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

[simonk]

Hey, I am currently using bios 902 with a QX9650, I see there are later bios, anyone have any advice on which one is the optimum now?

[holystarlight]

Hey, I am currently using bios 902 with a QX9650, I see there are later bios, anyone have any advice on which one is the optimum now?

I would say bios 1301 and 1303 are fine, haven't found any downsides to them or any problems, but really you have to test them yourself, some might be better than others in clocking that CPU you have, just have to found the one that hits the sweet spot for you

[holystarlight]

and heres a pic oh the waterblock you mentiond:



see what i mean? am i making a mistake

If im not mistaken you can run your GPU in the other PCI-E port with no problems, so if there is a problem with that waterblock just put your GPU in the 2nd PCI-E ports(white one or even the Blue one if your not running SLI), can test it out now if you have the time before buying the block, but sadly thats the only block that works on the Striker 2 Formula

Also just anohter thing, if you looking at watercooling other parts(NB and Mosfet) have a look at this, EK_Compatibility_NB_SB_Mosfet_04-2008.pdf has the name of the waterblocks for this board.

[CBird28]

if i wanted to run sli, which i eventually will do, you think a waterblock would clear the southbridge?

[holystarlight]

penny dropped

Linked and in sync!

Thank you Hor$eman, holystarlight and everyone else

Yay Nice one dude

[holystarlight]

if i wanted to run sli, which i eventually will do, you think a waterblock would clear the southbridge?

With the stock cooler on the 9800GTX it will definitely be a problem, but with a watercooling block on the GPU you might be able to fit the tubing, but I cant really say without having it in front of me
On the 9800 GTX with this waterblock,

Its going to be a close call, but might be able to fit.

They should rethink that design on that SB waterblock tbh

[CBird28]

well we'l find out within a week or 2, will let you know

thanks for your help

[holystarlight]

well we'l find out within a week or 2, will let you know

thanks for your help

anytime, wish I could help more tho

[Hor$eman]

Today I had a massive room cooling fan blasting air into the case from the front and side, and made a sleeve to direct air through the zalman 9700. It lowered the CPU idle from 62 to 54c, mb temp from 28 to 22c. It appears 4550 or so is the limit on air cooling. I've tried all day to beat my 3DMark record, to get in the top ten for EVGA 8800GT records and 24th HwBot, but just can't do it. I only need about 150 points for the EVGA records.

I note that those above and below my scores are all water cooled

I guess the next step is to vMod my GPUs

My power usage was at a peak today, hehe.
Sensor 1: Air passing past CPU
Sensor 2: NB
Sensor 3: SB
Sensor 4: RAM

[Hor$eman]

penny dropped

Linked and in sync!

Thank you Hor$eman, holystarlight and everyone else

Nice numbers Happy to have been of help

[Nits]

Unfortunately, despite the nice numbers, I'm having to go back to 3.6GHz since the voltages are a bit too much for my liking to get 3.7 stable. I only managed 4 hrs of P95 @ 3.7. It's strange, but @ 3.6 I get better bandwidth/latency with it un-linked, but @ 3.7 linking it really does seem to boost bandwidth/latency scores!

Hadn't realized, but leaving PLL and VTT on auto was over-volting those settings past safe levels (as far as I could tell). PLL was above 1.60 and VTT was 1.44 according to Everest.

[holystarlight]

Unfortunately, despite the nice numbers, I'm having to go back to 3.6GHz since the voltages are a bit too much for my liking to get 3.7 stable. I only managed 4 hrs of P95 @ 3.7. It's strange, but @ 3.6 I get better bandwidth/latency with it un-linked, but @ 3.7 linking it really does seem to boost bandwidth/latency scores!

Hadn't realized, but leaving PLL and VTT on auto was over-volting those settings past safe levels (as far as I could tell). PLL was above 1.60 and VTT was 1.44 according to Everest.

Im using the same overclock as you did

but sadly my bandwidth/latency isn't the same even tho your using a quad core like myself. got everything stable with not over volting anything, Everest reports, Vcore 1.45v CPU VTT 1.40v CPU PLL 1.50v NBcore 1.48v SBcore 1.55v Dimm 2.00v
and temperatures around 40-42 on core 1/2 and on cores 3/4 around 37 idle and on load its around 62-65 on core 1/2 and core 3/4 around 56-58

[Nits]

but sadly my bandwidth/latency isn't the same even tho your using a quad core like myself. got everything stable with not over volting anything, Everest reports, Vcore 1.45v CPU VTT 1.40v CPU PLL 1.50v NBcore 1.48v SBcore 1.55v Dimm 2.00v
and temperatures around 40-42 on core 1/2 and on cores 3/4 around 37 idle and on load its around 62-65 on core 1/2 and core 3/4 around 56-58

That's odd. I wonder if its because of my 12Mb L2 Vs your 8Mb (IIRC) L2?

My volts for 3.7 were actually just about OK (if you consider Vcore 1.39 to be safe!), but one of my cores was hitting 70 degrees C under load, and it required at least 1 more vcore notch up to be stable. I think I might give it one more try, even though I'm a little worried about the heat!

[holystarlight]

Im not sure about your CPU and the safety levels but for my CPU what I class as safe for a short amount of time (1 hour or 2) on full load is anything lower than 68c on the cores, but ideally you would want to keep the CPU under 60c but in that case a water cooling system would be needed with a high end clocked CPU like ours, and for the voltage anything lower than 1.55v with efficient cooling in my opinion is not a problem, AS long as you can keep it under a safe temperature level the CPU shouldn't be harmed, and even if it dies intel provides a 3 year Warranty, so just RMA it if the worst comes to the worst and say your CPU died. It's not like they can prove you overclocked it to the max. xDD

Im not really sure if it has something to do with the L2 cache that your CPU has cant see how it would make such a big difference from 8Mb L2 to 12Mb L2, but if that was the case, it might explain why you and Hor$eman dont seem to suffer from the same problem as much as I do.

[Nits]

Well Intel recommends no more than 71.4 degrees, and with upping the Vcore to keep it stable, I just hit 72 degrees running Prime95 but that probably was only very briefly. I'm hoping its the tight ram timings that are preventing me from being fully stable @ 3.7, and that I can reduce the Vcore a bit...

Not sure if it means anything but I failed prime @ 2hrs, then @ 4hrs, and then @ 2hrs again, even though the Vcore went up one notch every time I tried again Perhaps I need to look at some other settings?

I'm determined not to kill this chip, but if I do there's no RMA since I lapped it At least if I do kill it, the price for a replacement has dropped by £60 since I bought it 3 weeks ago lol

[holystarlight]

Well Intel recommends no more than 71.4 degrees, and with upping the Vcore to keep it stable, I just hit 72 degrees running Prime95 but that probably was only very briefly. I'm hoping its the tight ram timings that are preventing me from being fully stable @ 3.7, and that I can reduce the Vcore a bit...

Not sure if it means anything but I failed prime @ 2hrs, then @ 4hrs, and then @ 2hrs again, even though the Vcore went up one notch every time I tried again Perhaps I need to look at some other settings?

I'm determined not to kill this chip, but if I do there's no RMA since I lapped it At least if I do kill it, the price for a replacement has dropped by £60 since I bought it 3 weeks ago lol

Lol, Try using OCCT for testing stability, gives accurate testing from my experience, but you might wanna disable the bulit in temperature readings in that program and use something like Real temp,
have you manual set the votlages in the bios btw? because sometimes it overloads it when its not even needed and can case some issues and unnecessary heat,
I remember when I forgot and left OCCT on and went out and got home few hours later and Real temp said that my CPU was running at 81c and my face just dropped...and at the speed of light I switched my computer off and lowered the voltages and left it for a few hours to cooldown, was so scared that I cooked my CPU but luckly it was only running at that temperature for a few minutes xD

[DarkDisciple]

I will be getting an e8400 processor, and plan to run a pair of 8800gts G92s. I have heard great things about this motherboard both in terms of quality and tweakability. Sadly I have heard that this motherboard has some heat issues. I can't afford water cooling, and it gets a bit warm in the computer's room during the summer. Is this still the board for me? A more expensive board is also not really an option.

[holystarlight]

I will be getting an e8400 processor, and plan to run a pair of 8800gts G92s. I have heard great things about this motherboard both in terms of quality and tweakability. Sadly I have heard that this motherboard has some heat issues. I can't afford water cooling, and it gets a bit warm in the computer's room during the summer. Is this still the board for me? A more expensive board is also not really an option.

Hard to say, but the heat issue is that the NB gets very hot, but if you keep the voltage low within a stable range and have good airflow in your case I cant see it being a problem, This Motherboard requires good airflow or you will run into problems, but for me I have somewhat good airflow and it gets to around 63c max and I haven't run into any problems with it running at that temperature even tho it is on the hot side, it does seem that the motherboard can take them kind of temperatures,

[Nits]

Lol, Try using OCCT for testing stability, gives accurate testing from my experience, but you might wanna disable the bulit in temperature readings in that program and use something like Real temp,
have you manual set the votlages in the bios btw? because sometimes it overloads it when its not even needed and can case some issues and unnecessary heat,
I remember when I forgot and left OCCT on and went out and got home few hours later and Real temp said that my CPU was running at 81c and my face just dropped...and at the speed of light I switched my computer off and lowered the voltages and left it for a few hours to cooldown, was so scared that I cooked my CPU but luckly it was only running at that temperature for a few minutes xD

Was going to test using OCCT after prime

Yeah I was a little worried that the MB may be overvolting, I'm not sure what's a good range to be in for most of the voltages though, so I've only set a few things - Vcore, PLL/VTT and Vdimm. You can see the voltages in one of the screenshots I posted I think.


Anyway, I gave up on 3.7 for now (perhaps try again next January!) and tried a few more FSBs, and came up with one that is almost as good @ 1840:920 (3.66GHz) in linked/sync mode

[Sem]

im thinking of replacing my maximus formula with this board cause i want to run an SLI setup

is it able to run a Q9450/X3350 @ 450FSB 24/7 with possibly some active NB cooling?

[Phil The Greek]

im thinking of replacing my maximus formula with this board cause i want to run an SLI setup

is it able to run a Q9450/X3350 @ 450FSB 24/7 with possibly some active NB cooling?

I have run a QX9650(same core)@460fsb 1hour dual orthos stable.So I think you won't have a problem

[Donster]

guys how is this board with the newest bios? stable ? peforms well? and is it the best 790I solution ?

Many thanks

[Phil The Greek]

Sorry wrong picture.This is with 9650 but @450.Anyway I am sure I have also done 460 with 9650 too.

[Donster]

oops i just realised this is a 780i board

[Nits]

im thinking of replacing my maximus formula with this board cause i want to run an SLI setup

is it able to run a Q9450/X3350 @ 450FSB 24/7 with possibly some active NB cooling?

Yes. I'm zeroing in on 3.66 on a Q9450 for 24/7 use now, and this is my first real try at overclocking. 3.7 or even 3.8 might be possible too if you get a good combination. If you luck out and get a bad combination, 3.4-3.5 might be the most you can do.

I had to lap my cpu/heatsink in order to get past 3.5, but that was easy to do, and well worth the 2-3 hrs it took.

Unless you get a board with a really bad NB (in which case just RMA it), just get a 40x40x10mm fan and screw it on the NB heat sink with 3mm screws, and you should have no problems. You might not even need to do this if your CPU HSF circulates air in the NB area.