**Official ASUS Striker II Formula Discussion/Review/Overclock/Guide/BIOS Thread**

[fordf250]

trd of 5 gave a lower score by 50mb/s

I can get 11200mb.s at 450fsb with 4G of ram running 5/6 at 540mhz and 2V and fans on low so this will be 24/7.

[Hor$eman]

Here's my initial weeks work. I basically increased numbers as per PC probe detailed as per auto settings, and then increasing the voltages until they leveled out and worked without any problems. As I currently have one VGA card in for RMA, but have put a Zalman 9700 on board, I have tried clocking three more times. As you can see, I got a higher clock speed than previous, but lower 3DMark numbers (due to only one VGA card).

Green = totally stable
Yellow = unstable (BSOD at some point)

My goal is to reach 20k on 3DMark, so will continue on that quest when I get my card back.

If anyone has any input to add to this, I'm sure I and others will be appreciative.

Is my RAM going to get me there? Timings change?

[mashakos]

Some info on cpus at 4G same rig and ram settings.

what do you mean by 4G? 4GB ram?

and what are your volt settings btw?

[mashakos]

Are the vista drivers for the audio card on the Striker II as crap as the ones for other ASUS boards?

I'm referring to the ASUS P5W and P5B here, which had drivers that made the vista boot time ridiculously long. An uninstall of the drivers would not reverse the issue.

I'm considering installing it, but don't want to get into that situation again.

[fordf250]

what do you mean by 4G? 4GB ram?

and what are your volt settings btw?

All cpus at 4000mhz. 450x9 with ram 1:1 4-4-4-12

E6600 1.65V
Q6600 1.55V
E6850 1.6V
E8400 1.35V

I would run the Q6600 for everything as its only 6C higher at full load than the E8400 but the E8400 kicks it butt in games and thats all I do.

[mashakos]

All cpus at 4000mhz. 450x9 with ram 1:1 4-4-4-12

E6600 1.65V
Q6600 1.55V
E6850 1.6V
E8400 1.35V

I would run the Q6600 for everything as its only 6C higher at full load than the E8400 but the E8400 kicks it butt in games and thats all I do.

how are the temps overall??

I have everything on stock right now, and my idle temp is 39C. Don't know if that's so great considering the CPU is an E8400 on watercooling.

What's a good temp reader for the Striker II btw? Speedfan doesn't have the correct labels, and nvidia's nforce system monitor doesn't give me temps other than the CPU and GPU

[fordf250]

I had to switch to real temp for the cpu, coretemp showed 45C idle at default 3G and 1.2Vcore.

[fordf250]

A note to all getting low bandwidth.

Looking at other posts, lots of people are running lower motherboard voltage than me so I started dropping voltages to see when the bw dropped. Turns out for me that a 1.2HT of 1.5V gives 9300mb/s at 450fsb and a 1.2HT of 1.55V gives me 11370mb/s all other settings the same. Funny, 1.6HT will not even post.

If you get low bandwidth try upping the 1.2HT volts.

[Family man 72]

Here's my initial weeks work. I basically increased numbers as per PC probe detailed as per auto settings, and then increasing the voltages until they leveled out and worked without any problems. As I currently have one VGA card in for RMA, but have put a Zalman 9700 on board, I have tried clocking three more times. As you can see, I got a higher clock speed than previous, but lower 3DMark numbers (due to only one VGA card).

Green = totally stable
Yellow = unstable (BSOD at some point)

My goal is to reach 20k on 3DMark, so will continue on that quest when I get my card back.

If anyone has any input to add to this, I'm sure I and others will be appreciative.

Is my RAM going to get me there? Timings change?

To get my personal record of 20696, it took 3.85GHz Q6600 and gpu clocks (two 8800 GTS 512MB in SLI) were 720/1836/2016. So I think your cpu speed must have well over 4GHz or/and your gpus heavily oced to reach 20k.

[hmetro24]

HI guys i just got my pc before some days but i am having problem with my overclocking i just got rech to 3.4 with 1100mhz memory with 5-4-4-15 2t at 2.10v
i increase vcore in bios to 1.26 but in cpu z its show vcore 1.0**
but i cant get higher over clock any tips and trick look at my pc info
CPU E8400 WITH ZALMAN 9700LED
ASUS STRIKER II FORMULA
OCZ REAPER 1066 2X2
9600GT SLI
PCPOWER&COOLING 610 WATT
ANTEC 900
HANNS.G 28INCH LCD WITH 3MS AND 1920X1200RES
ANY HELP PLZ

[mashakos]

I had to switch to real temp for the cpu, coretemp showed 45C idle at default 3G and 1.2Vcore.

hmmm, just tried core temp and it gave me core 0: 44C & core 1: 39C

The other processors I had were usually had cores that were much closer in temps.

[naTTan]

Fordf250 do you mine posting your overclocking step by step to reach 475X9?
Horsemen are you using E8400? I saw that your voltage would drop initially are you reading from bios or CpuZ? as of now i am using E8400 at 385X9 all at stock voltage. Bios voltage is at 1.2 and CPU-Z is reading it at 1.12. I am trying to get as high as i can on stock.

[hmetro24]

oh after some oc trys i reached 3.82ghz with 1.26volt and get 17k in 3dmmark06
with a vga oc at 760 /2000 / 950
but with some artifacts in last 2 test
any way to increase vga volt 0.* volt ??? thx i would like to hit 19 20k if i can

[Hor$eman]

naTTan
Yes, E8400 as I have now indicated in my signature.
I read temps with PC Probe II and correlate with real temp. I have to set real temp to + to get a similar temp as PC Probe II, as a 0 it is lower. I go with the higher temp or PC Probe II.
Vcore I read from PC Probe II, not from CPU-ID, which always reads lower.

Here are my results for 4050 Mhz and for best 6400 RAM timings/results. I'm not going to bother trying to go higher, as WeStSiDePLaYa says the latency increases greatly past 450x9. This has been totally stable, and got me my highest (single GPU) 3DMark score (one card is RMA).

Here are my MB voltage settings to achieve the actual voltages as per below:
CPU: 1.4
PLL: 1.6
VTT: 1.4
MEM (As per your RAM requirements)
NB 1.5
SB 1.55
1.2HT: 1.3
Bridge 1.2

CPU GTL_REF +20
NB GTL_REF +20
DDRII Controller +20
DDRII A: REF
DDRII B: REF

What I do to get the voltages is set a multiplyer, then if boots, check PC Probe II voltages. If the voltage in PC Probe II is higher than what I have the bios set at, I increase the bios voltage to match what PC Probe II shows. If and when the bios and the MB voltages match, or the PC Probe II voltage does not increase, I would think that is the best voltage setting.

[Phil The Greek]

A note to all getting low bandwidth.

Looking at other posts, lots of people are running lower motherboard voltage than me so I started dropping voltages to see when the bw dropped. Turns out for me that a 1.2HT of 1.5V gives 9300mb/s at 450fsb and a 1.2HT of 1.55V gives me 11370mb/s all other settings the same. Funny, 1.6HT will not even post.

If you get low bandwidth try upping the 1.2HT volts.

Very interesting and crazy at the same time.Anyway did a fast try with 1.6 and 1.65 (witch booted just fine)but B/W didn't raise at all.Looks like locked @ 9300MB/s
I'll test further tomorrow

[fordf250]

Fordf250 do you mine posting your overclocking step by step to reach 475X9?
Horsemen are you using E8400? I saw that your voltage would drop initially are you reading from bios or CpuZ? as of now i am using E8400 at 385X9 all at stock voltage. Bios voltage is at 1.2 and CPU-Z is reading it at 1.12. I am trying to get as high as i can on stock.

None of this is near stock voltage, my cpu and motherboard need lots to get to 475fsb. These setting are the same for running my Q6600 at 475x8 but the northbridge GTL needs to be +40mV.

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo...67863468JTXgoX

475x9 with E8400 and ram linked 1:1 at 4-4-4-12.
Bios 1101
Vcore 1.45V
PLL auto -gives 1.62V
VTT auto -gives 1.49V
Vram 2.42V
Vnb 1.8V
Vsb auto -gives 1.52V
1.2HT 1.55V
bridge auto

CPU GTL auto
NB GTL +20mV
All others auto.

[Vladmax]

To get my personal record of 20696, it took 3.85GHz Q6600 and gpu clocks (two 8800 GTS 512MB in SLI) were 720/1836/2016. So I think your cpu speed must have well over 4GHz or/and your gpus heavily oced to reach 20k.

How wel does GTS suppose to scale? I have 2x8800 GTS and the numbers are as follow:

Q6600 @ 3.2Ghz
rest is stock

Single 8800GTS stock
3DMark 06 - 14210

SLI 8800GTS stock
3DMark 06 - 17136

so it only scales about 20% is it a good number?

[Hor$eman]

Here are the best settings I have found so far for 1800 FSB 4.05 Ghz, as well as the best RAM timings (PC6400) that are stable.

Next I'm going to try some higher FSBs.

[fordf250]

I pulled the sriker II out today to try some better cooling options. Turns out the nb heatsink was not tight and the thermal paste was very dry and not sticking to the other contact points. Im going to clean them up and repaste to see if the temps drop.

Does any one know it i can just cool the nb, sb with some other cooler and leave the 3rd bridge naked if Im not triple sli'ing.

[doctor_g]

Allright folks, be gentle with me. I'm new here, but I've been around computers since the 'ole 486 in the late 80's. Overall, I'm pretty knowlegable with computers. Recently, I just took the plunge and built a rig...

Intel E8400
Crucial Ballistix 1066
Striker II Formula
Seagate Baracuda 750MB 3.0 Gps 32mb cache (2ea) RAID 0
GeForce 8800GTX
Cooler Master 750watt PSU
X-Fi Platinum sound card
LG Blu-Ray disc drive

I think I did ok. I'm setting the rig up as a home theater pc, but I also intend to do some gaming with it. So far it's all coming together pretty well. What I'd like to do now is delve into a little overclocking. I'd like to keep it stable (of course), and from what I gather reading the forums and reviews, a target of 3.6 Ghz is what sounds like the deal for me. This way I know the rig will be stable, and I should be able to get away with the stock E8400 cooler. For added measure, I have 4ea 120mm fans installed in the case.

Anyways, I'm new to the forum, and deffinately new to overclocking. If someone would be kind enough to help me achieve a stable 3.6 final clock speed...you'd make my day. Thanks in advance.

Doc

[Hor$eman]

Allright folks, be gentle with me. I'm new here, but I've been around computers since the 'ole 486 in the late 80's. Overall, I'm pretty knowlegable with computers. Recently, I just took the plunge and built a rig...

Intel E8400
Crucial Ballistix 1066
Striker II Formula
Seagate Baracuda 750MB 3.0 Gps 32mb cache (2ea) RAID 0
GeForce 8800GTX
Cooler Master 750watt PSU
X-Fi Platinum sound card
LG Blu-Ray disc drive

I think I did ok. I'm setting the rig up as a home theater pc, but I also intend to do some gaming with it. So far it's all coming together pretty well. What I'd like to do now is delve into a little overclocking. I'd like to keep it stable (of course), and from what I gather reading the forums and reviews, a target of 3.6 Ghz is what sounds like the deal for me. This way I know the rig will be stable, and I should be able to get away with the stock E8400 cooler. For added measure, I have 4ea 120mm fans installed in the case.

Anyways, I'm new to the forum, and deffinately new to overclocking. If someone would be kind enough to help me achieve a stable 3.6 final clock speed...you'd make my day. Thanks in advance.

Doc

Nice rig.

Read this. The 3600 numbers I posted were stable, 2 hours orthos. Note that the temp with the stock cooler was close to 60c. An aftermartket cooler is definitely in order if overclocking.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...&postcount=377

[Hor$eman]

I pulled the sriker II out today to try some better cooling options. Turns out the nb heatsink was not tight and the thermal paste was very dry and not sticking to the other contact points. Im going to clean them up and repaste to see if the temps drop.

Does any one know it i can just cool the nb, sb with some other cooler and leave the 3rd bridge naked if Im not triple sli'ing.

I used the Mosfet fans which came with the board for the NB and SB. They actually clip right on, and lower temps about 10c to 13c. If your cooling CPU with air, the other (3rd) bridge can be left, yes, naked.

The fan on the NB clips on vertically, while the one on the SB clips on to the right side of the SB.

[hmetro24]

any way to lower temp by using acs5 on nb and sb .

[Ced-G60]

Am sure i got myself a crappy mobo... You guys are getting real low temp on the NB and SB..

my SB is running 70-75°c all the time even with a fan on top of it and AS5 all over... NB is little lower at about 65°c

That why i got myself a SIIE, hope i wont be disappointed again by ASUS, or never looking back

[Hor$eman]

Ced-G60

Not sure where I read it, but someone who had high temps on their NB and SB pulled off the NB,SB, and mosfets, cleaned everything up(removed old thermal paste), sanded and polished everything to a mirror image, and re-pasted with arctic silver. If I remember correctly, his temps came down by ~30c by doing this.

While this shouldn't have to be done by us, the user, it is something to try.

Although my temps are reasonable, I am going to do this next time I do any renovations on my rig.