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

[nugzo]

do ya think a bios update could fix the problem if there was a bios update to fix this issue?

I just don't think the quads are capable of the same bandwidth as the c2d's. Good old 680i days is right. I always hated that my memory bandwidth was so low with my q6600 vs my e6600 with exact same settings.

[Hor$eman]

Though I can run my ram at 1200, any FSB over 450 with a divider not 1:1 decreases the bandwidth and increases the latency.
I now run, as per previously suggested by Nugzo, synced at a 1:1 ratio for any Bus speed over 450.
Even though it runs my ram at lower than capable speed of 1200 (PC9600 Patriot Viper Pin), linked and synced 1:1 yields best results.

I'm now going to work my clock up (starting at 4050 Mhz) to find the fastest stable speed (on air). I think I'm at about the limit to what I can achieve on 3DMark 06 with my system as is, though if I come up with any breakthroughs, I will let you guys know.

[The0men]

You cannot compare duals and quads, mostly there's also a difference between 45 and 65nm CPU's... it's all bios/cpu/ramtype/ram amount/divider related like in the good ol' 680i days...

Very true this is, but it still bugs me that I cannot even get below 67ns when my RAM is at 533mhz 4-4-4-12 and tight as hell subtimings.

Doesn't matter what divider/multiplyer/FSB or even using 1GB of RAM.... It just wont drop the latency, while it's not so noticeble in games I can sure feel it in any type of benchmark.

[Hor$eman]

Keeping the FSB below 451 works...

[Hor$eman]

Well, I was running a good series of benches, up to 4500 Mhz, got a new 3DMark high score, and my second video card crapped out... second one this month... wait... lol, it's working again. I need to make a heat deflector from the southbridge fan.

[nugzo]

Well, I was running a good series of benches, up to 4500 Mhz, got a new 3DMark high score, and my second video card crapped out... second one this month... wait... lol, it's working again. I need to make a heat deflector from the southbridge fan.

Do you have any pics of your NB/SB coolers? How much better are your temps? Also what are you using for the voltage regulators since you removed the heatpipes? My MCP stays at around 55c under load with the stock heatpipes and AS5. No sure what the NB is running. I see your running SLI. I gues tri-sli would be out of the question with aftermarket cooling right? My second 9800gtx will be here today, and my 3rd next week. I was jealous of your 20k 3dmarks... Not for long though

[The0men]

Keeping the FSB below 451 works...

As has been said... Only for duals.

[Nits]

^^ and that seems to go for the synced/linked mode too. Quads (or my one at least) don't seem to like it. I tried about 30 different ratios last night, and all of the linked ratios I came across, either didn't want to boot or were poor performers when it came to benchmarks.

I was reading about straps/dividers, and it seems as though that might have something to do with it, but I have no idea what settings on this MB affect that.

I did however manage to boot up @ 3.8GHz, but it seemed more sluggish than 3.6GHz, and I couldn't get back in again since I didn't make a note of the settings!

[holystarlight]

I just reinstalled windows and I installed the nForce drivers (9.64) on nVIDIA website and noticed my computer running slower than before, and then I remembered I used a different set of drivers before I formated, and had a look for them again. Found them on station-drivers website, nForce 15.15. Did a few tests and they seem to perform a lot better then the 9.64 drivers, but I dont recommend installing the raid drivers on these new nForce driver they seem little unstable, So if you wanna test them download 9.64 install them, and then upgrade to 15.15. When it gives you the option on installing different components don't install the Displaydriver and the RAID drivers, so in other words your just updating the SMBus Driver, Ethernet Driver and SMU Driver.

nForce 15.15
Display Driver (v164.01) WHQL
Ethernet Driver (v67.76.1) WHQL
SATAIDE Driver (v10.3.0.21) WHQL
SATARAID Driver (v10.3.0.21) WHQL
RAIDTOOL Application (v10.3.0.21)
SMU Driver (v1.45) WHQL
SMBus Driver (v4.64) WHQL
Installer (v5.84)

And the other nForce 9.64

Ethernet Driver (v67.74) WHQL
Network Management Tools (v67.74) "Sedona"
SMBus Driver (v4.62) WHQL
Installer (v5.73)
SataRAID Driver (v9.99.09) WHQL
SataIDE Driver (v9.99.09) WHQL
RAIDTOOL Application (v9.99.09) "Sedona"

[Hor$eman]

Good call on the Bus Drivers.

It finally allowed me to run a full 4500 Mhz bench, a nice little increase over previous. At this point, and increase of 100 is a huge deal to me, hehe. I need another 300 to get in the top ten bench for the 8800GT at EVGA
20491
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=6725418

Nugzo,

I will post some pics tonight. The pic as my avatar shows the coolers, but I've changed things around since that pic.

[holystarlight]

Sweet cant wait to see.

[Hor$eman]

As promised.

[naTTan]

So horseman what is your current voltage settings? or the most stable one you were able to achieved?

[Hor$eman]

Not the most perfect lapping job, but reduced temps for sure. I couldn't find any grit smaller than 400, so used rubbing compound.

Also here, you can see what I did with the fets. I simply snipped the pipes off after removing the heatpipe assembly, and put them back on.

Not seen. The SLI chip was showing, so I added a GPU heatsink to that.

[Hor$eman]

Bios, not actual:
4050 Mhz 1800 Freq at 1.4125 works well, but 1.4250 gives a little headway.
4500 Mhz 2000 Freq at 1.6125 works well, but if benching, I up it one or two settings.

[Hor$eman]

^^ and that seems to go for the synced/linked mode too. Quads (or my one at least) don't seem to like it. I tried about 30 different ratios last night, and all of the linked ratios I came across, either didn't want to boot or were poor performers when it came to benchmarks.

I was reading about straps/dividers, and it seems as though that might have something to do with it, but I have no idea what settings on this MB affect that.

I did however manage to boot up @ 3.8GHz, but it seemed more sluggish than 3.6GHz, and I couldn't get back in again since I didn't make a note of the settings!

When i say synced, it says so in the bios:

you can choose ratios (1:1,6:5, etc), or auto, or synced. To be synced, it will set the ram speed 1/2 of what Freq is.

[holystarlight]

As always, im keeping you guys up to date with things, so heres the new 1303 bios on asus FTP

1303

[Nits]

When i say synced, it says so in the bios:

you can choose ratios (1:1,6:5, etc), or auto, or synced. To be synced, it will set the ram speed 1/2 of what Freq is.

Thanks. Got it now, more or less I think.

This thread I found here helped, and you might find interesting reading: http://forums.extremeoverclocking.co...d.php?t=289882


Thanks for the new bios link holystarlight

[Nits]

penny dropped

Linked and in sync!

Thank you Hor$eman, holystarlight and everyone else

[CBird28]

Hi im new here

How would i go about watercooling the northbridge on these boards? because taking off the nb heatsink would mean i would have to take off the lot? im going to take it all off anyway siometime next week but if someone could give me some heads up would apreciate it,

would i have to cool the mosfets and sb seperatly if i decided to watercool the nb

[71 (Bryan)]

hey guys, what can i use to check temps, speedfans gives me them but it doesnt tell me what im looking at

[Hor$eman]

Hi im new here

How would i go about watercooling the northbridge on these boards? because taking off the nb heatsink would mean i would have to take off the lot? im going to take it all off anyway siometime next week but if someone could give me some heads up would apreciate it,

would i have to cool the mosfets and sb seperatly if i decided to watercool the nb

Yes you would have to take off the lot. Look at my post with pics above. You could cool the nb and cut the heatpipes for the sb and mosfets. I used the original mosfet coolers and went with active air cooling on the nb and sb.

For h2o, I'd suggest doing both the nb and sb, as there are blocks available to do that. The sb blocks incorporate cooling for the sli bridge too.

[Hor$eman]

hey guys, what can i use to check temps, speedfans gives me them but it doesnt tell me what im looking at

Everset ulimate, bought and paid for is the only prog that does it in win. You can check the temps in the bios too, not perfect, or you could monitor with sensors as I have done (see pics above).

[The0men]

Coretemp is good for CPU core temperature, also I find the CPUID (or CPUZ) harware monitor is pretty good
alround for lots of temperature readings although it only gives definitions like MCP temp etc,
but it pays to know what they are anyway.

You can use the asus PC probe also that came with the board. I find it to read the same
as the other utilities.

The freeware version of everest displays most of the temps, at least all of the critical ones, the ones
it doesn't display you can get off CPUZ hardware monitor (which from memory is only the HDD temps)

[CBird28]

I dont think the southbridge wb would fit with an aircooled 9800gtx which is what im planning on getting next week sometime

this is roughly where my gfx card takes up space over the sb:



and heres a pic oh the waterblock you mentiond:



see what i mean? am i making a mistake