Which AI Suite to use?

skibo1219

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I see all these threads about problems with the Asus AI Suite, both 2 and 3. MY question is, is there any part of them that is worth installing? Are there other programs that might be better to install instead?

I use win 8.1 now but I can remember there were tons optional programs but the resource/mem usage added up fast when you used to many.

I have a 990x Sabertooth and r9280x dc2top. I know I can install MSI Afterburner to replace GPU Tweak, I guess I kind want an all-in-one program but not one laden with all kinds of issues.
'gimmeh options"!
 
Considering it's free and removable, why not try it and see for yourself? AI Suite 2 would be the version you'd want to use - the current version has been updated for W8.1.

Problem posts in forums are similar to bad reviews on consumer sites - for every bad review, there's probably at least 10 users who are perfectly happy with it and moved on to bigger concerns without bothering to post a review. I'm running AI Suite 3 on three different desktops and have only had one issue on one PC that was fixed by uninstalling and re-installing it. I haven't used AI Suite 2, but as I said before, what's the harm in trying it?

The only caveat that I would include (which would also apply to any other mobo UI) is that if you use the CPU optimization or OC feature, you need to check the core voltage setting and adjust it as necessary. I think Asus does a better job than any of the other mobo mfrs in programming the UI to effectively adapt to your specific CPU's characteristics, but it's not perfect and will probably require a little tweaking.

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/SABERTOOTH_990FX/HelpDesk_Download/
 

skibo1219

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skibo1219

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I do OC a bit, not much tho due to being air cooling at this time, watercooling in the near future maybe. I like doing the OC'ing in the bios where I can see and change the numbers, not work with %'s.

I had suite2 installed a few months ago, but just didnt use it because it didnt seem useful enough to keep other than using it to monitor. Plus it didnt seem like changes to settings were actually affecting anything. I used Speccy and one other program (forget now..) for monitoring changes and nothing came to bear fruit. It did update my bios successfully, once... I guess I need to justify installing it, and keeping it installed. But, being a "set-it-and-forget-it" type of overclocker, where stability is everything, once it runs good at a respectable clock, I just leave it alone. When that happened, the suite 2 became useless except to monitor temps.

At one time, I was looking to download suite 3 but couldnt find it. However, seeing as it doesnt appear to apply to my system and reading people have problems installing it on "non-qualifying" systems and the trouble it took to get it to run, all just makes me refrain from trying. Am I just being over-cautious? LOL


edit: eee!, should have noted the r2.0 to it
 
If you're going to manage all your settings from BIOS, really all you need is a monitor as you stated. I use AIDA64, but it has a subscription fee. I also use HWMonitor, CPU-Z, and EVGA Precision X for my GPUs - I tried Speccy but had some accuracy issues with it.

I wouldn't say you're being over-cautious - if you don't have a need for it, why waste time on it. Personally, I use it all the time (fan control, on-the-fly voltage adjustments, updates, etc), but that's just me - different strokes and all that :)
 

skibo1219

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(i tried to post this as a discussion not Q&A)

I'd like to give suite3 a try, so if you can point me to a download link, my MB page only gives suite2. The problem i had with suite 2 voltages was that they were not being changed at all, so if suite 3 works great, if not ill uninstall it.