ASUS Maximus II Formula - new P45 king?

[powellandy]

Processor: E8400 E0
Ai Overclock Tuner: Manual
OC From CPU Level Up: Auto
Ratio CMOS Setting: 9
FSB Frequency: 500
CPU Clock Skew: Delay 300ps (This Gave me more stability at the same vCore - - Thanks CryptiK)
NB Clock Skew: Delay 400ps (This Gave me more stability at the same vNB - Thanks CryptiK)
FSB Strap to North Bridge: 333
DRAM Frequency: DDR2-1000MHz

DRAM CLK Skew on Channel A1: Auto
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel A2: Auto
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel B1: Auto
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel B2: Auto
DRAM Timing Control: Auto (For Now)

DRAM Static Read Control: Disabled
DRAM Read Training: Disabled
MEM. OC Charger: Enabled
Ai Clock Twister: Auto (For now)
Ai Transaction Booster: Manual

Common Performance Level: 10
Pull-in of CHA PH1: Disabled
Pull-in of CHA PH2: Disabled
Pull-in of CHA PH3: Disabled
Pull-in of CHB PH1: Disabled
Pull-in of CHB PH2: Disabled
Pull-in of CHB PH3: Disabled

PCIE Frequency: 100

CPU Voltage: 1.341 (Droops to 1.336 under Load)
CPU PLL Voltage: 1.54
FSB Termination Voltage: 1.16625
DRAM Voltage: 1.9
North Bridge Voltage: 1.35
South Bridge 1.5 Voltage: 1.54
South Bridge 1.1 Voltage: 1.12 (Those because i have Raid)

CPU GTL Reference (0): Auto
CPU GTL Reference (1):-30mv (This means 0.64x anything else at tha 0.61x - 0.67x Range cause prime to stop)
CPU GTL Reference (2): Auto
CPU GTL Reference (3):-30mv
NB GTL Reference: Auto
DDR2 ChA Reference Voltage: Auto
DDR2 ChB Reference Voltage: Auto
North Bridge DDR Reference: Auto


CPU Configuration:

Ratio CMOS Setting: 9
C1E Support: Disabled
Max CPUID Value Limit: Disabled
Intel Virtualization Tech: Disabled
CPU TM Function: Disabled
Execute Disable Bit: Disabled

Load-Line Calibration: Enabled
CPU Spread Spectrum: Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum: Disabled

I tried those settings with multiplier 7.5 with FSB 440 for my Q9300,ended up getting bad vista installment + no hope to login in windows.Is my Q9300 Really this bad that it wont go anywhere without settings being auto or over 3.3?
I tried those settings with bumbed values,no go. This really is disturbing me.
I got 280GTX,4x1gb DDR2 800Mhz corsair,750W P&C Silencer Quad,Q9300,M2F mobo with bios 1802 and Vista ultimate.
Any help would be appreciated.

I would try with FSB term voltage around 1.25. I am currently running 450MHz Q9300 with specs below (I also have NB skew on delay 100ps, my CPU GTLs are Auto/-40/Auto/-40 and NB GTL is +50 and performance level is 8). It is stable for Linpack (x64) 20 times and OCCT for 8h+.

Also agree with CryptiK about the RAM - I had some 800MHz RAM before that would never really pass 850 so 1000 is perhaps optimistic.

Andy

[SiGfever]

The only reason I purchased this board is because my Q9550 wouldn't budge on the Maximus Formula but flys on the Maximus II.
I miss cross firing on dual 16X lanes.
Your right about the lack of effort or misguided effort in the support department.
I don't think I'm ready for the 135.00 board though.
Maybe I'm just stubborn but this board has enough to hold its own with the quads if Asus would just wake up and smell the coffee.

I too think that this board could really shine if the engineers would only make the bios options (all of them) work. My biggest fear as stated is that we were too close to i7 and that is where their brightest engineers are.

With companies trying to get leaner and cross-train their people I fear that Asus assigned us the janitorial squad.

[Nunzi]

The only reason I purchased this board is because my Q9550 wouldn't budge on the Maximus Formula but flys on the Maximus II.
I miss cross firing on dual 16X lanes.
Your right about the lack of effort or misguided effort in the support department.
I don't think I'm ready for the 135.00 board though.
Maybe I'm just stubborn but this board has enough to hold its own with the quads if Asus would just wake up and smell the coffee.

What he said but with a q9650

[philbrown23]

no matter what bios i use 1606, 1307, 1307 ket modded, or the 1802's it still hangs if I set it to raid, WTF that means my raid setup is gone, man this board is a heap.

[Grnfinger]

no matter what bios i use 1606, 1307, 1307 ket modded, or the 1802's it still hangs if I set it to raid, WTF that means my raid setup is gone, man this board is a heap.

Thats strange, I run raid0 and dont have issues on 1307 or new 1802.
I find 1802 rather decent so far, cant get volts lower but its a solid stable bios for me and my hardware. Others are complaining but dont provide any info about there problems

[seban]

Hi,

Few days ago I had my 9550 on 465 (3.95ghz) 45min blend and 10 linpacks (2.5gb) stable on 1.35 vcore.

Then I had one day break of OC and after that not even close to stable at same settings. After fiddling with settings (mostly GTLs) for last 3 days I gave up stabling 465.

I know too little about correct order of increasing various Voltages. I went back today to 460mhz and made it stable on those settings (2h blend + 10 linpack):

Ai Overclock Tuner m
OC fom CPU lvl up a
Ratio CMOS setting 8.5
FSB Frequency 460
CPU Clock Skew normal
NB Clock Skew normal
FSB Strap to NB 333
DRAM Frequency 921
DRAM CLK Skew to Channel A1 a
DRAM CLK Skew to Channel A2 a
DRAM CLK Skew to Channel B1 a
DRAM CLK Skew to Channel B2 a
Dram Timing Control m

1st inforamtion m 5-5-5-15-5-55-8-5

2nd information a

3rd information a

Dram Static Read Control d
Dram Static Training d
Mem. OC Charger e
Ai Clock Twist Moderate
Ai Transaction Booster m

PCIe frequency 102

Cpu Voltage 1.36875
CPU PPL Voltage 1.53975
FSB Termination Voltage 1.3385
DRAM Voltage 2.10475
NB V 1.40475
SB 1.5 V 1.5
SB 1.1 V 1.1
GTL REF 0.9/0.9+
CPU GTL Reference 0 50
CPU GTL Reference 1 10
CPU GTL Reference 2 50
CPU GTL Reference 3 10
NB GTKL a
DDR2 ChA a
DDR2 ChB a
NB DDR Reference a

CPU Config
Ratio Cmos Setting 8.5x
C1E Support d
Max CPUID Value Limit d
Intel ® Virtualization Tec d
CPU TM Function d
Execute Disable Bit d

Load Line Calibration e
CPU Spread Spectrum d
PCIE Spread Spectrum d

I tested virtually every setting for GTLref and 465mhz. I tested all options from voltages bracket 0.8v to 0.85v and 0.9v to 0.99v (the snapiest system I got from around 0.95 to 0.99) so I am pretty sure GTLrefs are not the problem but some voltages or combination of voltages. Also when GTLrefs are around 0.95 - 0.99 on 465 it would pass 1h blend but will crap out at linpack at around 4 pass (too little vcore or vtt?)

Also my CPU with GTLrefs set to auto is dropping Blend after 30sec starting from 440 mhz+.

So which voltage would you up first in my case to get it stable on 465? and which next after first one I need some pattern to fallow as I am to chaotic

oh yes I almost forgot mostly core 0 and 1 are dropping all the time ...

PS. my voltages are no were near to optimum as did not yet optimized them I just wanted to stabilize it somewhere.
PS2. On same settings (gtls changed to 70 30 70 30) but 465 will pass 10 linpacks but will fail core 0 after 12min and core 1 after 2

[philbrown23]

when I set it to raid it just hangs on "detecting sata port 1" thats it.

[andressergio]

Hi,

Few days ago I had my 9550 on 465 (3.95ghz) 45min blend and 10 linpacks (2.5gb) stable on 1.35 vcore.

Then I had one day break of OC and after that not even close to stable at same settings. After fiddling with settings (mostly GTLs) for last 3 days I gave up stabling 465.

I know too little about correct order of increasing various Voltages. I went back today to 460mhz and made it stable on those settings (2h blend + 10 linpack):

Same here mate...I had 3 stables OC, then one day i benched with safe voltages and now won't pass any of them...start messing with gtls and get again stable on the 445x9...today again won't pass...

[kwalker]

With companies trying to get leaner and cross-train their people I fear that Asus assigned us the janitorial squad.

I'll take that janitorial job
I could probably do a better job and I know absolutely squat about bios code

[SkOrPn]

Thats strange, I run raid0 and dont have issues on 1307 or new 1802.
I find 1802 rather decent so far, cant get volts lower but its a solid stable bios for me and my hardware. Others are complaining but dont provide any info about there problems

Grnfinger, can you verify EZ Flash is working on 1802 please? I don't want to burn a disk or go digging in the closet for a floppy if I need to flash back to 1307.

Thanks

[64dragon]

i'm still running bios 802 that my board shipped with and not had any problems, is there reason for me to move up to 1307 or 1802?

I tested virtually every setting for GTLref and 465mhz. I tested all options from voltages bracket 0.8v to 0.85v and 0.9v to 0.99v (the snapiest system I got from around 0.95 to 0.99) so I am pretty sure GTLrefs are not the problem but some voltages or combination of voltages. Also when GTLrefs are around 0.95 - 0.99 on 465 it would pass 1h blend but will crap out at linpack at around 4 pass (too little vcore or vtt?)

Also my CPU with GTLrefs set to auto is dropping Blend after 30sec starting from 440 mhz+.

So which voltage would you up first in my case to get it stable on 465? and which next after first one I need some pattern to fallow as I am to chaotic

oh yes I almost forgot mostly core 0 and 1 are dropping all the time ...

PS. my voltages are no were near to optimum as did not yet optimized them I just wanted to stabilize it somewhere.
PS2. On same settings (gtls changed to 70 30 70 30) but 465 will pass 10 linpacks but will fail core 0 after 12min and core 1 after 2

with Orthos or prime95, run small FFT's to see if the cpu can handle that speed/vcore. then go to large FFT's, depending on what test fails you can find out what voltage to raise

1024 - increase VTT or vNB
896 or 448 - vNB
768, 512, 332 - VTT

Grnfinger, can you verify EZ Flash is working on 1802 please? I don't want to burn a disk or go digging in the closet for a floppy if I need to flash back to 1307.

Thanks

the board does have 2 bios chips and a switch allowing you to choose what one to boot from. keep one chip with your current settings on 1307 and flash the other to 1802, if 1802 is bad flip the bios switch and you can run off 1307 again.

[SkOrPn]

True, but I was using bios 2 as the default bios the board came with and flashing bios 1 with all these newer versions. But you made a good point I could just easily boot to bios 2 if needed and re-flash what ever bios I want back to bios 1. Thanks for reminding me.

Oh and I went a head and flashed 1802 and its true the EZ Flash and OC Profile pages do not see my usb flash drives... weird... BUT, the bios is MUCH faster booting up. Have not tried any oc's yet...

[dctokyo]

Oh and I went a head and flashed 1802 and its true the EZ Flash and OC Profile pages do not see my usb flash drives... weird... BUT, the bios is MUCH faster booting up. Have not tried any oc's yet...

Hi guys.... what you need to do is to make sure that you do a full CMOS clear before you flash with 1802. After you do a full CMOS clear it will see your USB drives.

I had the same problem with EZ Flash it did not see my usb flash drives but after a full CMOS clear it work great.

[dctokyo]

Grnfinger, can you verify EZ Flash is working on 1802 please? I don't want to burn a disk or go digging in the closet for a floppy if I need to flash back to 1307.

Thanks

It works but what you need to do is to make sure that you do a full CMOS clear before you flash with 1802. After you do a full CMOS clear it will see your USB drives.

[grifonemoloch]

It works but what you need to do is to make sure that you do a full CMOS clear before you flash with 1802. After you do a full CMOS clear it will see your USB drives.

Clear cmos with the button in the I/O shield or with jumper and battery?

[dctokyo]

Clear cmos with the button in the I/O shield or with jumper and battery?

Well I unpug the power cord and Cleared the CMOS with the button on the I/O shield in the back and waited 5 minutes and it was good to go for the flash with 1802.

If that does not work then pull the battery at the same time as you unplug the Power cord and hold down the CMOS button.

[powellandy]

Can anyone confirm/deny that EZ-Flash is broken in the 1802 BIOS?

I have just upgraded from 1501 to 1802 using Ezflash. I then went back into Ezflash after upgrading to 1802 and USB drive was still seen. So it works here....

Cheers,
Andy

[Grnfinger]

Same here there is no need to clear the cmos EZFlash works just fine.
Altho AFUDOS is the better method

[seban]

with Orthos or prime95, run small FFT's to see if the cpu can handle that speed/vcore. then go to large FFT's, depending on what test fails you can find out what voltage to raise

1024 - increase VTT or vNB
896 or 448 - vNB
768, 512, 332 - VTT

Thanks m8 this is exactly kind of info I was looking for.

Alto that makes me wonder because I had my 9550 4ghz stable 3h small ftp on all GTL set to Auto and vcore 1.34 - but it failed blend test after 2 minutes at maximum (blend starts with 1024).

So according to your tips I am over volting my CPU atm with 1.368. I will check this.

Same here mate...I had 3 stables OC, then one day i benched with safe voltages and now won't pass any of them...start messing with gtls and get again stable on the 445x9...today again won't pass...

Yeah this is really not nice when it happens...

[64dragon]

i just flashed to 1802 from 802 and notice my temps for NB, SB and PWM are a lil lower under 100% WCG load. boot time is definatly faster too, i dont even see POST. my monitor is an lcd tv/monitor.

[SkOrPn]

Thanks for the input on flashing 1802. I will make my usb drive bootable and use AFUDOS. Where can one get the latest afudos?

EDIT: nvm, found the utility > tools section at asus downloads and it has afudos 2.38.

[N3it1]

Can anyone confirm/deny that EZ-Flash is broken in the 1802 BIOS?

I flashed to 1802 with EZ flash but havent downgraded so dont know how that works.

[SkOrPn]

Well this board is a real pain to clear cmos. Holding down the clear cmos button for even 30 seconds does nothing, and yes clrtc_sw is in enabled position. I had to remove the battery for 5 minutes in order to get a clear cmos, after that, it finally needed to have the time and date re-entered (an indication of a truly cleared cmos). No amount of pushing the button or flashing the bios would allow it to see my usb flash drive, but now it does after removing the battery. Life was easier with my P5B Dlx, lol...

[andressergio]

Hey guys

I flashed again to 1802 just to try some things...

I achieved this, just stable for SPI 1M have to tweak mems and some others it was on my 5th attempt and on GTLS -10/-50/-10/-50

[CryptiK]

Excellent work mi amigo, muy bien hecho!

That is a nice cpu you have, and I'm somewhat surprised it only too 1.34vNB too.