My Dual Harper - Asus Z7S WS living review *56K warning*

[milkmandan]

Well here are pictures as promised and some temps.



If i stress the CPUs under load, what kind of temps am I looking at?
I would like to see some temps from other people so I can compare.

Which program shall i use to check temps? CoreTemp? or CPU-Z?

[jt1]

milkmandan, the setup looks great. Question, the bios shows your memory as DDR2-667. Does that mean you're overclocking your memory from 667 to 800?

[milkmandan]

milkmandan, the setup looks great. Question, the bios shows your memory as DDR2-667. Does that mean you're overclocking your memory from 667 to 800?

I would assume so.
Someone in this thread had the same question.
By pushing the Clock to 400, the RAM should be reading as DDR 800.

It is 667 because the CPUs are clocked for 1333 MHZ FSB. I am sure if I had put in a pair of 1600Mhz FSB Xeons, it would show as 800 and I prolly wouldn't need to over clock at all.

--
I might have to tear this set up apart and re do it. Rad might not have been cleaned properly. Thermal Paste might be too much. and I need more fans on my rad. wont know for sure until i put this system underload.

[jcool]

You worry too much dan, as always
The system looks awesome and I'm sure temps will be way better than mine, yet mine's running stable as a rock.

[STEvil]

Z7S modding thread up: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...59#post3201959

[milkmandan]

You worry too much dan, as always
The system looks awesome and I'm sure temps will be way better than mine, yet mine's running stable as a rock.

Thanks for the reassurance jcool
I just ordered Vista today. so I'll need to wait none the less :\

Little worried about water cooling as it is my first wc rig ever.

[STEvil]

Just had a thought guys.

Maybe the board when it detects a QX CPU installed points the bios to a different table which allows vCore adjustments? Similar to how the Foxconn bios was giving different ACPI tables for different OS's?

I wouldnt know how to look into fooling the bios that our CPU's were QX's but it might be worth a look.

[jcool]

Thanks for the reassurance jcool
I just ordered Vista today. so I'll need to wait none the less :\

Little worried about water cooling as it is my first wc rig ever.

Just make sure the cooling loop is flawless and that it doesn't lose water

STEvil, good idea. I think one way or the other, we need to try with a 9775 and see if the mobo really unlocks Vcore and/or VTT setting. Of course we could always try and ask Asus support..
Good one don't you think They'd probably tell us to check the manual or something, based on my previous experiences with them

[giorgioprimo]

Tested yesterday the board with 2 qx9775 and the last bios available

Using qx9775 it unlock vcore option to 1,6 but I think the bios is no perfectly compatiible with the QX cpu because if I change the vcore valu from "auto" o any other value, afther i reboot the bios automatically set the vcore value on 1,6 volt and it shows jsut 2 option: "auto" and "1,6" volt.
If I set again on "auto" afther reboot I can see again all the option available from "auto" to "1,6"

this is really strange, I'll try to ask support to some asus engegnieer

[jcool]

giorgioprimo, a big fat THANK YOU for letting us know!
Looks like this board needs some more bios work, as we all know. Maybe they'll enable Vcore on all CPUs, maybe we'll be able to make a mod bios for it.
So, no VTT option with the QX CPUs?

[jt1]

Of course we could always try and ask Asus support..
Good one don't you think They'd probably tell us to check the manual or something, based on my previous experiences with them

Yeh, Asus support is so bad. Normally, it goes like this: I ask a question. Then, support guy says "Hmm, that's interesting. Let me type that into Google and see what we get." One time, the support guy "knew" the answer. I asked "What happens if I lower the FSB?". Support guy confidently replies, "Then the processor will run at the same GHZ speed but with a lower FSB". I think, to get any real help, we need to bypass the support guys and communicate directly with the engineers.

Tested yesterday the board with 2 qx9775 and the last bios available

Thanks giorgioprimo. Were you able to adjust the multiplier (upwards) for Qx9775?

[giorgioprimo]

giorgioprimo, a big fat THANK YOU for letting us know!
Looks like this board needs some more bios work, as we all know. Maybe they'll enable Vcore on all CPUs, maybe we'll be able to make a mod bios for it.
So, no VTT option with the QX CPUs?

Vtt is available in the option, next time I power one the mobo I'll take some pics, now i'm too busy in 3sli benching
problem is that vcore optio is just virtual, because as i explained before, is possible to use just AUTO or max value wich is 1,6 ( 1,54 real)

i think that thebest way to unleash the potential of that mobo, is to study a way to vmod it ...
I Really like this mobo, but cannot spent 2000 euro in CPU ( qx9775 are not mine ....) would like to use a 8 multi chip that is much more affordable

Thanks giorgioprimo. Were you able to adjust the multiplier (upwards) for Qx9775?

yes i booted till 11,5x400 4.6g

dunno if it is stable because i just run into the bios, neither installed OS, too busy now

[STEvil]

Give asus a mouthful.

Apparently the DSEB-D16 has issues with E5340's!

[jt1]

Question: Does FB-DIMM memory require extra cooling? What kind of a temperatures should I expect without extra cooling?

[msimax]

Tested yesterday the board with 2 qx9775 and the last bios available

Using qx9775 it unlock vcore option to 1,6 but I think the bios is no perfectly compatiible with the QX cpu because if I change the vcore valu from "auto" o any other value, afther i reboot the bios automatically set the vcore value on 1,6 volt and it shows jsut 2 option: "auto" and "1,6" volt.
If I set again on "auto" afther reboot I can see again all the option available from "auto" to "1,6"

this is really strange, I'll try to ask support to some asus engegnieer

have fun with that adventure

[STEvil]

Question: Does FB-DIMM memory require extra cooling? What kind of a temperatures should I expect without extra cooling?

I just stuff a fan over it. Couple 60mm fans or an 80 or a 120.. doesnt take a ton but dont wimp out on it

[jcool]

giorgioprimo, can you verify that VTT setting works? Whats the range/increments please?

[STEvil]

Gonna toss the PSU in and video card then fire it up...... and hang a couple fans around on it too I guess.

Wish me luck!

[s0lid]

Hey could u measure me couple things from mobo?
CPU cooler mounting holes, NB cooler mounting holes, SB cooler mounting holes, mosfet cooler mounting holes :P

Need those dimensions from evap mounts (if never needed) and i found place where one of my friends works and he could run some waterblocks with cnc from cu
So good reasons why need those dimensions, ordering those blocks is possible when i get first ones made!

[CBGPCS]

If anyone is still interested in the Vmod for the Asus Z7S-WS reply to this and we will be more than happy to help. It's not as easy as most analog VRM chips but we do have the solution.
CBGPCS

[STEvil]

After some messing around i'm up. Running at 3.3ghz for the moment (9x366) while I get drivers and etc sorted.

I'll see about socket measurements for you later s0lid. I put a Noctua NH-U6 (think thats what it was) on the chipset and its pretty darn tight... but fits so P35/45/etc mounting holes are the same I guess.

CGBPCS - Fire away

edit - running WCG @ 3.4, 62-64 on most cores with two reporting in at 66 and 67c with roughly 23c ambient. Thats using coretemp btw, realtemp reports about 10c lower.

[jcool]

Ya RealTemp is right, sounds like great temps there. Mine are far worse

CBGPCS, can't wait to see your solution
You got VTT also? I need VTT

[jt1]

Stevil, lookin good so far. My rig is also currently sitting in a case skeleton with fans hanging from string.
CBGPCS, bring it on.

[CBGPCS]

First of all the actual Vmod for this board is very complicated due to the fact that it is the only Asus boards using a digital VRM chip. This chip is capable of 3 different tables of voltage as you can see from the link to the PDF of the chip itself. As you read about the properties of this chip you will see that to actually change the table from a VRM10 table to a VRM 9 table can be done by an inline 50ohm resistors to the Vcore leg of the chip, or the resistor located off to the left of the chip itself. Now for the hard part, as you can see from the tables of the VRM 10 and VRM 9 there are digital codes (1’s and 0’s). You now need to rework what your 1’s & 0’s are. Example ….0-1-0-1-0-1 was 1.6v, but now on the VRM 9 table 0-1-0-1-0-1 actually adds up to a different voltage now 1.575v, and as you can see the last column has been dropped. Now you need the bios update that recreates the 1’s and 0’s table. Bios version Z7SWS0718.This bios is very hard to find for it was written for us by Asus. It is out there if you look for it. Finally there are to resistors to be swapped out to a 20k and a 40klocated to the bottom left hand corner of the VRM chip itself. I believe it is swapping the 56.6 to the 40k and the 26.2 to the 20k. I have included the link to the VRM chip below in the post. Good luck to all …NOW YOU HAVE A DUAL SOCKET PCI-E 2.0 SKULLTRAIL MOTHERBOARD WITH VERY FRIENDLY BIOS.
Oh…by the way the new bios allows you to set voltage to each core individually now under jumper free settings.

http://www.intersil.com/data/fn/FN9187.pdf

[jcool]

Tried google and I came up empty on that bios. That's the bios the Inq used for their preview then?
What do you mean "it was written for us by Asus" ?