Clock Twister : Strong
Transaction Booster : lvl 1


CPU Voltage : 1.63V
CPU PLL Voltage : 1.7v (I think)
North Bridge Voltage : 1.65v(I think)
DRAM Voltage : 2.3
FSB Termination Voltage :1.60
South Bridge Voltage : 1.050
Loadline Calibration : Enabled
CPU GTL Reference : 0.67

Maybe I've messed us one or two things, but nothing big.
I think this CPU/mogo still has potential (I can set higher voltages, and I think last time I was limited by RAM- I haven't changed secondary timing:p: (to lazy) (I had left them as same settings as I have them for 24/7)
Could you clear it up by providing each the user input as well as the CMOS reported voltages? I usually display as;

Overvoltage = as set by user (as reported in CMOS) [vdroop, if any]. Or any kind of key is cool so long as we can tell the difference.


:up:


Looks like you really don't understand me. Surely because I'm too simple for you and your really impressing studies :clap: .
But you managed it to finaly get it, that I answered your questions. Or should I say you will answer them by yourself after reading the doc from the link.
By the way, to toss around snide comments and at same time measure the IQ of another person by accusing him to toss snide comments clearly displays your level of intelligence. :up:

ps.: if you are that clever guy you try to show here you surely have no problem to check the meaning of the text I wrote. My 10 year old brother understood all of my posts. :rofl:

pps.: the right english would be "you are", not "your are" ;-)

Not to but in, but I can't help to notince that we still did not get any kind of picture/video to support the guys high mobo temps and only saw link to the same paper he keeps speaking of. I agree with the rest, this is simply paper, not always fact. Intel will make any of their products look as good as they can on paper, but us users in the real world see the end results..

Anyways, it's been almost 3 weeks since my BIOS failure, and no real answers. So I guess I will just RMA. In the meantime, I want to find a better configuration for my complete ThermalRight coolers on the same mobo, but cant really use several of my favorite NB chipset coolers without rotating my Ultra 120 Extreme. Even if not rotated, the top edge mosfet cooler interferes with the CPU cooler. This is in a SilverStone TJ-06 so it is really degrading to rotate fan towards floor of case.

Any other leeds on neat and efficiant mosfet coolers fo our MAXIMUS FORMULA

[Zucker2k]

As soon as you start overclocking, every spec. is out the window. Intel does not overclock their chips in order to determine max thermal specs. Otherwise, we could prime at 95Cs and have no problems.

[jorgito05]

Are you wanting to oc your processor or run it a stock speed?

As you can see on CPUZ validator, I bumped it up to 3.2 so I could run 1:1 with mem. I originaly bought a Sapphire 2900xt 1gb GDDR4 with the intent of buying a second one later when I got mor funds, so I coud run crossfire, but now I can't find one. I found an ATI brand one. Same specs ATI 2900xt 1gb GDDR4, will it work with my Sapphire in crossfire or not; I suspect drivers are diferent. Hate to spend 520.00$ and dont work, wat do you think?

[Nuckin_Futs]

Oh ya, are these temps from the Intel specs read via an internal specially calibrated thermal sensor or just a bulb set into a slit in the center of the chipset IHS like most labs are doing.

Nevertheless, cooler is better for longer life of computer electronis, including RAM,... to those who dont believe in RAM sinks or aftermarket coolers. YES, some still believe they're useless and just a ploy to get your money. What do you guys think? I use them, and I see for myself, coler is better. ThermalRight HR-07 series (single and duals).

[atomicvai]

I picked up an Antec Cool Spot fan and gave the screws on the NB HS a couple quick turns (thanks for the ideas on here). Load temps on my NB now running at 450x9 is 42, was 53 before. I recommend that quick fix if you want to drop a few degrees on the NB without removing things. The other bonus is it helps push the air to the back of the cases rear exhaust fans keeping everything cooler.

[Grnfinger]

well I'm just an uneducated candian that can't really understand the full complexities of thermal tollerance so I will not comment any further.
BUT.... It was always my understanding that cooler was better, hence all the cooling options these days. But again I'm out of my league here , I'll just go sit in the corner now and read my picture book

[xgman]

What can you enter in the bios under user "String" instead of the time for the LCD POSTER? Just a name or can it be set somehoe to display voltages or something else like that?

[iadstudio]

What exactly is the error?

the dredded nvlddmkm?

dunno. Vista doesn't tell you the exact error unless you look it up. This is what vista gives me on the event:



Product
Windows

Problem
Video hardware error

Date
2/16/2008 1:50 PM

Status
Not Reported

Description
A problem with your video hardware caused Windows to stop working correctly.

Problem signature
Problem Event Name: LiveKernelEvent
OS Version: 6.0.6000.2.0.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033

Files that help describe the problem
WD-20080216-1344-02.dmp
sysdata.xml
Version.txt

Extra information about the problem
BCCode: 117
BCP1: FFFFFA8001EFC160
BCP2: FFFFF98004A525F0
BCP3: 0000000000000000
BCP4: 0000000000000000
OS Version: 6_0_6000
Service Pack: 0_0
Product: 256_1



The problem seems to have gone away after I disabled ready boost and after the disk error check found and deleted some files. Could it have been a symptom from errors writtent to the hdd due to a failed stick or RAM?

[pee4]

I bought that kit along with my current kit, keeping the best one......which ended up being the Geil, as I couldn't even POST past DDR2-1050 or something like that.
I would try DDR2-1000 5-5-5-15 with the rest at auto for starters.
Go ahead and set the NBV to something high like 1.60-1.65V.


Hi binormalkilla,

Thanks for the reply. It's appreciated. Like you I have a huge amount of trouble getting the board to post when it's got this RAM in it. I have the RAM voltage set at 2.1v. It stops at "DET RAM" unless I let it boot with everything else at AUTO. Even then, it fails Memtest within a few seconds. I'll try your suggested settings.

Thank you

[sonofander]

I'm so confused right now...

I'm playing around with an e8400 right now and have my FSB @ 500. I can run my ram @ 1200 no problem (333 strap). What makes no sense is that I can't drop it down to 1000 for a 1:1 (333 or 400 strap). Whenever I try, it just won't post.

Can someone explain to me why I can run 1200 with ease but can't even post at 1000 on my ram???

Is there a secret? Fill me in!!!

[Lestat]

don't go fracking with the strap setting, never a need for that really.
just use the ram divider setting.

leave strap on auto and let the ram run 1:1

and 400 strap would be like over 1300mhz ram 1:1 or whatever it add's up to.
yes?

[socheat]

My Maximus Formula and Crucial tracer DDR2 8500 LED is on the way now, not sure CPU yet, but just wait for Q9450 (Good price) replace my Q6600.
Need some help with voltage.

[Prodigys]

Northbridge :

Ambient = 25.6°C (PC + heater = warm room :p: )
NB temp = 33°C STRESSED
Voltage NB = 1.57V
Cooling = P5E stock cooling + 120mm fan pointed on it

Mods done : did a extra twist on the mounting screws that's it...

(Besides that, I'm running 445 x 8 on AUTO settings again, and it's now 5 hours prime stable. But 445 x 9 gives me after 5 min a error...)

Could this be the CPU ? He did 4Ghz on 1.40Vcore, and on 1.42Vcore he was 3DMark stable...

So the NB can handle the FSB, also the CPU can handle so far 475 FSB.
But high speeds give me lockups, so I think PLL or GTL ref is not good, am I write ?

Anybody with more brains off PLL or GTL Ref information that can help me here ?

In short :

CPU can reach 475 FSB on AUTO settings
NB can reach 475FSB on AUTO settings (1.55 vNB)
CPU can run hours and hours stable on 475 x 8.
CPU can NOT run 475 x 9 for 5 min stable....

So the CPU can take the high FSB but not the high speed, besides that it is not to low Vcore but something else, so that's why I ask you guys if GTL ref or PLL can help me out here ? Or something else that I don't think on right now...

[Robin77]

well I'm just an uneducated candian that can't really understand the full complexities of thermal tollerance so I will not comment any further.
BUT.... It was always my understanding that cooler was better, hence all the cooling options these days. But again I'm out of my league here , I'll just go sit in the corner now and read my picture book

I didn't want to insult you in any way, but in Austria we have an adage, which I try to translate analogously: It ain't what you say but the way that you say it.

I apologize for my not perfect english, but I think everyone understands it.

I'll try to explain some working actions of me, or better of Siemens hardware developement division. That should make it understandable why Intel specs SHOULD absolutely be facts, at least in the way they meant it:

We are a 7 people group working on circuit development for hardware components (including MB's). So maybe you missunderstood this, but I'm not a simple "hardware doctor" working at a computershop and tell customers storys like "that must be a driver issue" if for example cooler doesn't work.

My part is to calculate electric resistivitys, optimal circuit lenghts, optimal circuit placement, and many more. I wouldn't call this a simple job, but I'm happy with it.
And what I can say from this job is that we for sure use parts like Northbridges from original manufacturers like Intel. We didn't work on MB with X38 at the moment, but with NBs prior to this.
And we at Siemens have for our developement also only the Intel specs to work on. If for example we have stability issues with our circuit designs and are sure we calculated all things right it would get a big problem for Intel when we'd find out that this issue is because of Intel gave wrong values for some parameters.
Of course we get partly tech sheets not made public by Intel, but for some specs we also must work with official released ones. So many things like max temps are only definition issues of where this temp is meassured for example.

We get very detailed docs and I can tell you that the max NB temp of X38 is like specified in the thermal design guide.

So really noone must care about really low NB temps around 55 C. There's still enough space for further ocing with such low temp.

But to say it clearly: of course lower temps are always better for long time life and some other continual influence of operations which to explain would be to long for here.
But in general fact is NB temps under 90C loaded are no problem at least in the average lifetime of todays computerparts.

This is what Intel says, this is what my nearly 80 C loaded NB on a 48 hour stresstest (prime95 and 3dm06 running simultaniously) says and this is what should be handled as fact in a quality forum like this here.

[Dostoyevsky77]

I'm so confused right now...

I'm playing around with an e8400 right now and have my FSB @ 500. I can run my ram @ 1200 no problem (333 strap). What makes no sense is that I can't drop it down to 1000 for a 1:1 (333 or 400 strap). Whenever I try, it just won't post.

Can someone explain to me why I can run 1200 with ease but can't even post at 1000 on my ram???

Is there a secret? Fill me in!!!

I have the exact same problem! Slower / 1:1 should be the most stable, but I can't even POST to it either in the 400 or the 333. No problems on my QX6700, it's only with the E8400.

[Zucker2k]

I'm so confused right now...

I'm playing around with an e8400 right now and have my FSB @ 500. I can run my ram @ 1200 no problem (333 strap). What makes no sense is that I can't drop it down to 1000 for a 1:1 (333 or 400 strap). Whenever I try, it just won't post.

Can someone explain to me why I can run 1200 with ease but can't even post at 1000 on my ram???

Is there a secret? Fill me in!!!

To post 1:1 on either the 333/400 strap around 500 fsb and above, you need a lot of NB voltage or tight timings Cas4 (best) and TB set to disabled -1. That's what I'm running here. You can try 4-4-4-10(or 12)-2-25(or 30)-3-3-7(or 8)-3-5-4-6-4-6

I'm currently running 8.5x506 at 4-4-4-12-3-30-6-3-8-3-5-4-6-4-6 @ 2.3v. TB disabled level 1. Hope this helps.

[Zucker2k]

I didn't want to insult you in any way, but in Austria we have an adage, which I try to translate analogously: It ain't what you say but the way that you say it.

I apologize for my not perfect english, but I think everyone understands it.

I'll try to explain some working actions of me, or better of Siemens hardware developement division. That should make it understandable why Intel specs SHOULD absolutely be facts, at least in the way they meant it:

We are a 7 people group working on circuit development for hardware components (including MB's). So maybe you missunderstood this, but I'm not a simple "hardware doctor" working at a computershop and tell customers storys like "that must be a driver issue" if for example cooler doesn't work.

My part is to calculate electric resistivitys, optimal circuit lenghts, optimal circuit placement, and many more. I wouldn't call this a simple job, but I'm happy with it.
And what I can say from this job is that we for sure use parts like Northbridges from original manufacturers like Intel. We didn't work on MB with X38 at the moment, but with NBs prior to this.
And we at Siemens have for our developement also only the Intel specs to work on. If for example we have stability issues with our circuit designs and are sure we calculated all things right it would get a big problem for Intel when we'd find out that this issue is because of Intel gave wrong values for some parameters.
Of course we get partly tech sheets not made public by Intel, but for some specs we also must work with official released ones. So many things like max temps are only definition issues of where this temp is meassured for example.

We get very detailed docs and I can tell you that the max NB temp of X38 is like specified in the thermal design guide.

So really noone must care about really low NB temps around 55 C. There's still enough space for further ocing with such low temp.

But to say it clearly: of course lower temps are always better for long time life and some other continual influence of operations which to explain would be to long for here.
But in general fact is NB temps under 90C loaded are no problem at least in the average lifetime of todays computerparts.

This is what Intel says, this is what my nearly 80 C loaded NB on a 48 hour stresstest (prime95 and 3dm06 running simultaniously) says and this is what should be handled as fact in a quality forum like this here.

In as much as I respect your opinion, you're wrong. You're making a very basic mistake here, and as an engineer I believe you will understand this. A northbridge with a thermal envelope of 90C is NOT rated to run at that temperature at ALL FREQUENCIES. This last word is key, and that is why I said earlier that once you start overclocking, all those numbers are out the window.

This is why cooling is so important in computing. So yes, while the NB would run at 90C at stock without the stress of overclocked components eg. ram and fsb, it will not do so once you factor in these other variables.

This is why I think what you say is so misleading. Intel is not misleading us by saying that the NB will operate normally at 90C because Intel does not, and will not base their figures on overcloked chips. That is why there is always a disclaimer about running components within spec. So if you want to convince me that one can run at 90C at all frequencies, then show me some other numbers, eg. voltages, frequencies, fsbs, etc. To be so adamant about this argument is very interesting because this is XS, and members here do push their equipments to the limit. Heck didn't Intel seek out our very own Fugger to do its demos? If you want to continue this argument, I recommend you qualify some of your statements or show us some screenies of a 'pushed-system' priming large ffts with the nb temps close to 90C :D

[Robin77]

In as much as I respect your opinion, you're wrong. You're making a very basic mistake here, and as an engineer I believe you will understand this. A northbridge with a thermal envelope of 90C is NOT rated to run at that temperature at ALL FREQUENCIES. This last word is key, and that is why I said earlier that once you start overclocking, all those numbers are out the window.

This is why cooling is so important in computing. So yes, while the NB would run at 90C at stock without the stress of overclocked components eg. ram and fsb, it will not do so once you factor in these other variables.

This is why I think what you say is so misleading. Intel is not misleading us by saying that the NB will operate normally at 90C because Intel does not, and will not base their figures on overcloked chips. That is why there is always a disclaimer about running components within spec. So if you want to convince me that one can run at 90C at all frequencies, then show me some other numbers, eg. voltages, frequencies, fsbs, etc. To be so adamant about this argument is very interesting because this is XS, and members here do push their equipments to the limit. Heck didn't Intel seek out our very own Fugger to do its demos? If you want to continue this argument, I recommend you qualify some of your statements or show us some screenies of a 'pushed-system' priming large ffts with the nb temps close to 90C :D

As said, we haven't had X38 in lab till now and of course we do mainly tests within nonoc'ed range. But there's also simulated stress situation testing done. And my PC at home runs at 76 C NB temp when oced and 67 C idle. And this is what I will continue to say, that this is rockstable.

Surely it doesn't automaticaly mean it would run stable at 90C too, but 76 C isn't far away from 90.

Also the argument of the temp/frequency dependency is not that simple. There are other parameters influenced by one of this that MIGHT lead to run stable at 90 C nonoced but not stable at same temp oced.

But this is not tested by anyone (90 C NB temp stability) and I won't make statements that I can't hold.

What I wanted to say I've said. So fact is the max working temp of the X38 NB is 92 C (won't look again in spec, hope this is the right value).
Also fact is that Intel of caurse does this testings in lab with default frequencies. But to say at higher frequencies this isn't valid anymore is simply not true, because other things limit then.

I'm also not going to write here a technical explaination of relations between different factors and at last what counts is profen or already testet facts.

So be sure that fsb oced 76 C loaded NB is rockstable at my board. And honestly, if 90 aren't anymore, I wouldn't care because it looks already so that only I've got that high temp.

So why discuss temps that much that noone ever will reach? Take the knowlage out of this discussion that 76 C is a very good temp for oced NB and is rocklstable in long stresstests and be happy that your NB runs on top temps that will surely never be a limiter to your ocing.

[ZenEffect]

As said, we haven't had X38 in lab till now and of course we do mainly tests within nonoc'ed range. But there's also simulated stress situation testing done. And my PC at home runs at 76 C NB temp when oced and 67 C idle. And this is what I will continue to say, that this is rockstable.

Surely it doesn't automaticaly mean it would run stable at 90C too, but 76 C isn't far away from 90.

Also the argument of the temp/frequency dependency is not that simple. There are other parameters influenced by one of this that MIGHT lead to run stable at 90 C nonoced but not stable at same temp oced.

But this is not tested by anyone (90 C NB temp stability) and I won't make statements that I can't hold.

What I wanted to say I've said. So fact is the max working temp of the X38 NB is 92 C (won't look again in spec, hope this is the right value).
Also fact is that Intel of caurse does this testings in lab with default frequencies. But to say at higher frequencies this isn't valid anymore is simply not true, because other things limit then.

I'm also not going to write here a technical explaination of relations between different factors and at last what counts is profen or already testet facts.

So be sure that fsb oced 76 C loaded NB is rockstable at my board. And honestly, if 90 aren't anymore, I wouldn't care because it looks already so that only I've got that high temp.

So why discuss temps that much that noone ever will reach? Take the knowlage out of this discussion that 76 C is a very good temp for oced NB and is rocklstable in long stresstests and be happy that your NB runs on top temps that will surely never be a limiter to your ocing.

dude you are frakking nuts :eek: mabye it is rock stable but dude those temps are nuts! anything that is hot enough to burn human skin is more than enough for me. you must have, as The Duke would say, BALLS OF STEEL :yepp:
im not saying you are wrong... im just saying that i personally would never run any component up to those temps

[Zucker2k]

And my PC at home runs at 76 C NB temp when oced and 67 C idle. And this is what I will continue to say, that this is rockstable.

Let me put it simply, rock stable at what overclock?

[Grnfinger]

dunno. Vista doesn't tell you the exact error unless you look it up. This is what vista gives me on the event:



Product
Windows

Problem
Video hardware error

Date
2/16/2008 1:50 PM

Status
Not Reported

Description
A problem with your video hardware caused Windows to stop working correctly.

Problem signature
Problem Event Name: LiveKernelEvent
OS Version: 6.0.6000.2.0.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033

Files that help describe the problem
WD-20080216-1344-02.dmp
sysdata.xml
Version.txt

Extra information about the problem
BCCode: 117
BCP1: FFFFFA8001EFC160
BCP2: FFFFF98004A525F0
BCP3: 0000000000000000
BCP4: 0000000000000000
OS Version: 6_0_6000
Service Pack: 0_0
Product: 256_1



The problem seems to have gone away after I disabled ready boost and after the disk error check found and deleted some files. Could it have been a symptom from errors writtent to the hdd due to a failed stick or RAM?

I do recall its a 64bit Video driver issue ( but dont quote me on that ) there is a great deal of material on the subject but not 1 clear answer. Vista was buggy in the beginning with ATI drivers in particular and Nvidia but I thought this was all sorted out long ago. Update to the latest drivers if you have not already and maybe try SP1 RTM. It might be memory related but I never saw it referenced b4.

[pee4]

I bought that kit along with my current kit, keeping the best one......which ended up being the Geil, as I couldn't even POST past DDR2-1050 or something like that.
I would try DDR2-1000 5-5-5-15 with the rest at auto for starters.
Go ahead and set the NBV to something high like 1.60-1.65V.


Hi binormalkilla,

I tried those settings including BNV but it still won't post. At AUTO (800mhz) it will post but won't run for more than a few minutes in Memtest without errors. I tried the RAM in a friends P5E and it works perfectly. I am being to think my Maximus Formula is defective.

Thanks

[pazza316]

has anyone got 8gb working correctly with this board? I have 8gb OCZ 4-4-4-15 800mhz stuff here but I get massive errors with 1,2,3, or 4 sticks in the board with all settings at stock.

[Sources]

Its obvious and more than disappointing that this board has many many RAM compatibility issues. This better be fixed soon or my return to ASUS will be short lived.



Hi binormalkilla,

I tried those settings including BNV but it still won't post. At AUTO (800mhz) it will post but won't run for more than a few minutes in Memtest without errors. I tried the RAM in a friends P5E and it works perfectly. I am being to think my Maximus Formula is defective.

Thanks

[.OCX]

Its obvious and more than disappointing that this board has many many RAM compatibility issues. This better be fixed soon or my return to ASUS will be short lived.

Good news is the Chinese New Year is over so work can begin on a Bios Update. DETDRAM issue popped up again on me after I thought I had it beat. So I'm beginning to suspect the motherboard doesn't like GSkill...at all.

[Krav]

So i notice quite a few people run ram at 1:1, i set my ram in bios to 1066 and i have my cpu at 333x9 for 3ghz, when i go to cpu-z i notice my FSB : DRAM is at 5:8 is this wrong? should i be running it at 1:1?

Would appreciate advice please

[iadstudio]

I do recall its a 64bit Video driver issue ( but dont quote me on that ) there is a great deal of material on the subject but not 1 clear answer. Vista was buggy in the beginning with ATI drivers in particular and Nvidia but I thought this was all sorted out long ago. Update to the latest drivers if you have not already and maybe try SP1 RTM. It might be memory related but I never saw it referenced b4.

I'm going to try updatign the video driver and then maybe reinstall vista. I backed up my programs with Vista's PC backup restore image feature. We'll see how it works, but I suspect it's an instability issue due to BSOD from of failures.

[Lestat]

i too am having MAJOR ram issues.

i have 3 kits of ram here 2x Gskill 6400 HZ and a brand new set of Crucial Ballistics 6400 (orange heatspreaders)

im lucky if i can run for 1/2 a day now without it starting to say my ram has errors

meaning i can get it all setup,, and for no fracking reason out of the blue i will run memtest and i get bombed by errors.

well t then takes another week for the fooker to stop giving me errors.
i might be ok for a day and get ZERO memtest errors then all the sudden i am back with errors again.


im sorry but all 3 kits are good then bad then good then bad...

this board is reeally starting to piss me off. i can't even get stable anymore, not even at fvcking stock.

[Lestat]

well I'm just an uneducated candian that can't really understand the full complexities of thermal tollerance so I will not comment any further.
BUT.... It was always my understanding that cooler was better, hence all the cooling options these days. But again I'm out of my league here , I'll just go sit in the corner now and read my picture book

i know some guys who are Qualcomm Engineers who are absolute retards. makes me wonder what tests they cheated on to get their ingineering degree(s)

so dont feel bad if someone tells you something to the contrary of what you know to be TRUE

cold = stability, longer life
heat = unstable and shorter life span

silicon i dont give a flying patooty where you got your education has a natural heat tolerance level and when your talking about cpu's chipset's gpu's they all start to choke around 70-80c. they wont die but they start going downhill .

you two keep argueing this is entertaining...

[MrWizard6600]

you guys im staring at the checkout page at ncix for an asus maximus formula, should i pull the trigger?

ive got my E6300 to 3.5 on my now dead (rip) evga 680i board, I only wanna take this sucker if I can do the same. I'll ghetto mod (and later pro mod) a 3cm fan (from old Athlon XP cooler) to sit on the north bridge. I'm running four 1066 rated Ballistix Tracers.

Also, what do you guys think about nehalem support on X38. Total crap shoot? Is there any board that stands the best chance at supporting next gen procs? this is the last mobo im probibly going to own for three or four years so it needs to last!

[Jodiuh]

Well, I'm @ 500x7 on an E6400. Of course, every board will be different, but it's LAN party stable. :D Key for me was transaction booster to relaxed, 0. My previous board was the 680i...I'm quite a bit happier now.

[.OCX]

It's a great board as long as you don't shut it down. I've been wrestling with DETDRAM on Cold Boot since I got this board but that's with GSkill 1066 HK.

[Lestat]

It's a great board as long as you don't shut it down. I've been wrestling with DETDRAM on Cold Boot since I got this board but that's with GSkill 1066 HK.

hahahaha aint that the damn truth.

its default dimm is 1.88 which, by pec is correct but asus needs their peepee's smacked they should have made the default 2.0 ir something. 1.88 isnt good enough for most newer kits of ram.

but there is also the subject of all the ram subtimings which i think is playing even a larger part on the DET DRAM issue.

[Lestat]

you guys im staring at the checkout page at ncix for an asus maximus formula, should i pull the trigger?

ive got my E6300 to 3.5 on my now dead (rip) evga 680i board, I only wanna take this sucker if I can do the same. I'll ghetto mod (and later pro mod) a 3cm fan (from old Athlon XP cooler) to sit on the north bridge. I'm running four 1066 rated Ballistix Tracers.

Also, what do you guys think about nehalem support on X38. Total crap shoot? Is there any board that stands the best chance at supporting next gen procs? this is the last mobo im probibly going to own for three or four years so it needs to last!

dont buy the Maximus, frankly its a waste of money. especially for an e6300

if you really want to know the god's truth the DFI Lanparty P35 T2RS is a much better board in terms of dollar for dollar.

i hate to say it but it is...

[iadstudio]

but there is also the subject of all the ram subtimings which i think is playing even a larger part on the DET DRAM issue.

You got me thinking so I decided to check on mine, and all was well. My sudden nv driver problem and RAM flakyness leads me to believe the board's subtiming is what I need to be setting.

Too bad Asus doesn't let us do that with any sort of acuracy or control. :mad:

[Den_Sjaekert]

Hi guys,

This is my first post in this forum. You have a nice thread going on here. :)

I've been wrestling with the Maximus Formula in combination with a Xeon 3220 for a while now. I still haven't been able to get it running at 3.6Ghz stable, at least not long-term prime95 stable.

I currently have it running at 380x9 while working my way up in small steps from there. I had it running prime 95 overday but when I got home from work it gave a BSOD. :(
Afterwards I've ghetto-modded another 40mm fan to the NB which keeps my temps =< 47C. I don't exactly know how true the rumors of instability above 47C are but I'd like to keep it as cool as possible.
I'll try running prime overnight again which it will hopefully complete this time.

Those are my current settings:

Bios 0907 - Xeon 3220
Extreme Tweaker
Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up : AUTO
CPU Ratio Control : 9
- Ratio CMOS Setting : 9
FSB Frequency : 380
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 333
PCI-E Frequency: 100
DRAM Frequency: DDR2- 760
DRAM Command Rate : 2T
DRAM Timing Control: Manual
CAS# Latency : 5
RAS# to CAS# Delay : 5
RAS# Precharge : 5
RAS# ActivateTime : 5
RAS# to RAS# Delay : 15
Row Refresh Cycle Time : -
Write Recovery Time : -
Read to Precharge Time : -

Read to Write Delay (S/D) : -
Write to Read Delay (S) : -
Write to Read Delay (D) : -
Read to Read Delay (S) : -
Read to Read Delay (D) : -
Write to Write Delay (S) : -
Write to Write Delay (D) : -
DRAM Static Read Control: auto
Ai Clock Twister : auto
Transaction Booster : auto

CPU Voltage : 1.4V
CPU PLL Voltage : auto
North Bridge Voltage : 1.45
DRAM Voltage : 2.1
FSB Termination Voltage : 1.3
South Bridge Voltage : auto
Loadline Calibration : enabled
CPU GTL Reference : 0.63x
North Bridge GTL Reference : 0.67x
DDR2 Channel A REF Voltage : -
DDR2 Channel B REF Voltage : -
DDR2 Controller REF Voltage : DDR2 Ref
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 : Disabled
Max CPUID Value Limit : Disabled

Don't mind my ram, it's at such :banana::banana::banana::banana:ty settings until I find the limit for my cpu ;)

[Grnfinger]

Hi guys,

This is my first post in this forum. You have a nice thread going on here. :)

I've been wrestling with the Maximus Formula in combination with a Xeon 3220 for a while now. I still haven't been able to get it running at 3.6Ghz stable, at least not long-term prime95 stable.

I currently have it running at 380x9 while working my way up in small steps from there. I had it running prime 95 overday but when I got home from work it gave a BSOD. :(
Afterwards I've ghetto-modded another 40mm fan to the NB which keeps my temps =< 47C. I don't exactly know how true the rumors of instability above 47C are but I'd like to keep it as cool as possible.
I'll try running prime overnight again which it will hopefully complete this time.

Those are my current settings:

Bios 0907 - Xeon 3220
Extreme Tweaker
Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up : AUTO
CPU Ratio Control : 9
- Ratio CMOS Setting : 9
FSB Frequency : 380
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 333
PCI-E Frequency: 100
DRAM Frequency: DDR2- 760
DRAM Command Rate : 2T
DRAM Timing Control: Manual
CAS# Latency : 5
RAS# to CAS# Delay : 5
RAS# Precharge : 5
RAS# ActivateTime : 5
RAS# to RAS# Delay : 15
Row Refresh Cycle Time : -
Write Recovery Time : -
Read to Precharge Time : -

Read to Write Delay (S/D) : -
Write to Read Delay (S) : -
Write to Read Delay (D) : -
Read to Read Delay (S) : -
Read to Read Delay (D) : -
Write to Write Delay (S) : -
Write to Write Delay (D) : -
DRAM Static Read Control: auto
Ai Clock Twister : auto
Transaction Booster : auto

CPU Voltage : 1.4V
CPU PLL Voltage : auto
North Bridge Voltage : 1.45
DRAM Voltage : 2.1
FSB Termination Voltage : 1.3
South Bridge Voltage : auto
Loadline Calibration : enabled
CPU GTL Reference : 0.63x
North Bridge GTL Reference : 0.67x
DDR2 Channel A REF Voltage : -
DDR2 Channel B REF Voltage : -
DDR2 Controller REF Voltage : DDR2 Ref
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 : Disabled
Max CPUID Value Limit : Disabled

Don't mind my ram, it's at such :banana::banana::banana::banana:ty settings until I find the limit for my cpu ;)

I'm going to test a 3220 ES tonight UNLOCKED multi:shocked: How are your temps on that chip

Anyways for 3.6GHz your FSBT is rather low, I would set it at 1.40
Your NB is also kinda low I would up it to 1.47-1.49

[Den_Sjaekert]

I'm going to test a 3220 ES tonight UNLOCKED multi:shocked: How are your temps on that chip

Anyways for 3.6GHz your FSBT is rather low, I would set it at 1.40
Your NB is also kinda low I would up it to 1.47-1.49
Hehe that ES sounds nice :)

It's idling at 28C core 0/1 and 25C core 3/4. Fully loaded after a few minutes on OCCT CPU test it reaches 63C on a Tuniq Tower 120. 1.4V

Thanks for the input. I'll try that and see if it gets any better :)
Have fun with that ES! :D

[Den_Sjaekert]

Current settings are still unstable as hell. :) OCCT crashes after 2 seconds.
I'm on Vista x64 btw.

Bios 0907 - Xeon 3220
Extreme Tweaker
Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up : AUTO
CPU Ratio Control : 9
- Ratio CMOS Setting : 9
FSB Frequency : 400
FSB Strap to North Bridge : auto
PCI-E Frequency: 100
DRAM Frequency: DDR2- 800
DRAM Command Rate : 2T
DRAM Timing Control: Manual
CAS# Latency : 5
RAS# to CAS# Delay : 5
RAS# Precharge : 5
RAS# ActivateTime : 5
RAS# to RAS# Delay : 15
Row Refresh Cycle Time : -
Write Recovery Time : -
Read to Precharge Time : -

Read to Write Delay (S/D) : -
Write to Read Delay (S) : -
Write to Read Delay (D) : -
Read to Read Delay (S) : -
Read to Read Delay (D) : -
Write to Write Delay (S) : -
Write to Write Delay (D) : -
DRAM Static Read Control: disabled
Ai Clock Twister : auto
Transaction Booster : enabled, relax level 0

CPU Voltage : 1.425V on 1.4V it gave a BSOD on startup
CPU PLL Voltage : auto
North Bridge Voltage : 1.47
DRAM Voltage : 2.1
FSB Termination Voltage : 1.4
South Bridge Voltage : auto
Loadline Calibration : enabled
CPU GTL Reference : 0.63x
North Bridge GTL Reference : 0.67x
DDR2 Channel A REF Voltage : -
DDR2 Channel B REF Voltage : -
DDR2 Controller REF Voltage : DDR2 Ref
SB 1.5V Voltage : auto

Will keep you updated.

edit: OCCT still fails after 2 seconds on 1.425V
It's getting a little better at ~1.44V. It's been running for over a minute now.
Should I manually set the CPU PLL voltage too?

[Grnfinger]

you got 4 sticks of ram or 2?
I run my PLL at auto and have had no problems so far, a manual setting might be around 1.52-1.55???

[Ymir]

dont buy the Maximus, frankly its a waste of money. especially for an e6300

if you really want to know the god's truth the DFI Lanparty P35 T2RS is a much better board in terms of dollar for dollar.

i hate to say it but it is...
I'll agree with you there. DFI Lanparty P35 T2R is a great board at a great price. Great board for tweaking.

Don't get me wrong, the Maximus is too--but I don't think it is better than the DFI. It doesn't have enough going for it.

[Den_Sjaekert]

you got 4 sticks of ram or 2?
I run my PLL at auto and have had no problems so far, a manual setting might be around 1.52-1.55???

Currently I'm using 2, but eventually I'll be putting 2 sticks back in.
I'll try PLL at auto for now. I have the feeling this xeon needs a lot more juice at 400mhz fsb.

[Grnfinger]

you might try 1.45 my Q6600 needs 1.45actual something like 1.475-1.48 in bios for a stable run

[.OCX]

Current settings are still unstable as hell. :) OCCT crashes after 2 seconds.
I'm on Vista x64 btw.

Bios 0907 - Xeon 3220
Extreme Tweaker
Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up : AUTO
CPU Ratio Control : 9
- Ratio CMOS Setting : 9
FSB Frequency : 400
FSB Strap to North Bridge : auto
PCI-E Frequency: 100
DRAM Frequency: DDR2- 800
DRAM Command Rate : 2T

DRAM Static Read Control: disabled
Ai Clock Twister : auto
Transaction Booster : enabled, relax level 0

North Bridge Voltage : 1.47


Try:

-Defining your FSB Strap to Northbridge: (See Pic) 333 and 400 are Best.
-Performance Level: Most likely your current setup is forcing Performance Level 7, which can cause some stability issues as well when overclocking. Based on the chart, I would try:


400 Straps
Performance Level 8
DRAM Static Read Control:DISABLED
Ai Clock Twister : STRONG
Transaction Booster : DISABLED
Boost: 0

-or-
Performance Level 9:
DRAM Static Read Control:DISABLED
Ai Clock Twister : STRONG
Transaction Booster : DISABLED
Boost: 1

-NB voltage may be too low if your trying to run 1:1.
-Ai Clock Twister: Try STRONG for Overclocking.
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=72498&stc=1&d=1203276218

[Grnfinger]

These are my Q6600 3.6GHz Prime stable settings BIOS 907

Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up : Auto
CPU Ratio Setting : 8
FSB Frequency : 450
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 333
PCI-E Frequency: 110
DRAM Frequency: DDR2-1080MHz
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 : 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
DRAM Static Read Control: Enabled
Ai Clock Twister : Strong
Transaction Booster : Disabled
Relax Level 0

CPU Voltage : 1.475v (BIOS)
CPU PLL Voltage : 1.58v (BIOS)
North Bridge Voltage : 1.49v (BIOS)
DRAM Voltage : 2.1v (BIOS)
FSB Termination Voltage : 1.40v (BIOS)
South Bridge Voltage : 1.075v (BIOS)
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_REF
SB 1.5V Voltage : 1.50v (BIOS)

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

You will have to adjust CPU Volts accordingly but its a good place to start.
8x450 gave me better bandwidth than 9x400
Vista 64bit and 4x1GB ram will tax your NB alot you will have to adjust your NB volts when / if you add the other 2 sticks

[Sources]

Damn Grnfinger that voltage seems high, I run 3.6 stable at 1.425, Im actually going to try to go lower now SINCE I finally have a stable 3.6. My mem settings finally seem to be working with my ballistix.


These are my Q6600 3.6GHz Prime stable settings BIOS 907

Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up : Auto
CPU Ratio Setting : 8
FSB Frequency : 450
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 333
PCI-E Frequency: 110
DRAM Frequency: DDR2-1080MHz
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 : 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
DRAM Static Read Control: Enabled
Ai Clock Twister : Strong
Transaction Booster : Disabled
Relax Level 0

CPU Voltage : 1.475v (BIOS)
CPU PLL Voltage : 1.58v (BIOS)
North Bridge Voltage : 1.49v (BIOS)
DRAM Voltage : 2.1v (BIOS)
FSB Termination Voltage : 1.40v (BIOS)
South Bridge Voltage : 1.075v (BIOS)
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_REF
SB 1.5V Voltage : 1.50v (BIOS)

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

You will have to adjust CPU Volts accordingly but its a good place to start.
8x450 gave me better bandwidth than 9x400
Vista 64bit and 4x1GB ram will tax your NB alot you will have to adjust your NB volts when / if you add the other 2 sticks

[Ymir]

@Grnfinger: Nice, but your voltage seems a bit high. I would try dropping that down to around 1.42 or so if you can.

[Grnfinger]

My Quad had a VID of 1.325 and scaled rather poorly, hence the high volts for 3.6GHz. 3.8GHZ needed 1.565 and that was no good for 24/7 use.
I have had my board since Novemeber I know what it needs to be stable.
Thats why I have aquired this ES 3220 to test against my Wolfdale.

[Ymir]

Ah. Bad luck about the scaling, but there's not much you can do about it. Good luck with the E8400, though :up:

[fordf250]

Try:

-Defining your FSB Strap to Northbridge: (See Pic) 333 and 400 are Best.
-Performance Level: Most likely your current setup is forcing Performance Level 7, which can cause some stability issues as well when overclocking. Based on the chart, I would try:


400 Straps
Performance Level 8
DRAM Static Read Control:DISABLED
Ai Clock Twister : STRONG
Transaction Booster : DISABLED
Boost: 0

-or-
Performance Level 9:
DRAM Static Read Control:DISABLED
Ai Clock Twister : STRONG
Transaction Booster : DISABLED
Boost: 1

-NB voltage may be too low if your trying to run 1:1.
-Ai Clock Twister: Try STRONG for Overclocking.
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=72498&stc=1&d=1203276218

Sorry, I dont understand this performace stuff. Everyone says run disabled and 0-2 for high fsb.

I run 475fsb with twister strong and booster enabled at 2 at 1:1 ram at 2V and nb at 1.65V non se. I can get into windows at 490fsb still booster enabled at 2 but not stable. Will changing this setting help stability?

I can get to 545fsb and e6600 with booster on auto also but changing the booster will still not let it clock higher.

[Jodiuh]

From my experience, X-Fi plays nicer on Maximus than DFI Lanparty P35 T2R. Some games have zero crackle. Also, it doesn't look like a sprite bottle. :D

Honestly, I've had both and they're great for even less demanding air oc's.

[Spyrus]

Sorry, I dont understand this performance stuff. Everyone says run disabled and 0-2 for high fsb.

I run 475fsb with twister strong and booster enabled at 2 at 1:1 ram at 2V and nb at 1.65V non se. I can get into windows at 490fsb still booster enabled at 2 but not stable. Will changing this setting help stability?

I can get to 545fsb and e6600 with booster on auto also but changing the booster will still not let it clock higher.

For high fsb you should try to lower performance level to 9 for example.
PL has its limitations based on this equation for fsb > 465:

PL - tCL/Divider > 2.75
Since i have tried 500@6:5@600-5-5-5-5@ PL=7 setting which needs 1.6 nb voltage you have:
7-5/6/5 = 2.833 > 2.75

So you are trying at 545@1:1. Check memset when using auto to see PL used.
If it is 10 then you should also put the CL of yours and this will give you the idea.

Also vtt,gtl voltages play a role on that for high fsb also

[C Sullivan]

Hey everybody,

I overclocked my E1200 Dual Core Celeron 1.60Ghz @3.00Ghz these BIOS settings. Also, I tried to oc with @2.50ghz, @2.80Ghz, @3.20Ghz and I was successful with these speeds at that time too (I was use different settings for only @3.20Ghz). However, I tried to different BIOS setting variations for @3.40Ghz and then I was failure at that time. I couldnt reach @3.40Ghz at that time. Anyway, I can use it daily with @3.00Ghz and @3.20Ghz todays.

Everyone can give some advise for reach @3.40Ghz lol :)

BTW, I didnt add my screenshots or my valid values for cpuz yet but if u wanna them all, I can share for u of course.

Here we goes,


377FSB Dual Core Celeron BIOS Settings (907)
CPU Feature
Ai Overclock Tuner [Manual]
CPU Ratio Control [Manual]
Ratio CMOS Setting: [8]
FSB Frequency [377]
FSB Strap to North Bridge [Auto]
PCIE Frequency [100]
DRAM Settings
DRAM Frequency [Auto]
DRAM Command Rate [Auto]
DRAM Timing Control [Auto]
DRAM Static Read Control [Disabled]
Ai Clock Twister [Strong]
Transaction Booster [Enabled]
Boost Level [0]
Voltage Settings
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 [DDR2_REF]
SB 1.5V Voltage [Auto]

Note: English is not my first language... So sometimes I am not able to express myself properly... When I writes something in English, I can mix my own grammar in it so sometimes it sounds a little different to you. Really sorry but that

System Specs

Temperatures: 10 C between 23 C normal
Ram: OCZ Reaper 2Gb 800 Mhz Cl4 Kit (2x1gb) (With Heat Pipe Cooling)
Processor: Intel Celeron Dual Core E1200, 1.60 Ghz, LGA775 512k L2 Cache 800Mhz FSB - Cooling: Zalman Reserator XT
Motherboard: Asus Maximus Formula - x38+ICH9R - Rev1.xx
Graphics Card: GeForce 8600 GT - 256Mb 128bit GDDR3 - GPU Clock 540Mhz - RAMDAC 400Mhz
Hard Drives: 80Gb Maxtor, 160Gb Seagate, 320Gb Samsung
POWER SUPPLY: CM Real Power Pro 620w
Case: CM Stacker 831 Black

[Prodigys]

These are my Q6600 3.6GHz Prime stable settings BIOS 907

CPU Ratio Setting : 8
FSB Frequency : 450
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 333
PCI-E Frequency: 110
Ai Clock Twister : Strong
Transaction Booster : Disabled
Relax Level 0

CPU Voltage : 1.475v (BIOS)
CPU PLL Voltage : 1.58v (BIOS)
North Bridge Voltage : 1.49v (BIOS)
DRAM Voltage : 2.1v (BIOS)
FSB Termination Voltage : 1.40v (BIOS)
South Bridge Voltage : 1.075v (BIOS)
Loadline Calibration : Enabled
CPU GTL Reference : 0.63x
North Bridge GTL Reference : 0.67x
SB 1.5V Voltage : 1.50v (BIOS)

CPU Spread Spectrum : Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum : Disabled

I tried it with my setup, except I did 445 x 9, and it booted, did a 3DMark CPU run and it was stable... But when I run Prime95 for 15 min it crashes...
I'm using like you say 4 x 1GB stick, and Vista X64, thought I kept the NB @1.49 and I did the above things.

I did set the NB now on 1.51 and PCI-e on 105Mhz becuase I got no internet on 110Mhz :p: .

Thxn for the settings, and I hope we all can keep helping each other !

(PS: Do I need to adjust the PLL voltage for my high speed ? )

[iadstudio]

it looks like your fsb term is a little low for 445fsb with 4 sticks. I wouldn't be surprised if more volts there gets you where you need for run Prime stable.

idk if the cpu pll will help you here. Sometimes bringing your sb volts up a notch can help with stability.

[Den_Sjaekert]

I've given up on 400x9 stable for now. :(
I was getting nothing but BSOD after a few minutes on OCCT. :(

Tried with the following settings:

CPU Ratio Setting : 9
FSB Frequency : 400
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 400
PCI-E Frequency: 100
Ai Clock Twister : Strong
Transaction Booster : Disabled
Relax Level 0 or 1

CPU Voltage : 1.4 - 1.56 (BIOS)
CPU PLL Voltage : auto - 1.6 (BIOS)
North Bridge Voltage : 1.45v -1.61 (BIOS)
DRAM Voltage : 2.1v (BIOS)
FSB Termination Voltage : 1.40v -1.56v (BIOS)
South Bridge Voltage : 1.075v (BIOS)
Loadline Calibration : Enabled
CPU GTL Reference : 0.63x
North Bridge GTL Reference : 0.67x
SB 1.5V Voltage : 1.50v (BIOS)

Am I still doing something wrong? Or could it be that my cpu is a dud? :shakes:
Memtest turned out okay by the way.

[eSp!s0]

Did you know?:
There was that guy "p$YcHo" at www.forudeluxx.de and he wrote to Asus again and again asking for a new bios with right temperatures and higher TRFC timings in bios and guess what :D
He got mail with new bios 1003 for Maximus Formula today.

Bios 1003(Beta) Maximus Formula:
Post http://www.forumdeluxx.de/forum/showpost.php?p=8322054&postcount=1334
Thread http://www.forumdeluxx.de/forum/showthread.php?t=449908&page=54

TRFC http://www.abload.de/image.php?img=19022008592gs4.jpg

:wave:

[kup]

Added to first post with direct link!

MF1003.zip (http://rapidshare.com/files/93259628/MF1003.zip)

[Prodigys]

it looks like your fsb term is a little low for 445fsb with 4 sticks. I wouldn't be surprised if more volts there gets you where you need for run Prime stable.

idk if the cpu pll will help you here. Sometimes bringing your sb volts up a notch can help with stability.

Thnx, I'm testing it asap...

[kup]

http://www.abload.de/thumb/19022008592gs4.jpg (http://www.abload.de/image.php?img=19022008592gs4.jpg)

TRFC changes on new bios.

[Grnfinger]

Did you know?:
There was that guy "p$YcHo" at www.forudeluxx.de and he wrote to Asus again and again asking for a new bios with right temperatures and higher TRFC timings in bios and guess what :D
He got mail with new bios 1003 for Maximus Formula today.

Bios 1003(Beta) Maximus Formula:
Post http://www.forumdeluxx.de/forum/showpost.php?p=8322054&postcount=1334
Thread http://www.forumdeluxx.de/forum/showthread.php?t=449908&page=54

TRFC http://www.abload.de/image.php?img=19022008592gs4.jpg

:wave:

OOooOOooOO I am itching to test this like junkie looking for a fix.

A very huge :up: :up: :up: for sharing this golden nugget

Anybody have comments yet besides Kup?

[Eastcoasthandle]

I need to know for sure that this new bios works with the E8400

[kup]

New bios (1003) has the same issues as upgrading from <0901 to >0901, saved profiles just reset to "AUTO" on rebooting. You have to set it all again.

Aside from that, it seems quite nice. Not tested much, but there are changes. TRFC being a big one...

[eSp!s0]

p$YcHo wrote that there are no changes in temperatures of 45nm, too. He will asking for another bios now ;)
But sb. wrote, that 65nm temperatures now seems right again after that issue with 0907.
TRFC is biggest change I read.
Anything else seems to be like in 0903 and 0907, but I didn`t try it out till yet.

That`s all I read at forumdeluxx.de.

[ZenEffect]

any better gtl contol on the new bios? im at work and it will be an hour and a half before i get home to try it out.

[kup]

any better gtl contol on the new bios? im at work and it will be an hour and a half before i get home to try it out.

Nope, from what I could tell (setting both as per normal) still the same two options, going to 0.63% and 0.67%... :down:

[mickydisc]

I've came to the conclusion this set up with Dual prime95 4 hours @ 4.2 ghz vcore 1.60:down: , ilde 24c, load 63c. NB @ 1.65v load 40c, SB @ 1.20v 31c. The problem is that I cannot lower the vcore @1.60 in order to stable dual prime95. The vcore is way too much! It should be at vcore 1.45v and temps are too high with the Coolit Freezone...It must be the PSU Enermax Liberty 620 Dual rail @ 36amps lack of AMPS? My goals is to reach 4.7 ghz:) I think the PSU is holding it back!

[kup]

Well at least the tRFC is fixed. Cant wait to test!

It's fixed, but with odd values. I'm sure the bios screeny Tony had showed "54" being an option, and something which Tony recommended for 4 sticks of ram. But this bios has "55" as an option, and other odd ones like that... :confused:

[ZenEffect]

Nope, from what I could tell (setting both as per normal) still the same two options, going to 0.63% and 0.67%... :down:
oh bugger :down:

[kup]

oh bugger :down:

Hopefully this isn't a final bios. It's listed as BETA so the final might have better options? :stick: :slap:

[Grnfinger]

I need to know for sure that this new bios works with the E8400

It was alittle iffy at first but the bios seems to work well once you figure out the memory settings so it will boot.

http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff267/Grnfinger/1.png

Going to run a little OCCT / Prime test and see if its still stable at my settings

[iadstudio]

Not sure how I feel yet about this bios. The 400 strap settings I had w/ 0907 would not boot. As a matter of fact 400+ fsb would not boot at all on the 400 strap. I'm up and 100&#37; now on the 333 strap at 400fsb, but performance is a little worse than 0907 bios.

It must be memory sub-timings that are effecting it, but I swear the board timings are much more loose on this version. Now that I'm at 400 x9 I'm not sure whether I should go for tighter timings and try to make up the performance gap from 0907 or if I should go for top frequency on this bios.

I'll start with the 400 strap and see where I get. I'm guessing this bios is designed for higher clocks needed for the 45nm processors coming out.

[iadstudio]

Well, this makes no sense, but I could not previously boot to 400 strap and now, after booting with transaction booster: disables, static read and clock twister: disabled/light, I can not boot with 400 strap, booster enabled, and twister strong. Those exact settings wouldn't work before.

The only change was settign wirte to read delay, read to precharge and write recover in the bios. Although there are more memory subtimings, they make no sense to me and never have. It just seems these setting in this bios is even more confusing.

I think I'll wait til' I get my other 2 sticks back to go much further.

[Zucker2k]

Title says it all :D

PS: PL 7 on 266 strap.

[tommithy]

Title says it all :D

PS: PL 7 on 266 strap.

Very nice!

[Zucker2k]

Very nice!

Thanks. Here is a little action on Server 2008 x64 RC1 and Vista 32bit RTM...

[Motobuddy]

I got the RMA back and everything seems fine now, thanks for all the help. Installed vista 64 this go around and the supreme-fx optical has quit working I saw the problem posted when I searched but never saw a answer. Is there one? Worked fine on XP.

[iTravis]

I've given up on 400x9 stable for now. :(
I was getting nothing but BSOD after a few minutes on OCCT. :(

Tried with the following settings:

CPU Ratio Setting : 9
FSB Frequency : 400
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 400
PCI-E Frequency: 100
Ai Clock Twister : Strong
Transaction Booster : Disabled
Relax Level 0 or 1

CPU Voltage : 1.4 - 1.56 (BIOS)
CPU PLL Voltage : auto - 1.6 (BIOS)
North Bridge Voltage : 1.45v -1.61 (BIOS)
DRAM Voltage : 2.1v (BIOS)
FSB Termination Voltage : 1.40v -1.56v (BIOS)
South Bridge Voltage : 1.075v (BIOS)
Loadline Calibration : Enabled
CPU GTL Reference : 0.63x
North Bridge GTL Reference : 0.67x
SB 1.5V Voltage : 1.50v (BIOS)

Am I still doing something wrong? Or could it be that my cpu is a dud? :shakes:
Memtest turned out okay by the way.

What kind of memory you're using and r u running 4x1GB sticks or 2x2GB sticks? I have the same problem with 9x400 as well but I didn't get BSOD when running OCCT. It just either restarts or crashes after a few mins. :D
I only see BSOD when running 425x9 though. :p: I haven't thought about giving it up yet eventhough it really makes me sick having 9x400 stable. Gotto give it another try, with new BIOS maybe.

[Nhawk]

Using 1003 BiOS, it all works as before (445*9 or 400*9 with E8400), but I still can't resume from Sleep mode, while E6600 worked fine (XP SP3 RC2)

[Den_Sjaekert]

What kind of memory you're using and r u running 4x1GB sticks or 2x2GB sticks? I have the same problem with 9x400 as well but I didn't get BSOD when running OCCT. It just either restarts or crashes after a few mins. :D
I only see BSOD when running 425x9 though. :p: I haven't thought about giving it up yet eventhough it really makes me sick having 9x400 stable. Gotto give it another try, with new BIOS maybe.
Hi,

I have Team Xtreem 800mhz 4-4-4-10 with micron d9. I've tried both 2 and 4 sticks but neither work. ;P
My cpu is a g0 xeon, L747A470.

[Spyrus]

How hard it is to have tRFC in steps of one?
Abit Quad GT has them up to 70 with +1 increment?
Come on Asus it is not that hard...plz

[Dostoyevsky77]

Yay! New BIOS! P$ych0 and Kup, kudos.

Zucker, why does your Everest stepping say C0/M0??? What's M0???

[Zucker2k]

Yay! New BIOS! P$ych0 and Kup, kudos.

Zucker, why does your Everest stepping say C0/M0??? What's M0???

I have no idea; using latest everest beta, I can only guess M0 is the next revision of the 45nm?

[Wolf2000me]

At this point I can't seem to find the bios listed with its features and fixes on the asus support site.
Can anyone shed some light on this? Any improvements?

[eSp!s0]

Tested 1003 and went back to 0903. Temperatures are weird again and I had curious biossettings after flashing. After a reboot and DETRAM issue I removed battery and after bios was normal again, but the only positive thing for me would be a bit better ramperformace then 090X.

But I have another problem:
My ram was stable at 1200Mhz, now it isn`t anymore. Memtest now shows errors waht it didn`t before. The votages have nothing to do with that, I tested that last night till morning. TB and AIClock are right and not the problem. It could be the ram itself, the ramslots I use for the 2 sticks or the board has **** voodoo-issues.

[iadstudio]

...the board has **** voodoo-issues.

That's my guess. IT sure seems like tit some times.

[xgman]

1003, maybe the testing bios that Tony mentioned had a couple "issues?? Maybe it's not ready for prime time then. . .

[Tony]

I actually have 1001 so this is newer, tRFC is borked yes they need 1clock steps not 5 but at least we have over 42.

It makes me laugh how Asus release bios files under embargo and then an engineer will leak to an end user...they really do need to get their act together.

Anyway, on 8000 reaper X we have a new SPD with 54trfc so you can set by auto to get this or set 55 in bios.

You should see 1000mhz 2V or less now, setting 60trfc may allow 1066+

[xgman]

thanks for the info.

[Nhawk]

I noticed that BiOS 1003 uses Perf Level of 6 at DDR2-1200, while 907 was PL 7. (Perf. Level is also known as tRD and controlled by Transaction booster)
Because of this, I also started getting errors, so I changed the Clock Twister to Moderate (from Strong) and it seems fine now.

P.S. 907 would not work at tRD of 6 at all (would not boot)


Tested 1003 and went back to 0903. Temperatures are weird again and I had curious biossettings after flashing. After a reboot and DETRAM issue I removed battery and after bios was normal again, but the only positive thing for me would be a bit better ramperformace then 090X.

But I have another problem:
My ram was stable at 1200Mhz, now it isn`t anymore. Memtest now shows errors waht it didn`t before. The votages have nothing to do with that, I tested that last night till morning. TB and AIClock are right and not the problem. It could be the ram itself, the ramslots I use for the 2 sticks or the board has **** voodoo-issues.

[xgman]

What is the temp reading problem? I have phase so I don't see real temps anyway.

[eSp!s0]

I noticed that BiOS 1003 uses Perf Level of 6 at DDR2-1200, while 907 was PL 7. (Perf. Level is also known as tRD and controlled by Transaction booster)
Because of this, I also started getting errors, so I changed the Clock Twister to Moderate (from Strong) and it seems fine now.

P.S. 907 would not work at tRD of 6 at all (would not boot)

Yes, but I flashed back to 0903 and Ram wasn`t stable, too.(Same settings as before with 0903 and there were rockstable)
It took me 3hours today but know I solved it.
Had to change ram into the blue slots, no way to get them working within specs of 1200mhz in white slots. Also I had to change TB from enabled lvl0(TRD7) to disabled lvl0(TRD 8), could leave the rest as before and now Memtest was allright the last test.
When the board is running as it should, it`s the best board I ever had, but then sometimes this voodoo-:banana::banana::banana::banana: shows off and board begins to behave crazy and there is nothing you can do.
I am glad, that loading Defaults after failed OC is working again for me, that was horrible the last weeks with no booting system for hours :down:

[bro20000]

Just downloaded 1003 and when i change multi from auto i get no boot! Have changed back to 0907!

[iadstudio]

Can anyone recommend the best 4gb RAM kit for this board? I thought the Ballistix would be fine, but I only have one set of the old Ballistix and I can't get my hands on another. They keep sending me the new revision which is cr@p.

What 2x 2gb kit will handle 500+ fsb on this board?

[xgman]

Can anyone recommend the best 4gb RAM kit for this board? I thought the Ballistix would be fine, but I only have one set of the old Ballistix and I can't get my hands on another. They keep sending me the new revision which is cr@p.

What 2x 2gb kit will handle 500+ fsb on this board?

For that matter is 2x2gb or 4x1gb a better bet for higher overclocks? I'm getting the feeling that most 2gb sticks are not high binned parts, at least yet.

[iadstudio]

For that matter is 2x2gb or 4x1gb a better bet for higher overclocks?

While 4x 1gb is doable at high clocks, it requires a bit more nb voltage. From what people are saying, 2x 2gb is a little less stressful on the board.

[zlojack]

I have my Mushkin Redlines XP8000 at 500 FSB 1:1 with 5-5-5-12 timings (still testing stability)

[Spyrus]

I actually have 1001 so this is newer, tRFC is borked yes they need 1clock steps not 5 but at least we have over 42.

It makes me laugh how Asus release bios files under embargo and then an engineer will leak to an end user...they really do need to get their act together.

Anyway, on 8000 reaper X we have a new SPD with 54trfc so you can set by auto to get this or set 55 in bios.

You should see 1000mhz 2V or less now, setting 60trfc may allow 1066+

It is good we agreed on the +/-1 stepping of tRFC. Someone can tighten then as far as he wish. Also tREF is another thing.


For other having issues with new bios remember this is not official yet.
And be sure you have flashed the bios with correct parameters (erasing full eeprom etc) :up:

[Grnfinger]

New bios 1003 is a pos:mad: :mad:
Took 4ever to get the thing to boot and after all that memory tweaking its still a bad bios.
Back to 907

[iadstudio]

New bios 1003 is a pos:mad: :mad:
Took 4ever to get the thing to boot and after all that memory tweaking its still a bad bios.
Back to 907

Does it easily flash back to 0907? or do you need to use the old Asus update in 32 bit OS?

[zlojack]

That sucks... I guess that's why it wasn't released to the public yet.

I hope they get it sorted...

[Grnfinger]

Does it easily flash back to 0907? or do you need to use the old Asus update in 32 bit OS?

I tried 4 USB sticks and NONE worked, I had to use the old Asus Update:shakes:

When I tried EZ Flash it was like it would not read the USB stick all I had was a C:\ drive option and nothing for USB

[theonlybabyface]

For that matter is 2x2gb or 4x1gb a better bet for higher overclocks? I'm getting the feeling that most 2gb sticks are not high binned parts, at least yet.

The ones in my sig. Good for 533 mhz so far. :D

[Warboy]

I'm called up ASUS today to get my RMA, and They will only repair it....They will not give out any replacements, and if they say the board is non-repairable, they will call me and give me "options" I'm never going with ASUS again....

[zlojack]

The ones in my sig. Good for 533 mhz so far. :D
You can run those at 533 with 8GB?
400 FSB with 400 strap?

[Grnfinger]

Warboy;2785351']I'm called up ASUS today to get my RMA, and They will only repair it....They will not give out any replacements, and if they say the board is non-repairable, they will call me and give me "options" I'm never going with ASUS again....

They wont do a cross ship anymore?
Hell you could be months b4 you get the board back.

[theonlybabyface]

You can run those at 533 with 8GB?
400 FSB with 400 strap?


That is correct...:D

[Pandamonia]

Can any one give me some Advice????

i have some temp ram in my machine while i wait for my replacment Reaper 9200.

when i boot my machine gets stuck on Countmem ?????

the machine is at total stock!!! no overclock or changes in bios except RAID, ive tried 1 stick 2 sticks clearing Cmos using battery ive reflashed the bios and i cant understand why i get stuck at countmem.... its not frozen tho i can hit buttons to enter setup and it registers but doesnt go anywhere??

after about 10 resets and cmos button hits it finally boots?

i cant understand this? any help?

thanks

[Tony]

you guys having issues i swear you have the ram set up to tight, flashing back to 0907 should do nothing really as long as you are mindful of tRD, tRFC and tRAS.

Im about to post 5Hrs+ 8GB at 1000 with bios set to 1.8V stable, i used the stability test in Everest. I tested Linpack this afternoon for 5 hrs and Everest caught errors in 20 mins so im thinking everest may be better at this time.

I quite like this 1003 for now, I will test some fsb with my yorkie over the next few days

[Grnfinger]

If I ran my ram any looser it would be like a $2 whore with a $1.50 change comming.
1003 seems an like a renamed 901 bios to me. Same ram issues and hard as hell to find the correct settings. Even after I finally got it to boot there was alot of lag and bandwidth was restricted alot more than 907/903. Its not worth the effort to make the jump imho

[iadstudio]

Anyone have experience with these on the maximus?


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820313043
Team 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066

[Pandamonia]

Can any one give me some Advice????

i have some temp ram in my machine while i wait for my replacment Reaper 9200.

when i boot my machine gets stuck on Countmem ?????

the machine is at total stock!!! no overclock or changes in bios except RAID, ive tried 1 stick 2 sticks clearing Cmos using battery ive reflashed the bios and i cant understand why i get stuck at countmem.... its not frozen tho i can hit buttons to enter setup and it registers but doesnt go anywhere??

after about 10 resets and cmos button hits it finally boots?

i cant understand this? any help?

thanks

No help?

[bro20000]

I had that problem i upped my northbridge voltage and mem! That did the trick!

[Wolf2000me]

If the MF1003 bios is still unofficial, shouldn't it be noted in the OP of this thread?
Not that I'm lecturing or anything, just for completeness and everyone getting all the info :)

[eSp!s0]

They wont do a cross ship anymore?
Hell you could be months b4 you get the board back.

I had experience with that (in germany) and it took about 4 weeks, till board came back repaired, that was ok for me :)

[miptzi]

I humbly ask for help of the PRO's.

My thread:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=177591

[Warboy]

They wont do a cross ship anymore?
Hell you could be months b4 you get the board back.

Nope, they don't have any in stock and won't do advance or cross-shipping.

Only repair, not replacement. So I'm screwed....

[Leeghoofd]

@KUP PLZ REMOVE 1003 BIOS PLZ, or at least put a warning next to it...

Plz put on the front page that the 1003 Bios really is crappy too for Qx9650 (don't have the E8400 at the moment) ...At stock all fine...then I couldn't touch the multi (up nor down) : had to leave that on auto... Otherwise pc wouldn't post... then tried my usual settings for 450FSB (to get to 4ghz again ) no post... had to up NB voltages to get the pc to post though never succeeded in booting into windows... I just got the new Qx, feeling pretty sad as this was not good, put back the old Qx in ...same issue... reflashed to 0907 via EZ flash and all works now...
New L740B159 is better than the 747B512 I owned... this one does 3.6ghz at 1.18 volts 2 hours priming small FFT's my other one needed 1.15 to be at stable at stock lol...

[Tony]

@KUP PLZ REMOVE 1003 BIOS PLZ, or at least put a warning next to it...

Plz put on the front page that the 1003 Bios really is crappy too for Qx9650 (don't have the E8400 at the moment) ...At stock all fine...then I couldn't touch the multi (up nor down) : had to leave that on auto... Otherwise pc wouldn't post... then tried my usual settings for 450FSB (to get to 4ghz again ) no post... had to up NB voltages to get the pc to post though never succeeded in booting into windows... I just got the new Qx, feeling pretty sad as this was not good, put back the old Qx in ...same issue... reflashed to 0907 via EZ flash and all works now...
New L740B159 is better than the 747B512 I owned... this one does 3.6ghz at 1.18 volts 2 hours priming small FFT's my other one needed 1.15 to be at stable at stock lol...

same as the 1001 ;) reported all these issues then, seems they still have not fixed it

[kup]

same as the 1001 ;) reported all these issues then, seems they still have not fixed it

Gotta love Asus bios support... It's a shame, the boards are usually really good, but just suffer when it comes to the bios! :confused:

[Tony]

for those looking NOT for an OC but a fast quiet stable 8GB I just ran this...1003 with its issues is actually quite nice for 8GB clocking.

This at 1.8V set in bios, 1.84V real measured on the motherboard. 8GB 6400 Plat quad kit, not cherries but they sure are a fine :)

http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/staff/tony/Asus_fix_spd/8gb_asus_1.84V.png

http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/staff/tony/Asus_fix_spd/8gb_asus_1.84V_timings.png

[Leeghoofd]

Yeah at stock it's okay, but as soon as you want more it goes mad lol...( feels like a striker revisited, maybe it's the same bios engineer having a bad hairday :p)

[Tony]

Oh i know fsb and multi is broken with the 9650...i told asus this on the 1001 hence why I did not release it.

main point of my post was 8GB 1.8V 1000MHZ was easy...new trfc option is workin well

[tommithy]

so when does setting the trfc higher then 42 come in handy? High fsb OC? 4 sticks ram? will setting trfc manually allow one to set the performance level lower (closer to 0)? I can't get my system to boot with perf level at 6,5,4, etc..

[Leeghoofd]

Oh i know fsb and multi is broken with the 9650...i told asus this on the 1001 hence why I did not release it.

main point of my post was 8GB 1.8V 1000MHZ was easy...new trfc option is workin well

How are the Reapers going Tony...Pretty interested in a kit... but only to run them at stock clocks nothing more....but also nothing less... Are they the same powerchips as on the competitions' model ? and will they be released as 1066Mhz models too ?

[theonlybabyface]

Oh i know fsb and multi is broken with the 9650...i told asus this on the 1001 hence why I did not release it.

main point of my post was 8GB 1.8V 1000MHZ was easy...new trfc option is workin well

It's weird that they didn't have the proper trfc options when set manually on previous bios. Leave it at auto and I have 52 (which is good) but switch to maunual and the highest option was 42. Don't know what they where thinking at ASUS?:p:

[ojdr2001]

I've made some quick tests with QX9650 and bios 1003 and seems to work fine (tested multi 10 and 12)

http://img48.imageshack.us/img48/8897/maxformbios1003fn9.th.jpg (http://img48.imageshack.us/my.php?image=maxformbios1003fn9.jpg)

[Zucker2k]

I know many are complaining about (alpha) bios 1003, but my experience has been different. The secret to a problem free flash (ez flash) is to set everything to auto, ok, not everything, but make sure your ram frequency is set to its default speed; eg. PC2 6400 rated memory should be set to DDR2 800.

The best thing about this bios for me is that it will do things prior bioses couldn't do. For example, I couldn't run TRD (PL) 7 anywhere close to 500 fsb let alone beyond that. But now, I can do that easily into the high 530's and I'm only limited by my ram, which is rated for DDR2 800. I've posted Everest shots in the previous pages.

In short, what this means is that in most cases, some fine adjustments have to made. This bios is "the performance bios" so far... I'm frankly amazed at some of the numbers I could so easily get my changing a few digits in bios whereas in the past, with the previous bioses it took a struggle for the system to cook up these numbers. I think the true potential of this board is emerging with this bios. With even more possible control options, it will live up to its name. Of course I had to run a quick bandwidth test of my 24/7 OC on my regular OS just to make my point;

[NBK]

Hi

What was wrong the 1003 BiOS? I do not seem to se it on ASUS' website.

Thanks
NBK

[zlojack]

Hmm... differing reactions to this bios.

I wonder how it will do for me.

[Nuckin_Futs]

Anybody with more brains off PLL or GTL Ref information that can help me here ?

In short :

CPU can reach 475 FSB on AUTO settings
NB can reach 475FSB on AUTO settings (1.55 vNB)
CPU can run hours and hours stable on 475 x 8.
CPU can NOT run 475 x 9 for 5 min stable....

So the CPU can take the high FSB but not the high speed, besides that it is not to low Vcore but something else, so that's why I ask you guys if GTL ref or PLL can help me out here ? Or something else that I don't think on right now...

Depends on the CPU. I have a Q6600 (GO) that can do 500FSB. 485x is smoother for daily use on 8x. The 9x is more stressfull on this core, it is a combp of FSB limit as well as core speed. I found a combo of either 4.01GHz or 501FSB in whatever combo of ratios worked for mine.

If you want more FSB out of a quad, you really need to manually time PFF, FSBT and vcore. mine needed PKK of 1.712v for starters and 1.5v FSBT


Let me put it simply, rock stable at what overclock?

Ya, exactly. 400FSB on these x38's is practally stock, hardly a challange for this chipset. However, at 500FSB I doubt even 67c would be smooth. Something would feel the heat. And especially if on stock cooling, that means way too much heat for all the components on the same pipe line (SB, PWR mosfets).


you guys im staring at the checkout page at ncix for an asus maximus formula, should i pull the trigger?

ive got my E6300 to 3.5 on my now dead (rip) evga 680i board, I only wanna take this sucker if I can do the same. I'll ghetto mod (and later pro mod) a 3cm fan (from old Athlon XP cooler) to sit on the north bridge. I'm running four 1066 rated Ballistix Tracers.

Also, what do you guys think about nehalem support on X38. Total crap shoot? Is there any board that stands the best chance at supporting next gen procs? this is the last mobo im probibly going to own for three or four years so it needs to last!

I agree with the others, if buying soley for the E6300, not really worth it. But if it's what you have, and you plan to upgrade soon, then yes, a great mobo. I also agree, the MAXIMUS FORMULA is a beautifull board with rich feature set. The DFI is simple, but very stable and gets the job done.

Just to note, the E6300 on this is gonna go far beyond where any nVidia could ever take it. Again, each core is different, but mine on older P5WDG2-WS hit 532 stable in 1:1 for DDR1066. I know this chipset is good for that with the right CPU so you should be good to go a bit over 515 easy on this.

MY TWO CENTS

[Yay for Cheese]

Anyone know how well 2GB of Transcend PC8500 will do on the Maximus Formula with a E8400?

[Spyrus]

@ zucker With bios 0907 i can also past 500fsb with PL=7 and memory to 5:6 need a lot nb voltage though 1.6+

[Leeghoofd]

I've made some quick tests with QX9650 and bios 1003 and seems to work fine (tested multi 10 and 12)

http://img48.imageshack.us/img48/8897/maxformbios1003fn9.th.jpg (http://img48.imageshack.us/my.php?image=maxformbios1003fn9.jpg)

Tried booting at eg 400FSB with 10 or 11 multi, instead of using SetfSB in XP I didn't get an extreme CPU to boot at 333FSB lol... mine doesn't post at all, no matter what...450FSB did but was almost impossible to get stable unless I started to pump laod of voltage in the chipsets which I didn't need to do before... Messed with it for hours also each OC I set ( with ram at 1:1) hardlocked my rig...only batteryu pop brought it back to life... reflashed it again to 1003... popped battery to make sure all was defaulted... same issue... reflashed back to 0907 all is fine... I can bench again at 4500Mhz now :up:

I run PC8000 ram maybe I need to relax my ram and co more but that's not my thing to do as I want it run as tight as possible...

[gandalf027]

Tried booting at eg 400FSB with 10 or 11 multi, instead of using SetfSB in XP I didn't get an extreme CPU to boot at 333FSB lol... mine doesn't post at all, no matter what...450FSB did but was almost impossible to get stable unless I started to pump laod of voltage in the chipsets which I didn't need to do before... Messed with it for hours also each OC I set ( with ram at 1:1) hardlocked my rig...only batteryu pop brought it back to life... reflashed it again to 1003... popped battery to make sure all was defaulted... same issue... reflashed back to 0907 all is fine... I can bench again at 4500Mhz now :up:

I run PC8000 ram maybe I need to relax my ram and co more but that's not my thing to do as I want it run as tight as possible...

I booted at 10x400 without any problems. It's running prime small ffts for 8h now, so que multis are working ok.

[Leeghoofd]

I booted at 10x400 without any problems. It's running prime small ffts for 8h now, so que multis are working ok.

K I regrabbed the Bios file, this time from the first page of the thread. To my great surprise this file is named differently to the rom file I previously had...( this one is 1003.Rom while the other was maximus1003.rom) The old rom file after flash didn't allow my pc to post, so I had to pop the battery. This one did and YES EUREKA it posts straight from bios with 10 x 400... looking more into it...

Thx guys for the comments... and old man is never too old to learn :rofl:

EDITED : Still issues getting same clocks as with 0907... there's more to this bios than the added TRFC settings... REVERTING BACK

[kup]

K I regrabbed the Bios file, this time from the first page of the thread. To my great surprise this file is named differently to the rom file I previously had...( this one is 1003.Rom while the other was maximus1003.rom) The old rom file after flash didn't allow my pc to post, so I had to pop the battery. This one did and YES EUREKA it posts straight from bios with 10 x 400... looking more into it...

Thx guys for the comments... and old man is never too old to learn :rofl:

EDITED : Still issues getting same clocks as with 0907... there's more to this bios than the added TRFC settings... REVERTING BACK

Unfortunately the name change was just my doing, I renamed it to fit the naming convention of the other Maximus bios files. Sorry, Lee.

It's a shame the bios is still giving you hassle because it seems to be working really really nicely with the 65nm Quads. :(

[Virous]

How can i change the nozzles on my fusion block to fit a 1/2 inch hose on them?
I gave my mate the connectors and now i need them (id10t).
I was thinking i could push some 3/8 hose over the nozzles, then 1/2 inch hose ontop. and clamp it down good. would that work. Any ideas appreciated. I looked up and i cant seem to find 3/8 to 1/2'' pipe connectors.

[jnick]

I just got my two Maximus boards yesterday. I installed one so far and so far (knock on wood) it's been smooth sailing. I'll be installing the other tonight and then overclocking the #$&#37;@ out of it this weekend :).

I have sifted through this thread, but I was wondering is there any "golden rule" on this board of BIOS options I should DEFINITELY turn off/turn on, or configure a certain way?

I'm coming from an eVGA 680i where my e6600 was pushing 3.4Ghz. I'm hoping to get an equal or better overclock.

Currently, at stock speeds, I'm sitting at 27C for the CPU (1.3v) and 38C for the NB (1.4v). Are those temps ok for this board (specifically the NB) or do I need to work on getting that down in order to pump the FSB?

Thanks!

P.S. - What's the best way to flash the BIOS? AsusUpdate? Or traditional floppy/CD method? I'm running Vista x64 if that matters at all...

[tommithy]

Try to keep your NB below 47c. Anything above and you may see instability.

[iadstudio]

I just got my two Maximus boards yesterday. I installed one so far and so far (knock on wood) it's been smooth sailing. I'll be installing the other tonight and then overclocking the #$%@ out of it this weekend :).

I have sifted through this thread, but I was wondering is there any "golden rule" on this board of BIOS options I should DEFINITELY turn off/turn on, or configure a certain way?

I'm coming from an eVGA 680i where my e6600 was pushing 3.4Ghz. I'm hoping to get an equal or better overclock.

Currently, at stock speeds, I'm sitting at 27C for the CPU (1.3v) and 38C for the NB (1.4v). Are those temps ok for this board (specifically the NB) or do I need to work on getting that down in order to pump the FSB?

Thanks!

P.S. - What's the best way to flash the BIOS? AsusUpdate? Or traditional floppy/CD method? I'm running Vista x64 if that matters at all...

Same transition for me. I found my 680i was easier to OC, but if you spend a little time with the maximus you'll far exceed the 680i's performance. I found my cpu OC was less forgiving, but the .1mhz I gave up on the CPU coming from the 680i was more than made up for by the boards performance and increased memory performance. It's actually hard for me to tell right now what this boards limits are since my memory and cpu are getting maxed out before the board does.

I'm running Vista x64 and I use Asus update without problems. Just do yourself a favor and start slow with this board until you're read up on its limitations and quirkiness.

[jnick]

Woah! Fast replies :p.

Ok, I'll keep it under 47C. If I have to, I'll pop off the cooler and reapply thermal paste or go with an aftermarket cooler. It also read that my mobo temp was 38C...That did seem a bit high, but...

Thanks for your mini review iadstudio. I'm looking forward to using this board. I won't lie, the 680i was good to me. Got me to 3.4 and was rock solid....up until one year passed. All three 680i's in the family killed the RAM exactly one year after purchase :(. Then when I got a replacement A1 board, it was completely unstable. So I threw in the towel and have gone with the Maximus. I'm hoping it was a smart move :).

So far, I've enjoyed the board. Again, I'm only at stock speeds, but it's been smooth. That makes all the difference in the world :).

I'll update the BIOS, hopefully tonight, and start slow with a conservative OC. Hopefully by Monday I'll turn that conservative clock, to extreme :p

I'm just curious, however, is there anyway to boot from a removable device? My floppy drive is USB and therefore, in order to run memtest, I need to boot from removable...or I'll have to throw memtest on a cd...

Thanks!

[iadstudio]

May I suggest you start slow with the bios update. Once you go to 09xx with Vista x64 there is no going back unless you can load a 32bit OS. I've actually been meaning to put a xp 32 dual boot on my machine just to flash the bios to an earlier version.

I actually suspect the earlier bios are better for our chips but since flashing back is such a pain I haven't been able to test.

[xgman]

I found bios 1003 to be dreadfull. Bios savior didn't even work right. Reverted back to 907 and all is well again. There is something just not right with 1003. I wish I knew what theybwere aiming at though. Maybe when they release it to the public it will smooth out.

[xgman]

@KUP PLZ REMOVE 1003 BIOS PLZ, or at least put a warning next to it...

Plz put on the front page that the 1003 Bios really is crappy too for Qx9650 (don't have the E8400 at the moment) ...At stock all fine...then I couldn't touch the multi (up nor down) : had to leave that on auto... Otherwise pc wouldn't post... then tried my usual settings for 450FSB (to get to 4ghz again ) no post... had to up NB voltages to get the pc to post though never succeeded in booting into windows... I just got the new Qx, feeling pretty sad as this was not good, put back the old Qx in ...same issue... reflashed to 0907 via EZ flash and all works now...
New L740B159 is better than the 747B512 I owned... this one does 3.6ghz at 1.18 volts 2 hours priming small FFT's my other one needed 1.15 to be at stable at stock lol...


Pretty much the same story with my 89650, now that I see your post I see why. Niot sure why it is always when they try to improve one thing three other things get borked. :rolleyes:

[Darkstormz]

May I suggest you start slow with the bios update. Once you go to 09xx with Vista x64 there is no going back unless you can load a 32bit OS. I've actually been meaning to put a xp 32 dual boot on my machine just to flash the bios to an earlier version.

I actually suspect the earlier bios are better for our chips but since flashing back is such a pain I haven't been able to test.

Actually there is a way to downgrade your bios IF you are using Vista x64.
I did this...

1. Reboot etc and start flashing of 09xx bios from DOS.
2. After the erase part you will see "writing flash". Now turn off your computer
3. Now the crash-free bios will kick in and you can flash to whatever bios you want using a flashdrive/thumbdrive/memorystick like Corsair Flash Voyager etc. Just name the bios you want to be flashed like "FORMULA.ROM".
You can also use the driver-cd to recover your bios back to 0401.
4. Now be happy with your downgrade :)

[jnick]

That's some good info right there! What bios did you guys find to be the "best" for E6600/Dual core processors? My setups are as follows:

1. E6600, Gskill 2x2GB, 8800GTX, 750W PCP&C
2. E6600, Ballistix 2x1GB, 8800GTX, 750W PCP&C

Soon both will have 4GB, but for now, I have to work with 2GB :p.

Thanks again guys!

[iadstudio]

Actually there is a way to downgrade your bios IF you are using Vista x64.
I did this...

1. Reboot etc and start flashing of 09xx bios from DOS.
2. After the erase part you will see "writing flash". Now turn off your computer
3. Now the crash-free bios will kick in and you can flash to whatever bios you want using a flashdrive/thumbdrive/memorystick like Corsair Flash Voyager etc. Just name the bios you want to be flashed like "FORMULA.ROM".
You can also use the driver-cd to recover your bios back to 0401.
4. Now be happy with your downgrade :)

That scares me. Sounds like a good way to "F" up your bios. I'll try it.

[Leeghoofd]

Pretty much the same story with my 89650, now that I see your post I see why. Niot sure why it is always when they try to improve one thing three other things get borked. :rolleyes:

Well all is fine as long as you don't go tight on the ram timings. If I use 400FSB I can boot with 11 and ram in sync, though once I push the ram to 1200mhz and start to tweak for a superPI run it just doesn't work like it used too... so pretty letdown for me... I'll stay with 0907 till something better pops up... and my CPU temps dropped to 10 °C at 4ghz, even more unbelievable then 20°C before lol...

[b3ta]

This at 1.8V set in bios, 1.84V real measured on the motherboard. 8

I don't suppose you could provide a pic of where on the board the measuring point is (and any other points if you happen to know them) please? Thanks in advance :)

[Warboy]

I got my New Ballistix Tracer sticks (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?p=2787773#post2787773) in today

[ojdr2001]

Tried booting at eg 400FSB with 10 or 11 multi, instead of using SetfSB in XP I didn't get an extreme CPU to boot at 333FSB lol... mine doesn't post at all, no matter what...450FSB did but was almost impossible to get stable unless I started to pump laod of voltage in the chipsets which I didn't need to do before... Messed with it for hours also each OC I set ( with ram at 1:1) hardlocked my rig...only batteryu pop brought it back to life... reflashed it again to 1003... popped battery to make sure all was defaulted... same issue... reflashed back to 0907 all is fine... I can bench again at 4500Mhz now :up:

I run PC8000 ram maybe I need to relax my ram and co more but that's not my thing to do as I want it run as tight as possible...



Booting @ 13x410. No problem at all :)

[Leeghoofd]

Booting @ 13x410. No problem at all :)

I reflashed it with another rom ( one in fact from this thread instead of the one I got mailed) I could boot with any FSB now (though my WC setup won't allow me to do 13 multi lol), no issues as long as I don't go mad on the ram... 400FSB and 1200 ram was good with 0907 now I need to relax more to get it stable... back to 0907 here... Pc primes nice with 400FSB/800 ram, QX9650@4ghz with 1.26Vcore...:up:

[iadstudio]

Actually there is a way to downgrade your bios IF you are using Vista x64.
I did this...

1. Reboot etc and start flashing of 09xx bios from DOS.
2. After the erase part you will see "writing flash". Now turn off your computer
3. Now the crash-free bios will kick in and you can flash to whatever bios you want using a flashdrive/thumbdrive/memorystick like Corsair Flash Voyager etc. Just name the bios you want to be flashed like "FORMULA.ROM".
You can also use the driver-cd to recover your bios back to 0401.
4. Now be happy with your downgrade :)

Somebody give this man a cookie!!! It worked! I'm kinda's surprised no-one else thought of this. Soooooo much easier than using an old version of Asus Update on 32bit OS (at least for x64 users)

[Grnfinger]

thats a very risky method dont you think?
I would rather grab and old hdd and toss XP on it then put it away for a rainy day.
Wonder if you can use Asus Update with Windows Live?

[Darkstormz]

thats a very risky method do you think?
I would rather grab and old hdd and toss XP on it then put it away for a rainy day.
Wonder if you can use Asus Update with Windows Live?

I&#180;ve done it 5 times 100&#37; success. Yeah it sounds abit risky. The crash free bios is there to help you if you get a bad flash so... I Love it :)


Somebody give this man a cookie!!! It worked! I'm kinda's surprised no-one else thought of this. Soooooo much easier than using an old version of Asus Update on 32bit OS (at least for x64 users)

I&#180;m glad it worked out well for you too. I&#180;m too lazy to install 32-bit OS just to downgrade bios. This "crash-bios" method is way faster.

[Nuckin_Futs]

Sorry, I dont understand this performace stuff. Everyone says run disabled and 0-2 for high fsb.

I run 475fsb with twister strong and booster enabled at 2 at 1:1 ram at 2V and nb at 1.65V non se. I can get into windows at 490fsb still booster enabled at 2 but not stable. Will changing this setting help stability?

I can get to 545fsb and e6600 with booster on auto also but changing the booster will still not let it clock higher.
It's gonna' be a compromise between high FSB/Clock and RAM frequency for Tight timings and high MHz. To figure out your max FSB and or clock, leave all that booster and performance stuff out of it for now. THey were mostlt intended for cheap performance boost for light or non OC'd set-ups. So to add all that strob, boos and so on will only add to unstability issues and more crashes before you can ever get to find you highest OC's.

So Key points for high FSB are ENABLED Static Read control, Ai Clock Twister = Disabled or Light, And Performance Booster Disabled = 0 and 1+ as needed, FSB Strap = AUTO, Added CPU PLL/FSBT to 1.7v/1.5v respectively, and For sure GTR Ref to max; 63x/67x for CPU/FSBT.


I just got my two Maximus boards yesterday. I installed one so far and so far (knock on wood) it's been smooth sailing. I'll be installing the other tonight and then overclocking the #$%@ out of it this weekend :).

I have sifted through this thread, but I was wondering is there any "golden rule" on this board of BIOS options I should DEFINITELY turn off/turn on, or configure a certain way?

I'm coming from an eVGA 680i where my e6600 was pushing 3.4Ghz. I'm hoping to get an equal or better overclock.

Currently, at stock speeds, I'm sitting at 27C for the CPU (1.3v) and 38C for the NB (1.4v). Are those temps ok for this board (specifically the NB) or do I need to work on getting that down in order to pump the FSB?

Thanks!

P.S. - What's the best way to flash the BIOS? AsusUpdate? Or traditional floppy/CD method? I'm running Vista x64 if that matters at all...

Follow the above quote and you should be good to go fo close to 500FSB with that core if you got a good batch. I got 495FSB out of a !975x P5WDG2-WS and X38 has more to offer so go figure the potential. This mobo is pick with dividers so stick with 1:1 for now untill you need more and tweak from there. Like any overclocking, stick to 2 sticks of RAM for any size, but 2x 1g is best for stability and high FSB. So many are focusing on bench scores of synthetic so they tend to crank everything up so high it is just sloppy and unstable. This mobo loves 500FSB so if you feel your CPU is up to it then again no prob.

As mentioned so many times, leave the CPU FSB Strap to AUTO. Unless somebody can come up with a worthy reason of fixing it to anything spaciffic (even if it does boot, mine hardly does) with the exact same DDR frequency chioces, please add comment. Otherwise, the same choices are made available in pull down if you have set as AUTO. For me, mine on many BIOS versions would just not boot with anything other then AUTO for a native 1333FSB CPU, and even on the one BIOS it did (401) I saw no difference of performance for the same exact ratio choices.
Also, the 2nd RAM slots (White) are noted as being best for highest 2 stick OC to 1300MHz (good RAM, average= DDR1200). Pop in 2 more and back to 1st slot limitation of around 4x 1066+ but with losser timings and more volts overall.


May I suggest you start slow with the bios update. Once you go to 09xx with Vista x64 there is no going back unless you can load a 32bit OS. I've actually been meaning to put a xp 32 dual boot on my machine just to flash the bios to an earlier version.

I actually suspect the earlier bios are better for our chips but since flashing back is such a pain I haven't been able to test.
Is this spaciffic to Vista x64 and not XP Pro x64 and Server Ent R2? Cause I can use Flash Old BIOS from Live Update v6.10.x.

However, since my mobo is stuck from recent EZ-Flash from from 802 up to 903 again, I guess I get to try Crash Free BIOS recovery from CD.

[zlojack]

I tried 1003 and had the same issues... would just send itself back to the bios unless it was all set to auto.

Needless to say, I reflashed to 0907.

[iadstudio]

Nuckin_Futs, I'm not sure what OSs are effected by the downgradeable bios update utility issue. However, now that I know crashfree bios actually works I'm not so concerned about it anymore. This is certainly the flash-back of choice for me.

[Raver]

Nuckin_Futs, can you tell us what NB voltage you have and temps please. :)

Or better yet your whole settings template.

[Tony]

seems 1003 does not like 45nm cpu's, those with 65nm cpus look to be doing fine...this needs to be reflected on the first page with the bios.

I will poke asus again to see whats happening and see if they can fix the multi/fsb issue

[Spyrus]

If possible ask them to have +/- 1 steps for tRFC.

[HousERaT]

seems 1003 does not like 45nm cpu's, those with 65nm cpus look to be doing fine...this needs to be reflected on the first page with the bios.

I will poke asus again to see whats happening and see if they can fix the multi/fsb issue
Thanks for pressing the issue on this Tony. :up:

[M-XXXX]

What are the highest voltages for benching under water? (water has about 5-6C) I have under water NB and CPU, and I would like to know max voltages for:
CPU Voltage
CPU PLL Voltage
North Bridge Voltage
FSB Termination Voltage
South Bridge Voltage
Thank you!

[xgman]

Also, the 2nd RAM slots (White) are noted as being best for highest 2 stick OC to 1300MHz (good RAM, average= DDR1200).

Anyone else here seeing this?

[Renegade5399]

I don't see this. My Ballistix got to DDR2-1257 in either blue or white.

[Dostoyevsky77]

I've heard others suggest this too, but I've always run in 4x1, so it's not important for me. I have gotten past 1250 with all four DIMMs.

Incidentally, does anyone have experience with manual DDR REF voltages for 4x1?

[zlojack]

Mine don't do too well above 1000 MHz...

But they are 2x2 rather than 4x1, so it's a known issue.

[Ymir]

Anyone else here seeing this?
I haven't. Could vary by board and RAM, because I have seen other accounts that are similar.

[Grnfinger]

I don't see this. My Ballistix got to DDR2-1257 in either blue or white.

Same for me
blue or white the ram will run the same , same bench scores and will crap out at the same MHz.

[Durkadurka]

I've heard others suggest this too, but I've always run in 4x1, so it's not important for me. I have gotten past 1250 with all four DIMMs.

Incidentally, does anyone have experience with manual DDR REF voltages for 4x1?

I see you say you run your ram at 2.18v, is that what you set in BIOS?
(I will be using 4 of the same memory sticks, so curious to know)

[jnick]

This is going to sound really newbish, but how do I figure out what the memory divider is on this board? All of my mobo's in the past have had a divider setting...however this one apparently does not.

What is the math behind figuring out the current memory divider based on FSB?

My memory is natively DDR2-1000. If I were to set my mobo to 350fsb, what divider would I be running? If someone could show me the math based on the above numbers, hopefully I'll be able to see what's going on :)

[Nuckin_Futs]

What is the temp reading problem? I have phase so I don't see real temps anyway.
I too am curious about all this so called temp error I keep hearing of. Are those having problems, saying your CPU (as read by ASUS PC Probe II and CMOS) displays the higher of the 2 temps or that it just reads higher then any other app reads? Example, the CPU temp displayed in CMOS is only the CPU IHS top average temp, not the internal core. . v901 was supposed to correct this by displaying the combined core temps in both CMOS but PC Probe II would still display CPU IHS emp. Idealy, the internal temps are gonna' be warmer and the IHS coler, so we should be focusing on the core temps, not the heat sink or IHS for bragging, of corse it's always less.


Just downloaded 1003 and when i change multi from auto i get no boot! Have changed back to 0907!
i had something simular. I guess I'm the only one here with the issue. I EZ-Flashed to 907, didnt like it and reverted (XP x64 live update) bk to 802, worked fine. I EZ-Flashed to 903 and now it was locked to auto, default only, I could not change so much as anything in CMOS, could only boot to XP x64 if I pressed F2 to continue. I of corse (Live update v6.10.02) bk to 802, and same thing. I'm still there. Oh well, may get time to RMA soon.


Warboy;2785351']I'm called up ASUS today to get my RMA, and They will only repair it....They will not give out any replacements, and if they say the board is non-repairable, they will call me and give me "options" I'm never going with ASUS again....
Does this apply to bad BIOS flash or general problems or all. However, in my case, all I need is the eprom so should be simple for them.


Nuckin_Futs, can you tell us what NB voltage you have and temps please. :)

Or better yet your whole settings template.
I of corse lsot a lot of my files in another DATA loss due to checkdisk error gone bad so I will have to look it up since I cant get out of AUTO on this system right now. I will recover some from my notebook maybe to share, or else check my previous post wich show complete CMOS layouts with recorded temps for several OC profiles.


I don't see this. My Ballistix got to DDR2-1257 in either blue or white.
Ya, these RAMs are great, I got 1266 out of mine on my old P5K (black slots - 2nd slot). It did need 2.34 as reported. We should all know by now that this mobo overvolts so can we please start listing our volts as reported, not set, or both if you will? ThankX1


This is going to sound really newbish, but how do I figure out what the memory divider is on this board? All of my mobo's in the past have had a divider setting...however this one apparently does not.

What is the math behind figuring out the current memory divider based on FSB?

My memory is natively DDR2-1000. If I were to set my mobo to 350fsb, what divider would I be running? If someone could show me the math based on the above numbers, hopefully I'll be able to see what's going on :)
This a norm for ASUS for the past 10yrs. However, it is rather simple compared to other mobos. No math needed, just select an FSB and choose a calculated DRAM Frequency. Leave the CPU strap to mobo out of it as all the selections are available in AUTO and much more stable anyways for climbing FAB to 500.

[Raver]

Nuckin Futs one thing you need to remember is even though you leave the STARP on AUTO, once you select a certain MHz for the mem it will automatically kick in the appropriate starp. So without knowing you might be trying to boot at the 266 starp while using a certain FSB and selecting a certain mem speed.

It work fine for you because you are running your mem at 1:1 so the 400MHz starp is the one being selected by the mobo. But if you select a mem speed that is diffrent than your FSB speed you might not boot because that divider you selected belongs to the 266 starp.

So dont be fooled by the fact that when you set the STARP to AUTO and you see all the mem dividers show up, some of them belong to the 266 starp, some belong to the 333 starp and some to the 400 starp.

I hope what I'm saying is comprehensible :p


Ok I went into BIOS and selected an FSB of 400MHz, set the STARP to AUTO, then to 200, 266, 333 and 400.
These are the results I got in the memory DDR2 MHz speed.


Jnick I put the formulas so you can see how to figure out what STARP and divider you need to get as close to your 350FSB and 1000DDR2 mem speed, relative speed is your mem DDR2 divided by 2, so it's 500.

so for a FSB of 350MHz and you want to reach 500MHz relative for your mem, the closet would be the 400 starp and the 3:4 divider 350x4/3=466 (DDR2-933MHz)
Or you can use the 333 STARP and use the 5:8 divider but then your mem will be overclocked, 350x8/5=560 (DDR2-1120MHz)

For oveclocking you use the 333 and 400 STARPS the 266 and 200 have low FSB limits.


FSB 400
Starp Auto
DDR2 MHz
800
961
1003
1066
1203
1280
1334
1603

FSB 400
Starp 200
DDR2 MHz
1334
1600

FSB 400
Starp 266
DDR2 MHz
1003
1203
1603

FSB 400
Starp 333
DDR2 MHz
801 <-----------------> DDR2 800MHz relative speed is 400MHz so this divider is 1:1 i.e. 400x1/1=400
961 <-----------------> DDR2 961MHz relative speed is 480MHz so this divider is 5:6 i.e. 400x6/5=480
1280 <---------------> DDR2 1280MHz relative speed is 640MHz so this divider is 5:8 i.e. 400x8/5=640

FSB 400
Starp 400
DDR 2MHz
800 <-----------------> DDR2 800MHz relative speed is 400MHz so this divider is 1:1 i.e. 400x1/1=400
1066 <---------------> DDR2 1066MHz relative speed is 533MHz so this divider is 3:4 i.e. 400x4/3=533

So here you can see that when you set the STRAP to AUTO some of the resulting DDR MHz speeds are also in the other STARP selections and if you chose one of those DDR MHz speeds your BIOS wil select the corresponding STRAP.

You might end up trying to boot with a FSB of 400MHZ on the 266 STARP, it probaly wont boot.

[Nuckin_Futs]

Actually there is a way to downgrade your bios IF you are using Vista x64.
I did this...

1. Reboot etc and start flashing of 09xx bios from DOS.
2. After the erase part you will see "writing flash". Now turn off your computer
3. Now the crash-free bios will kick in and you can flash to whatever bios you want using a flashdrive/thumbdrive/memorystick like Corsair Flash Voyager etc. Just name the bios you want to be flashed like "FORMULA.ROM".
You can also use the driver-cd to recover your bios back to 0401.
4. Now be happy with your downgrade :)

O.K. I figured why not, I'm likely gonna' just end up RMA'n it anywayz, so might as well gave it a try. Well, it was tricky to get back up but it did after 3 trys but same thing again. I cannot set anything in CMOS without it locking up at SET RAM. If I press F2 it loads to XP x64 fine as default. Beyond that, everything is same. I started from BIOS v005, moved to v0505, v0602, and same.

Each time I flash (YES EZ-Flash) it will reboot and come up to the same CMOS eror with choice to press F1 to enter set up or F2 to load defaults and continue. If I so much as set the time and exit to save, it will never POST past DET RAM. I have to clear CMOS and reboot. Only the time is kept, everything else is stuck in default.

I will just figure this as an isolated issue since I got none, what so ever other feed back of something at least close. It happens.

To others reading, this is a great mobo even if at stock, but once OC'd, it's awsome.

@ Darkstormz, How did yours crash that led you to need to use this method? or was it trial to flashback?

[Grnfinger]

testing my new cpu

http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff267/Grnfinger/10x.jpg

notice the 10x multi:shocked:


dont think this chip will do well, it was an early batch

[Zucker2k]

Looks like your chip isn't satisfied with the 9x multi.... it wants more... :clap:

[eSp!s0]

Haven`t seen this before or it was a fake :shocked:

[Leeghoofd]

Hows does that work Grnfinger a Q6600 with a 10X multi ? a wrongly named Q6700 ? performance though doesn't seem so impressive 1.4 volts for only 3.4ghz... bummer...

[teknokid]

Woah... did you just set a 10x multi in the bios? thats wierd

[kup]

It's an ES chip, they're unlocked...

[Grnfinger]

looks like it will hit a wall at 3.8 needing 1.565 (bios) I was hoping to get a 4.0GHz at decent volts but oh well.