ASUS Maximus Formula SE

[binormalkilla]

Good day gentlemen,

I have a problem. I can't seem to get my mobo over an FSB of 440. I let the memory run on 1:1 so that this can't be the problem. Also I dropped the CPU multiplier to 7 ( I know the CPU can run at 3500 Mhz+ so that can't be the problem eiteher. When I use this settings the system won't boot:

Extreme Tweaker
Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up : AUTO
CPU Ratio Control : Manual
- Ratio CMOS Setting : 7
FSB Frequency : 450
FSB Strap to North Bridge : auto
PCI-E Frequency: 100
DRAM Frequency: DDR2-900
DRAM Command Rate : 2T
DRAM Timing Control: Manual
CAS# Latency : 5
RAS# to CAS# Delay : 5
RAS# Precharge : 5
RAS# ActivateTime : 15

CPU Voltage : 1.4000
CPU PLL Voltage : 1.52
North Bridge Voltage : auto
DRAM Voltage : 2.20

When I turn the FSB to 440 there's no problem. Anyone have suggestions??

Specs:

mobo: Maximus Formula
CPU: 6750
Mem: Crucial Ballistix PC8500
Cooling: TT Big Typhoon

Thanks!

You may need to increase the PLL voltage a bit (say 1.60 or so) and you definitely need to set your NBV higher. I'm actually suprised you got that high without dialing in a specific voltage. On the NBV try starting out with 1.50V. That's what I'm running, but you may need more.

[TouGe]

Almost had the same settings but changed from rlx 0 to 1. I am now typing this at 465fsb rather than 455fsb! Thats a whole 1ghz overclock now. 2.33ghz to 3.255ghz (465x7) Huzzah!!!

Any more hints?!?

Set your FSB to what it is you want to run. Then set your FSB Strap to 400MHz, go to your memory and select the Divider you think your memory can run @ 5-5-5-15 w/ in spec volts and then go back and set your FSB Strap back to "Auto". I don't think you can use any memory dividers from 333MHz down when running FSB > 450MHz.
Set Dram Static Rd to "Disabled", Ai clock to "Weak", Trans Booster "Disabled" w/ Relax lvl to "1". Set NB volts to 1.59V or 1.61V, if temps are below 50-55, and then boot your computer.
If its stable then set Ai twister to "Moderate", try again, and finally, Ai twister to "Strong".
If all of that works, the next step would be to either enable Trans Booster w/ a relax lvl set to "0" or start backing off your NB volts or tighten your timmings.

That is how I reached the following settings: DRAM Static "Disabled", Ai Clock "Strong", Trans Booster "Enabled" w/ Relax lvl "0"; 5-4-4-12-3-25-4-3 w/ DRAM: 2.2V (actual) (spec'd @ 2.3V), and a NB voltage @ 1.55V (1.58V actual).

Does this help or just confuse the situation more?

Ok, I did some stress testing via Everest. Its a impressive stress tester. But Here is some anomalies i picked up.

Also, Remember, I tried to do with low volts, The memory is at 2.20 volts in bios.

Have you exceeded 4GHz on your Q6600 on air yet or are you on water? Really impressed with your clocks, 3.92GHz in sig, if that is indeed on air.

Yea I love my rig man! The only thing that's pissing me off is that Crossfire isn't giving any performance gains in Crysis....meh.
WHen in the hell will ATI release the 7.11 Catalysts????????

BTW I just noticed that my board is overvolting the PLL voltage from 1.51 to 1.61!!!!!! WTF!

What doesn't this board overvolt????? Oh, except for the CPU!

Yeah Crisis came via UPS yesterday and has sat there in all its glory untouched. I wish MemTest ran faster.

[tiesum]

You may need to increase the PLL voltage a bit (say 1.60 or so) and you definitely need to set your NBV higher. I'm actually suprised you got that high without dialing in a specific voltage. On the NBV try starting out with 1.50V. That's what I'm running, but you may need more.

Thanks for the fast reply! I set the PLL voltage to 1.6 and the NBV to 1.53. Still I'm unable to use an FSB of 450... Any suggestions?

[safan80]

What doesn't this board overvolt????? Oh, except for the CPU!

Yeah Crisis came via UPS yesterday and has sat there in all its glory untouched. I wish MemTest ran faster.

QFT.. but I miss when I can't play quake wars. Asus better work out the bios issues!

[jonny_ftm]

I've found the same issues with the Maximus, since using the new OCCT Beta.

I can use OCCT 24/7 if I keep cold air blowing directly over the vregs, mosfets and caps around the CPU. As soon as I take that extra airflow away it lasts a few hours MAX before crashing and Folding can crash within hours too... Right now with window open and case temp of only 23*c (temp sensor seems out, it's about 10*c by the window...) I can Fold/OCCT/Prime/Game as much as I want, but seeing as I don't like my hands turning blue I keep the window pulled shut. This instantly increases the temp in the case and then I lose my stability...noticably with voltages going, then crashes/reboots!

What particular parts would people recommend for extra cooling/heatinks to be attached? I'm building a caseless testbench so I'll be able to get closer in to the motherboard and use my 'OPT Sensor@ temp sensors from my Striker Extreme on the Maximus to read these temps correctly around the NB and CPU area!

Just confirms what I say about OCCT
Otherwise, I'll cool the NB either with the fuszion block or the MCW30. The mosfets should be either watercooled, or at least active air cooling .I'll use HR-09U and HR-09S type 2 from thermalright. Depending on your CPU cooler, you can stick at them two 60mm fans on low volt
But yes, extreme OC involves cooling not only the CPU but also the motherboard

what are you running right now for a case and air flow? i have my mcr320 YL SH push/pull at the bottom along with my mcr220 YL SH push/pull at lower then normal air flow through my fan controller (remember these are the SH series) and i'm having no problems... also, no side panels on the case. could this be why mine seems to be stable while others are having problems?

keep us posted! i'm running OCCT beta in high ram mode. temps seem alright i think (CPU 55*, MB 28*, NB 49*, SB 39*). so far and it's been an hour. NB is still on air but will be WC'ed when i get new vid cards and blocks for them. how is that NB temp anyway? is it good/bad?

so i was running my OCCT beta all the way on 1024 RAM and i had a "The system has recovered from a serious error" thing pop up and everything that was running on screen shut down... any ideas? does this mean that it wasn't stable?

this has happened again... is it a bug maybe????

Raja at Anandtech, the guy who reviewed the Maximus, is also preparing the X38 roundmap soon. He already stated that they noted a NB temp at 47°C will begin to bug Prime95, so suerely OCCT. So, if you believe Raja tests on the X38 motherboards, you're already on the red side at 49°C, you should watercool or active cool that NB
You know, RAM errors can trick many type of errors. Especially, explorer memory access errors, windows desktop hanging, applications fatal errors and sudden reboots. If your NB is too stressed, the errors are RAM type.

Are you on VISTA64? GAR noted OCCT is unstable on his Vista64 even at stock, so could be a bug in VISTA64-OCCT. Or try it on stock settings for your CPU-RAM-MB. If it rocks, than maybe you could try more cooling on the NB like Raja stated

NB was sitting @ 55*c Load with 1.73v (Bios). Just dropped all my volts right down, because one of them too high is causing reboots, it's either vPLL or vFSBT but I can't determine which...?

Folding again, as I find if OCCT fails, Folding will, but not as Fast, and if Folding fails, OCCT will but obviously in a fraction of the time. So why not get my WU pumping while I test, eh?!

Again, same results I find in OCCT/F@H. It is not a bug so...
And same thing, NB at 55°C is way too hot based on Raja reviews

[Warboy]

Have you exceeded 4GHz on your Q6600 on air yet or are you on water? Really impressed with your clocks, 3.92GHz in sig, if that is indeed on air.

I've hit 4.2Ghz SuperPI safe, but wasn't stable, Click though my sig. Yes I'm using Air, Its sorta one of my codes of honor, Do My best via Air Cooling. Plus I can't afford Water cooling

[cuke2u]

Hi, how soon do the issues with prime kick in when nb is over 47c? I can run up 55c and prime seems fine for over two hours, and that's on water
ChrisC

[kup]

With now voltages lowered right down it lasted 6 hours before it rebooted, and this is with pretty much every voltage except ram and CPU @ one notch above minimum in the bios with speeds in my sig!

[kimandsally]

Hi

I've now tried some more at getting Raid on my system, first cleared CMOS and loaded defaults then set drives to Raid.

Plugged in floppy and at F6 I get this error:

File iaStor.sys caused an unexpected error (4105) at line
2113 in d:xpsprtm\base\boot\setup\oemdisk.c.

This also happens when I use the Nlite with the IaStore drivers slipstreamed in.

So I thought I'd try the XP disk and not even press F6 and this happened:

Technical information.

***stop:0x0000007B (0xf78d2524,0x0000032,0x0000000, 0x0000000)

Something must be wrong and I'm out of idea's now.

[thelawns]

Hi

I've now tried some more at getting Raid on my system, first cleared CMOS and loaded defaults then set drives to Raid.

Plugged in floppy and at F6 I get this error:

File iaStor.sys caused an unexpected error (4105) at line
2113 in d:xpsprtm\base\boot\setup\oemdisk.c.

This also happens when I use the Nlite with the IaStore drivers slipstreamed in.

So I thought I'd try the XP disk and not even press F6 and this happened:

Technical information.

***stop:0x0000007B (0xf78d2524,0x0000032,0x0000000, 0x0000000)

Something must be wrong and I'm out of idea's now.

Right, you are experiencing the exact same issue I was having. Here are things I did to make it work in the end.

I actually think my first floppy was corrupted so I used Makedisk again on another floppy. NINJA EDITED: Make sure the floppy your using is formatted before!!!

I was initially using a SP1 XP Pro disk, but I slip streamed that with SP2. I still had to go into F6 and choose the files off the floppy though using the new CD.

Finally, I realised I was actually choosing the wrong option from the files on the disk. I was selecting the top one, which had (Desktop PC) at the end of it. I then realised I should be choosing the bottom option!

2nd EDIT: I also restarted the RAID process again, by unmounting the 2 disks and then loading them together again in the RAID utility...

[devilhood]

Hi

I've now tried some more at getting Raid on my system, first cleared CMOS and loaded defaults then set drives to Raid.

Plugged in floppy and at F6 I get this error:

File iaStor.sys caused an unexpected error (4105) at line
2113 in d:xpsprtm\base\boot\setup\oemdisk.c.

This also happens when I use the Nlite with the IaStore drivers slipstreamed in.

So I thought I'd try the XP disk and not even press F6 and this happened:

Technical information.

***stop:0x0000007B (0xf78d2524,0x0000032,0x0000000, 0x0000000)

Something must be wrong and I'm out of idea's now.

Have you also created the RAID array on the Boot ROM?

[egandt]

CPU multiplier control, I'm stuck at 11 with a new QX9650, I know that it should be variable and unlocked so I should be able to select what I want, but I can not do so. With my old Asus DH5 deluxe I need to to have just the right set of options set for the multiplier to work, is it the same here?

Thanks,
ERIC

[kimandsally]

Right, you are experiencing the exact same issue I was having. Here are things I did to make it work in the end.

I actually think my first floppy was corrupted so I used Makedisk again on another floppy. NINJA EDITED: Make sure the floppy your using is formatted before!!!

I was initially using a SP1 XP Pro disk, but I slip streamed that with SP2. I still had to go into F6 and choose the files off the floppy though using the new CD.

Finally, I realised I was actually choosing the wrong option from the files on the disk. I was selecting the top one, which had (Desktop PC) at the end of it. I then realised I should be choosing the bottom option!

2nd EDIT: I also restarted the RAID process again, by unmounting the 2 disks and then loading them together again in the RAID utility...

Hi

I have done all the things you've suggested and for some reason mines a no goer :-(

Have you also created the RAID array on the Boot ROM?

I'm assuming you mean Crtl I to make the Raid array?

If so It's still not happening, I've tried all 4 options Raid 0 & 1 but one of the strange things is that the error messages are not all the same, so I've tried 3 different floppy disks and 2 different floppy drives to see if there was a problem with the floppy side of it, but having said that it does the same with the Nlite so I suppose that eliminates the floppy.

I wonder if a different BIOS could change things? I'm on the 0505.

Thanks for the help I appreciate it.

Just changed the BIOS to the 0701 and it still does the same, now trying to install Vista 32 I think I'm right in saying it doesn't need any F6 drivers, fingers crossed and it might work.

[thelawns]

I'm on Bios 0701 by the way...

[TheSamurai]

Raja at Anandtech, the guy who reviewed the Maximus, is also preparing the X38 roundmap soon. He already stated that they noted a NB temp at 47°C will begin to bug Prime95, so suerely OCCT. So, if you believe Raja tests on the X38 motherboards, you're already on the red side at 49°C, you should watercool or active cool that NB
You know, RAM errors can trick many type of errors. Especially, explorer memory access errors, windows desktop hanging, applications fatal errors and sudden reboots. If your NB is too stressed, the errors are RAM type.

Are you on VISTA64? GAR noted OCCT is unstable on his Vista64 even at stock, so could be a bug in VISTA64-OCCT. Or try it on stock settings for your CPU-RAM-MB. If it rocks, than maybe you could try more cooling on the NB like Raja stated

XP32 right now, so i'm guessing it might just be a heat issue. i'll be setting up my raid today and installing xp64 (dual boot eventually with vista64). i'll test out the occt again and see. i think i might back down and run a lower OC till i get the rest of my WC line installed. thanks for the input.

[kup]

Is there any ETA for a new bios? Does anyone know anything? Asus REALLY need to get a decent bios on this board! They may have ended the production, but it feels like the support has ended too, before it even began! :-(

[gs274]

Is there any ETA for a new bios? Does anyone know anything? Asus REALLY need to get a decent bios on this board! They may have ended the production, but it feels like the support has ended too, before it even began! :-(

Actually, isn't the production run finished on just the SE? If memory serves me correctly, the non-SE is identical just w/o the fuzion block?!

[kup]

Oh i hope that is what was meant? In that case then Asus need to get a decent bios out for when the Non SE board goes mainstream!

[thelawns]

can you post up your exact bios settings using the template below? i'm heading to work in about 15 minutes but i'll be sure to check again and see if i can help.


Extreme Tweaker
Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up : AUTO
CPU Ratio Control : Manual
- Ratio CMOS Setting : 7
FSB Frequency : 465
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 400mhz
PCI-E Frequency: 100
DRAM Frequency: DDR2-930Mhz
DRAM Command Rate : 2T
DRAM Timing Control: Manual
CAS# Latency : 5
RAS# to CAS# Delay : 5
RAS# Precharge : 5
RAS# ActivateTime : 15
RAS# to RAS# Delay : Auto
Row Refresh Cycle Time : Auto
Write Recovery Time : Auto
Read to Precharge Time : Auto

Read to Write Delay (S/D) : Auto
Write to Read Delay (S) : Auto
Write to Read Delay (D) : Auto
Read to Read Delay (S) : Auto
Read to Read Delay (D) : Auto
Write to Write Delay (S) : Auto
Write to Write Delay (D) : Auto
DRAM Static Read Control: Enabled
Ai Clock Twister : Strong
Transaction Booster : Disabled
Relax Level: 1

CPU Voltage : 1.40000
CPU PLL Voltage : 1.60
North Bridge Voltage : 1.55
DRAM Voltage : 1.94
FSB Termination Voltage : 1.40
South Bridge Voltage : 1.175
Loadline Calibration : Enabled
CPU GTL Reference : Auto
North Bridge GTL Reference : Auto
DDR2 Channel A REF Voltage : Auto
DDR2 Channel B REF Voltage : Auto
DDR2 Controller REF Voltage : DDR2_REF
SB 1.5V Voltage : 1.5

NB LED Selection : NB Volt
SB LED Selection : SB Volt
CPU LED Selection : CPU VOlt
Voltiminder LED : Enabled

CPU Spread Spectrum : Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum : Disabled

Advanced CPU Configuration
CPU Ratio Control : Manual
- Ratio CMOS Setting : 7
C1E Suppport : Disabled
CPU TM Function : Disabled
Vanderpool Technology : Disabled
Execute Disable Bit : Disabled
Max CPUID Value Limit : Disabled


USB Configuration
USB Functions: Enabled
Legacy USB Support : Auto

Ok, there are my settings. Only one I note is different that was already filled in, is the Legacy USB Support at the bottom... What do you think??

[TheSamurai]

hmmm, forgot you were running the E6550...

try this, set all your voltages to the highest "normal" settings and start with a lower FSB and higher multiplier. the highest i can get with my quad is 450, obviously you're chip would be different, but we needs to start from the bottom and work our way up with it. it's going to take some time, but use small incriments and test stability each time. i honestly think that too many people are OVERvolting in bios and causing stability problems. so try the normal settings, find the highest setting you can that's stable and then work back on your voltages. this should tell you which voltages will also need to be brought up when you decide to try and up the clocks again. there really is no right or wrong with this board... you just have to play around... and continue that forever it seems lol.

[TheSamurai]

oh, btw, don't change your DRAM voltage!!!

[BulldogPO]

Any news about newer bioses?

[TheSamurai]

nothing that i've seen yet bulldog... unfortunately.

[kimandsally]

The RAID has worked perfect for Vista 32 bit, so there must be something wrong with the XP drivers or the BIOS for the motherboard.
Still at least it works,

[cuke2u]

Hi, how soon do the issues with prime kick in when nb is over 47c? I can run up 55c and prime seems fine for over two hours, and that's on water
ChrisC

Hi, so no answers than? I've just about had it with this motherboard, my old Premium Vista Edition was far more straight forward, cooler on air and less buggy than this one, I've never had a board so finicky with memory or overclocking either. Yesterday I flashed to 0505, to see if my temps dropped, they didn't so I flashed back to 0701 and immediately had blue screens, then it refused to boot showing all colours on the the led next to the chassis fan connector. I'd try another manufacturer's one if I knew it would be ok but I'm not sure I'd be better off. I've probably spend about £700 so far and I think I'm worse off now then I was before I got this one.. to Asus
ChrisC