nForce 790i SLI/Ultra chipset mobos - Reviews/OC/Guides

[BenchZowner]

Okay, I got the striker II extreme. I picked up a Q9450 and an eVGA 9800gx2.

What RAM should I get?

I'd say go for some kit that works perfectly with the S2E, a guaranteed one I might add.

Mine's rolling fine with the CellShock DDR3-1800 CL8 kit and the Super Talent W1866UX2G8 ( 2GB Kits )

[tekjunkie]

Ok so I guess the board you got is 100% brand new right? nothing looks used or refurbished?

You might have a board that overclocks better on the white slots, however, testing has not been done so I suggest you find that out

Take your time to test it and OC it
Remember if you run in any trouble try BIOS 0701, 0703 or 0704 which are the best ones for most people in here.

It didn't look like it was a refurb. All the stuff in the box was intact and nothing looked like it had been opened before.

[extremis]

IMO 1600Mhz with tight timings (ex:7-7-7-21)

What do you think about this?

OCZ (7.7.7.24) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227297

or should I go with:

G.Skill (7.7.7.18): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231167
Super Talent (7.7.7.21): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820609287

[aussie-revhead]

Hi guys , its just taken me a few hours of fiddling to get my evga 790i stable with cpu at stock (!!!) but Im new to ddr3 and most of my problem was all of the ram settings defaulted way off the mark . My ram defaults to 1333-7-7-7 1.5v so I assumed that would at least work for a baseline , this memtested fine (after increasing vdimm a little) but when it failed prime I started working on the cpu and increasing voltage made it worse . Increasing ram to 1600 made auto timings go to 9-9-9 and it still failed. In the end I manually set ram to 1600-7-7-7 and tried 1.8v and it primed for 2 1/2 hours before I powered down for the night.

Has anyone else had these hassles or is it my n00b-ness causing problems ?

With unlinked mem/cpu does that mean that when I get my ram stable I can leave it alone and trust it while I work on cpu clocks ? I never got the potential out of my L737B on my MF so Im hoping the 790i will help.

Any help would be great.



For those with sigs turned off its : EVGA 790i Ultra L737B Q6600 OCZ platinum 1600-7-7-7 2GB


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[dinos22]

OK thats done now but I am having great trouble getting this stable even at 2.4GHz , I have had maybe 15-20 goes at bios settings and the longest Prime pass has been 5 mins , it seems that the more vdimm and vcore I give it the faster it fails , very odd indeed.

i don't know your RAM but i assume they are micron based so you should not have trouble clocking them to what you require at reasonably low volts....i would however use whatever stock volts OCZ gives you so if that is 1.9v stick to that
also beware that my boards undervolt vdimm a bit so 1.95v gives me 1.91v loaded

if you want to have a go at my settings have a look at this video i did during 2133MHz RAM OCing session

just my stock settings

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNX3imOCQ_o

also ALWAYS run your RAM in black slots

[aussie-revhead]

Thanks Dino , they are in the grey slots atm so I will change them later . The OCZ website shows max voltage at 1.95 but doesnt really say what stock voltage should be , they seem to work at 1.8v but why would bios default to 1.5v ? You would think defaults should work when everything is stock , what happens to poor noobs or stocker pcs ? Do they all fail at stock settings ?

I have 11 days to get this rig cracking (before new vid cards hit the streets) and I have a qx9650 coming too .....



Thanks for the video , you said to enable P1 and P2 for greater efficiency , what does that do ? ie will it help me too ?


Also - n3wbi3 just told me I might need 2.1-2.2v for 1T but my rams defaulted to 1T so thats where I left them , is this causing problems ?


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[dinos22]

Thanks Dino , they are in the grey slots atm so I will change them later . The OCZ website shows max voltage at 1.95 but doesnt really say what stock voltage should be , they seem to work at 1.8v but why would bios default to 1.5v ? You would think defaults should work when everything is stock , what happens to poor noobs or stocker pcs ? Do they all fail at stock settings ?

I have 11 days to get this rig cracking (before new vid cards hit the streets) and I have a qx9650 coming too .....



Thanks for the video , you said to enable P1 and P2 for greater efficiency , what does that do ? ie will it help me too ?


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P1&P2 are some mysterious chipset timings that nvidia doesn't want to talk about but they tighten RAM performance like crazy.................790i is faster in superpi than any Intel chipset once you max out board and RAM which is a good indication what it does

however >> P1 and P2 will also make your OC unstable quicker particularly if you don't have the right mix of volts.... i usually start at auto settings and then change to enabled once i am happy with auto

give you RAM 1.9v in bios man it's fine

i would be very surprised if you cannot run that RAM at 1000MHz 8-7-6-20 1T at 1.9 or 1.95

[aussie-revhead]

Sweet , I will see how it goes later when I get back into it .

[slim142]

It didn't look like it was a refurb. All the stuff in the box was intact and nothing looked like it had been opened before.

Thats nice, some people get used boards sometimes...

What do you think about this?

OCZ (7.7.7.24) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227297

or should I go with:

G.Skill (7.7.7.18): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231167
Super Talent (7.7.7.21): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820609287

Check PM
I prefer G.Skill. Gave me no problems at all with this board. The other two are good too from what I heard but I never purchased them.

That's the RAM I bought with my EVGA 790i Ultra, and I've never had any trouble with data corruption, OC RAM, FSB or CPU. The EVGA board loves it.

I'm currently running it at 1700 7-7-7-18 2T @ 1.9 volts which is the voltage it's rated at.

So that's my recomendation. I never used any of the other DDR-3 RAM you've listed.

andyc

Another happy user here

[Coupa]

While we're on the subject of RAM.

I have the TWIN3X2048-1066C7 from Corsair (im cheap i know, but it was better memory or a second graphics card, guess what i chose), which is apparently 1.5v, i was wondering how much volts i can actually push through it without damaging it. What voltage would be the safe line, surely its not just 1.5v, because the S2E wont even run that low, its always sitting 1.52 ish anyway.

Some people have been getting more stability with different RAM voltages, and i cant really move it up for fear of over volting it, and the S2E doesnt allow anything lower then 1.5v, so i cant undervolt it.

I do have a RAM fan as well, if that helps at all.

[Tyke]

Okay, I got the striker II extreme. I picked up a Q9450 and an eVGA 9800gx2.

What RAM should I get?

Unless you are absolutely sure you will never need 4GB, get 2 x 2GB memory now. This board does not like 4 x 1GB at high speeds. My Corsair is running fine at 1800MHz at 8-7-7-18 2T on stock voltage, I can only get 1800MHz in the white slots.

[aussie-revhead]

OK guys , I got this thing stable at stock clocks but now anything higher and it wont boot , sometimes even freezes during POST . Even a tiny 8x400 wont boot , am I missing something ? I bumped vcore way higher than my last mobo needed and tried increasing all voltages a little but didnt go overboard. I will try 9x333 and see if that helps .

[M@G!C]

This is getting weird and more weird.....

I was stable on BIOS 0603 playing Crysis for 1 hour or so, without any issues.
Then i upgraded to BIOS 0704 with same settings, when i start to play Crysis in a minute or two (some times even in the gane menu) a have the famous screen blicking and the message "display driver as stopped working and was recovered".
I´ve tried about 10 times and same result all the times:
"display driver as stopped working and was recovered"
I can´t play more than 1 or 2 minutes. Than again back to BIOS 0603 and i play four 1 hour again with no issues.....
I think this might be related to how BIOS 0704 handles the memory controller, but i´m not sure.
I think my BOARD is in love with BIOS 0603!!! It´s just worst if i change to a newer BIOS.

[Warboy]

P1&P2 are some mysterious chipset timings that nvidia doesn't want to talk about but they tighten RAM performance like crazy.................790i is faster in superpi than any Intel chipset once you max out board and RAM which is a good indication what it does

however >> P1 and P2 will also make your OC unstable quicker particularly if you don't have the right mix of volts.... i usually start at auto settings and then change to enabled once i am happy with auto

give you RAM 1.9v in bios man it's fine

i would be very surprised if you cannot run that RAM at 1000MHz 8-7-6-20 1T at 1.9 or 1.95

Dinos, I have alot of issues running my ram in synced mode, Since i'm running at 1800 FSB, When i try 1800mhz, 8-8-8-24 2T (Since No matter what speed besides 1333mhz, I can't run 1T) I get memory errors like crazy, So what do you recommend me trying since You got DDR3 to run at 2133mhz. And I did all the right volts and everything, But couldn't figure out whats the problem.

[Dezio]

My latest result:



Enermax Infiniti 720W
Q6600 step g0
Nirvana NV120
XFX 790i Ultra BIOS P05
2GB OCZ DDR3 PC3-1440 1800MHz@1600MHz 8-8-8-24 1.90V
XFX 9800GX2 Black Edition

4.0GHz air cooled

[RLM]

OK guys , I got this thing stable at stock clocks but now anything higher and it wont boot , sometimes even freezes during POST . Even a tiny 8x400 wont boot , am I missing something ? I bumped vcore way higher than my last mobo needed and tried increasing all voltages a little but didnt go overboard. I will try 9x333 and see if that helps .

I'm pretty sure it will come down to finding the sweetspot with your gtlrefs. My q6600 worked great all the way up 4.1ghz on auto settings, but chips really do vary.

I'd setup your volts at 'more than enough' settings, like you currently have. Then try experimenting with different GTLref values. Maybe using identical figures for the first two. I would say you can probably leave the last two gtlrefs at zero.

I found that I could actually find the sweetspot in memtest. So for instance with the QX -90mv would crap out after a minute in memtest, and then -95mv would get me all the way through.

Not sure what figures to recommend, because as I say they really do vary. It could be positive figures up to 100 or negative figures. (Maybe someone here can give some better pointers)

To give an example my qx9650 seemed to top out at 4.22 ghz stability testing wise. I would then start increasing volts and getting very little result. I then set my GTL refs to -110mv for the first two and bingo. 4.25, 4.30 priming nicely.

This is a little test I managed, that surprised me today with those GTLrefs. Mem at 1.975v



RLM

[aussie-revhead]

Thanks RLM , Im just playing with my q6600 for daily use and to sort this rig out until the new video cards come out and my qx arrives , but I dont have good feelings about this mobo so far.

I saw another guy mention that he cant get past 1450 mhz fsb and mine seems to be doing that too , it will clock up to 3200 and be stable , but wont boot at 3330 . It needs heaps more vcore than my MF needed too .

I havent even touched gtlrefs , I dont understand them at all .



Edit: Are dual cores easier to work with on these mobos ? If so an E8600 might be in order.

Edit2: Does htt multi need to be changed ? (like when clocking AMDs?) I tried 4x but it didnt help . I just keep getting FF diagnostic and no display , I tried linked , unlinked rams , different slots , more voltages , less voltages , I guess I will just keep pushing glvrefs a bit more. Sometimes it gets to the windows startup options screen and freezes there .


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[RLM]

Edit2: Does htt multi need to be changed ? (like when clocking AMDs?) I tried 4x but it didnt help . I just keep getting FF diagnostic and no display , I tried linked , unlinked rams , different slots , more voltages , less voltages ,

Stick with GTLRefs dor the moment.

I guess I will just keep pushing glvrefs a bit more. Sometimes it gets to the windows startup options screen and freezes there .

When it doesn't freeze, you're getting close

RLM

[aussie-revhead]

Maybe these things do prefer 45nm processors .

Well after much searching, I have fond out this is a bios issue which only affects the Q6600 GO and the 790i. None of the other Kentsfields have this problem.
It wouldn't be so bad if I could find a Yorkfield 45mm some where, but they are very scarse ATM.

maybe thats the answer...

[dinos22]

Dinos, I have alot of issues running my ram in synced mode, Since i'm running at 1800 FSB, When i try 1800mhz, 8-8-8-24 2T (Since No matter what speed besides 1333mhz, I can't run 1T) I get memory errors like crazy, So what do you recommend me trying since You got DDR3 to run at 2133mhz. And I did all the right volts and everything, But couldn't figure out whats the problem.

have you tried unlinking the RAM?
i'm not really familiar with that asus board to be honest

[RLM]

Maybe these things do prefer 45nm processors .




Quote:
Originally Posted by bjorn3d website
Well after much searching, I have fond out this is a bios issue which only affects the Q6600 GO and the 790i. None of the other Kentsfields have this problem.
It wouldn't be so bad if I could find a Yorkfield 45mm some where, but they are very scarse ATM.
maybe thats the answer...

_________

Last comment, I know there are some genuinely dodgy 790i's out there, but don't jump on the bandwagon and write off the q6600 to soon.

I've got more out of my q6600 with this board, than any of the other board it's been in. A bit of patient tweaking that's all.

RLM

[aussie-revhead]

OK , thats what I was hoping for .

[Tyke]

I'm pretty sure it will come down to finding the sweetspot with your gtlrefs. My q6600 worked great all the way up 4.1ghz on auto settings, but chips really do vary.

I'd setup your volts at 'more than enough' settings, like you currently have. Then try experimenting with different GTLref values. Maybe using identical figures for the first two. I would say you can probably leave the last two gtlrefs at zero.

I found that I could actually find the sweetspot in memtest. So for instance with the QX -90mv would crap out after a minute in memtest, and then -95mv would get me all the way through.

Not sure what figures to recommend, because as I say they really do vary. It could be positive figures up to 100 or negative figures. (Maybe someone here can give some better pointers)

To give an example my qx9650 seemed to top out at 4.22 ghz stability testing wise. I would then start increasing volts and getting very little result. I then set my GTL refs to -110mv for the first two and bingo. 4.25, 4.30 priming nicely.

This is a little test I managed, that surprised me today with those GTLrefs. Mem at 1.975v
RLM

I think it should be negative values for quad cores, between 60% and 63% of reference voltage seems to be the accepted range. If your VTT is in the region of 1.28-1.30V then playing with values between -20mV and -120mV should give better stability (-120mV would be about 58% of reference, -20mV would be 65% of reference approximately). I only adjust the one value for the data bus of the core that is failing, not all four values.

[slim142]

I seriously dont recommend messing with the GTL refs. Im almost 100% sure everybody can get your system estable without touching GTLRefs.

Is all in the vcore, NB and VTT

[BenchZowner]

That depends m8.
For example getting my E8400 @ 550MHz stable required touching the NorthBridge GTL manually.
Auto wouldn't cut it.