Maximus Extreme - Results/Info/Bios

[macg]

Been having some trouble with temp sensors. Not sure if its the board or the
E8500 chip. Core temp with 0904, as per bios reading. is 36C. With 1004, its 41C.

Asus PCProbe, Coretemp, Real temp shows up a figure that remains the same even if I'm stress testing or at idle.

Core temp shows both cores at 53 and 47 respectively.

Calibration with real temp shows a value of O.

Question is, is this a board / bios issue? or is it the chip?

[pakko]

Can some one post some bios settings which could be good for my spec? Just wanna reach ram @ 1800 daily and i'm on air..

Thanks..

[kiwi]

1004 is beta bios so use it at your own risk!

Also those who are having issues @ >450fsb, please run only 5:8 or 1:2 mem dividers because they work best

[polar bear]

Guys, need your help.

Been trying to get this MB stable for over a month now. For specs - check my sig.

Problem: system runs fine now for most tasks even a session of flight simming using fsx/vista is usually ok save for the odd system freeze.

But I just *can't* finish any serious stress test for any significant amount of time. They (OCCT/everest) usually fail before 30 mins, sometimes a little bit longer, and sometimes after just a few minutes. This leaves the system completely unresponsive and hence I have to do a forced reboot.

Using ATI Catalyst 8.3 with latest hotfix

BIOS:

multiplier 8x
FSB 450
FSB strap to NB 333
PCIE 110

DRAM 1800
command rate 2T
primary timings: 8-8-8-26
secondary: 5-60-9-6
rest: auto

DRAM static read: disabled
DRAM dynamic write: disabled
AI clock twister: strong
AI skew for channel A: auto
AI skew for channel B: auto
AI transaction booster: enabled, level 2

Voltages:
CPU 1.60
CPU PLL 1.70
NB 1.61
DRAM 2.06
FSB termination 1.54
SB auto
SB 1.5 auto
loadline calibration enabled
CPU GTL REF 0.63x
NB GTL REF 0.67x
DDR3 channel A REF auto
DDR3 channel B REF auto
DDR3 controller REF DDR3 REF

CPU spread spectrum: disabled
PCIE spread spectrum: disabled

CPU advanced settings: all disabled

Chipset - Northbridge configuration:
Memory remap feature: enabled
Initiate graphic adapter: PEG/PCI
PEG port control: auto
PEG port force x1: disabled

Temps:
[At 3.6GHz using everest stress test]
CPU idle 48
CPU load 68
NB idle 36
NB load 37
SB idle 34
SB load 35

[GPU temps using 3DMark06 and reporting hottest core]
idle 34
load 45

[macg]

flashed back to 0904, temps a bit lower but cpu temp still won't budge.

[Lloyd]

has anyone built a raid array with 2x (or more) 750GB drives? As with 3x 750GB drives in the RAID rom is says bootable "no" and vista can't see the array at all, so i tried 2x 750GB drives the rom says bootable - vista can see it but say it can't install.
Please someone help me, lol

[trans am]

Can you flash p5e3 dlx/wifi with maximus extreme bios?

[Lloyd]

i wouldn't think so the dlx has wi-fi etc on it.

[Lloyd]

There is something seriously wrong with 1001 and 1004 - they are both e!
Flashing from 1001 to 1004 killed 2 HDs and now i can't build an array bigger than 2x 750GB hds WTF!!!!!!!!!!!! It just says not bootable - since F'ing when?
I'm getting seriously pissed off with Asus on this mobo! Have they forgotten how to make a bios stable! Total BS
JUST DON'T BUY IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's my recomendation!
I only buy asus since the old 875 chipset AND NEVER HAD AN ISSUE FLASHING A BIOS - NNot even a BETA one!

[Lloyd]

1004 is beta bios so use it at your own risk!

Fair enough if it kills the mobo - not if it kills other parts!
And anyway 1001 isn't a BETA BIOS! And i'm thinking that IT killed my 2x 320GB drives - keep in mind that the EZ Flash doesn't even work from the BIOS! WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So if u want to flash to 1004/later make sure u r coming from the 0904(?) one and skip 1001 completely

[Lloyd]

ok i had the 2x 750GBs running in RAID0 (installed vista + updates and SP1) and turned it off to go to bed, but i just wanted to look at something so went and turned it on - Array FAILED! WTF! is going on!

[polar bear]

I feel your pain Lloyd. IMO this is NOT a great board with all its flaws and eccentricities... I had P35 and earlier boards that OCed 50-60% with minor tweaks... but that the mobo should kill off 2 HDDS... I dont know. Sounds pretty far out, but if it's true, well thats just not very good.

I'd very much like to give up on this board now and move on as I can't for my best efforts and tweaking bring it to stability, but sadly I shelled out 1000euros on watercooling equipment so I'd better do my best I figure. No choice really, as I'm totally broke nowadays...

[polar bear]

Right. So I'm back on bios 0904 Actually started on 1001. Going to experiment a bit here...

First I change to 1:1 ratio for mem at auto timings ie 900MHz at FSB 450. At the same time NB goes from 1,61 to 1,71 lol (been fine temp wise so feel I can do this - heck I'm desparate so if I fry the board at least I'll be done with it...) FSB termination goes up to 1,60 (last "yellow" setting before red lol). Leave DRAM at 2.06. SB on auto, same with SB 1.5V. FSB450*8. Vcore still on 1.6. CPU PLL 1.70.

Idle temps:
CPU 56
NB 33
SB 32

Now for some OCCT...

[polar bear]

After 51 mins of OCCT mix, system freezes again. Unbelievable. This with above settings. Dont think I can loosen up the mem any more, nor am I willing to increase volts either. Something else is up here. If only I could figure out what?!!

[polar bear]

Test Completed - Stable ! but cannot access the system as it is completely unresponsive - this happened from around 51 mins (1 hr test)



Notice artifacts on taskbar as well as missing values in everest sidebar...

[Lloyd]

I feel your pain Lloyd. IMO this is NOT a great board with all its flaws and eccentricities... I had P35 and earlier boards that OCed 50-60% with minor tweaks... but that the mobo should kill off 2 HDDS... I dont know. Sounds pretty far out, but if it's true, well thats just not very good.

I'd very much like to give up on this board now and move on as I can't for my best efforts and tweaking bring it to stability, but sadly I shelled out 1000euros on watercooling equipment so I'd better do my best I figure. No choice really, as I'm totally broke nowadays...

My issue is i've bought a second one for another system and bought all the EK blocks to fit, lol
All i can do atm is laugh - or i'd end up getting on a plane to asus hq, lol
Anyway sorry for my rant, if anyone has any similar issues please pm or email me.
Thanks guys

[polar bear]

My issue is i've bought a second one for another system and bought all the EK blocks to fit, lol
All i can do atm is laugh - or i'd end up getting on a plane to asus hq, lol
Anyway sorry for my rant, if anyone has any similar issues please pm or email me.
Thanks guys

I can't believe u got those EK blocks too... even a 2nd max_ex board thats freakin hilarious... in that case I might join you on the plane to asus hq

[Lloyd]

LOL
And i ended up sending the board to Eddy to get the block to fit right (southbridge block that is) so all the EK sb blocks for the ME will now fit! I recieved my board back and the new block today - absolutly perfect - once again thanks Eddy
Though that one hasn't had the bios updated so i hope it'll be ok till they make a decent bios. Like i only want a small 24/7 oc like 3.2ghz, this one will have a e6850 1333fsb cpu

[GLENBOY]

the 905 bios seems like its the best all round i have tried all of them ,the 1004 beta bios has the bug when you reboot sometimes it completely turns the computer off and on again, so i think the 904/905 bioses are the best all rounders, i pulled this off on a modded mack 2 gt single stage cooling



but on normal cooling air or h20 over 500fsb is hit or miss

[polar bear]

Well, after endless hours of BIOS tweaking I can finally say that I have reached some *stable* settings. Not going to break any records here, but at least I am happy with my results. That's good as I was getting very close to giving up. I will post my results here, perhaps this might help others with similar configurations. Please keep in mind that every system is different, so my BIOS settings may not work for your rig.

Resolved issues:
1) Problem: could not score higher than 11k in 3DMark06 with 1x 3870X2 and CPU @ 4050MHz with DDR3-1800
Solution: enabling catalyst AI in CCC almost doubled my 3DMark06 score

2) Problem: could not pass OCCT with everest monitoring temps and volts in background via it's "system stability test" (system froze after around 50 mins as seen in above post) - this lead me to believe that system was not stable
Solution: run OCCT with no other apps incl AVG internet security suite and even internet connection off

3) Problem: experienced strange "display driver stopped responding and has recovered" error message when 3DMark benching at 4050MHz
Solution: this was "simply" due to unoptimized BIOS settings - but did not solve this until after a systematic approach to overclocking as seen below

4) Problem: countless hours of sleep lost due to desperate BIOS tweaking...
Solution: uh, sadly there's no solution to this

For my hardware specs, please refer to my signature: rig #1

Now onto the step-by-step *logical* overclocking approach (as opposed to randomly changing BIOS settings lol):

Stability at stock FSB / CPU clock: (note: was running excessive Vcore here - please disregard this)



Max FSB: 475MHz (x6 multiplier)



Max CPU clock for OCCT 1hr: 3825MHz (425*9)



Max CPU clock for Vista boot and super-pi 1M: 4095MHz

http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=339690



Max CPU clock for benching: 4050MHz (450*9)



3DMark06 using 1x 3870X2 and ATI catalyst 8.3 with latest hotfix:

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=6068636



3DMark06 10 loop:

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=6072311



PCMark Vantage:

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?pcmv=64541



Selected SiSoftware Sandra benches:







After all this I also spent some time adjusting the volts - and below I have listed the BIOS settings that I intend to keep for 24/7 usage - I cannot pass OCCT with this but it will hopefully be sufficient for all other tasks incl 3D gaming and flight simming. Will probably post back if not - also might return for a 12hr OCCT screenie once I've been able to do this (in about 12 hrs time lol):

Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up: Auto
OC From Memory Level Up: Auto
CPU Ratio Setting : 9.0
FSB Frequency : 450MHz
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 330
PCI-E Frequency: 110

DRAM Frequency : DDR3-1801MHz
DRAM Command Rate : 1T
DRAM Timing Control : Manual
Primary Info : 7-7-7-20-5-60-9-6
CAS# Latency : 7
RAS# to CAS# Delay : 7
RAS# Precharge : 7
RAS# Active Time: 20
RAS# to RAS# Delay: 5
Row Refresh Cycle Time: 60
Write Recovery Time: 9
Read to Precharge Time: 6
Secondary Info : 8-5-6-4-7-4-7
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: Disabled
DRAM Dynamic Write Control: Disabled
Ai Clock Twister : Strong
AI Clock Skew for Channel A: Auto
AI Clock Skew for Channel B: Auto
Transaction Booster : Enabled
Boost level: 2

Voltages:
CPU Voltage : 1.5625
CPU PLL Voltage : 1.64
North Bridge Voltage : 1.61
DRAM Voltage : 2.06
FSB Termination Voltage : 1.54
South Bridge Voltage : Auto
Loadline Calibration : Enabled
CPU GTL Reference : 0.63x
North Bridge GTL Reference : 0.67x
DDR3 Channel A REF Voltage : Auto
DDR3 Channel B REF Voltage : Auto
DDR3 Controller REF Voltage : DDR3_REF
SB 1.5V Voltage : Auto

Advanced CPU Configuration
CPU Ratio Control : Manual
Ratio CMOS Setting : 9.0
C1E Suppport : Disabled
CPU TM Function : Disabled
Vanderpool Technology : Disabled
Execute Disable Bit : Disabled
Max CPUID Value Limit : Disabled

EDIT: for continuous 3DMark06 loops (5 and more), I needed to raise the Vcore to 1.575, otherwise system would freeze after a couple of loops.

Temps: (see graphs below)
[Using Everest system stability test with all components selected for 10 mins]
CPU min 58 max 87 average 73.5
NB min 37 max 39 average 38.4
SB min 36 max 37 average 36.2

[GPU temps using 3DMark06 and reporting hottest core]
GPU min 37 max 47 average 42.5

Everest system stability test 10 min run: (4050MHz)



3DMark06 run with Everest monitoring in background: (4050MHz)

[camouflage]

Yep - 0904 is the last working bios without bugs - all later versions are crappy somehow.

Though this board is a bit tricky take Your time and You can get fine results:

[polar bear]

Well, folks, sorry for my rants hihi (dunno if anyone's even reading my posts anymore lol, it's been awfully quiet here lately) but IMO I've come a long way. I never thought I would get this beast stable, BUT with a logical, systematic approach, I can finally say that I have achieved it. Also I have a feeling that BIOS 1001 is flawed...

EDIT: OCCT has just passed 12 hr stability at 425*9 This with nice voltages too. I am VERY happy with this result as it means I can finally start to USE this machine and not worry about the next BSOD lol. Here's the voltages I used to achieve this:

CPU Voltage : 1.575
CPU PLL Voltage : 1.64
North Bridge Voltage : 1.61
DRAM Voltage : 2.06
FSB Termination Voltage : 1.54
South Bridge Voltage : Auto
Loadline Calibration : Enabled
CPU GTL Reference : 0.63x
North Bridge GTL Reference : 0.67x
DDR3 Channel A REF Voltage : Auto
DDR3 Channel B REF Voltage : Auto
DDR3 Controller REF Voltage : DDR3_REF
SB 1.5V Voltage : Auto

It seems there is probably some more headroom for OCCT stability upwards towards 4.0 but from there it's a battlefield haha! It requires a massive voltage increase anyway - even at 1.65V it cannot tolerate more than a few secs of OCCT at those clocks. At 1.70 the system is overheating and auto shutdown occurs. So my interpretation is that the chip is just not capable of those levels. Which is completely acceptable of course, considering how it has performed so far. To reach OCCT / prime95 stability above 4.0GHz with a quad, I'm reasonably sure I will have to go for 45nm (although I have seen some lucky bastards bring a kentsfield to those heights, I guess those folks have had a very fine revision). Also of course is the cooling solution - mine's a pretty good one I think - EK-Supreme, DDC Ultra and PA120.3 is not anything to scoff at and will probably bring OC potential with a 45nm up towards 4.5 if not more judging by the result of others around here.

Well, a last screenie showing my efforts, then I'm off for some serious flight simming... or maybe *just*one*more*BIOS*adjustment*then*another*3DMark *run haha /polar bear out

[DR3]

Thanks for all the help and info on this tricky mb.

4950.11 MHz (450.01 * 11)


Got a fair result on wPrime1024


Still trying to figure out what BIOs is the best.
So far I have only used 1004.

Have gotten it up to 5.4, but very unstable.
Latest relatively stable system was 5175.33 MHz (450.03 * 11.5)


Mug shot of the beast.


Any help would be appreciated.

[OBR]

post your voltages ...

[ye_3333]

HI
first of all this is my rig:

E8400 Q746
ASUS MAXIMUS EXTREME 0905 BIOS
OCZ DDR3 FLEX 1G*2 1600 6-6-6-18 WATERCOOLING
ASUS 8800GT
OCZ 600W POWER XTREME
COOLING:
CPU : MACH 2 GT MODED WITH CHILLY1 EVAP AND MIX GAS -69C
MB+MEMORY: DANGERDEN XTREME COOLING


now some problems with this MB i can get 550X9 stable with
1.7v cpu
1.7pll
1.66 nb
1.6vfsb
2.0v mem
starp 333
memory 2\3
7-7-7-21

this board dont want to go more then 560fsb!! i can boot 560 but it is no stable at all!
even with setfsb i cant goo more then 560 also in 6x multi!
can some one give me any help with that board? thanks

http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=339669
thanks