X48 Rampage Formula Preview.

[kuebk]

Just read few last pages.

[Alien Grey]

any word on our new bios?

No and I don't think that they are going to give us a new BIOS that fixes the problems.


I think that I know exactly what is going on. When you change the CPU Voltage the CPU GTL Voltage changes too so you're always with the wrong CPU GTL Voltage on two of the 4 cores if you try to lower the CPU Voltage.

I think that ASUS knows this and that's why you've got much better CPU GTL Voltage Reference handling in the ASUS Rampage Extreme BIOS.

I think that they also know that you need the DRAM CLK Skew for Channels A1, B1, A2 and B2 if you want to use all memory slots.


I one word the ASUS Rampage Formula BIOS "sucks".

[Trust13]

No and I don't think that they are going to give us a new BIOS that fixes the problems.


I think that I know exactly what is going on. When you change the CPU Voltage the CPU GTL Voltage changes too so you're always with the wrong CPU GTL Voltage on two of the 4 cores if you try to lower the CPU Voltage.

I think that ASUS knows this and that's why you've got much better CPU GTL Voltage Reference handling in the ASUS Rampage Extreme BIOS.

I think that they also know that you need the DRAM CLK Skew for Channels A1, B1, A2 and B2 if you want to use all memory slots.


I one word the ASUS Rampage Formula BIOS "sucks".

CPU GTL Voltage=CPU GTL x VTT, it does not change when you not touch the CPU GTL or VTT.
So, when you only raise or lower the CPU Voltage the CPU GTL voltage stays the same, but has to be adjusted.
With the possibility to change the GTL´s for each CPU individualy, it would be possible to lower the CPU voltage by one, two or more nodges...nothing more....

[Alien Grey]

CPU GTL Voltage=CPU GTL x VTT, it does not change when you not touch the CPU GTL or VTT.
So, when you only raise or lower the CPU Voltage the CPU GTL voltage stays the same, but has to be adjusted.
With the possibility to change the GTL´s for each CPU individualy, it would be possible to lower the CPU voltage by one, two or more nodges...nothing more....

Then tell me why you should have to adjust the CPU GTL Voltage Reference if you only change the CPU Voltage and don't touch the FSB Termination Voltage?

It doesn't make sense. All I know is that it's impossible to lower the CPU voltage for me. The lowest I can use is 1.22V full load with Prime95 and I'm not alone telling that it's impossible to use lower voltage no matter how good your Q9650 is. Did you try to leave the CPU Voltage on Auto at 4.05GHz and try to find a stable overclock like that?

If I leave it on Auto the board uses 1.27500V in the BIOS or 1.184V full load with LinX that only lasts a few passes stable before I run in a BSOD. Raising the voltage with one or two notches in the BIOS should be enough to make it stable but it isn't.

Because of that problem it's impossible to find stability at 9 X 469MHz and DDR 1250MHz. At these frequencies the trick with using more CPU voltage than necessary doesn't work anymore because it isn't the CPU voltage that is the problem.


All I know is that ASUS tries to fix everything with voltage so if you don't use the Clock Skew and push the voltage high enough there should be a stable overclock somewhere.

[leo27]

you're right A-Grey i found the exact same thing when i was trying to lower my vCore (i posted about it here)
Basically we need finer gtl setting adjustments if we were to lower vCore without just ramping voltage

[Alien Grey]

you're right A-Grey i found the exact same thing when i was trying to lower my vCore (i posted about it here)
Basically we need finer gtl setting adjustments if we were to lower vCore without just ramping voltage

It's exactly the same thing. It's perfectly stable with a BSOD after some time or one core failing Prime95.

The core that fails Prime95 depends on the CPU Voltage. If you only change the CPU voltage it should always be the same core but it isn't and that's why I think that the CPU GTL Voltage changes if you change the CPU Voltage.


The question is if it's possible to use a CPU GTL Voltage Reference like you have on the ASUS rampage Extreme?

[Trust13]

The CPU GTL Voltage depends on the CPU GTL Voltage Reference and the VTT. I dont think it changes by itself.
One example how it works:
9x450MHz
After i managed to get Large in Prime95 stable (here the VTT is important, CPU-GTL´s doesnt matter (Auto or 0.63) as long the vCPU is high enough), i lowered the vCPU. 1.275v (Bios) nearly passed 8k small in Prime 95 (1.84v load), but know matter which CPU GTL Reference, one core fails nearly at the end. With seperate GTL´s for every core this would pass.
Ok next try 1.281v in Bios (1.192v full load):
first try with CPU-GTL Reference: 0.63
1.12v x 0.63=0.7056v fail
next try 0.62:
1.12v x 0.62=0.6944v fail even earlier
0.65:
1.12v x 0.65=0,7280v fail, but after 12 minutes
0.67:
1.12v x 0.67=0.7504v pass!

So i need about 0.7504v to be stable with that Vcore.
When 0.67 would have failed, i would have to raise the vCPU by one nodge and would have to start the tests again.

With Bios 0001 (modded) like always, when a new Bios arrives, i made the long run with Prime95. With the same settings which were stable before, Prime95 Large failed. The solution was, to raise the VTT to 1.14v. And now Prime small failed...

1.14v x 0.67=0.7638v
so this seems to high for to pass with 1.192v Load
1.14v x 0.65=0.741v passes again!

To be stable with Linx i have to raise the voltage to 1.287v or 1.29xv in Bios. But the Load-Voltage stays the same 1.192v.
I made a run on vCPU Auto yesterday, looks like 1.275v in Bios, 1.84v load (prime95 small), I knew this wouldnt be enough. Linx gave me a BSOD after 2 minutes, but funny the Load-Voltage was about 1.192v-1.200v!? No way to use vCPU on Auto...

[Trust13]

btw Alien Grey today was your Post No. 1000 !

Gratz

[Alien Grey]

The CPU GTL Voltage depends on the CPU GTL Voltage Reference and the VTT. I dont think it changes by itself.
One example how it works:
9x450MHz
After i managed to get Large in Prime95 stable (here the VTT is important, CPU-GTL´s doesnt matter (Auto or 0.63) as long the vCPU is high enough), i lowered the vCPU. 1.275v (Bios) nearly passed 8k small in Prime 95 (1.84v load), but know matter which CPU GTL Reference, one core fails nearly at the end. With seperate GTL´s for every core this would pass.
Ok next try 1.281v in Bios (1.192v full load):
first try with CPU-GTL Reference: 0.63
1.12v x 0.63=0.7056v fail
next try 0.62:
1.12v x 0.62=0.6944v fail even earlier
0.65:
1.12v x 0.65=0,7280v fail, but after 12 minutes
0.67:
1.12v x 0.67=0.7504v pass!

So i need about 0.7504v to be stable with that Vcore.
When 0.67 would have failed, i would have to raise the vCPU by one nodge and would have to start the tests again.

With Bios 0001 (modded) like always, when a new Bios arrives, i made the long run with Prime95. With the same settings which were stable before, Prime95 Large failed. The solution was, to raise the VTT to 1.14v. And now Prime small failed...

1.14v x 0.67=0.7638v
so this seems to high for to pass with 1.192v Load
1.14v x 0.65=0.741v passes again!

To be stable with Linx i have to raise the voltage to 1.287v or 1.29xv in Bios. But the Load-Voltage stays the same 1.192v.
I made a run on vCPU Auto yesterday, looks like 1.275v in Bios, 1.84v load (prime95 small), I knew this wouldnt be enough. Linx gave me a BSOD after 2 minutes, but funny the Load-Voltage was about 1.192v-1.200v!? No way to use vCPU on Auto...

Exactly the same issue here. Thanks for trying it out. Now we know that it isn't my CPU.

What I've found is that using CPU GTL Voltage Reference 0.65X gives me the most stable results. The problem is that if I use 0.67X it's to high and it fails almost immediately no matter what CPU Voltage I use.

If I play with the CPU Voltage and leave the CPU GTL Voltage Reference at 0.65X I notice that the core that fails depends on the CPU voltage that I use so I think that in some way it affects the CPU GTL voltage a bit and I can't fine tune it enough to keep all 4 cores stable. No matter what i do there's always one that is going to fail Prime95 in the long run.

I've tried to get an answer on this matter from ASUS but they refuse to answer my question and that is reason enough to say that they know it's a problem but don't want to fix it or perhaps it's a hardware limitation of the board and fine tuning GTL's is impossible on the ASUS Rampage Formula.

Anyway I also added my findings to the thread on the ASUS Rampage Formula forum maybe if anyone has anything to say about it, or any other issue you've found with the BIOS, you can post your comments over there. The more complaints the more chance we've got that they actually fix something.

Maybe we could also complain in the ASUS Beta BIOS thread here on XS but the question is if it's worth trying because it looks like if you don't own one of the ASUS latest high end board there's no support for you.

btw Alien Grey today was your Post No. 1000 !

Gratz

Thanks.

[Alien Grey]

I've found a new BIOS for the ASUS Rampage Extreme on the ASUS forum so I thought let's have a look if they added the new features.

Well they didn't add any new features in BIOS 1301 and than I noticed that this BIOS is already 1 year old.

Do they realy need so much time to test a new BIOS.

[leo27]

I just got some F2-9600CL5-2GBTD with the aim of lowering the vNB and they did not dissapoint.

With my old ram i was running a vNB of 1.41 BIOS which was 1.44 real.
Now, running with the 3:4 divider 1133Mhz with AI Clock Twister Lighter PL6 i'm LinX stable with vNB at 1.25 BIOS 1.28 real and i'm getting higher GFlops and memory bandwidth too.

It looks like the timings can be tightened to 5-5-4-13 at 1.80v BIOS (1.87v Real) aswell. I'll post the final settings once they've been tested with HCI memtest and P95+UT2004

[m4gg0t]

Well i got my new rams, the G.Skill Trident 1200MHz CL and i have my CPU running again at 4GHz and my ram running at 1129MHz. Time to do some testing. Will post back later.

[m4gg0t]

I have my CPU running at 4GHz 1.35v with loadline calibration on, ram at 1125MHz 1.84v and 4:5 divider. NBv at 1.44v PL 7

[m4gg0t]

Ran prime 95 blend test and it was stable for 5hrs. YAY!

[leo27]

It looks like i'm Memtest stable at 1133Mhz at 1.80v, but changing the vNB down to 1.25 whilst being LinX stable, isn't completely stable i think i may have to adjust FSB VTT aswell
But i have noticed that if i delay channel A by 50ps then my clock fine delays are 8 6 7 5 which should be stable.

[Alien Grey]

It looks like i'm Memtest stable at 1133Mhz at 1.80v, but changing the vNB down to 1.25 whilst being LinX stable, isn't completely stable i think i may have to adjust FSB VTT aswell
But i have noticed that if i delay channel A by 50ps then my clock fine delays are 8 6 7 5 which should be stable.

I use a Delay of 50ps on Channel A with MOD BIOS 0001. You should also try Advance 50ps on Channel B if you use an original BIOS. Or maybe you don't have to make a 50ps at all to be stable.

[neo_rtr]

Gents, If i ask the question What is the latest Bios for this fine piece of motherboard, will you be so kind to reply. Iam on BIOS Version 0803

[SoLoR]

Gents, If i ask the question What is the latest Bios for this fine piece of motherboard, will you be so kind to reply. Iam on BIOS Version 0803

offical is 1001 not offical is 0001. and collection is here: http://solor.windowsdream.com/Asus.R....Formula/BIOS/

There isnt 0001 not moded bios there, simply because that version would just confuse everyone... if you want 0001 bios i would suggest to take 1002b MOD bios that is 0001 with updated option roms.

[SoLoR]

Finaly some new drivers build 6620 are uploaded here. They are originaly Intel drivers but i was able to mod them without creative dll crashing with them.... there was also software package updated few times...

[leo27]

Finally some newer soundmax drivers nice work SoLoR (btw the link isn't working for me)

[SoLoR]

Finally some newer soundmax drivers nice work SoLoR (btw the link isn't working for me)

I think there are some issues with DNS server responsible for that domain, so spam it once or twice and it should work

[tom256]

Finally some newer soundmax drivers nice work SoLoR (btw the link isn't working for me)

Everything working for me. thx for link SoLoR

[kuebk]

About the sound card drivers, I install first, second and third file in correct order and I will get creative eax on formulas sound card, right?

[leo27]

yep, but only upto eax 4 and for some games you'll have to use creative Alchemy

[BCBC]

thanks SoLor, it worked; EAX 4.0