UnOfficial Asus Rampage II Extreme Thread

[BustaH]

Ok, I have a problem that I am finding rather puzzling...

In the last few weeks I started noticing that my computer would hang at DET DRAM when I am powering it up in the morning and I naturally assumed this is the cold boot issue. However, I found this strange as I managed to eliminate cold boot right around 0705 BIOS so I kept an eye on this and soon after I noticed that this seems a bit different than cold boot, or seems so anyway. Why? Because I cannot get the computer to go past DET DRAM without removing at least one memory stick, the booting, then resetting the BIOS settings to defaults, booting again, shutting down, reinstalling the rest of the memory, and then finally booting up successfully and setting my OC settings in the BIOS again...

Very messed up. Memtest86+ 2.11 and Memtest HCI do not show any problems after testing the memory for 3+ hours at either 1600MHz 7-8-7-18-1T or 1800MHz 8-9-7-19-1T. The system is also Prime stable and LinX stable. All voltages are within normal limits, i.e., 1.36250V CPU, 1.35000V QPI/DRAM, 1.65681V DRAM. The rest is all on auto.

No other apparent problems either. Once the system is up and running I can keep powering it down and powering it back up as much as I want and no effect. However, in the morning it never loads and I always have the same problem. Stange thing is that removing power from the system, using the CMOS reset, anything...well...none of it works

Only once I do the procedure in the above specified order does the system actually boot. After that it is flawless.

Is my board going on me? I am really at odds with this issue now especially since stress testing shows absolutely nothing, and I mean absolutely no faults, nothing.

As cstkl1 says I would be thinking psu if that were me, Doesnt mean theres anything wrong with your psu just maybe the phases on the board are not receiving the signals quite as they should, as your ram passes memtests, and everything else works ok when it DOES boot, it would indicate an issue between pasu and board. any other psu you can try to rule it out or point to it?

[Nvidia Ireland]

Look at your auto settings in the bios for NB and SB. It will show the actual values your motherboard is using for auto. Try bumping it down .10 v on both and see if it's still stable.

Your case's ambient temps are probably the cause. Make sure you have a intake fan in the front and a exhaust fan sucking the air out the back. Also adding a small fan to the NB never hurt anybody.

How do I adjust the voltage? What am I looking for to adjust the NB and SB voltage?

[crazyea]

I am running my 920 at 4.0GHz and I am getting the following temperatures. 70 NB 65 SB and 50 CPU.
These temperatures are under load.
Are these too high? I am thinking my GTX 295 Quad SLI are the main cause?

Ok, I find it hard to believe you are getting 50c load at 4ghz when practically everyone else under the sun is in the high 70/80's at that speed. Is it dead of winter where you live and are the windows all open????

[Nvidia Ireland]

Ok, I find it hard to believe you are getting 50c load at 4ghz when practically everyone else under the sun is in the high 70/80's at that speed. Is it dead of winter where you live and are the windows all open????

That's the temperatures I am getting from PC Prob II. Is there any other software out there that will give a better reading?

[crazyea]

Take your pick...........

Real temp

http://www.techpowerup.com/realtemp/

Core temp

http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

[dejanh]

As cstkl1 says I would be thinking psu if that were me, Doesnt mean theres anything wrong with your psu just maybe the phases on the board are not receiving the signals quite as they should, as your ram passes memtests, and everything else works ok when it DOES boot, it would indicate an issue between pasu and board. any other psu you can try to rule it out or point to it?

Not really, I do not have one handy ATM. However, I will maybe go an pick up one to test things out and return it if there is no difference...

What does not make any sense though is that a few months back I managed to resolve my cold boot problem by adjusting the memory timings. Since then nothing has changed, but this problem now started. This is why I am doubting that it has something to do with the PSU.

Also, according to the 3V/5V/12V readings the voltages are nice and stable. No weird oscillations.

I am not getting why this would be happening only at cold boot startup, and never again.

[BustaH]

The reason I mentioned it is because I had a enermax galaxy psu that did a similar thing on a rampage extreme [x48]
anyway to cut a long story short, the psu was absolutely fine on any other board so essentially there was nothing wrong with it.
I called enermax, they said return it to them, they sent me another psu, a newer revision [same model] which worked perfectly and is incidently in my rig on this board [x58]

There was no sense in it and all the rails reported as they should. It may be that its not your psu, but I would say its either that or the board, if your ram is passing memtest
and voltages for the ram are set in bios, I dont see how ram can be contributing to your cold boot issue. its an odd one, and trying a different psu is a good idea even just if its to rule it out.

[Rapid7]

I was using an Enermax Galaxy 850w (Early version) and had the cold boot problem all the time.When switching on my lcd poster it would post welcome then the time (no check cpu or det ram) switching the psu back off & on again would allow the pc to boot.Now this psu was fine on my old Asus Maximus Formula & my Maximus Formula II,1 month ago i replaced the psu with a Corsair HX1000 and i have not had one single cold boot problem.

[PytonOrm]

So bios 1104 is crap for asus rampage ? thats suxx

[theonlybabyface]

So bios 1104 is crap for asus rampage ? thats suxx

Actually, it's excellent.

[DR3]

Ok, I have a problem that I am finding rather puzzling...

In the last few weeks I started noticing that my computer would hang at DET DRAM when I am powering it up in the morning and I naturally assumed this is the cold boot issue. However, I found this strange as I managed to eliminate cold boot right around 0705 BIOS so I kept an eye on this and soon after I noticed that this seems a bit different than cold boot, or seems so anyway. Why? Because I cannot get the computer to go past DET DRAM without removing at least one memory stick, the booting, then resetting the BIOS settings to defaults, booting again, shutting down, reinstalling the rest of the memory, and then finally booting up successfully and setting my OC settings in the BIOS again...

Very messed up. Memtest86+ 2.11 and Memtest HCI do not show any problems after testing the memory for 3+ hours at either 1600MHz 7-8-7-18-1T or 1800MHz 8-9-7-19-1T. The system is also Prime stable and LinX stable. All voltages are within normal limits, i.e., 1.36250V CPU, 1.35000V QPI/DRAM, 1.65681V DRAM. The rest is all on auto.

No other apparent problems either. Once the system is up and running I can keep powering it down and powering it back up as much as I want and no effect. However, in the morning it never loads and I always have the same problem. Stange thing is that removing power from the system, using the CMOS reset, anything...well...none of it works

Only once I do the procedure in the above specified order does the system actually boot. After that it is flawless.

Is my board going on me? I am really at odds with this issue now especially since stress testing shows absolutely nothing, and I mean absolutely no faults, nothing.

I had a somewhat similar problem and it turned out to be the PSU.
Changed my 1K E3 Ultra for a 1.2K Thermaltake ToughPower.
No more problem with booting or hanging.

[cky2k6]

Actually, it's excellent.

Indeed Strangely enough, my cpu also clocks better with this bios. Before, I couldn't even boot windows at 4.3ghz, now I can get a superpi run in at only 1.4v. If I crank it up, I don't think 4.5ghz is unreachable, and maybe even 4.6 if i disable ht...

[plenty]

Hi Just curious to find out if any1 here has got their Rampage BIOS flashed to 1104?
Read somewhere that 1104 allows you to force turbo mode on x21 multi??
can any1 confirm this?

Thanks in advance

[cstkl1]

well hmm i also had a psu related mem timing issue

silverstone op1000/da1200 i could run memtest hci with trFC 48.. thats he screenies i showed some pages back
plugged in hx1000 tRFC now is 60.
plugged back da1200 and its 48. no idea except the hx1000 rails are not as strong as op1000 and having pc probe show the 3v,5v,12v for hx1000 results in monitor blinking every few seconds.
each 285's now running on different rails just to make sure.

btw on the nb solution
think its just the thermal paste under it
took out the whole thing and used tuniq tx2
take note tuniq tx2 application method is different
u need to put quite a bit and it has to be viscous and not dry for it to work.
now on passive cooling in casing temp on memtest hci load is 55C only even better when it was in the bench rig.
hr05 solution was around 48C on load
also now my vtt voltage for uncore 4000 dropped to set 1.5375, read from probe it 1.48v

[jcniest5]

The 1104 BIOS is making my system unstable and can not overclock as high as with 1001. So I've flashed back to 1001.

that's also my finding...I should revert back to 1001 as well.

[DerekT]

Your case's ambient temps are probably the cause.

I agree.

[waixxx]

Does not dare to imagine the temperature. Air cooled

''______''

[cstkl1]

waix
well can imagine not that high

try with two linpax with atleast 2gb's

[dejanh]

well hmm i also had a psu related mem timing issue

silverstone op1000/da1200 i could run memtest hci with trFC 48.. thats he screenies i showed some pages back
plugged in hx1000 tRFC now is 60.
plugged back da1200 and its 48. no idea except the hx1000 rails are not as strong as op1000 and having pc probe show the 3v,5v,12v for hx1000 results in monitor blinking every few seconds.
each 285's now running on different rails just to make sure.

btw on the nb solution
think its just the thermal paste under it
took out the whole thing and used tuniq tx2
take note tuniq tx2 application method is different
u need to put quite a bit and it has to be viscous and not dry for it to work.
now on passive cooling in casing temp on memtest hci load is 55C only even better when it was in the bench rig.
hr05 solution was around 48C on load
also now my vtt voltage for uncore 4000 dropped to set 1.5375, read from probe it 1.48v

Ha! Interesting observation. I have been doing some testing over the last few days, and one of the tests I did just last night is I put the memory timings back to 8-8-8-20-1T from 7-8-7-18-1T when running 4.2GHz and 1600MHz memory. I booted perfectly this morning. Tonight, I will set the timings to 7-8-7-20-1T and see if it boots tomorrow morning, and then I will set them back to 7-8-7-18-1T and see if it boots fine.

Overall, though, this is very strange because it seems like it could be the PSU not being able to give enough power to the DRAM to start up at certain timings, which to be honest I have never seen or heard of before. Once the system boots, I can run memtest86+ and memtest hci for days on end at 7-8-7-18-1T and never get a single error. I can keep rebooting the system, shutting it down, booting up again, as long as I do not leave it off for prolonged periods of time. Extremely strange.

Anyway, I will update more as I run my next set of tests as specified above over the next couple of days.

Maybe I ought to pick up a Silverstore Zeus or something and test this out as well...

[mcj66106]

I have a few questions. Im running the 920 on the RIIE and I have 1.5 for the core voltage and 1.65 for ram and all others on auto and all options for cpu on. What kind of voltages should i be using for the rest? The system is stable at these settings for 30 min with prime 95 but running very hot. with windows open it runs in the 90s I know this is normal but if i up the voltages on say the nb and sp as well as pcie would this let me lower the core voltage to get a lower full load temp? Thanks for any help.

[Kensek]

1.5 vCore is too excessive unless you are running at 215x20.

1.45 is only needed for 200x20 for prime stable w HT and Turbo Enabled.

[mcj66106]

well Im not stable at any thing under 1.5 but ill try to see if i can get it to run. and I cant get a 3dmark vantage run to finish at any thing lower than 1.5 as well

[Kensek]

well Im not stable at any thing under 1.5 but ill try to see if i can get it to run. and I cant get a 3dmark vantage run to finish at any thing lower than 1.5 as well

Run your QPI Vtt at 1.40v
CPU vCore at 1.45v
IOH v 1.35v

Now try running at 200x20.

Make sure you are not using the stock Intel CPU Heatsink.
Use a great third party cooler.

[mcj66106]

im usin the cooler master v8

[mcj66106]

QPI VTT is the same as QPI/DRAM right?