ASUS maximus extreme. How to improve RAM limit!?

[chemicallymark]

Hi there,

Read many forums about my issue but not really struck gold as yet :-(

I previously had an ASUS striker Extreme II and got a super overclock.
I got this board to 4Ghz (444 x 9) with the RAM running at 1857Mhz (8-8-8-22) stable on memtest / Prime95 and 3dmark06.

But sadly it was a dodgy board and kept corrupting my O/S (on even stock settings).

So I RMA'd it and didn't want all the pain to come back so I got an an maximus extreme.

Now with this board I can get the E8400 CPU stable at FSB = 470 with a multiplier of 8.5x (4Ghz), which is great. But in this case I have to run the RAM with 8:5 dividers (FSB strap 333Mhz), which is pointless.

I cannot get the RAM stable (OCZ 2x2GB 1600 EB 7-7-7-22) above a FSB of 433Mhz.

Amongst other settings I've tried upping the RAM voltage but it does not appear to be helping. One thing I do is is a +0.08V offset on the RAM (i.e. BIOS = 1.86v and in O/S = 1.94V).

Any ideas on how to move forward here with the same RAM? What performance hit would I take from running with different dividers (like 8:5 for example).

Thank you!
Mark


Here are my BIOS settings:

BIOS 1102
CPU Ratio Setting = 9
FSB Frequency = 433
FSB Strap to North Bridge = 333
CPU Freq = 3888Mhz
PCI-E Frequency = 110
DRAM Frequency = DDR3-1729
DRAM Command Rate = 2T
CAS# Latency = 8
RAS# to CAS# Delay = 8
RAS# Precharge = 8
RAS# ActivateTime = 22

All other RAM settings = AUTO

DRAM Static Read Control: AUTO
DRAM Static Write Control: AUTO

Ai clock twister = strong
Ai clock skew A = AUTO
Ai clock skew B = AUTO
Ai boost = enable
Ai boost level = 2

CPU Voltage = 1.3625v (offset shown in Windows of -0.036v i.e. CPU v = 1.32)
CPU PLL Voltage = 1.58v
North Bridge Voltage = 1.51
DRAM Voltage = 1.86 (offset shown in Windows of +0.08v i.e. v = 1.94). Bad thing??
FSB Termination Voltage = 1.24
South Bridge Voltage = 1.125
Loadline Calibration = enabled
CPU GTL Reference = auto
North Bridge GTL Reference = auto
DDR3 Channel A REF Voltage = auto --> REF
DDR3 Channel B REF Voltage : auto ---> REF
DDR3 Controller REF Voltage : auto ---> REF-DDR3
SB 1.5V Voltage = 1.5v
NB LED Selection = NB Volt
SB LED Selection = SB Volt
CPU LED Selection = CPU VOlt
Voltiminder LED = enabled

CPU Spread Spectrum = disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum = disabled

Advanced CPU Configuration
CPU Ratio Control = Manual
C1E Suppport = Disabled
CPU TM Function = Disabled
Vanderpool Technology = Disabled
Execute Disable Bit Disabled
Max CPUID Value Limit = Disabled

USB Configuration
USB Functions: Enabled
Legacy USB Support : enabled

 

[chemicallymark]

Well I tried a few things.

1. Adjusting Ai clock twister between light / moderate / strong
2. Adjusting the Boost level between 0-8
3. Extend ras activate
4. Changing FSB strap to 400

and...

Not sure about all cases but my RAM did not like the light or moderate settings on any level. In fact it got worse.

Adjusting the boost level to between 0 (i.e. disable) and 8 did not help.
I found the most stable was "strong" and boost level 2.

Selecting Boost level = 0 allows you to choose a "relax" setting, which is supposed to help with compatability.
This did not work and caused more RAM errors than before.

Extending the RAS active time did not help

FSB strap changes did not make any odds.

So in short...I can't get this RAM stable with FSB > 430. Above this I start getting memtest errors on test #5 after about 20 passes. On 435 it gets to 20 passes and on 432 it gets to 40 passes.

Just out of curiosity I think I'm going to try and run @ 3870Mhz (9.0 x 430) with the RAM at 1721Mhz with 8-8-8-22 and then compare benchmarks to running at 3995 (8.5 x 470) with the RAM at 1505Mhz with 7-7-7-22.

It would suck a bit if the latter was better considering I bought 1600Mhz RAM :-(

I think I have tried everything I can.

Any other thoughts as to what I could do? Help would be appreciated!!

 

[feathers632]

Hi,

I have the same mobo but with a Q6600. Max FSB I can get for the q6600 = 471 but quad doesn't like high FSB apparently. You should be able to go way past that with your wolf of course so now I am wondering if the max extreme is perhaps very hard to OC even to 5ghz? I think PCstats got at least 535 to 540 FSB out of it but of course the noobs don't publish their OC settings.

My recently killed Asus P5B Deluxe had a stable FSB of 515mhz in summer and 535 in winter with my old E6300 core duo.

For my max extreme (i only bought it 3 weeks ago) I had ocz 1333 ram which died (possibly static charge) a week later. So I now have 2gb Cellshock 1600mhz 7 7 7 14. It behaves in a strange way on the max extreme... I can't run the ram at the stated 1600mhz on 333+ NB strap. The only way I can get the machine to boot at 1600mhz ram is if I set the NB strap to 266. Problem there is that we need 333 strap for stability at high FSB! I have tried everything. Adjusting ram timings, over volting (a little), nothing works, no boot. I can run the ram up to 1593mhz on 333 NB strap. If I try for 1600mhz it won't boot.

So the problem would seem to be with the max extreme, yes? The straps seem to be very limiting. Today I managed to get the cellshock overclocked by 100mhz (1700mhz) but again this was only possible with an NB strap of 266. 266 doesn't allow for very high FSB unless the NB volts are raised into the red and as I soon learned, the max extreme doesn't seem to like running more than 1 or 2 steps into the red zone.

My old Asus P5B happily ran at full NB and SB volts (and was required for my 1800mhz overclock on cpu).

So I can't say I've had a great deal of success with OCing the max extreme. I have a mate who has q6600 on the much cheaper Abit Ip35 pro and he gets the same overclocks (3.8ghz).

I followed the Anandtech review in order to get the OC settings I use now but as I say, can't get past 471 FSB. I still have my old E6300 cpu around so maybe I should plug it in and see if I can get to 500mhz even? If not then maybe time to ditch the max and buy a different board!

 

[feathers632]

"I am wondering if the max extreme is perhaps very hard to OC even to 5ghz? " - I meant to say 500mhz.