The Maximus Formula Thread - Help/OCing/Guide/Rampage conversion

**iTravis** · 09-19-2009, 01:44 PM

Does anybody have the settings for E8400@4.0Ghz or 4.2Ghz? I got my E8400 up to 4.2Ghz with the Asus P5K Pro but still trying to figure out the settings for my Maximus Formula.
EDIT: Nvm, got it up to 4.0Ghz stable, now aiming for 4.2Ghz.

**~~overclocking101~~** · 09-19-2009, 05:52 PM

I'm having a major issue getting stable over 470 fsb with my Q6600 on my maximus 2 formula i could do 490 no problem but this board wont do it( maximus se/rampage) ive been looking though this thread but need help with skews and gtl ref settings. please

**loften** · 09-19-2009, 10:30 PM

i think some of these boards are kind of tricky to get those higher fsb's.. some of them go right up there. mine kind of shut the door at 475 with my e8500,, even on lower multi's trying all the tricks i could find here.. my old e6850 would not even get close to 450 fsb on this same board..

**iTravis** · 09-19-2009, 11:37 PM

Originally Posted by loften

i think some of these boards are kind of tricky to get those higher fsb's.. some of them go right up there. mine kind of shut the door at 475 with my e8500,, even on lower multi's trying all the tricks i could find here.. my old e6850 would not even get close to 450 fsb on this same board..

+1, I couldn't even get past 420 when I had my Q6600 and since I just switch to the E8400 I can hit 450 easily and still going. I guess it also depends on the CPU you have, once you hit the FSB wall then you're stuck with it.

**Wolf2000me** · 09-20-2009, 06:55 AM

It seems that I installed a waterblock for the northbridge after all. I used a non-conventional and noobish method to remove the stock heatsink. It's not very hard, it just takes a little bit more time. Here's how I did it.
I bought a waterblock and started to remove the screws on the NB and SB. I couldn't get the thing off, it just wouldn't budge, not even after using a hairdryer to heat it up. So I decided to just screw it back on however I couldn't quite get the screws back on the NB although the backplate was still in place. I decided to just leave it like that and get it up and running again to get some work done. A few days later playing a game my system powered down by itself, the northbridge was at 79°C

So it seems if you have enough patience, the whole thing will come off by itself effortlessly hehe

After attaching the NB waterblock, which is an AQ Twinplex XT DI btw, the northbridge hasn't reached 40°C. The Southbridge is naked though but its temp doesn't seem all that different.
I'll be playing around with it some more, that's for sure

**Wolf2000me** · 09-20-2009, 11:06 AM

Hey,

So with the new waterblock I'm currently running the settings below. The CPU goes up to 64°C, the NB doesn't reach 43°C.
OCCT crashes after 15 minutes, everything else seems to run fine including 3Dm06 twice. Any idea's?

edit: I can't say I need a lot more voltage to pull off 450+ on the FSB compared to 410+ Perhaps I might just need a bit more voltage, but the cpu temp won't get any better from it.

Extreme Tweaker
Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual
OC From CPU Level Up : AUTO
CPU Ratio Control : 8
- Ratio CMOS Setting :
FSB Frequency : 463
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 400Mhz
PCI-E Frequency: 100
DRAM Frequency: DDR2-926Mhz
DRAM Command Rate : 2T
DRAM Timing Control: Auto
CAS# Latency :
RAS# to CAS# Delay :
RAS# Precharge :
RAS# ActivateTime :
RAS# to RAS# Delay :
Row Refresh Cycle Time :
Write Recovery Time :
Read to Precharge Time :

Read to Write Delay (S/D) :
Write to Read Delay (S) :
Write to Read Delay (D) :
Read to Read Delay (S) :
Read to Read Delay (D) :
Write to Write Delay (S) :
Write to Write Delay (D) :
DRAM Static Read Control: Disabled
Ai Clock Twister : Light
Transaction Booster : Auto

CPU Voltage : 1.42
CPU PLL Voltage : 1.60
North Bridge Voltage : 1.53
DRAM Voltage : Auto
FSB Termination Voltage : 1.55
South Bridge Voltage : A
Loadline Calibration : Enabled
CPU GTL Reference : 0.63x
North Bridge GTL Reference : 0.67x
DDR2 Channel A REF Voltage : DDR2_REF
DDR2 Channel B REF Voltage : A
DDR2 Controller REF Voltage : A
SB 1.5V Voltage : A

NB LED Selection : NB Volt
SB LED Selection : SB Volt
CPU LED Selection : CPU VOlt
Voltiminder LED : Enabled

**loften** · 09-21-2009, 12:50 AM

wolf are you using the reapers still? i put some flex in mine and it boots right up and auto detects it at the rated settings.. not like my crucials,, they would not even post bios until i put another set in to change the bios voltage and settings then switch them in.. try setting your ram settings to close to their rated settings and set their voltage instead of leaving it at auto because these boards over volt the ram.. if they are 1066 try to get them close to it on the 400 or 333 strap.. 5,5,5,18 and leave the other sub timings on auto for now.. try change dram static to enabled, ai clock twister to strong, trans booster to disabled, relax 0. guessing it is the maximus bios with those settings you posted.... think you should be at a performance level of 7 there.. i like pl 7.. i can set it in the rampage bios easy..i would run some tests with the cpu at stock and get the memory stable at their rated settings or very close to them to make sure they are not causing any issues first.. a couple passes of prime 95 blend or memtest will give you a good idea.. i am not to familiar with the q6600, my brother had one and i watched him play with it a little.. i think the cpu voltage may need to be a little higher a couple clicks up and test if it drops a core up a little more re test, i think on cpu voltage 1.52 real and fsbt voltage can come down a little,, i think 1.48 on that, again it is not in front of me so i am guessing.. since i think i read you have water you should be fine.. watch the temps,, try prime 95 blend.. on mine occt gets like 10 degrees higher loaded temps and sometimes crashes when i can p95 it all day and all night on blend under 64 degrees..

**Wolf2000me** · 09-21-2009, 01:58 AM

Originally Posted by loften

wolf are you using the reapers still? i put some flex in mine and it boots right up and auto detects it at the rated settings.. not like my crucials,, they would not even post bios until i put another set in to change the bios voltage and settings then switch them in.. try setting your ram settings to close to their rated settings and set their voltage instead of leaving it at auto because these boards over volt the ram.. if they are 1066 try to get them close to it on the 400 or 333 strap.. 5,5,5,18 and leave the other sub timings on auto for now.. try change dram static to enabled, ai clock twister to strong, trans booster to disabled, relax 0. guessing it is the maximus bios with those settings you posted.... think you should be at a performance level of 7 there.. i like pl 7.. i can set it in the rampage bios easy..i would run some tests with the cpu at stock and get the memory stable at their rated settings or very close to them to make sure they are not causing any issues first.. a couple passes of prime 95 blend or memtest will give you a good idea.. i am not to familiar with the q6600, my brother had one and i watched him play with it a little.. i think the cpu voltage may need to be a little higher a couple clicks up and test if it drops a core up a little more re test, i think on cpu voltage 1.52 real and fsbt voltage can come down a little,, i think 1.48 on that, again it is not in front of me so i am guessing.. since i think i read you have water you should be fine.. watch the temps,, try prime 95 blend.. on mine occt gets like 10 degrees higher loaded temps and sometimes crashes when i can p95 it all day and all night on blend under 64 degrees..

Sorry, I thought I stated the bios version. It's the Rampage 803 bios I'm running. I just used the template from page 1, which is of course a Maximus version.

I am using those Reapers yes. The reason that they are stated in my sig as junk is because if i run them slightly over spec they start to get unstable.
I'm still using them because they are running under spec and I'm not really interested in heavy memory tweaking.
I'll give your suggestions a shot when I return from work. Thanks!

**loften** · 09-21-2009, 02:03 PM

ok so then the trans booster would be set to manual and the common performance level to 7.. the rest might be doable with the voltages on cpu and fsbt and maybe some pull in tweaks.. i am still learning the rampage bios. this is my second go around with it.. i figured out my e8500 on the maximus bios to 4.5 stable but i lost a couple sticks of ram.. i just have it at 4.38 on the same rampage bios you have with out any real tweaks and as soon as i get a better set of memory again i will start playing with it a little more .. i could run 3 different sets of memory on those settings on the 333 or 400 strap on pretty much every bios i have tried.. 2 sets of 8500 and a set of 6400.. the 6400 would go up to 1081 the rest would go up to mid 1100's.. i wish i wouldn't have sold a few of them because right after i did i lost a pair of my balistix and i think my second pair is about done for too.. which is my fault for not installing my fan back over them after i water cooled my cpu and nb.. they did pretty well before that mistake..

**Wolf2000me** · 09-22-2009, 03:04 AM

Transaction booster set to manual and PL7 results in a no boot. Just as most of the PL settings do. Once the system rebooted at 2.16Ghz and the keyboard wouldn't respond. Of course a bios reset fixed all that, great convenience those bios reset buttons

I did set the FSB strap from 400Mhz to 333Mhz, clock twister to moderate and I upped the CPU PLL voltage to 1.8v (as suggested by Cadaveca listed in the OP). This is stable but I also notice a slight performance hit.
I'm now trying to get 466x8 stable but I'm in the same situation as before. Everything works but OCCT crashes after 10 minutes of testing.

**DarkWhisper** · 09-22-2009, 01:44 PM

ive got the se version and having problems with my boot up replace a q6600 for a q9650 when powering up it comes up with testcmos. Do i need to bios flash? if so how do i do it. or would asus do it if i send board to them??

**hutkikz** · 09-22-2009, 02:11 PM

Yes you need a bios that supports 45 nm chips.
there is a good guide to flashing bios in the first post under "Maximus / P5E to Rampage Conversion"
you dont have to convert to rampage it will work for any bios
i believe you need bios 1207 or higher

**loften** · 09-26-2009, 05:19 PM

crud i forgot about this wolf.. anyway i wonder if your issues may be the board not liking the ram..

**~~overclocking101~~** · 09-26-2009, 06:39 PM

yep 460 fsb wall with my Q6600 i wonder if its the same with 45nm quads?? maybe ill just grab a Q6700 hell if i get 460 on that 10X460=4.6GHZ ill be happy

**OVERK|LL** · 09-27-2009, 02:57 PM

I managed to FUBAR my setup. I flashed back to Maximus to try the newest BIOS, was getting a plethora of DETRAM problems, so flashed back to Rampage, but didn't write down my previous settings.

Now I'm having fun getting it stable again. Though I am a lot closer now than I was yesterday, I can game and stuff without it rebooting.

I've currently got Vdroop disabled, so setting the base voltage significantly higher, because it seems that Vdroop is something Intel has designed to be used......

Also swapped out the RAM I had last week for another set of Ballistix, but haven't really tried to push them beyond 900Mhz, which is 1:1 for my current setup; 450x8, 400 strap.

**OVERK|LL** · 09-27-2009, 04:04 PM

Update:

Got it sorted out. Enabled LLC again, bumped voltage to 1.49 (1.48 actual) and its G2G.

**OVERK|LL** · 09-27-2009, 05:51 PM

Stupid question, in case somebody else has done this, and it would save me the time of messing with it if it isn't going to work:

I have 4x2GB Crucial Ballistix 800Mhz sticks. I noted that there is 500Mhz info for them at 2.0V using CPU-Z, so I'm thinking they should EASILY do 1,000Mhz. I can provide the stick numbers if necessary.

Now, I know that 8GB of RAM taxes the NB. I am running 1:1 right now (900Mhz) with them at 2V, but could go higher if the sticks will do it.... What is the highest anybody has gone in terms of memory clock, running 3.6Ghz on a Quad, on this board with 8GB of RAM?

**Wolf2000me** · 09-29-2009, 09:49 AM

Originally Posted by loften

crud i forgot about this wolf.. anyway i wonder if your issues may be the board not liking the ram..

Hey, no worries

I have had a suspicion from the beginning that this ram wasn't the best I could have picked up for the price, hence the junk reference in the sig.

At this point I'm running 8x463Mhz with transaction booster on auto and on the 333Mhz FSB strap. However I have no idea what that does. Setting 400Mhz doesn't give me any different choices in the bios. However, ever since I set 333Mhz strap in the bios together with a CPU PLL voltage of 1.75v it's fully stable like this. Even with clock twister set to strong.
Adding 1 mhz on the FSB sets me back to the stability I had before. I guess I'm quite close to the limit of what this chip'll do without adding a lot of juice.

I'm not too unhappy with the result though :-)

**kogeltje** · 09-30-2009, 06:06 AM

I tried to get my E8200 500FSB+ but i cant get it stale on 500 FSB/ 4Ghz.

Someone got some ideas for me ?

E8200 ( 4,0Ghz )
Asus P5E ( RF 0902 bios )
4 Gb Crucial Ballistx tracer DDR2-800 ( 1000Mhz )
XFX HD 4890 Black Edition
Zalman HP 600 PSU

Cpu temps : idle 45, stressed 53.
CPU voltage : 1.38125 V
NB voltage : 1.31 V

**Flak** · 10-13-2009, 09:11 PM

Anyone try the new Maximus 1403 bios yet?

**dionysus** · 10-14-2009, 10:26 AM

I installed the latest bios 1403 I had a q6600 stable at 3.4.
Over this weekend I picked up a retail Q9550 at a reasonable price and wanted to play with a new toy. I have it prime stable at 3.714 437x8.5 with a vcore of 1.23 and its great the temps are also very good 40c idle and roughly 63c prime. I have a question since I have very little vcore and excellent temps I tried to get it to 4.0ghz. But for whatever reason ITS A NO GO. Do all think this maybe a FSB limitation?
thx for all replys in advance.

**~~Zucker2k~~** · 10-14-2009, 10:29 AM

Yes, it's a fsb limitation on the x38 chipset with regard to 45nm quads.

**dionysus** · 10-14-2009, 10:33 AM

Tx for the quick reply.

**~~overclocking101~~** · 10-14-2009, 11:06 AM

well i have left my nb voltage on auto to see what it self sets to, and have gotten higher clocks investigating the nb voltage it self sets to 1.65v ++ so anyone having stability issues with quads and such try higher nb voltage

**OLDcomer** · 10-15-2009, 12:02 AM

Originally Posted by dionysus

I installed the latest bios 1403 I had a q6600 stable at 3.4.
Over this weekend I picked up a retail Q9550 at a reasonable price and wanted to play with a new toy. I have it prime stable at 3.714 437x8.5 with a vcore of 1.23 and its great the temps are also very good 40c idle and roughly 63c prime. I have a question since I have very little vcore and excellent temps I tried to get it to 4.0ghz. But for whatever reason ITS A NO GO. Do all think this maybe a FSB limitation?
thx for all replys in advance.

Which revision is you board. Try Rampage bios 0802.

Originally Posted by Zucker2k

Yes, it's a fsb limitation on the x38 chipset with regard to 45nm quads.

I don't think so:
http://hwbot.org/result.do?resultId=901734