***Offical ASRock z97 OC Formula Thread - Tips / Discussion / BIOS / Tools***

[Luumi]

Hey guys, could someone help me. After a bios change via instant flash I can only boot into windows with max multiplier of 44. I can oc fine in windows with asrock drive software and boot desired frequency with higher bclk, but the max multi bug is annoying though. Memory and other settings work fine. Bios itself recognizes the set cpu freq. Also my card is always stuck at x8 mode and not x16. I've tried different slot aswell, but it's the same, bios recognizes the card as x16 in system browser. I've tried flashing bios a few times, but it' the same. I also tried cloning the stock, untouched bios from the chip 2, but it's the same. I even tried my XP OS and happens there aswell so the problem is with the board.

[l0ud_sil3nc3]

Pentium K + G.Skill 2000 c6 Pi

2750 c6



2666 c6



4.5 Samsung reference time

[Splave]

Hey guys, could someone help me. After a bios change via instant flash I can only boot into windows with max multiplier of 44. I can oc fine in windows with asrock drive software and boot desired frequency with higher bclk, but the max multi bug is annoying though. Memory and other settings work fine. Bios itself recognizes the set cpu freq. Also my card is always stuck at x8 mode and not x16. I've tried different slot aswell, but it's the same, bios recognizes the card as x16 in system browser. I've tried flashing bios a few times, but it' the same. I also tried cloning the stock, untouched bios from the chip 2, but it's the same. I even tried my XP OS and happens there aswell so the problem is with the board.

Make sure you have turbo enabled and speed step enabled, slot down clocks when not under load, check by clicking the question mark next to Bus interface box.

[Splave]

wow loud highest psc run youve done? epic

[Luumi]

After many bios flashes the cpu multi bug is fixed now. I'm running the official 1.10 bios. But card is still always at x8. Only the pci-e gen varies with load on the card, even cpu-z says the link width is x8 and max supported is x16.

[aerotracks]

afaik that's what happens when you forget to disable MCE before setting the multiplier to all core / per core

[nXXo]

[l0ud_sil3nc3]

Very nice nXXo, dialed run

[nickshih]

After many bios flashes the cpu multi bug is fixed now. I'm running the official 1.10 bios. But card is still always at x8. Only the pci-e gen varies with load on the card, even cpu-z says the link width is x8 and max supported is x16.

how many cards u installed ? and which PCIE slot u using now .

[nXXo]

Very nice nXXo, dialed run

thanks master

[Luumi]

Hey nick. Ofc I'm only using one card, a single 780 ti. I've tried nvidia's newest drivers and running the card in the first slot (PCIE1) with all other slots disabled. It is always at x8 no matter what I do.

how many cards u installed ? and which PCIE slot u using now .

[l0ud_sil3nc3]

Hey nick. Ofc I'm only using one card, a single 780 ti. I've tried nvidia's newest drivers and running the card in the first slot (PCIE1) with all other slots disabled. It is always at x8 no matter what I do.

Will test with my 780 ti for you and see if I can replicate the issue tonight

[Luumi]

Thanks loud! I really want this bug to be sorted.

[Alex-Ro]

could be defective slot,saw this issue before

[ZenEffect]

or it could be in the 8x slot...

[nXXo]

another way, another result

nXXo / 6.36.359 / ASRock Z97 Formula OC / Samsung 9-12-12-17-1T - 2.2V

[Luumi]

or it could be in the 8x slot...

The first pci-e slot is 16x. I really start to think that the first slot on my board is somehow defective. Getting it to run at promised speed should be just plug and play, I've tried everything I can think of and nothing has worked.

EDIT

Having the card in the second 16x slot wont even make the rig recognize the card, I guess it's shared speed with the 1st slot so you can only use that slot for sli. When trying the card in 3rd slot, even with reinstalling drivers properly, the card stucks at pci-e 2x 3.0 speed. Really weird, I don't know if this can be just fixed, maybe the board is faulty. Or could it be that the conformal coating process failed and some of the contact pins in the slots dont get contact with the card :p?

[l0ud_sil3nc3]

baby waza

[Splave]

The first pci-e slot is 16x. I really start to think that the first slot on my board is somehow defective. Getting it to run at promised speed should be just plug and play, I've tried everything I can think of and nothing has worked.

EDIT

Having the card in the second 16x slot wont even make the rig recognize the card, I guess it's shared speed with the 1st slot so you can only use that slot for sli. When trying the card in 3rd slot, even with reinstalling drivers properly, the card stucks at pci-e 2x 3.0 speed. Really weird, I don't know if this can be just fixed, maybe the board is faulty. Or could it be that the conformal coating process failed and some of the contact pins in the slots dont get contact with the card :p?

I have 6 boards none of them do this, maybe you can try to clean the fingers of the card with some alcohol?

[Luumi]

You can guess that I've tried that already :p. I will try again but certainly it wont fix it.

EDIT

I tried even without backplate to make sure it is not preventing the lock from locking properly. Nope, even tried wiping the contact points with alcohol aswell, didnt change anything. 1st slot is x8 no matter what I try, even with another card. And when 3rd slot is x2, something must be wrong with the board.

[l0ud_sil3nc3]

You can guess that I've tried that already :p. I will try again but certainly it wont fix it.

EDIT

I tried even without backplate to make sure it is not preventing the lock from locking properly. Nope, even tried wiping the contact points with alcohol aswell, didnt change anything. 1st slot is x8 no matter what I try, even with another card. And when 3rd slot is x2, something must be wrong with the board.

Hey Luumi, I just tested with my GTX 780Ti and all good on the two samples I have, I think it's time for RMA

[Luumi]

Sorry I'm a bit shocked right now. Now I've killed 2 780 ti matrix cards in 1.5 weeks for no reason and now I would have to rma even the board aswell, life pisses on me lol. Last night while watching on youtube the whole system just shutdown, everything was at stock and the xcb board for matrix was disabled. I tested psu and it works and pc runs fine with another card but that one. I tried powering the system with the card inplace but without pci-e cables and slot disabled I heard a small clear electrical shock sound like zap, but system kept posting like normally. The rig wont even power on now with that specific card in slot lol, it like grounds the whole rig and nothing happens when you press start button.

Why did I buy the matrix cards lol, nothing but problems. Something must be shorted in the graphics cards power delivery, zzolio on kingpin forums told me to measure pci-e connectors and the left one has 3 pins that don't beep or give resistance value at all, where as on the other connector they do fine. Other pins are identical. I really don't know what it is.

Sorry for writing all this, but I have never RMA'd anything in my life before lol and now in 2 weeks I should rma 3 quite expensive products lol, 2 matrix 780 ti cards and one z97 board. And both cards were amazing samples, both did around 1450 on the core with nvidia locked voltage of 1.21v, other one did more. see here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rji3G-11MAs

Not the best day of my life...

[Splave]

Pretty sure asus recalled all the 780ti matrix review samples from benchers :X

[Alex-Ro]

lol splave,they triggered something to come back home )

[Luumi]

Have you guys ever seen anything alike. I've never seen a graphics card preventing a whole system from turning on. My first card died due to bug with gpu tweak. THis time I haven't even soldered the ln2 mode on. Just shutdown while watching a video lol. Matrix cards die from their own complexity. Damn matrix, what it gave me - a very annoyed feeling and an empty wallet. Cba with graphics cards, they die too easy. I'll just get my dewar filled next week and run some superpi, that is some enternainment I'm telling you, to see not exact in round after a long waza.

EDIT

Wow, I tried turning the rig on with only the left power connector and it powers on fine and posts without vga being recognized properly but still. So the 8 pin connector or something after it is shorted. Someone tell me how to fix this and I'll give you a cookie.