# BIOS 1603 For ASUS Striker Extreme is out



## EnergyFX (Aug 7, 2008)

Just wanted to let everyone that is running the ASUS Striker Extreme know that there is a new BIOS (Version 1603) available on the ASUS Support website.

I haven't had a chance to play with it much, but I can confirm that it flashes as a legitimate Striker Extreme BIOS and booted my system with no noticeable issues.

Here is a direct FTP link from ASUS:
ftp://dlsvr.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/socket775/Stricker Extreme/1603.zip



Arctucas (in a different thread) said:


> @EnergyFX,
> 
> I was just going to post the link to the 1603.
> 
> Let me know if it works, I have been holding off due to the bad reports regarding the 15xx BIOS.



About the only good reason to upgrade to the 15xx versions was to get 45nm CPU support.  There was no other choice for those of us with the new 45nm chips... it was either deal with the limitations of 15xx or have a CPU that ran at half speed.

So far (with 1603) what I have found is that my board will not post with NB voltage set above 1.55v.  I have had a few boot hangs with it set AT 1.55v.  And (so far) with NB voltage set at 1.50v I have finally been able to reliably boot all the way to Vista with CPU FSB at 500.  Right now I am working on backing off on the CPU Core voltage.

I am definitely noticing a lot more room to play with 1603.  I haven't noticed any new features or settings though... only that I seem to be moving through a wider range of what settings already existed.

Right now I am working with CPU FSB set at 500 with 1.50 core volts.  I know this is high for an E8500 and I am working on backing it off.  Right now I am sitting at ~47-48C core temps at idle.  If I can back the voltage down far enough to stay under 44C at Idle then I will consider anything beyond that as pure bonus to an already good thing.


----------



## Arctucas (Aug 8, 2008)

I am having problems with that link. It downloads an empty (0KB) file.

I have found that by using ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/mb/socket775/Stricker Extreme 
and selecting the 1603.zip file, I get the correct download, although I get a random eight character .part file instead of '1603.zip', but unzipping it gives me the 1603.bin file.

Anyway, I think I will hold off on the BIOS flash pending more testing results from you. 

I appreciate your courage, and hopefully this BIOS will be better than the last 15xx BIOS.


----------



## EnergyFX (Aug 8, 2008)

It's hard to say.  I mean... the 45nm support for the SE has always felt a bit 'hacked'.  Your 65nm chip could have totally different results from my 45nm.  It seems like a better BIOS to me... but don't take my word for it.

I still have the same stability problems I have always had once I start getting up to the 4.3+GHz range.  The only real benefit I am seeing is that I am stable at higher FSB frequencies than before... but there is still the main ceiling that is forcing me to pull the multiplier down... so the only real gain is that I can run my memory at a slightly higher 1:1 ratio speed.

I guess it just depends on whether you tend to be more cautious than curious or the other way around.

I'm running it and haven't seen a downgrade of any sorts... so I guess I'll keep it for now.


----------



## Arctucas (Aug 8, 2008)

I was thinking of going to 45nm, most likely an E3110/E0, but I hesitate because Asus seems to be having problems with their latest BIOS releases.

So, do you believe the 1603 is a stable BIOS?


----------



## EnergyFX (Aug 8, 2008)

Your really trying to force a definitive answer out of me aren't you... lol

It seems to be working a little better than 1504 for me... but it's not any more stable in my opinion... just a bit more versatile.  That's just me and my 45nm chip though.  Someone else is going to have to be the brave one to find out what happens with 65nm chips.

Bottom line... I've gained nothing other than an additional 50MHz in RAM clock speed, but that's a 10% gain from what I was running with 1504.  

Let's find out how other SE owners fair.



---Pssst... hey... did you see that?  Hmph... I could have sworn I saw a couple of BlazingPC.com members lurking in the shadows.     ---


----------



## caleb (Aug 8, 2008)

buehehe asus and their bioses... I cant even find a word for them !


----------



## Deleted member 24505 (Aug 8, 2008)

So sell your "crappy" asus board then


----------



## EnergyFX (Aug 9, 2008)

FYI, here is a link to a thread on another forum that is giving 1603 a test run.  Once he saw that it didn't smoke my rig he decided to give it a try.

http://www.blazingpc.com/forum/showthread.php/striker_extreme_bios_1603-13862/index.html



Arctucas said:


> I was thinking of going to 45nm, most likely an E3110/E0, but I hesitate because Asus seems to be having problems with their latest BIOS releases.
> 
> So, do you believe the 1603 is a stable BIOS?



I detuned to CPU: 475x8.5 with ram linked and synced and ran let Prime95 run all night.  I woke this morning and it was still running.  I consider that as at least Prime95 stable.  I've ran stable at 4GHz before, but it was at 450x9 with 1504.  I'll try turning it up to 480x8.5 tonight and let it run again.

Also... with 1504 I was never able to find good manual voltage settings (except for DDR2 setting).  For everything else I had to keep AUTO.  There were several times when I thought I had found a good setting for VCore, but it would always go sour over time.  With 1603 I am noticing solid stability (at least over several hours) with manual voltage settings for VCore, NB, SB, VTT, and DDR.


----------



## Arctucas (Aug 9, 2008)

Excellent, now if I could only find that E0 stepping E3110...


----------



## V3rn (Aug 20, 2008)

*1603 fun*

Just flashed from 1504 to 1603 - has caused a shrill screaming sound - my POST kicking a fuss. DRAM and CPUinit messages. Oh joy. Thanx Asus.


----------



## EnergyFX (Aug 21, 2008)

V3rn said:


> Just flashed from 1504 to 1603 - has caused a shrill screaming sound - my POST kicking a fuss. DRAM and CPUinit messages. Oh joy. Thanx Asus.



Question 1: How did you flash the new BIOS?

Question 2: What video card(s) are you using?

Question 3: Are you noticing what seems to be a power flicker right before the 'shrill' starts?


----------



## V3rn (Aug 21, 2008)

Hi, thanks for the reply.

Stupidly, I flashed with the Windows tool (it seems to be a nogo according to most posts), am using a XFX 8800 GTX XXX. 

The shrill is now gone, strangley it is different to the stukkato of sounds signifying no memory  found. I took out my pair of 2GB PC6400 (I read somewhere that the theory was that the RAM voltage was incorrectly assigned in the new update - mine handle 1.8 to 1.9 - G.Skill) So after posting without RAM, I powered down, mains off, battery out, reset the CMOS, booted with one stick in far side of CPU (read that here). So it works. Have since put the pair of RAM back in their DDR slots. Honestly have not touched the Bios since - have always struggled to overclock this board...

Kind regards, 
V3rn

Have fiddled with Bios since then - e6700 runs at 1066FSB, so OC'd that without touching RAM, Processor runs at 3.3 GHz @40 degree idle, played COD4 for an hour...hanging in there.


----------



## EnergyFX (Aug 21, 2008)

Whew, glad to hear you got it working.

ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS flash BIOS from EZFlash (accessible within BIOS under TOOLS)

I learned the hard way too.  I flashed from windows numerous times without problems, but the one time it screwed up I ended up having to RMA the MB.  It never came back up, no matter what I tried.  I was also getting a shrill but it was coming from the video card (also a 8800 GTX).  Somehow the botched BIOS flash was causing the system to 'blink' the power supply, which in turn pissed off the video card and made it scream complaints of no power.  Unplug one of your video cards 6-pin power plugs and you will see/hear what I was dealing with.

Anyways, glad you got it sorted out.


----------



## thebeephaha (Sep 2, 2008)

I am debating doing this BIOS but I know that 1303 which is what I am running now is/was the best for Quads...


----------



## EnergyFX (Sep 3, 2008)

I wouldn't bother unless you need 45nm support.  The 45nm support is a bit hacked if you ask me.


----------



## thebeephaha (Sep 4, 2008)

Well I updated and my OC is just as stable as before, so cool.


----------



## Arctucas (Sep 5, 2008)

1603 frequency settings would not stick for me, although voltages would.

Also, PC would not boot on restart unless I pressed the chassis Reset button or cycled the power switch.

After half dozen or so restarts, I started getting "Boot Failure" screens.

Back to 1303 for me.


----------



## dr_oxide (Sep 9, 2008)

Loaded 1603 from flash drive now my board is dead! Order bios chip from ebay and used a plcc socket and now it still is dead. My board is one month old and going to the trash thanks Asus. I guess I just start over less the $200!


----------



## Arctucas (Sep 10, 2008)

dr_oxide said:


> Loaded 1603 from flash drive now my board is dead! Order bios chip from ebay and used a plcc socket and now it still is dead. My board is one month old and going to the trash thanks Asus. I guess I just start over less the $200!



RMA? You have a three year warranty, you know. 

And only $200? I paid $350 for my SE, of course that was almost a year and a half ago.


----------



## Polaris573 (Sep 10, 2008)

Please remember not to double post.  If you have something to add to a post use the edit post button.  I had to merge three sets of double posts in this thread.


----------



## Ham1nator (Oct 13, 2008)

*Striker Extreme bios 1603 flash bios use problems*

Had 1504, it worked fine.  Thought the 1603 was good idea from reading a bit, but not enough apparently.  Flash was successful, system would not boot until pulled battery and reset CMOS, then go into setup and enable RAID again.  Boot was fine, then boot with setup to find the CPU multiplier was set to 6 instead of usual 9.  Changed to 9, no problem.  System stable runs fine.  But now cannot go to manual overclock or any other option to up CPU multiplier, NOS, FSB increase, nothing; it boots to default value of CPU 9 and FSB 1333.  This is frustrating, had been able to use higher cpu multipliers and FSB values before and had been in the 3.75g speed range.  Now stuck at stock.  Any ideas?  Asus support guy said to use the bios flash tool and go back to the 1504, but I have seen you may not be able to do so without a special program to do it.  Help, please appreciated.
Gene Bigham, Ham1nator


----------



## Arctucas (Oct 13, 2008)

Check my reply in the other thread.


----------



## modder (Oct 14, 2008)

Ham1nator said:


> Had 1504, it worked fine.  Thought the 1603 was good idea from reading a bit, but not enough apparently.  Flash was successful, system would not boot until pulled battery and reset CMOS, then go into setup and enable RAID again.  Boot was fine, then boot with setup to find the CPU multiplier was set to 6 instead of usual 9.  Changed to 9, no problem.  System stable runs fine.  But now cannot go to manual overclock or any other option to up CPU multiplier, NOS, FSB increase, nothing; it boots to default value of CPU 9 and FSB 1333.  This is frustrating, had been able to use higher cpu multipliers and FSB values before and had been in the 3.75g speed range.  Now stuck at stock.  Any ideas?  Asus support guy said to use the bios flash tool and go back to the 1504, but I have seen you may not be able to do so without a special program to do it.  Help, please appreciated.
> Gene Bigham, Ham1nator



eg:your current bios 1603 and you want rollback to bios 1504

with usb key:
you need to make a bootable usb key.
download http://www.cybersolus.net/telecharger/softs/usbboot/HPUSBFW_BOOTFILES.zip
and HP USB Disk Storage HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool http://downloads.pcworld.com/pub/new/utilities/peripherals/SP27608.exe
1-extract "HPUSBFW_BOOTFILES.zip" to a new folder
2- install SP27608.exe
3- tick option"Create a DOS startup disk "
      into  "using DOS system files located at" indicate location path folder of "HPUSBFW_BOOTFILES"
4-format usb key (NTFS)
5-copy  AWDFLASH.EXE and bios needed for backup to  usb key
6-boot with  usb key
7when "C:\" appear on screen type :  C:\awdflash biosname.bin /py /sn /f 
8-follow instructions on screen and press "Y" for yes
9-after reboot the old bios appear. 

remember :C:\awdflash 1504.binSPACE /pySPACE /snSPACE /f


----------

