Maximus II Formula Club

[jmilo]

guess i will be getting the q9550 as soon as i can makes no sense to wait any longer- the more i do them more dated my system becomes.

good choice...

[neoxedok]

pay day is tomorrow. wish i could go ahead and get the quad then but that cpu pll problem dont want to risk damaging the quad if the psu is overvolating didnt go above 2.10v last nite besides i need the 8pin psu mobo connector for it.

i learned a valuable lesson btw a good psu is just as important as a good motherboard.


this was my first asus board ever-the first pc i ever built from scratch-my only regret was not doing it sooner.

[Deton]

I think you should get a good PSU that you can afford now and save some $$$ for the CPU next, if you are tight on budget then you can get Q9450 instead Q9550. I have seen people OC the Q9450 up to 3.8Ghz with air cooler. This will save you $150-$200.

[neoxedok]

i am getting the psu tomorrow i meant the cpu would be after.

[Zaction]

Hey All,

So glad I found this group of guys..

Just got a MIIF board, Q6600 and GSkill PC-8500 RAM.

Installed Vista 64 bit Ultimate

I am new to all of the above (even Vista) Noticed that my CPU runs at 1.6Ghz instead of 2.4. Is this the result of C1E or Intel Stepping? Do I need to disable one/both/other to get to the nominal frequency?

Also, RAM runs at 400Mhz. Should I not get at least 800Mhz? It's rated for 1000Ghz+ I thought. Or is the 400 number supposed to be a multiple of some number (like 2 in this case)

Sorry to sound so ignorant. I have never even OC'd before. Would like to but for now would be happy to get nominal specs from my CPU and RAM. Once I get more familiar and comfortable with the world of OC-ing I would like to OC the CPU/RAM.

Also, when I do decide to OC I am not dead set on getting it maxed out. I would prefer to OC 'somewhat' so I gain performance but I really need stability as I use this PC for more than gaming. Is it possible to OC to say 3.0 instead of 3.5-ish Ghz and it be mnore stable and run cool enough with stock cooling or is it al or nothing kind of thing where I need to put on aftermarket cooling, etc.

Thanks in Advance
Zaction

[Deton]

Welcome to PUREOC and we hope you enjoy your staying.
And congrats on your new purchase.

I am new to all of the above (even Vista) Noticed that my CPU runs at 1.6Ghz instead of 2.4. Is this the result of C1E or Intel Stepping? Do I need to disable one/both/other to get to the nominal frequency?

Yes you have to disable those settings to have the chip constant running at 2.4ghz. That's a power saving feauture.

Also, RAM runs at 400Mhz. Should I not get at least 800Mhz? It's rated for 1000Ghz+ I thought. Or is the 400 number supposed to be a multiple of some number (like 2 in this case)

well if you are not overclocking then you have to manualy input the FSB to NB strap and then select the memory Mhz that you want to run.

Sorry to sound so ignorant. I have never even OC'd before. Would like to but for now would be happy to get nominal specs from my CPU and RAM. Once I get more familiar and comfortable with the world of OC-ing I would like to OC the CPU/RAM.

Nothing to sorry about, we're all went thru like you at some point in the begining of our venture.

Also, when I do decide to OC I am not dead set on getting it maxed out. I would prefer to OC 'somewhat' so I gain performance but I really need stability as I use this PC for more than gaming. Is it possible to OC to say 3.0 instead of 3.5-ish Ghz and it be mnore stable and run cool enough with stock cooling or is it al or nothing kind of thing where I need to put on aftermarket cooling, etc.

Thanks in Advance
Zaction

Whenever, you are ready to OC your rig. I'm sure you will have fun doing it, MIIF is very good at this and Q6600 can go up to 3.6ghz with water cooling, 3.3-3.5ghz with highend HFS. All this overclock settings are for 24/7 use. If you're planning to use stock cooler then my advice to you is keep it at around 3.0-3.2Ghz.

[Zaction]

Thanks so much Deton,

Very much appreciate the reply. Very fast too! What else from an OC'er?

As for the stepping disable. Question:

1. If the CPU ramps up to 2.4Ghz under load do I need to disable that stuff for now? If not then I guess I should leave it alone for the time being?

RAM Speed:

1. I am sorry but I am ignorant about the following:

"if you are not overclocking then you have to manualy input the FSB to NB strap and then select the memory Mhz that you want to run"

Does this mean to make the FSB numbers equal to the NB? I am not sure what you mean.

Overclocking:


I would love to just bump my CPU to 3.0-3.2Ghz for now if I can stick with stock heat sink/fan and perhaps higher later.

1. Is this process pretty simple? Is there a step by step guide on how to do this?

My temps now seem to be low and I am happy about that. What temp do you think should be my approx. max under load for that Q6600?

A side question:

I have 4GB of GSkill PC-8400 and also 4GB of GSkill PC-6400 from before I upgraded the mobo/CPU/RAM. Can I use all 8GB of RAM and just run at the speed of the slower chips? Would this be a bigger gain (having 8GB vs 4G than just running 4GB of the faster stuff?

Thanks Much,
Zaction

[Deton]

See reply below;

As for the stepping disable. Question:

1. If the CPU ramps up to 2.4Ghz under load do I need to disable that stuff for now? If not then I guess I should leave it alone for the time being?
if you like power saving then leave those features enable, which its enable the CPU will throttle down while idling and it will speeds up when at load.

RAM Speed:

1. I am sorry but I am ignorant about the following:

"if you are not overclocking then you have to manualy input the FSB to NB strap and then select the memory Mhz that you want to run"

Does this mean to make the FSB numbers equal to the NB? I am not sure what you mean.
No, it's more like memory divider. I just posted a post to answer a similar question, please click on below link.
Maximus II Formula Club

Overclocking:


I would love to just bump my CPU to 3.0-3.2Ghz for now if I can stick with stock heat sink/fan and perhaps higher later.

1. Is this process pretty simple? Is there a step by step guide on how to do this?
Yes, there are options under "Extreme Tweaking" menu;
set "Ai Overclocker Tuner" to Manual and select your choice of overclock lever under "OC From CPU Level Up", leave everything else on "Auto" then the mobo will taking care the rest.

My temps now seem to be low and I am happy about that. What temp do you think should be my approx. max under load for that Q6600?
Yeah, it's low now because you have it on stock speed. It will heat up when you overclock it.
Max load temp around 65c is safe
A side question:

I have 4GB of GSkill PC-8400 and also 4GB of GSkill PC-6400 from before I upgraded the mobo/CPU/RAM. Can I use all 8GB of RAM and just run at the speed of the slower chips? Would this be a bigger gain (having 8GB vs 4G than just running 4GB of the faster stuff?
Never mix RAM, you're just looking for trouble.
Why not use the fastest RAM available and 4Gb is enough for Vista 64bit for now, if you find it slows then you can upgrade more of the same type of memory later on.

Thanks Much,
Zaction

[Zaction]

See reply below;

Hello!

Thanks so much.

I OC'd it last night as per your info (super easy by the way thanks to ASUS brilliance in designing this MoBo)

For now, I wanted to bump it up one notch to 2.7Ghz. Stable, temps around 42-45C under load. Think I want to try to get it to 3.0Ghz now and if the temps are good and it runs stable I'll leave it there until such a time as I can get a much better cooling solution.

Curious on one thing. I have not disabled the stepping/C1E things yet. Do I need to since I have OC'd it or will it still work as before in ramping down the power when idle and not effect the overclocking? I assume that since this MoBo is designed for OC-ing that it's ok to leave it alone and that the Bios settings for the OC deals with that for me but I am not sure.

Thanks for the advice on everything.

Side note:

What is your experience with Crossfire? Is this the best way to make huge gains in frame rate for such things as FSX, Crysis, COD, etc? I have a GT8800 which is more or less average GPU but do you think in the future I would be best off to get one very fast GPU or two basic ones (like the GT8800) set up in Crossfire?

Grazie!

Zaction

[Deton]

Thanks so much.

.......

Curious on one thing. I have not disabled the stepping/C1E things yet. Do I need to since I have OC'd it or will it still work as before in ramping down the power when idle and not effect the overclocking? I assume that since this MoBo is designed for OC-ing that it's ok to leave it alone and that the Bios settings for the OC deals with that for me but I am not sure.

Thanks for the advice on everything.

You're welcome.
this is a personal thing, you can disable them if you like or leave it on. Most overclockers disable them so they can have their rig constant run at overclocked frequence. I like to enable my so to save electricity bill and I don't need full speed when web surfing or any normal task.

Side note:

What is your experience with Crossfire? Is this the best way to make huge gains in frame rate for such things as FSX, Crysis, COD, etc? I have a GT8800 which is more or less average GPU but do you think in the future I would be best off to get one very fast GPU or two basic ones (like the GT8800) set up in Crossfire?

Grazie!

Zaction

I think you are not aware of this; P45, X48 & X38 or older any older chipset, Crossfire only work with ATI cards. Accept the new X58 chipset will support Crossfire and SLI setup.

Therefore, you can not do crossfire with Nvidia cards, if you want multiple GPU then you have to go with ATI cards or one Nvidia with multi GPU such as the new GTX 295.

Yes, Crossfire will increase frame rate, able to play games in high resolutions with AA enable. You will see much performance boot with games that support dual cards setup.

Which card to get?
This is all depend on your budget and type of game you play, resolution and your monitor.
If you have a nonitor less than 24" then you will be wasting your money and dual cards.

[neoxedok]

man my psu is on backorder-should have known holiday season and all. its all the waiting game now. only thing i dont like about ordering online.

only ati card bestbuy had in stock was the 4670- coulda gotten the 9500 but didnt want nvdida

went with the visontek 3870 o.c. edition.
the 4650s memory bus at 128bit and the slower ddr3. was what made me pass on it the 3870's higher bus at 256 bit and gddr4 is why i went for the older card.


ordered the ultra x3 850 x3 but after closer reading i am concerned bout the 12v rails.
is that a good psu?

heres the link to it:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...4&Sku=ULT40312

[Deton]

I'm personally not familar with Ultra PSU but it looks like it has a single 12v rail of 64A. You will be fine.

Didn't you check the stock inventory before you placed the order?

[neoxedok]

the site says in stock but the order status says backordered- which i dont get they did that.

its and tigerdirect it is the weekend tho who knows what happens on monday.

[Deton]

TigerDirect is pretty good with shipping if they have stock.

[Zaction]

You're welcome.
this is a personal thing, you can disable them if you like or leave it on. Most overclockers disable them so they can have their rig constant run at overclocked frequence. I like to enable my so to save electricity bill and I don't need full speed when web surfing or any normal task.


I think you are not aware of this; P45, X48 & X38 or older any older chipset, Crossfire only work with ATI cards. Accept the new X58 chipset will support Crossfire and SLI setup.

Therefore, you can not do crossfire with Nvidia cards, if you want multiple GPU then you have to go with ATI cards or one Nvidia with multi GPU such as the new GTX 295.

Yes, Crossfire will increase frame rate, able to play games in high resolutions with AA enable. You will see much performance boot with games that support dual cards setup.

Which card to get?
This is all depend on your budget and type of game you play, resolution and your monitor.
If you have a nonitor less than 24" then you will be wasting your money and dual cards.

Thanks Again!

I forgot that Crossfire was an ATI thing. I think I may be ok with just upgrading later to a high-end nVidea card as I prefer those. I would like multiple GPUs but am not sure how much I really want that. Maybe I will get 2 ATI's some point in time but for now my 8800GT works great. I am not really trying to break any records with speed but just want to be able to play games like FSX, Crysis, COD, Bioshock with nice FPS. FSX is the FPS killer even more so that Crysis. I am getting good FPS (30+) with it now with settings at moderate levels. Hope to get same FPS some day with max settins but for now it's a lot better than the old E6400 and P5N32-SLI Deluxe MOBO I had for the last 2 years.

As for monitor, I am still stuck with a 19" which is tiny by today's standards. I think the next one with be a 22" unless I can get a 24" relatively cheap.

DId I mention that I bumped up the Freq. of my Q6600 to 2.7Ghz? I will try to step up one more notch. My temps are only about 40C after a hard core couple of hours of FSX. very impressive temps indeed. So, if I can get it to 3.0Ghz on stock cooling at keep it to 50C I should be good to go don't you think? Apparently the revision of the CPU is a big deal. The newer G0 I think it is runs lots cooler than the first one (cant recall the revision #)

The one thing I have noticed that worries me is the temp of the PSU. It's right at the limit at 40C. Is that limit (default set by PC Probe) true I wonder? My PSU is ASUS so.... 550W cant recall off the top of my head the model#. I wonder what other cooling solution I can use for the PSU and/or Mobo.

Thanks Again!
Zaction

[neoxedok]

dude go for the bigger lcd as you can afford i was debating dual 22"s ended up going for the 24" thought it was gonna be too big turns out its been nothing but great. paid $300 for mine- been watching newegg website and they had a acer 24" 1080p for $299 went off sale last nite back up to $319- up to you and your funds.