ASUS Maximus Formula SE

[ShawnTRD]

ShawnTRD is the Spam King though

I don't think I fall under the definition of Spam King.

spam (spm)
n.
Unsolicited e-mail, often of a commercial nature, sent indiscriminately to multiple mailing lists, individuals, or newsgroups; junk e-mail.
tr.v. spammed, spam·ming, spams
1. To send unsolicited e-mail to.
2. To send (a message) indiscriminately to multiple mailing lists, individuals, or newsgroups.

[Renegade5399]

I am thinking of some new RAM guys. My options so far are:

1. DDR2 1066 Dominator kit

2. DDR2 1066 Team Xtreme kit (needs 2.3-2.4 volts stock though)

3. DDR2 800 Buffalo Firestix kit

4. DDR2 1066 Mushkin eXtreme performance kit

All kits are 2x1GB.

Out of those options, what looks best for me?

Also, if you have suggestions/links they would be appreciated.

[TouGe]

You guys are making me nervous about the RAM. My board is overvolting the RAM about a tenth of a volt... I set 2.1 I get 2.2

I have reverted back to 0401 and the whole rig is running much cooler. It's not just a number glitch..the board runs much hotter on the 0701.

But it also holds in better at higher clocks too... Probably due to the over volts to th NB SB and DRAM..

Noticed no difference in V Drop on the Vcore form 040 to 0701...

What seems odd is there are so many different ways/settings to get a stable clock...I've tried at least a half dozen radically different voltage settings to run stable at 3600...

Yeah, I doubt it was the board as well. It seems anything 2.2V and up has a running life of ~3 to 6 months, at least that has been my experience. I just figured that if I buy another 4 gigs now then I will have a spare 4 gigs just incase something else happens down the road.
I'll probably be running DDR2 through 2008 anyway. I was an early adopter to DDR2 and paid out the @$$ for it. I will not do the same for DDR3.

[binormalkilla]

I got my X38 up and running. The issue was that the mobo sets the voltage to 1.8V by default. I went by Circuit City today and bought a stick of Kingston Value RAM DDR2-667 for $45 and it booted on the first try. I then set my VDIMM to 2.2V and shut down. I then installed 2 Ballistix DIMMS and it POSTed! I set the timings and I'm good now.
BTW I originally bought a stick of DDR2-533 and it wouldn't POST either, but the DDR2-667 would.....if anyone else is having this issue.

[chocobo15]

I am thinking of some new RAM guys. My options so far are:

1. DDR2 1066 Dominator kit

2. DDR2 1066 Team Xtreme kit (needs 2.3-2.4 volts stock though)

3. DDR2 800 Buffalo Firestix kit

4. DDR2 1066 Mushkin eXtreme performance kit

All kits are 2x1GB.

Out of those options, what looks best for me?

Also, if you have suggestions/links they would be appreciated.

I have tried xms2, ocz gold, and finally got sick of it all and got a pair of dominator 1066's and everything is smooth sailing to far. Memtest ran stable for an hour, and no errors were found. I had initial suspicions that the ram slots were bad, but these sticks blew away that suspicion.

I would recommend the dominators

[lazy]

so once again, which bios would you guys recommend?

[binormalkilla]

I'm running 0701, but I haven't tested a higher OC yet. I'm running my sig rig at 3.2 GHz right now DDR2-1066 5-5-5-15 42 2T with the rest of my timings to auto.
I know my chip is stable for hours of Prime for 3.6 at least, and I am going to push it harder soon.......I have three days off next week so I should have some good OC info up here in a few.

[Trice]

Are you doing any overclocking? What was your settings. It could be anything. Pushing you ram to far, voltages to low.

Yeah but not much, just simple 3000 Mhz with 8x divider and 1.425v. Ram is at 901 and 2.2v

[TouGe]

I am thinking of some new RAM guys. My options so far are:

1. DDR2 1066 Dominator kit

2. DDR2 1066 Team Xtreme kit (needs 2.3-2.4 volts stock though)

3. DDR2 800 Buffalo Firestix kit

4. DDR2 1066 Mushkin eXtreme performance kit

All kits are 2x1GB.

Out of those options, what looks best for me?

Also, if you have suggestions/links they would be appreciated.

I'm sort of biased toward Mushkin, before my Patriots I had two different sets of their PC6400's and liked them very much. They OC respectfully and are, of course, Micron D9's.
Check out their forum here:
http://forums.mushkin.com/phpbb2/

[binormalkilla]

HHmmmmmmm......I can't seem to boot past 400 FSB. I have my VCore set WAY high compared to what I was running on my P5K (3.4 GHz @ 1.384 vs 3.2 @ 1.42 after VDroop)

Are there any FSB holes on this board with 0701?


BTW Cyberdruid, I'm getting some MEGA hot temps as well. They need to get a better BIOS out....I'm going to revert to an earlier one tomorrow to test out my max FSB. Maxing at 400 isn't good....

[chocobo15]

hmm, i think someone mentioned to me earlier that the VID should be higher than Vcore? or did i misread that piece of information? my coretemp says my Vcore is 1.225, my Vcore is set to 1.4185, think that may cause the bloated temps?

[Viss]

Obviously vcore is related to temp but vcore doesnt need to be less then VID...

[Talonman]

FYI - The database for the boys running the Maximus SE's stock ROG cooling on water is growing.

Still looking for more data though...
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=164610

So far:
ROG Member ----- NB volts -- NB Loaded --------------- CPU ------------------
Renegade5399 ---- 1.65v ------ 34°C ------------ Intel Core2Duo E6850 G0 @ 4GHz
bill d ------------- 1.30v ------ 34°C ----------------------------- Q6600 Stock
ragge86 ---------- 1.65v ------ 36°C ---------------------------- Q6600 @ 3.8GHz
BulldogPO -------- 1.65v ------ 40°C -24/7 QMC crunching clocks - Q6600 @ 3.8GHz
weescott --------- 1.74v ------ 43°C --------(Q9550 444x8.5) 1.49v 62c under load
j0nnyr0773n ------ 1.54v ------ 44°C ------------------------- Q6600 GO @ 3.6GHz
Clump ------------ 1.62v ------ 46°C (After 1HR or Prime 95) ----- Q6600 @ 3.6GHz
raju -------------- 1.65v ------ 49°C (Prime95 Torture Temp) ----- Q6600 @ 3.6GHz
Note: After Raju remounted, max temp went down to 39°C
Note: NB temps over 47°C are prone to failures during longer Prime torture test runs.

[kimandsally]

Well my Ballistix are dead. Was running them in the white slots. Following settings: DDR2 1069, 4-4-4-10-2T, 2.34 volts, actively cooled. Since the RAM is rated for 2.2 I didn't think it was a big deal. This will be my 2nd RMA for these. The first set died in my 680i at DDR2 1200 5-5-5-15-2T, 2.3 volts. I may just sell these (after RMA) and see what else I can get.

So for now all I have is a stick of 1GB DDR2 533 OC'd to DDR2 600. Yielding me a cool 2.7 GHz, LOL.

Hi

somethings not right here, the RAM is rated @ 2.2v so you run it @2.3v and RMA twice?????????

I bet you never thought your ripping Crucial off did you? Your making RAM prices higher than they need to be.

If you overclock and go out of spec take responsability and take the loss, might I suggest you buy some RAM that's rated @ 2.3-2.4v then run it at those voltages if they go wrong you then have a valid claim.

Sorry but it makes me angry I pay a premium for RAM that's rated at a higher voltage to avoid what's happened to you.

I know loads of other people do it and they also anger me, but if your going to do it then go ahead and don't post what your doing on here, we really don't need to know that your obtaining replacement goods by deception.

Don't take it personal it applies to all that do it, I'm having a bad day one of my PC's is dead whilst running @ the recommended settings and it's 4 days out of warranty.

[devilhood]

I don't think I fall under the definition of Spam King.

spam (spm)
n.
Unsolicited e-mail, often of a commercial nature, sent indiscriminately to multiple mailing lists, individuals, or newsgroups; junk e-mail.
tr.v. spammed, spam·ming, spams
1. To send unsolicited e-mail to.
2. To send (a message) indiscriminately to multiple mailing lists, individuals, or newsgroups.

Good point

Ok, this board has just insanely scared the crap out of me.

Basically, the thing I missed yesterday, was that my RAID array failed because it suddenly decided to pump 2.0v into FSB Termination. Everything is manually set, 1.38v on the FSB as well.

When I noticed the mobo started posting weirdly I decided to check all my settings after the Overclock failed message blah blah, went into the Extreme Tweaker menu and sure enough, it had MANUALLY set the FSB Termination to 2.0v

How on earth can the board decide to alter the settings manually by itself? I didn't even have any of the ASUS software installed with my brief experience of setting up Vista, no EPU driver or anything.

Main thing I'm worried about now, is recovering data from my RAID-0, but now I'm scared for all the other voltage settings, because if it can happen to the FSB without a real reason, what's not to say that it hasn't been randomly happening to the CPU, PLL, SB and DRAM all this time? No wonder people have been complaining about their RAM suddenly dying.

The near double voltage spikes that happened with GAR are definitely not a one-off, as we can see now, this is a serious problem that can potentially ruin everyones hardware.

I'm preparing to write ASUS a pretty long e-mail regarding this

[CyberDruid]

Hmmmm

Still trying to find some sweet spot around 3800.

This board is definitely much happier on the 0401 BIOS regarding temps but I seem to have lost some DRAM speed options that were allowing for some better performance Folding...

RE RAM overvolting. I have never RMAed RAM yet I have overvolted every stick of RAM I have ever owned...
It's called OVER clocking

RAM should not fail from a mild Overvolt IMO. Mine has not...I run ALL my RAM out of spec...

Running HW in spec is for Pussies... sorry nothing personal I feel that way about anyone that does it...

[TheSamurai]

I am thinking of some new RAM guys. My options so far are:

1. DDR2 1066 Dominator kit

2. DDR2 1066 Team Xtreme kit (needs 2.3-2.4 volts stock though)

3. DDR2 800 Buffalo Firestix kit

4. DDR2 1066 Mushkin eXtreme performance kit

All kits are 2x1GB.

Out of those options, what looks best for me?

Also, if you have suggestions/links they would be appreciated.

2 or 4 imo.

[TheSamurai]

I got my X38 up and running. The issue was that the mobo sets the voltage to 1.8V by default. I went by Circuit City today and bought a stick of Kingston Value RAM DDR2-667 for $45 and it booted on the first try. I then set my VDIMM to 2.2V and shut down. I then installed 2 Ballistix DIMMS and it POSTed! I set the timings and I'm good now.
BTW I originally bought a stick of DDR2-533 and it wouldn't POST either, but the DDR2-667 would.....if anyone else is having this issue.

you better lower that voltage or those crucial's won't last long!!!!! this board likes to overvolt!!!!!!!

[TheSamurai]

Good point

Ok, this board has just insanely scared the crap out of me.

Basically, the thing I missed yesterday, was that my RAID array failed because it suddenly decided to pump 2.0v into FSB Termination. Everything is manually set, 1.38v on the FSB as well.

When I noticed the mobo started posting weirdly I decided to check all my settings after the Overclock failed message blah blah, went into the Extreme Tweaker menu and sure enough, it had MANUALLY set the FSB Termination to 2.0v

How on earth can the board decide to alter the settings manually by itself? I didn't even have any of the ASUS software installed with my brief experience of setting up Vista, no EPU driver or anything.

Main thing I'm worried about now, is recovering data from my RAID-0, but now I'm scared for all the other voltage settings, because if it can happen to the FSB without a real reason, what's not to say that it hasn't been randomly happening to the CPU, PLL, SB and DRAM all this time? No wonder people have been complaining about their RAM suddenly dying.

The near double voltage spikes that happened with GAR are definitely not a one-off, as we can see now, this is a serious problem that can potentially ruin everyones hardware.

I'm preparing to write ASUS a pretty long e-mail regarding this

same thing happened to me... only once, but it happened. at first i thought that i did it by mistake. then i realized that there was no way i could have done that. oh well, hasn't happened again... knock on wood!!!

[devilhood]

same thing happened to me... only once, but it happened. at first i thought that i did it by mistake. then i realized that there was no way i could have done that. oh well, hasn't happened again... knock on wood!!!

Yep, and now I've started getting random hangs on INIT ROM according to the LCD Poster and INIT ROM isn't even in the bloody manual.

This is extremely frustrating.

[CyberDruid]

When EPROM "blooms" onto the ROM initializing the BIOS parameters.. Hands there from my experience are about the RAM...either timing speed or voltage is making the RAM throw a fault...

I had a similar issue with my Abit AW9D-Max and high voltage RAM.

[devilhood]

Thanks CyberDruid, I just increased the latencies a tad and it seems to have solved the POST problem, though memtest86+ was able to work fine for hours without errors.

[DeViTTo]

Alright, I seem to found a sweet spot right now, Got it to 3.94Ghz (435x9) at 1.55 volts. Northbridge set to 1.55 volts, FSB at 1.65volts, CPU PLL around 1.50-1.70. I forgot what i put it at. But it is stable in XP, Vista 64bit so far. I'll try to get some bios pics with my cam later.

Bios 602

Yep there is a sweet spot as you say Warboy. I used your settings but in XP64Bit and its happy at 435x9 with the voltages you gave in this post. I'm going to try and push a bit higher though and tighten the timings a little.

BTW if any of you want a stable operating system better than Vista64 and which I have some issues with i.e TimeBug xfi issues and Geforce 8800GTX holding on to thread then try XP64 its snappy more responsive and loads faster than XP32 and you can get Alchemy to work in games even though its not built for this operating system. actually it sounds better than XP clearer in all channels rear especially.

[ShawnTRD]

Yeah but not much, just simple 3000 Mhz with 8x divider and 1.425v. Ram is at 901 and 2.2v

My Ram doesn't want to be stable at 900. So I would try turning that down. Did you try booting up memtest86? At 900 my ram fails within 20 minutes if not sooner.

[TheSamurai]

Hands there from my experience are about the RAM...either timing speed or voltage is making the RAM throw a fault...

yup!!!