Asus Maximus Formula SE X38 - Living Review.

[Angearu]

Well, when I didn't blow a fan on the NB, it was getting 60+C on stock speeds.

[Gillie]

Originally Posted by ginbong

hello everyone, this is my first post.

i just got this mobo yesterday hoping to recieve the "standard" version but i was delivered the SE instead, which is not wat i wanted becoz i dont plan to *edit*WaterCool*edit*..

my case is a THERMALTAKE ARMOR ALUMINUM with 1x120mm intake fan, 1x200mm side panel fan, 1x120mm exhaust, 1x90mm exhaust and 1x90mm blowhole (above).

i am using a thermalright ultra 120-eXtreme with a scythe s-flex SFF21F fan for my CPU

now my question is will i be able to do a mild 20% OC on my Q6600 G0 to around 2.8GHz without overheating the NB with the copper waterblock?..

and i have no intention of taking off the heatpipes to install thermalright parts on the mobo ( i am not experienced with mobo modding, and never tried OCing before )

any help would be appreciated, thanks to anyone who replies

*edit* above: what i meant was i dont intend to WC, i put OC by mistake

Using a Zalman 9700 CPU cooler I'm running air-cooled at 3.6GHz on the Q6600 G0 (a 50% OC) with an 8x multiplier and a 450MHz FSB. I can also get 3.6GHz with standard 9x mutiplier and 400MHz FSB but the extra memory bandwidth of 450Mhz (DDR2-900) gives a bit better performance in my memory intensive tasks, i.e. encoding.

Getting a 20% OC from this motherboard and a G0 Q6600 is EASY and not really what this combination is designed for as you could have got the same with a far cheaper MB.

[ginbong]

Originally Posted by Gillie

Using a Zalman 9700 CPU cooler I'm running air-cooled at 3.6GHz on the Q6600 G0 (a 50% OC) with an 8x multiplier and a 450MHz FSB. I can also get 3.6GHz with standard 9x mutiplier and 400MHz FSB but the extra memory bandwidth of 450Mhz (DDR2-900) gives a bit better performance in my memory intensive tasks, i.e. encoding.

Getting a 20% OC from this motherboard and a G0 Q6600 is EASY and not really what this combination is designed for as you could have got the same with a far cheaper MB.

well i know its kind of a waste for me, but i was HOPING for a stable ASUS mobo that will do me for 2-4years..

i wanted the PCIe 2.0 and compatibility with penryn cores not to mention bragging rights with a RoG board..

i should have done some research first

thanks for your replies

[fatty5000]

I got into work this morning and there it was waiting for me

I post up later when its up and running


Thanks for the help guys

[ginbong]

goodluck bro, im all ready to go but kinda scared of problems lol

(im a noob)

[fatty5000]

Originally Posted by ginbong

goodluck bro, im all ready to go but kinda scared of problems lol

(im a noob)

Don't worry you'll be fine if your stuck just ask mate

I ain't done an upgrade for myself in 3 years so I'm alittle rusty myself lol

[Clunk]

Originally Posted by kup

Tried 0602...

On 0505 I can get 8x475 semi stable, meaning I can Fold/Prime for hours and then it suddenly flakes out and crashes, but on 0602 I couldn't even get into XP @ 8x470, after that I instantly gave up... just seemd to be a bad bios? Unless anyone else has any better experience with it?

It did however let me boot @ 4.3GHz on air and get right up to XP slash screen before it crashed! On 1.48v vCore!!!!!! :P

That is much further than I get with the 8x multi! Will post my findings later, didnt get chance to do anything yesterday.

Welcome to the forums

[Clunk]

Originally Posted by jorgito05

Thank you verry much, you made my day; Also have been reading your posts, This thread from the very beggining, Most Impresive ! I got the bug now.

First build, Just now started buing all the components from newegg.com.
Intel QX6850, Kingston KHX6400D2ULK2/2G (2) (2x1G) Kits, Maximus Formula SE, (2) Western Digital Raptor X 150G
Thermaltake Toughpower WO156RU 1200W, (2) Diamond 2900XT1GPE, Case: Gigabite 3D Mercury Water Cooled Unit.

Question:

Haven't made final desition on the mem !

KHX6400D2ULK2/2G
JEDEC standard latency 800Mhz timing of 5-5-5-15 at 1.8V.
DDR2 800MHz at low latency timing of 3-3-3-10 at 2.3-2.35V.

KHX8500D2K2/2G
JEDEC standard latency 800Mhz timing of 5-5-5-15 at 1.8V.
DDR2- 1066MHz at a latency timing of 5-5-5-15 at 2.2V

KHX9600D2K2/2G
JEDEC standard latency 800Mhz timing of 5-5-5-15 at 1.8V
DDR2-1200MHz at a latency timing of 5-5-5-15 at 2.3 - 2.35V.

The last two are Not on the QVL ???????????????

Depends how far you want to go with the overclocking.

For a lot of real life applications, you wont see much of a performance gain by running your RAM at 1200Mhz, although if its just for tweaking and benching, you can't really go wrong with Ballistix PC2-8500

[Clunk]

Originally Posted by jorgito05

Clunk;

After seeing how you removed the stock heat sinks and water block, and poot your own block on the NB you gave me the itch, but this is my first build, so I will wc the stock block this go arround. Very impresive work you did.

PS got a pic of how you cooled th SB ?

I am running the SB with no heatsink whatsoever, just a 92mm fan blowing on it, and it runs cooler than with the stock heatsink on it

[Clunk]

Originally Posted by ginbong

now my question is will i be able to do a mild 20% OC on my Q6600 G0 to around 2.8GHz without overheating the NB with the copper waterblock?..

and i have no intention of taking off the heatpipes to install thermalright parts on the mobo ( i am not experienced with mobo modding, and never tried OCing before )

You **should** be able to hit 2.8Ghz with no problems at all, and looking at other peoples efforts, 3Ghz+ should be easily doable with minimal fuss.

If you get stuck, just make a thread in the overclocking section, and someone will help you out

Welcome to the forums