The Maximus Formula Club

[Deton]

To all Maximus Owners;
You're all invited to join the Maximus Club and share your own experiences (the Good/the Bad) or pics of your board. Perhaps your rig as well.


Maximus Formula SE & accessories



Special Edition version, a close look at Fusion block and Heatsinks



MOSFET Heatsinks and Clear CMOS button at the back of the board.



The heart of the board. SB and SATA connections



ROG - SupremeFX II sound card

SupremeFX II Sound Card Review

[Deton]

BIOS 0907
Extreme Tweaker 
Ai Overclock Tuner : Manual 
OC From CPU Level Up : AUTO 
CPU Ratio Control : Manual 
- Ratio CMOS Setting : (you can leave this Auto if want to conserve
power. AI power up software will adjust the speed according to the 
work load on the CPU. It will sets the CPU at stock speed on Idle and to 
overclocked speed when it on load. It works just a tubro charger).
FSB Frequency : 
FSB Strap to North Bridge : 
PCI-E Frequency: 100
DRAM Frequency: 
DRAM Command Rate : 
DRAM Timing Control: Manual 
CAS# Latency : 
RAS# to CAS# Delay : 
RAS# Precharge : 
RAS# ActivateTime : 
RAS# to RAS# Delay : auto
Row Refresh Cycle Time : auto
Write Recovery Time : auto
Read to Precharge Time : auto
 
Read to Write Delay (S/D) : auto
Write to Read Delay (S) : auto
Write to Read Delay (D) : auto
Read to Read Delay (S) : auto
Read to Read Delay (D) : auto
Write to Write Delay (S) : auto
Write to Write Delay (D) : auto
DRAM Static Read Control: enabled
Ai Clock Twister : auto
Transaction Booster : disabled
 
CPU Voltage : 
CPU PLL Voltage : 1.6v <-- find your sweet spot
North Bridge Voltage : 
DRAM Voltage : 
FSB Termination Voltage : 1.40v <-- find your sweet spot
South Bridge Voltage : 1.05v 
Loadline Calibration : enabled
CPU GTL Reference : .63x
North Bridge GTL Reference : .67x
DDR2 Channel A REF Voltage : REF
DDR2 Channel B REF Voltage : REF
DDR2 Controller REF Voltage : REF 
SB 1.5V Voltage : 1.50v 
NB LED Selection : NB Volt 
SB LED Selection : SB Volt 
CPU LED Selection : CPU VOlt 
Voltiminder LED : enabled
 
CPU Spread Spectrum : Disabled (you can enable later, after you passed the stress test if you like)
PCIE Spread Spectrum : Disabled (you can enable later, after you passed the stress test if you like)
 
 
Advanced CPU Configuration 
CPU Ratio Control : Manual 
- Ratio CMOS Setting : 
C1E Suppport : Disabled (you can enable later, after you passed the stress test if you like)
CPU TM Function : enabled (you can enable later, after you passed the stress test if you like)
Vanderpool Technology : Disabled 
Execute Disable Bit : enabled 
Max CPUID Value Limit : Disabled (you can enable later, after you passed the stress test if you like)
 
 
USB Configuration 
USB Functions: Enabled 
Legacy USB Support : enabled

where I left blank and blue highlighted, that is where you'll input your own setting. It is just a basic template, you have to do some tweaking to find the best setting for your hardware. Try to use the lowest voltage if you can. Also to give you the stablity as well.

Latest BIOS avialable here

BIOS SETTINGS - Explanation:
I know some of us don't understand totally all the settings does. Here is a helpful information that will help you to understand them, and hopefully this will help you to overclock your chip better or push the envelope of this board.
Page 1, Page 2

Stability Stress Test Programs
(click on the link to download)
OCCT
Prime95 supports C2Q
Orthos supports C2D, for quad core you have to open multiple windows.

[Deton]

Here are the differences between the Extreme version and SE.
Extreme version was released after couple months I purchased the SE. Damn Asus. However, the Extreme version only support DDR3


Fusion block and SB heatsink pipes was upgraded, also a ROG backlit logo added to the heat sink. As you can see here in the dark.



Heatsinks are all copper, no alumimum mixture. They also added 2 external SATA connections (red) at the back.


Fusion block and SB crosslink heatsink is connected in one piece system, if you want to upgrade aftermarket NB block. Then you have to replace the SB heatsink as well.

However, you can still reuse the MOSFET heatsinks if you like. It only connected to Fusion block by couple screws.

[smith]

well myn looks the exact same, so im not gona be posting any pics any time soon (no camera). o and any idea why my mb temp goes up to 39 C on load? it ends up being hotter than my nb...

[Deton]

well myn looks the exact same, so im not gona be posting any pics any time soon (no camera). o and any idea why my mb temp goes up to 39 C on load? it ends up being hotter than my nb...

MOBO's temp do get hot when it under load just like another compoments, but hotter that NB?

Solution:
tidy up those messy cables (if there're any)
install extra case intake fans

[Deton]

Use this template when you post your temp along with OC specs (include voltage, case model and number of fan and RPM), so the other members can do comparison. Hopefully it will give them some idea how to improve their temp if they need too.

Post temp in this fashion - idle/load (idle temp first then load). Please use Celsius figures


Q6600 @ 3.6Ghz (9x400) 1.425v
CASE: TJ09
FAN INTAKE: 1x120 (speed controled by temp sensor, mostly on low)
FAN EXHAUST: 1x120 rear (low), 2x120 top (radiator's fan - low)
ROOM AMBIENT: 21
MB: 38/41
CPU: 27/36 (water cooled)
Core 1: 42/66
Core 2: 40/66
Core 3: 36/62
Core 4: 37/62
NB: 41/47 @ 1.39v (water cooled - stock water block, un-upgrade)
SB: 40/46 @ 1.05v (chipset fan installed)

Temperature Improvement:



if you want to improve the temp for the NB chipset, you have to 2 options as follow:

1. Remount the ROG cooling (all versions) with high quality thermal paste
2. Replace the ROG block (SE & Extreme versions) with aftermarket chipset waterblock

You'll propably reclaim up to 10c on load temp.
e.g: my NB 47c/load now, if I remove it and re-apply with S5. I will have the temp drop to 37c.
***beware: ROG heatsink/block is very hard to remove. Asus used some kind of adhesive thermal paste, if you pull it too hard the chipset will come off as well ***

How to Remove Asus Maximus Formula Heatpipe Guide New

Download Temp Monitor Software: (updated)
CoreTemp 0.98v Vista 64bit support- The title said it all
SpeedFan 4.34v - Temp monitor and fan controller by software
Everest Home Edition 2.20 Vista 64bit support - Hardware ultility software
RealTemp 2.5v Vista 64bit support - RealTemp is a temperature monitoring program designed for all Intel single Core, dual Core and quad Core processors. Each core on these processors has a digital thermal sensor (DTS) that reports temperature data relative to TjMax which is the safe maximum operating core temperature for the CPU. As your CPU heats up, your Distance to TjMax will decrease. If it reaches zero your processor will start to throttle or slow down so obviously maximizing your distance away from TjMax will help your computer to run at full speed and more reliably too.

[smith]

ok here we go

CPU 3.38ghz 9x375
CASE: Antec 900
Fan intake 2x120's on low
Exaust 1 120 low 1 220 high
Ambiant 16C...(i live in an iglue...)
MB 30C - 39C
CPU 25C 50C (load with orthos) 1.31V on sensors 1.35V in bios
Core 1 33C - 55C
Core 2 31C - 54C
NB 38C - 40C stock V
SB 34C - 35C stock V

[Deton]

16c for Ambient you must freeze your butt off.

[smith]

16c for Ambient you must freeze your butt off.

its cold but hey im use to it...

[gunzB]

Q6600 @ 3.6Ghz (400x9)
CASE: Antec P182
FAN INTAKE: coming soon
FAN EXHAUST: 1x120 rear (low), 1x120 top (low), 1x120 bottom (low)
ROOM AMBIENT: 21
MB: 34/35
CPU: 28/50 (Thermalright IF-X + Scythe S-Flex 120mm)
Core 1: 45/67
Core 2: 43/66
Core 3: 39/62
Core 4: 40/64
NB: 47/53 @ 1.28v
SB: 46/49 @ 1.07v

[Deton]

Welcome GunzB!
You have very good temp considering air cooling though

What is your Vcore?

[gunzB]

Welcome GunzB!
You have very good temp considering air cooling though

i'm fairly new to OC'ing - those temps were reported by Everest (not sure how accurate they are)

i've only stability tested (and passed) with OCCT so far...

vCore is @ 1.37

[Deton]

1.37v @ 3.6Ghz and stabled? That's good.
How long did you run OCCT?
Stablize test should run at least 8hrs straight, also you can use Prime95 to do this as well. It will stress all 4 cores.

Everest is pretty good program. It reports the same result as CoreTemp and Probe II.
This is how I do the reading;
Step 1: I take the readings while the stress running after 1 hours for load reading.
Step 2: STOP the test and let it idling for about 30mins later and take the reading.

[Deton]

Let have some fun with the benching, shall we?
You can use SiSoft Sandra XII 2008 and conduct your own test then post the results.

I compared to the following processors references:
I selected QX9770 (3.2GHz), QX6800 (2.93GHz), Q6600 (2.4GHz) and AMD Phenom 9900 (QUAD CORE 2.6GHz) all for OS 32bit

Just use Processor Arithmetic and Multi-Media benching and select the CPU class that are close to your overclocked CPU

[gunzB]

1.37v @ 3.6Ghz and stabled? That's good.
How long did you run OCCT?
Stablize test should run at least 8hrs straight, also you can use Prime95 to do this as well. It will stress all 4 cores.

Everest is pretty good program. It reports the same result as CoreTemp and Probe II.
This is how I do the reading;
Step 1: I take the readings while the stress running after 1 hours for load reading.
Step 2: STOP the test and let it idling for about 30mins later and take the reading.

Thanks for the suggestions.
I've only ran OCCT at 30min intervals (maybe 4 times).
I'm planning on adding a fan to the northbridge heatsink and a case intake fan, after that i'll try more (and lengthier) stability tests

[bullydog]

Hi All this are the pics of my Maximus Formula Non Special Edition. The difference between them is the exclusion of the Fusion Block