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

[G.Foyle]

VID pin mod

does one exist??

For you, and anyone who might be interested, there is some info in the Clovertown BSEL mod thread.

[abir915]

Guys, what are the normal idle temperatures that you guys are seeing, using stock cooling? I'm running 5410s, and I have one processor that at the moment is idling at 35-40 deg C, and the other is at almost 70 deg C (as reported by Core Temp). Both are at 0% load. I've tried cleaning off the stock paste and reapplying AS5, swapping processors between sockets, but one proc always runs hotter.

I'm beginning to think that not all CPUs are created equal.

[Jaco]

I'm beginning to think that not all CPUs are created equal.

correct, each cpu is different.
I also have one 'hot' and one 'normal' cpu. The 'hot' one is always 10°C hotter than the other. (E5420's)
70°C idle is too hot , I guess the cooler doesn't make good contact with the cpu.

[abir915]

correct, each cpu is different.
I also have one 'hot' and one 'normal' cpu. The 'hot' one is always 10°C hotter than the other. (E5420's)
70°C idle is too hot , I guess the cooler doesn't make good contact with the cpu.

Jaco, I think that I've eliminated that possibility by swapping processors between sockets: one proc ran hotter regardless of where it was installed.

My case is SSI certified with the right standoffs and I followed Intel's documents while installing the cooler, so there is no reason for a cooler to not make proper contact.

I guess its RMA time

[123bob]

It is also possible you have a chip with a stuck sensor. The "RealTemp" program has a sensor calibration test that you could use to see if this is the case. It is available here.

It's probably hard to tell if the chip is really that hot, or if it's a sensor problem, without tagging thermocouples on it.

Regards,
Bob

[jcool]

The "hot" one might also have a crooked IHS. I had that problem a year back with a B3 Xeon X3210. It ran at 89C even though I was on water, lol. Using a bowed waterblock and ridiculously high amounts of pressure I got it down to around ~70C, lol.

If that is the case with your CPU, it's either RMA or lap it - or get a waterblock with bowed base.
OR, just ignore it. Those things will survive even 90C with ease. But they'll oc less, if at all.

[Madman666]

True but most of us use the 1 or 2 gig sticks and 2 gig sticks of Transcend DDR2-800 are $59.00 as of yesterday at Transcends site.
That's 8 gig of memory for $240.00
Not bad at all

Need some more advice, what will be your choice :
A.) 2x 4Gb KVR667D2D4F5K2/8G 8GB 667MHz DDR2 ECC Fully Buffered CL5 DIMM (Kit of 2) Dual Rank, x4 (price NL= Euro 300,-)
B.) 4x 2Gb KVR800D2D4F5K2/4G 4GB 800MHz DDR2 ECC Fully Buffered CL5 DIMM (Kit of 2) Dual Rank, x4 (price NL= Euro 400,-)
C.) 4x 2GB KVR800D2D8F5K2/4G 4GB 800MHz DDR2 ECC Fully Buffered CL5 DIMM (Kit of 2) Dual Rank, x8 (price NL= Euro 260,-)

Considering:
speed, compatibility, price, OC possibilities and future upgrading possibilities.

Please motivate, Thnx!

[jcool]

Def. C, as the Z7S doesn't really work with 4GB sticks from what I gathered, plus they suck at OC.
Oh well, yet another item for the "known bugs" listing...

[STEvil]

It works, just that it drops to a divider if you use 400mhz 4GB sticks.

C looks like it has 8 sticks?

[Movieman]

Need some more advice, what will be your choice :
A.) 2x 4Gb KVR667D2D4F5K2/8G 8GB 667MHz DDR2 ECC Fully Buffered CL5 DIMM (Kit of 2) Dual Rank, x4 (price NL= Euro 300,-)
B.) 4x 2Gb KVR800D2D4F5K2/4G 4GB 800MHz DDR2 ECC Fully Buffered CL5 DIMM (Kit of 2) Dual Rank, x4 (price NL= Euro 400,-)
C.) 4x 2GB KVR800D2D8F5K2/4G 4GB 800MHz DDR2 ECC Fully Buffered CL5 DIMM (Kit of 2) Dual Rank, x8 (price NL= Euro 260,-)

Considering:
speed, compatibility, price, OC possibilities and future upgrading possibilities.

Please motivate, Thnx!

4 x 2 gig sticks DDR2=800FBDimms CL5

[A1Ex]

Final version 6x FB-DIMM waterblock











Thanks to Gorelord from www.aquacool.cz because without him would not be waterblock done.

[s0lid]

That thing is so beatiful

[Madman666]

Def. C, as the Z7S doesn't really work with 4GB sticks from what I gathered, plus they suck at OC.
Oh well, yet another item for the "known bugs" listing...

Thnx, thought so after reading the thread, only disadvantage can be the limited upgrading ? max mem will be 12 or 16 GB ? Will it be possible to add another 2x4 GB in the future?

It works, just that it drops to a divider if you use 400mhz 4GB sticks.

C looks like it has 8 sticks?

No, the x8 has to do with number of chips on each the memorymodule.

[Jaco]

http://www.aquacool.cz/6xfbdimm.html

1.8Kg

3750 CZK = 150€ (I hope that's correct)

[Movieman]

http://www.aquacool.cz/6xfbdimm.html

1.8Kg

3750 CZK = 150€ (I hope that's correct)

I have two loops going in the ST build, one for cpu's and one for NB,SB and GAWD that block would look good in there!
So 150 Euro's huh? What's that in US dollars? four million?

[Jaco]

1.00 EUR = 1.35205 USD (www.xe.com)

so around 200$

[jcool]

Great looking block for sure... but I'm fully satisfied with my solution as it is

@Madman666: Yeah, 12GB max if you use 2GB sticks

[4DoorGTZ]

Wow, those waterblocks are sexay, gotta get me some of those....

[A1Ex]

Test FB-DIMM waterblock
2x 2GB Kingston 667MHz @ 754MHz 1,85V

idle


burn

[jcool]

Very nice temps!
Even though they don't need to be that cool to OC, mine run 450@60C no problems.

[WVUEcoCarTech]

Def. C, as the Z7S doesn't really work with 4GB sticks from what I gathered, plus they suck at OC.
Oh well, yet another item for the "known bugs" listing...

Jcool, have you found much in the way of improving overclocking with the Z7S WS? I can't find anything for memory and no way to adjust Vcore yet

I got the X5460's to 3.8Ghz at stock Vcore but run into stability issues using cinebench probably related to the vcore?

[jcool]

Sorry m8,

like we already told you, there is no Vcore option in bios, unless you plug a QX9775 in - and even then it's buggered.
Asus could easily fix the issue and make Vcore as well as VTT available for any CPU if they pleased, since the mobo supports it and was designed to anyway. It's just that they don't want that, or they don't care, whichever applies.

Only way to increase Vcore is by doing a Vid pin mod to the CPUs. We talked about that here, not confirmed yet, but should be working. I am going to try it on my X5450's, but not before Asus releases a bios that works with E0 CPUs. Until then, I ain't touching them.

[STEvil]

jcool, maybe this sounds dumb.. but have you tried resetting the cmos to see if the E0's work then?

I was reading the Z7S forum on vip.asus.com and a few threads mentioned that resetting the cmos worked for their problems (though the users did not know or mention if their CPU's (LV 5420's and forget the other user) were E0 steppings or not..

edit - and yes i'm too lazy to try it right now lol.. real pita to pull it apart to test that

[jcool]

Yes I know Asus suggests that. That is utter crap, as soon as you clear CMOS with E0 CPUs in, it's dead.
I tried like 10 times, removed battery, pulled power, nothing helps.
Having to do a CMOS clear means CPU swap, simple as that. Same happens if you set clockgen to auto.

[shanems3]

Yes I know Asus suggests that. That is utter crap, as soon as you clear CMOS with E0 CPUs in, it's dead.
I tried like 10 times, removed battery, pulled power, nothing helps.
Having to do a CMOS clear means CPU swap, simple as that. Same happens if you set clockgen to auto.

I had that issue, submitted it to asus, they said later this week Bios 401 will be released to fix that issue. I had some E5450 that i could not get to work. i have some X5450s comming, but just giving you guys a heads up.

Jcool also, i have Vista 64 Running, can you see all 8 cores in task manager when running dual quad core.. i can only see 4 of them and my Widget keeps the 2nd cpu at 0% at all times..