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

[Guacamole]

Hello can anyone help me I just returned a Maximus Formula because a USB port was blown so I got a new board from FRY's and it seems to work great until I try to OC it heavy. I have a Q6600 and I was running it on the previous Max at 3.9 I can't get close but here is the thing: It runs everyhting at much lower volts than the other board.. I can stabilize 3.7 at 1.38Vcore which amazing in my opinion but as I try to raise it and put prime on the board just turns off??? Very strange I understand blue screen freezing and other stuff but it just turns off... I haven't read the entire thread to see if others have had this problem, but if anyone could help me that would great...

[dimsdale]

jwfitt,
Good to see your settings! I was just about to give up on 3.8. I will try these today. I look forward to your exact config!
Many thanks,
dimsdale

[Anuaja]

Hi everyone, this is my first post.

[zlojack]

Man, EVERYONE is getting better results than me with their quad. I wonder if it's the chip or the board....

I'm going to try another quad and see what happens.

[Sources]

Anyone tried OC gold edition in this board, 1G or 2G modules ?

[Anuaja]

1 Hour OCCT Stable


my settings

Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up : AUTO
CPU Ratio Control : Manual
- Ratio CMOS Setting : 8.5
FSB Frequency : 483
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 333
PCI-E Frequency: 100
DRAM Frequency: 1160
DRAM Command Rate : 2N
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel A : Normal
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel B : Normal
DRAM Timing Control: Manual
CAS# Latency : 5
RAS# to CAS# Delay : 5
RAS# Precharge : 5
RAS# ActivateTime : 15
RAS# to RAS# Delay : 3
Row Refresh Cycle Time : 50
Write Recovery Time : 3
Read to Precharge Time : 4

Read to Write Delay (S/D) : 8
Write to Read Delay (S) : 3
Write to Read Delay (D) : 4
Read to Read Delay (S) : 5
Read to Read Delay (D) : 4
Write to Write Delay (S) : 5
Write to Write Delay (D) : 4

Write to PRE Delay : 13
Read to PRE Delay :
PRE to PRE Delay :
ALL PRE to ACT Delay : 5
ALL PRE to REF Delay : 5

DRAM Static Read Control: Disabled
Ai Clock Twister : Moderate
Transaction Booster : Manual

Common Performance Level 7

Pull-In of CHA PH1 Disabled
Pull-In of CHA PH2 Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH1 Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH2 Disabled

CPU Voltage : 1.3875
CPU PLL Voltage : 1.56
North Bridge Voltage : 1.65
DRAM Voltage : 2.14
FSB Termination Voltage : Auto
South Bridge Voltage : Auto
Loadline Calibration : Enable
CPU GTL Reference : 0.63
North Bridge GTL Reference : 0.67
DDR2 Channel A REF Voltage : Auto
DDR2 Channel B REF Voltage : AUTO
DDR2 Controller REF Voltage : Auto
SB 1.5V Voltage : Auto

CPU Spread Spectrum : Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum : Disabled

[Nuckin_Futs]

Hello can anyone help me I just returned a Maximus Formula because a USB port was blown so I got a new board from FRY's and it seems to work great until I try to OC it heavy. I have a Q6600 and I was running it on the previous Max at 3.9 I can't get close but here is the thing: It runs everyhting at much lower volts than the other board.. I can stabilize 3.7 at 1.38Vcore which amazing in my opinion but as I try to raise it and put prime on the board just turns off??? Very strange I understand blue screen freezing and other stuff but it just turns off... I haven't read the entire thread to see if others have had this problem, but if anyone could help me that would great...

I had this a few times and I found for mine it was Futz'd Up drivers from nVidia and the Intel chipset. after cleaning complete w/ CCleaner of old drivers and reg files, it was fine again. I had the same model on another Maximus and it was just restarting anywhere from 2hrs or even in 1 hr just like that, but after cleaning it went for hrs on end exactly as was. I believe it was because of hard crashing too many time previously.

Anyone tried OC gold edition in this board, 1G or 2G modules ?

OCZ? No, the Crucial Ballistix, yes, each the PC2-6400 & PC2-8500. They play well on this mobo and OC great. Even the 800's go over 1066.

If OCZ, I'd guess just as good. I ran several sticks of Platinums of each 2x2 and 2x1g and they did great. Even if the OCZ Gold dont OC as far, they are pretty rock solid in my experiences on oldrr mobos.


I take it back, S3 on a 5:6 @ 480+ sucks again. I guess it was the one week special or maybe the oS and driver issue. Cause now it fails so often that I have to use S4 now. It does continue to function if on 1:1 at any FSB to 525 so it has to be a chipset and or driver instability. What makes little sence, is it has passed with flying colors for several months on this profile and is in use as daily profile @ 485x8. Could it be the BIOS versions? Cause I know for sure just before I got the corrupted v907, S3 failed at any FSB (even stock) and divider. I realize most will not use since most here are built for benchmarking and always on, but if anybody useing as a real world app workstation can comment.

[zlojack]

Anuaja, what RAM are you using and how many GB?

[zlojack]

Here's a question for you guys with more experience.

Is it possible to wear a motherboard out? I think I probably used too much voltage on mine in the early days before I figured out the settings and stuff, since this is the first BIOS I've had where you can do anything...

Either I've had really bad luck with 4 different CPUs and 10 different kits of RAM, or else my board maybe isn't getting it done. I guess since voltage can degrade other components, it could also do the same to the board, right?

[Guacamole]

Thanks Nuckin I think I will just reinstall an operating system and see if that does it I have been OCing the living crap out of my 9800GX2 and that probably makes the most sense because I really think the board is fine..

[youraa]

run the GEILs at 900Mhz and try again... 2gb dimms don't clock as good as 1gb dimms... why didn't you just buy 1066Mhz dimms to have some headroom... could also be ya memory controller is getting dodgy...

and for the 4 Ballistix sticks I think you are going for even more trouble as many many users have issues with them running in 2 pair configuration on the Maximus...

thx for the response
will try 900mhz in a mom. Hmmmm you're saying that with 4gb crucial I may have problems, good thing I didn't order them yet, maybe I'll go back to 2gb then and set the crucial to 1199 strap 400 450x8 as I had before.

I ran those geils 1117mhz )) but only for 3dmark - new record 16700

But I yhink there is something fishy with them though, you were saying about the memory controller is there any way to check that?
thx

[Grnfinger]

I take it back, S3 on a 5:6 @ 480+ sucks again. I guess it was the one week special or maybe the oS and driver issue. Cause now it fails so often that I have to use S4 now. It does continue to function if on 1:1 at any FSB to 525 so it has to be a chipset and or driver instability. What makes little sence, is it has passed with flying colors for several months on this profile and is in use as daily profile @ 485x8. Could it be the BIOS versions? Cause I know for sure just before I got the corrupted v907, S3 failed at any FSB (even stock) and divider. I realize most will not use since most here are built for benchmarking and always on, but if anybody useing as a real world app workstation can comment.

I run S3 on a 5:6 divider 489FSB with NO issues

This is how its set in bios

[dimsdale]

I've been running at 3.8ghz rock solid as of last night (in Blend), I'm currently tweaking my RAM settings and adjusting voltages to see how low I can bring them down before I lose stability. I'll post the exact config later tonight.

(These are my guesstimates as to what the settings were - will edit later)

Tried those.....based on my results, I think you will be telling me that some of those voltages you had in your original post were actually a little higher....

[Grnfinger]

every setup is different, you cant take 1 persons settings and apply them to your rig and expect them to work.
Better to take it as a starting point and adjust things from there on your own.
8GB's of ram you'll need very high trfc settings probably 55 or higher

[Nuckin_Futs]

I run S3 on a 5:6 divider 489FSB with NO issues

This is how its set in bios

Odd, I have the same except even added the ACPI 2.0 support, and yes, it was all enabled during BIOS flash and new OS install, so I dont understand. I had understood that that disabling 2.0 just forces BIOS to function as ACPI 1.0, so this works for you, not 2.0?

Maybe you can PM me with you BIOS version voltages to compare. As well as RAM, as maybe it might help to determine what's going on.

So you can do S3 throught the day as well as for long sleep times of over 12hrs and resume on cold mornings? Mine used to be OK during the day, but failied often on resume in cold mornings.

[dimsdale]

8GB's of ram you'll need very high trfc settings probably 55 or higher

Interesting! I'm at trfc=52 now (board default). That's exactly the type of setting that's probably causing me the problems. I get prime95 failures at 2 hours, or 8 hours. If I had a setting that was off by about 6%, that might explain why its so darn hard to reproduce and intermittent.

Thanks for the tip. I'll work that into my testing.
Here's some more on the topic : http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/fo...ad.php?t=35435

Testing now at FSB 400 / DDR 1066 / auto memory timings+tfrc=60. Got my fingers crossed!

[jwfitt]

dimsadale, see my earlier post for edited values

Interesting discussion on the trfc. I may do some reading and play with the RAM options some more.

[cyrixMII300]

well latest update is that i am giving up on 4.0GHz for now. got to 3.9GHz and am sticking to it for the moment while trying to stabilize enough until i can run Prime95 for at least 16hours. if that passes then we'll see what happens. right now it doesnt pass a minute with rounding error. will keep u guys posted. btw, i realized that this chip runs with 1.184v in bios at default.

[initialised]

Would be really interesting to check maximum stable FSB on a quadcore with this bios. It will show if it's the maximus bios that s**ks or it is the PCB design

Rampage+Reaper+QX9650+9800GX2 installed, on the bench and waiting to be tweaked.

Air, water (120 + 240 Rad, Apogee, FlexXLC blocks & 100lph pump) and TEC (225W Qcmax and Titan Amanda/Ultra) are available cooling options.

Aiming for 5.0GHz with as high FSB & memory bandwidth as possible.

Any suggestions?

[dimsdale]

dimsadale, see my earlier post for edited values

Interesting discussion on the trfc. I may do some reading and play with the RAM options some more.

Ok. I set my tRC to 60 and still got a rounding error at about 2 hours.

However, I looked at the EPP for the G.Skill 8500 memory in Everest and saw that the tWR was specified as 13 for 533 MHz operation. Bios was setting it for 11. Now testing at 13.

[ericab]

Anuaja, what RAM are you using and how many GB?

i was gonna ask the same thing...
Anuaja, what RAM are you using and how many GB??

[Nuckin_Futs]

I let mine set itself (row refresh) in Auto to 42, wich is the max for 903 and it is good enough. So is lower # here actually tighter or more relaxed?

UPDATE; Today I tested on 2nd mobo w/ 903 and the FSB strap only works if I choose 333 when on my 5:6 divider. I noticed no big difference in selecting 333 strap v/s auto since the only one that mine could use is 333. What do you guys noticing is setting fixed 333, if using a divider that only belongs to 333?

[dimsdale]

jwfitt,
Are you still prime95 blend stable? I don't think this is a matter of voltages.
Rather, our lovely blue G.Skill 8500's are requiring some rather particular memory timing settings.
Time to dive in!

[Anuaja]

My RAM Corsair CMX2x2048-8500C5D rev 1.1 2x2gb, you can see at my first post

[Ric2L]

Well I was board, had a couple of beers, decided to lap cpu & hs, it went pretty well, easier than I thought it would be. However my temps really did'nt drop that much??? Before lapping my idle temps were 40, 39, 36, 35.
Load running prime95 was 58, 56, 47, 46. Now after lap, Idle is 35, 33, 32, 31, Prime 57, 56, 54, 52. There definatly more even on each core, but while priming there not all that much lower. Now, i just did this 1/2 hour ago, hopefully will improve after AS5 sets in better. One thing I did do different was applied the AS5 the way there web site suggests instead of spreading a thin layer over the entire cpu (that is the way I had done it origionally, before lapping)

I also tried the pencil mod for the vdroop, that really worked well, went from 1.26 w/droop to 1.18, now @1.26 w/droop to 1.25, as per everest. so that went well.

I know the temps arn't bad for an air setup, but I want to go for a 3.6GHz overclock, and try to keep temps under 60.

I'll let run for a couple of days like it is see if it improves, if not I guess I should order that Ultra 120 exterme I've been drooling over, just dont have the extra funds till the end of the month.

Rick