TheRealOmegaMan

Swifty, Ran multitudes of tests including MEMTEST and Vista's mem test on the RAM with no errors. I just don't think the memory needs that much voltage for now. Even at 1066MHz, I only needed 2.05 to 2.1v depending on the FSB.

My problem is when the memory is raised above 2.1 I get no boot. Right now, running 5:4 at 920MHz its slightly above 2.0v. Even at 1066MHz, it did not like 2.2v, tried 2.3 and still the same "no boot". 2.1v fine. Go figure.

Yes. My bad. 2.2v(rated) actually. Thanks for the heads up ecthlipis.

Hey App0lly0n, Thanks for the info!! Nice to see another 680i . I am on the same path your on with my Striker Extreme board. I am running 5:4 with my FSB now sitting at 295. My original intention was to get the FSB to 285 with the CPU Multiplier at 12x from it's stock 10x then run the board 1:1 linked with memory. That all became a wash since I could not get the QX6700 stable at 12x no matter what voltage I set it to, so I had to settle with a higher FSB with the CPU at 11x and Memory at 5:4 running about 920MHz. Still, with the Dominator memory I should be able to go to 1066MHz which is what its rated at but with the 5:4 ratio, unlikely. So, I think I will be digging in the 300's on the FSB with the Memory at 5:4. One note here, I DID try the UNLINKED mode for memory and had nothing but issues. I set the Memory at 1066MHz at 1.2v fixed UNLINKED and had to reset the CMOS. For some reason, my Dominator Memory does not like anything above 1.1v at present even though its rated at 1.2v @ 1066MHz...Go figure. I have to tinker with that, but I hesitate because when the Memory isn't happy I have to do a manual reset from the MOBO which is a pain since my PC sits in a air cooled cabinet. I will keep all posted B:)

I absolutely plan to increase the FSB. I just want to see whats up with the memory first, decide on where to go with that then crank the FSB. Call to Corsair this week should bring that to a head...again many thanks.

I think your on the money here ecthlipsis. I attempted the UNLINKED mode and could not get stable. Took your advise on this one. At 12x, there wasn't a steady voltage I could come up with. I thought it was stable at 1.39 but Vista would throw an error occasionally. I lowered the Multiplier back to 11X, one over the stock value of 10x and all seems much better. Talk about voltage extremes, at 11x the QX6700 seems very happy at 1.34v - No happiness at 12X. So with that steady I just upped the FSB. My FSB is running at 295 quad at 1180MHz. The memory is running at 920MHz, so that is my next chore...I may not even attend to it for now. I getting 13K's with this speed on 2DMark06 and I'm happy for NOW. I may make a call to Corsair to understand why that memory won't jump above 1066MHz, again, I may be the problem...I'll keep you posted and thanks again for all the help.

Hey ecthlipsis, Here is why the memory is low for now....I may consider the Unlinked option mentioned once again in CPU Magazine. Motherboards based on Nvidia

Sorry, Ding. I just realized you have to be a suscriber to view the entire article...here is the highlight of what I was hoping you guys could see.. But this clock speed required an FSB of 288MHz. If we set our CPU

To answer your question, yes. Intel and an old MSI board which I had issues with. The Intel boards were always solid. Multiple friends and co-workers in the industry have had other boards. Some, swear by one others another. I based my buying decision on multiple HDW reviews from multiple sources. But the one, and main one I swear by, is CPU mag. Love their articles and never steered me wrong. Not really ecthlipsis. Read the quote below. They used the X6800 but it's dang close to what I am following even though the X6800 is a Duo and mine is Quad (maybe the reason for the voltage demand). Look, as we ALL know, each CPU and board combo has different results. Because my board is asking more or less, or requiring more volts and less volts does NOT mean there is something wrong with the board. I am new at this overclock thing but carry over 20yrs or HDW experience to know better. My problems are with me and my approach NOT my board and that's the honorable thing to say. Again, see this quote from the April issue of CPU Mag. Also, here is the link to the article from my quote. Great article and good reading -> Overclock Your PC For Top Performance To alter the CPU voltage on our system, we entered the System Voltages submenu of the system BIOS

Pretty much it does...I guess your meaning is to play it by ear based on stability. I really don't want to push the VCORE above 1.4v although, where I'm at now is 1.389 and pushing it to 1.4 should NOT be a BIG diff but temps right now with Air Cooling are around 42C-44C and OCCT under full load for 30min pushed the CPU to the thermal threshold of 65C. So, hopefully at 280 FSB I won't need to push the CPU VCORE higher, but odds are I will at least have to go to 1.4v. Ideas? Suggestions? All welcome on my end.

Thanks King, but it would be to easy to blame the Striker board which has been FLAWLESS in all aspects including Asus Support which has been excellent in communication and technical help. This is a lot more than can be said for most other MFR's. Plus, the on board controls are bar none to ANY board on the market now. I think the bone heading goes to me. Thanks for the help again ecthlipsis. True on the warranty issue if valid, but ruled out the board and ruled in my on bone head approach as I mentioned to King. First, the Striker board does not have setting for 3:2 on memory to FSB. Instead, it has 5:4. Now, since this is my first go at this, I set the memory to run at 5:4 which put the memory to 866MHz. I then set the voltage to 2.1v from 2.0v. I left the Multiplier on the CPU at 12x with the voltage at 1.30v fixed, not AUTO, and then I was able to boot to Vista. I then bumped the FSB to 270MHz and got into Vista again with no issues. I then bumped the FSB to 275MHz putting the FSB at 1,100MHz and had no issues with Vista loading. Ran OCCT and after 15min it erred. I went back and bumped the CPU VCORE to 1.3489, booted back into Vista and ran OCCT again this time for 30 and again, no errors. Oddly, I went on this morning to print something and as soon as Vista loaded, I got a Memory Dump BSOD when I had multiple apps open. So, back to the BIOS I went and bumped the Memory Voltage to 2.15 and ran OCCT again for 15min without issues. Then I did heavy multitasking, copy and pasting images to replicate the memory dump and got no errors. So, I'm stable with the FSB set at 275 (1,100MHz), CPU at 12x @ 1.389v with the memory sitting at a low 866MHz set 5:4 at 2.15v. I plan to get the FSB to 280, leave the CPU at 12x but want the memory to run 1:1 which I think is doable but this is what caused all my headaches at the start of my endeavors. The Dominator Memory was the first thing days ago. I set it 1:1 (1066MHz) and 2.2v per its spec and couldn

Hey King....As I said upping the memory caused NO BOOT or BSOD when Vista loads. At 2.0v I ran OCCT and PRIME and all runs well at that voltage. On AUTO the memory voltage would show 1.8v. I tried adjusting the voltage in small increments all the way to 2.25. All increments gave me errors or boot issues. The 8500 Dominator is even rated at 1066MHz @ 2.2v. Yet, mine won't go there. I have run Memory tests with Vista and MemTest and recieved no errors.

Thanks for the help ecthlipis. I did try to up the voltage on the memory while 1:1 at 1066MHz. Anything over 2.0v threw up errors and at 2.2 got the wonderfull Vista BSOD Memory Dump error. I will try the 3:4 (can you explain the difference?) and will leave the hard setting at 2.0v. Still, many thanks. I'm hoping to bump into a Striker owner as well. Maybe a setting in the Board is throwing me off. I am still wondering if Vista is causing some sort for issues. The only thing I haven't tried is setting memory back to 800MHz, which ecthlipsis touched on and I gotta try to say " I tried everything". At least I have been able to up the Mult on the CPU to [email protected] with no problems shown running PRIME95 or OCCT. If all else fails, at least till a resolution is found, I can bump the CPU up to 13X with a slight voltage increase and live with that. My only concern here is the heat. At 12x OCCT pushed the temp to 60C at full load. At 13x with a voltage increase, it may hit the 65C threshold.....we'll see <_<

Ok, I set the MULTIPLIER back to 10x then raised the FSB which is running 1:1 with the memory as I stated. I bumped it to 270 from 266 and once again, Vista during loadup throws the BSOD Memory Dump error. I locked the VCORE at 1.3. I even lowered the Mulitplier to 9x and 8x and still, Vista threw the BSOD. I'm at a loss and beginning to think this maybe a Vista issue. There should be NO reason I shouldn't be able to bump the FSB to 270 with any volt changes. The memory during this test was also locked at 2.0v. Ideas anyone?

Many many thanks Verran for all your time and help here. I will set the Mult back to 10 and move the FSB up slowly. I do write down all my changes so I keep a log of what works and what doesn't. Glad to see you agree on this since I thought I was being anal Also, I will set the AUTO VCORE to MANUAL at 1.30 when backing the Mult back to 10x. I will let you know how I do. Thanks again Verran