ASUS Striker II Extreme

[neo mike]

Yeah, well i hope you get that water cooling kit, so you can push that baby.

Yeah i dont think the diablos would be a good call now, there behind. The adata 2133 i think are less than the GT's, but im not sure even how to get the Adatas, only in china, japan or wherever that is, but im sure if i had the money i could get them.

Yeah i will be going i7 for sure, but not for awhile, but will have the sticks for i7, but by the time i go i7, they will be up to 2300mgz ram.

Im happy with my system now, only thing is i need 4gigs of ram for sure, 2x1 dont crack it in vista, i get bored because im not clocking my board anymore, so i just try to help others who are trying to, trying to learn as much as i can. This is definitly the hardest board i have everrrrrrr overclocked, takes alot of patience, but i like the challenge.

[slim142]

I also hate how A DATA wont even bother to bring them here, just because Corsair releases a 2k C7 kit first doesnt mean everybody will get that one, specially with the test from Andre that shows A DATa sticks can do that with only 1.55v
Man, I really really want that kit, but yeah I think it will be all about the GTs at the end if we cant get the 2133X.

Right now, I wont go i7. However, they seem way easier to overclock. Ill see if I can jump next year maybe. I want to abuse my Striker II first

Have you tried any game? that might keep you busy for a while. CSS never gets old and CoD4 is always fun as well. L4D seems good too but I havent tried it.

[neo mike]

No i havent played any games, but im going to get into that very shortly. I dont understand Adata, there is such a huge market for the 2133 ram, they could make a killing, i just dont get it, it would compete very well with the GTs.

Ohh yeah slim, i have still to this day never been able to get this board over 550fsb, i have tried everything to no avail, i just dont get it why it just stops dead at 550fsb. I know it will do more, but how to get there is beyond me, early in this striker thread a guy hit 600fsb, i pm him, but never got a answer, i still would love to hit around 580fsb.

[joebloggs]

I have no idea why his ram is at 1.6 , im surprised it runs, at least go to 1.85v, i bet that is his whole problem. By chance is your ram ocz ? known issues with all 790i boards, i wouldnt run ocz on any 790i board.

Because there is a little sticker on the side of my RAM that says 9-9-9-24 1.5v.

I have been in touch with Corsair and they warrant up to 2.0v on them, but wouldn't recommend a lot higher than 1.8v for 24/7 use. One kit died when I used 1.86v.

That is why I am using 1.6v. I can take a picture of the sticker if you like, if you don't believe me.

I can try raising it to 1.8v but if they're supposed to run at 1.5v, then 1.6v should be giving enough juice?

I am sorry if I sound dumb, this is my first venture with DDR3 and 790i, and I chose the wrong board to start with. Steep learning curve.

I'm running 1.52 v for NB now, as I have SLI so it'll need more. I THINK it is more stable, but if not, I'll raise RAM voltage again. It can boot and run fine even with 1.5v selected in BIOS. Someone else who had this RAM and exact same board was running his OC with 1.6v for VDIMM for a Q6600 at 4ghz. So I don't think RAM voltage is my problem. If more NB doesn't help me, I'll try more VDIMM.

[slim142]

No i havent played any games, but im going to get into that very shortly. I dont understand Adata, there is such a huge market for the 2133 ram, they could make a killing, i just dont get it, it would compete very well with the GTs.

Ohh yeah slim, i have still to this day never been able to get this board over 550fsb, i have tried everything to no avail, i just dont get it why it just stops dead at 550fsb. I know it will do more, but how to get there is beyond me, early in this striker thread a guy hit 600fsb, i pm him, but never got a answer, i still would love to hit around 580fsb.

Maybe the guy was on a quick max overclock run? I also remember seein nice overclocks on the first pages.
When I go for water cooling I also plan on doing some quick EXTREME runs to see how high can this bad boy go.

[neo mike]

Ok Joe, never heard of ram running that low, but i would at least go 1.7, cause your trying to overclock it, what is your VTT ? says 1.26 in your template, you need 1.32, 1.34 in the bios set, up your cpu voltage a little, ram to 1.7, vtt to 1.32 1.34 in bios, and enable p1 p2, and it has to pass and be stable, you really should at least have 1600-1800mgz ram, 1333 just dont cut it bro, limits your overclocks badly.

[joebloggs]

OK! AT LAST!!! I "think" I have found stability. VTT is 1.36v, RAM is 1.6v (it is rated 1333 at 1.5v so it's fine).

The LIMITING factor was NB!! I was giving it 1.5 in BIOS, and only 2 RAM sticks. I am giving it 1.52 and it's ok! Hasn't restarted at all. I hate to think what it will need with 2 more RAM sticks and 4 of them clocked to 1600 mhz. I know what settings I need for the RAM to run 1600. And have run them at 1600 overnight on memtest at 1.7v.



Cheers for your help neo mike. U will enable P1 and P2 now, see what difference it makes to stability wise, but I read it needs more NB voltage? Temps are currently 58 idle NB, so I need to find an Antec SpotCool or something to cool the fusi9on block down manually with air.

EDIT - Also, didn't realise how much of an effect SLI was having on this overclock. A guy I know with an identical setup to mine needs 1.45Nb but he has only 1 GTX 280. I have 2 9800GTX+ in SLI. needs 0.7v NB voltage boost. :s

[neo mike]

P1 P2 should work fine, and boost perfomance, watch your nb temps, you dont really want to go over 60c, you need better cooling, the stock cooling sucks on this board. Im happy your stable, glad to help.

[joebloggs]

Yeah noticed quite a boost in memory read performance especially. Thank neo.

I wasn't going to invest any more on this setup. I really was peeved with the fact that nothing over 1333 stayed stable. If I find that it's totally 100% stable, I will invest in some little 40mm fans or an Antec Spotcool.

Another question if you don't mind good sirs. Which of the following 3 options would be the best in your opinion?

1. 1600 fsb, 1600 ram, 8x multi (3.2 ghz) needs around 1.45vcore to stay stable.
2. 1520 fsb, 1520 ram, 9x multi (3.45 ghz) needs just over 1.5vcore to stay stable.
3. 1700 fsb, 1600 RAM, 8x multi (3.4 ghz) would need around the 1.5v mark I think.

Which option do you think would be best? I did think 1700 fsb with 8x multi, but my RAM will no way go that far. But it can achieve 1600 on stock timings. I thought 3.2ghz is fast enough for cpu speed with 1600 fsb and ram.

Would option 3 be feasible? How much more votlage to NB to acheive 1700 when it needs 1.5v for 1600?

[neo mike]

Well to answer your question, i would go 1700mgz linked n synced, you get more peformance that way, then tighten up your timings, you will probally need 1.54 should do it on nbv.

Now for cooling here is a cheap way to cool the nb, first you take off the whole heatsink city on your board, very easy to do.

Then you cutt the heat pipes that lead to nb, so now you only have heatpipes on the mofsets, cut the heatpipe from nb to sb, but leave on sb, add this to your nb http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835233021, very very good cooler, add 80mm fan your temps will drop 12c at least, then connect sb pipe to the new nb heatsink, very cheap to do, about 2 hours work, now you wont have heat issues. Over 60c you start running into problems.

[joebloggs]

Unfortunately it didn't work. But, it had gone for longer than any time before it blue screened. Before, record was just under an hour. It now stayed stable for 3 hours.

So I think I'm going in the right direction. I think NB GTL may need some tweaking. What would you recommend. 1.36v VTT in BIOS.

EDIT - I'll also try a bit higher VDIMM around the 1.7v mark. But NB is definately the key here. As higher volts led to longer stability time.

[neo mike]

try 1.7 on your memory, i dont think you need more nbv, try the memory, bsod after 3 hours ? hmmm, i think i know what it is joe, HEAT, your probally overheating the nb, that will cause problems i told you, run prime 95 for 15 mins, and then check your temps on nb, i bet your in 60s. You shouldnt need more nbv for that low of speed ram. Up the memory voltage to 1.7 in bios, run prime 95, check temps right away to see where nb is.

[joebloggs]

prime95 blend or small or large ffts?

ATM I'm running 1.55 volts through NB, yes NB is idling at 60 degrees, but it isn't bsod me yet. I did run a 90mm fan against the NB and the same issue happened with the NB on load was 55 degrees.

If heat was an issue, surely it would bsod quicker? This board is a right pain in the butt. With NB sitting at 55 degrees and 1.45v on NB, it bsod me after an hour every time. On 1.52v on NB it sits at 61 and takes three hours to bsod. Doesn't make sense.

I'm currently trying +40mv NB GTL for a laugh. RAM is sitting at 1.68 ATM, I'll bump it up to 1.7v if unstable.

I know these modules can run @ 1600 with 1.72vdimm (memtested 12 hours no probs), so maybe the board is unstable with 1600 fsb and 1333 ram in unlinked? if both were 1600 we might have a chance?

[neo mike]

LARGE, you want to generate heat to see where your temps are. Well 60c idle is way to hot, 60c fullload is ok. +40 is to much nb gtl, try like +20, you may have to go -nb gtl. What is your spp reference voltage at ? may need more cause your running sli.

[joebloggs]

SB voltage is at 1.55v. Enough you think? 1.6v might be too high?

Temps don't differe between idle and load much.

Idling 60, LOAD 61. I have a Antec 1200 case with all fans on full so plenty of airflow in the case at the moment.

What do you suggest I do with NB GTL for now? Leave it at default?

[neo mike]

Leave sb voltage alone, it should be fine. I would try like +20 nb gtl, see if that helps, make sure your ram is at 1.7 in bios. Seems weird you idle, and load cannot be 1c difference, that dont seem right, idle nothing is running, full load your stressing the system temps should go up for sure.

[joebloggs]

It does flicker to 62 quickly, but goes back down to 60. I am using Everest ultimate to monitor temps.

I'll try +20mv on NB GTL and 1.7VDIMM if these settings prove unstable. I don't change my settings till I get a BSOD you see. I follow the approach of, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Tomorrow probably I can try those settings out fully. This bsod issue is hard to replicate. the only way I can do it is let Itunes play a 3 hour movie, and leave it alone, and it will have bsod or restarted.

[neo mike]

so your getting bsod on itunes, what about when you play games ?, try +20, to +30, see if that fixes it.

[joebloggs]

and internet movie applications. Basically anything that uses the gfx card (I think). I have not played games long enough for it to crash to be honest.

OK, need to spend some time tomorrow testing NB GTL +20 and +30. And VDIMM to 1.7 actual.

EDIT - after 20 mins large FFTs NB temp is 62, SB is 64. Which is a bit high, but still stable no problems so far.

[neo mike]

Well if your only bsod on itunes, then something is wrong with itunes maybe, can you play games with no issues ?do games bsod after 3 hours. Have you run prime 95 large fft for a few hours without fail ?

[joebloggs]

Are you familiar with BBC iplayer? It is an internet tv site in the U.K. My test is to start watching something on that, and leave it for an hour or 2. It's never crashed when prime95 or intel burn test. It's weird.

C1e, speedstep etc ALL disabled in BIOS.I'm expermienting with different NB GTL values now.

[neo mike]

its your bbc player, why dont you play some games for a hour, watch yahoo music videos, etc, see if crashes, if you passed prime 95, i would change nothing, i would try bbc player, etc.

[joebloggs]

Well, sure enough, being so preoccupied I played Far cry 2 and got a BSOD.

It passes Intel Burn Test and Prime95 for 10 hours.

I've now upped vcore around .15v and it "seems" a hell of a lot more stable. I really hope this does it.


Seems like I have a bad chip though. Needs 1.45v for 3.2ghz. And even 1.58v for 3.6ghz and even then not stable in Intel Burn.

VID is 1.3v. I guess 3.6ghz is out of it's reach. Think I'll have to settle for 3.2ghz (if it's stable now.)

[neo mike]

I dont think its your cpu, or your memory, they pass prime for 10 hours, its only when your running video, so maybe is sli related, what nvidia drivers you running ?. Just for fun joe, cpu gtl try this -14 -24 -14 -24, i dont know what much about quads, but i know they need cpu gtl sometimes to be stable.

[joebloggs]

nope not running RAID 0. I've lowered vcore down a notch. 1.33v in BIOS. (1.424v cpu-z). But NB GTL is +20mv. And it's been running stable for 5 hours now. Longest yet. So I believe the NB GTL has made a HUGE difference. Still testing with this now. I'll let you know how I get on.