ASUS Maximus II Formula - new P45 king?

[ATLNY]

This is an adapted version of my setting for 4GHz with an 8400 for you to try.

Extreme Tweaker
Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up : AUTO
CPU Ratio Control : Manual
- Ratio CMOS Setting : 9
FSB Frequency : 445
CPU Clock Skew : Normal
North Bridge Clock Skew : Normal
FSB Strap to North Bridge : Auto
DRAM Frequency: DDR2-892 MHz (ie: 1:1 ratio)
Dram Clock Skew CH1 A1 : Normal
DRAM Clock Skew CH1 A2 : Normal
Dram Clock Skew CH1 B1 : Normal
Dram Clock Skew CH1 B2 : Normal


DRAM Timing Control: Manual
CAS# Latency : 5
RAS# to CAS# Delay : 5
RAS# Precharge : 5
RAS# ActivateTime : 15
RAS# to RAS# Delay : 5
Row Refresh Cycle Time : 60
Write Recovery Time : 8
Read to Precharge Time : 5

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

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 : disabled
Ai Clock Twister : Moderate
Transaction Booster : Manual

Common Performance Level: 10 (lowest you can set is 10 on 1:1 ratio)

Pull-In of CHA PH1 Disabled
Pull-In of CHA PH2 Disabled
Pull-In of CHA PH3 Disabled
Pull-In of CHA PH4 Disabled
Pull-In of CHA PH5 Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH1 Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH2 Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH3 Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH4 Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH5 Disabled

PCIE Frequency : 100

CPU Voltage : 1.3500v
CPU PLL Voltage : 1.51325v
FSBT : 1.2v
DRAM Voltage : 2.1v
North Bridge Voltage : 1.32v
South Bridge Voltage 1.5 : 1.5
South Bridge Voltage 1.1 : 1.1

CPU GTL Reference 0 : Auto
CPU GTL Reference 1 : Auto
CPU GTL Reference 2 : Auto
CPU GTL Reference 3 : Auto
North Bridge GTL Reference : AUTO
DDR2 Channel A REF Voltage : AUTO
DDR2 Channel B REF Voltage : AUTO
North Bridge DDR Reference : AUTO

Load Line Calabration : Enabled
CPU Sread Spectrum : Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum : Disabled 

Let me know how it goes. You should also know, not all e8400's do 4GHz on less than 1.45v, so vcore may be your issue.

I got it to 4.0 GHz
Vcore volts is 3.6v
it seems stable so far
I can't push it too far yet because my Thermaltake TMG i1 is not up for the challenge
I am about to order the Swiftech H20-220-APEX to keep my temp down
thanks alot for your help
I thought it was my memory but you were right it was my Vcore
I will use the money I save to buy the water cooler

[mikeyakame]

I have respect for Ket's work but on my boards they do almost nothing... I get just a tad better ram performance but really nothing earthshattering at all. Better clocks not here... ( I have 2 Dlx and 2 E boards...5 45Nm CPU's to work with) But imagine Ket having to do this for all P45 builds of Asus... will be a lot slower then...Asus is not like DFI or other brands, they put out a lot of mobo's , maybe too much but they want to sell as much as possible... Secondly Ket works with the code the engineers put in the bios, he just makes a nice mix out of it... (simplistically put, he's a very bright guy no doubt) and really you don't seem to be aware how many bios updates ( alphas and betas some of us have gone through on these boards to make them work better... Even DFI boards that come to the market months later then the competition still need updates to ensure compatability...

Some people never seem to be aware how much different hardware there is around and that Ocing is still not guarantueed... because ya neighbour can do it, doesn't mean you ca do it with exactly the same hardware... is it purely the mobo ? is it the bios ? is it the modded bios ? you tell me...

I didn't noticed anything different coming from P35 or X38 in daily usage... maybe I swap hardware to often (harddrives and co) but this board is way more stable then my Formula SE ever was... in benches I could feel the differences... daily sorry nope... I just love new toys but comign from a rock stable and good performing P35 (with one Gfx card) X38, X48 and P45 are not really a worthwhile step up for normal clocks (400-500FSB range, depending on CPU)

For the difference between the Dlx and the MFII think the PCB layout is pretty the same, you just pay extra for all the gimmicks and a few tweaks in the bios... between the E and Dlx boards there's a whole lot more clocking potential in the Dlx...

Without full access to bios code and Intel's super secret register documentations they keep us back with I suppose his effort is quite applaudable. Most of the problems with the P45 chipset all come back to the core bios code written by Intel. It was a chipset that was never designed in the first place to do most of the things it is semi-capable of doing now. It's a mainstream chipset aimed at a mainstream market that at present is performing at times on par if not better than the high end X48 chipset which was designed from ground to do what it does. P45 was only ever designed to support a maximum of 1333MHz DDR2/3 and what more it does is cause of Intel's superior knowledge of optimized asm and no doubt impossible feats to make the impossible possible.

Heavy pressure from OE mobo manufactuers for this chipset to work outside it's original design specs has probably resulted in very specific optimized asm routines which I believe are the reason that this is no doubt has become the most impressive generally incompatible and unpredictable chipset in Intel's history. It either works fantastically with certain hardware or fails miserably with others. It's always going to be the case of hit or miss to balance performance Intel pulled out of thin air with wide market component compatibility. Where as chipsets like the X48 since they aim at the smaller high end market don't have to maintain such a broad spectrum of compatibilities since most high end users stick to pretty specific high end hardware which more times than not operate much closer to a common set of specs than mainstream equivalents do. High end memory ic's are limited to only 2 or 3 different memory manufacturers, namely PSC, Samsung and Micron at present.

[CryptiK]

@ ATLNY - Good to hear. What vcore did it require? (I sure hope not 3.6v )

[Utnorris]

The Arlington store was loaded with P5Q Deluxes Maximus II & other P5Q boards. Microcenter is weird with their pricing although I picked up the Biostar TPower I45 from there for $169.99 & 20 MIR. I also grabbed the Apogee GTZ from there too. I got lucky with my Maximus formula it was $142 open box clearance @ Fry's.

Yeah I got a Maximus Formula from Microcenter for $190 OB, but I couldn't get it to recognize two sticks of ram for the life of me, so I returned it. Shame, cause now I wish I had just RMA'd it and gotten a new one from Asus.

Utnorris

[ATLNY]

@ ATLNY - Good to hear. What vcore did it require? (I sure hope not 3.6v )

sorry about that

1.36v

I set 1.36 in the bios

but it show 1.34 in windows

[CryptiK]

sorry about that

1.36v

I set 1.36 in the bios

but it show 1.34 in windows

Thats better, and looks to be a nice CPU. Now you're there, you can start some tweaking of the memory & PL etc and having some real fun.

[Darknezz]

Well i got my board running at 530fsb 24/7 runs great..

[GeorgeVasil]

Well i got my board running at 530fsb 24/7 runs great..

Please Post Your vNB ..vFSB..

I am trying for 8*525.

[elsupremo]

Ty Grnfinger. I really appreciate your time. I would not have touched 90% of those settings you had me change, as I'm a beginning-level overclocker.

Starting with the settings you gave me, I could not boot into Windows - it would reboot while loading Windows. I am not sure what the relationship is between vcore, PLL, and the GTL volts, so I basically was working a bit blind. I kept the GTL settings you gave me, since I didn't know what else to do with them, and just kept increasing vcore and PLL. I'm having trouble finding a way to boot into Windows and pass a 5 run IntelBurnTest without having high Vcore and PLL. Can you share some strategy about how what to do here, other than just boosting vcore to the stars?

Way to much auto settings and way to high vcore and pll imo.
Auto settings are not the way to go on this board if stability is to be achived.
GSkills seem to like clock skew to really stabilize the rig, set them to advanced 300ps it will help alot,
Get trfc ( row refresh cycle time) off auto and set 55-60.

450x9 those GSkills should be able to run

DRAM Static Read Control: Enabled
Dram Read Training : AUTO
MEM OC Charger : AUTO
Ai Clock Twister : Stronger
Transaction Booster : Manual

Common Performance Level [8]

Your NB temp will also be an issue have you reseated it with AS5 or Ceramique? If not thats the first thing I would do.

My chip plays nice with a positive value for GTL's so you may need to adjust this to the correct value but I would start with this and adjust volts accordingly.

Extreme Tweaker
Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up : AUTO
CPU Ratio Control : Manual
- Ratio CMOS Setting : 9
FSB Frequency : 450
CPU Clock Skew : Normal
North Bridge Clock Skew : Normal
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 333
DRAM Frequency: DDR2-1081
Dram Clock Skew CH1 A1 : Advanced 300ps
DRAM Clock Skew CH1 A2 : Advanced 300ps
Dram Clock Skew CH1 B1 : Advanced 300ps
Dram Clock Skew CH1 B2 : Advanced 300ps


DRAM Timing Control: Manual
CAS# Latency : 5
RAS# to CAS# Delay : 5
RAS# Precharge : 5
RAS# ActivateTime : 15
RAS# to RAS# Delay : 3
Row Refresh Cycle Time : 55
Write Recovery Time : 6
Read to Precharge Time : 3

Read to Write Delay (S/D) : 8
Write to Read Delay (S) : 3
Write to Read Delay (D) : 5
Read to Read Delay (S) : 4
Read to Read Delay (D) : 6
Write to Write Delay (S) : 4
Write to Write Delay (D) : 6

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 : AUTO
MEM OC Charger : AUTO
Ai Clock Twister : Stronger
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 CHA PH4 Disabled
Pull-In of CHA PH5 Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH1 Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH2 Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH3 Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH4 Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH5 Disabled

PCIE Frequency : 101

CPU Voltage : 1.35
CPU PLL Voltage : 1.50
FSBT : 1.33850
DRAM Voltage : 2.1
North Bridge Voltage : 1.39150
South Bridge Voltage 1.5 : 1.5
South Bridge Voltage 1.1 : 1.1

CPU GTL Reference 0 : +20mv
CPU GTL Reference 1 : +10mv
CPU GTL Reference 2 : +10mv
CPU GTL Reference 3 : +20mv
North Bridge GTL Reference : AUTO
DDR2 Channel A REF Voltage : AUTO
DDR2 Channel B REF Voltage : AUTO
North Bridge DDR Reference : AUTO

Load Line Calabration : Enabled
CPU Sread Spectrum : Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum : Disabled

[radaja]

tis is as high as i can get it

[CryptiK]

That's quite respectable. Being an E0 I would have expected more out of it, any chance it's your ram holding you back? What are your ram settings?

[radaja]

5-5-5-15- 55 pl8, 1.91v . im new to this but i my voltages on this board are very sensitive i had to lower my vfsb 1.14 just to get stable.when i try any of the basic settings people post here w/ similar setup bsod. i took me a while to figureout my board take alot less volts all around.yea ithought by getting an eo processor and the max2 iwould be able to go higher than what i got w/p5q-d and e8500co that i had which i got to 4.2.thats why im a little upset

[CryptiK]

What speed is the ram running at? Some cpu's can be sensitive to vFSB, mine is fine up to 1.25v although I run 1.16 vFSB 24/7. There is a lot to get your head around, but keep reading and playing around with it and you'll pick it up.

[whe3ls]

i sodl mine x48 ds4 and was thinking of getting a Maximus II Formula, would this be a good board to get?

[radaja]

@cryptik mem speed is at 1082

[CryptiK]

I like mine, it's no X48 or P35 in terms of memory efficiency, but it is a respectable board, and can clock duals and quads well and is good with ram overclocking. Have a read through the various results in this thread and see if it appeals to you. Whether or not this is the board for you really depends on what you want to achieve with it, and what else you can get for a similar or lower price.

Also look here for a bit of memory bandwidth testing I did with it:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=203040

@cryptik mem speed is at 1082

I'd say you definitely need more vdimm, try setting it to 2.0v and see how it goes then.

Alternatively, set the ram to the lowest frequency choice (~900) and set PL = 10 and then clock up the FSB more. I'd still recommend setting 2.0v vdimm while you're trying to find max cpu clock to eliminate the ram as an issue.

[radaja]

does anyone know where to read votages on this board using multimeter.you know i tried from 1.8 to 2.0 same result but that was when i had my other volts on the board much higher pll 1.56 vfsb 1.26 nb 1.28 ect. ill try again w/vdimm , cause i think i saw another user w/ same ram @2.1(dctokyo)i think anyways thanks

[CryptiK]

You can read vdimm from the 2 mosfets above the memory slots. However each of the 2 phases may read slightly different voltages. I have found what Asus probe/BIOS displays is correct.

Try setting the ram to 900 and raise PL to 10, then retry it, it may in fact be your cpu holding you back.

CPU PLL should be fine left at 1.50v

I have found vNB needs to be at 1.27v to get 445 FSB & PL 8 stable.

[radaja]

il try that when i get home. yea i was just wondering about the volt cause on the P5Q-d v dimm overvolted a little and i wasnt sure how reliable the readout were . yea it seems thats what my board likes for nbv cause raising it had no affect whatsoever thanks

[scooter.jay]

I have some time over the next few days to do some testing and was very kindly given this link by CryptiK

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...&postcount=358

But how do i dl it as i have never used megaupload before? do i have to be a member as i dont seem to be able to download the bios? I accept that my noob ass maybe missing something lol

I was misssing the little code at the top lol all sorted now!

[CryptiK]

@ scooter.jay - just enter the 3 letter code it displays into the box, and click DL. You don't need to be a member or anything

[scooter.jay]

Well new bios modded by Ket works but still the same single channel problem which is really getting on my nerves as these sticks should fly in this board. I have some other sticks coming so i can test the board but not here yet hopefully tomorrow they will be here. This board should be great as it is the top P45 offering from Asus i hope some bios updates can sort this out?

[CryptiK]

Strange issue for sure, it may be a defective board mate, although I hope it is just an incompatibility. If the new ram doesn't solve it, I'd try to arrange an RMA. If you have a credit card, Asus may cross ship you one, where you send yours to them as they send you one simultaneously , but they'll only do it if they have one in stock but they should being new (they don't charge your card its for 'insurance' so you don't screw them over).

[scooter.jay]

I have tested with other ram now so i can only think its the board. Thanks for all the help CryptiK. I have left the Ket modded bios on after packing it away i realised so should i flash back to official bios before return to avoid any problems?

[Harsha]

Hello all,
I've been following this thread with some interest as my faithful P5K Deluxe has died on me. After having used it normally for the last 2 years or so I let my OS Vista64 go to sleep and when I tried to turn it on/wake it up .....nothing, or at least no screen power-up. Assumed it might just be a glitch, so tried to reboot and no beep or post. The PSU is powering everything, power LED on MB,mouse and keyboard lights, case LED's for HDD's and DVD drive and CPU fan. I'm assuming its the MB so I was looking for a replacement/upgrade without throwing away all my components.

The P45 boards seemed to be the answer, due to the cooler running NB and general love the Maximus II formula was getting in the first 20 to 30 pages or so...but from the last couple of pages or so Grnfinger and CryptiK have voiced their concerns about this board and the shortcomings of the P45 chipset. My question is which board and chipset seems best suited for me based on the fact that I am merely looking to have my system up and running again STABLE as possible. The X48 Rampage was not something I had thought of as a candidate but would make sense to me if that is the best solution. I am not looking for a crossfire solution as I run
an Eizo CG 241W for the photo and video editing I do....(couldn't really afford 2 of those anyway...had to sell several internal organs to get this one.. ). Any advice would be appreciated and I hope this was not too long winded.

Harsha