How to Overclock ASUS RAMPAGE III Extreme BIOS GUIDE

[V2-V3]

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The ASUS Rampage III Extreme is an Overclockers dream. This board begs to ask how well can you overclock. At the hart of the Rampage III Gene is its the X58 chip set capable of Quad SLI, and Quadfire X the 1366 socket board is capable of Trippe Channel DDR3 and up 24GB of memory capacity

System Specifications

Defaults
(22.22c Ambient Air Temperature)
Core Voltage: 1.144V
Temperature: 27c
Core Speed: 3.33GHz
Uncore Speed: 2670MHz
Base Clock Speed: 133MHz
Quick Path Interconnect Speed: 3200MHz
System Memory: 3x Corsair Dominator GTX 4 2533MHz 2GB
Voltage: 1.5V
Temperature 25c
Speed: 1333MHz
Divider "Ratio": 2:10
Timings: CL9-9-9-24 74 1T


4GHz
Processor: Intel Core i7-980X
Core Voltage: 1.360V
Temperature: 75c
Core Speed: 4.0128GHz
Uncore Speed: 2889.2MHz
Base Clock Speed: 160.5MHz
Quick Path Interconnect Speed: 2889.3MHz

System Memory: 3x Corsair Dominator GTX 4 2533MHz 2GB
Voltage: 1.66V
Speed: 963MHz
Divider "Ratio": 2:12
Timings: CL9-9-9-28 98 2T

Extreme Tweaker BIOS Settings
Enter the system BIOS by presing Delete on the BIOS splash screen.
Set Tuning mode to Exteme OC
Set AI Overclock tuner to manual
Increase CPU multiplier to 30X
Enable CPU Load-Line Calibration
Increase CPU voltage to 1.35V
Set DRAM bus Voltage to 1.65
Disable CPU Spread Spectrum
Disable PCIE Spread Spectrum
Advanced CPU confuguration
Disable Intel speedStep
Disable Intel C-State Tech

Press F10 save changes and exit, press F8 and boot off of your MemtestX86 disk
wait for atleast 1 full pass of error checking to complete before contunuing to boot windows

if no memory errors found boot to windows and run Prime 95 Torture test select In-place large FFTs
Install Core Temp we do not want the Maximum CPU temperature to exceed 80*C
I recommend an error free pass of Prime 95 for 24hr to ensure system stability

Random Access Memory Overclocking

Now we move into memory overclocking
Set DRAM Timing Control to Auto
Manually change the DRAM clock frequency to the rating of you memory in this case *2133MHz
Also change the DRAM voltage to match the rating of your memory *1.65V
press F10 to save and exit.

Boot into windows and open CPU ID to verify your memory clock speed.

Run a stress testing program like Prime 95 or a quick test like Wprime
To ensure stability I suggest creating a Memtest X86 CD to check for memory errors.


Rampage III Extreme BIOS template

Target CPU Frequency                  4000MHz
Target DRAM Frequency               1926MHz

LN2 Mode:                                  Disabled***
QPI Loadline Calibration:              Enabled***

Sync Mode                                  [Enabled]
AI Overclock Tuner                      [Manual]
OC From CPU level Up                  [Auto]

2D Performance Booster               [Disabled]
CPU Ratio Setting                         [30.0]
CPU Turbo Power Limit                 [Disabled]

>CPU Configuration----------------------------
CPU Ratio Setting                         [30.0]
C1E Support                                [Enabled]
Hardware Prefetcher                    [Enabled]
Adjacent Cache Line Prefetcher     [Enabled]
MPS and ACPI MADT ordering       [Modern]
Intel(R) Virtualization Tech           [Enabled]
CPU TM Function                         [Disabled]
Execute Disable Bit                      [Enabled]
Intel(R) HT Technology                [Enabled]
Active Processor Cores                 [All]
A20M                                         [Disabled]
Intel(R) SpeedStep(TM) Tech       [Enabled]
Performance/Watt select              [Power]
Intel(R) C-STATE Tech                 [Enabled]
C State package limit setting         [Auto]
C1 Auto Demotion                        [Enabled]
C3 Auto Demotion                        [Enabled]
----------------------------------------------

BCLK Frequency                            [133]
PCIE Frequency                            [100]
DRAM Frequency                          [1926]
UCLK Frequency                           [2890]
QPI Link Data Rate                       [6400]

Memory Configuration Protect        [Disabled]

>DRAM Timing Control--------------------------
CAS# Latency                        6    [6]
RAS# to CAS# Delay              7    [7]
RAS# PRE Time                     6    [6]
RAS# ACT Time                   18    [18]
RAS# to RAS# Delay              4    [4]
REF Cycle Time                    72    [72]
WRITE Recovery Time          10    [10]
READ to PRE Time                 6    [6]
FOUR ACT WIN Time            24    [Auto]
Back-To-BackCAS# Delay        0    [Auto]

Timing Mode                        1N    [1N]
Round Trip Latency on CHA    59    [59]
Round Trip Latency on CHB    61    [60]
Round Trip Latency on CHC    62    [61]

WRITE To READ Delay(DD)      8    [Auto]
WRITE To READ Delay(DR)      8    [Auto]
WRITE To READ Delay(SR)     18    [Auto]
READ To WRITE Delay(DD)      7    [Auto]
READ To WRITE Delay(DR)      7    [Auto]
READ To WRITE Delay(SR)      7    [Auto]
READ To READ Delay(DD)        7    [Auto]
READ To READ Delay(DR)        6    [Auto]
READ To READ Delay(SR)        4    [Auto]
WRITE To WRITE Delay(DD)    7    [Auto]
WRITE To WRITE Delay(DR)    7    [Auto]
WRITE To WRITE Delay(SR)    4    [Auto]
----------------------------------------------

CPU Differential Amplitude             [Auto]
CPU Clock Skew                           [Auto]
IOH Clock Skew                            [Auto]
------------ Extreme Engine Digi+ ------------
Digi+ PWR Mode                          [T-Balanced]
PWR Volt. Control                         [Auto]
Load-Line Calibration                    [Full]
CPU Voltege OCP                          [Enabled]
CPU PWM Frequency                    [Auto]

Extreme OV                                 [Enabled]*
Extreme OC                                 [Auto]

CPU Voltage                     1.343    [1.35]
CPU PLL Voltage               1.349    [1.35150]
QPI/DRAM Core Voltage    1.429    [1.43750]
DRAM Bus Voltage            1.654    [1.65]

>DRAM REF Voltages----------------------------
DRAM DATA REF Voltage on CHA    [Auto]
DRAM CTRL REF Voltage on CHA    [Auto]
DRAM DATA REF Voltage on CHB    [Auto]
DRAM CTRL REF Voltage on CHB    [Auto]
DRAM DATA REF Voltage on CHC    [Auto]
DRAM CTRL REF Voltage on CHC    [Auto]
----------------------------------------------

IOH Voltage                     1.111    [Auto]
IOH PCIE Voltage             1.508    [Auto]

ICH Voltage                     1.111    [Auto]
ICH PCIE Voltage                         [Auto]

*QPI Voltage OCP                        [Enabled]
*IOH Voltage OCP                       [Enabled]
*DRAM Voltage OCP                    [Enabled]
*QPI PWM Frequency                  [Auto]
*IOH PWM Frequency                  [Auto]
*DRAM PWM Frequency               [Auto]

---------- Spread Spectrum Control -----------
CPU Spread Spectrum                  [Disabled]
DRAM Spread Spectrum               [Disabled]

***on-board jumper dependant

ROG Connect Software Overclocking



These settings are not guaranteed to work on your configuration

ASUS RAMPAGE III EXTREME RESOURCES
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ _
RAMPAGE III EXTREME: UNBOXING REVIEW
RAMPAGE III EXTREME: SYSTEM BUILDING
RAMPAGE III EXTREME: OVERCLOCKING
RAMPAGE III EXTREME: FOLDING AT HOME
RAMPAGE III EXTREME: EXTREME OVERCLOCKING
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ _

[zeeshan_mcse]

What is CPU Voltage OCP, A20M, Hardware Prefetcher, Adjacent Cache Line Prefetch, CPU TM Function, Execute Disable Bit and A20M ?

[NeonGenesis]

Hi, my CPU is a i7-950 + 6gb 1866 RAM, I used this setting and my system got unstable. Also, my BIOS version is 1009, what settig shoud I use on my config?

Thanks!

[Brian@ASUS]

how much are you trying to overclock?

[NeonGenesis]

not much, i started with 25x 145 = 3625.
I made a bench with wPrime and my score was like 2x worst than the stock clock.

All voltages I started at the minimum shown in the guide, you think i need to go higher with the voltages?

[Probedemon]

Thank You for the guide

[V2-V3]

not much, i started with 25x 145 = 3625.
I made a bench with wPrime and my score was like 2x worst than the stock clock.

All voltages I started at the minimum shown in the guide, you think i need to go higher with the voltages?

Under CPU Management you need to enable Hyper threading "Intel HT Technology" this is disabling half of your Processor threads and giving you the experienced performance loss.

[V2-V3]

What is CPU Voltage OCP, A20M, Hardware Prefetcher, Adjacent Cache Line Prefetch, CPU TM Function, Execute Disable Bit and A20M ?

CPU Voltage OCP "Over Voltage Protection" this limits the max value your can set for the CPU voltage

A20M also known as "Gate A20" refers to memory addressing above 1MB- Enabling will enhance memory access speed, Disabling can lower performance but increase stability

Hardware Prefetcher When enabled increases performance by pulling data likely to be required in the near future from the system memory (RAM) into the CPU cache before its needed to lower memory access times

Adjacent Cache Line Prefetch When enabled increases performance by pulling "two" 64bit cache lines when "one" is requested by the CPU this reduces access time as an extra 64bit cache line is immediately available if needed
This feature uses more bus bandwidth so performance gains may not be seen in all applications.

CPU TM Function CPU "Thermal Management" Function throttles down the CPU clock speed this is primarily used for very hot chips to help keep them cool but lowers CPU performance

Execute Disable Bit Also known as CPU XD, prevents the CPU from executing code in "Data Only" areas of Memory, this is a protection feature to help prevent "Buffer Overflow" attacks on the CPU

[dino213aa]

Here's some questions.. so if I start the multiplier at 29x, bclk at 145mhz and cpu voltage at 1.4v and it crashes, do I *just* bump bclk and try again? then if it still crashes bump the voltage an increment and try again? Stepping upwards until stable?

[V2-V3]

Updated