Maximus Formula...flash to 1004bios or mod to Rampage?

[newls1]

I have a bunch of new goodies coming for my PC to upgrade it into 2008era (See new updated sig)

I will be using 4 sticks of 2gb each for 8GB's of the G.Skill PC8500 stuff which seems to have great reviews. My goal is to achieve a stable DDR1066 speeds with all 8GB's in use (G.Skill says it not a problem for X38) but what BIOS is best? Im currently using 903 and it has been flawless for me using my current 2x1GB ballistix sticks which are running @ DDR1135 using only 2.16V. I see there is a new 1004 BIOS on asus' website, but I've also been reading through the "turn your maximus formula into a RAMPAGE formula, and that seems like another route to go, just a little more dangerous. Can someone please point me in the right direction:) . What Bios to use, or is it possible that my current 903 bios could be good to stick with? My new parts *should* be here Friday (I HOPE) but just wanted to get a head start on finding information

[gurusan]

From what I've seen, people are able to get slightly better settings from their memory with the rampage BIOS.

I didn't go from the Maximus, but the P5E to the Rampage and it made quite a lot of difference. :)

[Stanley Pain]

Seeing that it's really easy to flash between the two. Test both and see what runs better for you.

My anecdotal evidence shows that the Rampage bios tends to give better overclocks and better memory bandwidth @ similar settings.

[gurusan]

yup you can always flash back! The process is extremely easy.

[HellasVagabond]

If he flashes to rampage there is no turning back....isnt the mod one way ?

[xgman]

No you can flash back to the 907 bios.

[gurusan]

If he flashes to rampage there is no turning back....isnt the mod one way ?

Can go both ways, I've already flashed back and forth from my P5E a few times.

[Eastcoasthandle]

No you can flash back to the 907 bios.

But can you flash to 1004 after 907?

[STaRGaZeR]

Guys, you can change between EVERY BIOS OUT THERE (Rampage, Maximus and P5E). Someone put that in a sticky so we don't have to answer the same question 10 times a day :D

[HellasVagabond]

^ ^ ^

Nice GUNDAM Avatar Stargazer :)

Also what is the latest stable Bios for the formula ? 1004 ?

[STaRGaZeR]

Yes, 1004 is the lastest BIOS available for the Maximus.

PS: HellasVagabond, hehe I'm looking forward to this season last episode, airing this saturday :slobber:

[Grnfinger]

I have a bunch of new goodies coming for my PC to upgrade it into 2008era (See new updated sig)

I will be using 4 sticks of 2gb each for 8GB's of the G.Skill PC8500 stuff which seems to have great reviews. My goal is to achieve a stable DDR1066 speeds with all 8GB's in use (G.Skill says it not a problem for X38) but what BIOS is best? Im currently using 903 and it has been flawless for me using my current 2x1GB ballistix sticks which are running @ DDR1135 using only 2.16V. I see there is a new 1004 BIOS on asus' website, but I've also been reading through the "turn your maximus formula into a RAMPAGE formula, and that seems like another route to go, just a little more dangerous. Can someone please point me in the right direction:) . What Bios to use, or is it possible that my current 903 bios could be good to stick with? My new parts *should* be here Friday (I HOPE) but just wanted to get a head start on finding information

Kup had great success with going back to MF 505 for his quad and 4GB.
I would recommend re trying that bios b4 any conversion.
MF 1004 is very 45nm friendly and is a HUGE improvment , so if your running a MF bios I would recommend that.
The Rampage conversion is worth it imo, easy as hell to do and with the proper afudos you can bounce back if you so choose.
In the beginning I was a bit uneasy with the conversion, some very minor bugs, but a fresh OS install sorted any issues out, and I would recommend a clean install if converting.
Rampage bios is full of new memory settings and tweaks so it should play very well with 4 and 8 gb of ram.
In short if your not happy with the Rampage conversion you can flash back to ANY bios you so choose

[newls1]

is there an easier way to flash to the rampage BIOS? If not can someone please explain it better, then what is in the thread about the rampage bios tweak...Please! Thanks

[XtremeTiramisu]

is there an easier way to flash to the rampage BIOS? If not can someone please explain it better, then what is in the thread about the rampage bios tweak...Please! Thanks

Everyone should read this to gain better knowledge about Rampage bios and its characteristics to help you better with OC.
I'm still reading it atm...looks like a new bios flash to rampage can means many days of playing and tweaking...have fun guys.
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3208&p=1