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

[CapnKirk.]

If it has to be SLI capable and DDR2 ram you don't have a lot of options... XFX and EVGA also make 780i boards, and then there's the MSI board:
http://www.cbcnz.com/images/134769-cbcnz.JPG
What's so terrible about your current Asus 780i if I may ask?
Mine's perfectly stable, video issue is gone with 1401 bios too....

tnx for reply, NB heat problem, sb heat too which gets sucked right into one of my 8800 ultra fan and makes that hot.

bios issues, mostly voltage not saving and fed up with no support, been buying asus mobos a long time, should have known by now.

yeah some peeps get a good board and it all gels together.

tnx tho

[CapnKirk.]

CapnKirk
Nice HP blackbird case you have (I've read your posts in other forums ... )
This is not the right place to get your answers since "no asus BS for you anymore".

whys that? is this forum for asus boards only?
been sleeping like craapp, so maybe i didn't realize.

heh! tnx for replying tho.

[Marios]

This thread is for ASUS Striker II Formula tho.

[Kevin1970]

OK I put the ram at default 800mhz with default timings. And i made the changes that Marios suggested to the voltage. Things have been fine since last nite, but that doesnt mean much. But i did run memtest for like 6 hours and not one error. So really good. Maybe it was a settings issue. Hopefully

[Kevin1970]

So i fixed my issue. At least i believe i did. I had another issue with wierd bad sounds on call of duty 4. so i looked online and it turns out the X-fi was useing the same irg as the video cards. It's turns out irq_not_less_or_equal can also be related to this issue. I couldnt change the irg within windows and neither thru the bios. but was able to change pci slots. When i did it fixed the sound issue. and maybe the BSOD's. But i wont know for sure yet. Hopefully i dont get any more.

[CapnKirk.]

This thread is for ASUS Striker II Formula tho.

That's exactly why I'm asking in this thread.

I have had it with the ASUS Striker II Formula and since everyone in this thread has one just like myself, what people would be better qualified to ask, "what would your second choice be besides the ASUS Striker II Formula?"

[Kevin1970]

2nd choice for a mobo would be a intel chipset not nvidia. If i didnt have a 30inch monitor and a need for SLI. If i could do it over i would have opted for some two dies on a card video cards like the X2.

[nugzo]

I've been playing with a MSI P7N diamond the past few days. Surprisingly i was able to reach the same settings as my Striker II F. 3dmark scores seem to be a little slower but all in all i'm very surprised and impressed. i was looking for a slolution to give me 3way SLI and room for a sound card.. I found it! this Asus Xonar D2X PCI-e Card sounds 100000 times better than the Striker sound. For those of you fed up with the striker you may want to check this diamond out. Heres a thread here at XS about it. Here are some of my numbers. I've been able to match the striker OC easily.

[Marios]

ASUS Striker II Formula BIOS build 1401
Enjoy and report any bug!

Very good BIOS. Thank you.
Did you change it yourself?
Could you tell us more about this BIOS?
I cannot see any obvious differences from 1305.
Though I think it's a bit faster with games and very stable.
Actually it is so stable that I am afraid to change anything and check if I can get a better overclocking.

Bug report.
Nothing new. The old ones like
- Setting HT multi at 200x6 gives 200x4.5=900
- After setting FSB over 1199, then we cannot go under 1200
- tRD setting makes no difference.

[pmp]

Your welcome.
I'll post detailed change log tommorow, today i'm kinda busy

[71 (Bryan)]

ok, so im dont read this thread frequently enough, now my question is:
the video corruption thing that you guys were talking about with 130x bios, did you guys mean bsod when watching videos?
since my pc is not 100% done i dont have aby videos on it but most of the times that i watch videos on you tube, i get bsod

[Marios]

Your welcome.
I'll post detailed change log tommorow, today i'm kinda busy

Ok. We can wait.
Is it OK to flash BIOS from easy flash, or should we use awdflash? Does it make any difference?
It's too hot here to check max FSB with 1401. Should I expect anything better from this BIOS?
Trying to check for bugs, I think auto vcore and auto CPU vtt do not adjust higher when overclocking in my case (Q6700 at 3375MHz - multi x10).
Not sure though. Anyway I never use auto settings.

[Kevin1970]

Another issue. perhaps same as a issue b4. came home from work and pc had crashed while i was at work. lcd poster said DET DRAM. I retarted and it wouldnt restart past det dram. i pulled the plug and let it sit 1 min. then it was fine. Vista reported the errror, and the solution was....

"A problem with a NVIDIA nForce(TM) SATA Driver driver has caused your computer to shut down and restart unexpectedly. This type of problem is commonly referred to as a "stop error" or "blue screen."

This problem has been fixed in Windows Vista Service Pack 1."

I have SP1, so why am i haveing a crash?

What software version should i install of the NVIDIA nForce(TM) SATA Driver?

I have the current version 9.46 installed for 780i

And device manager says i have the most current version.

[Marios]

Another issue. perhaps same as a issue b4. came home from work and pc had crashed while i was at work. lcd poster said DET DRAM. I retarted and it wouldnt restart past det dram. i pulled the plug and let it sit 1 min. then it was fine. Vista reported the errror, and the solution was....

"A problem with a NVIDIA nForce(TM) SATA Driver driver has caused your computer to shut down and restart unexpectedly. This type of problem is commonly referred to as a "stop error" or "blue screen."

This problem has been fixed in Windows Vista Service Pack 1."

I have SP1, so why am i haveing a crash?

What software version should i install of the NVIDIA nForce(TM) SATA Driver?

I have the current version 9.46 installed for 780i

This is not a mobo problem. Though I have a few suggestions for you.
Check your system hard disk for errors.
Check you hard disks in case you have enabled spread spectrum and adjust the BIOS accordingly.
Start Run cmd and type "sfc /verifyonly"
In case it reports errors fix them from you backup.
A few SATA DVD drives are the source of problems.
X-fi is another source of conflicts in many cases.
You may remove them for a while to exclude compatibility issues.

Remove all nforce Nvidia drivers from control panel. We only need SATA or RAID drivers. Manually check in device manager the list of SATA drivers. In case you haveone you are OK. Otherwise install those you installed in the past one by one with manual update and then check the box to uninstall AND delete each driver. This way you end up with the original Vista SP1 driver.
Now install 9.99 SATA drivers (this is on the previous Nforce version 9.64).

I prefer to enable RAID for all SATA Ports in BIOS and set all my disks as jbod with F10. This way I install the SATA RAID drivers only. Try it. It works. Be careful not to choose "clear the contents of the disk" during this conversion. Add one disk or DVD each time, convert it and then add the next one. Convert to jbod your system disk also and set it as boot (notice the B mark).
You only have to install uninstall or update the Nvidia Nforce Raid controller driver from device manager from now on.

[71 (Bryan)]

can someone pls help me, i tried to flash to bios 1401 but forgot to set every thing back to stock now my pc wont even boot and im stuck on my moms pc, how can i do a bios recovery?

[Garrett]

On the back of the board, on the I/O panel, there is the RESET CMOS switch, make sure your PC is powered off before you push it though
Good luck!

[nugzo]

Another issue. perhaps same as a issue b4. came home from work and pc had crashed while i was at work. lcd poster said DET DRAM. I retarted and it wouldnt restart past det dram. i pulled the plug and let it sit 1 min. then it was fine. Vista reported the errror, and the solution was....

"A problem with a NVIDIA nForce(TM) SATA Driver driver has caused your computer to shut down and restart unexpectedly. This type of problem is commonly referred to as a "stop error" or "blue screen."

This problem has been fixed in Windows Vista Service Pack 1."

I have SP1, so why am i haveing a crash?

What software version should i install of the NVIDIA nForce(TM) SATA Driver?

I have the current version 9.46 installed for 780i

And device manager says i have the most current version.

You are using outdated drivers. nvidia is listing 15.17's at their site. I've been using them for a while with absolutely no issues.

[71 (Bryan)]

that doesnt undo a corrupt bios, tried it already, it keeps asking me for a boot disk and something about drive A

[nugzo]

can someone pls help me, i tried to flash to bios 1401 but forgot to set every thing back to stock now my pc wont even boot and im stuck on my moms pc, how can i do a bios recovery?

page 4-8 in the asus manual for bios recovery. (basically put your asus driver disk in the rom. it has backup bios)

[71 (Bryan)]

does it have to be in an ide drive cuz i only have sata drives and it doesnt work =(

[Marios]

Just put the ASUS DVD on a master IDE or SATA 1 port SATA DVD drive and in case of a bad BIOS the motherboard recognizes the situation and performs an automated BIOS recovery.

If the above doesn't work try this.
Any bootable floppy is OK to flash a new BIOS.
Use the autoexec.bat to enter the commands for awdflash.
Check a few posts back for the commands and the link to download the proper awdflash version.

If the none of the above works, you don't have a corrupted BIOS.
In case you have too tight your CPU cooler relax it.
Remove your dimms. Leave only one. Remove the battery for a few hours.
Put it back on and press the clear cmos button. Turn on your PC and press del to enter BIOS.

[71 (Bryan)]

im pretty sure i have a bad bios, all was well with 1303 but i got alotta bsods when watching videos on youtube so i decide to gotto 1401 and i forgot to set everything back to stock and after the flash this immediately started happening
the weird part is that it specifically asks for "A drive Floppy..."
so i guess that i cant flash from a disk =(, i already took out the ide dvd drive out of my moms pc (might have bricked it (whole pc ) in the process) so im on my dads laptop now and im basically screwed since i dont have a floppy drive, i might borrow my neighbors drive but i still dont have a floppy disk, God, my life sucks

[Marios]

This also happened to me after a bios flash in the past on another mobo.
I was sure the BIOS was corrupted but it wasn't.

Did you check your keyboard?
You might need new batteries. Check the connection.

A floppy drive costs 5$ but you don't need it.
Try what I said. Trust me.

[Kevin1970]

This is not a mobo problem. Though I have a few suggestions for you.
Check your system hard disk for errors.
Check you hard disks in case you have enabled spread spectrum and adjust the BIOS accordingly.
Start Run cmd and type "sfc /verifyonly"

A few SATA DVD drives are the source of problems.
X-fi is another source of conflicts in many cases.
You may remove them for a while to exclude compatibility issues.

Remove all nforce Nvidia drivers from control panel. We only need SATA or RAID drivers. Manually check in device manager the list of SATA drivers. In case you haveone you are OK. Otherwise install those you installed in the past one by one with manual update and then check the box to uninstall AND delete each driver. This way you end up with the original Vista SP1 driver.
Now install 9.99 SATA drivers (this is on the previous Nforce version 9.64).

I prefer to enable RAID for all SATA Ports in BIOS and set all my disks as jbod with F10. This way I install the SATA RAID drivers only. Try it. It works. Be careful not to choose "clear the contents of the disk" during this conversion. Add one disk or DVD each time, convert it and then add the next one. Convert to jbod your system disk also and set it as boot (notice the B mark).
You only have to install uninstall or update the Nvidia Nforce Raid controller driver from device manager from now on.

"sfc /verifyonly" showed itegrity issues. i reviewed the file it made, but i havent a clue what it all means. I don't know where the spread spectrum settings are in the OS. i looked at the drives in device manager and nothing.

This problem began a few days after i got my new striker 2 to replace a broken striker 2. I was getting Bsod for no known reason. i reinstalled the os and still got them. I had learned later the issue might have been the sound card being on the same irg as both the video cards. so i swapped pci slots and the sound card is now on it's own irq. i believed the issue to be fixed utill today. I never had this issue with the old board. And all the hardware is the same. Perhaps cause the irq issue caused some damage to the OS software. and even when i reinstalled the OS i had the sound card still sharing the same irq as the video cards cause i didnt know of that issue. Maybe i need to reinstall the OS again. What do you think? And also how would Repair errors reported from the "sfc /verifyonly" if i can't figure out what the error is?

Also i dont need RAID, but how do i install just the sata drivers. Is there a download just for them?

Another thing. When i had issues with the last mobo i thought it might be the hard drive and i took out the main drive and installed vista on one of the 2 other drives i have in. Now that i erased the instal on that drive the drive is still showing up as a active partition. is this a problem?

[sammajidi]

Hey all,

I have really enjoyed catching up with this thread! Thanks for sharing...

After all the great tips i got here, it would only be appropriate to share the fruits!

for me, 450x9 is the sweet spot. FAST, but not, imo, too much juice. (orthos/everest/occt stable) Striker/8400 with the following settings:
vcore=1.43750v
nb=1.5v
sb=1.6v
cpuvtt=1.2v
cpupll=1.6v
8GB Mushkin #996599 @ 900 (1:1) 5-5-5-15 2.00v
(it works equally well with 8GB of Hyper-X)

At above 4.05Ghz, core temp's will MAX out around 64-65c under orthos/occt, and this is after a few hours. during Crysis they will not reach 50c...


Regarding the latency issue: Does this only apply to 8GB? I know with 4gb @ 475 I do not experience it. I will double check with 8gb. (most attached pics are with 4GB)


I just got the system stable @ 4275Mhz...
vcore=1.52500v (too much for 24/7)
vram=2.2v
cpugtl=+110
nbgtl=+110
nb=1.52v
sb=1.60v
cpuvtt=1.30v
cpupll=1.60v

it is perfectly stable, however will run too hot under stress (occt=74-75c!). I am Air cooling with a Noctua NHU-12P. Stays under 65c in Crysis.

I have not done any sort of lapping... I am sure that would be a huge heat/power improvement. That project is on the to-do list...

500x9 boots and runs windows fine. it can handle Everest benchmark, but no stress tests. it takes1.6v to do it!


3x 8800GTX's + overclocked cpu/nb/sb (a notoriously HOT nb at that) = serious heat management issues. but it can be done effectively with a little work. I can post a follow-up on this w/pics if anyone is interested.


Thanks to all for the great advice/research!


Sam