ASUS Maximus Formula SE

[Darkstormz]

I´ve been having some strange reboots the last couple of days.
The system is 12h stable in Prime95 both blend+small fft.
Memtest also passed 12h without error.

It happends about 3-4 times / day. The computer just reboots and then its fine for a couple of hours. And I dont get any bsod or error message in event log.

Running bios 0907 if that helps...

My setup is in my sign, and Im running Vista x64

[binormalkilla]

I´ve been having some strange reboots the last couple of days.
The system is 12h stable in Prime95 both blend+small fft.
Memtest also passed 12h without error.

It happends about 3-4 times / day. The computer just reboots and then its fine for a couple of hours. And I dont get any bsod or error message in event log.

Running bios 0907 if that helps...

My setup is in my sign, and Im running Vista x64

Have you tested your PSU? You may have a dying PSU......normally if a system just reboots without any BSOD then it's PSU related.....
Get out a multimeter and test each rail at idle and load.

[binormalkilla]

Ok now I'm trying for 475x8......I can boot it fine, but I crash in OCCT last time....increased FSB Term and PLL a little....testing now.

[Zytek_Fan]

So after ownership for a while, does anyone recommend this board still?

[Renegade5399]

Sure do! I love mine on BIOS 0907. Rock solid and performs like a mofo.

[Zytek_Fan]

Sure do! I love mine on BIOS 0907. Rock solid and performs like a mofo.

If X38 is still around by March ( hopefully) it's either one of these or an Abit IX38 Quad GT

[binormalkilla]

So after ownership for a while, does anyone recommend this board still?

I say go for it. It's a great board. You may want to have a look at the Abit though.....I know it has eSATA, which is something I value. I have to use a PCI-E x1 card for my eSATA.
A plus for this board is the CMOS clear button.....MAN I LOVE IT!
The heatsink for the NB seems to be of good quality too, even though it's anodized aluminum.

[jonny_ftm]

I´ve been having some strange reboots the last couple of days.
The system is 12h stable in Prime95 both blend+small fft.
Memtest also passed 12h without error.

It happends about 3-4 times / day. The computer just reboots and then its fine for a couple of hours. And I dont get any bsod or error message in event log.

Running bios 0907 if that helps...

My setup is in my sign, and Im running Vista x64

Looking at your sig, your NB/RAM are highly OC. Prime, either in small/large or blend won't stress them as much as some games or F@H
So, use OCCT last beta with slider on RAM, or at least F@H (less efficient though as it needs more time) to test if your OC is stable.

Remember, Prime95 was built with CPU in mind, while OC your board you need to take into account a new chip: the NB (still in 90 nm technology, that's why it su*ks

[jonny_ftm]

So after ownership for a while, does anyone recommend this board still?

Personally I won't (despite my sig, I could play with two of these Maximus -non SE- versions). By March, as you say later, the X48 with native support for 4x400MHz bus on quad cores will give you a better OC headroom on default voltage. Also, ASUS and others will improve the PCB design to correct the so many bugs in this MB. If you have something like a P965 or P35, it is really not worth the extra-money for a low real world performance increase. The PCI-E v2 will just not give you any improvement in most demanding new games (like Crysis)

Later, moving to a X48 will be a better idea as the PCB design would have matured (X38 and X48 won't need from MB manufactures any change, so they can really focus on PCB enhancements rather) and the chip bugs corrected by intel

Now, if you will stick to a 4x400 MHz FSB and don't look to OC more, this board could be a long time investment before the new socket change by end 2008.

[jonny_ftm]

About what was quoted before:

An Unexpected Loss of Performance at Higher Speeds
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets...spx?i=3184&p=4

Let me lough please
They just make it a world first when it was described 2 months ago here by many users, also on a Q6600. It is what people were talking about as the Prime95 bug, and many people here sustained it was user errata or Prime software bug.

These people should go work at Anandtech

Anyway, if they sticked their QX chip in a Gigabyte board or P35 board, they would have seen it is not a CPU limit, but an ASUS nasty bug. My Q6600, like other people here, can get a 1.65vcore at 3.6 GHz unstable on my P965 but Priming rock solid while on the two maximus non-SE versions I tested it shows the load bug like other people described at 1.57v... I'll keep my P965 for now

... Maybe the autors there are sponsored by ASUS!!!! They always deliver great notes to ASUS boards, and they never find any of the bugs users discover later!!!

And, ohh, this isn't new, just old story repeating its self, like with the P5B Deluxe, OC queen (but, so so many bugs on early PCBs and Bios revisions)

Again, that bug only was described on new X38 ASUS boards, so Intel giving new hidden indications is rather a poesy than a fact

[cadaveca]

In fact, we believe what we are seeing may be nothing more than a CPU protection mechanism in action.

...that only happens on ASUS X38 boards? lol. At least they acknoledge that the issue exists, however i do not believe that thier summation of the facts points to the right answer...

[jonny_ftm]

...that only happens on ASUS X38 boards? lol. At least they acknoledge that the issue exists, however i do not believe that thier summation of the facts points to the right answer...

That's what I was saying. But looks like that many people are really dumb...

Furthermore, they keep using Prime95 as the only stability test, when serious overclockers know the NB with its 90nm finition is also a big limiting factor on X38 motherboards above 400MHz FSB. So, their stable OC is more than debatable.

Many reviews claim, as soon as a MB is out, it is fully stable at some virtual FSB only few rare people can reach later on retail products. People must understand that big sites like Anandtech just can't afford the time of a real stability test, it will take them ages to publish a review

So be advocated and don't be surprised when you Prime stable while your system hangs up/reboots from time to time in real world applications. Their review also says it: some times you can hang at idle while you prime stable for days. Their explanation to it (enabling the no vdroop options) is rather silly: they say it is caused because of the maximum limit of VID is reached. Well, it just can't be, only the lowest VID will make you hang, unless you bump above 1.8 vcore. So their hanging on idle must be looked elsewhere...

Sorry, much criticism, but really needed for people to understand they can't come claim their system is unstable at 420MHz FSB while it is stable with other people. We don't use all the same stability definition. Many gamers will accept random lockups

Happy Holidays and Christmas for all

[Warboy]

So I did some testing during my Computers downtime the other day, So i popped in my E6600. Cleaned my 120X and the CPU well, Then put on a nice coat of AS5. Then Started overclocking, 460x8 at 1.55v. Idle...16C, Load....28C

Stock Speeds....5C Idle, 10C load.

The Ambient in my room was warm that day. Like me 70-75F.

O_o

[MonkY]

I also have this problem, with an E6850. It shows my CPU temp at 8 degrees Celsius... And i'm using the last bios (0907). Is there some "secret" setting like P5K Deluxe had to fix the CPU temperature detection ?

Also, Everest is showing me 60 degrees Celsius on both Northbridge and Southbridge... and that's a lot. Do i have to be worried, or is it normal for X35 to be so "hot" ?

Thx in advance !

[eSp!s0]

Ok, after removing Asus pipe carefully and with no problems I mounted the two HR-09, the HR-05 and a Enzotech cooler for the Southbridge and put the board into my system again and started.
It made a short noise like sth. was burning and it smelled like also. One of the chipparts on the board between sata ports and casefrontpanel connection at the buttom of the board was burned. This little chip is far away from the removed pipe and mouted coolers.
Do you sink, that I had a bad day, or did I made a terrible mistake when removing pipe and mounting new coolers, because the burned chip is that far away from anything I touched.
Just ordere a new one now only without SE. I´m not very lucky with my pc atm

[eSp!s0]

I also have this problem, with an E6850. It shows my CPU temp at 8 degrees Celsius... And i'm using the last bios (0907). Is there some "secret" setting like P5K Deluxe had to fix the CPU temperature detection ?

Also, Everest is showing me 60 degrees Celsius on both Northbridge and Southbridge... and that's a lot. Do i have to be worried, or is it normal for X35 to be so "hot" ?

Thx in advance !

It`s the X38 by the way. But these low cpu temperatures with 0907 are terrible. To your NB temp: My temp was at 48°C at Load with aircooling, 8x120mm Yate Loon D12SL. When you don`t have such a strong airflow and no watercooling it could reach 60°C easily I think.

[Leeghoofd]

Also, Everest is showing me 60 degrees Celsius on both Northbridge and Southbridge... and that's a lot. Do i have to be worried, or is it normal for X35 to be so "hot" ?

Like Espiso stated you will need to improve airflow in ya case to get a lower NB temp, mine is always around 51°C with 1.52 volts, can you mount a sidepanel fan ? centered on the NB, don't forget the SB too as it also gets pretty hot (prolly heat from the NB influencing the rest of the components)

[jonny_ftm]

Ok, after removing Asus pipe carefully and with no problems I mounted the two HR-09, the HR-05 and a Enzotech cooler for the Southbridge and put the board into my system again and started.
It made a short noise like sth. was burning and it smelled like also. One of the chipparts on the board between sata ports and casefrontpanel connection at the buttom of the board was burned. This little chip is far away from the removed pipe and mouted coolers.
Do you sink, that I had a bad day, or did I made a terrible mistake when removing pipe and mounting new coolers, because the burned chip is that far away from anything I touched.
Just ordere a new one now only without SE. I´m not very lucky with my pc atm

Humm... I can think of some AS5, which is conductive, falling on some of the electric parts of the MB, or else a bad cabling connection (an USB cable?), or bad luck...

[Grnfinger]

Ok, after removing Asus pipe carefully and with no problems I mounted the two HR-09, the HR-05 and a Enzotech cooler for the Southbridge and put the board into my system again and started.
It made a short noise like sth. was burning and it smelled like also. One of the chipparts on the board between sata ports and casefrontpanel connection at the buttom of the board was burned. This little chip is far away from the removed pipe and mouted coolers.
Do you sink, that I had a bad day, or did I made a terrible mistake when removing pipe and mounting new coolers, because the burned chip is that far away from anything I touched.

I was going to install 2 mcw30's today, after hearing that perhaps I will not.
My NB and SB never see 45 celcius under load
hmmmm what to do......

[cadaveca]

I also have this problem, with an E6850. It shows my CPU temp at 8 degrees Celsius... And i'm using the last bios (0907). Is there some "secret" setting like P5K Deluxe had to fix the CPU temperature detection ?

Also, Everest is showing me 60 degrees Celsius on both Northbridge and Southbridge... and that's a lot. Do i have to be worried, or is it normal for X35 to be so "hot" ?

Thx in advance !

Hi, did you load "optimized defaults" first after flashing bios?

How did you flash bios?

I have no temperature reporting issues on 907. Temps are reported the same as previous bioses, except for CPU temp, but everest and Coretemp report the same...

[grimpy]

Ive just flashed to the 0903 bios and my cpu temps have went up from 38 idle to 46 idle,is this the norm with this bios?

[ReZ_]

I'm thinking of going back to 0903, was more stable with less volts.
No increase in performance either.

cpu temps lower than ambient??... wtF is ASUS' problem?

[binormalkilla]

So I did some testing during my Computers downtime the other day, So i popped in my E6600. Cleaned my 120X and the CPU well, Then put on a nice coat of AS5. Then Started overclocking, 460x8 at 1.55v. Idle...16C, Load....28C

Stock Speeds....5C Idle, 10C load.

The Ambient in my room was warm that day. Like me 70-75F.

O_o

That's on air? There is absolutely no way that you get 16C idle ever.....let along 5C. Even a chilled water loop couldn't get that. You do realize that 16C=60.8F? That's WELL below room temp
I would try another application (such as Everest) for monitoring temps....
BTW I get 50C load at 3.8 GHz with 1.480V (in CPU-Z while in OCCT stress)....and I have a high end water cooling loop. I idle at 28C with an ambient of 65-67F (~19-20C)

I was going to install 2 mcw30's today, after hearing that perhaps I will not.
My NB and SB never see 45 celcius under load
hmmmm what to do......

Don't even bother man. You aren't going to see a higher OC with water on the NB.....just do what I do. I get fine temps with a 120mm fan sitting on my graphics card. It cools the backside chips and PCB components as well as the NB.






EDIT:
What app are you guys using to monitor temps, as well as what OS? I'm running 0907 with Vista x64 monitoring with Everest and everything is detecting normally for me.......no below ambient temps.

[Grnfinger]

Same here
I use Everest with Vista 32, temps are normal running 907

[CERO]

Oke some quick Questions before I start to setup this board along with a Q6600. What ram should I use for the sake of ease for starters on this new board: 2x1GB Ballistix PC8500 tracers, or the 2x2GB G.Skill PQ8000. The ballistix I used for my P5K deluxe , was running a nice 1200mhz 5-5-5-12 @ 2.05v. The G.Skill I didnt test it yet it is still new in the package, along with a new Q6600. So I try to run 400x9 at first. What Bios are u guys suggesting? 0903/ 0907? Thanks!