# Overclocking the 5960X Bios vs AI Suite



## Enthusiast Unlimited (Jul 10, 2015)

Gentlemen! I am Enthusiast, and I am happy to be here. 

Im running the Core i7 5960X on the Asus X99 E-WS using the latest bios version 1102.

Right now, I am using 16GB (4x4) DDR4 2800 Corsair Dominator Platinum Memory.

I have an excellent water cooling setup with dual reservoirs, a 560 and a 480 XSPC rad
and Im powering the rig with the Corsair AX1200i 

Im running three way SLI on the EVGA GTX980 Classifieds. 

Using three Samsung 850 Pros in Raid0 under two volumes, one for OS the other fast storage, and a two WD Blacks also RAID0 for fast mass storage.

Id like to work a stable overclock in to this beast. I have been using AI Suite to accomplish various overclocks, yet I seem to hit the wall when manually tuning. I have read that software overclocks are not nearly as reliable as bios overclocks. What do you folks think? BIOS or AI Suite? Which is a better tool? What should I utilize? Of all the stress tests performed on these various overclocks achieved and configured by AI Suite automatically, not one has yielded stable results. I have been using Aida64 to perform these tests.

Perhaps someone with more knowledge than I can provide the insight I need. All my bios settings are currently set to default, except some storage and monitoring settings. No XMP Profile enabled etc, bios is default. AI shows that I am currently using a core frequency of 100.2 x 45, oddly enough, I just went to open it and I am now getting this error; Access violation at address 0C75FFEC. Read of address 0C75FFEC

I guess Ill go look in to that for now, I take it has something to do with the instability the test results in Aida64 reflects.  

In the meantime, perhaps someone here can help me achieve a stable BIOS overclock, give me something to work off of or what have you. Im not at all computer illiterate. Ive been working with them, on them, taking them apart and putting them back together, building them, since the days of prodigy internet, the commodore, and the 3-1/2 floppy Tandy 1000s. Lived in DOS for years lol, and then there was Windows 3.1 on the old 386 and 486 machines. So I am confident, I just need some direction, as there are mountains of settings in the bios, and im not entirely sure which ones I should focus on, and why. 

Please do advise. 

Thanks a bunch -
I beseech you reply -


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## cadaveca (Jul 10, 2015)

You have a 5k+ rig, and want to OC it?

5960X...triple VGAs, watercooling...



Well, AI Suite for OC should not be used. You must use BIOS.

ASUS did not send me much boards for X99.. just one. So I can't help you other than to give some general ideas about what you need to change...

How about you upload some BIOS screenshots here, I'll take a look at the options, and we can go from there...

BIOS screenshots can be made using a FAT32-formatted USB drive. When iN BIOS< simply press "F12", and the screenshot will be saved to the drive. Just be sure to plug in the drive before powering up the system.


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## Enthusiast Unlimited (Jul 10, 2015)

HAHA, well, yeah lol. 

Id like to "Unleash, the potential" of the hardware I have worked so hard, and so many hours to pay for. Essentially utilize it for "all its worth." Take it to its limits, to the extreme, get every last ounce of performance out of it, and create a bigger bang to help offset the big bucks behind all this. Hence my name here, Enthusiast Unlimited, unleashed, and limitless. This is my dream build, its name is "The Patriot X99 E-WS. Beta Version 1.0" leaving lots of room for changes. 

I will be launching a domain, forum, twitter feed, youtube channel, steam, google, linkedin, and facebook community later this year. Its focus will be primarily on this Board, other X99 boards, the 5960X CPU, other high end hardware and components, peripherals etc. 

Most excellent! Sounds simple enough, I will have them uploaded within the hour.

Thank you


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## OneMoar (Jul 10, 2015)

raise the cpu turbo multi and see what you get just don't expect absurd clock speeds out of a 5960x without restoring to disabling cores 4.2-4.5Ghz@1.30v seems to be the happy medium for "all cores"  for most samples, tho really you won't see much performance gain ...


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## Enthusiast Unlimited (Jul 10, 2015)

http://smg.photobucket.com/user/LCplAdams1/library/TechPower Up

There you will find a pictures of all menus and submenus in my bios, and the current settings at default. Since my post earlier this afternoon, I have uninstalled the Asus overclocking software featured in AI Suite 3. My CPU is at stock speeds at this time, as are the GPUs. I intend on overclocking them also, but Ill take it one step at a time and begin with the processor. Please do advise  thanks a bunch!


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## Enthusiast Unlimited (Jul 10, 2015)

The album on photobucket is a bit out of order, but I took screenshots of the bios as I went thru it step by step. Obviously there is much more in the album than you will need to help me, but I figured Id provide images of the entire bios, giving you a complete and clear image of what I have to work and or contend with here.


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## OneMoar (Jul 10, 2015)

pretty much this
http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/asus-x99-deluxe-motherboard-review,19.html


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## Whilhelm (Jul 10, 2015)

Welcome to the forum. I am running a somewhat similar system to you so I can probably offer some insight. 

Realistically I would not expect much more than 4.5ghz out of the 5960x for day to day use. If you tried to set the base clock to 100 and the multi to 45 without adjusting the voltage that is why the system crashed. You have to bring up your core voltage but you have to be careful in doing so. 

You say you have a pretty elaborate watercooling setup but cooling only helps so much when it comes to voltage. It doesn't matter how good your cooling is, higher core voltage shortens the life of CPUs, so you have to find a stable overclock with the lowest possible voltage. 

I have the same motherboard as you and to clock my 5930k to 4.5 I just set the multiplier to 45 and set it to 1.275 volts, pretty sure I left everything else alone aside from setting my memory to XMP. I could probably drag more out of it but I tend to lean towards nice round numbers whenever I overclock things. 

I would suggest having a read through this, it will give you an idea of what to expect from your cpu. 

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8426/...view-core-i7-5960x-i7-5930k-i7-5820k-tested/3

The most important factor with overclocking is to take your time and don't push the voltage too much, you want to work your way up to the highest stable overclock and than back off a bit just to be safe.


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## cadaveca (Jul 11, 2015)

Enthusiast Unlimited said:


> The album on photobucket is a bit out of order, but I took screenshots of the bios as I went thru it step by step. Obviously there is much more in the album than you will need to help me, but I figured Id provide images of the entire bios, giving you a complete and clear image of what I have to work and or contend with here.


 Looks very similar to my X99 Deluxe, to be honest.

What Wilhelm here suggested would be pretty similar to what I recommend, but first I would suggest that you enable "Fully manual mode" at the start of the voltage settings, then adjust CPU Core voltage and the CPU multi, and go form there...


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## Enthusiast Unlimited (Jul 11, 2015)

Will do Gents, thank you very much for you rapid responses, as I will seek to engage in this endeavor this evening. 

Prior to finding this wonderful forum and atmosphere of awesome people, I had used the manual settings in Asus AI Suite, and just a few in the bios with little or limited success. I had been aiming for a voltage between 1.297 and 1.317 based on what I have read. Shooting for anything stable between 4.2Ghz and 4.5Ghz speeds, as that seems to be where the cpu fell kinda comfortable after the automatic overclocking via the software.  Anytime I tried anything manually, I crashed, I get the Overclocking Failed! message at post. At one point I defaulted everything in the software, and bios, and tried giving the switches (one at a time) on the board a shot. The system became less stable, board was stuck in a loop qcode 00. I unplugged it for a while powered on, got to windows, used asus ai to OC automatically again, and I noticed with the XMP switch enabled, TPU, Dr Power enabled onboard, everything was running hotter. The cores got up to 79 degrees and that's as far as Ill take them, oddly enough, at much lower clock speeds than with the switches off.... Ive since turned all of them off, all but Dr Power. 

Im going to have a go at what you kind folks have suggested here, and follow up with my results. Perhaps using the bios and setting it up manually thru it, will yield the results I have been seeking. 

Cheers to you! Thanks again.


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## cadaveca (Jul 11, 2015)

I think anyone here is more than willing to give a hand if they can... all ya got to do is ask, and ya did!


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## Enthusiast Unlimited (Jul 11, 2015)

Okay, so I have switched to Fully Manual Mode, set the core voltage to 1.275 and the multiplier to 44. Here are some screenshots.

Before Stability Test.






During Stability Test.









And the result





So, do I clock down? Increase voltage in small increments and continue to try and get her stable? Keeping the voltage below 1.3-1.307? I have many options, I can do Ratio only Ratio + BCLK etc. I can set the bios to "Extreme Mode" etc. 
What would you folks do at this point?


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## cadaveca (Jul 11, 2015)

As to blck + ratio, or just ratio, I think this is more about the memory you use than about the CPU. 


I have a couple of 5930K chips... one does 5.0 GHz all day long @ 1.4V. The other does 4.5 @ 1.285V, but won't go any higher no matter what the votlage is, and meanwhile, it won't pass 75C @ load.

I see that you have a retail CPU, so I'd buy the Intel Tuning Plan, and push 1.4V, and then up the ratio if the CPU is willing.


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## Enthusiast Unlimited (Jul 11, 2015)

For $35 one cant go wrong. 

Perhaps I should have gone with 2133 instead of the 2800? Im not entirely sure what you mean.


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## OneMoar (Jul 11, 2015)

Enthusiast Unlimited said:


> For $35 one cant go wrong.
> 
> Perhaps I should have gone with 2133 instead of the 2800? Im not entirely sure what you mean.


getting 2800 stable can be a bit of a hit or miss depending on a bunch of factors really intel specs the chips at 2133 anything over that is a bit of a crap shoot
its one of those cases where it "should work" but "no promises"
and in 90% of cases faster ram does nothing for you
especially once you get over 1866


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## sneekypeet (Jul 11, 2015)

In my opinion 2800 is easy-peasy on X99. Got 3000MHz on XMP with my X99E WS as well. No issues. Of Course the RVE is a bit nicer to play around with, but the E WS has enough to get the job done without much hassle.
Retail chip in use for testing, and almost all kits I have, even the GEIL Super Luce runs 2800, and that ram is made for an entirely different setup.

I do agree that extra speed without lowering the timings is a bit pointless, but if you have it there, set XMP and see how they run.


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## cadaveca (Jul 11, 2015)

Enthusiast Unlimited said:


> For $35 one cant go wrong.
> 
> Perhaps I should have gone with 2133 instead of the 2800? Im not entirely sure what you mean.


some kits require the 125 BCLK divider to work right (mainly 3000 MHz kits), but most of these same kits, while a tad difficult to get stable @ 3000, will hit 3200 with ease... on 100 BCLK. Why 3000 divider only works right on some boards... meh... most boards other than ASUS rock 3000 @ 100 BCLK just fine.


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## Enthusiast Unlimited (Jul 11, 2015)

Perhaps a tweak in the DIMM settings some place will help? I was running at 3000, just over, when I tried the OC earlier. As you can see it was not stable. I have been trying different voltages and multipliers to no avail.  I just cant get the beast stable. Maybe more of the memory itself? Max out at 64Gb?You telling me Asus is lagging in that regard? I mean, contrasted with other X99 boards? 

I have gotten a bit brave with voltage in the last hour. I have a lifetime warranty on the CPU, and I will likely still invest in the Intel Tuning Plan. Its up to 1.35 and still cant get a stable stability test result. 

I will enable the XMP Profile too, which sets the Memory at 3000, yet something is already automating that process for me thru the cpu OC. 

I just want this thing to give me some sort of stable overclock lol. Ive been working at it for almost three weeks now.


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## Enthusiast Unlimited (Jul 11, 2015)

How would I go about lowering my memory timing? That would achieve greater stability would it not?


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## sneekypeet (Jul 11, 2015)

Enthusiast Unlimited said:


> How would I go about lowering my memory timing? That would achieve greater stability would it not?



No, lowering timings if things are unstable now will just create more instability.

Just to help out this is what i would do....

Go back into bios, and reset default settings and reboot.
Get back into bios, set XMP, boot to windows and test for stability.
If all is good to go at this point, then try raising the CPU multiplier one at a time, testing between each increase. Set volts manually (start at 1.25V lets say) see where that gets you.
This way you know where the failures are occurring and can add minimal changes to voltages along the way when stability becomes an issue again.

TL;DR, reset settings and try one thing at a time and be sure it is stable before adding more ingredients into the pie.


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## Enthusiast Unlimited (Jul 11, 2015)

Rebooting right now m8!


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## Enthusiast Unlimited (Jul 11, 2015)

Well, upon rebooting directly in to bios, defaulting it (with the exception of setting storage to raid and ignoring several monitoring aspects) saving and rebooting directly back in to bios, enabling the XMP Profile #2 3000 @ 1.35v, saving again, and then rebooting; I ended up with a bF QCode the rig sat for a minute (roughly) and then shut down. After turning it back on, I got QCode bd and the MEMOK LED was lit, so I pushed the MEMOK button. System reboots again, I receive a message " Memory Ok! Succeeds in system booting! Enter BIOS setup menu and save memory setup. Or visit Asus on the web for the latest bios updates. Press F1 to run setup."

So again, I enter the bios, attempt to save whatever I was just notified of, receive a message stating "you have not made any changes to the current BIOS settings" or something close that.
I again, get the bF on reboot after exiting BIOS, she powers off again. 

I turn her back on, again, and still, bF. While at this point the MEMOK LED Indicator was not lit, I pressed it anyway. She reboots, I get the same message about memory, I repeat the process, and get the same result for a third time. At this point I killed the power, shut the psu off, and let her sit while I roasted my lungs and such.

I began to think about another thread here on the forum that I was reading. It is regarding a different processor, but same sort of issues to a degree. The guy just cant seem to stabilize his system while overclocking. Some thought his issue could be memory or possibly even the psu. I put my smoke down, and I decided to hit the self test button on my PSU, the Corsair AX1200i (while the pc was powered down.) Now, according to my manual, I should get a green light, and the fan should spin for a brief moment... indicating Im "good to go." Well, I don't get the green light, and the fan doesn't spin in response to the self test. This has caused me some concern. What do you folks make of that? 

I power on, MEMOK button again, but this time prompted by the LED indicator, defaulted completely, no xmp enabled, got to windows.

Now, I figured I better test her out while shes running lol.  My memory NB freq is 2998 DRAM 1066.1 CPU is at 3197 x 32 (12-33) Core 99.9 Mhz while under 100% load via Aida64 Core voltage bouncing around slightly at 1.093 - 1.088

She ran stable for about 15 minutes, like always, and than the usage dropped way down for a moment. At this point, should I increase the voltage? or try and enable XMP again? Why does this system get so unstable when trying to manually oc?


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## Enthusiast Unlimited (Jul 11, 2015)

Gonna head back to bios, select fully manual mode on the voltage and set her at 1.25 test again, and then go for the xmp based on results. I really don't understand why I am having so many problems, nor why my brand spanking new and quite expensive PSU just clicks at twice, sometimes just once, when I hit the self test button. 

Almost forgot to mention. Since I have started this process tonight, my rig doesn't load windows as fast. My desktop icons are taking awful long to appear, while before I started, Id log on and things were almost instant??


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## cadaveca (Jul 11, 2015)

Hmm, this is an interesting one. TEH PSU thing throws me off a bit too, so you're not alone there.

But, at the same time... 3000 MHz doesn't work quite right? Perfectly normal.

So, when you enable XMP, it goes to 3000 with 100 BCLK, or does it set 125 with a ... uh...30 CPU multi or similar? If, when you enable XMP, you do not see the bclk change in settings to 125...then that might be the source of your frustration. Never mind that your system specs say you have 2800 MHz memory... I wonder...

The way it SHOULD work is to simply enable XMP, and without doing anything else (the monitoring and RAID settings are inconsequential), your system should be pretty much stable. YOu may want to try enabling XMP, and if it does NOT set the BCLK to 125, then go down the BIOS settings a bit and set the memory speed to 2666 MHz, and see if that gives you stability... the whole not POSTing thing when you boot with XMP is more an indicator of a CPU issue than anything else, although h Ihaven't seen those post codes myself. At the same time, I don't have these sorts of issues, either.


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## purecain (Jul 11, 2015)

I don't like that psu...  or any of the corsair range tbh... just my opinion.  although the thermaltake psu im using now is on ver2.0 as the last one literally went out with a bang!

I wouldn't be smoking while your overclocking as your going to need that short term memory. also that set up is going to require some work to get right for someone that's not used to overclocking within the bios on a daily basis.

 running your storage in raid o for performance would be a very bad idea. unless you arnt going to have anything important in storage. as when you have issues with raid performance mode you lose everything. use it as a duplicate drive in raid 1.

your not going to ghet your hand held through this process either because if you receive too much help you arnt going to learn or have enough knowledge about your system to fix issues down the line...

Never use auto overclocking. its for noobs. you need to go through each part of the overclocking process changing one setting at a time (the golden rule) and then open up your favourite bench like prime 95 and see if the little lady's stable.

the best help youll receive is when your question on help are not so vague.... and remember what I said about how daft it is to use raid performance mode on storage drives. 

good luck, post up pics of your progress and build...


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## sneekypeet (Jul 11, 2015)

Error code bd is usually the lack of enough System Agent Voltage. bf and b7 usually has to do with memory errors on boot. In layman's terms, the timings of that profile don't seem to play well with your motherboard.

I have had no love from Corsair to play with their kits, so outside of pointing you to where the issues stem, I don't have any plug in advice for timings that will work with that kit. It is entirely possible that your IMC is weak as well, but I still am guessing its a timing thing.


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## Enthusiast Unlimited (Jul 11, 2015)

While I am aware of the risk RAID0 presents, I have taken some precaution. Only the OS is installed on C: "Operations Volume" My "Rapid Storage Volume," D: is 99% games, they are all saved on a cloud as well. All my downloaded applications, pictures, movies, music, documents an such, are on the "Rapid Mass Storage Volume" F: With that said, unless I am mistaken, the chances of both Raid0 setups failing at the same time, or even on the same day, are not so great. In fact, its very unlikely. So I figure if I keep an image of C: & D: saved on F: and an image of F: saved on D: Well, I'm covered should there be a failure. If I have missed something, Id like to hear about it.

Regarding the PSU; Ive read some rather disturbing things about this PSU last night, I really hope its not part of my problem over here.

I understand overclocking is not "easy" but I have aslo been educating myself on the subject for quite some time now, long before this beastly lady came in to fruition, and it shouldn't be this difficult. I know enough to keep from burning up my processor with Prime95 lol, using that on 5960X is a sure fire way to do some damage. I know too steer clear of, and using too much voltage, high temps etc. 

HAHA, funny, yet I compelled to clarify; I'm not the "typical" stoner lol. In fact, I'm quite the contrary... my friends call me the safe, because like an elephant, I remember everything. I remember too much, and often much more than Id like to in a great many regards. When I "take break," I have proven to come up with some of my best problem solving solutions, not just for me, but many others Ive helped along my way here. I'm obviously just a bit stumped on this one, not without knowledge, just without any good results. Im not one to sit around, eat food, say stupid things, laugh and watch television before falling asleep that's for sure. Im the type that builds you a house, or forges some steel after I extinguishing the vice. I look at it like this; My IQ was too high for my own good lol. Even after seventeen years of smoking, and obviously lowering it a tad wee bit, I have proven that it is still above average lol. I certainly don't have an iPhone for a brain, so I am waaaaay ahead of the curve if you know what I mean lol.   

To be honest, the idea of overclocking is simple, seems so anyway. Incrementally increase the speed. Use one setting at a time. When it becomes unstable, add more voltage and test for stability again and again. Upon getting it stable, begin pushing the clock further, until one reaches "a wall" a limit of some kind, voltage, temp, stability. I have followed all of the simple yet cardinal rules, and just cant get her stable. There are many options in the bios, some of which I have not utilized in my quest for stability. For example, the VRM Spectrum seems like it might help, that and other options indicate within their descriptions, indicate they do just that. 

Maybe I have been a bit vague. Ill tell you what, Ill timeline everything I do today, and share it with you folks. My objective is simple. Perform a stability test on the CPU that yields stable results. If I dont have a stable system at stock speed, default bios, or with an XMP enabled, Id say its (at this point) pointless to try and find stability with higher clock speed and higher voltage. Wouldn't you? 

I'm starting with the PSU today, see if I cant get it to pass its self test. Should it fail, I will likely keep the rig down until I have it replaced. Should it pass, its on to Aida64 and monitoring. Should I yield good results, acceptable results, I will begin the process of incrementally increasing my multiplier and voltage accordingly. We'll see what happens, I completely agree with you on the holding hands thing man lol. I didn't learn anything I know about computers holding some ones hand. The best way to gain experience, is by experiencing things for yourself 

Perhaps I just have a bad CPU? We'll see. I mean, before bed last night, I ran Aida64 and tested her at the 3098Mhz with default bios. She was stable for about 15 minutes as always, temps good etc, but suddenly, a huge dip in the usage line... she was obviously not stable. So, I mean, if I cant get a FULLY stable test result at 3098, Id say there is a problem some where. 

Ill have some of the Photographs Ive taken of her up for you guys in a bit, the build as well, along with the findings and results of my efforts today. 

Cheers and chow for now.


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## Enthusiast Unlimited (Jul 12, 2015)

So, Ive tested the PSU. Not entirely sure if this is normal behavior or not (at this point) but perhaps you folks can share your thoughts.

I disconnected every cable connected to the PSU
Test passed, green light and fan.

I plugged in the 24Pin
Test Passed, green light and fan

Leaving the 24Pin connected, I plugged in the 6+2PCI-E & 4+4 CPU
Test Failed. No light, no fan, just two clicks.

I unplugged the 24Pin, and tested the 6+2PCI-E & 4+4 CPU itself.
At this time I noticed that the Motherboard power indicator lit up, and various devices connected USB, like my External HD, and the Astro Wireless Headset station, powered on.
Test Failed, no light, no fan.

The self test passes with all other variables, with GPU's alone, GPU's with HDD SDD, just storage etc and all. BUT when the 6+2 PCI-E and 4+4CPU are connected alone, or with anything else, the self test fails.

At one point, while pressing the self test, button I realized my rig was trying to boot, so rather than letting it go immediately, I let the rig do its thing before releasing the button.

While I am not entirely sure this is normal behavior, I do not want to eliminate the possibility of a power problem of some kind.

While in the bios last night, just looking thru it again, I noticed that I can set Gen1 Gen2 and Gen3 speeds on my seven PIC-E 3.0 slots. I figure Id set them to Gen 3 as the GTX 980 Classifieds are PCI-E 3.0
However, the Classifieds are listed as "Not Present" in the slots. It made me wonder, if there could be a connection between that, and what might be a power issue surrounding the 6+2PCI-E and 4+4CPU connection on the Mboard or PSU>? Maybe you can enlighten me?

After fiddling with the PSU I decided to have fun with some cable management. Didn't spend any time at all trying to OC.

Yet, as of this morning, I flipped my TPU switch, booted to bios, let the bios configure an overclock with the EZ Tune Wizard, and its got me here at  4112Mhz using 1.283Volts under load. While idle, the core voltage dips all the way down to .810-.873 I must have an "adaptive," setting in the bios selected, or something of that nature, as my core speed and voltage are not locked in place. It has enabled the XMP Shows my max bandwidth at 2133. Under load, via AIDA64 Stability Test, the RAM frequency leaps to 3009.0 MHz while idle it reports at 1203.6 and on occasion, spikes to 2200 and change.

I am just starting a stress test now. But I will have you know, I believe it is going to fail with in 15 minutes.
When I started the pc, a couple apps opened when I got to windows, and then it kinda hung for a bit. The desktop icons took a bit to appear, and the other apps didn't open as they should until the pc worked thru its glitch. With that said, I attribute this behavior to instability.

Perhaps you kind folks here will enlighten me?

Pics of the rig, screenshots of the test results to follow. Ill be back


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## OneMoar (Jul 13, 2015)

the ram issue smells of typical XMP shenanigans
I would just set the ram speed to 2800 and then set the timings and voltages to what it says on the sticks
if it doesn't boot with that bump the system agent voltage a notch or two 
generally automagic overclocking is crapola
nothing wrong with your power supply don't let the fanboys sway you


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## Enthusiast Unlimited (Jul 16, 2015)

Well, after a long hard fought battle in my quest for the slightest bit of stability, I simply could not, did not prevail. 

Reasons are still unknown. 

Yet at this point, I suspect my memory, as others have mentioned, and or, possibly even one of the Samsung 850 Pro SSD's. I am not ruling out the PSU yet. It may even be a board issue, but Ill get to that later. I am not the least bit interested in narrowing it down right now. Ruling out the true cause of the bizarre issues Ive been facing over here while trying to OC the CPU via Asus Software, or thru BIOS; Is a huge distraction for me, and a very significant upset. I have a lot of money invested in this beautiful rig here, she's my first authentic, enthusiast build. 

When I couldn't get a stable stress test result at stock, I feared the worst. Not even using XMP profiles 1 and 2 could I accomplish anything useful. It introduced new post issues, along with new unexplored q codes and severe instability. Despite following all the knowledge here, others, and that of my own, I couldnt make it 15-20 minutes without displaying instability while under full load, no matter my settings. This has been very painful for me lol, disturbing to say the least.

So, after* failing every which way on Windows 8.1*, even after clean install etc;

*I took my x2 2TB WD Blacks (RAID0) of the mix *
+ Powered down, along with practically all my hope for this thing lol) and simply unplugged the power cables to them.
*Booted *to* IRST ROM Utility *(Ctrl-I)
+*Deleted *the* RAID0 Array =* Contained x3 Samsung 850 Pro SSD 512GB (476.9 Actual) C: x1 479.6 for OS and F: x2 959.2 for "Rapid Storage" 
*Rebooted to DOS* 
+Ran *Diskpart*
+Deleted all Partitions 
+Cleaned all Disks (The Samsungs) 
+Created a new Partition\Volume with GPT UEFI File System 
*Rebooted to BIOS *Defaulted
*Rebooted to BIOS* Disabled various fan *monitors*, *qfan control*, verified* XMP *was default (*disabled*) verified *storage cfg *was set *AHCI, 

Opened Boot Manager *Installed Win7 Home Premium UEFI USB Drive
*
Installed all OS, Software, & Driver Updates* 
+Took full advantage of the *software compatibility* not found in *Windows 8.1* Specifically regarding *Samsung Magician.
+*Optimized & Authenticated my SSD's 
+Enabled *RAPID Mode* on the* OS Disk*
+Enabled *Over Provisioning* (10%) on all Disks
+Enabled Maximum Performance using *OS Optimization* 
+*Benchmark comparison* RAID 0 \ RAPID Mode

At this point I installed the following software;
*Cinebench 11.5 *(Free)
*Cinebench R15* (Free)
*3D Mark* (Retail)
*3D Mark 11* (Retail)
*AIDA64 Extreme* (Retail)
TechPowerUp *GPU-Z* (Free)
CPUID ASUS *CPU-Z* (Free)
*Real Bench* (Free)
CPUID *HWMonitor*

You wouldnt believe it, but then I ran a successful stability test using AIDA64. Pfffff, lol yea! I ran it for almost ten hours, results look damn good to me. Pleased and excited all over again, I decided to overclock by Enabling the XMP Profile 1 in BIOS. 
 This however was not so stable, in fact, in every attempt to run a stability test, it stopped itself, and warned me or a "Hardware Failure." However, the rig would not crash, freeze what have you. It just reported unstable. So, again back to BIOS.  I tried enabling XMP Profile 2. This time, I got a restart, and than the 00 q code, auto reset, and the message, "Overclocking Failed." This also introduced various q codes and lock ups before POST. Even after a MEM OK Reset, I couldnt get it to boot. 

I still cannot (although have with win8.1) get the pc to boot using the XMP 2 Profile. Nor can I get the system stable using either of them in Win8.1 What is the deal with my memory?

It was at this point I decided using Asus AI Suite 5 Way Optimization, rather than the BIOS.  
Wouldnt ya know it? ... SUCCESS! Coupled with outstanding test results yielded by AIDA64! Much more like what I have expected to see. Further testing is required, but the hardware is finally demonstrating it has some integrity. So the worry of hardware issues is beginning to diminish. Kinda...

Im clocked at 4399 using 1.298-1.312 v The GPUs are still at stock speed. Here are the results of various benchmarks, stability tests, pics of the rig etc.


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## Enthusiast Unlimited (Jul 16, 2015)




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## Enthusiast Unlimited (Jul 16, 2015)

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/10056539

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/5345787

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/5415201


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## Enthusiast Unlimited (Jul 16, 2015)




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## Enthusiast Unlimited (Jul 16, 2015)

Now, Im really happy to have her stable and all. Im running AIDA64 for about 12 hours, thru tonight in to tomorrow, we'll see how that does. Then 24 hours, and see how that does. Ill post the results.

Oh BTW 11th place on ROG-ASUS under 3Way SLI and 48th Over all Its listed under AdamslHQlSPl



 Its listed on the 3rd page of all the rigs listed, and 1st page under 3way. Makes me feel a bit better.

Yet, I face a number of new challenges. Id like to throw my RAID0 array (WD Black) back in, and possibly, make the two Samsungs RAID0 again also. However, I tried this is Windows 8 and I couldnt get RAPID Mode to enable on the one Non Raid disk containing the OS. Possibly due to compatibility? Scratches head.... Not to mention, I nearly lost all my data.... and a lot of hair. But that's another story for another time. With some great first hand how to's and insight in regard to restoring\reconstructing\salvaging your RAID0 RAID5 RAID10 Data in the event of a failure. 

Id like to know if anyone has tried to run an AHCI for OS and RAID 0 at the same time? And also, what you guys think of the rig? I have shots of it on the test bench and all too. They are unfortunately on the RAID 0 volume....


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## Enthusiast Unlimited (Jul 16, 2015)

Im also going to begin the process of overclocking the thre classifieds, so Im certain my benchmarks will grow even more impressive. Yet, Id like some input, advise, what have you. Id also like to go back to Windows 8 and try to reproduce the same results. Perhaps "wiping" my drives helped? I have in my quest, noticed what may be an issue with one of the drives. It performed better before I wiped it and installed Win7, but at the same time, its performance was unstable. Just before I gave up on windows 8, there were a few instances when the IOPS were waaaaaaaay below normal, or even expected. 

Check out these here results. 

The IOPS is awful low in contrast. Im gonna hit it with the Samsung Secure Erase, as it performs a different operation than I could have using DiskPart. 




 

 

 two of three appear to be good, the other is lagging.


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## cadaveca (Jul 16, 2015)

Could be the SSD at fault, yep.


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## Caring1 (Jul 17, 2015)

So many pictures, BIG pictures.
Can you use spoilers or thumbnails?


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## Enthusiast Unlimited (Jul 20, 2015)

Sorry lol, try holding left ctrl key and scrolling back on your mouse... that will adjust your browser zoom, and make the pictures smaller.


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