The Maximus Formula Thread - Help/OCing/Guide/Rampage conversion

[Leeghoofd]

So is that why OCZ is putting 18 for tRAS on their high end 2 x 2 kits instead of 12 like everyone else?

Most PC8000 kits run 15 or higher tRAS not seen 12 yet unless PC6400...

thx for the tips Tony, preordered an Asus P5E3 Premium board and pretty keen on the OCZ 1333 kits...

[Sources]

test and see what they will do, remember you are tRFC limited on this board unless you run 1001 or 1003 bios or earlier.

Bah, i just found out how crap the gold edition is. Gonna stick with these ballistix

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/02/...its/page8.html

[zlojack]

Most PC8000 kits run 15 or higher tRAS not seen 12 yet unless PC6400...

thx for the tips Tony, preordered an Asus P5E3 Premium board and pretty keen on the OCZ 1333 kits...

There are a few around with tRAS 12 at PC8000

Here are two I could find in 2 minutes:

Muskin Redlines are 5-5-5-12 http://www.mushkin.com/doc/products/...ail.asp?id=647
XP2-8500 are 5-4-4-12
http://www.mushkin.com/doc/products/...ail.asp?id=556

Bah, i just found out how crap the gold edition is. Gonna stick with these ballistix

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/02/...its/page8.html

Dude, if you have both in your possession, test them and see.

Don't listen to a review, do your own review.

What they "should" do and what they actually do can vary from set to set.

My Redlines don't run stable above stock so far no matter what I try, while the ones I saw reviewed got to 1100 MHz on 1.9v

[theonlybabyface]

test and see what they will do, remember you are tRFC limited on this board unless you run 1001 or 1003 bios or earlier.

...or run AUTO.

[xgman]

test and see what they will do, remember you are tRFC limited on this board unless you run 1001 or 1003 bios or earlier.

Tony, has anyone from ASUS responded to your comments re: the problems with these new bioses and the QX9650's?

[awhir]

hey guys thinking about getting a E8400 es but just wondering if it will run properly with a asus maximus fromula

thanks andy

[zlojack]

It's been going great for me so far.

Prime95 stable 24/7 at 4GB (500x8 ) on 1.31v

[tifozif1]

Is this good (from Everest 4.20) ?

CPU Q6600 , Maximus Formula SE, 8x450 with 4:5 (1125MHz) with Cellshock 8000 4-4-4-12 @2.3V (memory timings in BIOS are all auto except 4-4-4-12-35), all on air.

[Tony]

Tony, has anyone from ASUS responded to your comments re: the problems with these new bioses and the QX9650's?

Not a thing as of yet, I know bingo13 has told them also so they do know.

we wait

[kevinali]

Hey guys, new to the world of the asus maximus

Currently i have 2 x 2gb of ddr2-667 ram in dual channel mode A1 and B1. They are generic K-Byte modules with micron D9 chips used. I have the BIOS set to 1.8 V for these.

I have two more identical modules sitting on my desk...i am afraid to install them due to the horror stories i have been reading on the net with this MB and 8GB ram installed

I currently have the 505 BIOS and have my Q6700 at 333 x 9 for 3GHz at a vcore of 1.30v

any suggestions about a stable BIOS two use all 8GB and i assume i need to up the MCH voltage to 1.4 or 1.45 and Dram voltage to 1.9 for stability

[kup]

For 4x2GB I believe Tony was testing the latest Beta Bios, version 1003. There is a link in the first post.

[kevinali]

so i guess i will just be patient and wait for a new bios

I am deathly afraid of this MB

Any little change can cause my system to freeze up at Det DRAM

Kevin

[kup]

Why not try bios 1003 on the first post? Tony, as I said reported good things with 4x2GB!

[Jagged]

Successfully OC to 3.0Ghz with Q6600 for 6hours with OCCT.. now come the best part (OC to 3.6Ghz), if only I could install my RAM cooler beside my Tower120.... what a waste.

[Nuckin_Futs]

I have eXtrme 120 Ultra .. NB 05 SLI and its great it doesnt block the CPU the RAM's are with Thermaltake RS 0026 Spirit there is a 1 mm hole btw RAM heatsinks and NB Thermalright cooler. -. I used the Noctua one for test but the tems went from 44 to 51 that sucks ... , oh BTW the mosfets are cooled with Thermalright Mosfet the 2nd series

Are you talking about the NOCTUA NC-U6 CHIPSET COOLER ? I found it to be slightly cooler then the HR-05. What configuration did you end up to find good for the Ultra 120 w/ HR-05/SLI and with what style (slanted on non slant) of HR-09's on the same mobo? I also use the HR-09 (str8) on my previous mobo and it looks like it may be too tall for the Ultra 120. Willl it clear on the top edge of MAXIMUS and heatpipes of HR-09 (str8)

Yeah, I honestly wouldn't worry about the SB unless you're using something made out of plastic, you shouldn't have any cooling issues
I'm just using one of those standard flat heatsinks on it, no Thermalright fancy stuff, mainly because it scratches the dual-slot GFX card casing (single slot cards shouldn't have this problem), and temps are within an acceptable range of 35-45.

P.

I have the EnzoTech SLF-1 Forged Copper Low Profile Southbridge Chipset cooler and it fits fine under most VGA and PCI pards. Even without the fan for more clearence it works great on this mobo or the EnzoTech SLF-1 Forged Copper Low Profile Southbridge Chipset (no fan but more copper). This is better then any of the old aluminum SB stock coolers if you have good air flow in your case.

Hey guys, I just threw out my x38-dq6 and Ballistix (both dead), so can anyone recommend me a good 2x2 kit for maximus formula?

I found the OCZ Platinum and above very stable n this mobo. My PC2-6400 did DDR1000 in 1:1 @ 5-5-5-15 easy and cool on only 2.22v

Can you set twister strong on strap 333/5:6 divider or only this is the only combination '5-5-5-12 @ 1066 with Strong Twister/Static Read Enabled/Trans Booster enabled (0)' ?

You can, but it is very stressfull on the chipset, especially if on a divider. It might look good on paper with synthetic scores, but not so stable and reliale for everyday use, especially overclocked high.

[Nuckin_Futs]

What is this I hear about a 2nd rev of the SE version? I see only the same 1.02G wich has so far only for the non SE version.

[Spyrus]

You can, but it is very stressfull on the chipset, especially if on a divider. It might look good on paper with synthetic scores, but not so stable and reliale for everyday use, especially overclocked high.

Well i should tried then to pump up a little the nb voltage to see if i can set Moderate->Strong.
Since my memory can handle this (no memtest errors just freeze after 2-3loops) then it all depends on mobo.

[quake6]

Can anyone achieve 510FSB quad super pi 1mb stable?

[eSp!s0]

There`s a newer intern bios than 1003 from Asus, Psycho from forumdeluxx.de is trying to get information.

[zlojack]

There`s a newer intern bios than 1003 from Asus, Psycho from forumdeluxx.de is trying to get information.

*crosses fingers*

I hope this one fixes the issues with Penryn.

[BigGaroupa]

Sweet! At stock clocks?

Yes 800MHz for now, will try to 1066 but will probably only run at 5-5-5-15 at best.

Big Garoupa, what kind of cooler is that???

That's an old school Alpha socket 370 heatsink :p It's just memtest CPU doesn't get loaded so doesn't need anything heavy. I have a Thermalright Utlima-90 on the way.

Did you notice any "improvments" in the way the NB contacts/grease were installed?

Edit: Nevermind you can see the Revision in this pic. I'm pretty sure it says 1.03G

It's 1.03G and the way Asus mounts its heatsinks are horrible! They use some sort of epoxy thermal compound on the heatpipe THEN use some crappy white paste that barely makes 50% contact on the NB/SB ...

Does anyone know if the Thermaltake Extreme Spirit 2 works on the SB?

[jnick]

I'm highly interested in popping off the NB/SB heatsink to reapply my own thermal paste in order to keep the temperatures down. Is there a guide anywhere out there that explains this? I know I need to heat it with a hair dryer/heat gun, however I have a bunch of other questions too!

1. I've read that you must NOT pull up on the heat sink. Therefore, should I use a twisting action?
2. Do I remove EVERYTHING including the mofset sinks? Or do I just remove up to the aluminum heatsink neat the I/O panel?
3. What thermal paste is safe to use on the chipset? Arctic Ceramique? MX-2? I shouldn't use AS5 due to electro-conductivity?
4. The little fan that came with the mobo for the chipset...I read the warning and am NOT using it as I'm on air cooling. However should I be? Will it help temps? Or do you guys keep the chipset passively cooled?

Thank you!

[BigGaroupa]

I'm highly interested in popping off the NB/SB heatsink to reapply my own thermal paste in order to keep the temperatures down. Is there a guide anywhere out there that explains this? I know I need to heat it with a hair dryer/heat gun, however I have a bunch of other questions too!

1. I've read that you must NOT pull up on the heat sink. Therefore, should I use a twisting action?
2. Do I remove EVERYTHING including the mofset sinks? Or do I just remove up to the aluminum heatsink neat the I/O panel?
3. What thermal paste is safe to use on the chipset? Arctic Ceramique? MX-2? I shouldn't use AS5 due to electro-conductivity?
4. The little fan that came with the mobo for the chipset...I read the warning and am NOT using it as I'm on air cooling. However should I be? Will it help temps? Or do you guys keep the chipset passively cooled?

Thank you!

First off the heatpipe on the board is divided into TWO parts, the MOSFETS for the top and left is one unit. The aluminum heatsink where the I/O panels are, is part of the NB/SB setup, the ONLY thing that connects the MOSFET and NB/SB heatpipes is this ONE sticky thermal pad (sucks).





Removing Heatpipe
-Put into fridge for 10-15 minutes
-Remove four screws on the NB and pop out the two push-pins on the SB
-Remove unit from the NB, by twisting/lifting
-Due to the crappy mount, the entire unit should "pop" off quite easily
-You will need to carefully remove the aluminum part since it's stuck with a thermal pad

Cleaning
-Use those makeup pads with nail polish remover
-For the NB/SB just rub till it's all gone
-For the heatpipes themselves that requires more elbow grease, since the goop is quite a thick amount

Re-apply/Re-mount
-I used a high quality silver thermal compound that's non-conductive
-I used a couple rice grain sized amounts on the NB and less on the SB
-I placed the heatpipes back on top
-Pressed down and kind of massaged in a small circular motion to spread the compound
-Secured all the retention mechanisms

ASUS crap fan
-Don't bother with it, it hardly moves anything and takes up space
-Looks ugly
-You're better off mounting 40cm fans in a diamond shape over the NB, I found that this during bench testing did drop temperatures with my finger touching test :p

Note: some thermal pastes require curing time for optimal performance.

Note note: this will increase performance by up to 10c as reported by some users, however I never ran the board with the stock setup as I ripped it apart when I got it. The board idles around 42c at the moment. I found that it gets quite hot under small load so I will be replacing NB with a Thermalright heatpipe monster.

[jnick]

Thanks for the quality walkthrough man! You said that you're sitting at 42C idling...is that with an OC on your Q6600, or are you running stock?

[ericab]

<--- core 1-4 idles @ 27C to 30C

air cooling,