nForce 790i SLI/Ultra chipset mobos - Reviews/OC/Guides

For those who are having artifacts in windows dreamscene and watching videos:

It happened to me too when running the memory at 1800Mhz with BIOS 702,703,704 but not with 603. Bios 603 is the only from the latest BIOS that doesn´t give me artifacts in Windows dreamscene.

I´ve been strugling with this board for almost 45 days!!!!
By now i should be relaxing, enjoying it and playing my favorites games..... but no..not with this board...

For now i´m completely stable at 1400FSB and memory at 1800Mhz multiplier 8x. Prime95 stable, no hard freezes,no BSOD´s, no freezes when playing games etc... and NO CORRUPTION!!!
I will post my actual settings later.
But i´m not happy with what i have, i realy whant to run at 1800FSB linked and sinked with memory, because perfomance is so much better that way.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by M@G!C

For those who are having artifacts in windows dreamscene and watching videos:

It happened to me too when running the memory at 1800Mhz with BIOS 702,703,704 but not with 603. Bios 603 is the only from the latest BIOS that doesn´t give me artifacts in Windows dreamscene.

I´ve been strugling with this board for almost 45 days!!!!
By now i should be relaxing, enjoying it and playing my favorites games..... but no..not with this board...

For now i´m completely stable at 1400FSB and memory at 1800Mhz multiplier 8x. Prime95 stable, no hard freezes,no BSOD´s, no freezes when playing games etc... and NO CORRUPTION!!!
I will post my actual settings later.
But i´m not happy with what i have, i realy whant to run at 1800FSB linked and sinked with memory, because perfomance is so much better that way.

---

I have been having the same problems with 1800MHz. The test of stability for me is installing Crysis: even Prime95 stable and memtest passed at 1800MHz, but the system freezes when installing Crysis. It would also freeze at various other times, but always when installing Crysis. So I did a new install of Vista X64, installed no graphics drivers, no NForce drivers - just a basic installation, with my two Raptors in Raid 0 - no SLi etc. At 1800MHz linked and synced, I tried to install Crysis and it froze. I did this three times and each time it froze. I then did a new install, this time I replaced the Raptors, with two of the new VelociRaptors in Raid 0. Same settings, and Crysis installed fine!! Uninstalled and reinstalled Crysis three times, and still no freeze!! Since then, I have played movies, played Crysis, run all the Crysis benchmarks in 2 hour loops, Prime95 - no freeze!!! Then I remembered the problems THG reported with Vista and Raptors last year.

Could it be that the Raptors are the problem?
BTW this was the same with bios 0701, 0703 and 0704.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tyke

I have been having the same problems with 1800MHz. The test of stability for me is installing Crysis: even Prime95 stable and memtest passed at 1800MHz, but the system freezes when installing Crysis. It would also freeze at various other times, but always when installing Crysis. So I did a new install of Vista X64, installed no graphics drivers, no NForce drivers - just a basic installation, with my two Raptors in Raid 0 - no SLi etc. At 1800MHz linked and synced, I tried to install Crysis and it froze. I did this three times and each time it froze. I then did a new install, this time I replaced the Raptors, with two of the new VelociRaptors in Raid 0. Same settings, and Crysis installed fine!! Uninstalled and reinstalled Crysis three times, and still no freeze!! Since then, I have played movies, played Crysis, run all the Crysis benchmarks in 2 hour loops, Prime95 - no freeze!!! Then I remembered the problems THG reported with Vista and Raptors last year.

Could it be that the Raptors are the problem?
BTW this was the same with bios 0701, 0703 and 0704.

---

I have two raptors in RAID 0, i have installed Crysis with this settings and everything went fine! :) I have been playing Crysis in very high just for testing, and played for 1 hour and half with no freezes :clap:

TIKE i really dont think the raptors are the problem because if you take it out, they problaly will work 100% with other boards. IMO i think this Board REALLY have a problem with SATA controler that is causing data corruption, and that may be more evident with certain type of hard drives.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tyke

Could it be that the Raptors are the problem?

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I get freezes, and i have 2 500GB Samsung drives...no Raptors.

But who was it that said their hard drives were not working in RAID, then changed to a different brand and said it started working?

Maybe some types of HDDs are working better then others?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by slim142

I guess some people just cant get enough SATA Cables xD :rofl:

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Yea, I like my 28.4 Deluxe Surrond sound system from ASUS :rofl: (Because of the 4 sound cards I have from them laying around.):ROTF:

It seems that alot of people prefer the S2E over the EVGA. Is it really worth the extra $100?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by M@G!C

I have two raptors in RAID 0, i have installed Crysis with this settings and everything went fine! :) I have been playing Crysis in very high just for testing, and played for 1 hour and half with no freezes :clap:

TIKE i really dont think the raptors are the problem because if you take it out, they problaly will work 100% with other boards. IMO i think this Board REALLY have a problem with SATA controler that is causing data corruption, and that may be more evident with certain type of hard drives.

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Just to be clear, I had no problems installing Crysis with the Raptors at lower FSB, I am just talking about 450FSB = 1800MHz. At this speed the Raptors did not work, and I was having all sorts of freezing problems. Now, for two days with the VelociRaptors in Raid I have not had a single freeze. I was also unable to run any FSB higher than 450 (even with the VelociRaptors in Raid) without Crysis freezing during installation, so this seems to be the max for me.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tyke

Just to be clear, I had no problems installing Crysis with the Raptors at lower FSB, I am just talking about 450FSB = 1800MHz. At this speed the Raptors did not work, and I was having all sorts of freezing problems. Now, for two days with the VelociRaptors in Raid I have not had a single freeze. I was also unable to run any FSB higher than 450 (even with the VelociRaptors in Raid) without Crysis freezing during installation, so this seems to be the max for me.

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Tike, many odd things are happening with this board :shrug:, i will show you another example:

With BIOS 0603 and with this settings 1400FSB and 1800Mhz memory i´m completely stable with no CORRUPTION at all, i´ve donne several new installs of the SO with this settings and ALL of them where sucessfull and end up with NO CORRUPTION.
Then i upgraded to BIOS 0704, and with the VERY SAME SETTINGS, i was able to install the SO but everytime i run SFC i get CORRUTION!!!! :confused:
Isn´t this weird???? The BIOS that should fix CORRUPTION, just gives me CORRUPTION when others dont!!!!
I tried 3 new installs all of them got corruption when i run SFC.

Hi guys , I just assembled my first ddr3 rig but initial memtest failed miserably from test2 , so I rebooted and pumped the vdimm a bit and it passed . The pc is all default atm , but what sort of voltages do you guys use with ddr3 ? Im using OCZ 1600 platinum atm on EVGA 790i Ultra .

Im really concerned about the issues with corruption etc so Im going very easy on it , testing ram for stability before I do anything .

Any help would be great.

:up:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by M@G!C

Tike, many odd things are happening with this board :shrug:, i will show you another example:

With BIOS 0603 and with this settings 1400FSB and 1800Mhz memory i´m completely stable with no CORRUPTION at all, i´ve donne several new installs of the SO with this settings and ALL of them where sucessfull and end up with NO CORRUPTION.
Then i upgraded to BIOS 0704, and with the VERY SAME SETTINGS, i was able to install the SO but everytime i run SFC i get CORRUTION!!!! :confused:
Isn´t this weird???? The BIOS that should fix CORRUPTION, just gives me CORRUPTION when others dont!!!!
I tried 3 new installs all of them got corruption when i run SFC.

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Yes very weird:confused: Clearly there is some way to go on the bios front, we will just have to be patient. 1800MHz is probably the limit for me on a Quad Core.
I can run my memory right up to 2000MHz unlinked, but 1800MHz linked and synced gives the best numbers in Everest.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by aussie-revhead

Hi guys , I just assembled my first ddr3 rig but initial memtest failed miserably from test2 , so I rebooted and pumped the vdimm a bit and it passed . The pc is all default atm , but what sort of voltages do you guys use with ddr3 ? Im using OCZ 1600 platinum atm on EVGA 790i Ultra .

Im really concerned about the issues with corruption etc so Im going very easy on it , testing ram for stability before I do anything .

Any help would be great.

:up:

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My understanding is that you are safe with 1.9V on all DDR3, certainly with OCZ (my Corsair is running at this voltage). Most of it is the same Micron chips anyway! OCZ allow up to 1.95 without invalidating the warranty, according to their website.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tyke

Yes very weird:confused: Clearly there is some way to go on the bios front, we will just have to be patient. 1800MHz is probably the limit for me on a Quad Core.
I can run my memory right up to 2000MHz unlinked, but 1800MHz linked and synced gives the best numbers in Everest.

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Four you should be more easy to achive 1800FSB stable because you have a QX9770 that have a native 1600FSB. Howhever i have a QX9650 with a native 1333FSB.... so achiving a 1800FSB stable is more difficult... but i still have hope!;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tyke

My understanding is that you are safe with 1.9V on all DDR3, certainly with OCZ (my Corsair is running at this voltage). Most of it is the same Micron chips anyway! OCZ allow up to 1.95 without invalidating the warranty, according to their website.

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Thanks Tyke but my ddr3 defaulted to 1.500v and is running Ok so far at 1.55 , am I still too low then ?

:up:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by aussie-revhead

Thanks Tyke but my ddr3 defaulted to 1.500v and is running Ok so far at 1.55 , am I still too low then ?

:up:

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Yes, I would run it higher than that. 1.55 is very low..try 1.80

haha Ok then , why would it default so low ? Wouldnt that make every stock pc with these parts fail/unstable etc ?

I started a thread in the ocz support forum , but I think you answered my main question anyway.

:up:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by aussie-revhead

Hi guys , I just assembled my first ddr3 rig but initial memtest failed miserably from test2 , so I rebooted and pumped the vdimm a bit and it passed . The pc is all default atm , but what sort of voltages do you guys use with ddr3 ? Im using OCZ 1600 platinum atm on EVGA 790i Ultra .

Im really concerned about the issues with corruption etc so Im going very easy on it , testing ram for stability before I do anything .

Any help would be great.

:up:

---

just flash to P05
corruption is sorted out in that bios

Quote:

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Originally Posted by aussie-revhead

Im really concerned about the issues with corruption etc so Im going very easy on it , testing ram for stability before I do anything .

Any help would be great.

:up:

---

I was worried about corrupting as well so I simply used the Vista back-up util to do a complete PC-Backup to my external hard drive before I did any overclocking. If you get corruption and can't restart simply boot from the VISTA install disc and there is an option to do a complete restore. Works like a charm even with my dual raid 6 hard disk setup. My back up was something like 220GB and it didn't even take very long to restore through USB.

For some reason the restore util does not find my back-up when connected to the e-sata port on the freeagent I had to use USB..no biggie.

I hate to be a pest, but could one of the striker owners explain why I should or shouldn't get a striker over a reference board?

because for #1, eVGA has the best support in the business period, #2 the striker has no advantages over the reference, # 3 eVGA/XFX are cheaper, #4 Asus has crap support, it takes them forever to ship you a board

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GAR

because for #1, eVGA has the best support in the business period, #2 the striker has no advantages over the reference, # 3 eVGA/XFX are cheaper, #4 Asus has crap support, it takes them forever to ship you a board

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GAR, thank you for your opinion. This is one of the reasons that I am heavilly considering the eVGA board. I already have an ASUS Rampage and I don't really want to tarnish my opinion of them with a 790i that I may have to fight with.

However, that being said. I am very interested in purchasing the most flexible board for the future. From what I can tell, the ASUS has greater overclocking ability. I plan on using a Q9450 and probably some G.Skill HZ 1600 RAM. I don't plan on watercooling anything except the CPU in this rig.

If I don't plan on watercooling anything except the CPU, does the overclocking benefits of the ASUS justify the purchase over the eVGA? The reason I ask is because I assume that I will hit a NB heat wall on both boards that may be before the limit of the eVGA.

Am I completely uninformed? Should I just suck it up and get a Striker II so that in the future I will have a bigger playground?

Quote:

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Hi guys , I just assembled my first ddr3 rig but initial memtest failed miserably from test2 , so I rebooted and pumped the vdimm a bit and it passed . The pc is all default atm , but what sort of voltages do you guys use with ddr3 ? Im using OCZ 1600 platinum atm on EVGA 790i Ultra .

Im really concerned about the issues with corruption etc so Im going very easy on it , testing ram for stability before I do anything .

Any help would be great.

---

Aussie-Revhead, the settings below on my Q6600 worked great for me.

You have better spec ram than mine but I'm currently running my ram at 1.975v with an OCZ cooler on them at (Synced and linked) 1700mhz 7-7-7-20 1T P1 P2 Enabled. Subtimings 4-20-10-20-25-7.7us. TRFc set to 58, when i remember.lol

You could probably do a bit better than that.

My Settings

Chip Q6600 @ 3.825mhz
Memory OCZ 8500 Gold Rated 1066 7-7-7-21-1t - Set 1360 6-6-6-21-1T @ 1.85v

System Clocks

**Frequency Settings**
CPU Freq, MHz 3.825.00 mhz
FSB Reference Clock, MHz 1700.00
CPU Multiplier [09X]
PCIe x16_1 & 16_2, MHz [Auto] 100
PCIe x16_3, MHz [Auto] 100
SPP<->MCP Ref Clock, MHz [Auto] 200

**HT Multiplier**

nForce SPP --> nForce MCP [5 x]
nForce SPP <-- nForce MCP [5 x]

**Spread Spectrum**

CPU Spread Spectrum Disabled
HT Spread Spectrum Disabled
PCIe Spread Spectrum(SPP) Disabled
PCIe Spread Spectrum(MCP) Disabled
SATA Spread Spectrum Disabled

FSB & Memory Config

FSB – Memory Clock Mode [Linked]
FSB – Memory Ratio [5:4]
FSB (QDR), MHz [1700.00]
Actual FSB (QDR), MHz 1700.00
x MEM (DDR), MHz Linked
Actual MEM (DDR), MHz 1360

P1 Enabled
P2 Enabled

Memory Timing Setting

Memory Timing Setting [Expert]
x tCL (CAS Latency) [6] 6
x tRCD [6] 6
x tRP [6] 6
x tRAS [21] 21
x Command Per Clock [1T] 1T

** Advanced Memory Settings **

x tRRD [Auto] 6
x tRC [Auto] 35
x tWR [Auto] 12
x tWTR [Auto] 18
x tFAW [Auto] 27
x tREF [Auto] 7.7us

System Voltages

CPU Core [1.60000 v] 1.52 v
CPU FSB [1.30 v] 1.30 v
Memory [1.85 v] 1.85V
nForce SPP [1.35 v] 1.35V
nForce MCP [1,55 v] 1.55V


GTLVREF Lane 0 [Auto] +75 mv
GTLVREF Lane 1 [Auto] +50 mv
GTLVREF Lane 2 [Auto] +00mv
GTLVREF Lane 3 [Auto] +00mv

CPU Configuration

Limit CPUID Maxval Disabled
x Intel SpeedStep Disabled
xPPM Mode [Native]
CPU Thermal Control [Disabled]
C1E Enhanced Halt State [Disabled]
Execute Disable Bit [Enabled]
Virtualization Technology [Disabled]

CPU Core 0 Enabled
CPU Core 1 [Enabled]
x CPU Core 2 [Enabled]
x CPU Core 3 [Enabled]

http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/1278/occtel5.jpg

Good idea to run memtest first prior to booting. personally I also have a separate OS on my non raid drive that I use for benching and stability tests.

RLM

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dinos22

just flash to P05
corruption is sorted out in that bios

---

OK thats done now but I am having great trouble getting this stable even at 2.4GHz , I have had maybe 15-20 goes at bios settings and the longest Prime pass has been 5 mins , it seems that the more vdimm and vcore I give it the faster it fails , very odd indeed.

:shrug:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by slim142

Is it too much if I ask what revision and BIOS do you have on that board?

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It came up with 0512 BIOS and revision 1.02G. The weird thing is that if I put the memory on the blue slots, it gets stuck on "TestMem", if I change it to the white ones, it boots fine. Very weird. I put my PC together yesterday, took me like 6 hours. I was up until the wee hours of this morning and haven't had much time to test anything(not even Memtest).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by M@G!C

For those who are having artifacts in windows dreamscene and watching videos:

It happened to me too when running the memory at 1800Mhz with BIOS 702,703,704 but not with 603. Bios 603 is the only from the latest BIOS that doesn´t give me artifacts in Windows dreamscene.

I´ve been strugling with this board for almost 45 days!!!!
By now i should be relaxing, enjoying it and playing my favorites games..... but no..not with this board...

For now i´m completely stable at 1400FSB and memory at 1800Mhz multiplier 8x. Prime95 stable, no hard freezes,no BSOD´s, no freezes when playing games etc... and NO CORRUPTION!!!
I will post my actual settings later.
But i´m not happy with what i have, i realy whant to run at 1800FSB linked and sinked with memory, because perfomance is so much better that way.

---

I also have trouble with RAM at higher than 1600. Jump straight to 1800FSB and lower your RAM to 1600Mhz. GAR told me this after days of struggling and I when I booted, my eyes went :shocked:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by [cTx]Warboy

Yea, I like my 28.4 Deluxe Surrond sound system from ASUS :rofl: (Because of the 4 sound cards I have from them laying around.):ROTF:

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Thats what I call pwnage :ROTF:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by extremis

It seems that alot of people prefer the S2E over the EVGA. Is it really worth the extra $100?

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I bough ASUS because I like the layout, accesories, extras and the bling. However, I knew that 75% of the time I was going to be my own warranty and that the other 25% was going to be XS... but at least Im glad that I got mines working (except for the SLi issue lol)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tekjunkie

It came up with 0512 BIOS and revision 1.02G. The weird thing is that if I put the memory on the blue slots, it gets stuck on "TestMem", if I change it to the white ones, it boots fine. Very weird. I put my PC together yesterday, took me like 6 hours. I was up until the wee hours of this morning and haven't had much time to test anything(not even Memtest).

---

Ok so I guess the board you got is 100% brand new right? nothing looks used or refurbished?

You might have a board that overclocks better on the white slots, however, testing has not been done so I suggest you find that out :)

Take your time to test it and OC it :)
Remember if you run in any trouble try BIOS 0701, 0703 or 0704 which are the best ones for most people in here.

Okay, I got the striker II extreme. I picked up a Q9450 and an eVGA 9800gx2.

What RAM should I get?

IMO 1600Mhz with tight timings (ex:7-7-7-21)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by extremis

Okay, I got the striker II extreme. I picked up a Q9450 and an eVGA 9800gx2.

What RAM should I get?

---

I'd say go for some kit that works perfectly with the S2E, a guaranteed one I might add.

Mine's rolling fine with the CellShock DDR3-1800 CL8 kit and the Super Talent W1866UX2G8 ( 2GB Kits )

Quote:

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Originally Posted by slim142

Ok so I guess the board you got is 100% brand new right? nothing looks used or refurbished?

You might have a board that overclocks better on the white slots, however, testing has not been done so I suggest you find that out :)

Take your time to test it and OC it :)
Remember if you run in any trouble try BIOS 0701, 0703 or 0704 which are the best ones for most people in here.

---

It didn't look like it was a refurb. All the stuff in the box was intact and nothing looked like it had been opened before.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by slim142

IMO 1600Mhz with tight timings (ex:7-7-7-21)

---

What do you think about this?

OCZ (7.7.7.24) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227297

or should I go with:

G.Skill (7.7.7.18): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231167
Super Talent (7.7.7.21): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820609287

Hi guys , its just taken me a few hours of fiddling to get my evga 790i stable with cpu at stock (!!!) but Im new to ddr3 and most of my problem was all of the ram settings defaulted way off the mark . My ram defaults to 1333-7-7-7 1.5v so I assumed that would at least work for a baseline , this memtested fine (after increasing vdimm a little) but when it failed prime I started working on the cpu and increasing voltage made it worse . Increasing ram to 1600 made auto timings go to 9-9-9 and it still failed. In the end I manually set ram to 1600-7-7-7 and tried 1.8v and it primed for 2 1/2 hours before I powered down for the night.

Has anyone else had these hassles or is it my n00b-ness causing problems ?

With unlinked mem/cpu does that mean that when I get my ram stable I can leave it alone and trust it while I work on cpu clocks ? I never got the potential out of my L737B on my MF so Im hoping the 790i will help.

Any help would be great.

:up:

For those with sigs turned off its : EVGA 790i Ultra L737B Q6600 OCZ platinum 1600-7-7-7 2GB


.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by aussie-revhead

OK thats done now but I am having great trouble getting this stable even at 2.4GHz , I have had maybe 15-20 goes at bios settings and the longest Prime pass has been 5 mins , it seems that the more vdimm and vcore I give it the faster it fails , very odd indeed.

:shrug:

---

i don't know your RAM but i assume they are micron based so you should not have trouble clocking them to what you require at reasonably low volts....i would however use whatever stock volts OCZ gives you so if that is 1.9v stick to that
also beware that my boards undervolt vdimm a bit so 1.95v gives me 1.91v loaded

if you want to have a go at my settings have a look at this video i did during 2133MHz RAM OCing session

just my stock settings

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNX3imOCQ_o

also ALWAYS run your RAM in black slots

Thanks Dino , they are in the grey slots atm so I will change them later . The OCZ website shows max voltage at 1.95 but doesnt really say what stock voltage should be , they seem to work at 1.8v but why would bios default to 1.5v ? You would think defaults should work when everything is stock , what happens to poor noobs or stocker pcs ? Do they all fail at stock settings ?

I have 11 days to get this rig cracking (before new vid cards hit the streets) and I have a qx9650 coming too .....

:up::up::up:

Thanks for the video , you said to enable P1 and P2 for greater efficiency , what does that do ? ie will it help me too ?


Also - n3wbi3 just told me I might need 2.1-2.2v for 1T but my rams defaulted to 1T so thats where I left them , is this causing problems ?


.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by aussie-revhead

Thanks Dino , they are in the grey slots atm so I will change them later . The OCZ website shows max voltage at 1.95 but doesnt really say what stock voltage should be , they seem to work at 1.8v but why would bios default to 1.5v ? You would think defaults should work when everything is stock , what happens to poor noobs or stocker pcs ? Do they all fail at stock settings ?

I have 11 days to get this rig cracking (before new vid cards hit the streets) and I have a qx9650 coming too .....

:up::up::up:

Thanks for the video , you said to enable P1 and P2 for greater efficiency , what does that do ? ie will it help me too ?


.

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P1&P2 are some mysterious chipset timings that nvidia doesn't want to talk about but they tighten RAM performance like crazy.................790i is faster in superpi than any Intel chipset once you max out board and RAM which is a good indication what it does

however >> P1 and P2 will also make your OC unstable quicker particularly if you don't have the right mix of volts.... i usually start at auto settings and then change to enabled once i am happy with auto

give you RAM 1.9v in bios man it's fine

i would be very surprised if you cannot run that RAM at 1000MHz 8-7-6-20 1T at 1.9 or 1.95

Sweet , I will see how it goes later when I get back into it .

:up:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tekjunkie

It didn't look like it was a refurb. All the stuff in the box was intact and nothing looked like it had been opened before.

---

Thats nice, some people get used boards sometimes...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by extremis

What do you think about this?

OCZ (7.7.7.24) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227297

or should I go with:

G.Skill (7.7.7.18): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231167
Super Talent (7.7.7.21): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820609287

---

Check PM
I prefer G.Skill. Gave me no problems at all with this board. The other two are good too from what I heard but I never purchased them.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mcoffey

That's the RAM I bought with my EVGA 790i Ultra, and I've never had any trouble with data corruption, OC RAM, FSB or CPU. The EVGA board loves it.

I'm currently running it at 1700 7-7-7-18 2T @ 1.9 volts which is the voltage it's rated at.

So that's my recomendation. I never used any of the other DDR-3 RAM you've listed.

andyc

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Another happy user here :D

While we're on the subject of RAM.

I have the TWIN3X2048-1066C7 from Corsair (im cheap i know, but it was better memory or a second graphics card, guess what i chose), which is apparently 1.5v, i was wondering how much volts i can actually push through it without damaging it. What voltage would be the safe line, surely its not just 1.5v, because the S2E wont even run that low, its always sitting 1.52 ish anyway.

Some people have been getting more stability with different RAM voltages, and i cant really move it up for fear of over volting it, and the S2E doesnt allow anything lower then 1.5v, so i cant undervolt it.

I do have a RAM fan as well, if that helps at all.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by extremis

Okay, I got the striker II extreme. I picked up a Q9450 and an eVGA 9800gx2.

What RAM should I get?

---

Unless you are absolutely sure you will never need 4GB, get 2 x 2GB memory now. This board does not like 4 x 1GB at high speeds. My Corsair is running fine at 1800MHz at 8-7-7-18 2T on stock voltage, I can only get 1800MHz in the white slots.

OK guys , I got this thing stable at stock clocks but now anything higher and it wont boot , sometimes even freezes during POST . Even a tiny 8x400 wont boot , am I missing something ? I bumped vcore way higher than my last mobo needed and tried increasing all voltages a little but didnt go overboard. I will try 9x333 and see if that helps .

:shrug:

This is getting weird and more weird..... :shrug:

I was stable on BIOS 0603 playing Crysis for 1 hour or so, without any issues.
Then i upgraded to BIOS 0704 with same settings, when i start to play Crysis in a minute or two (some times even in the gane menu) a have the famous screen blicking and the message "display driver as stopped working and was recovered". :mad:
I&#180;ve tried about 10 times and same result all the times:
"display driver as stopped working and was recovered"
I can&#180;t play more than 1 or 2 minutes. Than again back to BIOS 0603 and i play four 1 hour again with no issues.....
I think this might be related to how BIOS 0704 handles the memory controller, but i&#180;m not sure.
I think my BOARD is in love with BIOS 0603!!!:rofl: It&#180;s just worst if i change to a newer BIOS.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dinos22

P1&P2 are some mysterious chipset timings that nvidia doesn't want to talk about but they tighten RAM performance like crazy.................790i is faster in superpi than any Intel chipset once you max out board and RAM which is a good indication what it does

however >> P1 and P2 will also make your OC unstable quicker particularly if you don't have the right mix of volts.... i usually start at auto settings and then change to enabled once i am happy with auto

give you RAM 1.9v in bios man it's fine

i would be very surprised if you cannot run that RAM at 1000MHz 8-7-6-20 1T at 1.9 or 1.95

---

Dinos, I have alot of issues running my ram in synced mode, Since i'm running at 1800 FSB, When i try 1800mhz, 8-8-8-24 2T (Since No matter what speed besides 1333mhz, I can't run 1T) I get memory errors like crazy, So what do you recommend me trying since You got DDR3 to run at 2133mhz. And I did all the right volts and everything, But couldn't figure out whats the problem.

My latest result:

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/186/40ghzwm8.th.gif

Enermax Infiniti 720W
Q6600 step g0
Nirvana NV120
XFX 790i Ultra BIOS P05
2GB OCZ DDR3 PC3-1440 1800MHz@1600MHz 8-8-8-24 1.90V
XFX 9800GX2 Black Edition

4.0GHz air cooled :)

Quote:

---

OK guys , I got this thing stable at stock clocks but now anything higher and it wont boot , sometimes even freezes during POST . Even a tiny 8x400 wont boot , am I missing something ? I bumped vcore way higher than my last mobo needed and tried increasing all voltages a little but didnt go overboard. I will try 9x333 and see if that helps .

---

I'm pretty sure it will come down to finding the sweetspot with your gtlrefs. My q6600 worked great all the way up 4.1ghz on auto settings, but chips really do vary.

I'd setup your volts at 'more than enough' settings, like you currently have. Then try experimenting with different GTLref values. Maybe using identical figures for the first two. I would say you can probably leave the last two gtlrefs at zero.

I found that I could actually find the sweetspot in memtest. So for instance with the QX -90mv would crap out after a minute in memtest, and then -95mv would get me all the way through.

Not sure what figures to recommend, because as I say they really do vary. It could be positive figures up to 100 or negative figures. (Maybe someone here can give some better pointers)

To give an example my qx9650 seemed to top out at 4.22 ghz stability testing wise. I would then start increasing volts and getting very little result. I then set my GTL refs to -110mv for the first two and bingo. 4.25, 4.30 priming nicely.

This is a little test I managed, that surprised me today with those GTLrefs. Mem at 1.975v

http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/957/485x95bv1.jpg

RLM

Thanks RLM , Im just playing with my q6600 for daily use and to sort this rig out until the new video cards come out and my qx arrives , but I dont have good feelings about this mobo so far.

I saw another guy mention that he cant get past 1450 mhz fsb and mine seems to be doing that too , it will clock up to 3200 and be stable , but wont boot at 3330 . It needs heaps more vcore than my MF needed too .

I havent even touched gtlrefs , I dont understand them at all .

:shrug:

Edit: Are dual cores easier to work with on these mobos ? If so an E8600 might be in order.

Edit2: Does htt multi need to be changed ? (like when clocking AMDs?) I tried 4x but it didnt help . I just keep getting FF diagnostic and no display , I tried linked , unlinked rams , different slots , more voltages , less voltages , I guess I will just keep pushing glvrefs a bit more. Sometimes it gets to the windows startup options screen and freezes there .


.


.

Quote:

---

Edit2: Does htt multi need to be changed ? (like when clocking AMDs?) I tried 4x but it didnt help . I just keep getting FF diagnostic and no display , I tried linked , unlinked rams , different slots , more voltages , less voltages ,

---

Stick with GTLRefs dor the moment.

Quote:

---

I guess I will just keep pushing glvrefs a bit more. Sometimes it gets to the windows startup options screen and freezes there .

---

When it doesn't freeze, you're getting close:D

RLM

Maybe these things do prefer 45nm processors .

:horse:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bjorn3d website

Well after much searching, I have fond out this is a bios issue which only affects the Q6600 GO and the 790i. None of the other Kentsfields have this problem.
It wouldn't be so bad if I could find a Yorkfield 45mm some where, but they are very scarse ATM.

---

maybe thats the answer...

:shrug:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by [cTx]Warboy

Dinos, I have alot of issues running my ram in synced mode, Since i'm running at 1800 FSB, When i try 1800mhz, 8-8-8-24 2T (Since No matter what speed besides 1333mhz, I can't run 1T) I get memory errors like crazy, So what do you recommend me trying since You got DDR3 to run at 2133mhz. And I did all the right volts and everything, But couldn't figure out whats the problem.

---

have you tried unlinking the RAM?
i'm not really familiar with that asus board to be honest

Quote:

---

Maybe these things do prefer 45nm processors .




Quote:
Originally Posted by bjorn3d website
Well after much searching, I have fond out this is a bios issue which only affects the Q6600 GO and the 790i. None of the other Kentsfields have this problem.
It wouldn't be so bad if I could find a Yorkfield 45mm some where, but they are very scarse ATM.
maybe thats the answer...

_________

---

Last comment, I know there are some genuinely dodgy 790i's out there, but don't jump on the bandwagon and write off the q6600 to soon.

I've got more out of my q6600 with this board, than any of the other board it's been in. A bit of patient tweaking that's all.

RLM

OK , thats what I was hoping for .

:up:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by RLM

I'm pretty sure it will come down to finding the sweetspot with your gtlrefs. My q6600 worked great all the way up 4.1ghz on auto settings, but chips really do vary.

I'd setup your volts at 'more than enough' settings, like you currently have. Then try experimenting with different GTLref values. Maybe using identical figures for the first two. I would say you can probably leave the last two gtlrefs at zero.

I found that I could actually find the sweetspot in memtest. So for instance with the QX -90mv would crap out after a minute in memtest, and then -95mv would get me all the way through.

Not sure what figures to recommend, because as I say they really do vary. It could be positive figures up to 100 or negative figures. (Maybe someone here can give some better pointers)

To give an example my qx9650 seemed to top out at 4.22 ghz stability testing wise. I would then start increasing volts and getting very little result. I then set my GTL refs to -110mv for the first two and bingo. 4.25, 4.30 priming nicely.

This is a little test I managed, that surprised me today with those GTLrefs. Mem at 1.975v
RLM

---

I think it should be negative values for quad cores, between 60&#37; and 63% of reference voltage seems to be the accepted range. If your VTT is in the region of 1.28-1.30V then playing with values between -20mV and -120mV should give better stability (-120mV would be about 58% of reference, -20mV would be 65% of reference approximately). I only adjust the one value for the data bus of the core that is failing, not all four values.

I seriously dont recommend messing with the GTL refs. Im almost 100&#37; sure everybody can get your system estable without touching GTLRefs.

Is all in the vcore, NB and VTT

That depends m8.
For example getting my E8400 @ 550MHz stable required touching the NorthBridge GTL manually.
Auto wouldn't cut it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BenchZowner

That depends m8.
For example getting my E8400 @ 550MHz stable required touching the NorthBridge GTL manually.
Auto wouldn't cut it.

---

Oh Benchz, you are on LN2! :D Thats Xtreme Benching!

But, (for everybody) if changing them solves your life, then good, but I never had to mess with them. Just giving my two cents.

Not on LN2 man.
Air.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BenchZowner

Not on LN2 man.
Air.

---

Wait... werent you on LN2? :S

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by benchzowner

For example getting my E8400 @ 550MHz stable required

---

He means those clocks were on air , LN would be higher than 550.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by slim142

I seriously dont recommend messing with the GTL refs. Im almost 100% sure everybody can get your system estable without touching GTLRefs.

Is all in the vcore, NB and VTT

---

OK then mate if I have tried increasing vcore, vdimm and every voltage available to last notch before the red then do I need to alter gtlvrefs ? I have tried a few of those too and didnt help but there are quite a few options for trial and error testing there . Mind you Im only talking about 3.3ghz on a q6600.

:shrug:

Hey has everyone experienced that the new BIOS releases have solved the problems with corruption?

Think I am going to ditch the Foxconn Blackops for a 790i.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by aussie-revhead

OK then mate if I have tried increasing vcore, vdimm and every voltage available to last notch before the red then do I need to alter gtlvrefs ? I have tried a few of those too and didnt help but there are quite a few options for trial and error testing there . Mind you Im only talking about 3.3ghz on a q6600.

:shrug:

---

Anandtechs review of the Striker II Extreme has a nice list of voltages that you shouldnt pass if you want to run 24/7. Following those would be better then almost red.

But you may be in the same boat as me and alot of others...wait for the BIOS that works :yepp:

Edit:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ceevee

Hey has everyone experienced that the new BIOS releases have solved the problems with corruption?

Think I am going to ditch the Foxconn Blackops for a 790i.

---

Not 100&#37; solved yet, probably best to wait another month or two. Im really hoping things are all ironed out by then.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Coupa

Not 100% solved yet, probably best to wait another month or two. Im really hoping things are all ironed out by then.

---

Or, get youself a decent backup program like Acronis TruImage and make an image of your os.

Then if it borks out, you can simply restore your image and you're good to go. It's saved my butt > 12 times.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by aussie-revhead

He means those clocks were on air , LN would be higher than 550.

OK then mate if I have tried increasing vcore, vdimm and every voltage available to last notch before the red then do I need to alter gtlvrefs ? I have tried a few of those too and didnt help but there are quite a few options for trial and error testing there . Mind you Im only talking about 3.3ghz on a q6600.

:shrug:

---

Dont know what to say. I have a 45nm quad and I thought I was going to have a real hard time, but it ended up differently.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ceevee

Hey has everyone experienced that the new BIOS releases have solved the problems with corruption?

Think I am going to ditch the Foxconn Blackops for a 790i.

---

Thats a really nice board. Seems to have a lot of potential.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by nuclearjock

Or, get youself a decent backup program like Acronis TruImage and make an image of your os.

Then if it borks out, you can simply restore your image and you're good to go. It's saved my butt > 12 times.

---

I think Im gonna get one of those, once NVIDIA releases this new BIOS on tuesday (hopefully) Im gonna start from 0 again and make an image before anything...

Thanks slim , I will let you know when my qx arrives.

Are these known to vdroop ? Mine does badly , 1.35 set in bios shows 1.28 in bios systems monitor and drops to 1.248 in windows under load . I dropped it two notches to 1.3375 and the windows readings are the same , it primed ok but wont restart now .

Mind you thats at 3Ghz because thats all I can get out of it . My MF did 3200 at 1.25v bios 1.21 under load .

Im growing to hate this mobo.

:shakes:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by aussie-revhead

Thanks slim , I will let you know when my qx arrives.

Are these known to vdroop ? Mine does badly , 1.35 set in bios shows 1.28 in bios systems monitor and drops to 1.248 in windows under load . I dropped it two notches to 1.3375 and the windows readings are the same , it primed ok but wont restart now .

Mind you thats at 3Ghz because thats all I can get out of it . My MF did 3200 at 1.25v bios 1.21 under load .

Im growing to hate this mobo.

:shakes:

---

My striker has overvolt lol! gives 1.39v when I put 1.32500 in BIOS w/ LLC enabled, but vdroop is almost not noticeable.

1.31750 gives 1.39 in idle and in load sometimes go down to 1.38v
1.32500 (after 1.31750) gives 1.39 in idle and load too :)

I've been reading this thread over the past couple of weeks with a vested interest, its certainly opened my eyes to some of the finer points of the 790i boards.
Had the EVGA 790 board and its was awful, had the blackops X48 which was doa and now I have the Striker II Extreme (so far so good on this one)

Been working on a nice steady overclock but not sure if i've hit a wall in terms of FSB speed on a quad-core. The system is rock solid under 3DMark and gaming, it just wont prime.

Ideas welcome, cpu-z screenies attached, and FYI NB Voltage at 1.45 RAM @1.9V

Having a play with GTL_REF's here and its like a game of cat and mouse. I adjust the databus on core3 which seems to crap out all the time and that runs through, then core2 starts crapping out. So i adjust that and core3 starts again..../sigh, becoming a bit of a mission this :shrug:

A weird thing is that the Anandtech article states GTL_REF Ratio 0 is for Core 0/1 data bus voltages and GTL_REF Ratio1 is for Core 2/3. If this is the case why cant the values be set the same on these 2 options?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Daark

Having a play with GTL_REF's here and its like a game of cat and mouse. I adjust the databus on core3 which seems to crap out all the time and that runs through, then core2 starts crapping out. So i adjust that and core3 starts again..../sigh, becoming a bit of a mission this :shrug:

A weird thing is that the Anandtech article states GTL_REF Ratio 0 is for Core 0/1 data bus voltages and GTL_REF Ratio1 is for Core 2/3. If this is the case why cant the values be set the same on these 2 options?

---

Here is a very good question Daark!!! :up:
I´ve found my self making the same question several times...
It makes no sense to me the values beeing diferent...

Got it Prime95'ing quite nicely now. Adjusted my CPU Voltage as it was under volting (that a word!!). 1.375 in bios was showing less than 1.35 so bumped it upto 1.41 to show 1.375.
GTL_REF0 is at -102mV as is GTL_REF3 (i have a feeling this is core 0/1 and 2/3 Data channels)

Now to work on temps as I'm spiking to just a tad over 70 Degrees without my AC on and intense prime test for max heat etc.

If you're having corruption and/or video freezing issues with the Asus Striker II Extreme, visit the "Asus Striker II Extreme Corruption and/or Freezes Troubleshooting Thread"

Well folks so far I have gotten 2 Striker II Extremes and 2 EVGA 790i Ultra mobos
and only had one actually work for any length of time.
Was able to overclock it a little:
http://valid.x86-secret.com/cache/screenshot/367144.png

Now the question is what mobo do I get next?
The ASUS did seem like a better quality board than the EVGA,
but both Striker II's I got where DOA right out of the box.

Any suggestions???:confused:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DR3

Well folks so far I have gotten 2 Striker II Extremes and 2 EVGA 790i Ultra mobos
and only had one actually work for any length of time.
Was able to overclock it a little:
http://valid.x86-secret.com/cache/screenshot/367144.png

Now the question is what mobo do I get next?
The ASUS did seem like a better quality board than the EVGA,
but both Striker II's I got where DOA right out of the box.

Any suggestions???:confused:

---

Do you mean just 790i U boards? I believe XFX are the only other people doing one.

Well..had the EVGA and imo it's a complete POS.

Had the Foxconn Blackops X48 but that was doa, but in hindsight X48 not the way to go with the next gen nvidia offerings.

Stick with the Striker II, luckily mine wasn't doa and i've been more than happy with what it's doing for such an early revision of a BIOS.

Things can only get better with this board i think

got my Asus Striker II Extream 2 weeks ago, but never had time to test it.

did a quick clock with O.K. results. FSB goes nicely beyond 500, but CPU can't break 4.1ghz even its on H2O and idle 30-32C. But overall quite happy with the board. RAM OCZ 1800mhz 8-8-8-24. runs 1720mhz 8-7-7-24

Little hard to believe that your E8500 can't get past 4.1GHz

Well after looking at the options.
I am going back to the Striker II Extreme.

Should have in a few days?
Maybe I will get a good one.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BenchZowner

Little hard to believe that your E8500 can't get past 4.1GHz

---

maybe its me and not the cpu. tested many kinds of setups and even high fsb's are rock solid @ 7-8x, as soon as I go 9.5x - "nothing" works...

To all of us that have a X-FI card and are having lookups in games and crappy sound, maybe worth give this a try:

http://downloads.guru3d.com/Creative...load-1944.html

Let´s hope that these fix some issues.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by M@G!C

To all of us that have a X-FI card and are having lookups in games and crappy sound, maybe worth give this a try:

http://downloads.guru3d.com/Creative...load-1944.html

Let´s hope that these fix some issues.

---

Have tried these and they are in no way better, at least in GRID.
Holding off X-fi Titanium buy until 280GTX before any further testing as that might be the cheapest way around this creative issue.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Daark

Well..had the EVGA and imo it's a complete POS.

---

Daark - can you tell me why ? What made it a pos ? I have given up on my 790i rig - voltages are weird and its unstable even at 3.2GHz. At this stage Im still waiting for my qx but tracking hasnt been updated yet so its in transit somewhere .

Im not sure , but after the simplicity and good success I had with P35 I might give a P45 deluxe a go , unless thats been ruined too .

:shrug:

I also have my reasons to make 790i a pos.
who could believe that it would take 2 months after release for NVIDIA to make this "somewhat" estable?

They were trying to make themselves look like they were better than anybody by saying 1800Mhz and 2000Mhz support... when they got everything wrong.

I didnt really buy this mobo for sli and Im not really keen on buying two video cards just to justify owning it if its not going to perform.

:up:

Do you guys know a program for overclocking under windows? I have used Ntune with my previous Evga 780i but it didn't work with Evga 790. And there is not a clockgen or setfsb for Nvidia chipsets as far as I know.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by slim142

I also have my reasons to make 790i a pos.
who could believe that it would take 2 months after release for NVIDIA to make this "somewhat" estable?

They were trying to make themselves look like they were better than anybody by saying 1800Mhz and 2000Mhz support... when they got everything wrong.

---

What really annoys me is that in the Anandtech review of the S2E, he gets a QX9770 to run at 500FSB linked and synced with 8GB of OCZ memory!!!???:shakes:

In the real world I don't know anyone who has even got close to this: in fact has anyone got any CPU stable at 500FSB?

Tyke - thats a pretty huge rig there , would you mind telling me how well it scores ?

Thats about 2 months of my pay there (if I didnt eat , didnt feed the kids or put petrol in the cars)


;)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by aussie-revhead

Daark - can you tell me why ? What made it a pos ? I have given up on my 790i rig - voltages are weird and its unstable even at 3.2GHz. At this stage Im still waiting for my qx but tracking hasnt been updated yet so its in transit somewhere .

Im not sure , but after the simplicity and good success I had with P35 I might give a P45 deluxe a go , unless thats been ruined too .

:shrug:

---

Head over to the EVGA forums and see a world of pain with these boards. Granted there is a few S2E people experiencing lockups but not as much as the EVGA owners.
From my understanding (and i could be wrong here) the EVGA is a pure reference board made by foxconn for nvidia and sold under EVGA branding. This is not the case with the S2E. Even when you look at SuperTalents site with nice DDR3 they say its for the 790i and that its only been tested on the Asus S2E.

Tyke,

I cant even get my board to post at 500Mhz FSB let alone put 8Gb in with the same config.
No matter how much you tweak GTL-REF (as they claimed) I doubt this is possible with the QX9770, its seems to be well understood 450 is about the most you can hope to expect from em.
took me long enough to get my system Prime95 Stable at 1800Mhz. Spookily we seem to be running exactly the same settings, wonder if this is about all we can get out of it, although I'm on air so limited to pushing any further anyways.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Daark

Tyke,
I cant even get my board to post at 500Mhz FSB let alone put 8Gb in with the same config.
No matter how much you tweak GTL-REF (as they claimed) I doubt this is possible with the QX9770, its seems to be well understood 450 is about the most you can hope to expect from em.
took me long enough to get my system Prime95 Stable at 1800Mhz. Spookily we seem to be running exactly the same settings, wonder if this is about all we can get out of it, although I'm on air so limited to pushing any further anyways.

---

I can get 460FBS to post Ok, and memtest and Prime are Ok, but I get freezing when I install Crysis (I use an installation of Crysis as a good test of my system, as it seems to catch me out when everything else seems OK!!) Strange how Anandtech even posted a picture of the QX9770 at 500FSB, makes you think!!!

There's a lot to be said for 'cherry picked' engineering samples ;)

I set out to hit 4Ghz with a low multiplier. I've hit that and am stable, Crysis plays nice (1920x1200 4xAA High Config '35fps) and performance is what I want it to be.

I'm also on air so have really gone as far as i can, temps are high 60's under Prime95 load and 37-40 on idle

Would've gone SLI 9800GX2's but am waiting for the next batch of GX20's before I do that, hopefully it'll be soon so I can use the EVGA step-up program

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by aussie-revhead

Daark - can you tell me why ? What made it a pos ?
:shrug:

---

After 3 bad Striker II's
Was able to crank one up;
475 FSB @ 11.5 for 4.987 Ghz.
http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=367144

I went to the EVGA 790i Ultra.
The first one had a broken ceramic resistor so I did not even get a chance to turn it on.
The second was OK.
Was able to do a little with it, but nothing like the Striker II.
It had some electrical problems with the board and sent it back.
The third board I got was DOA, would not even boot.

So now I am back with the Striker II Extreme

In my opinion the EVGA 790i Ultra has the following problems:

1. Bad position of south bridge - with the EVGA it was right under the main PCIE-16 slot, Striker II is under the Third PCIE-16
2. EVGA has a non standard case plug so you have to change a case plug.
3. EVGA uses a jumper to reset the BIOS. Much harder than the push botton with Striker.
4. EVGA has a non standard mounting configuration. 10 instead of the standard 9 screws.
5. EVGA board base material seemed thinner than the Striker II
6. EVGA heat sinks did not seem to cool adequately at higher FSB speeds. Striker II much better.

This is what I can think of just off the top of my head.

sorry guys, dont have the time to catch up with this thread, but in case some of you still have corruption issues gary over at anandtech is kind enought to offer to forward your problems to nvidia.

Quote:

---

However, we are still seeing reports on other forums with users having problems with the updated BIOS code. If you are one of the unlucky souls with this continuing problem then we would like for you to email us ( gary dot key at anandtech dot com ) with your configuration and settings. We will try to replicate your problem, but more importantly we will continue to work with NVIDIA to solve any remaining issues with this chipset in regards to data corruption.

---

thanks gary :toast:

This all sounds like poop to me, my next cpu will be my last shot at making this cpu work, then out it goes.

:rolleyes:

OK the dramas continue - after not running this pc for a week due to lacklustre results I tried it again tonight after upgrading my radiator and no boot with last code seen on the display being C1 , it appears that this mobo has decided it doesnt like my ram , or either of the two has expired.

Im going to try single sticks , but this is not looking good .

:shakes:

Edit: Nup it does it with either stick on its own too .

:shrug:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by aussie-revhead

OK the dramas continue - after not running this pc for a week due to lacklustre results I tried it again tonight after upgrading my radiator and no boot with last code seen on the display being C1 , it appears that this mobo has decided it doesnt like my ram , or either of the two has expired.

Im going to try single sticks , but this is not looking good .

:shakes:

Edit: Nup it does it with either stick on its own too .

:shrug:

---

Hope it went OK.
You might want to also try the second slot instead of the first slot.
Sometimes it is a little more forgiving.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DR3

Hope it went OK.
You might want to also try the second slot instead of the first slot.
Sometimes it is a little more forgiving.

---

RLM suggested I do an overnight reset of bios and this morning it started up as normal , I loaded my safe profile 3Ghz 1.35v 1600Mhz 1.9v and its all fine stable and happy , so go figure.

:shrug:

So,

What is causing everyone to RMA their boards?

I tried to boot a copy of vista working on my X48 box, and it blue screened on boot. (unfortunately, it reboots immediately)

Next step was to reinstall. After it extracts all the files and reboots the first time, it blue screens on boot. (Same immediate reboot)

I have tried every setting for my Q9450, and my 12800 G.Skill 2x2GB Kit: auto, manual, low FSB, linked, unlinked... etc etc. I tried copying other people's profiles, and still blue screen.

Sometimes I can get it to boot a bit farther, but it will either say that it had encountered an error during install and needs to be reinstalled, or it won't boot all the way into the GUI after that first reboot upon install.

Is this something that I should consider RMA'ing for? Honestly, it seems like a hardware issue, but is this simply my inability to configure my bios?

BTW, I have tried 0402, 0704, and 0801 (which I am running now).

Is there a vdroop mod for these motherboards ? From bios setting to windows loaded voltage I am losing 0.1v , it makes my bios setting very high for what it really needs loaded.

RLM - Im currently priming my qx at 4ghz , is it easier on the mobo to clock with lower fsb and higher multi ? How does this affect vcore needed ? Is vcore at 333x12 going to be the same as 400x10 for example ?

:up:

Aussie to keep ya CPU a long time, don't leave them chipset voltage settings at AUTO plz... my 780i ruined my first QX for sure, the other 3 I tested remained pretty stable from a few days of burn in on decent PWM equipped mobo's... and that Vdroop is horrendous... really strange it is present on the 790i too...

For your multi/voltage question a higher multi with a lower FSB should be able to maintain the same speed with a it less voltage yes... eg I need 1.28 for 8 x 500 and only 1.265 for 9 x 450 to be small FFT stable... but there are always exceptions to the rule...

Good luck with ya quad mate, cherish it... as it costs heapssssssssssssss

PM coming mate , sooo many questions

:up:

Aussie I'll get back to you in a bit, with the settings I'm currently using for 4.2ghz.

Good call from Leeghoofd, as well. Personally I use 1.3v for CPU FSB.

You also might want to check out the 790i Black Pearl thread over on the EVGA forum/790i. Mr Natural has posted a link for the XFX P05 bios, and it gives better memory stability than the EVGA one.

RLM

Thanks mate :up:

Since I left fsb at stock (love the unlocked multi) all the auto voltages stayed low too , so I set them manually in middle of green range just to make sure auto doesnt do anything silly .

:rolleyes:

Here you go;)

Chip QX9650 @ 4.200 mhz
Memory OCZ 8500 Gold Rated 1066 7-7-7-21-1t - Set 1680 7-7-7-22-1T @ 1.95 v

XFX Bios P05

Quote:

---

System Clocks

**Frequency Settings**
CPU Freq, MHz 4.200.00 mhz
FSB Reference Clock, MHz 1680.00
CPU Multiplier [10X]
PCIe x16_1 & 16_2, MHz [100] 100
PCIe x16_3, MHz [100] 100
SPP<->MCP Ref Clock, MHz [200] 200

**HT Multiplier**

nForce SPP --> nForce MCP [5 x]
nForce SPP <-- nForce MCP [5 x]

**Spread Spectrum**

CPU Spread Spectrum Disabled
HT Spread Spectrum Disabled
PCIe Spread Spectrum(SPP) Disabled
PCIe Spread Spectrum(MCP) Disabled
SATA Spread Spectrum Disabled

FSB & Memory Config

FSB – Memory Clock Mode [Linked]
FSB – Memory Ratio [SYNC MODE]
FSB (QDR), MHz [1680.00]
Actual FSB (QDR), MHz 1680.00
x MEM (DDR), MHz Linked
Actual MEM (DDR), MHz 1680

P1 Enabled (Makes a big difference to bandwidth Enabled)
P2 Enabled

Memory Timing Setting

Memory Timing Setting [Expert]
x tCL (CAS Latency) [7] 7
x tRCD [7] 7
x tRP [7] 7
x tRAS [22] 22
x Command Per Clock [1T] 1T

** Advanced Memory Settings **

x tRRD [5] 5
x tRC [20] 20
x tWR [12] 12
x tWTR [25] 25
x tFAW [30] 30
x tREF [7.8us] 7.8us

System Voltages

CPU Core [1.55000 v] 1.47 v
CPU FSB [1.30 v] 1.30 v
Memory [1.95 v] 1.95V
nForce SPP [1.45 v] 1.45V
nForce MCP [1.65 v] 1.65V


GTLVREF Lane 0 [Auto] -50 mv
GTLVREF Lane 1 [Auto] -50 mv
GTLVREF Lane 2 [Auto] +00mv
GTLVREF Lane 3 [Auto] +00mv

CPU Configuration

Limit CPUID Maxval Disabled
x Intel SpeedStep Disabled
xPPM Mode [Native]
CPU Thermal Control [Disabled]
C1E Enhanced Halt State [Disabled]
Execute Disable Bit [Enabled]
Virtualization Technology [Disabled]

CPU Core 0 Enabled
CPU Core 1 [Enabled]
x CPU Core 2 [Enabled]
x CPU Core 3 [Enabled]

---

I've tested these settings with OCCT and they are 1 hour stable.

http://img127.imageshack.us/img127/3849/occt04mi6.jpg

And one hour in Prime Blend. Note I'd recommend running Blend and OCCT. Previous tests with OCCT and large FTT in Prime, didn't pick up on errors that Blend did.

http://img71.imageshack.us/img71/3971/blend2qo2.jpg

RLM

Aussie obviously this is what works for me, and just reference. Don't forget that you have .5 multipliers as well like 9.5. So you may well be able to squeeze a bit more bandwidth out of your RAM linked and synced:D

RLM