Asus Striker II Extreme: Corruption/Freezes Troubleshooting Thread

[owcraftsman]

The 1301 bios was reported available awhile back but I've been waiting to here if it's any better. Not to much feedback so far. ??

[Cibic]

Well 1203 seemed OC limiting to me, i think this version is better.

[owcraftsman]

Maybe it's just my QX9650 but I've always felt I could get more out of it. I can run the multi up and get 4.0 but that's with a lower FSB. Right now I'm rock solid and she takes anything I throw at her so I'm wondering if it would be worth the effort. If this is the bomb it was an awful long time coming. I suspect there's not much in it for me.

[RyNemesis]

Actually this thread is the reason I joined these forums, and Its sad the OP isn't supporting it anymore, but we can always help each other!

At his point I don't have any problems and hopefully this will be a thread to learn what has and hasn't worked for all of us.

The ASUS Striker II Extreme is one serious OC capable M/B that takes patient tweaking to get anywhere with it, I was so frustrated with it in the beginning I wondered what I was thinking when I bought it.

My present specs;
ASUS Striker II Extreme bios 1203
Q9550 stepping C1 heatspreader lapped on Air Cooling w Xigmatek S-1283 modded to a dual 120mm push - Pull, w heatsink base lapped.
4G 2 x 2G Patriot Viper DDR3 16000/ 2000Mhz memory
2 MSI 260GTX 216sp in SLI
2 500G Seagate SATA2 1 running WinXP32bit, the other running WinVista Home Premium 64bit, HDDs are switch isolated.
Creative X-FI Extreme Gamer Fatal1ty Pro Soundcard
Powered by a Silverstone OP-1000w 82a single 12v rail P/S

The rest is not really important.

I run Vista mainly for DX10 gaming, the 2 HDDs are switch isolated meaning only one HDD is powered to boot the machine, because WinXP is a lot more forgiving when OCing than Vista is, I only go into Vista when I'm 100% positive my OC is rock solid in WinXP.

I'm OCd to 3.83G 24/7 Stable, highest P95 temps 62c, working on fine tuning 4,038G, P95 blend crash after 30min at 66c, so I'm getting close but as we all know it takes time to fine tune any OC with this M/B.

So hello everyone this is my first post here, and I hope for many more. RyNemesis

[Cibic]

Hi RyNemesis, I can help you get stable if you want just post your settings using the template.

[RyNemesis]

Hi RyNemesis, I can help you get stable if you want just post your settings using the template.

I can do that, thats a lot of information but;

If you don't mind me asking?

I'm interested in your results with the 1301 bios, ASUS didn't give much detail on it, other than supporting new CPUs?, so does it actually help your Q6600 OC?

The results I presently have with the 1203 bios, will they change with the 1301 bios?

[Cibic]

1203 felt more OC limiting than 1301 and 1201. I guess that's because I have different hardware.

[Orion24]

Finally switched to Nehalem system and I've seen the last of my full of problems S2E, C1 YORKFIELD, CORSAIR 4GB 1600C7 system. After 1,5 years of troubles these are my points of view:

1) C1 Yorkfield sucks. I ended up running my Q9550 below the 4 GHz mark because it couldn't do it with a proper VCORE. It's wasn't a board limitation.

2) Overclocked system behaviour:

- PRIME95 passes OK
- Memtest passes OK
- Temps OK
- PSU voltage readings OK, and:
- Random BSODs, mainly when accessing the hard drives. Biggest stress seems to be full formatting a hard drive.

The solution that worked for me: Unlinked the FSB from the memory and set the timings slightly below its rated specs at DDR3 1600 C7.
I never suspected that with PRIME95 and MEMTEST givving me no errors, my problems would be memory related, but they were.
Even the simplest overclock of setting FSB to 400 and the memory linked at 1600 was givving me BSODs. Only unlinked was trouble free for me.

[Cibic]

Finally switched to Nehalem system and I've seen the last of my full of problems S2E, C1 YORKFIELD, CORSAIR 4GB 1600C7 system. After 1,5 years of troubles these are my points of view:

1) C1 Yorkfield sucks. I ended up running my Q9550 below the 4 GHz mark because it couldn't do it with a proper VCORE. It's wasn't a board limitation.

2) Overclocked system behaviour:

- PRIME95 passes OK
- Memtest passes OK
- Temps OK
- PSU voltage readings OK, and:
- Random BSODs, mainly when accessing the hard drives. Biggest stress seems to be full formatting a hard drive.

The solution that worked for me: Unlinked the FSB from the memory and set the timings slightly below its rated specs at DDR3 1600 C7.
I never suspected that with PRIME95 and MEMTEST givving me no errors, my problems would be memory related, but they were.
Even the simplest overclock of setting FSB to 400 and the memory linked at 1600 was givving me BSODs. Only unlinked was trouble free for me.

If ur CPU was unstable it would crash on prime, unstable ram can get no errors. All you really needed was more vNB and vSB and for good measure 1 to 2 notches more vDIMM and link back FSB with RAM.

[owcraftsman]

The 1301 bios turns out adequate with my setup at least albeit more difficult to get stable than 1202beta was.
I'm not sure where this bios can take me yet all I know for sure is how long it took me to get back to 4.0 stable.
In fairness this may be more a product of switching OS rather than Bios.
However I was finally able to get my 790i ultra system stable which required a bump in vcore, vdimm and memory timing adjustments.
An unexpected plus is lower PLL and VTT setting in bios but +/- .01 to .03 volts difference over all as reported in windows.
Seems even with loadline off the new bios is bumping up voltages

The only Prime errors I received in my 10 hour run was 24K small fft run which happened after 7 hours running time.
Because the error was not a rounding error rather it was "Fatal Error: result was xxxxx.x expected xxxxx.x
This indicated to me a memory issue that had not been revealed by HCI designs Memtest ver 3.8 pro 2 instances. 200% coverage.
Subsequent testing, running 24k, completed 10 passes with no errors and satisfies my need to test any further.
Final settings
L&S 1600 x10
1.46250 vcore windows 1.49v
1.52 PLL windows 1.55v
1.22 VTT windows 1.25v
1.84 vdimm windows 1.90v
1.44 NB windows 1.49v
1.50 SB windows 1.50v
GTL REF0 -43mV Ratio
GTL REF1 -40mV Ratio
GTL REF2 -40mV Ratio
GTL REF3 -43mV Ratio
loadline calibration Disabled
P1 & P2 Auto 7-7-6-18-1t-6-32-10-22-24-9-9-85-7.8uS
AS2E H20
QX9650 H20
Mushkin 2x2 996601
2x GTX 285
SB X-Fi Ti
Corsair HX850
W7 x64 Pro
1301 bios

[Cibic]

Sorry to disappoint you mate, but you are unstable still. It might not be now, but you will see that crashes will gradually increase. You could try these - I think you should be getting no errors:
Verify ur actuals in hardware monitor (bios)

vcore - from my experience this will drop to 1.44-1.45 on full load, read following line to make sure
loadline calibration Enabled u could do less vcore not on load, recommended to stick this +0.01 to 0.02 from what ur current is without LLC on full load, note that if u use AINap it will drop vcore -0.04-0.05 no matter wat u choose.
vdimm 1.92 actual
NB 1.50 actual
SB 1.50 -1.60 BIOS value
GTL REF0 Auto
GTL REF1 Auto
GTL REF2 Auto
GTL REF3 Auto
P1 & P2 Enabled 7-7-6-18-1t-6-32-10-22-24-9-9-85-7.8uS 1t= Make sure thats wat ur ram supports, usually 2GB dimms are much more error-free when in 2T Command Rate - CMD

I was going to wish you luck, but you won't need it

[owcraftsman]

Dude this took me a solid week 4-5 hours per day to tune in my GTLs and get stable. I would not have reported it as such unless it was true. I do not use junk software (AINap) and I was unable to get my system stable at 4.0 with LLC enabled using 1301. At full load my windows reported vcore is 1.41-1.42 my bios setting is 1.46250 so the droop should be clear to you. The tests on my RAM was exhaustive as well and I have confirmed my settings with Mushkin. I clearly listed my hardware so you could have checked this before popping off. Still I respect your opinion and will head your advice. However I hope you are wrong but for a week now I've been doing some pretty intense gaming 2-3 hours per day plus the usual stuff with zero glitches, BSOD or Freezes). I simply reported the facts not my imagination here so do with it what you want. I only offered it up in hopes this is helpful to other.

[Cibic]

The settings i posted is for 1600 FSB, i dont mean u cant get any higher. And about ur GTL REFS doing the formula with 1.24-1.25 VTT results in +/- 39/40 (in as2e), you see the auto setting will do that for you; at least up to 2GHz FSB. If a CPU is unstable, it will crash almost instantly - people seem to blame LLC - a good approach is to relax everything else giving more than adequate votlage (minding temps) on everything possible (even SB) except GTL REFs and test small fft's for an hour. If it doesnt crash then most probably ur CPU is stable. After than you can reduce voltage and test until it starts crashing thus discovering ur CPU's limitation on that specific frequency. Blend test on the other hand is a pain - even one rounding error after 15 hours means instability.

SB voltage at 1600FSB should be 1.55 in bios and NB from 1.48-1.54 actual, depending. At 1800FSB, 1.60 vSB bios and NB from 1.54-1.64 actual, depending.

Just giving a heads up

EDIT: If blend test survives 8hours and after that it crashes then most probably the SB needs more voltage

[slim142]

Cibic could you post the formula? i forgot what was it again lol

[Cibic]

for 45nm (VTT * 0.635) - (VTT * 0.667) and for 65nm (VTT * 0.667) - (VTT * 0.635).


To be honest i think that 65nm's formula is the one to use regardless. But since I haven't got a 45nm cpu I cannot guarantee it.

[slim142]

VTT what is selected in BIOS or actual voltage? What if your motherboard has a variable VTT? Like mines if I set it on 1.30, it goes from 1.30 to 1.33 randomly, but mostly during load.

[Cibic]

You should always use the prevalent value, the one that is more common seen in HW monitor (bios).

[slim142]

Ok Thanks for the help

[owcraftsman]

Equation: for 45nm

Vtt x 0.667 + Y = Vtt x 0.635

1.22v x 0.667 + Y = 1.22v x 0.635
0.813v + Y = 0.774v
Y = 0.813v - 0.774v
Y = -0.039v
Y = -39 mv

Source

Remember with a negative numbers a step toward zero is a positive movement literally.
Through the extensive use by others of Prime95 it has been discovered that certain test have certain tendencies.
Through my own testing I have confirmed these assertions and know, For example:
I know 384k and 160k test tend to produce the most heat and react favorably to vcore adjustment and is where I begin.
If I get a rounding error here I bump the vcore until I can pass 5 passes using both test.
I know freezes and the unexpected errors usually means a memory issue and is a Small FFT test.
I know the first 3 hours of Prime Blend testing react favorably to NB & SB voltage adjustments.
I know the 320K & 32k test react favorably to adjusting GTL's again fine tuning the adjustments until I can complete 5 passes with no errors.
Since all of these test occur 3 to 6 hours in to the testing I consider these shortcuts.
I know in order to complete all test it requires a minimum of 10 hours before Prime begins repeating test over again and there is no replacement for passing all test.
Once I have passed 5 passes of 384 320 160 & 32 K test I shoot for a 10 hour run.
In my case I got other than a rounding error on a 22k test at about 6.5 hours in to the test on one lane all others completed 12 hours.
This indicated a memory error so I bumped my vdimm and hard set the advanced timings of my memory in bios and ran 5 passes of the 22k test with no errors.
I should note that when setting up the test I used 2000 MB memory instead of the default 1600 MB.
Now I was able to pass 10 hours of Prime95 Blend.
Even with the short cuts it took days.

Source

You are welcome to try this out for yourself to verify.

[Cibic]

Have fun wasting time! Its actually pretty simple:

An unstable CPU will crash within minutes and will most probably restart ur system
Rounding errors and freezing could be from unstable ram, NB and SB - instability could depend on voltages, timings and heat
Some instabilities can take hours to discover - u could get a rounding error after 14 hours of blend testing. This has happened to me and it turned out unstable SB
GTL Refs should be kept on auto or what the formula suggests according to VTT - if u set the wrong polarity ur system will crash within minutes so dont worry about that
Just because u can pass ram testing doesnt mean ram is stable, the stress on the ram is just not enough to bring the errors out - even with 64bit prime95 with 3500/4000MB of ram usage is still not good

From what I know now, it took me less than a day to overclock another as2e with q9300 and 1600MHz of ram (GTL refs left on auto)

EDIT: CPU GTL REFs far from the formula's result while blend testing will make some/all cores load jitter or even crash the system with a restart

[owcraftsman]

Have fun wasting time! Its actually pretty simple:

An unstable CPU will crash within minutes and will most probably restart ur system
Rounding errors and freezing could be from unstable ram, NB and SB - instability could depend on voltages, timings and heat
Some instabilities can take hours to discover - u could get a rounding error after 14 hours of blend testing. This has happened to me and it turned out unstable SB
GTL Refs should be kept on auto or what the formula suggests according to VTT - if u set the wrong polarity ur system will crash within minutes so dont worry about that
Just because u can pass ram testing doesnt mean ram is stable, the stress on the ram is just not enough to bring the errors out - even with 64bit prime95 with 3500/4000MB of ram usage is still not good

From what I know now, it took me less than a day to overclock another as2e with q9300 and 1600MHz of ram (GTL refs left on auto)

EDIT: CPU GTL REFs far from the formula's result while blend testing will make some/all cores load jitter or even crash the system with a restart

Cibic, are you suggesting my post would be a waste of someone, anyone's time? You say it's really pretty simply yet what follows that statement has no beginning or end let alone a purpose. Unless we are to use a crystal ball.
Please Sir be clear.

[Cibic]

Usually after posts there are replies - those are just quick replies, "shortcuts". Try to compare each line of ur previous post to each line of mine.

All I am saying is that there's a much simpler way to OC this board, let alone waste ur time with GTL Refs.

If you think about it, the same way u posted ur results and settings for anyone to reference, in that way i posted my replies. Use them or ignore them - fyi im not getting any benefit from this, am I?

Anarchists usually know that there's more than one say.

[smoke13]

CPU
Intel Core2 Quad Q9400 2.66GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Co Motherboard
asus striker 2 extreme Memory
Patriot Viper 4gb (2x2gb) ddr3 pc3 12800 Graphics Card
XFX 9800gt
Hard Drive
Seagate SV35.3 ST3750330SV 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0 Sound Card
supreme fx 2 Power Supply
ABS Tagan ITZ Series ITZ1100 1100W ATX12V / EPS12V Case
antec 1200
CPU cooling
swifttech appogge gtz GPU cooling
factory OS
windos 7 64 bit Monitor
Hanns·G HW-191APB Black 19" 5ms Widescreen LCD Mon

will have pics of bio tonite i play mw and wow gameplay goes good for a while but it stutters for a half a second then hardlock it normaly does it alot on wow but started on mw now pls help no errors on memtest

[owcraftsman]

Hard locks are generally memory related try to bump your vdimm a bit and also if you've bumped your eye candy default it until we figure this out.

[NKrader]

just bought this board. will be using

QX6700
4x1gb OCZ 1066
9800GTX

what bios should I install?