Asus Striker II Extreme + Q9450- how oc FSB?

[meisterlr]

Hello all:

My system:

Asus Striker II Extreme mobo (BIOS 0508, 512- more on that below)

Corsair TWIN3X20480-1600C7DHX G (2x 1gig dimms; 7-7-7-20-1T or auto both work fine w/27 hours memtest86+, do not affect my problem)

eVGA 9800GTX (2 in SLI)

Intel Q9450 (2.66 stock)

Creative Labs X-Fi Extreme Gamer soundcard

RaptorX 150g HD

PCP&C 1200W PSU (12V 90A rail)

Asus offers no full BIOS version for the mobo yet. The mobo came with 0402 BETA BIOS (but only 0301 BETA BIOS on the CD, which does not support Q9450 CPU). 0402 BETA BIOS allowed me to o/c the FSB and get 2.8 on my first (very conservative) try.

Before I tried again, someone told me to update my BIOS to new 0508 BETA (Asus site). Forgot to save 0402 BETA. Now 0508, 0511, or 0512 BIOS will not allow me to increase the FSB- not even by 1! (ie., 1334 instead of 1333). RAM clocks up just fine, but CANNOT increase FSB at all. Tried auto, AI, etc. etc. Ram at auto, ram at SPD timings, RAM V at auto, RAM V at 1.8, etc., etc.

Most horribly, Asus doesn't provide the 0402 BIOS that came with my board for download (WHY? WTH?).



***Can someone PLEASE save their 0402 BIOS and post a link to it/email it to me?



Alternatively, can someone PLEASE explain how to o/c the FSB on the Asus Striker II Extreme mobo with ANY 05xx BIOS and Intel Q9450? . You know, so that it posts? ;-).

Thanks very much!

-L

 

[JN]

Hi there, check out the thread in the "OC3D Reviews" section for this board. Towards the end of the thread there's some newer BIOS files

 

[meisterlr]

Not to be...

a pain, but did you read all of my post?

Quote: "Now 0508, 0511, or 0512 BIOS will not allow me to increase the FSB- not even by 1! (ie., 1334 instead of 1333)."

As you can see, I've already tried them, at least up to 512 BETA BIOS.

I just found 0402, which is better than anyone on the 'Net can say, and it better than Asus reps can say as well

ftp://ftp.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/socket775/Striker_II_Extreme/

I absolutely guarantee that they added it after I called them Monday and spoke with them for 2 hours. It was not there this past weekend. Others will verify that. Simply nuts.

Can you please provide the other specific info re:05xx BIOS and setting the FSB w/9450? At even 1mHz higher?! It's absurd that I cannot even go to 1334 on the FSB, wouldn't you agree? 0402 allows this. I will reflash to 0402 to confirm, but please let me know how to adjust FSB w/9450 and BIOS 05xx.

FYI- I have a lot of experience with my other Asus board- P5N32 SLI SE Deluxe. This new board has an insane amount of datapoints- very, very confusing.

Thanks!

-L

EDIT/UPDATE: 0402 BIOS = same result. So much for my effort. 0402 kills LAN function as well for added flavor .

So the FSB and 9450- can't even go 1mHz over. Set first tab to manual where possible and leave FSB at 1333 and it posts all day long, passes every memtest/Prime95/etc. test thrown at it. Interestingly, the RAM can go well over 1333, just not the FSB. Every time I raise the FSB freq- even 1mHz- no post and reset delivers the post screen noting downlock to 1.57gHz (from 2.66) and 1311 (from 1333) for the RAM. Entering BIOS and resetting to 1333/1333 is required for full power CPU/RAM post.

Anyone else try this combination? Any insights?

-L

 

[meisterlr]

*CRITICAL INFO RE:BIOS FLASH* RESOLVED: Allow me to answer my own question...

INTRO: Asus lists AWDFlash 1.33 on their site for the specific mobo I use as the correct BIOS flash utility. Meanwhile, the mobo BIOS has it's own built-in flash program called EZ Flash 2. Yet another BIOS flash program for Windows is included in the mobo driver disk- I stay far away from Windows-based BIOS flashing utilities.

Anyway, I used AWDFlash 1.33 (DOS boot) to go from 0402 (shipped w/board) to 0508. Before that flash, with 0402, setting FSB worked fine. After using AWDFlash to get to 0508, setting FSB was NO GO.

Then I went back to 0402 using AWDFlash. NO GO. HUH?!

Then I spend days tweaking every imaginable section of every version of the BIOS available to make changing the FSB value possible. NO GO. Call tech support- they were clueless; they spouted nonsense about their obligations in reference to the functionality of the board. Again folks, read Article II of the Uniform Commerical Code. They are treading on the thinnest of legal ice with their over-the-phone "tech support" cover-their-a$$es double-talk nonsense.

So today, somehow it dawned on me that the provided AWDFlash utility was not overwriting the entire BIOS. If you watch AWDFlash working, it will LEAVE some of the prior BIOS entact.

Then I went back to 0402, forward to 511, back to 508, etc. using EZ-Flash 2 (in the BIOS) BINGO- I can set the FSB all day long with ANY BIOS. Just for grins, I tried it again using AWDFlash. Again, NO GO. Back to EZ Flash= GO GO GO!

This is the same crap Asus pulls with my old P5N32SLI SE Deluxe. ONLY AFUDOS works. The AWDFlash that they specfically list and provide as the BIOS utility with my old P5N32 SLI SE Deluxe DOES NOT WORK either. I should have known not to trust their moronic technical support.

In the end, I wasted more than 20 hours (way more) fooling around AND UTTERLY WASTING MY TIME with BIOS adjustments here, there, and everywhere only to eventually divine that it is the @#%@^'ing AWDFlash that was the problem.

At very least, if you use AWDFlash at first and then use EZ Flash 2 for a later BIOS, you cannot use AWDFlash ever again without suffering BIOS courruption. You must keep using EZ Flash to make any additional BIOS flash, either forward or backward.

Now I'm at 1600/1600. My 3DMark06 score is now 18,280. And that's no thanks to Asus's concept of tech support.

Farcical!!!

-L

 

[rrjwilson]

Glad its working again seems like tech support are more muppets than helpful

 

[TamaDrumz76]

From a features point of view that Asus board seems awesome, but I've been reading a lot of annoyances and quirks about it to seem like a good choice at the current time. Asus needs to make a good bios. It seems like board is earning a bit of a bad rap, especially when you consider how damn expensive it is.

 

[rrjwilson]

Are you getting any video problems with your 790i

 

[Phoenix]

The problem with Asus these days is that they release a board with faulty BIOS, just to get ahead in the market, and then brush it up with dozen of new BIOS-releases later on. I had the same problem with my P5N-T Deluxe not wanting to work at all with my Q6600. 2 BIOS-releases later it worked like a dream. Mind you, I'm perfectly satisfied with the board, but they need to get the BIOS working properly before they release the board, then work out the smaller kinks in later releases.

 

[rrjwilson]

Smaller kinks is the appropriate word though. As a board for everything else it is so good I can't believe I have lived without it before. Video player fault aside it incredible. I can stream and play games and edit video (as long as i dont watch it ) but that fault is only a small section but its damn annoying.

 

[klmn808]

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[TamaDrumz76]

I was considering going with a 790i board, but the issues involved are making me think stay with X48 when it comes to DDR3 boards... I was hoping MSI or Gigabyte would release their 790i boards, but I don't know how much longer I can wait to see if this platform is gonna improve.