Foxconn Quantum Force Black Ops X48 OC Guide (56k Warning)

[saaya]

I have tested OCZ 1600, Corsair 1333, and cellshock 1800 in the black ops board over the last few days and the OCZ seems to have a definite issue with running over 1066 speeds, no matter of of voltages and settings.

The OCZ will not even run 1 stick at 1333.

but the ocz is a 4gb kit right?
it sounds like we need to tweak the bios for 2gb sticks... did you try the g27 bios?

There is consensus that OCZ ram is to be avoided with this board, then? At least the 2gb dimms?

Perhaps the first post should be updated with this info.

no, i doubt its the ocz memory, its rather that there might be problems with 2gb sticks. then again, at least with an older bios...
i have a set of cellshock 2gb ES sticks and a set of corsair 2gb sticks and they seem to work fine... ill try to do some more testing.
i assume the default subtimings in bios dont work well for 2gb sticks, and if somebody just leaves the timings all at auto, the sticks might not work well...
ill try to get in touch with ocz and check what timings they recommend.

Bashing this nice piece of hardware - who did? Tell me and I will slap em

So back to topic, if this is the right place for.
I got most recent Beta G27 today. Compared to G25/G26 I can see a little improvement of memory stability, but that counts only for the working dividers. I still run into trouble while using Auto, 1:3, 1:3,2, 1:4 (strap 200, 266 and 400). Divider of 1:2, 1:2.4, 1:2.665 and 1:4 strap 333 performing quite well.

So here is what I experienced after a full set of settings with 4 different memory kits. Memory using was Corsair XMS2-1600 CL7 2x2.048 (only kit can run at 1T), Mushkin XP3-14400 2x.1024 (with XMP-Profile), CSX Diablo-2000 2x1.024 and CSXO-CEC3-1333 2x1.024. FSB is set to 500 and thats stable of course (@Auto and 1:4 memory should run at 1.000 MHz). CPU E8500. All memory-modules have been tested to run at 1.000 MHz on a 790i (yes I know and I will not compare to it). VDimm is set to 2.044 and measured with DMM at 2.014.

So here is the first test with Diablo-2000 CL8-24-75 2T:
Divider Auto no boot, error E1
Divider 1:2 fine
Divider 1:2.4 fine
Divider 1:2.665 fine
Divider 1:3 BIOS-Boot shows only 1 Core out of 2
Divider 1:3.2 no boot, error E1
Divider 1:4 strap 200 no boot, error C1
Divider 1:4 strap 266 no boot, error E1
Divider 1:4 strap 333 fine and primestable for 45 minutes b4 I skipped testing
Divider 1:4 strap 400 no boot, error C5

Next Test Mushkin XP3-14400 CL8-24-75 2T (XMP-Profile):
Divider Auto no boot, error E1
Divider 1:2 fine
Divider 1:2.4 fine
Divider 1:2.665 fine
Divider 1:3 BIOS-Boot shows only 1 Core out of 2
Divider 1:3.2 no boot, error E1
Divider 1:4 strap 200 no boot, error C1
Divider 1:4 strap 266 no boot, error E1
Divider 1:4 strap 333 fine and primestable for 45 minutes b4 I skipped testing
Divider 1:4 strap 400 BIOS-Boot shows only 1 Core out of 2

Next Test CSXO-CEC3-1333 CL8-24-75 2T:
Divider Auto no boot, error E1
Divider 1:2 fine
Divider 1:2.4 fine
Divider 1:2.665 fine
Divider 1:3 BIOS-Boot shows only 1 Core out of 2
Divider 1:3.2 no boot, error E1
Divider 1:4 strap 200 no boot, error C1
Divider 1:4 strap 266 no boot, error E1
Divider 1:4 strap 333 fine, but not even benchstable- the memory simply sux
Divider 1:4 strap 400 no boot, error C5

Last Test Corsair XMS3-1600 CL8-24-75 2T:
Divider Auto boot fine
Divider 1:2 fine
Divider 1:2.4 fine
Divider 1:2.665 fine
Divider 1:3 BIOS-Boot shows only 1 Core out of 2
Divider 1:3.2 no boot, error E1
Divider 1:4 strap 200 no boot, error C1
Divider 1:4 strap 266 no boot, error E1
Divider 1:4 strap 333 fine and primestable for 45 minutes b4 I skipped testing
Divider 1:4 strap 400 boot fine

same Corsair at CL8-24-75 1T:
Divider Auto boot fine
Divider 1:2 fine
Divider 1:2.4 fine
Divider 1:2.665 fine
Divider 1:3 BIOS-Boot shows only 1 Core out of 2
Divider 1:3.2 no boot, error E1
Divider 1:4 strap 200 no boot, error C1
Divider 1:4 strap 266 no boot, error E1
Divider 1:4 strap 333 fine, just not stable (you guessed
Divider 1:4 strap 400 boot fine

So what I am asking is if you guys can confirm that especially the 1:3x dividers not working as they should. I think they are pretty important to close the gap between 1:2x and 1:4. Im neither pissed nor upset, the blackops is just great (which other x48 except the evo delivers such big fsb) and even the memory-performance increased alot. But I am unhappy with the dividers. As you can see, there is a difference between memory running at 2T (cannot boot at Auto and strap 400) and the Corsair-Kit, which is able to run at 1T (boots at Auto and strap 400), also. And no, I did not tweak any memory settings in the test (I usually do, when pushing the memory clock beyond 1.000 and thats working well, but divider-problem remains. The blackops here is a media sample with factory testreport included

Any help is much appreciated.

Kind regards,
Steffi

steffi, thanks a lot!!!
thats some eally nice feedback, thanks!
yes, we are aware of the divider problems, but we focussed on getting 1:4 working well first, since thats what most people will use to bench with dualcores. with quads the middle dividers make sense, so ill ask our bios engineers to work on those dividers next.

so basically to summarize your testing:
1. auto divider seems to have issues, but surprisingly works with the corsair kit
2. 1:3 and 1:3.2 dont work at all
3. 1:4 200 and 266 strap dont work at all
4. 1:4 400 fsb strap doesnt work

im running 2100 with the 400fsb strap, so the strap does work... but somehow there are problems at default settings i guess...

you also mentioned something about command rate 2t causing problems?
what exactly is the problem there?

id say 1. is the first we should set our bios engs to work on, im sure its easy to fix as well. then what would you rather prefer as second priority? getting the 1:3 dividers working, or getting the tight straps for 1:4 working?

spikerules, where am i bashing you or anybody else?
i asked you to calm down and focus on reporting the actual problems you have instead of writing endless pots on how dissapointed and upset you are.
and i didnt blame any other manufacturer either, on the contrary, my point was that you should stop looking for the cuplrit and somebody to blame and instead focus on getting the problems fixed.
like i said, if the board is really giving you such a hard time you cant stay focussed anymore and just keep getting that upset, then just get rid of it.

how are comments like this helping anyone?

I guees it comes as no surprise seeing as though saaya has just admitted that foxconn does not test with OCZ memory and wont do until someone GIVES them free stuff.

its not true, we do have ocz memory here and we do test with it.
i personally havent tested a 4gb kit from ocz yet, but im only here for 2 weeks.

if on the other hand you are actually interested in getting it to work, then tell me what exactly is wrong and ill do my best to get it fixed.

Hey is anyone else using the Crucial Ballistix DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)? Anytime I try to run a OC windows will load I run MemTest and get errors within seconds.. I thought I read somewhere this board was having problems with memory with XMP profile? Thinking of trying another memory set. How is the G Skill on this board? Thanks...

just remove the xmp profile in case you think thats the problem.
what settings are you running?

on the foxconn it cant reach over 1066, which is WELL BELOW the preset settings for this RAM.

show me a single board or memory manufacturer guaranteeing 1600 with 4x2gb ddr3 sticks
your using 2 4gb kits, which are rated to run 1600 on their own.
you cant just put them together and expect them to work at full speed.. probably even without adjusting the memory subtimings...

Anyway, after hours of more frustration and at least 100 reboots, if not more, it started to come around. I will admit that I did not come across these settings by knoweldge, but more by accident and trying those settings others have used.

THAT is overclocking.... thats what ALL of us do!
sure, with time you get a better feeling for the hardware and timings, but there is still a LOT of trial and error... thats the fun of ocing! theres always something new you find out

shamino and i will try to drop some more notes and maybe write some quick guides to help you guys out and make it a bit easier, but basically all this trial and error is what overclocking is all about

and you get rewarded with a really fast system, like in your case.
congrats btw, thats a really nice cpu oc

Here is my 2cents...

Foxconn needs to fess up and admit they dropped the ball by not providing an adequet list of RAM not to buy; and I do not mean a super long list, but Christ man, ASUS has a nice list on the manual that tells you which memory you should look at if you want a certain FSB or RAM speed. I think that was friggin' great on part of ASUS, and they done it with X48 and P45 [at least] motherboards.

Customers need to stop blaming the board, I know I was one of them, but a board can only do what it is allowed to do by its components/BIOS. Yes, Foxconn needs to fix a lot of bugs in the BIOS, but customers also need to provide the board with adequet hardware, I mean, it's a $360-399 board why on earth would you stick cheap @$$ $100 set of RAM in it or a CPU well below an E8400 [not saying anyone in particular, just generalizing]. It just does not make sense to buy the 3rd or 4th most expensive enthusiast motherboard and provide it with crappy components. I'm not saying go out and get a QXxxxx or some other form of super expensive components, but don't get the cheapest things around and come here blasting the board; just because the board is expensive does not mean it will support every RAM stick, CPU, GPU, etc out there.

you are right... we need to post a list of tested and recommended sets of memory. and yes, we are stocking up on BIOS eng resources