ASUS Maximus Formula SE

[sdumper]

try to disable transaction booster, it may help u hit 530+ or close to it^^

I would never enable transaction booster it has never worked correctly and I prefer to set my ram timings manually

I can guarantee you that this mobo with the current suite of available bios updates will not be hitting 530 fsb any time soon.

[Raja@ASUS]

The only way our board hits over 530 is to disable Transaction Booster to a Relax Level of 3. Of course, the hand picked retail E6850 we have here can do 550-560FSB (air cooling) on good boards. MCH's can vary in ability, tbh though, absolute Prime type stability will come way lower than 530-550...

regards
Raja

[chocobo15]

I smell a ROG X48 in testing already to replace these if the Maximus EOL is right. But I want solid proof that Maximus is EOL.

think that's why i'm having temperature issues?

[Warboy]

think that's why i'm having temperature issues?

I have the same issue, high temps during idle.

[sdumper]

The only way our board hits over 530 is to disable Transaction Booster to a Relax Level of 3. Of course, the hand picked retail E6850 we have here can do 550-560FSB (air cooling) on good boards. MCH's can vary in ability, tbh though, absolute Prime type stability will come way lower than 530-550...

regards
Raja

Raju as far as I have seen no one has been able to get higher than I have so far which is 480 and thats only because im running phase.

[kimandsally]

Can someone help please, I have a problem trying to raid 2 hard drives I have no hard drive and was hoping to use the USB stick, but firstly I can't use make disk to write to my USB for some reason it see's it but will not write to it.

So I got out an old floppy from the draw and connected it used make disk and was going great, that's until installing XP the dam floppy or floppy drive is buggered it has errors on it and won't work.

I have read somewhere that it can be done "maybe" on this thread but I can't find it.

So could someone explain how to get the right files on the USB stick then what do I do with the BIOS to make it see the USB when I use F6 to install the RAID drivers.

Thanks in advance.

[Raja@ASUS]

With a Quad core yes, our board tops out at 485, on high FSB capable dual core CPU's going over 480 is quite easy (for benching not Prime). Trouble is not many people run dual core CPU's on these boards (there are some but Quads are the money shot). As said in the AT article, the board suffers due to a lack of GTL tuning adjustment for Quad cores, with longer Prime runs giving up the ghost circa 460FSB.

regards
Raja

[giorgos th.]

@Maglin can you run your mem at 5:6?
that performance level 8 is killing you..

[chocobo15]

I have the same issue, high temps during idle.

did u always have high temps? or did it just go up all of a sudden? I was fine in 0402 bios, and 0602, and 0701 was fine a while too! till i tampered with some of the memory settings, and now the temps are haywire :/ doesn't make any sense.

[sdumper]

With a Quad core yes, our board tops out at 485, on high FSB capable dual core CPU's going over 480 is quite easy (for benching not Prime). Trouble is not many people run dual core CPU's on these boards (there are some but Quads are the money shot). As said in the AT article, the board suffers due to a lack of GTL tuning adjustment for Quad cores, with longer Prime runs giving up the ghost circa 460FSB.

regards
Raja

Hmmm ok ill bite wheres an example of a dual core exceeding 485 fsb on the Maxiumus maybe I missed it but I dont recall seeing an example anywhere?

Now the voltage termination noise may be causing some of the issues but It doesnt seem like its the only issue. Dont get me wrong this is a nice board and as I have said I prefer it over the others Its just the wrong board if your in search of the super high FSB's levels...

[CyberDruid]

Ok guys, I've been trying to get 475MHz stable on this board with NO success! I've tried crazy higher northbridge volts, higher vPLL, higher vFSBT and nothing gets it stable. Even removing 2 sticks of ram didn't work!!!!

What settings, in the bios not actual, are you guys using for 475MHz? Please help me here, I can get such a nice compromise of FSB/CPU speed if I can get 475MHz stable with OCCT/Memtest...!

I cannot get 8 x 475 either. I can get 8 x 470 lol...

[CyberDruid]

checked my water block, thermal grease, water pump, everything is in check. temperature still 50* @ idle

was 36* before, could I have damaged my chip?

Ditto that here. I am running an LC set up that I know should be providing near ambient at idle.

I am get 47C idle temps at 3600...ridiculous...

The board takes a lot of juice to run at high FSB too...

On the bright side it OCs the RAM great.

I was able to Fold solid at 3700...but for the slight gain in speed the volts are insane.

[chocobo15]

Ditto that here. I am running an LC set up that I know should be providing near ambient at idle.

I am get 47C idle temps at 3600...ridiculous...

The board takes a lot of juice to run at high FSB too...

On the bright side it OCs the RAM great.

I was able to Fold solid at 3700...but for the slight gain in speed the volts are insane.

i tried to clock mine to 3.6 and was idling at 47 as well, but now i'm back down to 2.4 and at 48 lol...ripping out my hairr!!! Ahhh!

[Raja@ASUS]

Hmmm ok ill bite wheres an example of a dual core exceeding 485 fsb on the Maxiumus maybe I missed it but I dont recall seeing an example anywhere?

Now the voltage termination noise may be causing some of the issues but it doesnt seem like its the only issue. Dont get me wrong this is a nice board and as I have said I prefer it over the others Its just the wrong board if your in search of the super high FSB's levels...

Can't find anyone running an E6850 either...lol.. are you? I have only mine to go by and state here what it does, but I know it's a killer CPU for high FSB.

It's an ok board let down by a lack of GTL tuning, both CPU die's are tied to the same reference voltage control, which is far from ideal - the die's never completely match each other (there is always variance in fabrication). Then we have onboard components making their presence felt. We are hoping Asus will effect some changes in this department on future boards, we have certainly put some thoughts forwards. This includes a drop of Transaction Booster etc, to more conventional terms and fields of use. Our highest point for reasonable stability with our QX6800 was around 465FSB (giving around a max of 1 hour Prime95). The widely acceptable stable point for the Quad was 450FSB (where our setup managed an over 8 hour run), perfectly in line with users. Unfortunately there are no E6850 results to go by other than the ones that we ourselves have posted in the review. For the record though, I managed around the same on the DFI P35 LP board. The trouble with high FSB on the DDR2 X38's is the loose PF levels required, 11-12 in our case. The good DDR3 boards (P35 based Extreme's are managing really low access latency, low PF level and high FSB's all at the same time)...

regards
Raja

[Raja@ASUS]

i tried to clock mine to 3.6 and was idling at 47 as well, but now i'm back down to 2.4 and at 48 lol...ripping out my hairr!!! Ahhh!

this could be down to the same problem we had with our block, the gluing process of the block to the heatsink leaves gaps (spots of regular epoxy with no thermal paste to bridge the gaps). One other thing, to get good temps you have to run strong fans even when using water cooling, which kinda defeats the object. A one piece waterblock directly mounted to the IHS would have fared far better. I have a feeling that just like the CPU's, the Northbridge IHS's won't all be flat either, and there's no easy way to even begin thinking about lapping them..

[Viss]

Not prime but max FSB ive managed so far:

Quad air (same max as on Blitz)


E6600 air (same max as on any 965/P35 board ive used)


E6600 dice:

[Raja@ASUS]

Thx Loc.o. That's about where we got to as well with our dual core E6850 using air, around 550.. nice. But yes, it won't do Prime there..no way lol....


regards
Raja

[Viss]

Im rather sure it wont, the max me E6600 wil do on air is 550 (not only on Maximus) for 1M. Ill put it back in though because i havent tested max FSB/prime. Curious what it wil do on this board, it did ~520mhz before.

Nice review !

[jonny_ftm]

http://www.asus.com.tw/999/download/...50/1850_10.pdf

It is the ASUS QVL for the Maximus
Should I understand from it, that for DDR2-1200 (PC2-9600), you need four modules. That is the board won't run fine with only 2 Kingston modules for example?

[Raja@ASUS]

Im rather sure it wont, the max me E6600 wil do on air is 550 (not only on Maximus) for 1M. Ill put it back in though because i havent tested max FSB/prime. Curious what it wil do on this board, it did ~520mhz before.

Nice review !

Thank you, we did mange to bench our board with cascades at around 550-560, but did not try 3dmk 06, 3dmk 01 passed ok. The real test would be 3d mk05, that is something we might try again. Nice to see someone else got the same FSB results, though you did a nice 595 on DICE..

regards
Raja

[rabor]

Indeed excellent review..

I am currently running an E6850 (awaiting Q9X50..) & my FSB is limited by this CPU at around 556-558 (approx. same as on P5K-E/-Premium & Commando).

Old screenie @ FSB 553:

[chocobo15]

alright, those concerned about the temps, i flashed back to 0505, and my temps are back down to high 30's low 40's idle which is what I was getting before.

[Raja@ASUS]

thanks man, well that makes 3 of us with dual cores at around 550...

regards
Raja

[Renegade5399]

Going to see what kind of FSB I can get out of my 6850 tonite. What volts were you guys running for those +500 runs?

[Budwise]

i find it hard to believe that they woudl EOL this board so fast. If its true, this is the last time i buy Asus. They spit out too many boards, then dont support em, then just move on to the next one.