# Asus Maximus Formula-Good buy?



## i_dog_69 (Jan 13, 2008)

Hey guys i just bought a new maximus formula board. have any of you had experiance with this board?? OC'ing and such. i have read good reviews about it, mostly that is at least on par with some of the other x38 boards when OC'ing. i have an e4500 that i had at 3.25 on my old 680i board with the zalman 9700. do you think i could get better results with it or at least the same. chime in with whatever you got.


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## DOM (Jan 13, 2008)

nice avatar 

well its one of the best mobo you cant get now

and it should do better in ocing, what v-core where you using with your old mobo ?


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## i_dog_69 (Jan 13, 2008)

about the avatar.....no comment after today...

as for the v-core i believe it was at about 1.38, but the NB seemed to run pretty hot. any idea about this board's temps?


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## Cold Storm (Jan 13, 2008)

hey, don't ever think of your team as being bad! it was a big toss up on who could win that game... the board is a good buy. I think you will enjoy it and love the ocing ability


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## Wile E (Jan 13, 2008)

The Maximus formula is a great board. The NB runs a little warm, but it never causes instability due to heat. I can get 475fsb out of mine on a quad, which are notoriously harder to get a high fsb on. Should do an easy 500fsb on a dual core. On my quad, the NB starts getting a little voltage hungry after 420fsb. Just something to look out for. 

Also make sure you turn on Line Load Calibration, to eliminate vDroop.

Another notable thing, the vDimm is always higher than set in bios. Setting it to 2.2V, gives me almost 2.3v. Also something to keep in mind.


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## i_dog_69 (Jan 13, 2008)

my ram is the vista upgrade OCZ ddr2800. i got 4GB for about $68, and was blown away when i was able to get them to 966 with the stock 2.1v(granted the 5cas timing is pretty loose). also, i dont have the board yet, so i was wondering what the stock voltage on the NB is? and what multi do you use on your quad?


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## Wile E (Jan 13, 2008)

i_dog_69 said:


> my ram is the vista upgrade OCZ ddr2800. i got 4GB for about $68, and was blown away when i was able to get them to 966 with the stock 2.1v(granted the 5cas timing is pretty loose). also, i dont have the board yet, so i was wondering what the stock voltage on the NB is? and what multi do you use on your quad?


I just use the 9x multi. My 24/7 setting is 3.6GHz (9*400), 1200MHz ram. Most of the Quads that clock like mine, don't like to stay stable above a 400fsb, regardless of multi.

And I'll have to get back to you on the stock NB voltage. I'll check next time I reboot, as I don't remember off the top of my head. It's pretty low tho.


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## tzitzibp (Jan 13, 2008)

i_dog_69 said:


> about the avatar.....no comment after today...
> 
> as for the v-core i believe it was at about 1.38, but the NB seemed to run pretty hot. any idea about this board's temps?



Here you are...
On room temperature of 25 C......

e6420@2.13 OC to 3.4ghz - 9700zalman cooling (stable - 2 months)
cpu temp (1.415volt): 38(idle), 56(full load)
motherboard: 41 (idle), 45(full load)
NB :47-57 C
SB:48-52 C

All of the above are recorded with fans at half speed for bareable noise levels... 

keep in mind that I use 4x1gig mem sticks (2.1-2.2volt) which get hot and I added a corsair dominator airflow to keep them cool...as well as the board...

The maximus formula se board I am using is probably the best I've ever had...
I've used nforce boards in the past and they get very hot, even at low speeds, even at idle!


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## Wile E (Jan 13, 2008)

Yeah, I just wanted to agree with tzitzibp, and add that this is probably the best board I've owned.


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## tzitzibp (Jan 13, 2008)

Wile E said:


> Yeah, I just wanted to agree with tzitzibp, and add that this is probably the best board I've owned.



What cpu do you think would be best to couple with this M/B... ?

What temps do you get with the q6600?


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## Wile E (Jan 13, 2008)

tzitzibp said:


> What cpu do you think would be best to couple with this M/B... ?
> 
> What temps do you get with the q6600?


cpu or nb? Cpu is around 60C under full load. I haven't actually check the NB temps. I don't worry about NB temps unless I have stability issues.


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## i_dog_69 (Jan 13, 2008)

damn nice temps tzitzibp, my 680i was a great OC'er for me, but no 45nm support and high temps were killing me on my OC. thanks for the reply, now i just have find a q6600 i can afford.....


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## tzitzibp (Jan 13, 2008)

Wile E said:


> cpu or nb? Cpu is around 60C under full load. I haven't actually check the NB temps. I don't worry about NB temps unless I have stability issues.



and you shouldn't... Bios alerts for NB and SB are, by default, set to 90C...
I manually reset them to 70 (cautious)

I was asking about cpu... and what is the max for the q6600? (before it burns)

I only get 60C for my e6420@3.4ghz when using TAT, constantly !!!


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## tzitzibp (Jan 13, 2008)

i_dog_69 said:


> damn nice temps tzitzibp, my 680i was a great OC'er for me, but no 45nm support and high temps were killing me on my OC. thanks for the reply, now i just have find a q6600 i can afford.....



wait for a couple of months and get a 45nm chip...
I am!!!


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## i_dog_69 (Jan 14, 2008)

anyone heard when the new midrange quads are coming out BTW?


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## Wile E (Jan 14, 2008)

tzitzibp said:


> and you shouldn't... Bios alerts for NB and SB are, by default, set to 90C...
> I manually reset them to 70 (cautious)
> 
> I was asking about cpu... and what is the max for the q6600? (before it burns)
> ...


I don''t actually know what the safe temps are, but tcase is 100C. I ran it on the stock cooler @ 3.2GHz at 75C, no problems at all, before I got around to setting up my water on it.


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## Frogger (Jan 14, 2008)

Wile E said:


> Yeah, I just wanted to agree with tzitzibp, and add that this is probably the best board I've owned.



Add my 2 cent to that comment this is one SWEET MOTHER


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## Duffman (Jan 14, 2008)

I am still tweaking but it's definately a great board


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## tzitzibp (Jan 14, 2008)

Duffman said:


> I am still tweaking but it's definately a great board



what settings have you managed maximum, with this cpu?


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## DOM (Jan 14, 2008)

i_dog_69 said:


> anyone heard when the new midrange quads are coming out BTW?


 ETA: January 21. 2008 post #8


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## mandelore (Jan 14, 2008)

i have the special edition version, great board!!

as stated, high fsb, great multitude of overclocking options...

i reseated the fusion waterblock on the SE edtion and the nb temps are under 30c, southbridge with fan on again under 30c.

layout is fantastic. dont really use the included soundcard, its rpetty crap, but everything else is awesome. i got 3dmark06 / stalker bundled with mine.


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## i_dog_69 (Jan 14, 2008)

so from what im hearing i should re-seat the heatpipe on this board. how did you you guys go about doing this??


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## mandelore (Jan 14, 2008)

i_dog_69 said:


> so from what im hearing i should re-seat the heatpipe on this board. how did you you guys go about doing this??



heat it first with a hair dryer, then wiggle the heatsink gently, after a while it will start to give. 
clean the heatsink/chip with a solvent then reseat with ac5 or similar


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## Duffman (Jan 14, 2008)

tzitzibp said:


> what settings have you managed maximum, with this cpu?



THIS THREAD has my current settings.


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## Wile E (Jan 14, 2008)

Duffman said:


> THIS THREAD has my current settings.


Put a tip in that thread for you.


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## tzitzibp (Jan 15, 2008)

Duffman said:


> THIS THREAD has my current settings.



Thanks....


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## Duffman (Jan 15, 2008)

Wile E said:


> Put a tip in that thread for you.



Check and check, i had the opposite setting for some reason.  I must have not written down what setting i had correctly and misread what setting to use to kill the vdroop as i actually had it disabled.


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## Duffman (Jan 15, 2008)

tzitzibp said:


> Thanks....



welcome, always happy to share


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## i_dog_69 (Jan 21, 2008)

So now that i have my board i have a stabel OC at 3.3Ghz and and all seems to be well. however when i went back and looked at the specs from the website it said this board will support the 1600Mhz FSB but the box and manual make no such claim. was i just getting hot air blown up my skirt?


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## i_dog_69 (Jan 21, 2008)

p.s. i know that non of the x38 board "officially" support the 1600FSB


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## Cold Storm (Jan 21, 2008)

i_dog_69 said:


> So now that i have my board i have a stabel OC at 3.3Ghz and and all seems to be well. however when i went back and looked at the specs from the website it said this board will support the 1600Mhz FSB but the box and manual make no such claim. was i just getting hot air blown up my skirt?



it probably does support 1600. does it show that there is a bios update? if so then its because of that... Asus is known to do mad bios updates to fix problems like chipsets working on them and so forth.. Asus is the only brand where if you get a Pen. D only board, it will work a quad with a bios update.


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## Frogger (Jan 22, 2008)

i_dog_69 said:


> p.s. i know that non of the x38 board "officially" support the 1600FSB



X48  officially ..... X38 unofficially


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## Wile E (Jan 22, 2008)

i_dog_69 said:


> So now that i have my board i have a stabel OC at 3.3Ghz and and all seems to be well. however when i went back and looked at the specs from the website it said this board will support the 1600Mhz FSB but the box and manual make no such claim. was i just getting hot air blown up my skirt?


They didn't put it on the box or in the manual because the 1600 support probably didn't come until a BIOS update, after the box and manual were already finalized.


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## Cold Storm (Jan 22, 2008)

Wile E said:


> They didn't put it on the box or in the manual because the 1600 support probably didn't come until a BIOS update, after the box and manual were already finalized.



Like I said... Asus is the only company that will give you bios updates that make it to where you can support the new stuff on the old stuff... and work with it quite well


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## mandelore (Jan 22, 2008)

Wile E said:


> They didn't put it on the box or in the manual because the 1600 support probably didn't come until a BIOS update, after the box and manual were already finalized.



its on the SE versions box, clearly stating 1600 fsb 

http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=572&l4=0&model=1889&modelmenu=1

shows it to the right on that pic, 1600 fsb support


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## Wile E (Jan 23, 2008)

mandelore said:


> its on the SE versions box, clearly stating 1600 fsb
> 
> http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=572&l4=0&model=1889&modelmenu=1
> 
> shows it to the right on that pic, 1600 fsb support


That's cause SE came out after the standard model. On a side note, the SE was already gone from all the sites when I went to order my board.


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## erocker (Jan 30, 2008)

As anyone replaced the thermal paste on your motherboard yet?  I've read somewhere that they have heat issues.  I'm not sure if this is just limited to the SE models or what?  I would kind of like to do it anyways, but it's a new board.


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## mandelore (Jan 30, 2008)

erocker said:


> As anyone replaced the thermal paste on your motherboard yet?  I've read somewhere that they have heat issues.  I'm not sure if this is just limited to the SE models or what?  I would kind of like to do it anyways, but it's a new board.



i did it, had pics in my Quad Extreme project thread.

removed theSE fusion waterblock and replaced thermal bleedin GLUE (id call it cement it was so hard) with arctic silver, got a reasonable reduction in temps, tho were good already being watercooled


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## erocker (Jan 30, 2008)

Will Arctic-Clean get the old stuff off?


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## mandelore (Jan 30, 2008)

erocker said:


> Will Arctic-Clean get the old stuff off?



you have to use a hair dryer to melt it, then clean with any solvent.

i had to heat up the heatsink/waterblock first and wiggle it off coz it was so glued on


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## erocker (Feb 1, 2008)

Meh, unless my temps are bad, I'm leaving it alone, it was some nasty buisness getting the goo off of my A8N32.  Thanks!


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## Frogger (Feb 1, 2008)

^^ a little heat 'from a hair dryer' on the NB & SB and it will come off mine was a piece of cake use a good non conductive TIM and a 40cm fan on the SB ... current temps at stock  speeds NB 27c SB 30c FYI


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## mandelore (Feb 1, 2008)

yeah, i added a 40cm fan to the heatsink adjacent to the north bridge waterblock, a 60mm fan affixed tot he mobo  blowing over the ram and i also added a small 40mm fan to the southbridge, all after replacing the thermal interface material. the republic of gamers metal plate on top of the south bridge easily comes off so a fan fits nicely


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