X48 Rampage Formula Preview.

[vodka3dg]

hi there lads, im not an actual RF owner, but i do have its bios modded to my P5E bios is RF0410. ok, so straight to the point... i was just wondering how i could set tREF values in bios instead of having to set them with MemSet 3.4 in windows. any clues? i thought that extreme tweaker was the right setting to do the trick, but the other day i proved myself wrong... the strange thing is that when i had my SuperTalent (cheap ass) memory, i allways had tREF at 16383T while on "Stronger" extreme tweaker setting.. but now, with my g.skill set i find that i would only get 3120T when in OS. "strange" i thought, "but hey, dont give up!" and so i ended up here...

hope this helps:

Extreme Tweaker 
Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual 
OC From CPU Level Up : AUTO 
CPU Ratio Control : Manual 
- Ratio CMOS Setting : 7
FSB Frequency : 458
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 333
PCI-E Frequency: 105
DRAM Frequency: DDR2-1100
DRAM Command Rate : 2T
DRAM Timing Control: Manual 
CAS# Latency : 5
RAS# to CAS# Delay : 5
RAS# Precharge : 5
RAS# ActivateTime : 15
RAS# to RAS# Delay : Auto
Row Refresh Cycle Time : 50
Write Recovery Time : Auto
Read to Precharge Time : Auto

Read to Write Delay (S/D) : 9
Write to Read Delay (S) : 4
Write to Read Delay (D) : 6
Read to Read Delay (S) : 4
Read to Read Delay (D) : 6
Write to Write Delay (S) : 5
Write to Write Delay (D) : 7

Write to Pre Delay: 14
Read to Pre Delay: 5
Pre to Pre Delay: 1
All Pre to Act Delay 6
All Pre to Ref Delay: 6

DRAM Static Read Control: Enabled
Ai Clock Twister : Stronger
Transaction Booster : Manual
Common Performance Lvl: 7
Pull-In of CHA PH1: Disabled
Pull-In of CHA PH2: Disabled
Pull-In of CHA PH3: Disabled
Pull-In of CHA PH4: Disabled
Pull-In of CHA PH5: Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH1: Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH2: Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH3: Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH4: Disabled
Pull-In of CHB PH5: Disabled

CPU Voltage : 1.375000
CPU PLL Voltage : 1.5
North Bridge Voltage : 1.51
DRAM Voltage : 2.0
FSB Termination Voltage : 1.36
South Bridge Voltage : 1.10

Loadline Calibration : Disabled
CPU GTL Reference : 0.67
North Bridge GTL Reference : 0.67
DDR2 Channel A REF Voltage : Auto
DDR2 Channel B REF Voltage : Auto
DDR2 Controller REF Voltage : Auto
SB 1.5V Voltage : 1.55

CPU Spread Spectrum : Disabled 
PCIE Spread Spectrum : Disabled 

Advanced CPU Configuration 
CPU Ratio Control : Manual 
- Ratio CMOS Setting : 7
C1E Suppport : Disabled 
CPU TM Function : Disabled 
Vanderpool Technology : Disabled 
Execute Disable Bit : Disabled 
Max CPUID Value Limit : Disabled

many thanks in advance for any piece of advice anybody can provide

[Sidious]

Hello,

I would like to know which is the best memory for my rampage. I have compatibility problems with my Mushkin Extreme pc2-8500 and I want to be sure the new one will work perfect.

I can buy for example the following memorys.

- 2x2GB Corsair Dominator pc2-8500 with airflow
- 2x2GB GSkill 8800 Pi
- 2x2GB GSkill 8500 Pi
- 2x2GB GSkill 8500 Pk
- 2x2GB OCZ Reaper pc2-8500

Thanks for your help

[Roger_D25]

Sidious - I've used a few different kits of GSkill (both 2 x 1GB and 2 x 2GB) and they have all worked perfectly. My current RAM is significantly better than any other 4GB kits I've used, however out of the kits you posted above I'd go for either the 8800Pi or 8500Pi. Those kits are very inexpensive and clock very well, plus GSKill's warranty is stellar (since you live in Spain however I'm not sure how the warranty service would be)? After the GSkill kits I'd suggest the Corsair 8500's, that kit is very compatible and should work with no problems in your board. Last but not least would be the OCZ, its a great kit but out of the 4 your posted it would be my last choice. You probably know this already but make sure your motherboard is flashed with one of the newest BIOS versions (either 0701 or 0802). Good luck and keep us posted on what you get and how it works.

Well I'm finally running Prime95/3D stable at 450FSB x 9.0x which until 0802 was impossible for me to accomplish! After methodically going through many different setting combination's it turned out that "CPU Clock Skew" and "NB Clock Skew" made all the difference (A-Gray made this point a few pages back and I should have taken the advice, it would have saved me many hours of testing)! Although things are running stable I'm using far more voltage than is needed I think when compared to many of your results at similar settings. I'm hoping that I'll be able to lower my voltages with better tweaking, especially since I'm still running my GTL's at [Auto]? I will post my current settings later today (once I figure out how to post my settings like vodka3dg did above, using the scrollable table). In any case I'm very happy to finally be running stable at 450FSB x 9.0x, for a while I thought this was going to be impossible!

[ChaosMinionX]

Hello,

I would like to know which is the best memory for my rampage. I have compatibility problems with my Mushkin Extreme pc2-8500 and I want to be sure the new one will work perfect.

I can buy for example the following memorys.

- 2x2GB Corsair Dominator pc2-8500 with airflow
- 2x2GB GSkill 8800 Pi
- 2x2GB GSkill 8500 Pi
- 2x2GB GSkill 8500 Pk
- 2x2GB OCZ Reaper pc2-8500

Thanks for your help

the dominators for sure. I use 8GB of them, and I can bring em all the way to 1250 with 2.00v 5-5-5-15. I have never had a problem with the 2x2GB 8500 stuff.

[Alien Grey]

the dominators for sure. I use 8GB of them, and I can bring em all the way to 1250 with 2.00v 5-5-5-15. I have never had a problem with the 2x2GB 8500 stuff.

It depends on what revision you get. Some overclock very good others just don't.

I'm using the OCZ Reapers HPC PC2-8500 and they overclock good up to 1120MHz on this board with SPD Timings. They don't need 2.1V to run that fast on the ASUS Rampage Formula.

The G.Skill memory will do better on this board.

[Alien Grey]

hi there lads, im not an actual RF owner, but i do have its bios modded to my P5E bios is RF0410. ok, so straight to the point... i was just wondering how i could set tREF values in bios instead of having to set them with MemSet 3.4 in windows. any clues? i thought that extreme tweaker was the right setting to do the trick, but the other day i proved myself wrong... the strange thing is that when i had my SuperTalent (cheap ass) memory, i allways had tREF at 16383T while on "Stronger" extreme tweaker setting.. but now, with my g.skill set i find that i would only get 3120T when in OS. "strange" i thought, "but hey, dont give up!" and so i ended up here...

many thanks in advance for any piece of advice anybody can provide

It isn't possible to change tREF in the BIOS. You have to use MemSet for that. I hope Felix add auto tREF for the ASUS Rampage Formula X48 Chipset.
Mikeyakame already gave him some code to make it easier for him.

ASUS should definitely add it to the BIOS that it sets tREF timing for the memory speed you are using.

Let's see what they have to say about it. They are going to run some tests to find out what should be done to fix the issues with BIOS 0802.

[mikeyakame]

It isn't possible to change tREF in the BIOS. You have to use MemSet for that. I hope Felix add auto tREF for the ASUS Rampage Formula X48 Chipset.
Mikeyakame already gave him some code to make it easier for him.

ASUS should definitely add it to the BIOS that it sets tREF timing for the memory speed you are using.

Let's see what they have to say about it. They are going to run some tests to find out what should be done to fix the issues with BIOS 0802.

Thats always a start. Now if they'd only take a leaf out of DFIs book and display the current PS skew values it'd be awesome.

DIMM1 Clock Fine Delay 5T
DIMM2 Clock Fine Delay 7T
DIMM3 Clock Fine Delay 5T
DIMM4 Clock Fine Delay 6T

They are my values at 415mhz fsb, cross clocking/common clock aggressive (aka strong) , I'm using a2/b2 for ram so dimm 2/4 which the values of clock fine delay are pretty much how I set them in bios.

Fine Clock Delay Adjust = 30PS (number of degrees times this adjust gives you final ps skew)
Dimm2 Clock Fine Delay = 22 degrees (660ps)
Dimm2 Control Fine Delay = 26 degrees (780ps)
Dimm4 Clock Fine Delay = 19 degrees (570ps)
Dimm4 Control Fine Delay = 22 degrees (660ps)

Dimm4(B2) is advanced 90ps from Dimm2(A2), the base values were around 740ps on clock fine delay for both a2/b2 which I've found using DLL Skew Model 1 for these sticks is the right model to use for delays. Also reducing DRAM CK (clock) and DQ (data) Drive Strength from CK=6, DQ=8 to CK=5, DQ=6 has magically fixed the random memory errors I was getting here and there when using higher drive strengths.

You know the nicest thing though.

Im using 8x415FSB at the moment, and Speedstep/C1E are both enabled and working as should, VID Special Add is amazing. 105.5% VID (1.2875v VID) which gives me 1.34v load, and 1.355v or so idle with Vdroop Compensation enabled. DFI's implementation is nowhere near as aggressive as Asus LLC, still has small droop but its consistent, 0.01-0.02v droop is worst I've seen so far.

Speedstep gives me 6x415 = 2.45ghz, C1E drops Vcc down to 1.22v during speed step. It's stable as could be too with them both enabled. I've never cared much for power saving features mostly because Asus boards never have them working once overclocked, but after experiencing working powersaving when overclocked on this DFI board I don't think I'll be content with broken Asus power saving features anymore!

[Alien Grey]

You know the nicest thing though.

Im using 8x415FSB at the moment, and Speedstep/C1E are both enabled and working as should, VID Special Add is amazing. 105.5% VID (1.2875v VID) which gives me 1.34v load, and 1.355v or so idle with Vdroop Compensation enabled. DFI's implementation is nowhere near as aggressive as Asus LLC, still has small droop but its consistent, 0.01-0.02v droop is worst I've seen so far.

Speedstep gives me 6x415 = 2.45ghz, C1E drops Vcc down to 1.22v during speed step. It's stable as could be too with them both enabled. I've never cared much for power saving features mostly because Asus boards never have them working once overclocked, but after experiencing working powersaving when overclocked on this DFI board I don't think I'll be content with broken Asus power saving features anymore!

I never understood why this isn't possible on ASUS boards. Isn't this something that the EPU chip supposed to do, saving energy?
Perhaps they think that if you start overclocking you don't really care much about saving energy and it's easier for them to leave it like it is now.

[Jonni Nitro]

I just got my Rampage Formula and everything is running fine except I have to drivers that are not loaded in the device manager. I searched a little and still came up with nothing. It is looking for the SM Bus Controller which is my chipset, correct? I have tried loading drivers from website but nothing changes. I am using all SATA drives. Everything is working that I know of. I have two 500gb Maxtors in Raid 0.

[neo_rtr]

Returning to the same question. I did try the 3.7ghz with similar results
Iam thinking now if i need to run a hight CPU PLL to achive my goal for 3.8Ghz (9x425 or similar)
What is the general experience how far can i go on a 65nm Quad?

this is what i use today

[Alien Grey]

New ASUS Rampage Formula Bios 0803.

Edit:

Nothing visually changed in the BIOS. Testing for stability now.

ASUS way of fixing a General protection fault.

[screwtech02]

Returning to the same question. I did try the 3.7ghz with similar results
Iam thinking now if i need to run a hight CPU PLL to achive my goal for 3.8Ghz (9x425 or similar)
What is the general experience how far can i go on a 65nm Quad?

this is what i use today

I'm runnin @3.8 with my Q6600.. First thing i would do is drop the multi to 8, and set the CPU/NB GTL's to .67... If you need it, i can post my bios settings, i'm also runnin 8gb of mem to, so it may be a bit different with your setup...

[amer020]

new bois for rampageformula 803
ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/mb/so...rmula-0803.zip

[neo_rtr]

I'm runnin @3.8 with my Q6600.. First thing i would do is drop the multi to 8, and set the CPU/NB GTL's to .67... If you need it, i can post my bios settings, i'm also runnin 8gb of mem to, so it may be a bit different with your setup...

Hi, the picture above is 8x450 : 3.6Ghz
my CPU GTL is 0.63x
NB GTL is 0.67x This is the 65nm QX6700 iam having
Is your suggestion to change 8x475 : 3.8ghz?

[ElAguila]

Any pressing reason or improvement to flash from 802 to 803?

[Alien Grey]

The General protection fault seems to fixed in BIOS 0803. I'm using DRAM CLK Skew Advance 300 ps or DRAM Clock Fine Delay 0T for both channels.
With DRAM CLK on Auto I get a result like the screen shot that I posted that my system will be shutdown.

I post a new one when I'm satisfied with the amount of time it's been running stable.

Uhmm... the general is back after 55 minutes running. I'll try now with changing tREF.

[Roger_D25]

I realize somebody already asked but does anyone know exactly what changes have been made in BIOS version 0803? You mentioned above A-Gray that the "General Protection Fault" seems to be fixed but do you know of any other changes? Until reading your post above I had never even heard of this "General Protection Fault" issue (probably because I haven't tried the combination of settings which causes this fault to happen)?

mikeyakame - As I was reading your post above (#1882) I got confused becausee I thought you were talking about the Rampage Formula and wondering why I didn't have any of those BIOS settings! What DFI board are you currently using, just curious? My last board was a DFI UT X48-T3R which was a great board, unfortunately I wasn't capable of getting it stable where I wanted to be so I picked up my current Rampage.

PS: I just searched both online and here in the thread for the voltage read points on this motherboard with no luck? Does anyone know where the actual voltage read points are on the Rampage Formula so I can use my DMM to read actual idle/load voltages (at least for CPU, PLL, VTT, NB, and SB)? I've tried a handful of different spots but its very hard to verify that I'm reading the correct actual voltage? Thanks for any help on this guys, if I can find them I'll do my best to test and record all the voltages and post them here (it might help everyone out)!

[greg.m]

Hi, the picture above is 8x450 : 3.6Ghz
my CPU GTL is 0.63x
NB GTL is 0.67x This is the 65nm QX6700 iam having
Is your suggestion to change 8x475 : 3.8ghz?

Suggestion is to set your cpu gtl to 0.67x for whatever your fsb is, because you have a 65nm cpu. Then you can try to raise a little your fsb and see what happens.

[Alien Grey]

Suggestion is to set your cpu gtl to 0.67x for whatever your fsb is, because you have a 65nm cpu. Then you can try to raise a little your fsb and see what happens.

No, it should be CPU GTL 0.65X for 65nm CPU. That's what Anandtech says to use for 65nm and that is what mikeyakame is using for his Q6600.

[Alien Grey]

I realize somebody already asked but does anyone know exactly what changes have been made in BIOS version 0803? You mentioned above A-Gray that the "General Protection Fault" seems to be fixed but do you know of any other changes? Until reading your post above I had never even heard of this "General Protection Fault" issue (probably because I haven't tried the combination of settings which causes this fault to happen)?

BIOS history:

[ 0803 ]
----------------------
Improve compatibility with some Raid card

You won't run in to a General protection fault when you don't stress your full system. The BIOS didn't fix that but the DRAM Clock Fine Delays seems to stay on the same value now. Although it's still early to say that it is really fixed. Time will tell if it is.

[mikeyakame]

I realize somebody already asked but does anyone know exactly what changes have been made in BIOS version 0803? You mentioned above A-Gray that the "General Protection Fault" seems to be fixed but do you know of any other changes? Until reading your post above I had never even heard of this "General Protection Fault" issue (probably because I haven't tried the combination of settings which causes this fault to happen)?

mikeyakame - As I was reading your post above (#1882) I got confused becausee I thought you were talking about the Rampage Formula and wondering why I didn't have any of those BIOS settings! What DFI board are you currently using, just curious? My last board was a DFI UT X48-T3R which was a great board, unfortunately I wasn't capable of getting it stable where I wanted to be so I picked up my current Rampage.

PS: I just searched both online and here in the thread for the voltage read points on this motherboard with no luck? Does anyone know where the actual voltage read points are on the Rampage Formula so I can use my DMM to read actual idle/load voltages (at least for CPU, PLL, VTT, NB, and SB)? I've tried a handful of different spots but its very hard to verify that I'm reading the correct actual voltage? Thanks for any help on this guys, if I can find them I'll do my best to test and record all the voltages and post them here (it might help everyone out)!

Using LT X48-T2R with most recent bios. Board is pretty much same as you had except DDR2, and different cooling. It's definitely not as simple to clock as the RF! I found a few hours yesterday to spare for overclocking this thing, and I've managed to get 8x420FSB PL8 1120mhz DDR2 stable. Amazingly I've got it stable with only 1.312v Vtt (65nm quad) and 1.33v Vnb real.

Latency is around 59.5ns or so memory bandwidth around 8700mb read, 8200mb write, 8500mb copy. Still haven't quite worked out what DRAM Delay Skew values I need for PL7 to be fully stable. I'm using cross clocking cha/chb aggressive and ch1ch2 common clock more aggressive at the moment.

Still got slight run away clocks but I've reduced the run away to safe buffer now. DRAM CLK and Data Drive Strength helped a lot here.

[neo_rtr]

Nothing.. bump up the volts CPU PLL etc 3.8ghz big nothing.. i give up. also updated to 0803 bios.

EDIT
With my current settings 8x450

CPU GTL 0.65X for 65nm CPU Fails Prime within Secs

CPU GTL 0.63X for 65nm CPU PrimeStable

[Alien Grey]

Nothing.. bump up the volts CPU PLL etc 3.8ghz big nothing.. i give up. also updated to 0803 bios.

EDIT
With my current settings 8x450

CPU GTL 0.65X for 65nm CPU Fails Prime within Secs

CPU GTL 0.63X for 65nm CPU PrimeStable

You have to change the FSB Termination Voltage when you change the CPU GTL. And maybe you need to change the NB GTL to. Look where it fails in Small or Large FFT's.

[Roger_D25]

Thanks A-Gray and mikeyakame for helping out with my questions, its greatly appreciated! By the way A-Gray how does Prime failing in SmallFFT's or LargeFFT's help determine what the problem may be or determine what CPU/NB GTL settings you should use?

[mikeyakame]

Thanks A-Gray and mikeyakame for helping out with my questions, its greatly appreciated! By the way A-Gray how does Prime failing in SmallFFT's or LargeFFT's help determine what the problem may be or determine what CPU/NB GTL settings you should use?

Small FFT uses L1/L2 cache for calculations so its more likely to be CPU GTL Ref.
Large FFT uses DRAM so it crosses cross clocking boundaries of MCH/DRAM so it could be more likely DRAM Clock Skews or NB GTL Ref.