ASUS Striker II Extreme

[HurinThalion]

Guys, I need some serious help right now cause I think I found the problem on my motherboard
According to what I have checked and reviewing here, I think my problem is the droop of voltages while in idle.
So please help me on this, I need to know what voltage droop causes the system to freeze and sometimes to restart so here it goes

vcore= Yes this could be the one, maybe?
PLL= This was the key for me to achieve stability on 0804, maybe adding a little more will finally let me be stable on idle?
VTT= How do you know you need more VTT? freezes? BSoDs? 1.30 (1.33 real) is what I have needed so far. dont know if I should increase this (Im almost on border line=1.36)
Memory= well, all I know is that if this was the responsable for my problems, I would get BSoDs. Could this be the one?
NB= In load 100%, but could this cause inestability in idle? I seriously dont know what to say here
SB= I have it in 1.50, is there any chance I would need more than 1.50? Im not using Tri-SLI, but all 6 SATA ports are in use, maybe this is the responsable since it has to handle a lot of hard drives? unsufficient power?
So far I think is the SB, as far as I can tell, prime95 doesnt stress the hard drives or the SB as much as it does to the NB, and this might be the reason why Im not stable specially since Im using all SATA ports.

Ok , Im not covering my eyes and trying to think that I have the perfect board and I just need to find the right voltages. I am 100% stable in Load, but I sometimes freeze in idle and I came to the conclusion it could be because of the sudden voltage droops.

Anybody think they can help me out on this one before I end up RMAing the board, I would really appreciate!

From my reading here and elsewhere, having LLC enabled is most often the cause of "idle freezing/crashing/BSODs." Anandtech cautions against its use here for just that reason.

Do you have LLC enabled?

H

[Coupa]

What PLL are you running Slim? Whenever im writing to my hard drive my computer loses alot of stability ive figured out. I can run movies, games, whatever you want for hours on end, but when i try and install something, or even download something big, the computer isnt so stable. Its most likely to freeze during this time, but it doesnt always do that, however, it almost always starts locking the programs up one at a time. Ive explained this before. The RAM usage during this time is normal so i can only assume theres a problem with accessing the HDDs and only a certain amount of data is allowed through at once. Im thinking/hoping a SATA driver for the mobo might help out a bit. Still, if voltage fixes it then ill be more happy.

[RasCas]

Hey guys, i need a little help here, I had a video corruption issue show up for me last night. I had been running XP 64 up until yesterday and everything was stable. Yesterday i changed to vista 64, keeping the same 177.35 video drivers and watching a movie last night, bang video corruption 3 times in 40 minutes, all 3 times requiring a restart. I have posted a picture of what this corruption looks like, this is not from my PC but is similar to what i experienced. Does anyone have any suggestions?
[IMG]//http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/1802/dsc00736uy8.jpg[/IMG]

[slim142]

From my reading here and elsewhere, having LLC enabled is most often the cause of "idle freezing/crashing/BSODs." Anandtech cautions against its use here for just that reason.

Do you have LLC enabled?

H

Yes I do have it enabled. Do you think that could be the cause? Most people here have LLC enabled afaik.

What PLL are you running Slim? Whenever im writing to my hard drive my computer loses alot of stability ive figured out. I can run movies, games, whatever you want for hours on end, but when i try and install something, or even download something big, the computer isnt so stable. Its most likely to freeze during this time, but it doesnt always do that, however, it almost always starts locking the programs up one at a time. Ive explained this before. The RAM usage during this time is normal so i can only assume theres a problem with accessing the HDDs and only a certain amount of data is allowed through at once. Im thinking/hoping a SATA driver for the mobo might help out a bit. Still, if voltage fixes it then ill be more happy.

I have 1.56v for PLL.
I noticed that this was the only voltage I had in Auto so I thought that maybe I needed to increase this so I started with 1.50, but it was the same, then increased to 1.52 and was stable for 1 hour running prime, then 1.54 let me ran for 4 hours, so I knew I was going the right way so I applied 1.56 and that let me ran prime for 20 hours and I closed it after it.

[Coupa]

Yes I do have it enabled. Do you think that could be the cause? Most people here have LLC enabled afaik.

I have 1.56v for PLL.
I noticed that this was the only voltage I had in Auto so I thought that maybe I needed to increase this so I started with 1.50, but it was the same, then increased to 1.52 and was stable for 1 hour running prime, then 1.54 let me ran for 4 hours, so I knew I was going the right way so I applied 1.56 and that let me ran prime for 20 hours and I closed it after it.

I dont have LLC. And thanks

[HurinThalion]

Yes I do have it enabled. Do you think that could be the cause? Most people here have LLC enabled afaik.

Well, here's what Anandtech found with it enabled. . . not that this will be the case for everyone.

Finally, let's take one last real-world look at the consequences of removing Vdroop. ASUS' implementation of this feature, labeled as Load Line Calibration and included with their latest line of motherboards, is particularly worthy of our attention for a number of reasons. The first is that setting lower voltages with this option enabled actually results in a condition in which the CPU voltage under load is higher than the idle voltage. Imagine our confusion as we desperately struggle to understand why our system is Prime95 stable for days yet continues to crash under absolutely no load.

[slim142]

Well, here's what Anandtech found with it enabled. . . not that this will be the case for everyone.

And thats what left me wondering...

[tekjunkie]

Slim, I can help you with RMAing your board through Asus, since I have already done it. What do you need bud??

[slim142]

Slim, I can help you with RMAing your board through Asus, since I have already done it. What do you need bud??

Thanks tek, but I already filled the form and Im just waiting for ASUS to reply to me. Oh god, If I have to RMA this board, Im going to have to use the G1S for a month
So did you get it stable after all?

There are two things that make me think are making me fail in nonsense situations. 1) lack of voltage to SB or any other component or 2) LLC

[RasCas]

VTT= How do you know you need more VTT? freezes? BSoDs? 1.30 (1.33 real) is what I have needed so far. dont know if I should increase this (Im almost on border line=1.36)

I tried stuffing around with some settings to fix that video corruption error i was getting and remembered that i had changed this value yesterday. I had it at 1.4 and decreased it to 1.3 after reading somewhere that it was too high. It was after that i started to recieve errors. So i raised it back to 1.36 today and video problems have gone. Hope this may help others having similar problems.

[tekjunkie]

Thanks tek, but I already filled the form and Im just waiting for ASUS to reply to me. Oh god, If I have to RMA this board, Im going to have to use the G1S for a month
So did you get it stable after all?

There are two things that make me think are making me fail in nonsense situations. 1) lack of voltage to SB or any other component or 2) LLC

It's not stable even @ stock(prime keeps failing), but I havn't tried hard enough. Infact I haven't even switched it on for days now(have been busy @ work). I am planning to do so some serious work on it this long weekend.

[Tyke]

The last couple of bios updates have been OK for me, absolutely no lock-ups, freezes etc. I have two GTX 280s in SLi at 700MHz clock, and this is running perfectly in all games now. SB is maximum 37C under stress, NB is 44C. Crysis is absolutely playable at Very High settings at 1920 X 1200, min FPS is nearly 30!!!
I've given up trying to get over 450FSB with this board, but the board is now 100% stable at this speed.

[ceevee]

The last couple of bios updates have been OK for me, absolutely no lock-ups, freezes etc. I have two GTX 280s in SLi at 700MHz clock, and this is running perfectly in all games now. SB is maximum 37C under stress, NB is 44C. Crysis is absolutely playable at Very High settings at 1920 X 1200, min FPS is nearly 30!!!
I've given up trying to get over 450FSB with this board, but the board is now 100% stable at this speed.

Beautiful!

Our setups are almost identical, it makes me wonder why I had so much freezing but you do not. Maybe a large portion of the boards are just bad from the factory?

Would you be willing to post all of your BIOS settings please? (I see some of them in your sig)

Also are you using 15.17 and 177.41?

[Tyke]

Beautiful!

Our setups are almost identical, it makes me wonder why I had so much freezing but you do not. Maybe a large portion of the boards are just bad from the factory?

Would you be willing to post all of your BIOS settings please? (I see some of them in your sig)

Also are you using 15.17 and 177.41?

Hi, yes I'm using 15.17 and 177.41. I have no other tweaked settings apart from sig, GTL etc is all on auto.

[slim142]

VTT= How do you know you need more VTT? freezes? BSoDs? 1.30 (1.33 real) is what I have needed so far. dont know if I should increase this (Im almost on border line=1.36)

I tried stuffing around with some settings to fix that video corruption error i was getting and remembered that i had changed this value yesterday. I had it at 1.4 and decreased it to 1.3 after reading somewhere that it was too high. It was after that i started to recieve errors. So i raised it back to 1.36 today and video problems have gone. Hope this may help others having similar problems.

Even though Im on the border line 1.30v (1.32 is yellow) I will see if increasing this to the top 1.36v fixes anything. Thanks for the reply!

It's not stable even @ stock(prime keeps failing), but I havn't tried hard enough. Infact I haven't even switched it on for days now(have been busy @ work). I am planning to do so some serious work on it this long weekend.

Good luck with that board. BTW, I just received the answer from ASUS. Just want to know, if I send the motherboard with 3-day shipping, from the day they get it, how long does it usually take for them to send me another one?

[ceevee]

Even though Im on the border line 1.30v (1.32 is yellow) I will see if increasing this to the top 1.36v fixes anything. Thanks for the reply!



Good luck with that board. BTW, I just received the answer from ASUS. Just want to know, if I send the motherboard with 3-day shipping, from the day they get it, how long does it usually take for them to send me another one?

I RMAed a board to ASUS about 2 years ago and it took them 10 days to ship me a new one. However that was a long time back so maybe they are faster now.

[slim142]

I RMAed a board to ASUS about 2 years ago and it took them 10 days to ship me a new one. However that was a long time back so maybe they are faster now.

Oh man, I can use bro's (actually MINES at first) Striker Extreme 680i for limited time only and I just dont feel comfortable using laptops (G1S).
What to do in 10 days...

Please tell me is all about LLC

[OBR]

Beautiful!

Our setups are almost identical, it makes me wonder why I had so much freezing but you do not. Maybe a large portion of the boards are just bad from the factory?

Would you be willing to post all of your BIOS settings please? (I see some of them in your sig)

Also are you using 15.17 and 177.41?

My setup with 2x GTX 280 is perfect stable, no freezing in Games ...

[HurinThalion]

Well, I've got until July 10 to get this board stable before I send it back to Newegg for replacement. At which point, I'll probably sell it as new/unopened (assuming Newegg sends a new one).

I'm still getting SLi freezing in games (Lord of the Rings Online). Though I was able to play for about four hours last night before I froze (got my hopes up!). My detailed specs and experience are above. But just to summarize:

BIOS 0801
XP 64-bit
Q9450 @ stock speeds and vcore
15.17 and 177.41 drivers
NB: 1.52v
SB: 1.55v
Memory: 1.9v @ 7-7-7-20-2T @ 1333
2 x GTX280
X-fi Platinum PCI-E

Tyke and OBR, have either of you tweaked your RAM subtimings? Would you be willing to post yours? I got some guidance from the Mushkin forums for my sub-timings. But they conflict with Anandtech. And, actually, I haven't noted any real difference in stability between leaving the sub-timings to "auto" and setting them myself.

I'd rather not go any higher in NB or SB volts on air. Has that been the key to either of you getting your rigs stable in SLi?

Seems that both of you are "under water" as well. Though that's probably just coincidence.

Best,

H

[Tyke]

Well, I've got until July 10 to get this board stable before I send it back to Newegg for replacement. At which point, I'll probably sell it as new/unopened (assuming Newegg sends a new one).

I'm still getting SLi freezing in games (Lord of the Rings Online). Though I was able to play for about four hours last night before I froze (got my hopes up!). My detailed specs and experience are above. But just to summarize:

BIOS 0801
XP 64-bit
Q9450 @ stock speeds and vcore
15.17 and 177.41 drivers
NB: 1.52v
SB: 1.55v
Memory: 1.9v @ 7-7-7-20-2T @ 1333
2 x GTX280
X-fi Platinum PCI-E

Tyke and OBR, have either of you tweaked your RAM subtimings? Would you be willing to post yours? I got some guidance from the Mushkin forums for my sub-timings. But they conflict with Anandtech. And, actually, I haven't noted any real difference in stability between leaving the sub-timings to "auto" and setting them myself.

I'd rather not go any higher in NB or SB volts on air. Has that been the key to either of you getting your rigs stable in SLi?

Seems that both of you are "under water" as well. Though that's probably just coincidence.

Best,

H

I have tuned my memory settings, but once your memory passes Memtest I can't see how the sub-timings will affect anything but throughput and latency. I don't think stability is affected.

[HurinThalion]

I have tuned my memory settings, but once your memory passes Memtest I can't see how the sub-timings will affect anything but throughput and latency. I don't think stability is affected.

Perhaps when the system is under overall stress (rather than just testing the RAM itself in a DOS environment), voltages fluctuate (etc.).

My concern/theory is that the "auto" setting for sub-timings may be setting things up in such a way that this SLi bug appears. Whereas, those who have gotten their sub-timings set up manually won't see it.

I realize it's a pain, but if you would post your sub-timings, it might help me better dial in mine for stability.

Were you stable prior to the sub-timings changes?

Sorry to hassle ya!

H

[slim142]

RMAing this board tomorrow morning. It was, is and is going to be forever a pain to make this thing stable. No matter what voltages, even if I overvolt every single component, and even at default BIOS settings, no stable settings. I just hope to receive a decent board from ASUS, if not, then Im going to have to think about something because I cant be using an unestable pc for 6 months. After trying so many settings, there is no other solution to this but to RMA.

[nuclearjock]

From my reading here and elsewhere, having LLC enabled is most often the cause of "idle freezing/crashing/BSODs." Anandtech cautions against its use here for just that reason.

Do you have LLC enabled?

H

I read this too and was concerned but I have this "thing" about running my chip within Intel's voltage guidline (<1.36v for my E8500) and I'm totally stable 4.2ghz @1.33v load. To achieve this with LLC disabled, I have to run outside the Intel guidlines (> 1.36v) while not under load which is most of the time.

So I've chosen to enable LLC and so far I've not seen any negative effects.

[nuclearjock]

I have tuned my memory settings, but once your memory passes Memtest I can't see how the sub-timings will affect anything but throughput and latency. I don't think stability is affected.

Try playing with tRfc!!!

The system won't even post or in some instances corrupt your data if it's set too low.

[slim142]

Haha, Viewsonic for serious gaming, Samsung for semi-serious gaming xD

Anyways, I just took everything off and the board is packed ready to go. What drivers (for 2 8800GT) you guys recommend me to install once I get the new board?

Btw, pmp if you read this, please post the changelog. Im really interested to see what changed from 0704 to 0901.