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

[binormalkilla]

why? skew doesnt do anything for bandwidth. if you were stable before (superpi is not a stability test...) then what is the point? it becomes useful when you ram has hit a wall and you want to go a bit faster. tony explained this very clearly.

shouldnt 475 fsb be netting better bandwidth results? what is your common performance level?

Common performance level 7. I haven't tweaked any timings yet, but I think 9800 MB/s is pretty good......
I set the skew to 300ps for added stability. I may remove it, but it didn't seem to affect my bandwidth or latency negatively.

I also enabled the pull off for channel A phase 1. I couldn't POST with phase 2 enabled......
I tried enabling the last phase and I could POST, but I didnt' notice a difference in bandwidth (must be the nature of the settings.) I still have to fully read the explanation of the phase setting in that Anandtech article.
I wonder if they must be set sequentially....


FYI SuperPi 32M is an excellent way to quickly test memory stability. It will kick out an error much faster than Orthos/Everest/Prime95 blended. Usually unstable memory OCs (on already stable CPU OCs) will error within 1 minute of 32M SuperPi.

However after I tested performance and done 32M on each group of settings I'll run Everest system stress for 4 hours and HCI Memtest for 6-8 hours

I still may try for 3.9-4.0, but I don't know if I will be comfortable with the voltage required. My VID is a bit higher than yours. You should be happy with that G0!
BTW, what sort of bandwidth do you get? What OS?

[ZenEffect]

Common performance level 7. I haven't tweaked any timings yet, but I think 9800 MB/s is pretty good......
I set the skew to 300ps for added stability. I may remove it, but it didn't seem to affect my bandwidth or latency negatively.

I also enabled the pull off for channel A phase 1. I couldn't POST with phase 2 enabled......
I tried enabling the last phase and I could POST, but I didnt' notice a difference in bandwidth (must be the nature of the settings.) I still have to fully read the explanation of the phase setting in that Anandtech article.
I wonder if they must be set sequentially....


FYI SuperPi 32M is an excellent way to quickly test memory stability. It will kick out an error much faster than Orthos/Everest/Prime95 blended. Usually unstable memory OCs (on already stable CPU OCs) will error within 1 minute of 32M SuperPi.

However after I tested performance and done 32M on each group of settings I'll run Everest system stress for 4 hours and HCI Memtest for 6-8 hours

I still may try for 3.9-4.0, but I don't know if I will be comfortable with the voltage required. My VID is a bit higher than yours. You should be happy with that G0!
BTW, what sort of bandwidth do you get? What OS?

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...76/binorma.jpg

24/7 settings. at 480fsb my cpu gives out so perhaps your g0 is better than mine? man i need a phase unit...

im not sure how well everest stress test actually stresses the system. the standard is pretty much prime95 for cpu and memtest for ram.

[binormalkilla]

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...76/binorma.jpg

24/7 settings. at 480fsb my cpu gives out so perhaps your g0 is better than mine? man i need a phase unit...

im not sure how well everest stress test actually stresses the system. the standard is pretty much prime95 for cpu and memtest for ram.

Yea I use prime sometimes too. The reason that I live EVerest so much is because you can get max/min/average temps over the time period, and it stresses the CPU to the max. It doesn't use all of the RAM, but then again neither does Prime95.
I don't use bootable memtest because it's really weak at detecting errors.....really only finds severely unstable settings. I've compared the HCI memtest with bootable and found HCI to be much better, but that's just IMO.
I actually had a kit of DDR that passed for 12 hours in Memtest x86 iso, but I had BSODs from them. As soon as I tested with Orthos blended, instant fail.

Excellent bandwidth results though. WHat sort of timings are you running? YOu can display them in everest by going to motherboard, then chipset.

[Dostoyevsky77]

While I was waiting for my board "RMA", I had to use my wife's computer. 19" LCD was unsatisfactory, so now she has 22+19. That in addition to my 24+19 means this: PICTURE. The reason this is on topic is because it has to do with... um. Yes, I would like another martini, thank you.

[binormalkilla]

haha, nice. BTW what's up man? I frequent OCN. It's my favorite forum by far. My fiance thought it was crazy to put pics from the inside of my case as my desktop background.....LOL. You like to see your work though, eh?

[Dostoyevsky77]

haha, nice. BTW what's up man? I frequent OCN. It's my favorite forum by far. My fiance thought it was crazy to put pics from the inside of my case as my desktop background.....LOL. You like to see your work though, eh?

Heh, thanks. Good to see you too.

Those pictures are not my BG. I rigged that for the shot. I am a (recreational) pilot and ammeter aviation photographer, so our backgrounds are usually shots I take FROM an aircraft, OF an aircraft, or A Combination of Neither. Full size upon request.

If you haven't already, you will need to explain to your fiancee the outlay necessary to maintain our computer hobbies! My wife is only just now starting to understand after almost five years!!!

[binormalkilla]

Heh, thanks. Good to see you too.

Those pictures are not my BG. I rigged that for the shot. I am a (recreational) pilot and ammeter aviation photographer, so our backgrounds are usually shots I take FROM an aircraft, OF an aircraft, or A Combination of Neither. Full size upon request.

If you haven't already, you will need to explain to your fiancee the outlay necessary to maintain our computer hobbies! My wife is only just now starting to understand after almost five years!!!

LOL yea she definitely respects my interest in PCs, as it pays the bills :p

[beard]

All i can say to you guys is: wow!

Dostoyevsky, living your dream? Amazing photos btw!

I hope some day hardware will pay our bills too

Till then,

If you haven't already, you will need to explain to your fiancee the outlay necessary to maintain our computer hobbies! My wife is only just now starting to understand after almost five years!!!

...mind sharing what you said to her? It's been almost 8 years now and I haven't come up with such an explanation (lie?).

I hear you there. It only takes an extra 15 secs. to clear out caps of stored energy.

Yes that's exactly what i mean, you can never be too cautious with these things. Think about the possible amount of time you waste if there's errors caused by old data in cmos and you just keep banging your head against the wall... Happened to me

So is it so then, BETA BIOS v1006 cannot be flashed with any version of Afudos? I was told by many ASUS BETA testers not to use Live Update cause of some sort of curruption like in 907. Somebody confirm?

Yes i read that on asus forums too, after flashing it with asus update It worked for me, flawlessly (but i only tested it for a day or less) but oblviously i wouldn't do it again, better believe beta testers. Actually i didn't even try maximus bios -> MF1006 with Afudos, i only know that rampage -> MF1006 won't work. I don't know why i flashed in windows, i guess i got bored by flashing in dos Of course it's always better to flash in dos if possible.

Unfortunately i didn't know about S3 issues in MF1004, otherwise i would have testet it in MF1006. Actually i asked you about it but didn't get an answer http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...postcount=4729

[Brama]

All right I changed the skew to 300ps on both channels, same timings, stable 32M.

Do you mean delayed skew?

[Nuckin_Futs]

I know it was mentioned somewhere in our forum, but I cant find it again. What Windows based app, not DOS, can display the RAM sub timings, mainly the trd so mentioned in here? Speaking only of MF BIOS, can can the 2x 2gb OCZ FLEX II or likewise from corsiar, be tweaked in MF BIOS if following same timings as Tony earlier mentioned, without the skew and specific trd? I tested mine with added NB v to 1.55 and it felt more sluggish and only got hotter, I reverted back to 1.52v. This is on my E6750 rig, the Q6600 only needed 1.53 max but also does OK on 1.52 w/ 2x 1gb RAM on the 5:6.

[beard]

Do you mean delayed skew?

I think he advanced it, as Tony did in his miniguide.

Every day i get more convinced that this board is like women, i'm glad i've learned to be patient with them...

[icecpu]

I got blue screen randomly when window is loading. Prime 95 stable 8 hrs small FFT and blend, memory test pass 2 hrs no problems.
What is the problem here ???
Anyone experience same thing ??

setting
Extreme Tweaker
Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up : Auto
CPU Ratio Setting : 9
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 333
FSB Frequency : 455
PCIE Frequency : 110
DRAM Frequency : DDR2-1093
DRAM Command Rate : 2N
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel A : Auto
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel B : Auto
DRAM Timing Control : Manual
Cas# Latency : 5
Ras# to Cas# Delay : 5
Ras# Pre Time : 5
Ras# Act Time : 15
Sub-Timing [3-35-6-3] [8-3-5-4-6-4-6] [14-5-1-5-5]
DRAM Stactic Read Control : Auto
Ai Clock Twister : Stronger
Ai Transaction Booster : Manual
Common Performance Level : 07
Pull-In of CHA : (all Disabled)
CPU Voltage : 1.406
CPU PLL Voltage : Auto
North Bridge Voltage : 1.57
DRAM Voltage : 2.12
FSB Termination Voltage : 1.46
South Bridge Voltage : 1.050
SB 1.5V Voltage : 1.50
Loadline Calibration : Enabled
CPU GTL Voltage Reference : 0.63x
NB GTL Voltage Reference : 0.67x
DRAM Controller Voltage REF : DDR2_REF +10mv
DRAM Channel A Voltage REF : DDR2_REF +10mv
DRAM Channel B Voltage REF : DDR2_REF +10mv
CPU Spread Spectrum : Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum : Disabled

[scottath]

Extreme Tweaker
Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up : Auto
CPU Ratio Setting : 9
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 333
FSB Frequency : 455
PCIE Frequency : 110
DRAM Frequency : DDR2-1093
DRAM Command Rate : 2N
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel A : Auto
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel B : Auto
DRAM Timing Control : Manual
Cas# Latency : 5
Ras# to Cas# Delay : 5
Ras# Pre Time : 5
Ras# Act Time : 15
Sub-Timing [3-35-6-3] [8-3-5-4-6-4-6] [14-5-1-5-5]
DRAM Stactic Read Control : Auto
Ai Clock Twister : Stronger
Ai Transaction Booster : Manual
Common Performance Level : 07
Pull-In of CHA : (all Disabled)
CPU Voltage : 1.406
CPU PLL Voltage : Auto
North Bridge Voltage : 1.57
DRAM Voltage : 2.12
FSB Termination Voltage : 1.46
South Bridge Voltage : 1.050
SB 1.5V Voltage : 1.50
Loadline Calibration : Enabled
CPU GTL Voltage Reference : 0.63x
NB GTL Voltage Reference : 0.67x
DRAM Controller Voltage REF : DDR2_REF +10mv
DRAM Channel A Voltage REF : DDR2_REF +10mv
DRAM Channel B Voltage REF : DDR2_REF +10mv
CPU Spread Spectrum : Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum : Disabled

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...postcount=4744

If i set my Crucial sticks to either of these settings will they work properly?
Mine are unstable [haven't done memtest - just in general - eg unable to install Crysis, blend Prime fails when small doesn't etc]
OR
If someone has my sticks [Crucial Ballistix 6400 2gb 4-4-4-12] can they give em a set of settings - as auto still doesn't work [see above paragraph]

EDIT: For the guy above me - What BSOD? [ERROR CODE 0x00000xxx or any particular files?]

[masska]

I got blue screen randomly when window is loading. Prime 95 stable 8 hrs small FFT and blend, memory test pass 2 hrs no problems.
What is the problem here ???
Anyone experience same thing ??

setting
Extreme Tweaker
Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up : Auto
CPU Ratio Setting : 9
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 333
FSB Frequency : 455
PCIE Frequency : 110
DRAM Frequency : DDR2-1093
DRAM Command Rate : 2N
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel A : Auto
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel B : Auto
DRAM Timing Control : Manual
Cas# Latency : 5
Ras# to Cas# Delay : 5
Ras# Pre Time : 5
Ras# Act Time : 15
Sub-Timing [3-35-6-3] [8-3-5-4-6-4-6] [14-5-1-5-5]
DRAM Stactic Read Control : Auto
Ai Clock Twister : Stronger
Ai Transaction Booster : Manual
Common Performance Level : 07
Pull-In of CHA : (all Disabled)
CPU Voltage : 1.406
CPU PLL Voltage : Auto
North Bridge Voltage : 1.57
DRAM Voltage : 2.12
FSB Termination Voltage : 1.46
South Bridge Voltage : 1.050
SB 1.5V Voltage : 1.50
Loadline Calibration : Enabled
CPU GTL Voltage Reference : 0.63x
NB GTL Voltage Reference : 0.67x
DRAM Controller Voltage REF : DDR2_REF +10mv
DRAM Channel A Voltage REF : DDR2_REF +10mv
DRAM Channel B Voltage REF : DDR2_REF +10mv
CPU Spread Spectrum : Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum : Disabled

I had some issues with getting stable OC, random blues and no post at all sometimes. I'm pretty sure it was the ram and timings. I eventually got stable with the settings bellow, with the maximus I found leaving as much as possible on auto worked the best. But I also think this mobo is very fussy with ram and in particular with the Ballistixs.
My Bios v1004 Settings

Ai Overclock Tuner: [Manual]
OC From CPU Level Up: [Auto]
CPU Ratio Control: [9]
FSB Frequency: [400]
FSB Strap to North Bridge: [400M]
PCIE Frequency: [100]
DRAM Frequency: [800]
DRAM Command Rate: [2T]
DRAM Timing Control: [Manual]
CAS# Latency: [5]
RAS# to CAS Delay: [5]
RAS# Precharge: [5]
RAS# Active Time: [15]
RAS# To Ras# Delay: [Auto]
Row Refresh Cycle Time: [Auto]
Write Recovery Time: [Auto]
Read To Precharge Time: [Auto]
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]
Ai Clock Twister: [Auto]
Transaction Booster: [Auto]
Boost Level: [0]
CPU Voltage: [1.4500v]
CPU PLL Voltage: [1.6v]
North Bridge Voltage: [1.59v]
DRAM Voltage: [2.20v]
FSB Termination Voltage: [1.5v]
South Bridge Voltage: [1.150v]
Loadline Calibration: [Enabled]
CPU GTL Reference: [0.63x]
North Bridge GTL Reference: [0.67x]
DDR2 Channel A REF Voltage: [Auto]
DDR2 Channel B REF Voltage: [Auto]
DDR2 Controller REF Voltage: [Auto]
SB 1.5V Voltage: [Auto]
NB LED Selection: NB Volt
SB LED Selection: SB Volt
CPU LED Selection: CPU Volt
Voltimeter LED: Disabled
CPU Spread Spectrum: Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum: Disabled

[Dostoyevsky77]

...mind sharing what you said to her? It's been almost 8 years now and I haven't come up with such an explanation (lie?). [/url]

"We have already invested $X0,000 into [this/these] system(s). Unless we regularly maintain that investment, it will be the equivalent of flushing that money down the toilet".

The initial justification is harder, but it should go something like this: "I am going to the strip club with the guys unless you can think of a reason why I should stay home".

[masska]

if you'd botherd to research b4 making comments you would know that CRUCIAL SAID IT.

Engineers at Crucial have invalidated the compatibility listing for X38/48 boards. As of 3/7/2008 Crucial no longer lists X38/48 as a compatible chipset for their DDR2 800 and DDR2 1066 sticks of Ballistix Tracers.

Grnfinger I'm interested to know how you came accross this information.
I'm also a member of 'ocforums' and your name and comments are linked on my thread (http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.p...07#post5589307). I'd like to know if there is proof to your statements, as I've been having issues with my sticks and do not plan to RMA them again.

[beard]

"We have already invested $X0,000 into [this/these] system(s). Unless we regularly maintain that investment, it will be the equivalent of flushing that money down the toilet".

The initial justification is harder, but it should go something like this: "I am going to the strip club with the guys unless you can think of a reason why I should stay home".

thanks, i'll try those

[masska]

thanks, i'll try those

beard, just interested to know how are you finding the 'black dragons' on the maximus, and what timmings are you using?
I've had lots of issues with the ballistixs and I'm waiting for the RMA. Once I get the new ones I'll try again and if they give me the same problems again, I'll toss them and try another brand...

[beard]

beard, just interested to know how are you finding the 'black dragons' on the maximus, and what timmings are you using?

Well, i must admit i'm not quite sure. They do ok @ approx. 1120, with auto timings, 5-5-5-18... Unfortunately i have to go no, will write more later. Here, spyrus (he's like pro in ram things) has maximus and geils http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=178828

[Grnfinger]

Grnfinger I'm interested to know how you came accross this information.
I'm also a member of 'ocforums' and your name and comments are linked on my thread (http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.p...07#post5589307). I'd like to know if there is proof to your statements, as I've been having issues with my sticks and do not plan to RMA them again.

The information originally comes from http://www.blazingpc.com/forum/showt...830/index.html

After searching the Crucial site myself I was unable to confirm this.
So seeing as I might have posted false information I called Crucial myself.
The only ram compatible with Maximus Formula is PC5300
This problem with ram dying prematurely has been ongoing since the board came out.

[trt740]

Well, i must admit i'm not quite sure. They do ok @ approx. 1120, with auto timings, 5-5-5-18... Unfortunately i have to go no, will write more later. Here, spyrus (he's like pro in ram things) has maximus and geils http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=178828

I have a set of Geil Evo 1gb x 2gb DDR2 8500 and they won't boot in this board faster than DDR2 800

. Here is my kit number GE22gb1066c5DC

[trt740]

The information originally comes from http://www.blazingpc.com/forum/showt...830/index.html

After searching the Crucial site myself I was unable to confirm this.
So seeing as I might have posted false information I called Crucial myself.
The only ram compatible with Maximus Formula is PC5300
This problem with ram dying prematurely has been ongoing since the board came out.

http://www.crucial.com/store/listpar...herboards&cat=

does not list Ballistix DDr2 8500 as compatable does anyone know of some ram that is for the love of God

[Zucker2k]

This right here is why you get a Maximus...

8x533, PL9 (no advanced ram tweaks), 4x2GB G.Skill 1000, 2.0v.

[Stelios]

And this is why you should buy a rampage ...

PL is 9 with CL5 memories ... and i can also use 8 when running at CL4.
Of course it can do more in my cascade . I have done tests at 590+ 3dstable . Spi can run much higher .

[Vixx]

This board has killed 4 sets (8GB) of Ballistix PC8500 since January, and that was running at stock voltages! Although I've been a big Ballistix fangirl for many years, I've finally resorted to trying other sticks in my MF/RF rigs.

Kingston HyperX PC8500 does 485 reliably and 505 with occasional BSODs, but I'm still searching for something else that will give me consistent performance and reliability.