ASUS Maximus Formula SE

[devilhood]

I'm trying the Ports 3-5 strategy for my RAID-0 to see if that helps.. a lot of people mention this. *sobs* Bahhh.. I hate Intel

[safan80]

I'm trying the Ports 3-5 strategy for my RAID-0 to see if that helps.. a lot of people mention this. *sobs* Bahhh.. I hate Intel

this is why people should invest in an add in raid controller card. using onboard raid is a joke.

[CyberDruid]

this is why people should invest in an add in raid controller card. using onbaord raid is a joke.

I had the same issue on the DFI...it's the suck.

I use an Areca on the P5K and if the Maximus shows some real promise I'll run a RAM Disk on it for benching That makes HDD RAID look silly.

[vegettoxp]

Hey Guys I have been reading around that I read that Asus as put this MB on EOL. Is this true? And if it is, should I even brother looking or buying this board. I don't want to buy this board if it is already at the end of line and Asus will not provide any support for it. Your Thoughts?

P.S. Fusion

[devilhood]

Hey Guys I have been reading around that I read that Asus as put this MB on EOL. Is this true? And if it is, should I even brother looking or buying this board. I don't want to buy this board if it is already at the end of line and Asus will not provide any support for it. Your Thoughts?

P.S. Fusion

It's not EOL in-terms of support, it just depends on if you want it for the Fusion Block and software bundle.
The SE board uses the same BIOS as the non-SE board.
They are phasing out the SE version because it was originally marketed as a 'Limited Edition' board geared at serious enthusiasts.

[devilhood]

this is why people should invest in an add in raid controller card. using onbaord raid is a joke.

Which one would you recommend? I'm not very familiar with RAID controller cards.

[ShawnTRD]

Many thanks for taking the time to explain in detail as it has helped quite a lot

Just want to make sure. Are both hard drives the same models? No just the same brand and size. Also are you using a SP2 copy of XP? I had Blue Screen problems for my NF3 mb in RAID. I had to use older drivers to get it to work. See if you can find some alittle older.

[ShawnTRD]

This can't be right.. Can it? BIOS 0602

[ShawnTRD]

Probe??? WTF

[egandt]

Desperate to set multipliers on my MB, but have no idea how to do it, I've done everything I can think of, but without multiplier adjustments, my new QX9650, may as well be a QX6700, as I'm totally stuck on the x9 multiplier and the MB, which at this point is the bane of my existence as it will not let me choice the multiplier, is there any software that can set this from Windows, as then at least it would lock in BIOS and I could get somewhere, currently I hit an FSB wall at 435 and thats just plain wrong with a QX9650 CPU, what I really wanted was 400x10 or 4GHZ, but thats just not possible if the multiplier will not set in BIOS.

Thanks,
ERIC

[kimandsally]

Just want to make sure. Are both hard drives the same models? No just the same brand and size. Also are you using a SP2 copy of XP? I had Blue Screen problems for my NF3 mb in RAID. I had to use older drivers to get it to work. See if you can find some alittle older.

Hi the older drives were different, so I ordered 2 brand new 500GB Samsungs that's the ones I've done most trying with bought them last friday and never managed a single install until Vista this afternoon.

My 2 copies of XP are both SP2, I'll try to find some older drivers to see if that might fix it.

Thanks.

[TheSamurai]

Hi guys what am I the invisble man, what would you do, buy another max form or go elsewhere. I'm interested to know as this motherboard has been a disaster for me...
Chris

buy another. i love mine...

[TheSamurai]

is there anyway to take out the default sb cooler and the nb fusion blok cooler out? can anyone teach?...btw wat how much vcore should i need if 500x7? i cant load up even with 1.6vcore...any tips?

i would suggest that you spend some time reading the rest of this thread!!

[ShawnTRD]

Hi the older drives were different, so I ordered 2 brand new 500GB Samsungs that's the ones I've done most trying with bought them last friday and never managed a single install until Vista this afternoon.

My 2 copies of XP are both SP2, I'll try to find some older drivers to see if that might fix it.

Thanks.

You running Vista on this RAID that your trying to install XP on? I'm not sure if you can have 2 OS on one RAID.

[TheSamurai]

I'm running Duo (6750). Booted in Windows. Restarts after a few seconds.... How far can I safely go with raising the NBV? I'm using stock cooling.

i think most are suggesting that you stay under 47*C on the NB... fwiw.

[TheSamurai]

You running Vista on this RAID that your trying to install XP on? I'm not sure if you can have 2 OS on one RAID.

huh? i was planning on a dual boot with mine... xp64/vista64

[ShawnTRD]

Maybe you can I not sure.

[TheSamurai]

well, since the two drives just act as one drive, i don't see why you couldn't partition it and write the two os' one on each partition...

[Darkstormz]

Hi guys

I´ve got one question about Maximus Formula (non-se) vs P5K Premium "Black Pearl".

Which board should i go for from my Asus Commando?
My setup is 2 x Raptor 74gb raid0 + 4 x Seagate 320gb 7200.10 Raid0.
Both of them matrixed into 2 slices / each.
Xeon 3230 (ES) G0
EVGA 8800GT SSC
X-Fi Fatal1ty
4gb Crucial BallistiX PC8500

I´ve been reading about some raid issues for both boards.
Maybe the best way is to buy me a raidcard for those 4 x Seagate instead ?

The price difference between the two boards is not a problem.

[TheSamurai]

update on re-seated and water cooled NB

well, under full load, my NB has dropped 14*C... and my NB is .04v higher then it was when i last tested it. not sure if it would drop more but take that for what it's worth. i used the hair dryer method and very lightly twisted a screw driver under it till it easily came off. almost no pressure applied. now, cleaning off all that concrete they used as thermal paste was a b*tch. but hey, for that much of a drop, i can't complain one bit. i'll be picking up my raptors in about 30 minutes so we'll see how that goes. hopefully i won't have to buy a RAID card...

[safan80]

Which one would you recommend? I'm not very familiar with RAID controller cards.

areca cards are the fastest at the moment. I'd suggest you get at least 8 ports if you want to make it worth it. the 12port and up cards have upgradeable cache memory. but with the current bioses on the MF you might want to wait.
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=164419

[jonny_ftm]

update on re-seated and water cooled NB

well, under full load, my NB has dropped 14*C... and my NB is .04v higher then it was when i last tested it. not sure if it would drop more but take that for what it's worth. i used the hair dryer method and very lightly twisted a screw driver under it till it easily came off. almost no pressure applied. now, cleaning off all that concrete they used as thermal paste was a b*tch. but hey, for that much of a drop, i can't complain one bit. i'll be picking up my raptors in about 30 minutes so we'll see how that goes. hopefully i won't have to buy a RAID card...

Let me know if you get it OCCT RAM full stable now

[kup]

Jonny, my Maximus Formula is now stable @ 450MHz FSB! I've run the OCCT Beta 1.2 Auto 30min test with it 4 times, as it's more of a blend test. And I've run an hour long 1024MB test on it...get this...with my window closed, so case temp of about 27*c and the North Bridge didn't break 50*c!!!

I finally achieved this by using the Anandtech settings for 450MHz, and they worked right off the bat!!!

I'm going to save this OC Profile now and push higher. I'm idealy looking for either 435x9 for 3.915GHz or 475x8 for 3.8GHz...

I'm loving this board again now, seems (touch wood) rock solid stable with these bios settings!!!

[ssideratos]

Look at this post
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...postcount=1678

OCCT is being rewritten. It is mistaken about, because of that "30mn PC Stable" message. New releases will put the minimal test at 1h. And never forget, to be 100%, you'll need a few hours run like any other proggy.

In RAM mode, OCCT is much more sensible than Prime95 Blend

If only OCCT fails, just run it at stock. If it doesn't fail, you know the answer: The PC is tsable until you find a game/program that stresses the RAM/NB subsystem and you'll hang up. Also, if you have an unstable PC, each time you have bugs, you'll have to test without OC to rule out an unstability. So, it's better to run a rock stable config, rather than a so so stable

I've spent two weeks nearly full-time trying combinations and stability testing and have yet to reach a satisfactory state. Maybe someone could give me some advice?

Key Config Points
Corsair 620HX
Q6600 G0
Thermalright Ultra-120 xtreme with AS 5
2 X 1GB PC Ballistix PC-8500 Tracers (and another set non-tracers)
Sapphire Radeon HD 2600XT 512MB
WD 150GB Raptor HD

I'm on my second board -- The first would either not boot at all (all lights on motherboard lit up) or fail while in BIOS (no operating system ever installed).

NewEgg made RMA fairly easy.

On this second motherboard, I've gotten much further and installed Vista Ultimate 32-bit, but not until after about a million power cycles. Even minimal changes to BIOS from stock settings require me to cycle the power not only after the change, but in order to POST after each full shut down from Vista.

Stability is very important, as such I am only looking for a very modest overclock (3 GHZ Max). However, there are very limited changes that I could make that didn't require me to power cycle after each shutdown before I could boot again.

I've resigned to the fact that this motherboard may require a power cycle after most BIOS setting changes, however, I find it unacceptable to need to reach to the back of my PC and cycle the power each time I want to boot.

The limited overclocked BIOS settings that did not exhibit this behaivior included CPU Level Up to QX6850 giving me my 3Ghz with the MB Auto Volting the CPU at 1.34-1.36. On Auto, RAM however was set at DDR-800 with 5-5-5-18-42 and vDimm of 2.0v as reported by PC Probe. The RAM seemed way to conservative for the Ballistix and my bandwith and latency settings were pretty bad.

Switching to manual and changing RAM to DDR-1066 at with Auto, or any timings require the power cycle.

At DDR-800, I am able to make some changes without encountering the Power Cycle required issue including reducing the timings to down to as low as 4-4-4-10-25 while remaining memtest and Prime95 Blend 8-10 hour stable. (vDimm remains at Auto - reporting 2.00v by PC Probe).

I was willing to settle for this when I tried OCCT RAM mode for final stability testing. It consistently fails between 28 and 38 minutes.

I tried to give the vDimm more volts, but whenever I set vDimm at 2.10 (2.20 real) or above in the BIOS the system requires power cycle after each shutdown. 2.08 equal to 2.18 real and OCCT still fails in the same time range.

After 100's more combinations and cycles, I decided to test OCCT at stock.
OCCT still fails at stock 2.4Ghz with DDR-800 5-5-5-18. With any combination of the Ballistix.

I've even tried going back to 0505 BIOS from 0701, but my results are even worse there.

The system is consistently autovolting the NB at 1.46. Any change and there is either a failure to post or the power cycle issue comes back.

I have read every post in this forum and can elements of the issues I'm facing, however most seem to be encountering these issues at overclocks of 3.6 and above.

I am about to crawl up into the fetal position and cry or get medieval on this board. Over two weeks of nearly full-time troubleshooting and testing tyring to achieve OCCT stability and I'm ready to trash this thing and get a Dell.

Does anyone have any ideas before I do that? Brief testing of the CPU and RAM combinations before OS installation shows it to be at least memtest stable even at 3.4 Ghz and DDR2-1150 on air (I didn't try higher than that) but the power cycle issue is there after OS installation. Could it be the motherboard again? I don't know if I can endure the pain again of another RMA, installation and testing cycle(s).

If I have to do that, I think I'll just use Prime95 stable at 3.0Ghz, DDR2-800, 4-4-4-10-25 settings for a little while until maybe a new BIOS does better for me, or if I notice any real world instability at all I'll figure out what replacement MB or Dell to get next. (OCCT isn't stable even at stock).

[Aldy402]

Jonny, my Maximus Formula is now stable @ 450MHz FSB! I've run the OCCT Beta 1.2 Auto 30min test with it 4 times, as it's more of a blend test. And I've run an hour long 1024MB test on it...get this...with my window closed, so case temp of about 27*c and the North Bridge didn't break 50*c!!!

I finally achieved this by using the Anandtech settings for 450MHz, and they worked right off the bat!!!

I'm going to save this OC Profile now and push higher. I'm idealy looking for either 435x9 for 3.915GHz or 475x8 for 3.8GHz...

I'm loving this board again now, seems (touch wood) rock solid stable with these bios settings!!!

im pretty much identical to you right now in terms of setup. I just made 3.8ghz stable too. I ran 4 hours large ft prime and 30min occt ram only test together for stability. what are your bios settings? I think im going to shoot for 3.9