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

[Grnfinger]

Zen is running his ram at 2.26 volts (bios) unless he has changed something

[Dostoyevsky77]

My PSU fried a couple days ago. I put in a replacement (Tt 1200w), and now I have a problem:

I can only POST at BIOS defaults. If I change ANYthing in BIOS that requires a cold restart (any OC change), the system will shutdown immediately after restart (it only comes on for a fraction of a second). HOWEVER, if I change anything in BIOS that doesn't require the cold restart (like changing the boot priorities), it's fine.

The only way to POST after it's failed the cold restart is to reset CMOS (at this point, the POSTer still reads, "EN SETUP"). This works 100% of the time and it will even load the OS with no problems at BIOS defaults.

I've re-flashed and even tried flashing back to Maximus BIOS, but I still have this problem. I've swapped out RAM and the video card, which has no difference.

Could it be a PSU problem? Or is my board fried? Kudos to anyone who can help me diagnose this.

This was caused by the processor. Some of you may remember that I got a new board and continued to have the problem. It APPEARED as though all I had to do was hold the power switch for five seconds to restart after a failed BIOS restart. Despite 8 hours stable, other instabilities became evident. I got a new E8400, and that seems to have returned everything to normal.

Just an FYI in case someone else has the same problem and suspects the board.

[aussie-revhead]

I hear ya,memtest returned more than 400 errors for me. Played arround with timings for ages with these sticks and nearly did my head in. Are yours Tracers, I didn't notice.
These are the settings that worked the best for me;
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]
DRAM Voltage: [2.20v]

Everything else was left to auto.Ran and stressed fine for a while, then they died.I'm still waiting for the returns.Yesterday I was speaking to the guy from Crucial and after a long discussion about the issues these sticks have with the Maximus, he recommended to replace my sticks with 5300's.I told him 'no way'. He basically admited there has been a lot of issues with x38 and Maximus and that it was due to an incompatible bios. After all that he then went on to say that he would replace my red tracers with the black ones, as they have slightly lower lat. It doesnt make any sense to me because on their website specs, they are both the same.
Also just before mine RIPIECES, did a validation http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=349653 (check out slot 3).
Something dodgy going on here

Very odd mate ....

I got this mobo as I thought this would allow me to get the most out of my q6600 and ram , and thats why I got a gx2 over SLi - to suit this mobo and combo . The issues with this are getting too much - the cold boots , ram issues and fsb limitations they impose - I hope they sort out a nice fast bios for us before I sell up . I would like to see a 4870x2 or a 9900GTX on this , unless I sell up first .

[masska]

I wouldnt sell up just yet aussie, I know this board has got some issues but its mainly to certain brands of ram (namely Crucial).Apart from that I think its a great mobo and with the right ram and bios, this thing works really well and very stable.I've had no issues with it except the ram. My Tracers should be comming back in a couple of days.I'll give them another go with the 1201 bios, and see how she goes. If it kills my sticks again, I'll toss the Tracers and get some OCZ or Corsair.At least I know there is no issues with these and lots of guys & gals are getting very decent numbers.

[aussie-revhead]

Yeah I would rather hold onto this mobo and sort it right out in time for new vid cards release.

[trt740]

For RAM in sig @ 2.24v (5:6 @ 500x8) (I cant get strap 266 to hold stable for 1204 at my 480x8)

DRAM Frequency: [DDR2-1201]
DRAM Command Rate: [2T]
DRAM Timing Control: [Manual]
Primary Info : 5-5-5-18-3-50-7-4
CAS# Latancy: [5]
RAS# to CAS# Delay: [5]
RAS# Precharge: [5]
RAS# Active Time: [18]
RAS# to RAS# Delay: [Auto] = 3
Row Refresh Cycle Time: [50] = 50
Write Recovery time: [7] = 7
Read to Precharge Time: [4] = 4

Secondary Info : 8-3-5-4-6-4-6
Read to Write Delay(S/D): [Auto] = 8
Write to Read Delay(S): [Auto] = 3
Write to Read Delay(D): [Auto] = 5
REad to Read Delay(S): [Auto] = 4
Read to Read Delay(D): [Auto] = 6
Write to write Delay(S): [Auto] = 4
Write to Write delay(D): [Auto] = 6
DRAM Static Read Control: [Enabled]
Ai Clock Twister: [Moderate]
Transaction Booster: [Disabled]
Relax Level [0]

Anybody have any luck with the 1200MHz divider when 480FSB (the 266 strap)? I cant get it stable. What area of loosening might halp? 5:6 on 333 strap is fine.

Your ram must be slightly better than mine won't boot higher than 1192 and whats crazy is it hates the 8x multi

[aicjofs]

I know this board has got some issues but its mainly to certain brands of ram (namely Crucial).

Everyone keeps saying this. Exactly what sticks are you guys talking about?(I'm not saying it's NOT an issue, just wanting to know what sticks in particular) The single sided 8 chip PC8500 are terrible for sure, but that's on any board. I just popped a pair of double sided Ballistix PC8500's batch 16fd5 in and they run great at 1300DDR(650Mhz), I benched with them all night and I didn't even start tightening up timings. I did have to manually adjust the skew.



What does bug me is that I just can't get 45nm CPU stable at 450MHZ FSB, 440-450 seems to be about the max I can get and even that is hardly stable. So I am forced to drop way down to 430 range for stability(something that will Prime for at least 8 hours)

[ZenEffect]

Zen is running his ram at 2.26 volts (bios) unless he has changed something

2.26 bios 2.35 real (max rated voltage for my ram)

[chawks2]

I just popped a pair of double sided Ballistix PC8500's batch 16fd5 in and they run great at 1300DDR(650Mhz), I benched with them all night and I didn't even start tightening up timings. I did have to manually adjust the skew.

WOW Excellent. I just wished you posted this 1-2 days earlier and I would have had these cherry picked sticks in my apt.

[jVIDIA]

2.26 bios 2.35 real (max rated voltage for my ram)

And the other voltages ?

[aicjofs]

I just wished you posted this 1-2 days earlier and I would have had these cherry picked sticks in my apt.

Heh...sorry my Ballistix only come out to play on special benching occasions...lol. They stay in a drawer until bench time. I have 4 of the 16fd5's and I can't sell them to anyone(for a reasonable price anyway) because no one wants to buy them after all the bad publicity(and rightfully so, way too many sticks of the PC8500 died around the world)

[MurderCityDevil]

ok, i'm stuck, hopefully some of you guys can point me in the right direction. I started doing a serious attempt at methodically overclocking my q6600 g0 to 3.8. I got my first glimpse of stability at 5 hours prime95 doing small fft's. I'm running the rampage 0308 bios. Here's my last stable settings (they're not complete, but you get the general idea)

FSB - 423
Multiplier - 9
Strap - Auto
Memory clock - 846, timings on auto (5-5-5-15)
Clock twister - lighter
no other settings fiddled with, except loadline callibration on to help vdroop and both spread spectrums disabled.

cpu voltage - 1.50625
Nb - 1.53
FSBT - 1.52
DRAM - 2.01
cpuPLL - 1.62

^^ these are the values set in bios, btw.

So I got 5 hours with those settings before a BSOD. I thought I would up the FSBT to 1.54, so I did, and then only got 2 hours before a crash. I don't know what is keeping me back. Can someone please help me out? I know I can be stable at 3.8, i just don't remember my old "sweet spot" settings.

edit: my memory is 2x1gb sticks of crucial ballistix tracers 8500. i don't think any of my other components come into play here.

[ZenEffect]

And the other voltages ?

Extreme Tweaker
Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up : AUTO
CPU Ratio Control : Manual
- Ratio CMOS Setting : 9
FSB Frequency : 450
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 400
PCI-E Frequency: 110
DRAM Frequency: DDR2-1200
DRAM Command Rate : 2T
DRAM Timing Control: Manual
CAS# Latency : 5
RAS# to CAS# Delay : 5
RAS# Precharge : 5
RAS# ActivateTime : 18
RAS# to RAS# Delay : 3
Row Refresh Cycle Time : 50
Write Recovery Time : 6
Read to Precharge Time : 3

Read to Write Delay (S/D) : 8
Write to Read Delay (S) : 3
Write to Read Delay (D) : 5
Read to Read Delay (S) : 4
Read to Read Delay (D) : 6
Write to Write Delay (S) : 4
Write to Write Delay (D) : 6

Write to PRE Delay : 14
Read to PRE Delay : 5
PRE to PRE Delay : 1
ALL PRE to ACT Delay : 5
ALL PRE to REF Delay : 5

DRAM Static Read Control: Enabled
Ai Clock Twister : Strong
Transaction Booster : Manual

Common Performance Level [6]

Pull-In of CHA PH1 Disabled
Pull-In of CHA PH2 Disabled
Pull-In of CHA PH3 Disabled
Pull-In of CHA PH4 Disabled
Pull-In of CHA PH5 Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH1 Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH2 Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH3 Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH4 Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH5 Disabled

CPU Voltage : 1.56875
CPU PLL Voltage : 1.62
North Bridge Voltage : 1.59
DRAM Voltage : 2.26
FSB Termination Voltage : 1.56
South Bridge Voltage : 1.050
Loadline Calibration : Enabled
CPU GTL Reference : 0.67X
North Bridge GTL Reference : 0.67X
DDR2 Channel A REF Voltage : DDR2-REF
DDR2 Channel B REF Voltage : Auto
DDR2 Controller REF Voltage : Auto
SB 1.5V Voltage : 1.5

[jVIDIA]

[Nuckin_Futs]

Zen is running his ram at 2.26 volts (bios) unless he has changed something

Wow!!! I just need to point out to those complaining of Crucials going bad too soon on any mobo is often this, set too high BIOS vdimm, knowing this mobo overvolts, and not cooling propperly. and since most are just stressing the rig 24/7 till it dies, no wonder. If thats what you like, cool. Racers do it, build an engine for 1 race and do it again next week. If you can afford it, go for it, just for the scores. I'm speaking mainly of the Crucials, but 3.5v is way much for any D9 or RAM for that matter w/o good cooling.

Everyone keeps saying this. Exactly what sticks are you guys talking about?(I'm not saying it's NOT an issue, just wanting to know what sticks in particular) The single sided 8 chip PC8500 are terrible for sure, but that's on any board. I just popped a pair of double sided Ballistix PC8500's batch 16fd5 in and they run great at 1300DDR(650Mhz), I benched with them all night and I didn't even start tightening up timings. I did have to manually adjust the skew.

What does bug me is that I just can't get 45nm CPU stable at 450MHZ FSB, 440-450 seems to be about the max I can get and even that is hardly stable. So I am forced to drop way down to 430 range for stability(something that will Prime for at least 8 hours)

Where do you read the batch # (sticker or PCB, or iC's), cause I got 2 good sets too, and just wanna note for the record. Do you know what chip IC #s yours has? I do know mine are the early double sided 16 ic black PCB. I will state that the stock aluminum cooling is poor for what they need. I replaced w/ ThermalRight HR-07 quickly, since the aluminum models were barely making contact with half the ic's. Again, as I stated way back, this was a big issue, but easily solved. I too can hit 1300MHz but 1266 is more steady for heat and vdimm. Just cool to know they can. I never needed more then 2.28v w/ trd 60 to 1266MHz. 2.22v @ 1153MHz trd 50.

[Grnfinger]

Wow!!! I just need to point out to those complaining of Crucials going bad too soon on any mobo is often this, set too high BIOS vdimm, knowing this mobo overvolts, and not cooling propperly. and since most are just stressing the rig 24/7 till it dies, no wonder. If thats what you like, cool. Racers do it, build an engine for 1 race and do it again next week. If you can afford it, go for it, just for the scores. I'm speaking mainly of the Crucials, but 3.5v is way much for any D9 or RAM for that matter w/o good cooling.

Many Crucial ram kits are dying with NO overclock even running below stock volts. The web is full of these reports. I do agree with you that 2.26 bios 3.5 actual is way to high for 24/7 use for a few hundred points in Everest. In a real world enviroment you could not tell personally from 1200 ram to 1080 ram, even 900 ram running 4-4-4-12 would be very close.
However this is EXTREME Systems not Mediocre Systems

[eternaljammer]

Yes, the crucial single sides dimms are just plain crap. They are very often appearing doa or crapping out after normal use(no ocing). It is a pretty sad day when you say crucial and as an enthusiast say stay way. I really can't wait until they start producing better dimms.

[masska]

Wow!!! I just need to point out to those complaining of Crucials going bad too soon on any mobo is often this, set too high BIOS vdimm, knowing this mobo overvolts, and not cooling propperly. and since most are just stressing the rig 24/7 till it dies, no wonder. If thats what you like, cool. Racers do it, build an engine for 1 race and do it again next week. If you can afford it, go for it, just for the scores. I'm speaking mainly of the Crucials, but 3.5v is way much for any D9 or RAM for that matter w/o good cooling.


Where do you read the batch # (sticker or PCB, or iC's), cause I got 2 good sets too, and just wanna note for the record. Do you know what chip IC #s yours has? I do know mine are the early double sided 16 ic black PCB. I will state that the stock aluminum cooling is poor for what they need. I replaced w/ ThermalRight HR-07 quickly, since the aluminum models were barely making contact with half the ic's. Again, as I stated way back, this was a big issue, but easily solved. I too can hit 1300MHz but 1266 is more steady for heat and vdimm. Just cool to know they can. I never needed more then 2.28v w/ trd 60 to 1266MHz. 2.22v @ 1153MHz trd 50.

I dont know about the others but my Tracers were at stock when they died.I never had the chance to OC them.There's too many people having issues with these OC'd or not to take notice. I was speaking to one of the techs at Crucial yesterday and he admitted they've had heaps of RMA's on the x38 and Maximus, now thats not to say they are all bad, maybe its a bad batch or simply a bios issue like he said. I'm expecting my returns anyday and I'll have another go with them.The last thing I want to do is get rid of them (love those leds) but if they give me problems again with this new bios, I will toss them

[MurderCityDevil]

can anyone help me with my 3.8 overclock? I posted my settings up a few posts ago, was wondering if some of the regular posters in this thread could give a few tips.

[Grendel66]

I remember somebody asking of, or spaking of USB issues on certain BETA BIOS. I am experiencing issues with USB ports off one of the hubs from mobo internal on a duplex cable and it is so far on only one of the 2 (ie the top is fine well the bottom drops in and out through the day). I only started since testing on BETA v1004, and I noticed when using iPod docked while playing MP3's it continuously droped out and back in in auto play throught the day and I moved it to 2nd of the 2 ports on case hub to mobo and it is fine. I will test for another set of onvboard headers to confirm, but it may be a bad connection or wire. It is on my 2nd case, Antec P-160 w of almost 5yrs old.

Sorry for the late resonse, haven't been online for a few days.. I have the exact same problem w/ a USB 1.1 HID device I'm developing, it would drop the connection randomly once or twice over an evening. Moved it to the 2nd case port and it worked ever since. BIOS 1004, haven't tried 1201 yet. Not using S3.

[Zucker2k]

can anyone help me with my 3.8 overclock? I posted my settings up a few posts ago, was wondering if some of the regular posters in this thread could give a few tips.

These are my settings for 3.825Ghz and 8GB on Max Formula running with RF bios 0401 (highly recommended):

Extreme Tweaker
Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up : AUTO
CPU Ratio Control : Manual
- Ratio CMOS Setting : 9
FSB Frequency : 425
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 266
PCI-E Frequency: 110
DRAM Frequency: DDR2-1066 (4:5) or you can sett to DDR2 850 (for 1:1)
DRAM Command Rate : 2T
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 : Auto (for 52, can't be set manually in bios)
Write Recovery Time : 6
Read to Precharge Time : 3

Read to Write Delay (S/D) : 8
Write to Read Delay (S) : 3
Write to Read Delay (D) : 5
Read to Read Delay (S) : 4
Read to Read Delay (D) : 6
Write to Write Delay (S) : 4
Write to Write Delay (D) : 6

Write to PRE Delay : 14
Read to PRE Delay : 5
PRE to PRE Delay : 1
ALL PRE to ACT Delay : 6
ALL PRE to REF Delay : 6

DRAM Static Read Control: Auto
Ai Clock Twister : Auto
Transaction Booster : Manual

Common Performance Level [6]

Pull-In of CHA PH1 Disabled
Pull-In of CHA PH2 Disabled
Pull-In of CHA PH3 Disabled
Pull-In of CHA PH4 Disabled
Pull-In of CHA PH5 Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH1 Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH2 Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH3 Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH4 Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH5 Disabled

CPU Voltage : 1.5250
CPU PLL Voltage : 1.50 (had it at 1.66 at one time, I guess it had no effect)
North Bridge Voltage : 1.65 ( a little high because I'm running Oc'ed 8GBs at 1066.
DRAM Voltage : 2.1v
FSB Termination Voltage : 1.38
South Bridge Voltage : 1.050
Loadline Calibration : Enabled
CPU GTL Reference : 0.67X
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 : 1.5

Hope this helps.

[ghost_recon88]

1.52 seems pretty high for a E8400 @ 3.8GHz isn't it? My E3110 could do 4GHz with 1.3. Does the X38 chipset require more voltage clock-for-clock compared to say the P35 or P965?

[MurderCityDevil]

I was wondering if that voltage sounds about right for my q6600 g0. The temps are awfully high, but I don't know if I'll be stable yet.

[Leeghoofd]

Think he's referring to Q6600 voltage settings Ghost Recon, hasn't updated his sig ( only 2gb ram there too)

[aussie-revhead]

hmmm I think I have my ram issues greatly improved now , passed memtest at 1081 where it wouldnt pass at 450 before , but its still unstable , I just want to bench at 4ghz (or 4.1 lol)