ASUS Striker II Extreme

[Roger_D25]

Thanks Bench! By the way I spent some serious time on your site and I'm very impressed! I kept thinking, "if I ever made my own site this is just how I would do it", lol! With that said sorry about your cooling problems, must have been dissapointing!

[OBR]

Maybe the 266 default FSB causes this bottleneck. Try if setting the FSB directly to 401 works.

i tryed everything, this chip i can OC on Maximus Extreme to 450MHz FSB ... thats not problem, but on Striker II Extreme cannot to break
350MHz ... with any multi ... anyone with 65nm Quad and SIIEx here? With my QX9650/X3350 is not problem to get 450MHz FSB but with Kensfield is not possible.

[Qwik]

I need help... I loaded 702 bios and now OS will not load it saids it can not find hard drives? I am using Vista 64 and repair console doesn't see a hard drive installed. I tried reinstalling windows and it will install fine untill it has to reboot, an then I get a boot error. I have tried reloading both XP and Vista and tried to reflash to bios 0511 which I was using. I have tried bios 0701, 0702, and 0703, I have 0603 currantly installed. I loose hard drives after every install now. I have ran all the test on my drives and they pass and raid controller passes all test also. I feel like my MOBO is FUBAR again, the on boad chip is corrupt. I left battery out of MOBO for 24 hours also it made no difference, so should I RMA MOBO again or is my propblem else where ya think?

[cptkoulis]

i tryed everything, this chip i can OC on Maximus Extreme to 450MHz FSB ... thats not problem, but on Striker II Extreme cannot to break
350MHz ... with any multi ... anyone with 65nm Quad and SIIEx here? With my QX9650/X3350 is not problem to get 450MHz FSB but with Kensfield is not possible.

i replaced my 8500 with a Q6600 for a weekend just for some tests.I had no trouble running it at 3600 using a TRUE120.

I managed to hit 475 FSB/4275 MHz(not stable) using my custom single stage

All tests while having quad-sli,raid-0 and 4x1GB ram "on board"

Bios 0507

[hyb]

i replaced my 8500 with a Q6600 for a weekend just for some tests.I had no trouble running it at 3600 using a TRUE120.

I managed to hit 475 FSB/4275 MHz(not stable) using my custom single stage

All tests while having quad-sli,raid-0 and 4x1GB ram "on board"

Bios 0507

What were your bios setting m8 i am stuck? can only get 3.4 think it was 1500 fsb

cheers

[Roger_D25]

I need help... I loaded 702 bios and now OS will not load it saids it can not find hard drives? I am using Vista 64 and repair console doesn't see a hard drive installed. I tried reinstalling windows and it will install fine untill it has to reboot, an then I get a boot error. I have tried reloading both XP and Vista and tried to reflash to bios 0511 which I was using. I have tried bios 0701, 0702, and 0703, I have 0603 currantly installed. I loose hard drives after every install now. I have ran all the test on my drives and they pass and raid controller passes all test also. I feel like my MOBO is FUBAR again, the on boad chip is corrupt. I left battery out of MOBO for 24 hours also it made no difference, so should I RMA MOBO again or is my propblem else where ya think?

Sometimes when you flash the BIOS gets reset (in fact you should always load defaults settings after flashing, at least I do). In anycase go through all your BIOS settings and make sure your HDD settings are setup correctly for your setup! The default BIOS settings are not always proper for your particular HDD setup, that is most likely why your not picking up the drives when you load Windows.

OBR - Any luck yet, doesn't make much sense? I've talked to two friends over at Guru3D who have been able to clock over 450Mhz with their Q6600 on the S2E (they were using 0508 and 0511 respectivly). Good luck man, must be frustrating!

[Qwik]

Sometimes when you flash the BIOS gets reset (in fact you should always load defaults settings after flashing, at least I do). In anycase go through all your BIOS settings and make sure your HDD settings are setup correctly for your setup! The default BIOS settings are not always proper for your particular HDD setup, that is most likely why your not picking up the drives when you load Windows.

OBR - Any luck yet, doesn't make much sense? I've talked to two friends over at Guru3D who have been able to clock over 450Mhz with their Q6600 on the S2E (they were using 0508 and 0511 respectivly). Good luck man, must be frustrating!

Yes, I all ways clear c-mos and reset everything after a bios flash, problem it seems is boot files are not loading after system reboots. I can install Windows and get windows updates and change all may settings and load drivers and everything, but as soon as I reboot for the first time my boot file are corrupt, what could cause this?

[M@G!C]

Yes, I all ways clear c-mos and reset everything after a bios flash, problem it seems is boot files are not loading after system reboots. I can install Windows and get windows updates and change all may settings and load drivers and everything, but as soon as I reboot for the first time my boot file are corrupt, what could cause this?

Try to raise your VDIMM voltage.. Just a bit (+0.02v to +0.04v) and see if that helps...

[Roger_D25]

Yeah I didn't realize you had already loaded Windows (thought you couldn't get do that). With that said I think Magic is right, probably an issue with instability, specifically with the RAM (as the DRAM seems to be causing most of the data issues, either not enough voltage like Magic said, timings too tight, clockspeed too high), etc.... Besides that stuff now sure what it could be, I assume this has never happened before right?

[Qwik]

Yeah I didn't realize you had already loaded Windows (thought you couldn't get do that). With that said I think Magic is right, probably an issue with instability, specifically with the RAM (as the DRAM seems to be causing most of the data issues, either not enough voltage like Magic said, timings too tight, clockspeed too high), etc.... Besides that stuff now sure what it could be, I assume this has never happened before right?

I have tried loading with everything at defalt mobo settings, and setting everything at hardware manufacture settings, niether made a difference. when I clear c-mos the bios defalts to 2.4GHZ (450x6) kinda wierd. running Mem at 1333MHz or 1600 or 1800MHZ makes no difference so far, I am figuring bios chip has to be bad. just keeps loosing boot setting in both XP or Vista, niether OS will reboot.

[OBR]

i replaced my 8500 with a Q6600 for a weekend just for some tests.I had no trouble running it at 3600 using a TRUE120.

I managed to hit 475 FSB/4275 MHz(not stable) using my custom single stage

All tests while having quad-sli,raid-0 and 4x1GB ram "on board"

Bios 0507

Post your setings for Q6600 ... i am at BIOS 703, i will try 0507 will see

[cptkoulis]

if my memory seves me right,it was:

memory UNLINKED
Loadline calibration ON
CPU PLL 1,6
CPU VTT 1,6
NBCore 1,54
SBCore 1,75
everything else @default/auto

some of these values may be very high
no big deal for me as i used the Qcore only for for a couple of hours/tests

[OBR]

I think my Striker is ready to RMA, i suppose my BIOS chip is bad ...

Look at my problems, if you have not similar issues ... my board will be RMAed.

1. If i set anything in BIOS, then Save + Exit, my board totally shut off. Its not possible to power on again, i have to unplug AC cord and plug in there again, after that Striker is ok and is booting with my previous settings ...

2. I cannot to break 350MHz FSB with kensfield (on X38 Express is stable at 3600MHz) , and after setting higher FSB (even 10MHz) board is not posting and on LCD panel is CPU Init. I have to reset CMOS.

3. This same happens with E8400 (on X38 Express is stable at 4GHz) and FSB higher then 440MHz. Board behave exactly like in point 1. I tryed every possibilities and settings (two ram kits too) and the same results ...

4. With Q9450/X3350 is max super stable FSB 450MHz with no problem ...

[nuclearjock]

1. If i set anything in BIOS, then Save + Exit, my board totally shut off. Its not possible to power on again, i have to unplug AC cord and plug in there again, after that Striker is ok and is booting with my previous settings ...

This is reason enough to RMA...

I wish they would stop using chimpanzees in their Q/A department.

[Lu(ky]

This is reason enough to RMA...

I wish they would stop using chimpanzees in their Q/A department.

Try throwing them a banana or two and they may just help you.

[Roger_D25]

OBR - Yeah I have yet to have any of those problems (although I haven't tried a 65nm quad-core). I have however run an older E6850 with no problems at all up to 510Mhz FSB (but didn't have time to fully test stability). I have never had any major issue with the BIOS like you have either, interesting? I do know however that I'd probably go mad if I was experiences all those problems, especially because I'd know that eventually I'd have to deal with Asus customer service which will certianly drive me mad! If you do end up RMA'ing can you go through the vendor you purchased the board through or do you have to RMA with Asus? If you have to RMA with Asus can you please share you experience with us throughout the process? With that said it might be a bit too far off-topic so maybe it would be best to PM that information? In anycase I really hope your experience will be completly different than most (I'd love to be proved wrong about Asus customer service just once)!

[hyb]

Hi peeps,
Here is one for ya i am on 0402 bios and its been fine on 3ghz temps are mint and its been stable,
But one thing its doing lately is freezing at random times and i have to hold power button and restart

Is it worth a bios flash and which one is best?


cheers

[Whizzer]

For anyone interested, I could not get my Q6600 to run or boot at 3.6 using 400x9 settings, but right now, it's running very stable at 450x8, stock voltage on everything safe the CPU (1.475V). This is with BIOS 0507. I tried all of them up to 0601, but 0507 was the only stable one with that overclock. Might try one of the 070x releases, see if they can fix my SLI problems (sometimes my rig does some weird stuff when gaming, flashing screens, doesn't do them if I remove one video card or disable SLI, happens with nearly all recent nVidia drivers, be it beta or final).

[Roch]

That sounds like an issue with the SLI bridge, it could be seated incorrectly or faulty?

[Holmer]

#Roger_D25 Thank you for the settings. I found out that my Corsair memory is not stable at the rated 1600 MHz (unlinked with FSB 1333 and default multi). I could not pass Prime95 or OCCT RAM tests at 1540 neither synked/linked or unlinked with FSB + MEM 1540. I do not longer believe all the memory I buy is faulty. I will thoroughly Memtest at stock settings (1333) and RMA this motherboard. I have played with the GTL_REF0+1 settings without luck. The errors I get are memory related since I can pass CPU intensive tests but not memory intensive tests.

I finally got my new Striker II Extreme back from RMA. I went straight to BIOS 0703. I have exactly the same issus getting my memory stable at around 1600 MHz (Unlinked, and CPU at stock speed). I have not bothered to install my watercooling and I am using the Intel stock cooler and the stock TIM under the heatpipe system. I have messed around with the overvoltage settings but kept the memory timings at:
P1+P2: Auto, 7-7-7-20-2T, rest auto (I have tried tCL 8 as well). Memory voltage is set to 1.86.
At Memspeed 1600, unlinked I get random frezes, round errors within the first loop in SuperPi 32M. At defalult Memspeed (1333) I can pass 2 h OCCT RAM test and SuperPi 32M.
Am I totally ignorant here or is this MB just sucking big time? Does it require weeks of tweaking/woodo/wambojambo to run your memory at the rated speed even without overclocking the CPU on this MB? I think I have worked with this MB for some time (please read page 16-17 i this thread) I have a 2x2GB Corsair TW3X4G1800C8DF G on the way. If the result is the same I say no more SIIE and hello P5E64 WS EVOLUTION.
If you have any experiences with BIOS 0703 I should know about or important settings I may have missed please let me know.

[Tyke]

I finally got my new Striker II Extreme back from RMA. I went straight to BIOS 0703. I have exactly the same issus getting my memory stable at around 1600 MHz (Unlinked, and CPU at stock speed). I have not bothered to install my watercooling and I am using the Intel stock cooler and the stock TIM under the heatpipe system. I have messed around with the overvoltage settings but kept the memory timings at:
P1+P2: Auto, 7-7-7-20-2T, rest auto (I have tried tCL 8 as well). Memory voltage is set to 1.86.
At Memspeed 1600, unlinked I get random frezes, round errors within the first loop in SuperPi 32M. At defalult Memspeed (1333) I can pass 2 h OCCT RAM test and SuperPi 32M.
Am I totally ignorant here or is this MB just sucking big time? Does it require weeks of tweaking/woodo/wambojambo to run your memory at the rated speed even without overclocking the CPU on this MB? I think I have worked with this MB for some time (please read page 16-17 i this thread) I have a 2x2GB Corsair TW3X4G1800C8DF G on the way. If the result is the same I say no more SIIE and hello P5E64 WS EVOLUTION.
If you have any experiences with BIOS 0703 I should know about or important settings I may have missed please let me know.

I had the same issues at 1600MHz with my QX9650, but I can run 1600MHz fine with my QX9770. Perhaps the later bios fixes the issues with your processor.

[Holmer]

The new motherboard and/or BIOS 0703 is more unstable than the original SIIE with BIOS 0603. Will revert to at BIOS tested with the original MB
Trying memspeed 1800 8-8-8-24-2T gave BSOD and even 1500 is not stable within the rage om voltages tested.
Memtesting overnight at everything stock except primary memory timings and memory voltage (set to default as specified).
Have tried to disable SLI without luck. Will try to use only one graphics card.

Anybody else observing extreme jumps in the memory voltage reading in Asus PCProbe? I guess it is a software bug but my eyes nearly poped out first time I saw a warning message and a memory voltage of 3.3 V ;-)

[BenchZowner]

The new motherboard and/or BIOS 0703 is more unstable than the original SIIE with BIOS 0603. Will revert to at BIOS tested with the original MB
Trying memspeed 1800 8-8-8-24-2T gave BSOD and even 1500 is not stable within the rage om voltages tested.
Memtesting overnight at everything stock except primary memory timings and memory voltage (set to default as specified).
Have tried to disable SLI without luck. Will try to use only one graphics card.

Anybody else observing extreme jumps in the memory voltage reading in Asus PCProbe? I guess it is a software bug but my eyes nearly poped out first time I saw a warning message and a memory voltage of 3.3 V ;-)

Software readings can't be used at all, not even as "reference points" for comparisons on the same mobo with different settings.

If you want to find out how much voltage your S2E pumps through your RAMs then use the measurement points in the picture ( about 2 pages back ) with a DMM ( Digital MultiMeter ) or just check the chart webwilli made using my measurements.

[Roger_D25]

BenchZowner is correct (not that he needs my OK of course) but I would take your software "readings" with a grain of salt! If your not comfortable with using a DMM (multi-meter) to measure the "actual" voltages on the board I believe that BenchZowner has posted his own voltage read measurements somewhere around here? Although these voltages might not reflect your "actual" voltages it will be much closer than any software will be I think! BenchZowner do you remember where you posted those voltage reads?

[BenchZowner]

BenchZowner is correct (not that he needs my OK of course) but I would take your software "readings" with a grain of salt! If your not comfortable with using a DMM (multi-meter) to measure the "actual" voltages on the board I believe that BenchZowner has posted his own voltage read measurements somewhere around here? Although these voltages might not reflect your "actual" voltages it will be much closer than any software will be I think! BenchZowner do you remember where you posted those voltage reads?

Measurement Points:
Striker II Extreme Voltage Measurement Points

Measurements:
BIOS Setting - BIOS Reading - DMM Reading - DMM Idle Windows - DMM Load Windows
CPU:
1.30V - 1.34V - 1.338Vs - 1.336Vs - 1.344Vs
1.40V - 1.44V - 1.438Vs - 1.436Vs - 1.446Vs
1.425V - 1.45V - 1.463Vs - 1.460V-1.461V - 1.47Vs
1.45V - 1.50V - 1.491Vs - 1.485Vs - 1.496Vs

RAM:
1.90V - 1.93V & 1.95V - 1.958Vs - 1.959V-1.960V - 1.963V-1.964V
1.92V - 1.95V & 1.96V - 1.978Vs - 1.978V-1.979V - 1.983V-1.984V
1.94V - 1.96V & 1.98V - 1.998Vs - 1.998V-1.999V - 2.003V-2.004V
2.10V - 2.14V & 2.16V - 2.159V-2.16V - 2.159V-2.16V - 2.163V-2.164V

p.s. I'll post more alternative measurement points later.
For the RAM there's one in the front side, in-between the two blue capacitors next to the last DIMM slot ( the one furthest away from the CPU ) on the top free pad.