ASUS Maximus II Formula - new P45 king?

[Evil_AnAnAs]

To me it sounds like a problem with windows. Everything updated and so on?

[e.v.o]

ATK Driver installed?
Search for it from asus .. this solved the problem for me

[humeyboy]

ESATA works without issue on this Mobo.

[GFORCE100]

ESATA works without issue on this Mobo.

The only thing that really gets to me about this board is that the pull-ins don't work. I know from experience from the X38 that if you couldn't run a lower performance level (say 6 instead of 7) then you could still get the same performance result by enabling the pull-ins which do increase memory performance each and every time - guaranteed.

Everything else I can digest without getting overly irritated

If this was a cheap board I would say "oh well" but when you pay top dollar you expect an upper class product with attention to detail.

Bottom line, nice board, average BIOS and I bet you it's the better BIOS in the Gigabyte UDP3 that sets the difference in overclocking. It's like designing a wonderful car to drive but without the right engine, perfect handling yet underpowered.

The difference between cars and motherboards is that if say Honda put the same engine from their Accord model (2.0/2.4 VTEC 150-200BHP) in their Legend model, it would most surely get outspoken by car editors the world over so much so that Honda would have to fix it instantly. In fact all they would have to do is state the same sentence over and over (i.e. the naturally aspirated 2.0/2.4 Honda VTEC engine is very keen on high revs thus develops at best average pull (torque) at low revs making it a somewhat dull drive for such a heavy car, as is the Legend). Do you see anyone wiping the floor in similar light with Asus's lack of pull-ins? Nah, I think not.

[screwtech02]

ASUS just has a lack of decent bios support period, its not just with this chipset either.... Not like they give a frak anyways.....

[IcemaN22]

ATK Driver installed?
Search for it from asus .. this solved the problem for me

I didn't find any atk driver, but I found PC probe that says it's the same?
I installed it at least, but what will this help, it only are monitoring temperatures and fan speed? Yes I have the latest drivers.

[529th]

Here some shots with my new Q9650

He is a good overclocker I will go for 9*500 these days, but don't have time to play right now.

I'm working now to make 9*490 stable. This FSB want's a little tweaking

lol, good luck making it stable

my UD3R is running 500*8 all day long on my Q9650

Also did a 8.5*500 9hr Prime95 but on blend...

[Grnfinger]

It's a hell of a shame what ASUS is doing with the MIIF BIOS:
- no backport of those nice functions found in MIIG BIOS like QFan Plus, new BIOS Options, 8 OC Profiles, aso.
- eSATA at the Marvell Chip is not working but ASUS does advertise this option in their manual
- Pull-Ins are not working and many other things
- crappy old PCI ROMs

I really hate them now! They ing sell the most expensive P45 board on the market and don't give a damn about it!
You simply just have to look at their FTP and how messy it is their: 10 same software packs with the version in it and 10 different names. WTF? Don't you have standards at your crappy offices?

If anyone from ASUS reads this: Go, get yourself some process management steps and someone who watches the development! And ing get us a new and working BIOS with all those nice things.. it is a big ing shame that ASUS isn't able to do such simply things that companys like ASRock, MSI, Gigabyte, aso. can do! Your the biggest ing producer for retail boards and simply just don't give a god damn about your customers!

The working methods and handling of the customers has to be a topic on all big hardware pages all around the internet to pressure ASUS .. but i think that no big page will do such a thing, cause ASUS needs them and they need ASUS.

I share your frustrations, I bought this board looking to run a nice high FSB for 24/7 setup, sadly this is never going to happen with this board.
Time for banging the head against a wall is passed, I'm moving to i7 once I do my Rampage comparison, EVGA will be my motherboard of choice from now on, they actually care and LISTEN to there customers.
If Asus continues this trend tey will lose the enthusiast market, a small market but a valuable one. I for one am tierd of marketing Asus products they can go themselves.

I didn't find any atk driver, but I found PC probe that says it's the same?
I installed it at least, but what will this help, it only are monitoring temperatures and fan speed? Yes I have the latest drivers.

set pcie frequency to 101 or 102, bump NB and SB volts a notch or 2, it should settle it down

[humeyboy]

Even if you try the below settings?

CPU Ratio - 9
FSB Freq - 450

Effective CPU clock speed = 4.05GHz.

RAM/MCH related settings (RAM timings as 5-5-5-18):

AI Overclock Tuner - Manual
FSB Strap to NB - Auto
DRAM Freq - 1199MHz
DRAM CLK Skew A1 - -50ns
DRAM CLK Skew A2 - -50ns
DRAM CLK Skew B1 - -50ns
DRAM CLK Skew B2 - -50ns
DRAM Timing Control - Manual
Performance Level - 7
DRAM Static Read Control - Disabled
DRAM Read Training - Disabled
MEM OC Charger - Enabled
Ai Clock Twister - Strong
NB Voltage - 1.35175
CPU Clock Skew - 200ns
NB Clock Skew - 100ns

As promised I tried your settings and I knew before I even tried it would be a total waste of time for me (thanks for info though).

It cant even Post the Bios no matter how much voltage add.

There is no way getting to 1175mhz needs next to no fancy adjustments then above that it needs major adjustments.

Asus simply have made a boob of the Bios and support for certain Memory IMO.

[GFORCE100]

As promised I tried your settings and I knew before I even tried it would be a total waste of time for me (thanks for info though).

It cant even Post the Bios no matter how much voltage add.

There is no way getting to 1175mhz needs next to no fancy adjustments then above that it needs major adjustments.

Asus simply have made a boob of the Bios and support for certain Memory IMO.

Well this proves any of the below:
1) Not all MIIF boards are equal
2) Your RAM simply does not want to play ball (compatibility issue).

It's a pity you don't have access to the Kingston I use as that would prove whether it's your RAM or board. I tend to side with 2 above.

[Grnfinger]

Well this proves any of the below:
1) Not all MIIF boards are equal
2) Your RAM simply does not want to play ball (compatibility issue).

It's a pity you don't have access to the Kingston I use as that would prove whether it's your RAM or board. I tend to side with 2 above.

Well unless his Dominators are vers 1.1 and he pulled 2 stick, 1200MHz will never happen.
Been very busy last few days, will try out your settings today when I get home from work. I know my ram does 1200+MHz so it will be interesting.

[GFORCE100]

I've just been into my BIOS and noticed the above BIOS settings I provided to be slightly erroneous.

Here's them again with the slight fix included:

CPU Ratio - 9
FSB Freq - 450

Effective CPU clock speed = 4.05GHz.

RAM/MCH related settings (RAM timings as 5-5-5-18):

AI Overclock Tuner - Manual
FSB Strap to NB - Auto
DRAM Freq - 1199MHz
DRAM CLK Skew A1 - Delay 50ns
DRAM CLK Skew A2 - Delay 50ns
DRAM CLK Skew B1 - Delay 50ns
DRAM CLK Skew B2 - Delay 50ns
DRAM Timing Control - Manual
Performance Level - 7
DRAM Static Read Control - Disabled
DRAM Read Training - Disabled
MEM OC Charger - Enabled
Ai Clock Twister - Strong
NB Voltage - 1.35175V
CPU Clock Skew - 100ns
NB Clock Skew - 100ns

[humeyboy]

Dominator's are Rev 1.1 as stated many times in last few posts here.

Cannot even boot with 1 stick at over 1175mhz.

Can boot with no fancy settings with all 4 sticks (8GB) at 1175mhz and Prime/Memtest all day long.

My Mobo can also do 500FSB (2000QP) on 1.2v NB with 8GB 1:1, so Mobo ain't weak.

[GFORCE100]

My Mobo can also do 500FSB (2000QP) on 1.2v NB with 8GB 1:1, so Mobo ain't weak.

At what PL is this? 8, 9, 10? If you can do PL=8 at 500FSB at only 1.2VNB with that 8GB all running at 1175MHz then that proves your MCH is of a good yield (certainly above average).

[humeyboy]

I left all settings slack for 1175mhz as I was trying to see what was causing the Brick Wall I hit.

I either run PC at 1600QP or 2000QP do not see any point in odd numbers and as I ain't gamed in months I'm currently at 4GHZ 1600QP for now (all voltages as LOW as they go in bios), obv CPU is not lowest it can go its 1.064V on Load with LCC (tad higher than on my NF680I).

Both above settings are 1:1 so PL is 10 (I'm 99% sure that's what peeps claim is the Lowest it can go for 1:1 going by this thread, correct this if its wrong).

I know my Mobo seems above AVG going by how little voltage it need in each setting for 1600QP and 2000QP going by others on same hardware here.

Weird as Asus claim 1200mhz support, lets hope we see a Turbo version with 1333mhz support like the 2 lower Mobos now have.

[TouGe]

It's a hell of a shame what ASUS is doing with the MIIF BIOS:
- no backport of those nice functions found in MIIG BIOS like QFan Plus, new BIOS Options, 8 OC Profiles, aso.
- eSATA at the Marvell Chip is not working but ASUS does advertise this option in their manual
- Pull-Ins are not working and many other things
- crappy old PCI ROMs

So is this why I kept losing my connection to my external hard drive? If I do not access my external drive frequently enough I can no longer access it from "My Computer" even though it is still listed on the menu. I have to reboot my computer in order to gain access to the drive again. Also, I get a lot of pauses while watching movies from my external drive. I ended up just running an extension through the back panel and pluging it into one of the MB SATA connectors. Now I have no more issues. Interesting......

On a side note, I did decide to pick up a set of G Skill 2x2GB PC2-8800 RAM. I'm hoping these will net me a little more speed then I am currently getting with my current 4x1GB sticks w/o excess NB/DIMM voltage. Anything over 1080MHz just isn't stable with my current set. I really wanted the PC-2 9600 but the price......ouch!

[e.v.o]

Yeah, this is a problem that ALL P5Q and MIIF motherboards have.
Also ASUS is putting real low end chips on their boards and selling this big time:
most realtek onboard devices are way much better then this ty pseudo X-FI AD2000b chip from soundmax, which simply is crap all the way. also realtek provides driver updates .. our soundmax driver is still version 1.0 and dates back to 02/2008. take off the cover from that "soundcard" and you won't find any big capacitors...

and yeah, Grnfinger is right. i'm simply just frustated that ASUS doesn't care about their customers...
all i can say is that some big "news" sites should make this one a topic on their pages and kick ASUS in the nuts..

[TouGe]

+1 on the nut kicking.

I too am growing really tired of Asus. I keep telling myself this is my last Asus board but then I find myself giving them one more chance lol. I think I'm just going to sit on this MB until the 32nm parts come out and then run as fast as I can to either Gigabyte or DFI. I'm tired of spending money on the 775 family. I can't even count on both hands how many motherboards I have gone through since Conroe was released and I don't even want to think about how many of those were ASUS boards.

[MikeRoz]

I have one of these boards, and I have a question.

Why is the CPU temperature frozen at a particular value when I cool the CPU to below 0 C?

[GFORCE100]

E.V.O.

Just a thought, is there no way to extract the ROM containing the code that controls the pull-ins from say a X38/X48 or different P45 BIOS and insert it into the MIIF 1901 BIOS?

I bet the X38/X48/P45 are almost identical when it comes to the pull-ins which would mean the code should work when pulled from one BIOS to the next (X38/X48 ---> P45). Since the MIIF has a dual-bios design it would even be non-risky to try it out.

The other option would be to convince some Asus engineer so he/she can earn a little on the side should they choose to fix the MIIF BIOS in their spare time - especially as they have access to all the tools and resources at Asus making it a lot easier for them than going the reverse-engineering route as depicted above. He/she would actually be doing Asus a favour even if he/she was found out at Asus so it's not as if he would be risking his job - and consequently it's not out of the blue to think such an approach to getting the MIIF BIOS fixed is out of the question.

[529th]

multiple kicks in the nuts and cooch while they hand me all my money back from over the years of buying exclusively ass-sus mo-boards

this has been a learning lesson for me, thanks

[Grnfinger]

multiple kicks in the nuts and cooch while they hand me all my money back from over the years of buying exclusively ass-sus mo-boards

this has been a learning lesson for me, thanks

I think I need to photoshop me a new avatar, thats priceless

[Grnfinger]

I've just been into my BIOS and noticed the above BIOS settings I provided to be slightly erroneous.

Here's them again with the slight fix included:

CPU Ratio - 9
FSB Freq - 450

Effective CPU clock speed = 4.05GHz.

RAM/MCH related settings (RAM timings as 5-5-5-18):

AI Overclock Tuner - Manual
FSB Strap to NB - Auto
DRAM Freq - 1199MHz
DRAM CLK Skew A1 - Delay 50ns
DRAM CLK Skew A2 - Delay 50ns
DRAM CLK Skew B1 - Delay 50ns
DRAM CLK Skew B2 - Delay 50ns
DRAM Timing Control - Manual
Performance Level - 7
DRAM Static Read Control - Disabled
DRAM Read Training - Disabled
MEM OC Charger - Enabled
Ai Clock Twister - Strong
NB Voltage - 1.35175V
CPU Clock Skew - 100ns
NB Clock Skew - 100ns

After checking my settings with yours the only difference is FSB Strap, I dial mine in a 333 and you use auto....I thank you for the information I might have another go with this board b4 I shelf it as my backup

[529th]

multiple kicks in the nuts and cooch while they hand me all my money back from over the years of buying exclusively ass-sus mo-boards

this has been a learning lesson for me, thanks

I think I need to photoshop me a new avatar, thats priceless

heheheh

[Etihtsarom]

I recently had a tech support call to them when my board stopped posting, a god awful experience. I simply told them exactly how ty their support and unwillingness to help was. It's not hard to force them to take their board back, provided you have a local retailer that sells the board. But more importantly, if they act like they don't need me, then I'll just prove them right.