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

[holystarlight]

Has anyone encountered sound problems? my X-Fi Xtreme Gamer keeps crackling static and sometimes the sound stops all together, and this only happens if my FSB is over 1850 with a Multiplier of 8 so my CPU is at 3.7ghz, but if I lower the FSB to 1840 the sound problem is fine, but its stopping me from overclocking my CPU higher, and I have only noticed this after updating to 1601 and 1602 bios has anyone else had this problem?

[slimjimmy84]

My current rig:
- 780i ASUS Striker II Formula
- 2 x AData Extreme 800+ DDR2
- 2x 8800GTX ASUS
- 1 x ASUS Xonar PCI
- Enermax 720W

I changed the motherboard in the first place from evga 680i to 780i and booted old vista32 installed with the evga and vista recognized all the new devices. My surprize was that ethernet ports was not functioning after resume from sleep mode. I did not know what happend in the first place and i suspected the nforce drivers were not good because they are not certified for 780i.
I started with fresh install of vista32, formated the vista system partition .. , installed the recomended 9.46 drivers from nvidias site and everything worked, until the next resume from sleep mode , after this resume i have no luck reviving my ethernet ports. Vista is sensing if the ethernet port have link or not (if i plug out the cable) but i have no received packets !!!

I have no errors in device manager, event logs are not containing problems regarding the two ethernet devices. I even tried disabling all the unused devices like HD Audio and firewire. I tried all the bioses from ASUS support site including the latest 902 but no change.

Nforce 780i drivers that i used are:

nForce 9.46WHQL Certified
Version: 9.46
Release Date: December 17, 2007
Operating System: Windows Vista 32-bit
Language: U.S. English
File Size: 43.1 MB

windows will work it then u wont have a problem with that keep Nforce off your pc i have s2f 8800 GT OC ocz 2 gig ram 64 bit e6750

[nugzo]

For some reason Newegg has the SIIF Deactivated. Where would you recommend picking one up? I wonder why the egg has deactivated it... Strange. They do have "open Box" though.

[MaTr1x]

BUMP, ANYONE?
Which mosfet cooler is that???

Originally Posted by MaTr1x
Hi, Molotov replied to me in August in this topic saying that he uses HR-05 IFXs on the nb & sb (see here). He also posted this picture showing his TRUE 120 cooler, and the mosfet cooler he uses.
Does anyone know which cooler this is, because I cannot find it on the net :/

[holystarlight]

New BIOS 1701

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/...rmula/1701.zip

Changes:

- Fix Windows Vista might report incorrect CPU frequency when overclocking QX9650

[funk32]

Hey everyone, i had posted a few months ago but was deployed with the military so i didnt have a chance to respond and to work on my rig. well im back home now and my thermaltake Kandalf case came in so now my cpu is l.c and waiting for more water blocks to come in... anyway I took all the info i have found here and still no luck. my QX6800 wont boot past 3ghz LOL any clue why... i tried different Voltages and different FSB numbers.

[Dunderhoken]

New BIOS 1701

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/...rmula/1701.zip

Changes:

- Fix Windows Vista might report incorrect CPU frequency when overclocking QX9650

The only Fix ? =

[xarot]

Hi,

I've been browsing these forums for some time but now it's the time to make the first post.

I've been having massive problems OC'ing this board. I've tried QX6700 and now I have QX9650. I've got it stable only by OC'ing with the multiplier (QX6700 @ 11*266 = 2933 MHz, QX9650 @ 10*333 = 3333 MHz). For example if I try to OC the QX9650 further to 10*350 = 3500 MHz, it isn't prime stable anymore, one core failed after 2 hours. I could run at 10*333 without touching any voltages, but at 10*350 I tried the following:

CPU voltage 1.3 .. 1.35 V
CPU PLL 1.6 V
CPU VTT 1.28 V
MEM 2.1 V
NB Core 1.40 .. 1.44 V
SB Core 1.5 V
1.2 V HT 1.35 V
Bridge Core AUTO
CPU GTLREF +30 mV
NB GTLREF +30 mV

the rest is AUTO.

..and it's still unstable.

I have managed to boot to Windows at 10*400 by upping the voltages further but it's not stable at all. Do I have the GTLREF voltages wrong? If I use 1.28 V on VTT, should I actually use CPU GTLREF -5 mV?? That doesn't help at all..

I also wonder does the SLI make things harder to overclock? When I tried 3-way 8800 Ultra's, I couldn't always even post when I tried to OC, but with 2-way SLI, It's much easier. Could be related to the PSU, too..

Here are my specs:

Corsair HX620
Striker II Formula 1701 BIOS
QX9650 with Noctua NH-U12P
4 sticks of Corsair XMS2 6400 C4 (tried with 2 sticks - didn't help)
8800 Ultra OC SLI
Seagate 1 TB
etc..


This QX9650 has been tested by previous owner at 5.4 GHz with a "proper" mb..

Hopefully someone could help me. I think the QX9650 at only 3.33 is holding the Ultra's back a bit.

[markost]

Hi,

I've been browsing these forums for some time but now it's the time to make the first post.



CPU voltage 1.3 .. 1.35 V
CPU PLL 1.6 V
CPU VTT 1.28 V
MEM 2.1 V
NB Core 1.40 .. 1.44 V
SB Core 1.5 V
1.2 V HT 1.35 V
Bridge Core AUTO
CPU GTLREF +30 mV
NB GTLREF +30 mV

the rest is AUTO.

..and it's still unstable.

I have managed to boot to Windows at 10*400 by upping the voltages further but it's not stable at all. Do I have the GTLREF voltages wrong? If I use 1.28 V on VTT, should I actually use CPU GTLREF -5 mV?? That doesn't help at all..

I also wonder does the SLI make things harder to overclock? When I tried 3-way 8800 Ultra's, I couldn't always even post when I tried to OC, but with 2-way SLI, It's much easier. Could be related to the PSU, too..

Here are my specs:

Corsair HX620
Striker II Formula 1701 BIOS
QX9650 with Noctua NH-U12P
4 sticks of Corsair XMS2 6400 C4 (tried with 2 sticks - didn't help)
8800 Ultra OC SLI
Seagate 1 TB
etc..


This QX9650 has been tested by previous owner at 5.4 GHz with a "proper" mb..

Hopefully someone could help me. I think the QX9650 at only 3.33 is holding the Ultra's back a bit.

Strikers are a minefield and every one is different. I've been through 4 Formula's and they all did different things. I've thrown in a couple of links to CMOS files I've used on all my boards but PLEASE take into account that I watercool everything so heat for me was never an issue. I always used BIOS version 0902 and this is the most stable for memory overclocking. I actually got higher clocks with the Striker 2 Formula than with the Striker 2 Extreme, however the FSB/chip limit on the Extreme is much better (470 on the current board, whereas the Formula's varied from 430 to 450). Up your southbridge to at least 1.6v as it does not run as hot as the northbridge and needs that voltage with SLi
If you load up BIOS 0902 and then load one of the CMOS files, that will show all my settings in BIOS. Allowing for your cooling, adjust these to suit your setup. On air cooling, don't run your Northbridge over 1.6v unless you have active cooling on it.
Set all your memory timings and voltages to what you are comfortable with and go from there. I pretty well always use OCZ memory and these benches are with OCZ dimms.
Main thing here is not to use my settings ( which have worked on all boards ) but to give you an insight into what does work with good cooling.

Disregard the 680i stuff in the screenshot below, that's just an Everest thing !

Good luck

[funk32]

hey guys I was just taking a closer look today after putting my new ram in and found out my MCP is near 80c and everything is stock right now cause i cant get any stable fsb to work. i was just wondering what could cause this? and could this be why I cant get a good OC

[markost]

hey guys I was just taking a closer look today after putting my new ram in and found out my MCP is near 80c and everything is stock right now cause i cant get any stable fsb to work. i was just wondering what could cause this? and could this be why I cant get a good OC

Have you had your heatsinks off to check for good contact?
It is really worth pulling them all off and applying some good thermal compound.

[funk32]

how hard or should i as how much of a pain in the a$$ is it because i was planing on getting water blocks for everything else, but if its easy ill do it now anyway

[markost]

how hard or should i as how much of a pain in the a$$ is it because i was planing on getting water blocks for everything else, but if its easy ill do it now anyway

Waterblocks will kill it. You need to rip the board out to do it. I'd wait till you watercool

[funk32]

thanks if i use it, ill just keep the fan on it, until i get the waterblocks

[Garrett]

how do you guys like the 1701 bios so far?
I'm still on 1602, no problems for me, any reason I should update to 1701 maybe?

[R104_for]

Can someone help me. I stuck with 1800fsb with my Q9550...

[yokomo]

I think my ram is starting to crap out but my chip is getting hardly any volts so i want to push on , is running the ram unlinked and slower than the cpu stable? never liked the idea of funny ratios before but ive seen a few people running unlinked so might give it a shot .

[markost]

Can someone help me. I stuck with 1800fsb with my Q9550...

I recon your board is max'd out. Striker 2 Formula on average is only good to 450 FSB with quads. As mentioned earlier, I've had 4 of the things and none of them passed 450 with QX9650.

[funk32]

so have you installed this yet and do u have any numbers? is it working well? how was the fitment?

Aww... I finally recived my new nb/sb waterblock, it looks awsome! I shot a few pics, here goes:











Gonna install it as soon I get some fooling for the mosfet's Enjoy! As far as I know this is the only waterblock out there that allows the use of sli og tri sli without watercooling the gfx'es.

EDIT: It's aquacomputer ...

[EvoCarlos]

I recon your board is max'd out. Striker 2 Formula on average is only good to 450 FSB with quads. As mentioned earlier, I've had 4 of the things and none of them passed 450 with QX9650.

500 with quad its all good but the last few bios after 1305 are utter crap for fsb

oh and lots of red and amber lights to get it this far

[R104_for]

So which bio to use?

[CROSSHAIR]

BIOS 1602
42ns
12.5gig read speed

TEST
E8400
TRACER 8500

[markost]

500 with quad its all good but the last few bios after 1305 are utter crap for fsb

oh and lots of red and amber lights to get it this far

That board must be one of the rare ones !!

[Marios]

Hi,

I've been browsing these forums for some time but now it's the time to make the first post.

I've been having massive problems OC'ing this board. I've tried QX6700 and now I have QX9650. I've got it stable only by OC'ing with the multiplier (QX6700 @ 11*266 = 2933 MHz, QX9650 @ 10*333 = 3333 MHz). For example if I try to OC the QX9650 further to 10*350 = 3500 MHz, it isn't prime stable anymore, one core failed after 2 hours. I could run at 10*333 without touching any voltages, but at 10*350 I tried the following:

CPU voltage 1.3 .. 1.35 V
CPU PLL 1.6 V
CPU VTT 1.28 V
MEM 2.1 V
NB Core 1.40 .. 1.44 V
SB Core 1.5 V
1.2 V HT 1.35 V
Bridge Core AUTO
CPU GTLREF +30 mV
NB GTLREF +30 mV

the rest is AUTO.

..and it's still unstable.

I have managed to boot to Windows at 10*400 by upping the voltages further but it's not stable at all. Do I have the GTLREF voltages wrong? If I use 1.28 V on VTT, should I actually use CPU GTLREF -5 mV?? That doesn't help at all..

I also wonder does the SLI make things harder to overclock? When I tried 3-way 8800 Ultra's, I couldn't always even post when I tried to OC, but with 2-way SLI, It's much easier. Could be related to the PSU, too..

Here are my specs:

Corsair HX620
Striker II Formula 1701 BIOS
QX9650 with Noctua NH-U12P
4 sticks of Corsair XMS2 6400 C4 (tried with 2 sticks - didn't help)
8800 Ultra OC SLI
Seagate 1 TB
etc..


This QX9650 has been tested by previous owner at 5.4 GHz with a "proper" mb..

Hopefully someone could help me. I think the QX9650 at only 3.33 is holding the Ultra's back a bit.

CPU voltage 1.35 V
CPU PLL 1.6 V
CPU VTT 1.4 V
MEM 2.1 V
NB Core 1.42 V
SB Core 1.5 V
1.2 V HT 1.4 V
Bridge Core AUTO
Set PCIe at 103mV

Play with GTLREFs.
Start from 0 values
Slowly raise the FSB until you get no boot.
Now raise CPU GTLREF at 10
Then try CPU GTLREF -10
Go on trying the rest GTLREFs.

Your CPU might be good with extreme cooling but crap with normal cooling.
Try it yourself on a "proper mobo", then get yourself this "proper" mobo in case you like it.


CROSSHAIR
Nice overclocking.
Do you want to share your BIOS settings with us?

[markost]

Hi,

I've been browsing these forums for some time but now it's the time to make the first post.

I've been having massive problems OC'ing this board. I've tried QX6700 and now I have QX9650. I've got it stable only by OC'ing with the multiplier (QX6700 @ 11*266 = 2933 MHz, QX9650 @ 10*333 = 3333 MHz). For example if I try to OC the QX9650 further to 10*350 = 3500 MHz, it isn't prime stable anymore, one core failed after 2 hours. I could run at 10*333 without touching any voltages, but at 10*350 I tried the following:

CPU voltage 1.3 .. 1.35 V
CPU PLL 1.6 V
CPU VTT 1.28 V
MEM 2.1 V
NB Core 1.40 .. 1.44 V
SB Core 1.5 V
1.2 V HT 1.35 V
Bridge Core AUTO
CPU GTLREF +30 mV
NB GTLREF +30 mV

the rest is AUTO.

..and it's still unstable.

I have managed to boot to Windows at 10*400 by upping the voltages further but it's not stable at all. Do I have the GTLREF voltages wrong? If I use 1.28 V on VTT, should I actually use CPU GTLREF -5 mV?? That doesn't help at all..

I also wonder does the SLI make things harder to overclock? When I tried 3-way 8800 Ultra's, I couldn't always even post when I tried to OC, but with 2-way SLI, It's much easier. Could be related to the PSU, too..

Here are my specs:

Corsair HX620
Striker II Formula 1701 BIOS
QX9650 with Noctua NH-U12P
4 sticks of Corsair XMS2 6400 C4 (tried with 2 sticks - didn't help)
8800 Ultra OC SLI
Seagate 1 TB
etc..


This QX9650 has been tested by previous owner at 5.4 GHz with a "proper" mb..

Hopefully someone could help me. I think the QX9650 at only 3.33 is holding the Ultra's back a bit.

You should be getting 4.0 GHz without having to touch any gtlref voltages. Also I recon you need to do your maths on the power supply. Overclocking a quad and running 2 let alone 3 8800 Ultra's on a 620w PS is simply not going to work. I'd try going back to 1 GFX card and 2 sticks of ram. 3 GFX cards load up the southbridge so 1.6v are needed there for a start. Also try about 1.4v vcore in bios with loadline enabled just to see how it responds. That will not damage anything but I would find a voltage that you are happy with for normal use. Those voltage at 400x9 should work easy. If they don't, I'd be lookiing for another board.