ASUS Maximus II Formula - new P45 king?

[CryptiK]

Very impressive scores CryptiK :up:

Thanks, it took a bit of tweaking to get it stable.


jeje nice results my friend !!! :up:

Saludos Amigo !
Sergio

Muchas gracias amigo :D


Impressive:up:

I'm tempted to toss a 8400 in today and play around

Thanks, you should definitely give it a go I have had a lot of really fun finding the limits if this thing.

[Grnfinger]

:party: http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff267/Grnfinger/christmas_t_3.gif :party:


MERRY CHRISTMAS...I WISH YOU GUYS ALL THE BEST FOR THE NEW YEAR.

[CryptiK]

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii265/timbosan/Jesusxmasgift.jpg


Merry Christmas Everyone, hope you all have a safe and happy holiday :)

[KURTZ]

thx guys!!!!! ;)

merry xamas too ;)

anyway, what about my temps and voltages?

http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/9819/pick01dec241454gy2.th.gif (http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/9819/pick01dec241454gy2.gif)

vCC = 1.240
vFSB = 1.25
vNB = 1.40
vPLL = 1.54

vDIMM = 2.2 strap 333 @ 1.080mhz

@ Liquid cooling (CPU & NB)

[CryptiK]

Nice Kurtz, that is a ridiculously good cpu you have there. NB voltage may be a bit high not sure if you need that but everything else looks spot on. I assume you're running you ram at 600 MHz, at CL5 my CS kits needs 1.98v at 600 MHz to be stable, but depends on your timings, and not every kit behaves the same.

[andressergio]

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii265/timbosan/Jesusxmasgift.jpg


Merry Christmas Everyone, hope you all have a safe and happy holiday :)

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

Jesus that's the best Xmas Card ever :rofl:

FELICIDADES PARA TODOS !!! (Merry Xmas to all !!! )

[Rocks]

Man, I think my memory controller has finally bit the dust. Every so often it used to act up. It would not allow me to run my memory in Dual config, only single would work. After a few hours of resetting, reseating, clearing CMOS it would usually kick back in and start working again.

Recently I moved back from Japan and set my PC back up here. I can't get dual channel to work for the life of me. Even under default settings without overclocking. I tried different sticks of RAM. Basically the first two slots work but the second two do not.

Any ideas?

[Grnfinger]

Man, I think my memory controller has finally bit the dust. Every so often it used to act up. It would not allow me to run my memory in Dual config, only single would work. After a few hours of resetting, reseating, clearing CMOS it would usually kick back in and start working again.

Recently I moved back from Japan and set my PC back up here. I can't get dual channel to work for the life of me. Even under default settings without overclocking. I tried different sticks of RAM. Basically the first two slots work but the second two do not.

Any ideas?

You have tested each dimm with memtest I assume
Check the mobo dimm slot area for swollen / fat capacitors, if you see any its a RMA.

You could give Asus a call, doubt there open today but it couldnt hurt to try.

North American #'s
510-739-3777
812-282-2787

If you do have to RMA the board request teh California facility, it has been my experience that the losers work in the Indiana facility, avoid it all costs

[KURTZ]

Nice Kurtz, that is a ridiculously good cpu you have there. NB voltage may be a bit high not sure if you need that but everything else looks spot on. I assume you're running you ram at 600 MHz, at CL5 my CS kits needs 1.98v at 600 MHz to be stable, but depends on your timings, and not every kit behaves the same.

the DIMMs are @ 540 cl.5 2.2 vDIMM ... i dunno why i can't boot with a lower voltage ... anyway i need to test my HW better ...

this is only my first run ...

however Crytik just a tip: what are the max voltage that i can run onto my board safely? i mean vPLL, vFSB and vNB ... cause i wanna try and reach 5Ghz :D

thanks :)

edit: new result

http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/7762/pick01dec241855le4.th.gif (http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/7762/pick01dec241855le4.gif)

[SiGfever]

Merry Christmas to all, and Happy Holidays! :toast:

[yobi]

THX.

and merry xamas for all

[seban]

Merry Christmas and a happy new year !! to all of you ppl.

[Rocks]

You have tested each dimm with memtest I assume
Check the mobo dimm slot area for swollen / fat capacitors, if you see any its a RMA.

You could give Asus a call, doubt there open today but it couldnt hurt to try.

North American #'s
510-739-3777
812-282-2787

If you do have to RMA the board request teh California facility, it has been my experience that the losers work in the Indiana facility, avoid it all costs


Thanks for the response,

I already have an RMA coming. This board qualified for the Advance swap.

Each stick of RAM is fine by itself in either of the first two slots. The last two wont boot with one stick in either.

This kind of thing had happened to me on the striker II formula as well...with different RAM even...

I hope they RMA with new boards and not refurbs..

I tried two different types of RAM, so it has to be the board.

[KURTZ]

another big shot for me ... now i've fixed the vNB to 'only' 1.30v ... :p unfortunately the bios bug wants 1.20 vFSB cause if i set 1.10/1.15 i can't reboot ...

http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/6247/pick01dec251242za9.th.gif (http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/6247/pick01dec251242za9.gif)

4600mhz @ 1.264 vCC

however, a friend has told me that the most important GTLs are the 0/2 and NOT the 1/3 ... so i used the Cryptik formula to calculate the 'distance' thru the 0.635 and 0.667 GTLs but ik haven't carried the 1/3 GTLs near the 0/2 ... i did the contrary ... so i settled the 0/2 GTL +40mV and NOT the 1/3 to -40mV ... :)

edit: AND NOW HERE WE ARE!!!! :D

http://www.vocinelweb.it/faccine/big/pag2/14.gif

5000!!!!!!!!!

http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/8518/pick01dec251316nq2.th.gif (http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/8518/pick01dec251316nq2.gif)

VALIDATOR: http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=469816

vCC: 1.36
vFSB: 1.20
vNB: 1.30
vPLL: 1.54
vSB: Default

i need some voltage for a superPI ... :D stay tuned ... :p

[carepolice]

another big shot for me ... now i've fixed the vNB to 'only' 1.30v ... :p unfortunately the bios bug wants 1.20 vFSB cause if i set 1.10/1.15 i can't reboot ...

http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/6247/pick01dec251242za9.th.gif (http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/6247/pick01dec251242za9.gif)

4600mhz @ 1.264 vCC

however, a friend has told me that the most important GTLs are the 0/2 and NOT the 1/3 ... so i used the Cryptik formula to calculate the 'distance' thru the 0.635 and 0.667 GTLs but ik haven't carried the 1/3 GTLs near the 0/2 ... i did the contrary ... so i settled the 0/2 GTL +40mV and NOT the 1/3 to -40mV ... :)

edit: AND NOW HERE WE ARE!!!! :D

http://www.vocinelweb.it/faccine/big/pag2/14.gif

5000!!!!!!!!!

http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/8518/pick01dec251316nq2.th.gif (http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/8518/pick01dec251316nq2.gif)

VALIDATOR: http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=469816

vCC: 1.36
vFSB: 1.20
vNB: 1.30
vPLL: 1.54
vSB: Default

i need some voltage for a superPI ... :D stay tuned ... :p

WHAT


This chip is a freaking monster :eek: :up:

[ViViD]

Hi
Mary Xmas Happy Holiday

http://valid.canardpc.com/cache/screenshot/468146.png
Valid Link (http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=468146)

[Grnfinger]

Bit of work but ......

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

http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff267/Grnfinger/Vantage_2.png

http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff267/Grnfinger/BEST3dmark1.jpg

[SiGfever]

Bit of work but ......

Nice numbers! :clap: :clap:

[seban]

Bit of work but ......

Indeed nice numbers.

Can you tell me what vtt, vnb and cpu pll was needed to achieve this?

And can you show everest for mem maybe. In fact GTL refs would be also nice.

Or maybe whole template :D ...

Cheers

[shaffaaf27]

hey guys i have an E0 Q9550, what would the best official/beta or modded BIOS be?

[shaffaaf27]

another big shot for me ... now i've fixed the vNB to 'only' 1.30v ... :p unfortunately the bios bug wants 1.20 vFSB cause if i set 1.10/1.15 i can't reboot ...

http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/6247/pick01dec251242za9.th.gif (http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/6247/pick01dec251242za9.gif)

4600mhz @ 1.264 vCC

however, a friend has told me that the most important GTLs are the 0/2 and NOT the 1/3 ... so i used the Cryptik formula to calculate the 'distance' thru the 0.635 and 0.667 GTLs but ik haven't carried the 1/3 GTLs near the 0/2 ... i did the contrary ... so i settled the 0/2 GTL +40mV and NOT the 1/3 to -40mV ... :)

edit: AND NOW HERE WE ARE!!!! :D

http://www.vocinelweb.it/faccine/big/pag2/14.gif

5000!!!!!!!!!

http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/8518/pick01dec251316nq2.th.gif (http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/8518/pick01dec251316nq2.gif)

VALIDATOR: http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=469816

vCC: 1.36
vFSB: 1.20
vNB: 1.30
vPLL: 1.54
vSB: Default

i need some voltage for a superPI ... :D stay tuned ... :p


wow mate, is that under water?

also what are the calculations for the GTLs?

[seban]

also what are the calculations for the GTLs?

GTL calculations -> http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=202292

Also you can use edit - believe me it works just fine.

[shaffaaf27]

cheers mate.... funny, edit has never worked for me :p

[xzulu]

Just got home today. My family spent Christmas out of town...

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

Sorry for the late greeting :)

[shaffaaf27]

right updated to bios 1802, and i can 3dmark at 470 FSB, but gaming i have to take back to 458 once again. shall i try BIOS 2 and put 1802 in that, and start afresh with that?

any good modded bios's?

[radaja]

very impressive grnfinger.by the way,what is the latest board revision#? i think my last board was 1.02? maybe some of you guys can take a quick look and see what you guys have? and possibly post them?thank you.

[seban]

very impressive grnfinger.by the way,what is the latest board revision#? i think my last board was 1.02? maybe some of you guys can take a quick look and see what you guys have? and possibly post them?thank you.

1.02 here as well.

Radaja is it new board? or that used one from RMA?


right updated to bios 1802, and i can 3dmark at 470 FSB, but gaming i have to take back to 458 once again. shall i try BIOS 2 and put 1802 in that, and start afresh with that?

any good modded bios's?

You can start with telling us what is your hardware m8 :) and what are your settings in BIOS.

[radaja]

that was on the used one they sent. still waiting for the replacement.

[CryptiK]

another big shot for me ... now i've fixed the vNB to 'only' 1.30v ... :p unfortunately the bios bug wants 1.20 vFSB cause if i set 1.10/1.15 i can't reboot ...



4600mhz @ 1.264 vCC

however, a friend has told me that the most important GTLs are the 0/2 and NOT the 1/3 ... so i used the Cryptik formula to calculate the 'distance' thru the 0.635 and 0.667 GTLs but ik haven't carried the 1/3 GTLs near the 0/2 ... i did the contrary ... so i settled the 0/2 GTL +40mV and NOT the 1/3 to -40mV ... :)

edit: AND NOW HERE WE ARE!!!! :D



5000!!!!!!!!!

http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/8518/pick01dec251316nq2.th.gif (http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/8518/pick01dec251316nq2.gif)

VALIDATOR: http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=469816

vCC: 1.36
vFSB: 1.20
vNB: 1.30
vPLL: 1.54
vSB: Default

i need some voltage for a superPI ... :D stay tuned ... :p

That's an incredible cpu, good work on the OC :D


Bit of work but ......



Very impressive, 4.165GHz valid almost 22K in 06!

[shaffaaf27]

Rig:
Swiftech GTZ water block
Thermochill PA120.3 radiator
EK Multioption 150 reservoir
Swiftech D5 Vario Pump
1/2" XPSC Tubing
Feser 1 pink
Q9950 (E0)
ASUS MAximus II Formula
Powercolor 4870X2
ASUS Xonar DX sound card
Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 650W
2x2GB Geil Black Dragon
640GB Samsung F1
Pioneer DVR-216BK

BIOS:

http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk50/shaffaaf27/PC/IMG_2291.jpg
http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk50/shaffaaf27/PC/IMG_2292.jpg
http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk50/shaffaaf27/PC/IMG_2293.jpg
http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk50/shaffaaf27/PC/IMG_2294.jpg
http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk50/shaffaaf27/PC/IMG_2295.jpg

[seban]

Rig:
Swiftech GTZ water block
Thermochill PA120.3 radiator
EK Multioption 150 reservoir
Swiftech D5 Vario Pump
1/2" XPSC Tubing
Feser 1 pink
Q9950 (E0)
ASUS MAximus II Formula
Powercolor 4870X2
ASUS Xonar DX sound card
Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 650W
2x2GB Geil Black Dragon
640GB Samsung F1
Pioneer DVR-216BK

BIOS:
[

M8 I know it is Xmass and we r all lazy :D but it would be much easier to read if you would just type your Bios settings in.

Only thing I was able to read is last screen (CPU MENU) when you got all enabled - all should be disabled to enhance stability.

[SiGfever]

Here is a Template to use for posting your info.

[SkOrPn]

Here is my current attempt at total stability with a simple 4ghz oc. Skews and GTLs are set to auto for now. Below the bios settings I have a screen shot of multiple screen shots showing stability.

Processor: E8600 E0
Ai Overclock Tuner: Manual
Ratio CMOS Setting: 8
FSB Frequency: 500
CPU Clock Skew: Auto (For now)
NB Clock Skew: Auto (For now)
FSB Strap to North Bridge: 333
DRAM Frequency: DDR2-1002MHz

DRAM CLK Skew on Channel A1: Auto
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel A2: Auto
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel B1: Auto
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel B2: Auto
DRAM Timing Control: Auto (For Now)

DRAM Static Read Control: Disabled
DRAM Read Training: Disabled
MEM. OC Charger: Enabled
Ai Clock Twister: Auto (For now)
Ai Transaction Booster: Manual

Common Performance Level: 10
Pull-in of CHA PH1: Disabled
Pull-in of CHA PH2: Disabled
Pull-in of CHA PH3: Disabled
Pull-in of CHB PH1: Disabled
Pull-in of CHB PH2: Disabled
Pull-in of CHB PH3: Disabled

PCIE Frequency: 100

CPU Voltage: 1.343 (droop unknown)
CPU PLL Voltage: 1.539
FSB Termination Voltage: 1.245
DRAM Voltage: 1.8
North Bridge Voltage: 1.351
South Bridge 1.5 Voltage: 1.54
South Bridge 1.1 Voltage: 1.12 (For Raid Stability)

CPU GTL Reference (0): Auto
CPU GTL Reference (1): Auto
CPU GTL Reference (2): Auto
CPU GTL Reference (3): Auto
NB GTL Reference: Auto
DDR2 ChA Reference Voltage: Auto
DDR2 ChB Reference Voltage: Auto
North Bridge DDR Reference: Auto

Ratio CMOS Setting: 8
C1E Support: Enabled
Max CPUID Value Limit: Enabled
Intel Virtualization Tech: Enabled
CPU TM Function: Enabled
Execute Disable Bit: Enabled

Load-Line Calibration: Disabled
CPU Spread Spectrum: Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum: Disabled
http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/5093/finaltestinghy5.jpg

I have re-sized the image for 21" monitors so I apologize for blurryness, but I did not like how big the original shot was, lol (on a 24" mon). A friend tells me this is overkill for stability testing but I wanted to make sure. The PC Probe image on the left is Active with LinX running in the background and on the right is a screen of idle. Real Temp shows temps with LinX running after about 10 mins. Real Temp says idle is 44c immediately after the Linx test. I think it normally is around 35c. Not sure if Real Temp 2.90 is accurate or not though.

This OC has been running for nearly two weeks now and has been very enjoyable. Gaming has been ROCK SOLID without so much as a flinch. I quite like how when idle my oc drops to 3ghz, but I had a friend suggest I do that since Im not always at my pc.

At this point I am looking for any tips/pointers as to what I should do next. Should I start with lowering some v? Or is this OC just fine as is? Thanks

SkOrPn

[seban]

And this is my template for 460fsb stable (12h blend + 10max IBT + Pi 32m):

But my Mobo really like volts... :( especial on vtt and vnb).

You can give it a shot. Maybe it will be some starting point for you.

RAM timings are from Grnfinger (THX m8) and they work all the way up to 475 fsb so I will work on them when I got it finally stable at 471 or more - almost there. But my PC is 2000km from me ATM :D.


Processor: q9550 e0 (vid 1.25v)
Ai Overclock Tuner: Manual
OC From CPU Level Up: Auto
Ratio CMOS Setting: 8.5
FSB Frequency: 460
CPU Clock Skew: Normal
NB Clock Skew: Normal
FSB Strap to North Bridge: 333
DRAM Frequency: DDR2-1105MHz

DRAM CLK Skew on Channel A1: auto
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel A2: auto
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel B1: auto
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel B2: auto
DRAM Timing Control: Manual

1st Information:

CAS# Latency: 5 DRAM Clocks
DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay: 5 DRAM Clocks
DRAM RAS# Precharge: 5 DRAM Clocks
DRAM RAS# Activate to Precharge: 15 DRAM Clocks
RAS# to RAS# Delay: 3
Row Refresh Recycle Time: 55 DRAM Clocks
Write Recovery Time: 6
Read to Precharge Time: 3

2nd Information:

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

3rd Information:

Write to PRE Delay: 14
Read to PRE Delay: 5
PRE to PRE Delay: 1
All PRE to ACT Delay: 5
All PRE to REF Delay: 5
DRAM Static Read Control: Enabled
DRAM Read Training: Disabled
MEM. OC Charger: Enabled
Ai Clock Twister: Stronger
Ai Transaction Booster: Manual

Common Performance Level: 8
Pull-in of CHA PH1: Disabled
Pull-in of CHA PH2: Disabled
Pull-in of CHA PH3: Disabled
Pull-in of CHB PH1: Disabled
Pull-in of CHB PH2: Disabled
Pull-in of CHB PH3: Disabled

PCIE Frequency: 102

CPU Voltage: 1.3
CPU PLL Voltage: 1.53975
FSB Termination Voltage: 1.365
DRAM Voltage: 2.1
North Bridge Voltage: 1.4445
South Bridge 1.5 Voltage: 1.50
South Bridge 1.1 Voltage: 1.1325

CPU GTL Reference (0): 60
CPU GTL Reference (1): 20
CPU GTL Reference (2): 60
CPU GTL Reference (3): 20
NB GTL Reference: 70
DDR2 ChA Reference Voltage: Auto
DDR2 ChB Reference Voltage: Auto
North Bridge DDR Reference: Auto

CPU Configuration:

Ratio CMOS Setting: 8.5
C1E Support: Disabled
Max CPUID Value Limit: Disabled
Intel Virtualization Tech: Disabled
CPU TM Function: Disabled
Execute Disable Bit: Disabled

Load-Line Calibration: Enabled
CPU Spread Spectrum: Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum: Disabled




At this point I am looking for any tips/pointers as to what I should do next. Should I start with lowering some v? Or is this OC just fine as is? Thanks

SkOrPn

Looks pretty nice to me :) - you could always go for higher PCIe freq. and also try squeeze you RAM to work on 1200mhz with 10:12 div.

[shaffaaf27]

right this is mine, seban i will try yours now, but aaprt form the RAM things, as im not sure this RAM will run at at 1105 or with those intricate timings :D



Processor: Q9550 (E0)
Ai Overclock Tuner: Manual
OC From CPU Level Up: Crazy
Ratio CMOS Setting: 8.5
FSB Frequency: 458
CPU Clock Skew: Normal
NB Clock Skew: Normal
FSB Strap to North Bridge: 333
DRAM Frequency: 917

DRAM CLK Skew on Channel A1: AUTO
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel A2: AUTO
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel B1: AUTO
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel B2: AUTO
DRAM Timing Control: Manual

1st Information: 5-5-5-15-3-52-6-3

CAS# Latency: 5 DRAM Clocks
DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay: 5 DRAM Clocks
DRAM RAS# Precharge: 5 DRAM Clocks
DRAM RAS# Activate to Precharge: 15 DRAM Clocks
RAS# to RAS# Delay: Auto
Row Refresh Recycle Time: Auto
Write Recovery Time: Auto
Read to Precharge Time: Auto

2nd Information: 8-3-5-4-6-4-6

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







3rd Information: 14-5-1-6-6

Write to PRE Delay: Auto
Read to PRE Delay: Auto
PRE to PRE Delay: Auto
All PRE to ACT Delay: Auto
All PRE to REF Delay: Auto
DRAM Static Read Control: Auto
DRAM Read Training: Auto
MEM. OC Charger: Auto
Ai Clock Twister: Auto
Ai Transaction Booster: Auto

PCIE Frequency: 100

CPU Voltage: 1.40000
CPU PLL Voltage: 1.60600
FSB Termination Voltage: 1.37825
DRAM Voltage: 2.21075
North Bridge Voltage: 1.37825
South Bridge 1.5 Voltage: 1.50000
South Bridge 1.1 Voltage: 1.10000

CPU GTL Reference (0): Auto
CPU GTL Reference (1): -40mV
CPU GTL Reference (2): Auto
CPU GTL Reference (3): -40mV
NB GTL Reference: Auto
DDR2 ChA Reference Voltage: Auto
DDR2 ChB Reference Voltage: Auto
North Bridge DDR Reference: Auto




CPU Configuration:

Ratio CMOS Setting: 8.5
C1E Support: Enabled
Max CPUID Value Limit: Enabled
Intel Virtualization Tech: Enabled
CPU TM Function: Enabled
Execute Disable Bit: Enabled

Load-Line Calibration: Enabled
CPU Spread Spectrum: Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum: Disabled

[ViViD]

Hi
This Is END Stable OC On My Board Test In 3Dmark Vantage And Got 15683 Point With 4870X2

Processor: Q9550 (E0)
Ai Overclock Tuner: Manual
Ratio CMOS Setting: 8.5
FSB Frequency: 480
DRAM Frequency: 980
DRAM Timing Control: Manual

1st Information: 5-5-5-15-3-52-6-3

CPU Voltage: Auto
CPU PLL Voltage: 1.60600
FSB Termination Voltage: 1.5
DRAM Voltage: Auto
North Bridge Voltage: 1.5
South Bridge 1.5 Voltage: Auto
South Bridge 1.1 Voltage: Auto

CPU GTL Reference (0): Auto
CPU GTL Reference (1): Auto
CPU GTL Reference (2): Auto
CPU GTL Reference (3): Auto
NB GTL Reference: Auto
DDR2 ChA Reference Voltage: Auto
DDR2 ChB Reference Voltage: Auto
North Bridge DDR Reference: Auto

CPU Configuration:
Ratio CMOS Setting: 8.5
C1E Support: Disabled
Max CPUID Value Limit: Enabled
Intel Virtualization Tech: Disabled
CPU TM Function: Enabled
Execute Disable Bit: Enabled

Load-Line Calibration: Enabled
CPU Spread Spectrum: Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum: Disabled
All Other In Default & Auto

http://shahrsakhtafzar.com/img/out.php/i10967_002.jpg

And This Not Stable:D With 1.650 CPU V
http://valid.canardpc.com/cache/screenshot/468146.png

[Leeghoofd]

Nice score, but that's a Vantage score mate if it was a 3dmark06 score I would be shocked with that hardware...

[seban]

edit - cut

[ViViD]

Sorry My Friend Vantage Is True Sorry For My Fault

[shaffaaf27]

seban, THANKYOU!!!!!!!

it worked, i am 470FSB stable thus far. havent tried more.

[Gunnz Akimbo]

does this board undervolt?

also, what driver is needed for esata and port multiplier?

[SkOrPn]

what driver is needed for esata and port multiplier?
Marvell 61xx v1.2.0.60 drivers are the latest for eSATA I believe...

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/misc/utils/Marvell_Raid_V12060_XPVista.zip

[seban]

seban, THANKYOU!!!!!!!

it worked, i am 470FSB stable thus far. havent tried more.

You are welcome m8 :) Glad you made good use of it.


Hi
This Is END Stable OC On My Board Test In 3Dmark Vantage And Got 15683 Point With 4870X2

Hi ViVid,

What vcore MF2 is setting for you when you are on auto?

Cheers

[andressergio]

Hey guys

After some days of tweaking i arrived at IBT and LinX stable on mems 1200 PL7...I was able to pass 1h+ prime smallfft's but IBT and LinX failed in seconds...So i decided to work more, IBT and LinX using ALL memory are a hell of stressers, it really needs some volts to pass them.

Here's some screens

My settings

Processor: q9650 E0 L825B513 (vid 1.25v)
Ratio CMOS Setting: 9
FSB Frequency: 450
CPU Clock Skew: Normal
NB Clock Skew: Delay 100
FSB Strap to North Bridge: Auto
DRAM Frequency: DDR2-1200MHz

DRAM CLK Skew on Channel A1: delay 50ps
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel A2: delay 50ps
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel B1: delay 50ps
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel B2: delay 50ps
DRAM Timing Control: Manual

1st Information:

CAS# Latency: 5 DRAM Clocks
DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay: 5 DRAM Clocks
DRAM RAS# Precharge: 5 DRAM Clocks
DRAM RAS# Activate to Precharge: 15 DRAM Clocks
RAS# to RAS# Delay: AUTO
Row Refresh Recycle Time: 55 DRAM Clocks
Write Recovery Time: AUTO
Read to Precharge Time: AUTO

*This all AUTO
2nd Information:
3rd Information:

Write to PRE Delay: AUTO
Read to PRE Delay: AUTO
PRE to PRE Delay: AUTO
All PRE to ACT Delay: AUTO
All PRE to REF Delay: AUTO
DRAM Static Read Control: Enabled
DRAM Read Training: Enabled
MEM. OC Charger: Enabled
Ai Clock Twister: Stronger
Ai Transaction Booster: Manual

Common Performance Level: 7
Pull-in of CHA PH1: Disabled
Pull-in of CHA PH2: Disabled
Pull-in of CHA PH3: Disabled
Pull-in of CHB PH1: Disabled
Pull-in of CHB PH2: Disabled
Pull-in of CHB PH3: Disabled

PCIE Frequency: 102

CPU Voltage: 1.3315
CPU PLL Voltage: 1.51..
FSB Termination Voltage: 1.31..
DRAM Voltage: 2.05
North Bridge Voltage: 1.41..
South Bridge 1.5 Voltage: 1.50
South Bridge 1.1 Voltage: 1.1

CPU GTL Reference (0): +10
CPU GTL Reference (1): -50
CPU GTL Reference (2): +10
CPU GTL Reference (3): -50
NB GTL Reference: +40
DDR2 ChA Reference Voltage: Auto
DDR2 ChB Reference Voltage: Auto
North Bridge DDR Reference: Auto

CPU Configuration:

Ratio CMOS Setting: 9
C1E Support: Disabled
Max CPUID Value Limit: Disabled
Intel Virtualization Tech: Disabled
CPU TM Function: Disabled
Execute Disable Bit: Disabled

Load-Line Calibration: Enabled
CPU Spread Spectrum: Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum: Disabled

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/1374/4050450x9mems341200pl7pqk4.jpg

http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/6108/4050450x9mems341200pl7mhl9.jpg

http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/7560/4050450x9mems341200pl7evn5.jpg

[ViViD]

Hi ViVid,

What vcore MF2 is setting for you when you are on auto?

Cheers

Hi
1.36 On LCD Poster :)

[Fragger]

Hi All,
Well I have finally got a M2F and a E8500 chip. Now my goal is a 4Ghz stable OC. I know little about OC ing so could someone post bios settings that would make this happen, thanks in advance. Oh am also using Ballistix tracer ram - 2Gb @1066Mhz.
Cheers

[cstkl1]

another big shot for me ... now i've fixed the vNB to 'only' 1.30v ... :p unfortunately the bios bug wants 1.20 vFSB cause if i set 1.10/1.15 i can't reboot ...

http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/6247/pick01dec251242za9.th.gif (http://img376.imageshack.us/img376/6247/pick01dec251242za9.gif)

4600mhz @ 1.264 vCC

however, a friend has told me that the most important GTLs are the 0/2 and NOT the 1/3 ... so i used the Cryptik formula to calculate the 'distance' thru the 0.635 and 0.667 GTLs but ik haven't carried the 1/3 GTLs near the 0/2 ... i did the contrary ... so i settled the 0/2 GTL +40mV and NOT the 1/3 to -40mV ... :)

edit: AND NOW HERE WE ARE!!!! :D

http://www.vocinelweb.it/faccine/big/pag2/14.gif

5000!!!!!!!!!

http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/8518/pick01dec251316nq2.th.gif (http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/8518/pick01dec251316nq2.gif)

VALIDATOR: http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=469816

vCC: 1.36
vFSB: 1.20
vNB: 1.30
vPLL: 1.54
vSB: Default

i need some voltage for a superPI ... :D stay tuned ... :p

cryptik formula?

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p=3162672&postcount=336
back in june kekeke before he even registered and only works with current p45 and r2e..for e8600 E0. E8400/E8500 C0 is different
as it is vid dependent
s2f and s2e is different.


kekeke lol:rofl:
main reason y i dont want to post the skewing test... suddenly there will be a thread when its based on one proc only/ram config only

[Furiøùs]

Anyone have good Quad core 8x500 settings? I have a Q9650 that does 9x450 just fine, but i want a higher FSB.

Looking for a good place to start, I can get P95 and OCCT to go for 5-10min then it crashes. Anyone have settings for it that i can give a whirl?

[brain@voz]

this is my Q9550 result, My goal is 495x8.5 :D
Q9550 @4.12Ghz (485x8.5) - 1,375v - Stepping C1-Bios 1307
Small FFTs - stress CPU ~ 2h30
http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/2025/412136th4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[seban]

this is my Q9550 result, My goal is 495x8.5 :D
Q9550 @4.12Ghz (485x8.5) - 1,375v - Stepping C1-Bios 1307
Small FFTs - stress CPU ~ 2h30


Dont get me wrong but from small ftt to stability there is long way to go :) Try blend test and IBT and report back. Good luck m8 :up:

[Leeghoofd]

+1 Seban

Yeah it seems the CPU's can handle it but the P45 NB/RAM caps out for most... even worse on DDR3 version of P45

[seban]

cryptik formula?

...

main reason y i dont want to post the skewing test... suddenly there will be a thread when its based on one proc only/ram config only

What is skewing test?

And also how old r u?

[brain@voz]

Dont get me wrong but from small ftt to stability there is long way to go :) Try blend test and IBT and report back. Good luck m8 :up:

ok,mate, tonight, I will try :up:

[andressergio]

Dont get me wrong but from small ftt to stability there is long way to go :) Try blend test and IBT and report back. Good luck m8 :up:

Agree with seban, i was testing smallfft's and passed 1h+ then IBT won't run just 3 seconds...You can use LinX setting problem size on 10000 and give it 5 test just as a start to see how it's going, adjust and re test, then try 10 runs with problem size 10000, finally go to IBT or LinX (using ALL mem)

Cheers
Sergio

[cstkl1]

What is skewing test?

And also how old r u?

skewing test to show the reason y high fsb on this board is limited for full stability
already proven with re as it is exactly the same with m2f on clocking bus for e8600
its either they give u more options on the ram or have better mem tables in the bios

and age.. old enough to buy any hardware and retire in a few years
kekeke

[Furiøùs]

Agree with seban, i was testing smallfft's and passed 1h+ then IBT won't run just 3 seconds...You can use LinX setting problem size on 10000 and give it 5 test just as a start to see how it's going, adjust and re test, then try 10 runs with problem size 10000, finally go to IBT or LinX (using ALL mem)

Cheers
Sergio

My system is stable, no doubt. 450x9 blah blah its great.

I want to run LinX just to test, but i cant. I cant see 80c on the chip. i feel like im burning it alive :mad:

[SkOrPn]

80c on the cpu would start to worry me too.

[KURTZ]

wow mate, is that under water?

also what are the calculations for the GTLs?

yes dude, under water :)

GTLs were +60 0/2 and +20 1/3 ... :)

[KURTZ]

cryptik formula?

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p=3162672&postcount=336
back in june kekeke before he even registered and only works with current p45 and r2e..for e8600 E0. E8400/E8500 C0 is different
as it is vid dependent
s2f and s2e is different.


kekeke lol:rofl:
main reason y i dont want to post the skewing test... suddenly there will be a thread when its based on one proc only/ram config only

yes i use the Cryptik formula that you linked (but for the 45nms) :) and it runs! :p

i've some troubles with the NB GTLs cause i don't understand correctly how i can set that value ...

[Fragger]

SkOrPn - Thanks for posting your bios settings, they work really well. I now understand why you guys like over clocking so much. I always hated how long Vista took to boot up but its much faster now. Thanks dude.

[Furiøùs]

Im pretty amazed no one has a stable 500x8 setting for a quad-core..

Meh! stick to my 450x9 then :up:

[andressergio]

My system is stable, no doubt. 450x9 blah blah its great.

I want to run LinX just to test, but i cant. I cant see 80c on the chip. i feel like im burning it alive :mad:

Yes I also tought the same till i tested IBT ;)

No go that you try it if it goes up to 80C mate

Sergio

[Grnfinger]

I finally got time to open my RMA'd board from Asus.
It was actually packaged very very well this time around.
I open the cardboard box and see another box inside, this one is white no lables and of mobo size, I'm all excited like christmas all over again.
So Grn takes his time and carefully opens the smaller box and to my surprise its a Max II Formula not a Rampage :shakes: :banana::banana::banana::banana:ing Asus couldnt order a pizza correctly.
Well now I have 2 MIIF boards grrrr ...... Its still a sweet upgrade, Max Formula SE for a Max II Formula but it really piss's me off , maybe I should go for RMA #4:rofl:

[screwtech02]

Wow, and this is actually after talking with these people on the phone??? Goes to show how much "customer support" is actaully going on there....:shakes:

Hell, if you had any old Asus Nvidia cards, you could RMA those and probbably pick up a couple of 4870x2's..... It would be worth paying the shipping.....:rofl::rofl::rofl:

[Grnfinger]

Wow, and this is actually after talking with these people on the phone??? Goes to show how much "customer support" is actaully going on there....:shakes:

Hell, if you had any old Asus Nvidia cards, you could RMA those and probbably pick up a couple of 4870x2's..... It would be worth paying the shipping.....:rofl::rofl::rofl:

HAHAHA I dont doubt that, I'm tempted to call and complain, atleast they got the T-Shirt right, right size and color:up:

I'm still pleased I guess about the upgrade, just wanted the other platform.

[Furiøùs]

I'd be happy with the Maximus II Formula.. E8400 will probably love it haha.

[Fragger]

Ok so now I am at 4Ghz stable - E8500, Im wondering how far can it go and be stable, what do I have to do to get there?

[Grnfinger]

Im pretty amazed no one has a stable 500x8 setting for a quad-core..

Meh! stick to my 450x9 then :up:

Ahh no need to fret:D

I'm going to do a nice 500x8 setup tonight, once stable I'll help you out.

In the meantime why not try this.

445x9 266strap ram 1116MHz, you might have to give the vNB alittle more to keep it stable but I think you'll find the bandwidth boost rather refreshing.
12:10 1081MHz is kinda meh and has high latency

Not sure if your ram is up to the challenge but dont forget dram clock skew is your friend:up:

[Furiøùs]

Thats pushing it on the ram, but what do you suggest for the ram skews?

I used to do Advance 250PS on my G.Skills thanks to you and it helped quite a bit.. I'll give them a shot first.

Ok im posting on this right now.. 445x9 266strap, 1116 or 1118 on the ram.. damn i cant believe it even booted :eek:
All skews are on Advanced 250ps and everything on auto (transaction booster, OC charger, everything) and my ram timings are set in which are a bit loose since im running 8GB.. 4x2

Failed memtest within seconds, but its not bluescreening. Let me put more clock skews see what happens. brb.

I doubt the ram can do it, probably just comes down to that.

Puttign them on Delay 250ps has 2 memtest at 2.0% now. usually failed at 0.6 with my first error. Looking decent so far. going to get another memtest instance going

[SkOrPn]

SkOrPn - Thanks for posting your bios settings, they work really well. I now understand why you guys like over clocking so much. I always hated how long Vista took to boot up but its much faster now. Thanks dude.

Please don't thank me, Ive never been a serious overclocker before, sure I been using minor overclocks since my BP6 days but never as serious as this. Im a veteran enthusiast into computers since the 80's but imo this board is the first "serious" overclocking board I have ever had (not counting a few DFI LP's a few years back). I usually just get very good mainstream boards for the most part (Like my last board which was the P5B Deluxe), but these ROG boards just look so damn good through a window... LOL, its the only reason I got the thing in the first place, that and eSATA.

I found most of those settings from post 2112, but I changed a few things just for a starting point.
http://www.xtremesystems.org/Forums/showpost.php?p=3469516&postcount=2112

Good luck with your new found hobby... :D

[Fragger]

This is my first OC board too, I just had to have it even though it cost $500......
We have a similar H2o setup.

[Grnfinger]

Thats pushing it on the ram, but what do you suggest for the ram skews?

I used to do Advance 250PS on my G.Skills thanks to you and it helped quite a bit.. I'll give them a shot first.

Ok im posting on this right now.. 445x9 266strap, 1116 or 1118 on the ram.. damn i cant believe it even booted :eek:
All skews are on Advanced 250ps and everything on auto (transaction booster, OC charger, everything) and my ram timings are set in which are a bit loose since im running 8GB.. 4x2

Failed memtest within seconds, but its not bluescreening. Let me put more clock skews see what happens. brb.

I doubt the ram can do it, probably just comes down to that.

Puttign them on Delay 250ps has 2 memtest at 2.0% now. usually failed at 0.6 with my first error. Looking decent so far. going to get another memtest instance going

Advanced 350 and upping the ram volts wont hurt, 266 strap might require a drop or 2 more of vNB.

[Furiøùs]

Advanced 350 make the computer freeze during post on USBFINAL. I cant get it stable no matter what, tried every different clock skew, and gave hte ram 2.2v, and the nb got 1.4.. No go

[shaffaaf27]

seban, how did you work out he 0/2 1/3 and NB GTLs, as i need to up the FSB for 480 stable.. cheers amte

[64dragon]

Im pretty amazed no one has a stable 500x8 setting for a quad-core..

Meh! stick to my 450x9 then :up:

i'm not surprised. but should be much easier for you guys with higher than 8 multi's. i was playin with my x3330 (q9400) the other night and got a BSOD tryin to boot at 3.9ghz @1.4 vcore, 1.4 vNB and 1.4 fsb termination. i am on air tho, may be possible with water but all my temps were fine at 3.8ghz, cores under 40C idle along with NB and SB. after 2 minutes of orthos i was at 53C for the cores, stoped it then to try 3.9 then went out to the bar

[seban]

Arghh I am back after almost 2 days living on airport because of canceled airplane ... but now at home with machine ready for some testing.


seban, how did you work out he 0/2 1/3 and NB GTLs, as i need to up the FSB for 480 stable.. cheers amte

It is really hard to tell - post your Vtt which you are using for 480 maybe we will find some nice values but I am afraid it is really hit and miss :).

[Grnfinger]

Advanced 350 make the computer freeze during post on USBFINAL. I cant get it stable no matter what, tried every different clock skew, and gave hte ram 2.2v, and the nb got 1.4.. No go

I think your being to conservative with your nb volts, I need 1.44 on the 266 strap.
You could also try NB clock skew, it settled my ram down rather fast when when I was pushing my Mushkin kit past 1175MHz.

[ecidious]

I spent some time the other day messing around with OCing this board with my q9650. I got it stable at 445 x 9 before running out of time to try all of the settings myself, so does anyone have any advice on what to change to get this higher? I've tried just upping the CPU/vtt/vNB volts along with the FSB but couldn't get it stable for more than an hour of prime95.

The rig is watercooled, temps are great (except for the NB getting to 50C under load but that needs a remount with MX-2 on the block), RAM is 4 x 2GB sticks of G.Skill 8500CL5D-4GBPK. RAM volts are probably a little higher than needed, but it's within specs and they're well cooled so I'm not worried about the volts for now



Processor: Q9650
Ai Overclock Tuner: Manual
Ratio CMOS Setting: 9
FSB Frequency: 445
CPU Clock Skew: Normal
NB Clock Skew: Normal
FSB Strap to North Bridge: 333MHz
DRAM Frequency: 1069MHz

DRAM CLK Skew on Channel A1:
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel A2:
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel B1:
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel B2:
DRAM Timing Control: Manual

1st Information: 5-5-5-15-3-52-6-3

CAS# Latency: 5 DRAM Clocks
DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay: 5 DRAM Clocks
DRAM RAS# Precharge: 5 DRAM Clocks
DRAM RAS# Activate to Precharge: 15 DRAM Clocks
RAS# to RAS# Delay: 3
Row Refresh Recycle Time: 50 DRAM Clocks
Write Recovery Time: 6
Read to Precharge Time: 3

2nd Information: 7-3-5-4-5-4-6

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

3rd Information: 14-5-1-6-6

Write to PRE Delay: 14
Read to PRE Delay: 5
PRE to PRE Delay: 1
All PRE to ACT Delay: 6
All PRE to REF Delay: 6
DRAM Static Read Control: Disabled
DRAM Read Training: Disabled
MEM. OC Charger: Auto
Ai Clock Twister: Auto
Ai Transaction Booster: Manual

Common Performance Level: 12
Pull-in of CHA PH1: Disabled
Pull-in of CHA PH2: Disabled
Pull-in of CHA PH3: Disabled
Pull-in of CHB PH1: Disabled
Pull-in of CHB PH2: Disabled
Pull-in of CHB PH3: Disabled

PCIE Frequency: 100

CPU Voltage: 1.31250
CPU PLL Voltage: 1.50000
FSB Termination Voltage: 1.28550
DRAM Voltage: 2.10475
North Bridge Voltage: 1.28550
South Bridge 1.5 Voltage: 1.50000
South Bridge 1.1 Voltage: 1.10000:

CPU GTL Reference (0): +20mV
CPU GTL Reference (1): -20mV
CPU GTL Reference (2): +20mV
CPU GTL Reference (3): -20mV
NB GTL Reference: +20mV
DDR2 ChA Reference Voltage: Auto
DDR2 ChB Reference Voltage: Auto
North Bridge DDR Reference: Auto

CPU Configuration:

Ratio CMOS Setting: 9
C1E Support: Disabled
Max CPUID Value Limit: Disabled
Intel Virtualization Tech: Enabled
CPU TM Function: Enabled
Execute Disable Bit: Enabled

Load-Line Calibration: Enabled
CPU Spread Spectrum: Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum: Disabled

[seban]

I spent some time the other day messing around with OCing this board with my q9650. I got it stable at 445 x 9 before running out of time to try all of the settings myself, so does anyone have any advice on what to change to get this higher? I've tried just upping the CPU/vtt/vNB volts along with the FSB but couldn't get it stable for more than an hour of prime95.

M8 your template is just basic. There is a lot templates for c2q 45nm flying around here you can just read few pages back and you should find at least 3 or 4.

All your major volts are too low (I am not talking about vcore as I do not know your CPU).

Give us something to work with.

-----------------------------------------

As a quick guide for sure you would need more Vtt for > than 450mhz, more CPU PLL, more vNB, more PCIe, maybe some GTLs fine tuning.

Disable all in CPU submenu and so on.

All of that with assumption that you ram is stable.

Cheers and have fun :)

[Grnfinger]

lol, instead of just using someone elses settings its kind of a good idea to learn this board yourself and how your hardware reacts.
Maybe I'm weird but I like to know what my money bought, not what others think it can do.....

[ecidious]

M8 your template is just basic. There is a lot templates for c2q 45nm flying around here you can just read few pages back and you should find at least 3 or 4.

All your major volts are too low (I am not talking about vcore as I do not know your CPU).

Give us something to work with.

-----------------------------------------

As a quick guide for sure you would need more Vtt for > than 450mhz, more CPU PLL, more vNB, more PCIe, maybe some GTLs fine tuning.

Disable all in CPU submenu and so on.

All of that with assumption that you ram is stable.

Cheers and have fun :)


Maybe you misunderstood, but it is 100% stable at 445*9 with those settings (12 hours on prime and 20 cycles of IBT without an error)

It doesn't want to go much further than that even with the CPU/NB/vtt all at 1.4v and PLL at 1.6V, so that's why I'm asking for some help.

[seban]

Maybe you misunderstood, but it is 100% stable at 445*9 with those settings (12 hours on prime and 20 cycles of IBT without an error)

It doesn't want to go much further than that even with the CPU/NB/vtt all at 1.4v and PLL at 1.6V, so that's why I'm asking for some help.

Which Prime are you stable? if Blend that is ok if small ftt then you should go blend (I am also IBT/LINX stable at 471 but Blend will fail after 3h)

Also which exactly P95 test gives you errors when you go higher with FSB?

You might need more then 1.4 vNB to be stable on higher FSB.

In the end simple solution might be setting PCIe to 101 or 102.

---------------------------

BTW I am feeling like I hit the FSB wall with my MF2 - cant make it stable at 469+ There are still few options left but I slowly see end of them.

But those option yeld a hope which I am holding to.

It is shame that I did not have enough experience and time with my first MF2 to do real testing and comparison to my current one.

That is life :)

[ecidious]

It was failing 1024 early on in blend tests when over an FSB of 450 (only made a few minutes, at 445 FSB though it passes blend without a problem), so with the volts near what I felt were safe maximums I just backed the speed down to 445*9 and hoped the TIM on the NB would set up better but so far the load temps are still a bit high on the NB

[seban]

It was failing 1024 early on in blend tests when over an FSB of 450 (only made a few minutes, at 445 FSB though it passes blend without a problem), so with the volts near what I felt were safe maximums I just backed the speed down to 445*9 and hoped the TIM on the NB would set up better but so far the load temps are still a bit high on the NB

445 it passes 12h of blend? Also what temps r u getting on NB.

1024 means more vtt or more vnb in your case I would say both :) (a lot more vNB). Just try some template and see if it will bring some changes.

[ecidious]

yes, at 445 it'll pass 12 hours of blend with the low volts from the template.

temps are getting up to 50 degrees C (depending on test) with anywhere from 1.1V-1.4V on the NB, which was leading me to think I have a bad mount either on the NB's water block or the heatpipe to the chip itself :shrug: (the temps responded to volts before I put the waterblock on it)

[Furiøùs]

I think your being to conservative with your nb volts, I need 1.44 on the 266 strap.
You could also try NB clock skew, it settled my ram down rather fast when when I was pushing my Mushkin kit past 1175MHz.


Ahh NB clock skews, i totally looked those over.

Also, i'll try more NB. got a CoD WaW scrim tonight so it has to be stable :up:

[screwtech02]

Ok, this may seem a bit odd.... This board is x8 crossfire right?? For arguments sake, say someone put a couple 4850x2's in it... Then started having issues with booting, vid performance, ect...

This could be laid upon said individual as being a fool/n00b/ect...

One would have to assume that the issues are with the PCI-E slots being x8 electrical, and not supplying enough power thru the slot for said X2 cards??

Input/bashing/flames????


Me=:shakes::shakes::shakes:

[SkOrPn]

Anyone know if my G.Skill F2-8800CL5D-4GBPI can be doubled on this mobo? Like to get a 2nd kit and see how high this mobo will run 8gb

[humeyboy]

Ok, this may seem a bit odd.... This board is x8 crossfire right?? For arguments sake, say someone put a couple 4850x2's in it... Then started having issues with booting, vid performance, ect...

This could be laid upon said individual as being a fool/n00b/ect...

One would have to assume that the issues are with the PCI-E slots being x8 electrical, and not supplying enough power thru the slot for said X2 cards??

Input/bashing/flames????


Me=:shakes::shakes::shakes:


No difference,the P45 is PCI-E 2.0 and can handle any card in Crossfire (proven 2-3 weeks ago in a review), it was an issue on 2x8 PCI-E 1.0/1 Slots like P35 had.

And its bandwidth not power, the slots will provide the same power be it 1x16 or 2x8.

[Leeghoofd]

Ok, this may seem a bit odd.... This board is x8 crossfire right?? For arguments sake, say someone put a couple 4850x2's in it... Then started having issues with booting, vid performance, ect...

This could be laid upon said individual as being a fool/n00b/ect...

One would have to assume that the issues are with the PCI-E slots being x8 electrical, and not supplying enough power thru the slot for said X2 cards??

Input/bashing/flames????


Me=:shakes::shakes::shakes:

Could also need a bios update to provide full compatability sometimes... or eg ya PSU cannot handle the power drain

[mikeyakame]

Anyone know if my G.Skill F2-8800CL5D-4GBPI can be doubled on this mobo? Like to get a 2nd kit and see how high this mobo will run 8gb

you can try but the 8800s are low voltage powerchips, they don't clock that high generally or consistently. I have a pair that do 1180 5-5-5-16 at 1.96v, but another friends limit around 1160 5-5-5-18 at 2.04v or so. you will need a lot of northbridge voltage to run 4 sticks on a P45, 4x2 will be even more demanding.

they are good for 1100-1150 in general with 5-5-5-16 and 70-80 tRFC. they also dont need very much clock skew either, and actually throw errors pretty fast if you add more than 50-100ps either way of normal (adv/delay).
i've found they perform roughly best with around 50ps between channel a and channel b, exactly what value for both is a matter of the board. i use delay 50ps chan a, normal chan b. A p5q deluxe I set up used pretty much the same, normal chan a, 100ps advance chan b.

[humeyboy]

I run 4x2GB on 1.1v for 1600QP FSB or 1.2v for 2000QP FSB. ;)

[mikeyakame]

diff ics require diff northbridge voltages, probably to do with the diff amplitude more than anything else. microns reqiure quite a bit of additional nb voltage to clock high for example.

[seban]

Hey !

Yup happy new year to all of ya ppl

I got little present for every one for new year .

It is simple GTL and NB GLT calculator.

How to use it:

First type in desired / currently used vtt voltage as in your bios (or rather the way it looks loaded in Everest for example - but bios one is also working fine)

Secondly put some correction numbers and watch how GTL values are changing (Max and Min values of GTL for given VTT are also shown there).

The goal is to figure out which GTL works best for you for one VTT - in most cases the same GTLs voltages will work for different VTTs or very similar ones (or sometimes not ). So when we switch Vtt we would need to adjust GTLrefs to values which will give same or close to same GTLs as working previous ones for different vtt.

Anyway have fun using it, I created it to make my life easier and it does the job.

PS. There are 2 sets of values to compare between different VTT.

[screwtech02]

No difference,the P45 is PCI-E 2.0 and can handle any card in Crossfire (proven 2-3 weeks ago in a review), it was an issue on 2x8 PCI-E 1.0/1 Slots like P35 had.

And its bandwidth not power, the slots will provide the same power be it 1x16 or 2x8.

This is a PAIR of 4850x2's in quad here.... That fact isnt gonna kill the bandwidth??

[seban]

This is a PAIR of 4850x2's in quad here.... That fact isnt gonna kill the bandwidth??

I remember reading comparisons of 2x 16PCIE and 2x 8PCIe and there was quit significant difference in performance.

Best setup for any SLI / Cross setups are I7 platforms.

[humeyboy]

This is a PAIR of 4850x2's in quad here.... That fact isnt gonna kill the bandwidth??

Again PCI-E 2.0 is plenty for any of TODAY's GPU's in SLI or Crossfire. ;)

If it was an P35 it would be bad but not on P45.

Don't go by anything you read unless it states its PCI-E 2.0 as 2x 8 PCI-E 1.0/1 would loose performance, this review was very recent.

I would have no doubts running 2 GPU's on this P45, I would not have done so on a P35 though.

That said I do not like Dual GPU set up's and rather have 1 better GPU.

[ViViD]

Hi Happy New Year Friends
Any 1 Can Get 500 FSB With Q9550 On This Board?

EveryDay I Try But I Can't Get More 490 On Setup With 1.65 Volt CPU And In Windows With SetFSB 499 But After 20Second Hang In System And Then Reset......

[humeyboy]

Plenty have 500+ on MFII in this thread : http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=197802

Fact is the Q9650 E0 is a better CPU, obv best cores go to them and failed cores go to lower models. ;)

[seban]

I got problem installing WindowsXp 32bit with all HDDs in AHCI mode.

I downloaded floppy creator from INTEL site for XP 32bit and while it is zip file I extracted content to root of my 2gb Kingstone (instruction says it should be exe :eek:).

I set in BIOS in usb devices that USB will be emulated as Force FDD.

I hit F6 button but in menu it recognizes my Flash drive but I got error:

"File txtsetup.oem caused an unexpected error (1) at line 1747 in d:\xpsp\base\boot\setup\oemdisk.c .

Press any key..."

Anybody?

I do not have floppy as most of us probably.

Cheers

[Grnfinger]

Hi Happy New Year Friends
Any 1 Can Get 500 FSB With Q9550 On This Board?

EveryDay I Try But I Can't Get More 490 On Setup With 1.65 Volt CPU And In Windows With SetFSB 499 But After 20Second Hang In System And Then Reset......

I need alot of cpu clock skew and nb clock skew to get my 9550 to 500 fsb, its 3d stable as I'm able to becnch with it at 500fsb, problem is ram at 1200MHz bsod my rig, running 1:1 is ok tho but PL11 is needed for a stable boot.

[Furiøùs]

How much cpu / nb clock skews are you using?

[Grnfinger]

How much cpu / nb clock skews are you using?

I'm not at home atm, once I get there I'll check my setting and post the info.
Going to power up the new MIIF so I will confirm my quad/500FSB settings


Second MIIF is up and OS is installing...
NB temp 35c
Mobo temp 29c
On Air :up:

[64dragon]

I got problem installing WindowsXp 32bit with all HDDs in AHCI mode.

I downloaded floppy creator from INTEL site for XP 32bit and while it is zip file I extracted content to root of my 2gb Kingstone (instruction says it should be exe :eek:).

I set in BIOS in usb devices that USB will be emulated as Force FDD.

I hit F6 button but in menu it recognizes my Flash drive but I got error:

"File txtsetup.oem caused an unexpected error (1) at line 1747 in d:\xpsp\base\boot\setup\oemdisk.c .

Press any key..."

Anybody?

I do not have floppy as most of us probably.

Cheers

maybe i missed something but what do you need a floppy/usb drive for to install XP? raid drivers?

[seban]

maybe i missed something but what do you need a floppy/usb drive for to install XP? raid drivers?

I need to install AHCI drivers as it has no native support in Xp.

[Grnfinger]

anyone know of a possible workaround for soundcard issues?

I have the SupremeFX from my Maximus X38, digital audio for that board was on the board itself not on the supremeFX card.
Vista sees the audio card and installs drivers but defaults to digital output and seeing as I have no digital out I therefor have no sound, anyone know of away to force analog output?

[Furiøùs]

anyone know of a possible workaround for soundcard issues?

I have the SupremeFX from my Maximus X38, digital audio for that board was on the board itself not on the supremeFX card.
Vista sees the audio card and installs drivers but defaults to digital output and seeing as I have no digital out I therefor have no sound, anyone know of away to force analog output?


I want 500x8 hurry up.

Just kidding :D. Im not exactly sure, but im 99% positive you tried this but if your running Vista, control panel, sound, see what the default device is, right click it properties and see if you can change in it there.

[Grnfinger]

500x8 is priming now, I'll share my settings when there solid...

Cant get the soundcard to show anything other that digital tried control pannel ect with no luck...used soundmax and realtek drivers both no worky.
I'm going to try to squeeze Asus for one, if no I'll grab a aftermarket, no biggie its the wifes rig so who cares if there is sound...now if there were only a way to remove sound from her:rofl::rofl::rofl:

[Furiøùs]

:ROTF: If only :p:

Cant wait. hope your CPU and NB clock skew settings can help me to getting this stable.

I can tell its going to be rewarding to get it going heh.

Im going to have to run the ram at 1000 (1:1) but im going to tighten the timings up real nice. so i hope my read doesnt suffer too much, im currently at 1081.

[SiGfever]

500x8 is priming now, I'll share my settings when there solid...

Cant get the soundcard to show anything other that digital tried control pannel ect with no luck...used soundmax and realtek drivers both no worky.
I'm going to try to squeeze Asus for one, if no I'll grab a aftermarket, no biggie its the wifes rig so who cares if there is sound...now if there were only a way to remove sound from her:rofl::rofl::rofl:
A man can dream. :D

[Furiøùs]

How's the OC going Grnfinger?

[seban]

Little OT,

Quick question about page files in Vista 64. I got 4gb of RAM so I assumed I can cancel all page files, but some websites recommend leaving them no matter what and others opposite :D (hehe as always).

How are you doing it ppl - I am new to vista...

Thanks

[SkOrPn]

Little OT,

Quick question about page files in Vista 64. I got 4gb of RAM so I assumed I can cancel all page files, but some websites recommend leaving them no matter what and others opposite :D (hehe as always).

How are you doing it ppl - I am new to vista...

Thanks
Not sure about others here, but for many years I have been moving my paging file to a dedicated partition I created specifically for it. And then having the system manage it itself regardless of the amount of physical memory I have. I then disable all paging on every other partition and drive including the OS partition/drive.

This has worked well for me for many years. Its usually beneficial to make sure you keep the paging area on the fastest area of the drive, or near it. I usually create 3 partitions within 2 volumes. One volume with 2 partitions for the OS/simple small apps, and the second partition on the same volume for the Pagefile/Internet Cache, and the 2nd volume for frequently accessed programs or large programs like games, stuff I want to remain quick. This way I can be sure the background process of paging and frequent file caching wont interfere with constantly moving my frequently used apps/games data around all the time. Helps to reduce how often you need to defrag as well. I think, but I may have this wrong... lol

Anyone else have a better way to deal with the paging system? Other than the obvious more memory idea...

[Grnfinger]

Little OT,

Quick question about page files in Vista 64. I got 4gb of RAM so I assumed I can cancel all page files, but some websites recommend leaving them no matter what and others opposite :D (hehe as always).

How are you doing it ppl - I am new to vista...

Thanks

Personally I leave it alone...

I disable
Superfetch
Indexing
Defender
PC tablet
Fax
Telephoney

Then I leave UAC turned on but adjust the admin account to elevate without promting, so you dont get the anoying popups all the time but retain the security.

It will also allow programs to auto start without promting, so stuff like Everest will auto load without permission.
You can also turn on the secret admin account wich is better than the default admin account which is limited.

Onced tweaked properly Vista is really a decent OS, plus the eye candy is nice:up:

You want any tweak instructions lmk

[humeyboy]

Leave Superfetch, you may aswell use XP if you don't like it (one of vistas good functions).

Leave Page File under Windows control or make it the Windows REC Static size so it don't fragment as much as it grows/shrinks (it wont).

[Shiranui Gen-An]

Has anyone tried BIOS 1901? My MIIF is boxed up, I'm waiting for a reason to open it back up.

[Grnfinger]

Leave Superfetch, you may aswell use XP if you don't like it (one of vistas good functions).

Leave Page File under Windows control or make it the Windows REC Static size so it don't fragment as much as it grows/shrinks (it wont).

All superfetch will do is make your hdd's die an early death.
I have tested Vista with it enabled and disabled, of little benifit to run it unless you like the constant clacking of your hdd's...

[Grnfinger]

Has anyone tried BIOS 1901? My MIIF is boxed up, I'm waiting for a reason to open it back up.

no link on Asus site or forums so I havent had a chance to test it yet:shrug:

Anyone have a working link?

[Shiranui Gen-An]

no link on Asus site or forums so I havent had a chance to test it yet:shrug:

Anyone have a working link?

Seriously? I just went through the Asus Download page and looked for everything for the MIIF, and it was right there in the BIOS section. Here's a link: http://dlsvr04.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/socket775/Maximus_II_Formula/Maximus-II-ASUS-Formula-1901.zip

Description Maximus II Formula 1901 Bios
Improve Memory compatibility

[humeyboy]

All superfetch will do is make your hdd's die an early death.
I have tested Vista with it enabled and disabled, of little benifit to run it unless you like the constant clacking of your hdd's...

That's total nonsense, Superfetch is using the Memory.

Indexing uses the HDD more and I disable it.

A modern HDD's MTTF is more than you will ever need anyhow.

Stick to OC'ing mate and I stick to Beta Testing MS OS's officially and understanding how they work. ;)

I previously had 2 Raptor X's and I can tell you they are well noticeable when clanking as you put it, its not Superfetch that does it, its indexing and System Restore and there is plenty of guides around to tell you how to tame down a HDD in Vista.

A HDD is the oldest slowest bottleneck of any PC and you want to keep OC'ing the tits off of all hardware but slow it down even more because its waiting on the HDD ?

The best advise I got years aback from a MS rep was to stop buying faster CPU/RAM etc and get HDD as fast as possible, that meant buy fastest modern HDD (at that time) and Raid 0 2 of them.

Best advise I ever got.

[Grnfinger]

Seriously? I just went through the Asus Download page and looked for everything for the MIIF, and it was right there in the BIOS section. Here's a link: http://dlsvr04.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/socket775/Maximus_II_Formula/Maximus-II-ASUS-Formula-1901.zip

Description Maximus II Formula 1901 Bios
Improve Memory compatibility

Both Taiwan and NA FTP sites do not show it for me...thanks for the link.


That's total nonsense, Superfetch is Memory.

Indexing uses the HDD more and I disable it.

A modern HDD's MTTF is more than you will ever need anyhow.

Stick to OC'ing mate and I stick to Beta Testing MS OS's officially and understanding how they work. ;)

I previously had 2 Raptor X's and I can tell you they are well noticeable when clanking as you put it, its not Superfetch that does it, its indexing and System Restore and there is plenty of guides around to tell you how to tame down a HDD in Vista.

I beta test for MS aswell and have for along time

I'm well aware of what Superfetch is and how it works, imo I feel its of little value and choose not to run it, with indexing turned OFF and I always disable system restore I have CONSTANT hdd activity with superfetch enabled, with it disabled it idles nicely.

[Fragger]

My E8500 is now @ 4.5GHz stable in prime 95 and gaming :woot:
Started with skorpon's settings as a base and now I have this

Processor:
Ai Overclock Tuner: Manual
OC From CPU Level Up: Auto
Ratio CMOS Setting: 8.5
FSB Frequency: 530
CPU Clock Skew: Normal
NB Clock Skew: Normal
FSB Strap to North Bridge: 333MHz
DRAM Frequency: Auto

DRAM CLK Skew on Channel A1: Auto
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel A2: Auto
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel B1: Auto
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel B2: Auto
DRAM Timing Control: Auto

1st Information:

CAS# Latency: 5 DRAM Clocks
DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay: 5 DRAM Clocks
DRAM RAS# Precharge: 5 DRAM Clocks
DRAM RAS# Activate to Precharge: 15 DRAM Clocks
RAS# to RAS# Delay: Auto
Row Refresh Recycle Time: 55 DRAM Clocks
Write Recovery Time: Auto
Read to Precharge Time: Auto

2nd Information:

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

3rd Information:

Write to PRE Delay: Auto
Read to PRE Delay: Auto
PRE to PRE Delay: Auto
All PRE to ACT Delay: Auto
All PRE to REF Delay: Auto
DRAM Static Read Control: Disabled
DRAM Read Training: Disabled
MEM. OC Charger: Enabled
Ai Clock Twister: Moderate
Ai Transaction Booster: Auto

PCIE Frequency: 100

CPU Voltage: 1.4
CPU PLL Voltage:1.53
FSB Termination Voltage:1.31
DRAM Voltage: Auto
North Bridge Voltage:1.4
South Bridge 1.5 Voltage: Auto
South Bridge 1.1 Voltage: Auto

CPU GTL Reference (0): Auto
CPU GTL Reference (1): Auto
CPU GTL Reference (2): Auto
CPU GTL Reference (3): Auto
NB GTL Reference: Auto
DDR2 ChA Reference Voltage: Auto
DDR2 ChB Reference Voltage: Auto
North Bridge DDR Reference: Auto

CPU Configuration:

Ratio CMOS Setting: 8.5
C1E Support: Enabled
Max CPUID Value Limit: Enabled
Intel Virtualization Tech: Enabled
CPU TM Function: Enabled
Execute Disable Bit: Enabled

Load-Line Calibration: Enabled
CPU Spread Spectrum: Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum: Disabled

Going to water cool the NB next with the swiftech block made for this mobo.

[screwtech02]

Also like to mention that all superfetch does is "stop responding" anyways... You would have figured that MS woulda/coulda/shoulda fixed that crap by now.....:shakes:

[Furiøùs]

Superfetch is fine, my HDD's dont thrash at all.

Cant get 500x8 stable eh Grn?

[Grnfinger]

Superfetch is fine, my HDD's dont thrash at all.

Cant get 500x8 stable eh Grn?

500FSB grrr!!!

I can get it to prime for about 40 mins or so b4 2 cores crap out on me.
I think I need more vcore but dont want to stress this chip to hard as I might be selling it for something bettter.

I'll pm you my settings and findings in few, just gotta finnish something for work..

[mreld3r]

quick question, im only using 1 video card. If i put my card in the bottom pciEX slot will it run @16x.
Or do I have to use the "normal" slot?
Thanks
Im getting the Asus mobo wednesday. Wish me luck.

[SkOrPn]

quick question, im only using 1 video card. If i put my card in the bottom pciEX slot will it run @16x.
Or do I have to use the "normal" slot?
Thanks
Im getting the Asus mobo wednesday. Wish me luck.

I did this exact same thing for a while, and unfortunately it will only run at x8 in the bottom slot. Personally, I like the way the setup looks with the graphics card in the bottom slot and how it puts more distance between the CPU, memory and NB from the heat producing video card. Not sure why it runs at x8 given the fact that two cards will run both at x8, which tells me it should allow all 16 lanes to run on the bottom slot if it detects nothing in the top slot.

Even though the bottom slot ran at x8 I did not notice any performance gain going to the x16 top slot.

[ViViD]

I'll pm you my settings and findings in few, just gotta finnish something for work..

Hi
Plz PM Me Too I Need 500FSB I Can 499FSB With 1.65 Volt CPU But Crash System After 20Second
Tanx Man:up:

[seban]

I am stable 12h+ blend, IBT but I got random reboots just browsing www or watching movies.

I was testing all on basic system - no LAN adapters, no USB devices (and I got a lot of them).

I remember someone had same problem here but I cannot find those posts :).

Any proven methods to solve it? like bump that or that? Here are some pics and settings:


Processor: q9550 e0 (vid 1.25v)
Ai Overclock Tuner: Manual
OC From CPU Level Up: Auto
Ratio CMOS Setting: 8.5
FSB Frequency: 464
CPU Clock Skew: Normal
NB Clock Skew: Normal
FSB Strap to North Bridge: 333
DRAM Frequency: DDR2-1115MHz

DRAM CLK Skew on Channel A1: auto
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel A2: auto
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel B1: auto
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel B2: auto
DRAM Timing Control: Manual

1st Information:

CAS# Latency: 5 DRAM Clocks
DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay: 5 DRAM Clocks
DRAM RAS# Precharge: 5 DRAM Clocks
DRAM RAS# Activate to Precharge: 15 DRAM Clocks
RAS# to RAS# Delay: 3
Row Refresh Recycle Time: 55 DRAM Clocks
Write Recovery Time: 6
Read to Precharge Time: 3

2nd Information:

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

3rd Information:

Write to PRE Delay: 14
Read to PRE Delay: 5
PRE to PRE Delay: 1
All PRE to ACT Delay: 5
All PRE to REF Delay: 5
DRAM Static Read Control: Enabled
DRAM Read Training: Disabled
MEM. OC Charger: Enabled
Ai Clock Twister: Stronger
Ai Transaction Booster: Manual

Common Performance Level: 8
Pull-in of CHA PH1: Disabled
Pull-in of CHA PH2: Disabled
Pull-in of CHA PH3: Disabled
Pull-in of CHB PH1: Disabled
Pull-in of CHB PH2: Disabled
Pull-in of CHB PH3: Disabled

PCIE Frequency: 102

CPU Voltage: 1.33125
CPU PLL Voltage: 1.53975
FSB Termination Voltage: 1.365
DRAM Voltage: 2.15775
North Bridge Voltage: 1.4445
South Bridge 1.5 Voltage: 1.50
South Bridge 1.1 Voltage: 1.1325

CPU GTL Reference (0): 90
CPU GTL Reference (1): 50
CPU GTL Reference (2): 90
CPU GTL Reference (3): 50
NB GTL Reference: 60
DDR2 ChA Reference Voltage: Auto
DDR2 ChB Reference Voltage: Auto
North Bridge DDR Reference: Auto

CPU Configuration:

Ratio CMOS Setting: 8.5
C1E Support: Disabled
Max CPUID Value Limit: Disabled
Intel Virtualization Tech: Disabled
CPU TM Function: Disabled
Execute Disable Bit: Disabled

Load-Line Calibration: Enabled
CPU Spread Spectrum: Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum: Disabled


http://images42.fotosik.pl/45/b84ed029455573d2.jpg (www.fotosik.pl)

[bito]

All I can see are the cpu and NB GTL's look way different to what everyone else (and I) seem to be running. May be try tweaking them some more.
Try 40/10/40/10. Post back any results :)

[carepolice]

I am stable 12h+ blend, IBT but I got random reboots just browsing www or watching movies.
Sounds familiar, i'd like to hear if you find solution for that.
On my own system, just like yours IBT/LINX/PRIME/HCI MEMTEST stable still random hang ups sometimes. Few notch vCore have always solved this issue but i cant see any mind why Idle state needs more vCore than fully loaded system?

[mreld3r]

thanks for the info skorpn about the video slots.

I have read this entire thread (took a while) and there doesn't seem to be many q6600's around. Lotta people asking, but not many users. Does the m2f seem to clock the 6600 ok? I notice that most people use the 9550 and the 9650 users have their own thread. What about the 6600 users? is there a good place to read/learn about clocking the 6600?
thanks

[SteveDay72]

I bought an "open box" Asus Maximus II Formula from NewEgg recently.

Only received a bare board, which seemed to have a residue (like drip marks) all over the bottom of the board.

I called NewEgg to complain and also spoke to Asus - they both denied responsibility and Newegg would not replace (only refund).

Anyway, I guessed that it might have been from some type of circuit board cleaner and decided to test it out. I cleaned it up well with rubbinng alcohol and silicone spray (applied with q-tips). It seems to work okay - or did before I sent the faulty ram (Corsair Dominator 1066MHz 2x2Gb CL5) back to NewEgg for replacement. Now I'm waiting for the new ram to arrive before I can test it any further.

I saw another review earlier today via a Google search and a photo of that particular board had the same "drip" marks on the bottom of it.

Did anyone else receive a board that had this mess on the bottom?

[bito]

thanks for the info skorpn about the video slots.

I have read this entire thread (took a while) and there doesn't seem to be many q6600's around. Lotta people asking, but not many users. Does the m2f seem to clock the 6600 ok? I notice that most people use the 9550 and the 9650 users have their own thread. What about the 6600 users? is there a good place to read/learn about clocking the 6600?
thanks


I had my Q6600 on this board running great, before i got my Q9650.
Was running 3.825Ghz on my P5K-Premium and on the MFII, although I was able to run at 4.0Ghz on the MFII with some tweaking pretty easily. Vid for mine was 1.225, L745A. Hope that helps :)

[WhiteFireDragon]

I bought an "open box" Asus Maximus II Formula from NewEgg recently.

Only received a bare board, which seemed to have a residue (like drip marks) all over the bottom of the board.

I called NewEgg to complain and also spoke to Asus - they both denied responsibility and Newegg would not replace (only refund).

Did anyone else receive a board that had this mess on the bottom?

but hey, for $135, there's not much to complain about as long as it works fine.

[seban]

I just noticed that on post it shows 3.96ghz when 8.5x 464 is 3.944ghz - does your post info is also rounded so badly ppl?


Sounds familiar, i'd like to hear if you find solution for that.
On my own system, just like yours IBT/LINX/PRIME/HCI MEMTEST stable still random hang ups sometimes. Few notch vCore have always solved this issue but i cant see any mind why Idle state needs more vCore than fully loaded system?

Will play with vcore. Also maybe it is time to try skews :). The biggest issue is that if it passes p95 and linx it will be just waiting for next reboot to be sure that all is ok or not.

Will keep u posted.


All I can see are the cpu and NB GTL's look way different to what everyone else (and I) seem to be running. May be try tweaking them some more.
Try 40/10/40/10. Post back any results :)

Those GTLs r quite fine tuned this is why they look so strange :) - but I can take a look also at 40/10 why not? whatever helps :)


I bought an "open box" Asus Maximus II Formula from NewEgg recently.

Only received a bare board, which seemed to have a residue (like drip marks) all over the bottom of the board.

I called NewEgg to complain and also spoke to Asus - they both denied responsibility and Newegg would not replace (only refund).

Anyway, I guessed that it might have been from some type of circuit board cleaner and decided to test it out. I cleaned it up well with rubbinng alcohol and silicone spray (applied with q-tips). It seems to work okay - or did before I sent the faulty ram (Corsair Dominator 1066MHz 2x2Gb CL5) back to NewEgg for replacement. Now I'm waiting for the new ram to arrive before I can test it any further.

I saw another review earlier today via a Google search and a photo of that particular board had the same "drip" marks on the bottom of it.

Did anyone else receive a board that had this mess on the bottom?

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p=3512330&postcount=2447

[WhiteFireDragon]

just a quick question. if i upgraded to a rampage extreme, would i get higher fsb and less finicky board (especially with the memory)?

running an e8600 right now, and i'm assuming best GTL setting would be +40mb for core0, and the rest on auto?

[seban]

Do you think dear members :) that 4 HDDs, DVD Burner, LAN adapter and about 10 USB devices in more or less constant use would require more vSB and if yes which one 1.5 or 1.1 or both :).


just a quick question. if i upgraded to a rampage extreme, would i get higher fsb and less finicky board (especially with the memory)?

running an e8600 right now, and i'm assuming best GTL setting would be +40mb for core0, and the rest on auto?

As probably you know GTLs are vtt and HW dependent so +40 might work or might not :). Few posts ago I posted calculator which might help you counting values - rest is trail and error.

Have fun.

[KURTZ]

thanks Seban, i've just linked your calculator into my forum for a quick download :p

[SteveDay72]

...
Only received a bare board, which seemed to have a residue (like drip marks) all over the bottom of the board.
...
Did anyone else receive a board that had this mess on the bottom?

but hey, for $135, there's not much to complain about as long as it works fine.

Yes, it was a great deal for one of these boards, but I was worried that it had suffered some kind of liquid damage, which might only show a fault later on somewhere.

Steve

[mreld3r]

I had my Q6600 on this board running great, before i got my Q9650.
Was running 3.825Ghz on my P5K-Premium and on the MFII, although I was able to run at 4.0Ghz on the MFII with some tweaking pretty easily. Vid for mine was 1.225, L745A. Hope that helps :)

Yea thanks Bito, got any advice "settings" somewhere to start. Right now I'm running a 6600@3.6 ghz on a msi neo2-FR. But it takes a bucket full O' Vcore. Did the same with a e2160 that I had on this mobo. see sig..... I thought it was just a bad chip; but now my 6600 does the same thing. I can clock my mem. really good on this board and even push the fsb way up there; but with all this Vcore, its hotter than a Prescott. The board is an old revision 1 neo-2. I have an asus mfII coming mid-week and any help would be appreciated.
thanks

[Rocks]

1901 has successfully brought back the multiplier stuck bug again!!

I'm extatic!

[seban]

1901 has successfully brought back the multiplier stuck bug again!!

I'm extatic!

LOL that is really funny how serious they are bout their job.


thanks Seban, i've just linked your calculator into my forum for a quick download :p

You are welcome m8.

[jmilo]

hi, im new here...anyone with qx9770 and maximus ii formula? id like to check the OC results... :)

[seban]

hi, im new here...anyone with qx9770 and maximus ii formula? id like to check the OC results... :)

Do not get me wrong but if you want to check your OC why not post it?

Probably most of us would be interested to see it no matter if we have CPU like yours or not :).

Cheers

[andressergio]

Guys

I'm having this problem that drivin' me insane...

I've been testing for 3 weeks IBT, i achieved 3 nice OC

4005 (445x9) on 1,3 vcore set / vcore idle 1,288
4050 (450x9) on 1,325 vcore / vcore idle 1,316
4140 (455x9) on 1,3625 vcore set / vcore idle 1,358

I passed all them on IBT...then the other day won't pass again, re tweak GTLS and some things and pass again, then the same...

I have a TT 850W Toughpower PSU, and a 8800 ULTRA vmoded but runing stock 612/1512/1080 for now, 2 seagates Raid 0, 1 Sata Optical drive, the 4 Antec 900 fans, 3 Sanyo Denki San Ace, the pump and the Rehobus Controller...
As summer is here temp in my room goes to 28C - 30C, today i noticed that the card was artifcating in windows vista desktop if i run same settings as i was playing for months when ambient where 24C - 25C...This started after doint the IBT test last night, but i was on Air Conditioner with 24C - 25C ambient, so i'm lost here...

Even at those 28C - 30C i have good temps for 24/7, NB and SB never pass 43C, PWM 40C, CORES are fine < 35C, GPU is 44C idle

I'm starting to put a doubt on my PSU

I also swapped RAM, now i have the Gskills PC29600 and problem is the same

Any help I appreciatte very much

Sergio

[humeyboy]

No Multi issue on this bios for me.

All the way from 6 to 10 in 1/2's.

Totally rest cmos after flashing bios and do not reload your stored profiles, re add them manual and save over old ones.

[Grnfinger]

No Multi issue on this bios for me.

All the way from 6 to 10 in 1/2's.

Totally rest cmos after flashing bios and do not reload your stored profiles, re add them manual and save over old ones.

Same here , have 1802 loaded on bios1 and 1901 loaded on bios2

While 1901 offers nothing I find it quite stable and I have NO multi issues, phase pull-ins are STILL NOT WORKING!
But seeing as they never had it was to be expected.

[WaterFlex]

1901 Bios is total :banana::banana::banana::banana:. It reduced my memory read up to 500 mbps

[Grnfinger]

there is more to testing a bios besides running an Everest bench.
tref value is the same so bandwidth should be the same, the bios is far from :banana::banana::banana::banana:

[bito]

Awaiting test results :)
Especially as it mentions increasing memory compatibility.

[Simps]

there is more to testing a bios besides running an Everest bench.
tref value is the same so bandwidth should be the same, the bios is far from :banana::banana::banana::banana:

I agree. I am on bios 1901, and so far, loving it.
I am trying a more extreme 24/7 overclock, but for that, I will need to leave vNB at 1.45v. You think it is safe for 24/7? Temps are not a problem, since I seen to have an insane good mobo, that will never ever pass 39C NB during prime... It stays on 29C-30C idle. And it is aircooled. Do you guys think it is safe to go for 1.45v NB 24/7, if temps will never pass, lets say 42C under prime at that volt?

Here some pics of my system...

http://img388.imageshack.us/img388/6536/full3mj8.jpg
http://img388.imageshack.us/img388/987/full4is8.jpg
http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/2604/temps1gi4.jpg

[]'s
Simps

[mikeyakame]

HAHA Two 38mm Deltas for push/pull on the Ultra120. Thats awesome! :up: :up:
I run one of the pull side, 25mm on the push and I thought that was nuts.

[Simps]

HAHA Two 38mm Deltas for push/pull on the Ultra120. Thats awesome! :up: :up:
I run one of the pull side, 25mm on the push and I thought that was nuts.

HEHEH!
But those are no deltas... Those are 80-85CMF 38mm Panaflo's @ 30-32dB... And those are the loudest fans I have... Others are all <28dB's, so the system is actually quite, since I use it with closed doors, and it stays inside a cabinet I have...

What about the 1.45vNB for 24/7... You guys think it is safe?

[mikeyakame]

If you can keep the board stable and temps manageable then why not. Do you need that much for starters, I've never needed more than 1.36v Vnb on a P45 and that was with over 470fsb, q6600 and 2gb ram sticks.

Ahh that would explain it! The 38mm Delta i'm using is a ~130cfm 2800rpm unit, got a 210cfm 3700rpm 38mm as well but it sounds like an aircraft taking off its so loud, so it just sits in a box.

[andressergio]

I agree. I am on bios 1901, and so far, loving it.
Simps

hehe nice pics mate, the mobo should be freezing :D

Why you love bios 1901, what diff did you find ?

Cheers
Sergio

[Simps]

If you can keep the board stable and temps manageable then why not. Do you need that much for starters, I've never needed more than 1.36v Vnb on a P45 and that was with over 470fsb, q6600 and 2gb ram sticks.

Ahh that would explain it! The 38mm Delta i'm using is a ~130cfm 2800rpm unit, got a 210cfm 3700rpm 38mm as well but it sounds like an aircraft taking off its so loud, so it just sits in a box.

I am going for a 65nm quad at 7x500 (3.5GHz) and DDR2-1200 CL5 PL8.
I am doing some tests at that speed, and I need 1.45vNB... I am a bit worried about using 1.45vNB 24/7, but I guess since temps are ok, I will give it a try....

OMG man, those 220CMF 38mm deltas are insane! I believe they are 65dB... But they are really nice for short benchs... Thanks for your repply...

Edit: I just found a youtube link of those deltas's 220CMF... They are 4600RPM. That is really insane! I don't think these are the ones you have... You probably have a quiter one... This one is just insane LOL!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmDGPFLoPwc

Now, these is the loudest computer fan ever tested... Thats 350CMF 80dB+, and can kill your ears :/
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=Ws385ti8YCI&feature=related





hehe nice pics mate, the mobo should be freezing :D

Why you love bios 1901, what diff did you find ?

Cheers
Sergio

So far, I find it more stable at 500FSB on my 65nm quad. I used 1307 before. It is stable actually, I just think I can drop some Vcore and Vdimm, before I call it done. The only voltage I can't drop anymore, is vNB, witch I will have to leave at 1.45v :(

[]'s
Simps

[mikeyakame]

I am going for a 65nm quad at 7x500 (3.5GHz) and DDR2-1200 CL5 PL8.
I am doing some tests at that speed, and I need 1.45vNB... I am a bit worried about using 1.45vNB 24/7, but I guess since temps are ok, I will give it a try....

OMG man, those 220CMF 38mm deltas are insane! I believe they are 65dB... But they are really nice for short benchs... Thanks for your repply...

Edit: I just found a youtube link of those deltas's 220CMF... They are 4600RPM. That is really insane! I don't think these are the ones you have... You probably have a quiter one... This one is just insane LOL!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmDGPFLoPwc

Now, these is the loudest computer fan ever tested... Thats 350CMF 80dB+, and can kill your ears :/
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=Ws385ti8YCI&feature=related






So far, I find it more stable at 500FSB on my 65nm quad. I used 1307 before. It is stable actually, I just think I can drop some Vcore and Vdimm, before I call it done. The only voltage I can't drop anymore, is vNB, witch I will have to leave at 1.45v :(

[]'s
Simps

Try messing with cpu and nb clock skews, and see if they help any.
I gave up trying to get a P45 to 500 on a quad at about 1.40v Vnb so maybe you do need it after all. What Performance Level are you trying to use?
I use PL7 12:10 on an X48 and need 1.49v Vnb for 481fsb, so maybe your ball park isn't too far after all since i need at least 1.65v for tighter performance level at this point.

[Simps]

I am running 7x500 = 3.5GHz, DDR2-1200 5-5-5-15 (rest on auto), PL8, stronger. Gives about 10500 MB/s and 49 latency on everest. 1.43vcore on my 65nm quad, 1.38VTT, 2.1 Vdimm, 1.59PLL and 1.45vNB. IBT 20 loops and prime blend 8h stable. But i am still on intense testing, trying to drop vcore and vdimm.

[mikeyakame]

Don't know if you'll get Vcc much lower than that but you can sure try I guess, 1.43v is pretty good for 3.5ghz, and just remember a little extra voltage will be necessary at such high FSB to ensure both dies are kept stable under load! 12:10 the divider you are using is the most stable I've found with quads.

Nice latency by the way :D Impressive for a P45 as they don't usually take much fancy to latencies in the low 50s let alone high 40s!

[Simps]

Yeah... This is what I am getting for my 24/7 settings.

http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/2472/mf2qqn8.jpg

Still a bit worried about keeping 1.45vNB for 24/7...
Anyone here is running 1.45vNB for 24/7?

[seban]

I do 1.448 24/7 So far so good and I have no objections getting it higher if it will be needed (also Grnfinger is quite high on vNB) - but vNB is a not a big deal. ppl use up to 1.55 :) and they are fine.

Little Update on my random reboots - either CPU or NB clock skews (I set them to 100) did the job.

No more boots. I will test which option exactly but I can bet it is NB Skew as my MOBO is badly warped in NB area (I still wonder if my NB has any contact at all with HS ;) ).

So in next few days when I got more time I will try hitting higher FSBs and will see how far SKEW train will take me.

Cheers

EDIT: Your vNB temps are nice - I can see all those fans - but can you chack what rev u got of NB? Maybe A3 finally?

[KURTZ]

@ Seban: i'm wondering if exists a method to calculate the skews like the gtls ... can you give me a tip or something?

[mikeyakame]

KURTZ,

Get $50-100K USD together and get yourself a logic analyzer ;)

Thats the method of calculating skews. We just guess them throughn trial and error.

[WhiteFireDragon]

i just plugged in my e7300 for a 4ghz quick run and tested it on orthos. after i tested in orthos, core 1 fails after just 1 sec at 1.35v. i bumped up the vcore all the way up to 1.45v just so it passes the stress test for sure but to my surprise, core 1 still fails after only 1 sec. this means i have some other settings wrong. what should i set the vnb, vtt, GTL, and memory divider to be? here is my current settings:


Processor: e7300
Ai Overclock Tuner: Manual
Ratio CMOS Setting: 10
FSB Frequency: 400
CPU Clock Skew: Auto
NB Clock Skew: Auto
FSB Strap to North Bridge: 266 MHz
DRAM Frequency: 1003 MHz

DRAM Timing Control: Manual
1st Information: 5-5-5-15

DRAM Static Read Control: Disabled
DRAM Read Training: Disabled
MEM. OC Charger: Enabled
Ai Clock Twister: Auto
Ai Transaction Booster: Auto

PCIE Frequency: 101

CPU Voltage: 1.3750
CPU PLL Voltage: 1.53975
FSB Termination Voltage: 1.35175
DRAM Voltage: 2.01200
North Bridge Voltage: 1.35175
South Bridge 1.5 Voltage: 1.50000
South Bridge 1.1 Voltage: 1.10000:

CPU GTL Reference (0): +30mV
CPU GTL Reference (1): Auto
CPU GTL Reference (2): +30
CPU GTL Reference (3): Auto
NB GTL Reference: Auto
DDR2 ChA Reference Voltage: Auto
DDR2 ChB Reference Voltage: Auto
North Bridge DDR Reference: Auto

Load-Line Calibration: Enabled
CPU Spread Spectrum: Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum: Disabled

[andressergio]

Guys

Any working link for bios 1901 ?

Sergio

[dawdaw]

http://rapidshare.com/files/180898487/Maximus-II-ASUS-Formula-1901.rar.html

[andressergio]

http://rapidshare.com/files/180898487/Maximus-II-ASUS-Formula-1901.rar.html

thanks mate :up:

[SiGfever]

I agree. I am on bios 1901, and so far, loving it.
I am trying a more extreme 24/7 overclock, but for that, I will need to leave vNB at 1.45v. You think it is safe for 24/7? Temps are not a problem, since I seen to have an insane good mobo, that will never ever pass 39C NB during prime... It stays on 29C-30C idle. And it is aircooled. Do you guys think it is safe to go for 1.45v NB 24/7, if temps will never pass, lets say 42C under prime at that volt?

Here some pics of my system...

http://img388.imageshack.us/img388/987/full4is8.jpg
http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/2604/temps1gi4.jpg

[]'s
Simps
That is not a computer, it is a HoverCraft. :ROTF: :D

[seban]

@ Seban: i'm wondering if exists a method to calculate the skews like the gtls ... can you give me a tip or something?

Just like mikey said there is no real calculation to be done the method is set and pray ;).

In my case because rest was already tuned and almost stable It was enough to bump Skews to first non default option - 100 (still have to test which in fact gave me stability).


i just plugged in my e7300 for a 4ghz quick run and tested it on orthos. after i tested in orthos, core 1 fails after just 1 sec at 1.35v. i bumped up the vcore all the way up to 1.45v just so it passes the stress test for sure but to my surprise, core 1 still fails after only 1 sec. this means i have some other settings wrong. what should i set the vnb, vtt, GTL, and memory divider to be? here is my current settings:


Is your ram stable?

You could try strap 333 to NB as it works nicely for most of us.

Also run small ftt to be sure that you CPU can handle your OC.

[Grnfinger]

i just plugged in my e7300 for a 4ghz quick run and tested it on orthos. after i tested in orthos, core 1 fails after just 1 sec at 1.35v. i bumped up the vcore all the way up to 1.45v just so it passes the stress test for sure but to my surprise, core 1 still fails after only 1 sec. this means i have some other settings wrong. what should i set the vnb, vtt, GTL, and memory divider to be? here is my current settings:



266 strap is a tad stressfull on the MCH.
You could try upping the NB but I think your looking at GTL adjustment.
CPU Clock Skew could help, you could try delay 100 and see if it improves

[KURTZ]

but i don't understand one thing: if i put -100 delay the skews what i can improve? can i put my vNB lower? vDIMM maybe? what helps this skew?

[GeorgeVasil]

but i don't understand one thing: if i put -100 delay the skews what i can improve? can i put my vNB lower? vDIMM maybe? what helps this skew?

They improve stabillity at the same vcore/vnb/vdimm.

[seban]

but i don't understand one thing: if i put -100 delay the skews what i can improve? can i put my vNB lower? vDIMM maybe? what helps this skew?

Tracks/traces on motherboard which transport informations between buses can have different lengths (and they do - of course differences in lenghts are absolutely minimal - the only exception might by DRAMM slots).

When working on nominal clocks MB projects include those differences, corrections are in printed in BIOS and some tolerance is also included. When you OC you push this included tolerance threshold to limits and this is why u need to adjust it yourself.

On motherboard there are data lines and parallel to them control data lines for this data. Both have minimal differences in length, when you over clock you change the rate at which they travel (you can say you speed them up - although technical you do not, because they already travel at almost constant close to speed of light :)) and this is where mismatch can occur - when data pack traveling by one line can reach target (i.e CPU or NB or Mem Stick) faster/slower then control packet for it which traveling by parallel line then errors will occur.

So you add delay, delay sending data by one from pair of parallel line by lets say 100ps which is 0.0000000001 of the second and it helps get all the packets on time to their targets so there are no errors hence lets hope we are stable.

And coming back to question in theory It should not impact positively your volts but who knows? Tho i would not say so :).

So if you are happy with you OC and you do not have problems you probably should not touch it because there is no point of doing so.

But, if as I did, you face some problems or you cant go any higher with OC then Skews might help you.

[KURTZ]

thx mate :)

[seban]

thx mate :)

You are welcome m8.

Well there of course might be other reason then instability or limited OC to play with Skews - performance.

Soon I will be testing which skew gave me stability so I will also test at same time if SKEWS has any impact on performance, but I would be very surprised if they would.

Cheers

[Kayso]

Tracks/traces on motherboard which transport informations between buses can have different lengths (and they do - of course differences in lenghts are absolutely minimal - the only exception might by DRAMM slots).

When working on nominal clocks MB projects include those differences, corrections are in printed in BIOS and some tolerance is also included. When you OC you push this included tolerance threshold to limits and this is why u need to adjust it yourself.

On motherboard there are data lines and parallel to them control data lines for this data. Both have minimal differences in length, when you over clock you change the rate at which they travel (you can say you speed them up - although technical you do not, because they already travel at almost constant close to speed of light :)) and this is where mismatch can occur - when data pack traveling by one line can reach target (i.e CPU or NB or Mem Stick) faster/slower then control packet for it which traveling by parallel line then errors will occur.

So you add delay, delay sending data by one from pair of parallel line by lets say 100ps which is 0.0000000001 of the second and it helps get all the packets on time to their targets so there are no errors hence lets hope we are stable.

And coming back to question in theory It should not impact positively your volts but who knows? Tho i would not say so :).

So if you are happy with you OC and you do not have problems you probably should not touch it because there is no point of doing so.

But, if as I did, you face some problems or you cant go any higher with OC then Skews might help you.

Thanks alot for the info !!! :up::up::up:
With your SKEW settings I managet do get 8*450 from my Q9450 under 1.2vcore On Auto settings I needed 1.25-1.27 vcore for this FSB :clap:.
Thanks again !

With my CPU, a friend of mine managed to get 8*500 ot P5Q-Deluxe, wich is almost the same like my MIIF, but for me is impossible :( Any advices how to tweak the mobo with the system in my signature ?
Here some shots 8*500@1.36 vcore:
http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/3029/3dmv4850yx1.jpg
http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/5595/snm4000hz3.jpg

And some shots on 8*490@1.296 vcore:
http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/2938/q8fa4.jpg

So the CPU can a lot, but I still can't make it stable :(

[JoeBar]

You are welcome m8.

Well there of course might be other reason then instability or limited OC to play with Skews - performance.

Soon I will be testing which skew gave me stability so I will also test at same time if SKEWS has any impact on performance, but I would be very surprised if they would.

Cheers
Would be a nice test... :)

[seban]

Would be a nice test... :)

Weekend is almost here stay tuned :)

[Simps]

Damn this thread is almost dying... All this core i7 threads getting in the way =/ This was / is a very good mobo, I hope you guys keep feeding the thread!

[seban]

Damn this thread is almost dying... All this core i7 threads getting in the way =/ This was / is a very good mobo, I hope you guys keep feeding the thread!

TBH if new Bioses will not introduce working Pull-ins then most of things are covered here.

But I would also be happy to keep it alive.

[shoehorned]

What exactly does pull-ins do? It wasn't in the manual or anything.

[Grnfinger]

What exactly does pull-ins do? It wasn't in the manual or anything.

Increases bandwidth / reduces PL Level

[Gunnz Akimbo]

What are some Memory Bios options to get some speed up?

[CryptiK]

What are some Memory Bios options to get some speed up?

Static read control = enabled
Dram read training = enabled
Ai Clock Twister = strong or stronger
Use the lowest performance level you can

[shoehorned]

Static read control = enabled
Dram read training = enabled
Ai Clock Twister = strong or stronger
Use the lowest performance level you can

Which ones are more important? I noticed that when setting the Ai Clock Twister on strong or stronger, the PL level needs to be higher, otherwise there's instability or can't boot into windows.

[CryptiK]

In that case you need to increase the vNB to make it stable.

Static read control and dram read training give a nice bandwidth boost, and AI Clock Twister gives a small bandwidth increase but reduces latency.

Performance level is by far the most influential on bandwidth. Set the lowest possible PL, then set the others to whatever you can, increasing vNB to reasonable level to aid stability.

[shoehorned]

What is considered reasonable? I've had vnb up to 1.50v for 2x1gb sticks, PL 8, and fsb 500.

[carepolice]

What is considered reasonable? I've had vnb up to 1.50v for 2x1gb sticks, PL 8, and fsb 500.

Dont know your exact specs but 1.50V vNB is pretty high already, just for 2x1gb sticks.

Wich ratio you have ? fsb:ram !

[CryptiK]

What is considered reasonable? I've had vnb up to 1.50v for 2x1gb sticks, PL 8, and fsb 500.

Around 1.30 - 1.45v is all you should need. Even with a quad and 2 x 2GB sticks, PL8 and around 430 - 475 FSB.

That said though, I thought I was rock stable, but i can't get crysis stable at 4GHz. It's intel burn test stable, 13 hours orthos stable, windows memtest stable, dual SPI32M stable, but it cant last more than 10 minutes in crysis in the heavy scenes, sometimes as little as 30 seconds, before crashing to desktop.

It's definitely not my video card causing the instability. I dropped the system to 3.8GHz (423 x 9) and used the ram at the same speed/timings/voltage as normal, and left the card at the usual speed and voltage, and it was totally stable for 2 hours of gaming.

Increasing the SB 1.1v to 1.2v helped a little, but didnt solve it, I've tried up to 1.3v to no avail, and SB 1.5v makes no diff no matter what I set. Increasing vNB to 1.45v (way overkill for my FSB/ram timings) and it made no difference. Ive tried CPU & NB clock skews between 100 and 300ps, and all ram skew combos to no avail. I've dropped AI Clock Twister to moderate in conjunction with raising vNB and it didn't help either. i tried PL10 (usually run PL8) and it made no difference.

It's actually more stable at 534 FSB and 7.5x MP than at 445 FSB and 9x MP. This is a really odd issue. I'll report back if I can get it sorted, and running a lower cpu speed/FSB is not an option for me, I'll change mobos before I do that. I have a few more things to experiment with, but I've pretty much exhausted all my options.

[Grnfinger]

Around 1.30 - 1.45v is all you should need. Even with a quad and 2 x 2GB sticks, PL8 and around 430 - 475 FSB.

That said though, I thought I was rock stable, but i can't get crysis stable at 4GHz. It's intel burn test stable, 13 hours orthos stable, windows memtest stable, dual SPI32M stable, but it cant last more than 10 minutes in crysis in the heavy scenes, sometimes as little as 30 seconds, before crashing to desktop.

It's definitely not my video card causing the instability. I dropped the system to 3.8GHz (423 x 9) and used the ram at the same speed/timings/voltage as normal, and left the card at the usual speed and voltage, and it was totally stable for 2 hours of gaming.

Increasing the SB 1.1v to 1.2v helped a little, but didnt solve it, I've tried up to 1.3v to no avail, and SB 1.5v makes no diff no matter what I set. Increasing vNB to 1.45v (way overkill for my FSB/ram timings) and it made no difference. Ive tried CPU & NB clock skews between 100 and 300ps, and all ram skew combos to no avail. I've dropped AI Clock Twister to moderate in conjunction with raising vNB and it didn't help either. i tried PL10 (usually run PL8) and it made no difference.

It's actually more stable at 534 FSB and 7.5x MP than at 445 FSB and 9x MP. This is a really odd issue. I'll report back if I can get it sorted, and running a lower cpu speed/FSB is not an option for me, I'll change mobos before I do that. I have a few more things to experiment with, but I've pretty much exhausted all my options.

Have you tried setting PCIE to 101, 102 or 103?
I had some major issues with Far Cry2 at 100 and 101. Setting PCIe to 103 resolved my gaming instability.
Something to try if you havent yet.
You could always come to the red side:D The grass isnt always greener on the other side:rofl:

[CryptiK]

Yeah I have tried all bootable PCI-E freq's and makes no difference. Frustrated, I got crazy and set NB GTL Ref to -100mv and to my abject amazement so far its been stable for an hour in crysis at 4GHz and all my normal settings for everything else. It's very strange as my board seemed to really dislike any NB GTL Ref setting other than auto (it still gets very unstable with any positive NB GTL Refs), but I thought what have I got to lose by trying again. I will have to test other things like IBT and Orthos to see how it behaves.

[Grnfinger]

There is a nice tut from Tony over at OCZ that explains in simple terms CPU Clock Skew and NB Clock Skew, how they work and how/when to adjust.

This from there site

Intel FSB Over Clocking, clock skew and the effects it has on system memory.

This applies to all P35, P43/P45, X38 and X48 based Intel motherboards.


Front side bus has been with us for a few years now, we have all become used to talking “what FSB speed” etc and some bios writers have even chosen to use the FSB string in bios for AMD CPU's as they feel more people understand what FSB does over Hyper transport Bus or HTT. The fact is FSB has limits, especially when the clocks on a motherboard are not as accurate or “clean” as they should be.

Many of the new enthusiast level mother boards now feature some level of user tweakable skew, I actually feel in opening up these options many of the bios/board level tuning engineers have got a little lazy and just left end users to set what used to be programmed in the background.

So what skews do we have access too and how do they work?

On a typical enthusiast level board we may see the following:

1 NB clock skew
2 CPU clock skew
3 Dram clock skew
4 Dram command skew

Working from 1 thru 4 let us have a look what each of these do.

1 NB clock skew and 2 CPU clock skew.

As the CPU has a clock so does the Northbridge, with high speed DDR2 and now even higher speed DDR3 this clock has risen to higher and higher levels, the main issue is the clock that drives the NB as these insane speeds suffers from jitter as the frequency rises. One way round this is to use high specification clocks with high specification power supplies that feed them, the issues with this at the motherboard level are cost and real estate.

On most motherboards NB skew can ONLY be delayed, usually is 100ps steps. Now you would feel that adjusting this clock would be in relation to the CPU clock, the fast is though it seems to follow this rule but not follow it at the same time. In theory you should only have to adjust either the NB skew or the CPU clock skew to bring them into alignment, thru hands on testing both have been found to work well when used together. Using Intel's new dual core processors such as the E8500 CPU most boards seem to respond best to between 300 and 500ps delay skew on the CPU clock from around 1600FSB(400) upwards. What seems to happen is the clock advances as you program an increase in FSB speed, so the clock looks to “drift” so you have to dial it back.
NB clock skew from testing does NOT look to need as much, I have found 100 thru 300ps skew adjust usually can help although it is NOT always needed, it looks to depend on the NB memory controller load. So if you are just running 2x1GB dimms you probably do not need to worry about NB clock skew as much but running 8GB of memory may force you to dial in some adjustment.



3 Dram clock skew.

Most modern desktop enthusiast level motherboards have 4 dimm slots, we “hope” the motherboard designer has calculated all traces from the memory controller to these dimm slots to be exactly the same, the reality is though in most cases they are not. What this means to over clockers is the clock signal arriving at the dimm slots may be different to each dimm just by a few ps. So the purpose of Dram clock skew it to try and re align these clocks across all 4 dimm slots so that they all hit the memory at exactly the same moment.

Here is a quote from Lostcircuits.com where my good friend Michael Schuette has been educating people for many years.

“In a dual channel memory system all data have to arrive at the receiver (memory controller) at the same time. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to adjust the clock skew of the data strobe to take into account the different trace lengths between the memory controller and the corresponding memory slots. Older designs have largely employed snaking of the memory data traces, however, an easier way of getting there is to adjust the data strobes with a differential delay for the two channels. This explains the different timing values for the two memory channels with, for example, the clock skew of channel A being advanced 150 psec further than that of channel B. The physical trace length is different for the two channels and, therefore, the clock skew needs to be adjusted accordingly to compensate. “


http://www.lostcircuits.com/advice/bios3/8.shtml

Now what is frustrating for most of us is we have nothing that shows us a “start point”, modern motherboards do feature a system that “looks” to see where the clock signal should be (DQS Training) so skew at AUTO should be close, the reality though is high speed and high load can push this AUTO feature quite a way out from being close so you may be forced to adopt a “lets see if this works” methodology to your testing unless you happen to have 4 input high speed scopes at your disposal which means you can see the clocks etc and just dial them in. Also bios engineers can hide skew settings behind the AUTO setting which they feel work well, the issue here though is different memory IC brands, batches or die revisions coupled with different PCB have a massive effect on what skew works and where it needs to be, so fine tuning a board for 1 specific brand or type of memory is VERY bad.

What you are faced with is the need to adjust settings end users really should not have to change, it is an ugly situation but noise, jitter, poor component quality, high speed and in some cases a little laziness have forced this upon us.

4 Dram command skew

First we need to understand how Dram Command works:

We all know Command or CPC (command per clock) as 1T or 2T, for Intel systems this is actually 1N and 2N. A command signal is given by the memory controller when it first attempts to access system memory. Basically if you have 1T set the memory controller will try to latch onto a memory bank, the name for this is Chip Select as this is exactly what it is trying to do in 1T clock cycle. Once it has latched it looks for Columns and Rows, we know them as CAS and RAS. CAS or column address strobe and RAS or row address strobe can either take 1 clock / 2 clocks or in some cases 3 clock (3T)

So adding Command skew into the mix means we can advance or delay the memory controllers attempt for that first access to a bank of memory in relation to the data clock. This means we should be able to dial in 1T (1N) performance at higher clocks or with an increased memory load. Using 1T (1N) is usually very dependent on the amount of banks and whether they are single rank or double rank. 4 banks but single rank means 4 modules that are single sided, 4 banks double rank means 4 modules double sided. 1T (1N) works best with single rank modules and easiest of all with just 2 banks (2 modules installed), having Command skew though may allow us to dial in 1T(1N) where it usually will not run, this option however really is for those seeking the absolute max from their systems and being honest most end users would do better sticking with 2T (2N command) and leaving this skew option by AUTO.

Now we need to look at the Front Side Bus its self (keeping it simple)


FSB is Intel's proprietary name for the bus architecture it uses on its current processors. This bus speed is calculated using a bus multiplier and bus frequency. In the case of most processors such as the dual core E8500 or quad core Q9650 this is given using a Front Side Bus of 1333MHZ which is quad pumped so we need to divide by 4 and a bus multiplier which is 9.5 for the E8500 and 9 for the Q9650.

1333MHZ/4=333
333x9.5=3163MHZ E8500 base speed

1333MHZ/4=333

333x9=2997MHZ Q9650 base speed.

Using the available ratio's Intel has built into its memory controller we can adjust the dram speed to either run synchronously with the CPU FSB ( most efficient way) or asynchronously which adds a little extra latency.

There are in fact 2 synchronous options for the memory bus, these are 1:1 and 1:2.

Option 1
1:1 would mean a CPU with a FSB of 1333MHZ would have dram running 333MHZ(single pump clock) X 2 for double data rate which means 667MHZ or PC 5400

Option2
1:2 with the same 1333FSB would mean a base clock of 333MHZ(single pumped clock) x2 for 667 resulting in a dram clock of 667x2 which is 1333MHZ.

Option 1 is normal on DDR2 systems, with Option 2 being available on DDR3 systems. Option 1 is actually available to DDR3 also hence why there are 2 ways to run synchronous.

There are other options for Dram ratio, these usually are all down clocks or up clocks for the dram speed with reference to the single pumped FSB speed. Its important to know that any move away from synchronous clocks will add latency and in such be slightly slower than running synchronously. It is not always best to run very high memory speeds on an Intel system, the architecture for FSB means data has to travel from one domain to another thru the memory controller. This is where tRD or the read delay comes into play (performance level)

Keeping things very simple the memory controller has rules. These rules involve the following.

1 CAS latency on the memory
2 front side bus Strapping in relation to the Northbridge
3 the memory ratio(divider) used
4 the tRD (read delay) you are trying to run.

In the case of DDR3, to physically run a 2000MHZ module at 2000MHZ you have to run 2000FSB. This means a bus speed (single pumped) of 500 set in bios. Now this is a huge overclock for quite a few components.

1 Clock generator
2 Northbridge
3 CPU
4 Memory.

Even a 1600MHZ module will require 1600FSB which for most mainstream processors means over clocking. So again you have the following items running out of spec.

1 Clock generator
2 Northbridge
3 CPU
4 Memory

As mentioned earlier the higher the bus frequency the board is running the more chance you have of jitter or clock misalignment. DDR2 from around 1000MHZ suffers from clock issues on the boards, DDR3 is the same. From around 1200MHZ DDR3 usually needs some tweak to have it working cleanly. For end users this means the following:

1 The higher the memory speed is, the more chance you have of needing to adjust skew
2 The more memory load( number and size of modules) you have the more chance of needing to adjust skew
3 The higher the CPU bus speed, the more chance you will need to adjust CPU clock skew and dram skews to being things back into alignment.

TRD read delay/performance level has a huge effect on how easy a board will run also. It is most important you dial in the exact delay that is needed for the FSB and CAS latency you are running. It is possible to force the memory controller to run with a tighter tRD, this usually involves over voltage of the NB chipset but again this is for end users who are looking to squeeze every last drop of speed from their systems. Motherboard bios engineers usually have dialed in algorithms that set the correct tRD Vs CAS latency selected and the FSB set in bios Vs the memory ratio used. However they do sometimes get it wrong, so be prepared to have to fine tune.

A good article explaining tRD can be found here: http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3208&p=5
FSB scaling, how to make it run higher.

Explaining FSB can be a little difficult, I usually like to compare the bus to a cloths line with towels hanging on it on a windy day. The reason for this is as follows.

The CPU, (if a quad core 2 cpu's) are hung on the FSB Just like 1or 2 towels, the NB chipset is also hung on the FSB just like another towel on the cloths line. As the FSB frequency rises liken it to the wind speed getting stronger...the towels have a hard time staying on the line and can get blown off, in our case the limits of FSB are reached and components fail on the bus or just fall off.

So how do we increase resistance to FSB issues as the frequency rises?

In bios we have a few tools that help. These are:

VTT or FSB voltage
GTL voltages both CPU and NB
NB voltage
CPU Vcore

Im not going to explain how these work, its best I link you to some awesome articles that show you their effect. I just need to explain here than you need to make sure you have all items on the FSB as stable as they can physically can be. For you to stand a chance of getting memory running stable on your system FSB stability is critical.

Here are some articles to read:

http://www.thetechrepository.com/showthread.php?t=87
http://www.edgeofstability.com/artic.../gtl/gtl1.html

Now for the less technical amongst you I will break it down into a few brief points you need to know.

1 quad cores do not clock as high on the FSB as dual core CPU's do. The reason for this is an Intel quad is actually 2 cpu's in 1 package, and they have issues staying synced on the FSB

2 The NB reacts just like a CPU does on the FSB, its important that you dial in GTL+ voltages as accurately as you do on the CPU to have it clocking on the FSB well.

3 Clock Jitter has a profound effect on the FSB, cheap boards have cheap clocks, cheap clocks usually mean more Jitter which equal lower FSB overclocking.

4 Always dial in GTL before you adjust VTT (fsb voltage) in many cases an increase in VTT is not needed.

Usual GTL values for dual core and high FSB are (45nm cpus)

0.63%
0.63% for each core
0.61% for the Northbridge
For quad cores as I have used down as low as 0.61% for GTL, it all depends on what VTT is set and what the processor needs. Usually though 0.61% is good for the Northbridge with all CPU's.

Try to keep VTT no higher than 1.3V with 45nm CPU's, more may kill them. Remember GTL % values are based on that % of VTT voltage applied. Some boards have values that may justy have numeric values, 0 to 255 etc, for these boards you must research the common used values and cross reference them against the %Value given to VTT.
Overall staying between 67% and 60% is wise for all 65 and 45nb cpu's

[SiGfever]

:rolleyes:

Nice find Grnfinger. :clap: :clap:

[Grnfinger]

Heres the link


http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=40747

[CryptiK]

Yeah I have read that guide before when I was new to P45's, it's a good write up.

[Furiøùs]

Im thinking about trying the new bios (1901 or 1902 or something i believe)

Anyone using it and notice a difference at all? Im trying to get 500x8 stable and wondering if it'll do it for me

[Grnfinger]

1901 offers nothing more than 1802 unfortunately
Its a stable bios but zero improvment

[Furiøùs]

Nevermind then.. :(

Still cant get 500x8 stable btw Grn. i had sent you another PM, not sure if you got it :P

[Grnfinger]

Nevermind then.. :(

Still cant get 500x8 stable btw Grn. i had sent you another PM, not sure if you got it :P

No sorry I have been having troubles with PM's lately, there are a few that I did not get.
Please re send

[SiGfever]

1901 offers nothing more than 1802 unfortunately
Its a stable bios but zero improvment

Do you recommend the 1802 bios over 1307?

[GeorgeVasil]

I've tried 1802 and i had unexpected hungs on restart ..(LCD Poster reports DET RAM) at the 1307's rock stable settings.

So the best BIOS for me is 1307..:p:

[Grnfinger]

Do you recommend the 1802 bios over 1307?

I honestly find no difference with 1307, 1802 and 1901, I have 1802 on bios 1and 1901 on bios 2 on both boards.
Both chips run well with either bios


I've tried 1802 and i had unexpected hungs on restart ..(LCD Poster reports DET RAM) at the 1307's rock stable settings.

So the best BIOS for me is 1307..:p:

Your not trying to load saved profiles are you?
If you flash to another bios always enter settings manually.

[JoeBar]

I honestly find no difference with 1307, 1802
Me too. Currently running 1802.

[andressergio]

Guys

I tested 1307 / 1802 and 1901 and vista 64 feels smoother and much more responsive than all before, i also testing memtest on the gskills at this settings:

Q9650 4080 (480x8,5) vcore idle 1,336 / load 1,3458 / vtt 1,3 / pll 1,53
CPU GTLS +10/-40/+10/-40
NB GTL +40
CPU delay 200 / NB delay 100
DRAM skews delay 100
Gskills PC29600 2x2GB 1200Mhz 5-5-4-15 vdimm 2,1 NB1,45 PL8 Ai Twister Moderate

Cheers :up:
Sergio

[GeorgeVasil]

Your not trying to load saved profiles are you?
If you flash to another bios always enter settings manually.

No,No..

1307 is on BIOS1 Chip & 1802 on BIOS2 Chip.

My settings are manually entered.:up:

[Gunnz Akimbo]

Chucked the 1901bios on.

Still the same performance, can't see any difference.
At least it keeps the speedingHDD raid drives alone, didnt mess that up phew!

Ive tried those ram settings before, but the thing didnt boot with bios 1307. its only value set of 8GB at DDR2-800. I can't be bothered with cmos resets, there's too many options to change all the time.

Just one thing, with 400FSB, what's the adequate voltage for

FSB
NB
SB 1.5
SB 1.1

Just take into account there is 8GB installed.
Currently its set at

FSB = 1.36xxx
NB = 1.36xxx
SB = 1.66xxx
SB = 1.36xxx
Running kinda warm though.
:up:

[CryptiK]

Well following up on my Crysis instability, it was due to my NB GTL Ref. Now, set at -80mv, it's completely stable in crysis, and other stress tests (IBT/Orthos/Memtest). If you are experiencing any similar issues it may be the setting you need to adjust to solve it.

[andressergio]

Well following up on my Crysis instability, it was due to my NB GTL Ref. Now, set at -80mv, it's completely stable in crysis, and other stress tests (IBT/Orthos/Memtest). If you are experiencing any similar issues it may be the setting you need to adjust to solve it.

Great to hear that CryptiK :up: What NB volts you use ? I'm on +40 but maybe negative values are better, they seem to do good to my cpu on this mobo

will try

Did you see i can run the gskills at 1200 5-5-4-15 2,1vdimm :D fails on LinX 10 test but it's good news...I will try dif NB and GTL, i'm not sure if it's good idea to pump more than 2,1vdimm on them...

catch you later
Cheers
Sergio

[andressergio]

Chucked the 1901bios on.

Still the same performance, can't see any difference.
At least it keeps the speedingHDD raid drives alone, didnt mess that up phew!

Ive tried those ram settings before, but the thing didnt boot with bios 1307. its only value set of 8GB at DDR2-800. I can't be bothered with cmos resets, there's too many options to change all the time.

Just one thing, with 400FSB, what's the adequate voltage for

FSB
NB
SB 1.5
SB 1.1

Just take into account there is 8GB installed.
Currently its set at

FSB = 1.36xxx
NB = 1.36xxx
SB = 1.66xxx
SB = 1.36xxx
Running kinda warm though.
:up:

mate did you try dram skews ? for ex on delay 50ps to 100ps ? also NB delay 100 and NB GTL gave me better results...I'm not on 8GB just 4GB but worth trying

i'm also on bios 1901

Cheers
Sergio

[CryptiK]

Great to hear that Tim :up: What NB volts you use ? I'm on +40 but maybe negative values are better, they seem to do good to my cpu on this mobo

will try

Did you see i can run the gskills at 1200 5-5-4-15 2,1vdimm :D fails on LinX 10 test but it's good news...I will try dif NB and GTL, i'm not sure if it's good idea to pump more than 2,1vdimm on them...

catch you later
Cheers
Sergio

Yeah very nice for 2 x 2GB. However I'd run ~2.00 - 2.05v max through those things as they aren't cheap. Plus dropping to 5-5-4-15 on the P45 chipset wont gain you much. I run 5-5-4-12 as I chose my desired 24/7 ram speed, and only need 1.94v to do it.

My vNB is 1.30v. Each NB chip is different just like CPU's, each will like a different GTL Ref at any given speed, mine just happens to like -ve values but others like +ve values. As with the cpu GTL's its just trial and error.


Chucked the 1901bios on.

Still the same performance, can't see any difference.
At least it keeps the speedingHDD raid drives alone, didnt mess that up phew!

Ive tried those ram settings before, but the thing didnt boot with bios 1307. its only value set of 8GB at DDR2-800. I can't be bothered with cmos resets, there's too many options to change all the time.

Just one thing, with 400FSB, what's the adequate voltage for

FSB
NB
SB 1.5
SB 1.1

Just take into account there is 8GB installed.
Currently its set at

FSB = 1.36xxx
NB = 1.36xxx
SB = 1.66xxx
SB = 1.36xxx
Running kinda warm though.
:up:

FSB = 1.36xxx --> whatever your cpu needs and you're comfortable with
NB = 1.36xxx --> 1.25 - 1.45v seems to be the normal range.
SB = 1.66xxx --> 1.5 is fine for me I've never needed to raise it
SB = 1.36xxx --> 1.2v seemed to stabilize things a little for me at high FSB/ram speeds during SPI32M runs and with gaming, although increasing to 1.3v+ didn't make any difference.

[Simps]

500FSB on 65nm quad MASTERED for 24/7 use!
DDR2-1200 5-5-5-18, PL8, STRONGER
BIOS 1901
Aircooled rig!

I am still running prime as I type. I will come back later to post full details on how to do it!

1.42v CPU
1.35v FSB
1.59v PLL
2.09v DIMM
1.44v NB
1.19v SB1.1
1.55v SB1.5

http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/307/32603469ow2.jpg

[]'s
Simps

[Grnfinger]

very nice :clap: :clap: :clap:

[WhiteFireDragon]

what memory did you use and at what vdimm?

[Simps]

very nice :clap: :clap: :clap:

Thanks! Now that 500FSB is done, I am trying to go for 24/7 508FSB on my quad. Looks doable with bios 1901. I can boot up to 530FSB now, with no extreme volts.

http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/9938/85718343lp0.jpg



what memory did you use and at what vdimm?

I am using Corsair Dominator PC10000C5DF, and they are at 2.09v.

[]'s
Simps

[Furiøùs]

I sent the PM again Grnfinger.

[Simps]

I found a way to do 500FSB 24/7 stable on a quad on this board, I would like to share how I did it, and it may help everybody to reach higher FSB's too, if not 500 for quad.
I don't have a dualcore, so I am writing based on my quad experience.
I also believe, this method is the right way to fine tune your Maximus II Formula. Even if you are not going for 500FSB 24/7 on a quad, if you do the guide, you will find that you will be able to drop a lot of your volts. Just randonly setting values like GTL's, SKEWS, etc, are not the best way to find the sweet spot of your mother board.
At the end of this guide you will have no "auto" settings left on your bios. Everything is covered, and fine tunned.

***Doesn't matter if you are on a 65nm quad / dual or 45nm quad / dual. The way to fine tune your motherboard will be the same. So this guide will do for everybody.



Guide for full tunning the Maximus II Formula for high FSB / MEM / CLOCK for 24/7 use

How to start?
BIOS 1901
With your bios reseted (everything on auto), enter reasonable 24/7 volts for high FSB / mem clock like the ones below:

1.xxv CPU (you know what they are)
1.30v FSB
1.55v PLL
2.00v DIMM (Respect your ram spec)
1.45v NB (This one should be 1.45v)
1.15v SB1.1 (This one you might leave at the lowest)
1.55v SB1.5 (This one you might leave at the lowest)

Now, find the highest FSB that will boot and enter windows, and run prime blend for some minutes at least.
Keep on 333 strap if possible, and set your ram to the highest possible, adjusting the Vdimm.
Enter the 1st, 2nd and 3th ram information manually, copying all the values that "auto" settings show, replacing only the Row Refresh Recycle Time to 55 DRAM Clocks.
LEAVE IT ON PL10 - MODERATE for now.
Set your multiplier to the one that will result in the closest final CPU clock you aim for 24/7 use.
Remember, this set (fsb, multiplier and ram) must be unstable, but able to run prime for about some minutes at least.

Now the fine tune begins.

PS: The guide is cumulative, so you should keep settings before starting to test others. The guide is already on the order you should fine tune the settings.



1) CPU GTL Reference 0, 1, 2 and 3

You don't need to do any calculations.
There are only a few possible CPU GTL's combinations that makes sense from 1.20vFSB to 1.44vFSB.
If you are under 1.20vFSB, then you don't need this guide, since you are performing a "junior" overclock.
Anything higher then 1.40vFSB is a NO for 45nm and higher then 1.44vFSB is NO for 65nm. So there is no way you will be out of this range from 1.20vFSB - 1.44vFSB.
The only few values that are "right" are listed below.
If you are using any CPU GTL value different then this, then, from my calculations and experience, you are doing it wrong, and don't have the optimal values for your setttings, and that is slowing your overclock potencial down.

***As you can see below, the gaps on the CPU GTL's are constant. That is why you don't need to perform any calculation! The gaps are always going to be the same, and there are only 2 gaps that makes sense! 40mV and 45mV! No mistery about CPU GTL's.

From 1.20VTT to 1.32VTT (40mV gap)
CPU GTL 0: +100mV | +90mV | +80mV | +70mV | +60mV | +50mV | +40mV | +30mV | +20mV | +10mV
CPU GTL 1: +060mV | +50mV | +40mV | +30mV | +20mV | +10mV | +00mV | -10mV | -20mV | -30mV
CPU GTL 2: +100mV | +90mV | +80mV | +70mV | +60mV | +50mV | +40mV | +30mV | +20mV | +10mV
CPU GTL 3: +060mV | +50mV | +40mV | +30mV | +20mV | +10mV | +00mV | -10mV | -20mV | -30mV

CPU GTL 0: -060mV | -50mV | -40mV | -30mV | -20mV | -10mV | +00mV
CPU GTL 1: -100mV | -90mV | -80mV | -70mV | -60mV | -50mV | -40mV
CPU GTL 2: -060mV | -50mV | -40mV | -30mV | -20mV | -10mV | +00mV
CPU GTL 3: -100mV | -90mV | -80mV | -70mV | -60mV | -50mV | -40mV


From 1.32VTT to 1.44VTT (45mV gap)
CPU GTL 0: +100mV | +90mV | +80mV | +70mV | +60mV | +50mV | +40mV | +30mV | +20mV | +10mV
CPU GTL 1: +055mV | +45mV | +35mV | +25mV | +15mV | +05mV | -05mV | -15mV | -25mV | -35mV
CPU GTL 2: +100mV | +90mV | +80mV | +70mV | +60mV | +50mV | +40mV | +30mV | +20mV | +10mV
CPU GTL 3: +055mV | +45mV | +35mV | +25mV | +15mV | +05mV | -05mV | -15mV | -25mV | -35mV

CPU GTL 0: -060mV | -50mV | -40mV | -30mV | -20mV | -10mV | +00mV
CPU GTL 1: -105mV | -95mV | -85mV | -75mV | -65mV | -55mV | -45mV
CPU GTL 2: -060mV | -50mV | -40mV | -30mV | -20mV | -10mV | +00mV
CPU GTL 3: -105mV | -95mV | -85mV | -75mV | -65mV | -55mV | -45mV

*** The CPU GTL's in green, are, from my experience, most like the candidates of the most stable CPU GTL. But feel free to try whatever you want!

*** The positive values for the CPU GTL's, are not available on the 1901 BIOS, from 5 to 5mV increments. Only 10mV to 20mV and so on. So if you need a positive CPU GTL value like "+25mV", you will have to round it to +30mV or +20mV, or better then that, leave the 5mV to the negative CPU GTL's, as they are available on the 1901 BIOS!

*** You can select on your bios, other CPU GTL's that are beyond the +100mV and -100mV showed here. Its very unlikely that those are the best CPU GTL's for you, but you can always try them too!

You should test all the possible CPU GTL's listed above, and keep of course, the most stable one.
To do this, you should try at least 2 or 3 different unstable sets of high FSB's and CPU clocks (including the one you are at now), that are about 5-10mim prime stable only.
By testing all of them, and writing the results down (how long it last before crashing on prime), you will see a patter.
That is why you need to do it with 2 or 3 sets of unstable settings, so you can really understand the patter of the results, and pic the most stable CPU GTL.
Now, you want some sets that are 5mim prime stable only, so you don't need to wait a lot before each test. Also, you need to test sets that are close to your goal FSB / CPU clock.
That is it, now you have your perfect CPU GTL.



2) NB GTL Reference

At this time, you must have your CPU GTL's defined. Keep them.
NB GTL Reference might vary from -80mV to +80mV of even more. The best way to find the optimal one, is testing them all and finding the most stable one.
For this test, you should keep the high FSB (always), and use high DDR2 clock, with PL8 and a STRONG or STRONGER clock twister. Any thing that can put some stress on the NB.
You should prime blend again, at least 2 or 3 sets of unstable settings, and write the results down, as you change your NB GTL.
You will see a patter, and you should keep the most stable one.



3) DDR2 CHA / DDR2 CHB and NB DDR2 Reference Voltages

FOR DDR2 CHA / CHB YOU SHOULD NOT GOT BEYOND -25mV - +25mV
FOR NB DDR2 REFERENCE YOU SHOULD NOT GOT BEYOND -50mV - +50mV

So there are a few values only to be tested.
Do the same test you did on Item2, and now, with these settings, you should improve them.
Let's say you got +20mV as your NB GTL on Item2, because it was the most stable one, and it could make a 10mim in prime before crashing.
Now, you repeat that same test, but with different combinations of DDR2 CHA / DDR2 CHB and NB DDR2 Reference voltages, respecting the limits.
You will keep, of course, the best combination, and if without these settings you were getting 10 mim before crashing, now with the right combination, you will improve the time.

Start testing:
+12.5
+12.5
+25

Then:
+12.5
+12.5
-25

and keep going...



4) CPU / NB SKEWS

At this point, you should have all settings from item 1, 2 and 3 done. This is a cumulative guide, so you should keep every setting before starting to test a new one.
Ok, this is VERY easy to find. SKEWS are very sensitive, so the results will appear right away, either good or bad.
YOU NEED TO TEST THESE AS A PAIR.
From my experience, I can say that only delayed skews are good, but maybe that is not true for your system. So you should try advanced too.
Start with:

CPU SKEW - NB SKEW
normal - delay 100
delay 100 - normal
delay 100 - delay 100
delay 100 - delay 200
delay 200 - delay 100
delay 200 - delay 200

and so on...

Then add larger gaps (this is good)

CPU SKEW - NB SKEW
normal - delay 200
delay 200 - normal
delay 100 - delay 300

and so on...

Since this is very sensitive, when you start to prime, some of the settings will crash right away. Others will last only a few seconds...
Only the few good combinations will last long. And it will be very easy to define the most stable one. Keep it.



5) DRAM SKEWS

This are not as much sensitive as the CPU and NB skews, but they are also easy to set.
Just repeat the Item4 test, and try to lower your PL, or raise your mem frequency, or add something that will put more stress to the ram, like a clock twister or something.
For me, only delayed values were good, but you might try advanced too.
Keep changing them, and writing the results down, and you will be able to tell the most stable set.

Start with:
normal / normal / normal / normal

Then:
-50 / -50 / -50 / -50

Then:
+50 / +50 / +50 / +50

Then:
-100 / -100 / -100 / -100

and so on...



6) DRAM Static Read Control

Leave it disabled



7) DRAM Read Training

Leave it disabled



8) MEM OC CHARGER

Leave it enabled



9) MEM Timings (1st, 2nd and 3th information)

If you want, this is the time to fine tune it. If you have 2x1GB you can set you Row Refresh Recycle Time to 40 DRAM Clocks. Set it to 50 for 2x2GB, and so one. From my experience, keeping 5-5-5-18-3-55-6-3 on the 1st information, is the best when going for high fsb and mem clocks.



10) PULLINS

Keep them disabled, they don't work on bios 1901.



11) CPU Configuration

Disable everything there.



12) Load line calibration

Enabled



13) CPU and PCI-E Spread Spectrum

Disabled



14) PCI-E Frequency

100



Ok, at this point, you have fine tunned your motherboard. No auto settings anymore.
But it is not stable yet, far from it.
Now, you will find and understand how the voltages affect your overclock.

vCPU - Helps most raw cpu speed
vFSB - Helps at high FSB
vPLL - Helps at high FSB
vDIMM - Helps high ram clocks.
vNB - Helps high fsb and high ram clock
vSB1.1 - Helps with raid or several HDDs / optical
vSB1.5 - Helps at PCI-E frequency (when higher then 100)

Now its up to you, to find the correct volts, to keep the system stable at a high FSB and MEM clock.

***At this point, there is no need to change, again, GTLs, SKEWS, etc... They are already fine tunned. Now you just need to find the correct volts, and you are done.

***You will now, only mess with the following:

- FSB / RAM clock
- Performance Level
- AI Clock Twisters
- And all the voltages (vCPU, VTT, etc)

Keep changing only this values, one at a time, or on pairs at most. Always test them and write results down so you can understand what is going on. After some tests, you will find the correct volts.

That is it.
Now you have mastered your motherboard, and can push your cpu and mem to its limit for 24/7 use.



Here are the bios settings I am using for 500FSB DDR2-1200CL5 PL8-STRONGER, on my 65nm quad.

CPU Skew: Delay 100
NB Skew: Delay 300
DRAM Skews: Delay 50
CPU GTL's: +10 -35 +10 -35
NB GTL: +30
CHA / CHB Reference: +12.5
NB DDR Reference: -25
DRAM Static Read Control: Disabled
DRAM Read Training: Disabled
MEM OC CHARGER: Enabled
PULLINS: Disabled
PCI-E Frequency: 100
vPLL: 1.59275
vFSB: 1.37825
vNB: 1.45775
vSB1.5: 1.55300
vSB1.1: 1.20600
CPU Configuration: All disabled
Load line calibration: Enabled
CPU and PCI-E Spread Spectrum: Disbaled



quadcore 500FSB - 24/7
http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/307/32603469ow2.jpg

quadcore 490FSB - 24/7
http://img371.imageshack.us/img371/9096/4902cb1.jpg



ADDITIONAL INFO:

Maximus II Formula is probably the best non-core i7 board out there for 24/7 usage.

1) 1.25vNB is what is needed for a quad at 490FSB and DDR2-1178 PL8 STRONGER
2) 1.27vFSB is what is needed to clock a 65nm quad at 490FSB on this board for 24/7 use! 45nm values would be even lower!
3) vPLL, vSB1.1 and vSB1.5 can be at the lowest possible volts the board allows, even at 490FSB on a quad.
4) The board just don't heat up! It is insane that your NB, SB, PWM's are not going to heat up, even at the most extreme clock / volts! Idle to load delta's are arround: NB=5C, SB=3C and PWM=10C

Take a look at the FSB / MEM speed, and the voltages required to do so, all on a 65nm quad!
This is a 4h prime blend and 10 loops IBT on max stress.
Everything, CPU, MOBO, etc, is aircooled inside a closed case.

CPU Skew: Delay 100
NB Skew: Delay 300
DRAM Skews: Delay 50
CPU GTL's: +10 -35 +10 -35
NB GTL: +30
CHA / CHB Reference: +12.5
NB DDR Reference: -25
DRAM Static Read Control: Disabled
DRAM Read Training: Disabled
MEM OC CHARGER: Enabled
PULLINS: Disabled
PCI-E Frequency: 100
vPLL: 1.50000
vFSB: 1.28550
vNB: 1.25900
vSB1.5: 1.50000
vSB1.1: 1.10000
CPU Configuration: All disabled
Load line calibration: Enabled
CPU and PCI-E Spread Spectrum: Disbaled



quadcore 494FSB - 24/7
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/5383/4945ju6.jpg



ADDITIONAL INFO (2):

500FSB and 1:1 divider (DDR2-1000 5-5-5-18 PL10)

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/4468/new50010ou9.jpg



7h prime blend + 20 IBT loops on max stress:
http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/5244/new50013wu3.jpg

[]'s
Simps

[Grnfinger]

Simps you have done a very nice job here, you should be proud of your accomplishment!!

65nm quad running 500FSB :banana::banana::banana::banana:ING A!!!
WELL DONE!

[andressergio]

I found a way to do 500FSB 24/7 stable on a quad on this board, I would like to share how I did it, and it may help everybody to reach higher FSB's too, if not 500 for quad.
Simps


Congrats mate :up: nice guide great work :up:

I think that on my personal exp it's much easier runing 2x1GB than 2x2GB to achieve those 500fsb stable, i never had dual cores always quads and when i had my Crucials old batch 2x1GB life was much easier, then i decided to go for 2x2GB sticks and things got complex. ON 2GB and XP32 will be easier than 2x2GB and Vista 64.

Cheers
Sergio

[loonym]

Simps, that is outstanding!! Thank you for your effort. I'll try this when I get time.

[andressergio]

Hey Simps

I followed your guide as i was very close on CPU GTLS (+10/-40...) for that given VTT and NB, Skews, etc

I tried this upping a notch of vcore and managed to pass LinX 10 runs on 15000 problem size, normally after this i can pass IBT 5 runs max stress

http://img56.imageshack.us/img56/948/4105483x85mems451207pl8qt9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img56.imageshack.us/img56/4105483x85mems451207pl8qt9.jpg/1/w1280.png (http://g.imageshack.us/img56/4105483x85mems451207pl8qt9.jpg/1/)

I love the bandwith of this 8,5 multi :D

http://img67.imageshack.us/img67/757/capturaof3.jpg

Thanks for your guide i will keep going up

Cheers :up:
Sergio

[CryptiK]

500FSB on 65nm quad MASTERED for 24/7 use!
DDR2-1200 5-5-5-18, PL8, STRONGER
BIOS 1901
Aircooled rig!



Very nicely done, and on 65nm too :up:

[WhiteFireDragon]

now we just need a guide for 45nm quads since i'm assuming most people are using these chips by now. i'm guessing it would be the same, except slightly different GTL's?

[Simps]

Thanks everybody. After playing with the board for a while, I found out, that most of the settings, are interrelated. So the best way to tune the board up, if by following a logical order on setting things up. That is basically the guide I wrote. First find the CPU GTL's, then NB GTL's, and so on. But you have to test all the settings, write the results down, and then pick the most stable one. That is the most important part. No guessing or randonlly picking up values "thinking" they are the most stable ones. Just do that, get rid of all the auto settings, and you will find out that you can now drop your volts or reach higher clocks...


Hey Simps

I followed your guide as i was very close on CPU GTLS (+10/-40...) for that given VTT and NB, Skews, etc

I tried this upping a notch of vcore and managed to pass LinX 10 runs on 15000 problem size, normally after this i can pass IBT 5 runs max stress

I love the bandwith of this 8,5 multi :D
Thanks for your guide i will keep going up

Cheers :up:
Sergio

Nice going there! I have good news for you.
From my experience, I can tell that you can reach at least 490FSB stable 24/7. It will be up to you, deciding if the extra volts required for the extra mem clock / cpu clock are a deal or not. But if you are at 483FSB already, 490FSB is just a matter of time. I am saying this, because before I had my 500FSB going 24/7, I was on 490FSB and it was very easy on the board. 490FSB is doable 24/7 on this board, with the same settings you have to use to stay stable on 475FSB. Keep pushing it =/

I see that you are on the +10 -35 +10 -35 CPU GTL's. That is what I use on my 500FSB :)
So, your chip / mobo might like the same values mine do.
This is what I use for 500FSB on my quad, you might give it a go :)

vFSB: 1.37825
CPU GTL's: +10 -35 +10 -35
NB GTL Reference: +30mV

Also, try vPLL arround 1.57v for your 45nm. I use 1.59v but mine is a 65nm.

EDIT: I just went to my bios and downgraded from 500FSB to 490FSB, leaving all the rest as I had it on 500FSB, so you can see the volts that I use on 500FSB. Just did this to show what you would be getting at 490FSB, 333STRAP and DDR2-1176 5-5-5-15. This is a 2h prime95 blend + 10 IBT loops on max stress and an everest mem to show the bandwidth / lantecy.
http://img371.imageshack.us/img371/9096/4902cb1.jpg


now we just need a guide for 45nm quads since i'm assuming most people are using these chips by now. i'm guessing it would be the same, except slightly different GTL's?

I am not sure about the CPU GTL's for 45nm really... But I don't see how can they be any different from the 7 possible CPU GTL's I have shown?
Can someone explain if there will be any CPU GTL different from this 7, that are possible on 45nm?

From 1.20VTT to 1.32VTT
CPU GTL Reference (0): +30mV | +20mV | +10mV
CPU GTL Reference (1): -10mV | -20mV | -30mV
CPU GTL Reference (2): +30mV | +20mV | +10mV
CPU GTL Reference (3): -10mV | -20mV | -30mV

From 1.32VTT to 1.44VTT
CPU GTL Reference (0): +40mV | +30mV | +20mV | +10mV
CPU GTL Reference (1): -05mV | -15mV | -25mv | -35mV
CPU GTL Reference (2): +40mV | +30mV | +20mV | +10mV
CPU GTL Reference (3): -05mV | -15mV | -25mv | -35mV

[]'s
Simps

[seban]

I was playing a lot with GTLs as this was the first thing for which I found a good guide for this mobo (thanks Cryptik).

And for sure I can tell that there is not such thing as one good GTLrefs for range of vtts and also there is not such thing as good one GTL for everyone.... there might be CPUs which dont mind it and they will be stable on same GTLrefs for range of VTTs but I still believe that fine tunning GTLs would just be an improvement for those CPUs.

Your guide is impressive and I am going to follow it to see what differences it will give me but to prove your theory on GTLs you would need at least more CPUs and probably more MF2.

When I was playing with GTLs I was doing exact same thing testing different GTL and writing results then uping fsb or some voltages and testing again range of GTLs - GTLs r very sensitive and very random in effects even on minimal changes at least on my board. Of course I got bracket of stable GTLrefs but performance wise and OS feeling they are different.

And finally I am using 90/50 on 1.365vtt as they r just the best for my setting (and I found them same way you suggest to look in your guide - tho I was repeating testing of them each fsb / vtt /vcpu / vnb change - this is why I can tell they r sensitive and they make hell of the difference).

[Simps]

Seban,

WOW, 90/50 CPU GTL's... Anyway, let me know if the guide help you out.
I am currently trying to make 508FSB stable on my quad, and will report back.

[]'s
Simps

[xzulu]

@Simps

Just read your guide! Awesome dude! Nice work!!!

At least with this:

From 1.20VTT to 1.32VTT
CPU GTL Reference (0): +30mV | +20mV | +10mV
CPU GTL Reference (1): -10mV | -20mV | -30mV
CPU GTL Reference (2): +30mV | +20mV | +10mV
CPU GTL Reference (3): -10mV | -20mV | -30mV

From 1.32VTT to 1.44VTT
CPU GTL Reference (0): +40mV | +30mV | +20mV | +10mV
CPU GTL Reference (1): -05mV | -15mV | -25mv | -35mV
CPU GTL Reference (2): +40mV | +30mV | +20mV | +10mV
CPU GTL Reference (3): -05mV | -15mV | -25mv | -35mV

It will be easier rather than go through all of them in the past.

@andressergio

Damn dude, every time you post you have something new up your sleave. LOL!!! CONGRATS DUDE!!! I'm still busy and have no time to play with my M2F....

[seban]

Seban,

WOW, 90/50 CPU GTL's... Anyway, let me know if the guide help you out.
I am currently trying to make 508FSB stable on my quad, and will report back.

[]'s
Simps

Well what so WOW about it? those numbers does not mean anything. Those GTLrefs give with my vtt GTL=0.95v so exactly the same what your suggested numbers give for vtt 1.44 and 40/-05.

[Simps]

Well what so wow about it? Those GTLrefs give with my vtt GTL=0.95v so exactly the same what your suggested numbers give for vtt 1.44 and 40/-05.

I said "WOW" as I never saw such CPU GTL's running good. But hey, I have never tested a 45nm quad... Anyway, whatever is better for you man!
For me, GTL's, SKEWS, etc are "fine" tunes... Anything extreme, has never gave me good results... like GTL's on the 90's... or Skews on the +500, -500 or so... For me, they always seen to un-balance my system on high FSB / clocks. But if CPU GTL's on the 90's are the best for you, then I might be wrong on my guide, and might re-write it, adding this more extreme values...
I have absolutely no problem with that, but I will wait for your feedback on following the guide, to see what happens.

[loonym]

I didn't spend a tremendous amount of time but I did modify a few setting using your guide Simps. Went from 450x8.5 I was running on my x3360 to 470. I haven't tried going further yet. The cpu maxed at 475 fsb on a ga x48t dq6 so I suppose I should try and surpass that at least at some point. If it goes well maybe I'll throw my q9650 in and see how much that has on the m2f.

http://lakesidepc.com/m2f113.jpg
edit:for screenshot

[Simps]

I didn't spend a tremendous amount of time but I did modify a few setting using your guide Simps. Went from 450x8.5 I was running on my x3360 to 470. I haven't tried going further yet. The cpu maxed at 475 fsb on a ga x48t dq6 so I suppose I should try and surpass that at least at some point. If it goes well maybe I'll throw my q9650 in and see how much that has on the m2f.

Going from 450FSB to 470FSB is a nice boost! I can bet you can top that 475FSB (if raw cpu clock won't hold you down) from your X48. P45 tends to clock FSB higher then X48.

Looking good!

PS: I see you have a i7 rig! Shouldn't you forget about your p45 rig now that you have that monster to play with =/

[andressergio]

@Simps

@andressergio

Damn dude, every time you post you have something new up your sleave. LOL!!! CONGRATS DUDE!!! I'm still busy and have no time to play with my M2F....

Thanks xzulu :up: nothing amazing tough this chip is a normal vid i think is that what we can expect from it, also i have hughe troubles on multi X9 wich made me went to X8,5 and i couldn't believe the stability i have now...X9 a month of trials and errors and what i could pass today on IBT, 3 sec BSOD few hours later...and I tried all and no go...This X8,5 it's very stable and took me minutes to get stability as it shows error patterns.

Cheers mate
Sergio

[andressergio]

Well what so WOW about it? those numbers does not mean anything. Those GTLrefs give with my vtt GTL=0.95v so exactly the same what your suggested numbers give for vtt 1.44 and 40/-05.

Guys i think we all made our own findings and post to help as it's what we do here...

I agree with Seban that there's no pattern for GTL's maybe Simps sounded as they should be those for what he found, but that can be aplied to a system or not...In my personal findings I'm very close to what Simps found and couldn't even boot with any Seban findings...For what i saw the average amount of quads uses positives refs to work, mine does not like them, could be mobo, cpu i don't know-

Either way, Cryptik, Seban, Mikeyaname, Simps and so others that posted they're findings are always a great help :up:

Cheers all, keep the good work up
Sergio

[seban]

All I was trying to say is that there is no point in demonising GTLrefs and simplifying them to few values because it can lower OC and in the end weaken effect of a very good guide.

What matters about GTLs is actual GTL value so GTL voltage not correction numbers applied in BIOS - those numbers are only variables...

EDIT I am saying all of this because of ppl like me who have little free time and would follow guide like this blindly (I would if it was posted 2months ago :D - why wouldn't I? why invent something which was already invented?) and GTL section in guide is IMHO misleading :P.

[Simps]

All I was trying to say is that there is no point in demonising GTLrefs and simplifying them to few values because it can lower OC and in the end weaken effect of a very good guide.

What matters about GTLs is actual GTL value so GTL voltage not correction numbers applied in BIOS - those numbers are only variables...

EDIT I am saying all of this because of ppl like me who have little free time and would follow guide like this blindly (I would if it was posted 2months ago :D - why wouldn't I? why invent something which was already invented?) and GTL section in guide is IMHO misleading :P.


Hey man, no problem! I just updated the guide. Please check it, and see if it is more realistic for you now. Thanks for your contribution!
I think andressergio said it all! We are here to help each other. I have no problem in updating that guide, if it was wrong. I just did it!

What do you think of it now?





From 1.20VTT to 1.32VTT
CPU GTL 0: +100mV | +90mV | +80mV | +70mV | +60mV | +50mV | +40mV | +30mV | +20mV | +10mV
CPU GTL 1: +060mV | +50mV | +40mV | +30mV | +20mV | +10mV | +00mV | -10mV | -20mV | -30mV
CPU GTL 2: +100mV | +90mV | +80mV | +70mV | +60mV | +50mV | +40mV | +30mV | +20mV | +10mV
CPU GTL 3: +060mV | +50mV | +40mV | +30mV | +20mV | +10mV | +00mV | -10mV | -20mV | -30mV

CPU GTL 0: -060mV | -50mV | -40mV | -30mV | -20mV | -10mV | +00mV
CPU GTL 1: -100mV | -90mV | -80mV | -70mV | -60mV | -50mV | -40mV
CPU GTL 2: -060mV | -50mV | -40mV | -30mV | -20mV | -10mV | +00mV
CPU GTL 3: -100mV | -90mV | -80mV | -70mV | -60mV | -50mV | -40mV


From 1.32VTT to 1.44VTT
CPU GTL 0: +100mV | +90mV | +80mV | +70mV | +60mV | +50mV | +40mV | +30mV | +20mV | +10mV
CPU GTL 1: +055mV | +45mV | +35mV | +25mV | +15mV | +05mV | -05mV | -15mV | -25mV | -35mV
CPU GTL 2: +100mV | +90mV | +80mV | +70mV | +60mV | +50mV | +40mV | +30mV | +20mV | +10mV
CPU GTL 3: +055mV | +45mV | +35mV | +25mV | +15mV | +05mV | -05mV | -15mV | -25mV | -35mV

CPU GTL 0: -060mV | -50mV | -40mV | -30mV | -20mV | -10mV | +00mV
CPU GTL 1: -105mV | -95mV | -85mV | -75mV | -65mV | -55mV | -45mV
CPU GTL 2: -060mV | -50mV | -40mV | -30mV | -20mV | -10mV | +00mV
CPU GTL 3: -105mV | -95mV | -85mV | -75mV | -65mV | -55mV | -45mV

*** The CPU GTL's in green, are, from my experience, most like the candidates of the most stable CPU GTL. But feel free to try whatever you want!

*** The positive values for the CPU GTL's, are not available on the 1901 BIOS, from 5 to 5mV increments. Only 10mV to 20mV and so on. So if you need a positive CPU GTL value like "+25mV", you will have to round it to +30mV or +20mV, or better then that, leave the 5mV to the negative CPU GTL's, as they are available on the 1901 BIOS!

*** You can select on your bios, other CPU GTL's that are beyond the +100mV and -100mV showed here. Its very unlikely that those are the best CPU GTL's for you, but you can always try them too!

[KURTZ]

superb job Sims ;)

[andressergio]

Hey Simps

I passed IBT, had to put PL10 on Moderate, it freezes after test 3 on IBT if i run PL8...I will have to tune more mems settings to see if i can get it IBT stable on PL8, i also try always with the same amount of memory on vista 64 to get a pattern.

here it goes

vcore set 1,35 idles 1,336
pll 1,55
vtt 1,35
nb 1,45

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/6918/4105483x85mems451207pl1fj5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/4105483x85mems451207pl1fj5.jpg/1/w1280.png (http://g.imageshack.us/img171/4105483x85mems451207pl1fj5.jpg/1/)

Cheers
Sergio

[Simps]

andressergio,

Nice! If going from PL8 to PL10 made it pass the test, then the problem is probably your ram needing more volts. Your NB is already at 1.45v, so that is not the problem for sure. This NB at 1.45v can handle PL8 - STRONGER at DDR2-1250+ easily.

Anyway, give it a try at vFSB: 1.37825 on your bios. See if it will make things better for you. From my experience, that vFSB is the best to go with +10 -35 +10 -35 CPU GTL's.
If vFSB alone don't help, try a 1.57vPLL with it.
If still no go, then try all this at once:

vFSB: 1.37825v
vPLL: arround 1.57v
vDIMM: arround 2.15v

I can almost bet that with this 3 settings going at once, you will go stable. I would only run your g.skill ram at 2.1v for 24/7, but for a short test like this, it is fine, you are not going to damage it at 2.15v.
I hope it helps.

[]'s
Simps

[andressergio]

andressergio,

Nice! If going from PL8 to PL10 made it pass the test, then the problem is probably your ram needing more volts. Your NB is already at 1.45v, so that is not the problem for sure. This NB at 1.45v can handle PL8 - STRONGER at DDR2-1250+ easily.

Anyway, give it a try at vFSB: 1.37825 on your bios. See if it will make things better for you. From my experience, that vFSB is the best to go with +10 -35 +10 -35 CPU GTL's.
If vFSB alone don't help, try a 1.57vPLL with it.
If still no go, then try all this at once:

vFSB: 1.37825v
vPLL: arround 1.57v
vDIMM: arround 2.15v

I can almost bet that with this 3 settings going at once, you will go stable. I would only run your g.skill ram at 2.1v for 24/7, but for a short test like this, it is fine, you are not going to damage it at 2.15v.
I hope it helps.

[]'s
Simps

Thanks Simps will try :up:

I think there's no problem with the Gskills on 2,15 or even 2,2 for 24/7 but i was doing 1200 PL7 on x9 multi on 2,05vdimm, maybe is FSB then, not vdimm, will try those settings

Cheers
Sergio

[Simps]

BIOS settings for 500FSB DDR2-1200CL5 PL8 STRONGER on a quad!

Ok, as I promissed, here are the key settings I found to make 500FSB stable on a quad, with DDR2-1200 5-5-5-18 and PL8-STRONGER. It is 100% stable. Even if your target is not 500FSB on a quad, if this settings work for you just as they did for me, it would be the sweet spot of your board, allowing you to drop a lot of volts, and keep your current overclock, or go higher.
With this same settings, I am booting up to 535FSB, entering windows up to 520FSB, and currently trying to make 508FSB stable, all on a quad.
This settings were found after days of tests, following the guide I wrote earlier.
Everything here is for 24/7 use, so there are no extreme values or voltages.

It would be interesting, if someone else could try this exact settings, and report the results. Especially on a 45nm quad.

CPU Skew: Delay 100
NB Skew: Delay 300
DRAM Skews: Delay 50
CPU GTL's: +10 -35 +10 -35
NB GTL: +30
CHA / CHB Reference: +12.5
NB DDR Reference: -25
DRAM Static Read Control: Disabled
DRAM Read Training: Disabled
MEM OC CHARGER: Enabled
PULLINS: Disabled
PCI-E Frequency: 100
vPLL: 1.59275
vFSB: 1.37825
vNB: 1.45775
vSB1.5: 1.55300
vSB1.1: 1.20600
CPU Configuration: All disabled
Load line calibration: Enabled
CPU and PCI-E Spread Spectrum: Disbaled

[]'s
Simps

[ndGreg]

Looks great Simps.
Tho I am new to overclocking, I can understand your guide.
Now if we can only get something like this for the 45nm and Core 2 Duo.
Or, would it be the same order of testing no matter what?
As I said, I'm a noob and I am need of a guide as to the proper order of testing to achieve the best settings.
Thanks to GrnFinger, and his willingness to help me out, I have my Ram and CPU tested and passing.
Anyways, I'm still learning.

Looks like you did some extensive testing and took your time to get your guide together.
I am sure alot of peeps with quads are gonna be trying it out.

[Simps]

Thanks!

Post #2720 on page 109!
Guide to full tune your Maximus II Formula for max performance!

I have updated the guide, and I believe it is really complete now.
That is probably the best way to really use all of the power of your Maximus II Formula. Once it is tunned the right way, you will then be able to see the full limit of your cpu and mem for 24/7 usage.

Enjoy!

[]'s
Simps

[KURTZ]

Thanks!

Post #2720 on page 109!
Guide to full tune your Maximus II Formula for max performance!

I have updated the guide, and I believe it is really complete now.
That is probably the best way to really use all of the power of your Maximus II Formula. Once it is tunned the right way, you will then be able to see the full limit of your cpu and mem for 24/7 usage.

Enjoy!

[]'s
Simps

just linked into my board ... :p

[andressergio]

Simps

You saw the screen i posted ? well today same crap as on x9 multi, i let IBT run on exact problem size and BSOD in 8 seconds, this is driving me crazy...:(

I've been trying more volts, dif GTLS on CPU and NB, something's not right :(

[Simps]

andressergio,

Yes I saw. Are you testing the settings I am showing you? Without your feedback, I can't help :(
Your problem with the 9x mult is strange, since 9x is the default mult and usually the best for your chip.
Can you do a test for me?

Try to run IBT with your 9x mult, with this:

CPU GTL's: 10 -35 10 -35
NB GTL: +30
CPU skew: Delay 100
NB skew: Delay 300
Ram skews: Delay 50
vFSB: 1.37825

Tell me how it goes with those settings.

[]'s
Simps

[radaja]

well i finally got my board back from RMA.it's a little better.but it this one is still warped under the heatsink of the PWM. the one on the edge of the board.you can see that five of the pwm's are not touching the thermal tape.only the two outside ones where the heatsink is screwed in are touching. but i think a little adjustment can solve it. tommorrow ill be getting my new harddrive and powersupply. that way i can test it out with out tearing apart my UD3P setup.that was getting annoying with all these rma's,taking one system apart and putting the other one together and then doing it all over again.cause quite frankly,even if the last maximus II that i got from rma worked,since i didnt have the parts for two systems to be up and running at the same time,i would have torn it apart and use the UD3P.cause i feel that is the superior board at the moment.but this is just my opinion based on my limited experience with the maximus II boards that ive had.hopefully this one will perform on par with the other maxII boards in this thread.and i can finally have the fun most of you guys seem to be having.i really do miss the ability to see all the temperature sensors and voltage sensor readouts.very limited on the UD3P.well ill get back to you guys tommorrow,till then........

[andressergio]

andressergio,

Yes I saw. Are you testing the settings I am showing you? Without your feedback, I can't help :(
Your problem with the 9x mult is strange, since 9x is the default mult and usually the best for your chip.
Can you do a test for me?

Try to run IBT with your 9x mult, with this:

CPU GTL's: 10 -35 10 -35
NB GTL: +30
CPU skew: Delay 100
NB skew: Delay 300
Ram skews: Delay 50
vFSB: 1.37825

Tell me how it goes with those settings.

[]'s
Simps

well started to happen on 8,5 :(

what speed you want me to test ? i can pass IBT for sure...then if a re run hours or at the other day later...BSOD....

tell me what speed for those

Thank you for your help
Sergio

[Simps]

well started to happen on 8,5 :(

what speed you want me to test ? i can pass IBT for sure...then if a re run hours or at the other day later...BSOD....

tell me what speed for those

Thank you for your help
Sergio


Test it at the speed you are failing now... I believe you are at 8.5x483 right? Test it with 9x mult, at close to that speed... And you can test with the 8.5 mult too.

And add this to the test:
vSB1.1 - 1.20600
vSB1.5 - 1.55300

[]'s
Simps

[andressergio]

Hey Simps i tried this before trying x9 multi and passed IBT on 3000+Mb memory at 1207 PL8 Moderate again...I used the settings you gave me

I couldn't post at

CPU Skew: Delay 100
NB Skew: Delay 300

I tried all and the best is the one i show on the screen, also PLL 1,55 the rest is the same, i NEVER tried with more SB volts, Tim told me to try it also so i modified that.

http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/5892/4105483x85mems451207pl8pi9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/4105483x85mems451207pl8pi9.jpg/1/w1280.png (http://g.imageshack.us/img509/4105483x85mems451207pl8pi9.jpg/1/)

[Simps]

andressergio,

I am a bit confused.
I see on your last pic, that you are using this settings:

CPU GTL's: 10 -35 10 -35
NB GTL: +30
vFSB: 1.37825
vSB1.1 - 1.20600
vSB1.5 - 1.55300

But I don't get if you are better with them or not. Is your overclock more stable with them? Are you passing stress tests that you couldn't before, with this settings? Or are they worst that your previously settings?

I look at your pic (before you change your settings to this lastest one), and you too, were passing the same IBT test... So no improvements? Here are both pics I have from you.
My conclusion is that you didn't improve... You got the same result, with different settings..

Your old settings:
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/6918/4105483x85mems451207pl1fj5.jpg

Your new settings:
http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/5892/4105483x85mems451207pl8pi9.jpg

[]'s
Simps