Quote Originally Posted by piquadrat View Post
Maybe that wasn't argument but sounded like that. Don't take it personally. I appreciate your work here and following the thread for a long time.
But we should not miss the point here. It seems that Asrock does not support raid controllers on their boards (cheap or expensive).
That's unusual. Did you hear about such precedence in the past from other mobo makers?
And actually why that isn't supported? And what that means for me as a customer, I can rma the board if I witness compatibility problems or can't?
That is very unusual. The board is equipped with 4x PCIe slot which do not loose bandwidth unlike competitors (Asus board requires draconian feature cutting to get 4x slot). And at the same time Asrock limiting that functionality only to graphic cards.
Definitely Asrock does not gain better reputation among professionals that way. It seems they think gamers hearts are sufficient.
Strange, that's all.
Actually I can recall plenty of RAID card problems on Asus and Gigabyte boards not all that long ago (I think MSI too), about a year or so I think it was. in most circumstances I've heard of RAID cards that had problems worked fine after a firmware and / or driver update for the RAID card. Primarily, I'd say its the responsibility of the RAID card manufacturers but if they can't be arsed with the proper R&D, then what can anyone do

Quote Originally Posted by blacksun1942 View Post
Thanks for the advice.
VTT was on "Auto"; I assume it was set that high so that it would stay within 0.5v of the DRAM (1.635v)....wouldn't it be "bad" if I manually changed it to be lower? Also does "Spread Spectrum" matter?

EDIT:
Tried your recommendations; black screen after POST @ 46x.
45x with the same settings boots into Windows; testing stability now...
EDIT: 45x with above recommended settings eventually failed in Prime95 blend...
Yup.. I'd say likely a bum 2500k. Spread Spectrum should make a difference, particularly when the system is running stock. Best left disabled when OCing though. Going a little OT here but as most are unsure what Spread Spectrum actually does heres a little tech insight for everybody

SSCG as its referred to (Spread Spectrum Clock Generator) isolates signals helping to prevent Electro Magnetic Interference (EMI), or as some may simply call it, electronic crosstalk. Spread Spectrum isn't just limited to electronics either it also has useful acoustical purposes (which I'm unfamiliar with, a telecommunications engineer may be able to answer that part). Theoretically (to my mind anyway, I've never seen any real proof just white paper stuff) Spread Spectrum could help with a clearer audio output with on-board audio CODECs wired to one of the PCI-E lanes thanks to its ability to isolate crosstalk and "spread out" its signal. In practice, you are probably better off putting a small heatsink on the audio IC as that will prevent EMI more reliably.

The kicker with Spread Spectrum comes if you are a overcolcker, while that signal is spread out to help prevent interference, it means (I think, going back a few years in my memory now) that with the signal not being as focused it can reduce stability and overclocks. As I remember it, Spread Spectrum was introoduced in PCs back in the DDR1 days to help with memory Sine Waves in a attempt to get super high memory OCs stable. Did it ever really help? You'd have to ask somebody who was gunning for a WR back then and using a DFI Lanparty board. In modern boards, the biggest problem for OCers is with Spread Spectrum left enabled while trying to OC, it can cause data/clock misalignments.

Probably a good modern example of Spread Spectrum at work in electronic devices would be the use of a wireless adapter surrounded by typical household electricals like TVs or mobile phones. Most modern electricals have some kind of active Spread Spectrum built into their design to limit electrical and magnetic field strength, which when using a wireless adapter would have the visible effect of the adapter getting a better signal.

So in summary for those that didn't follow all that here it is bullet style;

- Spread Spectrum helps reduce EMI
- In PCs with audio going across the PCI-E lanes theoretically it may help with a cleaner audio signal
- Spread Spectrum is all benefits if a PC is left at stock
- Disable Spread Spectrum when OCing as it can lead to clock frequency / data misalignment; aka instability with OCs and data corruption.

I did offer a more breif and probably clearer explanation of Spread Spectrum here on XS a while ago, but I can't find it now plus I'm tired so my apologies if that new explanation is too broad.

As for VTT.. I have mine set to 1.1v, no problems. If you thinking about feeding the IMC to keep high memory clocks stable thats the PLL voltage. You can happily run 1.75v PLL if all you are looking for is 1600MHz and good timings, but going to perhaps 1866, and deffinately 2133+, you will need higher PLL voltages.