Help with new Asus Rampage Formula

[minaelromany]

I had a Foxconn MARS before and was very happy with it but decided to get the Asus Rampage Formula X48 for the full 16x/16x PCI Express CrossFire configuration and because I only paid 55$ as price difference :D

The rest of my rig is still the same , although I hoped for better overclockability with the new Rampage mobo

I get the new mobo few days ago and oced my Q6600 to 3.6Ghz (450x8) with 1.525v (same as with Foxconn MARS) and did 7+hours of Prime95 with temps never above 65C :up:

The problem is with the Memory Performance .........

With Foxconn MARS , memory performance was better and Latency was lower at the same CPU/FSB settings . I did search the issue and it seemed that it is way complicated with the Rampage at least for me with all of the Ai Clock Twister , Ai Transaction Booster and DRAM Static Read Control settings which I leave on AUTO but I want to get more RAM Performance at least that of my Foxconn MARS mobo

I leave most of my BIOS settings on AUTO except CPU/FSB/Voltages and I manually adjusted the RAM CL Timings to 5-5-5-15 at DDR2 1100 because the mobo automatically detects 5-5-5-18

I need to know best settings for getting the most out of this mobo

One last note :

I've noticed that Asus PC Probe II does not report CPU temp acurately as it shows CPU Temp at 26C while in CoreTemp it shows 36C for the coolest core (which is the same as Foxconn MARS) , is that normal ?

[Musho]

I had a Foxconn MARS before and was very happy with it but decided to get the Asus Rampage Formula X48 for the full 16x/16x PCI Express CrossFire configuration and because I only paid 55$ as price difference :D

The rest of my rig is still the same , although I hoped for better overclockability with the new Rampage mobo

I get the new mobo few days ago and oced my Q6600 to 3.6Ghz (450x8) with 1.525v (same as with Foxconn MARS) and did 7+hours of Prime95 with temps never above 65C :up:

The problem is with the Memory Performance .........

With Foxconn MARS , memory performance was better and Latency was lower at the same CPU/FSB settings . I did search the issue and it seemed that it is way complicated with the Rampage at least for me with all of the Ai Clock Twister , Ai Transaction Booster and DRAM Static Read Control settings which I leave on AUTO but I want to get more RAM Performance at least that of my Foxconn MARS mobo

I leave most of my BIOS settings on AUTO except CPU/FSB/Voltages and I manually adjusted the RAM CL Timings to 5-5-5-15 at DDR2 1100 because the mobo automatically detects 5-5-5-18

I need to know best settings for getting the most out of this mobo

One last note :

I've noticed that Asus PC Probe II does not report CPU temp acurately as it shows CPU Temp at 26C while in CoreTemp it shows 36C for the coolest core (which is the same as Foxconn MARS) , is that normal ?

Try to set Ai Clock Twister to "Stronger". Then set Ai Transaction Booster to "manual". Now an option "common performance level" plus a lot of pull-in phase options will open up. Start off with a common performance level of 11 and see if you can boot into windows. Keep on lowering the performance level (yes, lower level = better performance) untill you cannot boot into windows anymore, and then increase it by 1, to get your computer bootable again. Now check if it's stable by using memtest. You might have to up the voltage on your RAM or on your northbridge. Keep in mind, playing with ram clock skews can give you a higher OC, although that's quite a lot of trial & error, although it might be worth a shot if you want to get even better performance by tightening up timings and subtimings, etc.

Now if everything is stable, try to see if you can get "Static read control" enabled stable, too. This will also give you a nice performance boost. Let me know how it works out. Good luck:up:

[Zucker2k]

I think he can run PL6/7

[mikeyakame]

Ok so let me see.

DDR2-1100 means you are using 12:10 divider, you can use Performance Level 7. Trying to go any lower will result in no post or bus data errors on this divider. PL 7 above 450MHz FSB is very tight for this divider. Enable DRAM Static Read. Disable CPU & PCIE spread spectrum. Start with AI Clock Twister on Moderate. And run memtest86+ to confirm no errors, then you can try raising it to Strong -> Stronger. 2GB sticks don't like Strong & Stronger that much, I've only ever been able to run Stronger error-free on 1GB sticks with lots of clock skew. If you want to run PL7 at that FSB you will need to push at least 1.47V into the NB. If it refuses to post when lowering the PL, usually means not enough NB voltage. If it takes more than 1.55V to get it to POST then its not the NB voltage.

This is what I use for everyday settings, should give you a kind of ball park area to aim for when it comes to stability.

65Nm chips tend to not be able to run as low latency as their 45Nm counterparts, at least for day to day. They seem more prone to losing bus sync between dies with tight Performance Levels.

[minaelromany]

Thank you all guys for your help .
PL 7 worked with Ai Clock Twister@Stronger but PL 6 did not work no matter what .....even with Ai Twister@Auto and with higher Voltage for DRAM and/or NB

Here are my BIOS settings :

http://i41.tinypic.com/2daf76r.jpg

http://i42.tinypic.com/v59ts5.jpg

http://i41.tinypic.com/33p5vll.jpg

http://i40.tinypic.com/264qtdj.jpg

http://i41.tinypic.com/2ntwps1.jpg

What Strap should I choose ? I can set it to Auto or 333 to give me DDR2 1100 speed , which one is better ?

Is there anything at all that I can change in these settings for more performance ? :)

Here is what I get currently :

http://i40.tinypic.com/29dwion.png

[mikeyakame]

auto will use 333mhz strap to give u 1100 on 12:10 divider. use that it's the most stable on most of the RF boards. 8:6 on 400mhz strap should be fine if your memory can handle the extra freq. PL6 on high dividers isn't worth it. Tightest I can get the PL on 12:10 is PL 7 phase a1/b1 pulled in at 480mhz fsb, only a1 at 490mhz but with 1.61v. But it's not guaranteed error free. The other thing is just to pull phases in for a1/b1 without error you need an extra 0.08-0.1v from where you are now. PL6 on 12:10 requires over 1.65v at that FSB. I gave up at 1.65v because the heat being produced was creating more errors than it was solving. With 8:6 divider on 400mhz strap you may be able to run PL6 with 1.55v or so.

But thing is and you need to understand this. As the amount of phases increases on dividers (ie. 12:10 shows a1-a5, b1-b5 in common pl) the longer the turnaround period for a MCH Read from memory or CPU but the more time you have from either on the read to burst it without interruption. Performance Level is relative to divider and phases that are active for strobing. PL7 on 12:10 is equivalent to PL4/5 on 1:1. PL6 on 8:6 is equivalent to PL7 on 12:10.

Simple reason is, say tRD (read delay for cross clock data strobes) has an optimal turnaround of 10ns on 1:1 divider, but on 12:10 divider the same turnaround may be 20ns due to increased clock phases. This seems slower...but it means we can burst a whole lot more data across in that period without having to stop. So 1 level at 12:10 maybe worth 2 levels at 1:1. If you go too low you'll end up corrupting your CMOS or if you post and get into windows....well the worst that has happened to me is I corrupted half my registry within 5 seconds of logging in to the system and thankfully was able to restore it from system restore point!

You dont wan't any lower latency than 54-55ns on a Q6600 they just can't handle it. Lose sync between dies and end up in hard lock or corrupting your system overtime. I've run down to 50.2ns for benchmarking, but I won't let my system run like that for more than 20-30mins. Just too much risk of bus corruption.

Edit:

Yeah you can setup your ram timings and Dram clock skews! Make sure you memtest heavily though. That will keep you busy for a couple of weeks ;D
If you have it stable before you change a bunch of things, save the current settings in an OC profile otherwise you'll lose them as you change more and more.

Heres one thing you can try but be careful.
Raise Vnb to 1.53v, Enable phase pull-in on PHA1 PHB1, and boot straight to Memtest86+. Do not boot windows unless you get a clean pass of Memtest. If you try lowering VNb by upto 0.04V max, 0.02 steps and test again. You will need between 1.49-1.53 from where you are now to be on the safeside. A little extra Vnb is extremely important when you are playing with Read Delay on the tightest PL you can use.

[hema]

congratulation for your ramp. mr. 9800gtx
waitting for your new record
regards
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