We have been testing the ASUS Striker II Extreme for about three weeks now, but just recently became comfortable enough with its abilities to trust the benchmark results. The reason for this is the results generated from two of our higher-end components just seemed to good to be true at first glance. These two components being the yet-to-be-released Intel 45nm QX9770 quad-core CPU and 8GB (4x2GB) of DDR3 memory from OCZ Technology.
We are talking about some very expensive components here, so much so that OCZ's own memory-clocking guru, Tony Leach, would not let these modules out of his view until we fully agreed to adopt them and treat them as our own (Editor - He was protecting them like a mama bear protects its cubs). All joking aside, while Tony was in town we decided to get together this past Saturday afternoon to see just how far we could push NVIDIA’s latest 790i chipset.
Until the release of 790i, 500MHz FSB with an Intel 45nm quad-core CPU (or any quad-core for that matter) was something only a few rogue boards could pull off. Not only could we boot to the desktop at this FSB but Prime95 and other applications ran without issue during several hours of torture testing.
When the day was done and the smoke had cleared we were far from disappointed. The only thing more impressive than the seeing our QX9770 run stable at 500MHz FSB had to be that all 8GBs of OCZ memory was operating at DDR3-2000, 9-9-9-28 (CL-tRCD-tRP-tRAS). Mind you, we may be able to tighten things further but performance at these settings was incredible enough as it is.
While DDR3-2000 memory speeds may no longer be impressive to some, we tend to believe seeing this with 8GB of DDR3 is quite an accomplishment for today’s boards and memory.
One of the secrets to running high physical memory densities – whether DDR2 or DDR3 – is tRFC, an important memory timing parameter, necessary for the proper refresh of DDR SDRAM circuitry. JEDEC provides different tRFC minimum value specifications for each device density, but they are generally ignored by most overclockers when it comes to achieving maximum system performance.
Because of the memory design, DDR SDRAM must be periodically refreshed in order to retain the validity of data stored in each memory cell. All banks of the DDR SDRAM must be precharged and idle for a minimum of the Precharge Time (tRP) before this refresh command can be applied. Once the refresh cycle has completed, all banks of the DDR SDRAM will then be in the precharged (idle) state. A delay between the Refresh Command and the next Active Command or subsequent Refresh Command must be greater than or equal to the Refresh Cycle Time (tRFC).
Higher memory device densities with a greater number of DDR SDRAM banks require more cycles in order to properly complete this refresh sequence. The number of clock cycles needed to satisfy the tRFC minimum specification for a system configuration consisting of a pair of 2GB modules, although not twice that of 1GB modules, is still significantly higher – about 53% higher according to JEDEC figures. Installing four separate modules in place of two makes consideration of this timing even more critical to obtaining system stability.
This is the level of performance we have come to expect from DDR3. The fact that we can achieve this with 8GB is simply outstanding.
Naturally, motherboards that fail to offer in-BIOS adjustment of tRFC (or only limited adjustment) will never handle high-density memory configurations as well as those that do. If you haven’t paid attention to this important timing in the past and plan on moving up to 4GB or even 8GB system memory configurations in preparation for your shift to Windows Vista 64, now would be the time to study as much as you can about tRFC. We’ll cover this timing in greater detail with our next BIOS guide, which will be focused on NVIDIA’s new 790i platform.
As of today, the only motherboard supplier that has managed to add the option to adjust tRFC to their 780i/790i BIOS is ASUS with their Striker II Formula/Extreme; which is why it will run 8GB flawlessly for us while the EVGA (reference NVIDIA design) outright refuses to run at these same timings. We can only hope other motherboard vendors will follow ASUS’ lead and do the same as steadily falling DDR2 and DDR3 memory prices – combined with accelerated appearance of ever more memory-hungry operating systems, applications, and 3D games – will make setting this timing properly even more essential to successfully overclocking memory and motherboards in the months to come.
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BakLAN - Friday, June 5, 2009 - link
I have Asus P5N64 WS Pro mobo. May be someone can tell me is it possible to achieve the same results on this motherboard. And please tell what kind of OCZ memory modules was used during testing???chizow - Tuesday, March 25, 2008 - link
Very keen observation and a great explanation of how this setting can impact overclocking and stability with higher RAM densities and dimm configurations. Amazing how no one else has managed to implement this otion into their BIOS. Again reinforces my belief that chipset/board-makers and BIOS programmers are the weakest link in the industry.Although your results are impressive with the Asus, I'll have to take them with a grain of salt as it wouldn't be the first time I've seen amazing results from a review site (at least this time we know the RAM kits were hand-picked, and in this case, hand-delivered) that don't necessarily reflect real-world user results.
eternalfantasy - Tuesday, March 25, 2008 - link
Mighty impressive.I have the S2E, but I'm have trouble over-clocking the FSB to even 350Mhz.. Is it possible to post the BIOS settings used to achieve this?
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p...">http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p...
Or is there an ETA on the upcoming BIOS guide? :D
Thanks
Aivas47a - Monday, March 24, 2008 - link
Would love to see a head-to-head showdown between this board and either the Rampage Extreme or P5E3 Premium.kjboughton - Monday, March 24, 2008 - link
There is no 'Rampage Extreme' as of yet, just the DDR2 variant, the Rampage Formula. You're right though, the P5E3 Premium on the Intel side would be a good board to match up with the ASUS Striker II Extreme when it comes to DDR3 overclocking. We'll see what we can make happen.Aivas47a - Thursday, March 27, 2008 - link
Thanks Kris, and keep up the great work.irev210 - Monday, March 24, 2008 - link
Kris,Test with QX9770 C1 and you will go even higher :)
1111111 - Monday, March 24, 2008 - link
"Until the release of 790i, 500MHz FSB with an Intel 45nm quad-core CPU (or any quad-core for that matter) was something only a few rouge boards could pull off."Since when did motherboards start wearing makeup? Rogue is what you want:) Nice performance from the combo.
Poloasis - Monday, March 24, 2008 - link
I have been saying it, those nVidia guys sure knows how to pull a rabbit from the Hat. In other view, what the heck Intel is waiting for to release their 1600 FSB Parts “x48 etc”. Been waiting for over 5 months now. Nehalem is just around the corner, what are they waiting for? It seems that my wait may end up by going with a 790i chipset.