ASUS Maximus Formula SE

[DMight]

Only needed if your running over 2gb of ram...

Well that's good to know, as I'm running 4GB (2x2). I've never run across that info, why is it needed?

And THANKS.

[Eastcoasthandle]

#1 Has anyone attempted to remove the N/S Bridge HS? Mine will not come off and I haven't installed it yet (Yes, I removed the 4 screws and 6 spring loaded pushpins)

#2 Who is using a 4-pin 12V connector instead of the 8-pin 12V connector?

[DMight]

#1 Has anyone attempted to remove the N/S Bridge HS? Mine will not come off and I haven't installed it yet (Yes, I removed the 4 screws and 6 spring loaded pushpins)

#2 Who is using a 4-pin 12V connector instead of the 8-pin 12V connector?

#1 - I'm on my 2nd board. The first one I could not remove the HS at all, I simply got too nervous with the amount of force it seemed was necessary to remove it. With my second board, it popped right off with minimal force using my hand. It has been suggested a number of times that it's necessary to attempt removing the HS before starting the board so that the thermal adhesive isn't able to set. That being said, I wonder if it's possible that certain boards are exposed to ambient temperatures, whether in shipment or storage, which heat the compound enough to make it more difficult to remove. Or, is Asus doing something different with more recent board revisions. My first was an SE rev.1.02G. My second is a non-SE rev.1.03G.

#2 - I'm using an 8-pin 12V connector.

[DMight]

Thank You Grnfinger and sdumper, those settings are OCCT (30min Auto Blend) stable for me. I'm going to keep tweaking and see what I can adjust.

Anyone else who's able to post BIOS settings for 450x8, I'm interested in seeing what kind of variance there is between everyone's stable settings.

[Eastcoasthandle]

#1 - I'm on my 2nd board. The first one I could not remove the HS at all, I simply got too nervous with the amount of force it seemed was necessary to remove it. With my second board, it popped right off with minimal force using my hand. It has been suggested a number of times that it's necessary to attempt removing the HS before starting the board so that the thermal adhesive isn't able to set. That being said, I wonder if it's possible that certain boards are exposed to ambient temperatures, whether in shipment or storage, which heat the compound enough to make it more difficult to remove. Or, is Asus doing something different with more recent board revisions. My first was an SE rev.1.02G. My second is a non-SE rev.1.03G.

#2 - I'm using an 8-pin 12V connector.

Thanks for the heads up. This sucks, I hope this thermal epoxy paste keeps temps down as good as AS5. Does anyone know if their is much of a benefit using AS5 vs this epoxy thermal compound?

[HammerJacks]

Im a noob here and I hope this isn't too off topic, but I see that many of you here have experience with the Maximus Formula. I am currently looking to buy a MB and I am leaning towards this board, but I would like some of you gurus to help me out. I have narrowed down my selection to these 2 boards. Which one would you choose?

ASUS P5E or ASUS MAXIMUS FORMULA Non-SE

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131227

Can anyone give me their own thoughts on either of these? Also, do you know if the QX9650 will run out of box on these boards?

Also, anyone running after market NB and SB coolers on either of these boards?

THANK YOU!!!

[Zucker2k]

Only needed if your running over 2gb of ram...

Huh? Not really? EDB only relates to code execution in certain areas of memory to prevent worm attacks, etc.

[Warboy]

Execute Disable Bit is basiclly a Anti-Virus Measure.

memory remapping feature is for over 2GB of ram.

[cadaveca]

Thanks for the heads up. This sucks, I hope this thermal epoxy paste keeps temps down as good as AS5. Does anyone know if their is much of a benefit using AS5 vs this epoxy thermal compound?

Benefit? YES!!!

I popped mine second board as soon as I got it..came off easily...first board would run 50c or so under 1.45v, now I can run 1.8v, and barely top 41c, using ceramique.

It actually seems now that the southbridge connection to teh NB heatsink dictates temps...but also because I am using thermal probes attached to various places I am aware that both SB and NB temps are not reported accurately in ANY instance....both heatsinks are 2c higher by thermal probe than reported temps by on-board sensors.

the heatsink assembly , after changeing paste, seem quite good...it's the stock TIM that fouls things up!

[WFO]

ok..i just started mine up for the very first time and it idled for about 2 min then the top hd3870 gpu got hot like starting to burn my finger hot. everything powered on and all fans were working. the bottom hd3870 was hardly warm..the cpu was at 36%c. i didn't have anything installed as it was the first power up so i switched cards/cables to see if it was maybe the card or a cable and the same happened. so i shut it back down... everything is brand new.. is it normal for the top gpu to get that hot? there is no softare installed yet and the hd3870 fans were spinning very slow i was going to start installing stuff untill i felt how hot it was.

I would leave the top card out while installing OS and drivers. Reinstall the card. Monitor temps with Everest. If you still have overheating issues, You may need to RMA the board.

[Eastcoasthandle]

Benefit? YES!!!

I popped mine second board as soon as I got it..came off easily...first board would run 50c or so under 1.45v, now I can run 1.8v, and barely top 41c, using ceramique.

It actually seems now that the southbridge connection to teh NB heatsink dictates temps...but also because I am using thermal probes attached to various places I am aware that both SB and NB temps are not reported accurately in ANY instance....both heatsinks are 2c higher by thermal probe than reported temps by on-board sensors.

the heatsink assembly , after changeing paste, seem quite good...it's the stock TIM that fouls things up!

Is there anyway to get the HS off without damaging the board? Can I use a hot gun on the HS itself in hope of heating up the thermal compound or something?

[kup]

Kup, was you able to get 100% with the Non-Beta OCCT?

Yeah, with OCCT 1.1.1 or whatever the last official release is, I get 100% load in OCCT and 99% in Task Manager, with the beta I get up to 75% in OCCT and 99% in Task Manager.

It a problem in OCCT from what I can tell?

[sdumper]

Execute Disable Bit is basiclly a Anti-Virus Measure.

memory remapping feature is for over 2GB of ram.

Opps yep your right I responded to quickly...

sorry guys my bad


By the way I just picked one of these boards up to run with my cascade:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131235

Anybody else tried this with DDR3 yet? On the Maximus SE I was able to hit a decent not great but decent SuperPi run at 5ghz but am thinking to really perform well I need to go to DDR3 and some coldddd...

[Warboy]

Yeah, with OCCT 1.1.1 or whatever the last official release is, I get 100% load in OCCT and 99% in Task Manager, with the beta I get up to 75% in OCCT and 99% in Task Manager.

It a problem in OCCT from what I can tell?

Yea, I think so, Also I didn't crash as quickly as the Beta.

So 1.1.1 is good, I'm about to try 1.1.1b. But I think the 1.2.0 Beta is worthless to us right now. Maybe the official release will be better.

[S1mon-]

#1 - I'm on my 2nd board. The first one I could not remove the HS at all, I simply got too nervous with the amount of force it seemed was necessary to remove it. With my second board, it popped right off with minimal force using my hand. It has been suggested a number of times that it's necessary to attempt removing the HS before starting the board so that the thermal adhesive isn't able to set. That being said, I wonder if it's possible that certain boards are exposed to ambient temperatures, whether in shipment or storage, which heat the compound enough to make it more difficult to remove. Or, is Asus doing something different with more recent board revisions. My first was an SE rev.1.02G. My second is a non-SE rev.1.03G.

#2 - I'm using an 8-pin 12V connector.

What do you mean by 8-pin 12V connector? I don't have any 8-pin connector connected to my mobo... I only have the 24-pin and the 4-pin near the CPU area... I know you can remove the little white cover above the other 4-pin but isn't 4-pin enough or I should switch the 4-pin for an 8-pin (that I have in my PSU but is not in use)...

Maybe that's a reason why I have stablity issues about 450 fsb...

[Eastcoasthandle]

What do you mean by 8-pin 12V connector? I don't have any 8-pin connector connected to my mobo... I only have the 24-pin and the 4-pin near the CPU area... I know you can remove the little white cover above the other 4-pin but isn't 4-pin enough or I should switch the 4-pin for an 8-pin (that I have in my PSU but is not in use)...

Maybe that's a reason why I have stablity issues about 450 fsb...

4-pin connector is ok except for some cases were you OC. 8-pin 12V connector allows for much more smoother operation and better OC. If a MB has a 8-pin connector its a general rule to use a 8-pin 12V connector from your PSU for better stability. People reported better:
-vdroop
-better OC
-smoother OS operations
using 8-pin 12V vs 4-pin 12V ina 8 pin socket. This was from other MBs though.

[S1mon-]

4-pin connector is ok except for some cases were you OC. 8-pin 12V connector allows for much more smoother operation and better OC. If a MB has a 8-pin connector its a general rule to use a 8-pin 12V connector from your PSU for better stability. People reported better:
-vdroop
-better OC
-smoother OS operations
using 8-pin 12V vs 4-pin 12V ina 8 pin socket. This was from other MBs though.

Ohh well that's some very good infos! I could run my Q6600 at 4GHz (9x445) but I tried to do 475x8 for 24/7 usage and with any voltage applied to vNB, PLL and vFSB, I couldn't go past Windows loading before the system would hang or crash...

I'll try that asap!

[cadaveca]

Is there anyway to get the HS off without damaging the board? Can I use a hot gun on the HS itself in hope of heating up the thermal compound or something?

HOT IS NOT GOOD!

best to go hot, then freeze(if you've ran the board), then pry up using dimm slot as lever point...use VERY LITTLE FORCE...if it doesn't budge, try when the board is still frozen! My second board, used dimm slot, board was still cold from delivery truck, and it took NO FORCE!!!(I used rubber-tip on screwdriver so as to not scratch anything)

the TIM "melts" when hot, but it sets very quickly, so you must keep it hot when you try to remove...my concern is that the required heat may loosen the FBGA for the chipset!

S1mon, increase FSB over 450 requires a HUGE boost in vNB here...same situation with e6600 and B3/G0 quads for me.

[S1mon-]

HOT IS NOT GOOD!

best to go hot, then freeze(if you've ran the board), then pry up using dimm slot as lever point...use VERY LITTLE FORCE...if it doesn't budge, try when the board is still frozen! My second board, used dimm slot, board was still cold from delivery truck, and it took NO FORCE!!!(I used rubber-tip on screwdriver so as to not scratch anything)

the TIM "melts" when hot, but it sets very quickly, so you must keep it hot when you try to remove...my concern is that the required heat may loosen the FBGA for the chipset!

S1mon, increase FSB over 450 requires a HUGE boost in vNB here...same situation with e6600 and B3/G0 quads for me.

I could run at 445 FSB with 1,50 vNB... I've tried up to 1,65-1,7V vNB I htink and it didn't change anything

[cadaveca]

could be heat holding you back..I dunno...but like I said OVER 450 required a HUGE jump in vNB , oh, and vFSB, but only for my G0. I posted my 450x9 settings a few pages back...only thing i needed to increase was vFSB and vNB to get higher...maybe your cpu is limiting you.

Also, cpuPLL needs incrase @ higher fsb too.

[S1mon-]

Hehe yeah guess I'll need to spend a few more hours trying to find the right combo...

[TouGe]

0901 & 0902 are back up at the ASUS download site.

The person trying to remove their NB HS, just try an pry the HS at the corners. Don't apply too much pressure. If the first corner doesn't give then try the next corner and on and on and on. Eventually the HS will pop off.

I used a flat head screw driver and just turned it 90 degrees under each corner and it just popped off but do so at your own risk as I do not want any hate mail if something bad happens.

[pazza316]

S1mon I had those problems but instead of running one to one memory speed. I run the 5:6 divider which makes the memory run much faster in terms of MHz and the timings in bios are the same. The board is then 100% stable priming for over nine hours, Crysis and Gears of War as well as Dual Pi32m stable.

[nowakjan2000]

Hi everyone, although this is my first post I've been following this thread since day one. It helped me in most cases, but this time I think I have to ask for help. My system has been running on water cooling for two days now (see signature). And what I've found strange is the cpu temerature reading from either BIOS or Everest. In idle state it shows 60 - 65 Degrees celsius (which I thought would be much, much lower when switching to water cooling). I can't figure the reason My current FSB is 9x333, memory runs at 667MHz. Any advice?

[Grnfinger]

That Thermaltake kit might be the problem.
You bought some nice chipset blocks, how are there temps ?

Have you tried remounting the cpu block?