1st off, greets to all.. I've followed this thread for awhile and have an XBX2 with an E4300 myself. I'm somewhat new to the "enthusiast/OC" crowd as I've only been doing it since socket 478 (IC7G/P4C800E and P4C) days, so I'm not really up on whether or not this is Intels' 1st true OC/Enthusiast level mobo. (besides the XBX1?)
But this post struck me as right on the money and brings up some good points IMHO.

Quote Originally Posted by Zucker2k View Post
It's not a bad thing to be an optimist, but the picture that is slowly emerging seems to indicate to me that what we're calling here a "CIE bug" is nothing but Intel sticking to its own specifications on safe operation of their chips. What we're talking about here is not necessarily getting to the bios engineers and coders, but an internal policy on safety and stability of their board and chips. Why? RMAs. They're in effect killing two birds with one stone. Yes, other board manufacturers have implemented the C1E 'hack' successfully, but most people will tell you the BX2 is the most stable board out there. I would think besides the obvious technological improvements, the persistent C1E kick-in helps to alleviate heat and voltage problems other boards may suffer.
Very well put! If this is indeed their first foray into the enthusiast level board market, they're way behind the curve and on very unsure footing of the clientele they're dealing with and what to expect and anticipate from them/us. For a company that is used to being in control, this isn't easy for them... But they DO know it helps to sell processors, else they wouldn't have made it easier to OC from the original "Bad Axe".

Quote Originally Posted by Zucker2k View Post
For example, notice how the first advice to overclocking the BX2 in this thread and elsewhere is always to turn of C1E? Well, that myth is busted isn't it? Now, what if turning C1E off in the bios actually turned it off? Well here's a guess, all the extra voltage going into your processor would have been translated into heat which would have made your overclocks less stable. The difference between a stable and a non-stable overclock is less than 1c where heat becomes the siginificant factor.
They're not confused, someone put that in the Bios knowing it would help with overclocking but got overridden by another person/dept. on the silly premise that it would allow greater heat generation so was forced to disable it. But what does allowing Vcore increases enhance? Ding..ding..ding.. greater heat generation. So it appears to me as more of an "internal" struggle within Intel due to their lack of participation in the enthusiast market and trying to play both sides of the fence. Keep the renowned Intel stability while increasing market share in both processors and mobo's by trying to court the VERY lucrative enthusiast market.... (It could just be a short term attempt to bit$h slap AMD further and they may have no real interest in pursuing the enthusiast market for long)


Quote Originally Posted by Zucker2k View Post
What needs to be done. Well, if Intel is going to tout this board as the overclockers board (which it is to a large extent) then they will have to go the whole nine yards. I am more than convinced at this stage that what we're fighting here is an internal policy instead of an oversight, or a bad code.
We'll need to put some pressure on the appropriate quarter as some have already suggested; it'll have to be significant too to warrant the appropriate response.
Regards.
Couldn't agree more, and I think you have summed it up very well. But I think it will take a gentle, patient persistence from this crowd to bring this around to reality. One of two things will happen in my opinion. If it's attempted to "force this down their throat" by people trying to be forceful/threatening to them, they'll abandon any further attempts to provide enthusiast level boards, or they'll eventually realize there is more to be gained by providing a moderate level of support to this community. I hope option 1 is not the case because this is a GREAT board with alot of potential, and if this is their first run at an OC mobo (not counting the BX1?) it's a damn good start!!

Either way, great post Zucker2k, well thought out and alot of insight to it.