Solution to 790i Freezes

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crillegs

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Aug 1, 2008
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Hi Tweakers!

As sóme may have noticed the 790i chipset have had a serious issue, causing the system to freeze at random times, mostly when playing medias or gaming . Well I've have experienced the same problem, and searched the forums for several hours, untill I tonight, a little drunk after going to a party, have found the answer to this problem. It made me so glad that I wanted to post it on this forum, as I've received so much help myself from you guys. First I searched for Asus Striker II Extreme freezes, but it seemed that the issue are generally for all 790i chipsets. So finally I found some guys with EVGA motherboards, who made a kind of a blog on their solution to the issue.

Some of the changes proved very effective, but some also seemed to be only optional, as they never found out if it actually helped. This is the changes:

Increase Vdimm: fx. 1.7-1.8v
Increase NB/SPP Voltage: fx. 1.3-1.35v
Increase SB/MCP Voltage: fx. 1.5-1.55v
Increase tREF: fx. 7.7-7.8uS (Very effective!)

Eventually:

FSB Clock mode: Linked
Memory Ratio: Sync mode
(I don't think this can be chosen on the ASUS Striker II Extreme, but should help for EVGA 790i cards):
tCL (CAS Latency): Auto(7)
tRCD: Auto(7)
tRP: Auto(7)
tRAS: Auto(7)

At last, if you have a Q9450 processor like I do, they also said it would hardlock when the voltage goes below 1.2v, so they recommended setting this to 1.265v, as this would prevent it from going below 1.2v under load.

Hope this will correct your problem.
 
A little correction here: Forget the tCL, tRCD, tRP, tRAS, I forgot that just was the RAM-timings. Try to loosen your RAM-timings instead. Furthermore I forgot that some experiences great increase in stability by changing Command per Clock (Memory) from 1T to 2T.

I applied these settings yesterday, and it all went well. Very well actually, haven't experienced the freezes I've had before, amongst others running SuperPI while running G15 LCD Display.

Hope this helps anyone!
 
Well, your the first that I've heard of.

And I'll hope for you that you don't experience these issues like we have. It's really a pain. But now I've fixed it, because of the changes I did.

Could you do me a favor, and post your hardware specifications? Maybe you have something different, which on my PC, is the source of all the issues. An Anti-crash card maybe? Or not...
 
I have an EVGA 790i Ultra...and I've had very few problems....I guess I'm one of the lucky ones.


CPU: E8400

RAM: CORSAIR XMS3 DHX 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

HDD: 2 X Seagate 500 Gb SATA

VGA: 2 X PNY 9600GT SLI

The first thing I did after everything was running stable....(which it did run stable fresh out of the box)...I Linked and Synced my FSB and Memory....that put my E8400 up to 3.6 then I started upping the FSB got my RAM up to 1700 and my CPU to 3.8. I tried to push the CPU to 4GHz but I started getting artifacts......3.8Ghz stable without adjusting voltages...I'm pretty happy with that, but I may take a look at these settings you posted.
 
I have a zotac 790i supreme. I was also having the same problem that my comp would freeze randomly. i changed the memory voltage from 1.5 to 1.7 it has been working ever since.
 
I have the same problem I have the XFX 790i Ultra SLI and i did everything you said (except from the timings as you said that we can forget about it.
My CPU needs 1.36250V (Intel Q9650), but when i put 1.36250 the bios says (after save and exit) that the current value is 1.32V :S)

Should I increase the CPU FSB V???? my current value is 1.1 (AUTO)

My ram (as the specification says) needs 1.8250 and i use that.

THANKS :)
I have Linked Click mode, memory ratio Sync

The freeze happened again today while i was plaing UT3 with the new nvidia drivers 181.25 :S Maybe is because of the CPU V :S I don't know. HELP PLEASE
 
And one more thing apart from the CPU thing that i write you before... I have: CPU SPEED SPECTRUM : CENTER SPREAD HT SPREAD SPECTRUM : DISABLED PCiE SPREAD PSCTRUM: DISABLED PCIe SPREAD SPECTRUM (MCP): AUTO SATA Spread Spectrum: DISABLED Should i put PCIe Spread Spectrum (MCP) and CPU spread spectrum to disabled? I think that the Spread spectrum is for someting about interferences. but if you overclock you should tourn it off. Am i right?
 
... Hi, I have Q9450 and EVGA nForce 790i. After I applied these settings, nothing has changed and my Vista and also XP are getting frozen a few times a day ...
 


I always did find 1.1 for the FSB voltage a bit low, but it never caused any issues for me and my QX9650 (currently at stock...). The CPU voltage does default too low (1.21 I think), but other than that, my 790i has been rock solid stable.

And if your RAM states it needs a certain voltage/timings, manually set the values in the BIOS. Mine needs 1.7 Volts, for example.

I don't know what causes the diffrence in Reported vs. Saved voltages; could just be bad reporting, but saving again usually fixes that issue...

Basically, besides my RAM voltages and CPU voltage, the rest of my BIOS settings are at default, and I havn''t had a single issue. My only freezes were related to my 9800 GX2 and horrific 180 drivers for XP.
 
This is good information. I just jumped back into the PC gaming scene, knowing issues I have had with nvidia drivers in the past (although that definitely does not stop me from buying more nvidia products since ATI is no better). I've been experiencing occasional pink checkerboards on my screen but it is very infrequent so I don't really care. Seems like high end gaming pc's are bug ridden so you just have to take it in stride. I just narrowed down some stuttering issues to my RAM speed and have that pretty much sorted out so it's a pretty nice gaming computer now. My laptop, on the other hand, that's an entirely different story... From dell shipped with vista basic, vista is a nightmare on that system. I just installed XP and it alleviated all of the problems. Never had problems with Vista on an old P4 Northwood desktop system.
 
Well I fixed my freezing, stuttering, and pink checkerboards. I just installed driver version 178.24 and kept the drivers and bios that the motherboard shipped with. It is very stable. Now halflife2 deathmatch on the other hand, that's another story. But i have narrowed that down to it being the developer's fault since most times it crashes on me it crashes on everyone else that is playing on the same server. One guy I like to game with has an AMD system so his computer is totally different from mine.
 
I Have The EVGA 790I Ultrasli (unmodded), Bios P07, Running 4GB Patriot Memory At 2000MHZ In The Black Slots. My FSB Is Set to 1333 And My Cpu Multi Is 10x (QX6850 Quad Core Extreme)
I Had Some Trouble For About 2 Days With This Board And Memory But This Is What I Did And I Am Running 100 Percent Stable With Vista Ultimate 64Bit.

Make Sure Your Memory Sticks Match. (same revision, batch, voltages....etc) It's Best To Purchase Memory Packaged Together In Pairs And Not Separate. If You Have Un-matched Memory Sticks Forget About Dual Channel Configuration With Any Sort Of Memory, FSB Or CPU Overclock.
Also, These 790I Reference Design Boards Are Not Guranteed To Run Anything Over Two Sticks Of Memory At 2000MHZ. Black Slot Population Is Recommended For Speeds Up To 2000Mhz.

Here Is How I Did It:

Memory settings:
set epp to auto.
set fsb mem ratio to auto.
set timings to optimal.

Or

set epp to expert.
set fsb mem ratio to unlinked.
enter in the mem frequency manually (2000) or whatever yours is rated to.
set timing to expert at 9-9-9-24 2T or whatever your dimms are rated at.
Leave All of the Bottom Setting To Auto.

I Can Use These Setting Either Way


Voltage Settings:
CPU Voltage Need To Be Set At A Minimum Of The VID (core temp will tell you the vid and stepping of your processor). I Set Mine Up Above The Vid Due To Vdroop and Stability Issues.
DDR Voltage 2.000V or as advertised by manufacturer
SPP 1.4V Minimum With 4gb Memory (2x2) at 2000mhz
MCP 1.55V (up to 1.65vmax) with two or more video cards
FSB 1.25V (no higher than 1.4 for 65nm cpu or 1.3 for 45nm cpu)

PCIE slots 1,2,3 at 100mhz
mch at 200MHZ
all Gtl ref voltages +05mv
disable all spread spectrums
disable all cpu features except execute disable bit and maybe virtualization technology unless you have a program that uses it.

Save Changes And Then Test With Memtest Version 2.11 For At Least One Pass.

Test With Prime95 Version 25.8 Or Higher For At Least One Hour with No Errors.

This Should Get Anyone Going Stable Without Any CPU Or FSB Overclock Assuming All Conditions With Memory Are Met.
I Use Only Nvidia Products And Have For A Long Time. They Are Quircky But When They Work They Work Awesome, But Haha, When They Break They Are Broke...LOL
I Am Having No Issues Whatsoever With The Evga 790I Ultra Or The Patriot 2000MHZ Memory

My Boss Has The XFX Version Of This Board And A Q9550 With The Same Memory. I Set His Pc Up This Exact Same Way. Totally Rock Solid Stable.

Just So You Know Bios P07 Is Far More Stable Than P08 And That's Not Just My Opinion.
 
Just wanna say thanks lads! I was about 3 seconds away from dropping my rig off the balcony until I found this thread. I took Lord_Hades advice and flashed back to P07 bios and then made all the advised voltage changes and bingo! Rock f*$#ing solid!!

I'll post back with results once I've clocked the arse off this thing.

Thanks again fellas! You guys rock
 
Agreed with above; extra voltage, plus a 1:1 FSB-RAM ratio seems to help stability. (I became unstable since my first post...). I still use Center Spread for the CPU though.

I did the following:
Linked FSB-RAM (Resulted in 9.5 multi)
Optimal RAM settings (Resulted in Underclocked 1333 RAM with tighter timings)
Increased voltages as follows:
CPU: ~1.35V
DDR: 1.85V (From 1.7V spec)
SPP 1.4V
MCP 1.55V
FSB 1.2V

Notice how the voltages match what the poster two above used (FSB .05 lower, and lower RAM voltage).

Also, Speedstep Disabled.

I made no other changes to BIOS settings, and went from a crash a day to rock solid stable.
 
Don't know if it's just my bad luck but Vista service pack 2 seems to have created a few dramas...just installed it last night and haven't been able to get into windows since. System hangs either on the screen with windows orb or the welcome screen, both appear to have some sort of graphical artifacts that appear as a small line of grey blocks...maybe part of a window or something?? Anyone else get this by any chance?

Oh, also some of the voltages seem to keep resetting back to auto, I've changed them a few times now but still seem to reset. I might try flashing to P08 again and see if that changes anything?

I'm on an XFX board by the way.
 


Thanks, so far my system has not crashed, i have the xfx 790i ultra and Q9550 with 2x2GB corsair 1333 (9-9-9-24) was not sure about the 2t, then googled it and found it was 2t not 1t like my mobo set by default, i also set the gtlref to +05mv (what effect does this have? but runs ok so far)

I have had several problems with my rig, freezes and screen turing off, then flashed to p08 and system crashed and sometimes didnt boot at all (tried several voltage tweaks but didnt even realize my cpu was getting 1.2v and needs 1.25v like rofl!!), now running p07 with the settings you recommended, and so far no crash.

If my system is now solid stable, then i thank you sincerly, I hope in future you keep posting valuable tips.

I might go do some tests soon (benchmarks) but cbf atm, ill just see if it crashes/freezes or monitor turns off, but have a feeling that it won't, you sound like you know what you are doing and atm my system is booting nice with no freezing etc.

How did you find out about these settings, tried them or read about it?

anyway thanks again, very valuable tips and if its indeed rock solid stable now, then YOU ARE THE MAN!

Cheers,

Abe (Phil van Veen)
Australia
 
^^ Funny, same low voltage happened when I flashed to p08 (1.15V for a QX9650 LOL!). I'm running on p08 now, and my sticks i use are almost identical (pairs are identical).

I'd imagine that all the nforce freezes are related to the same issue; I just wish someone had something a bit more concrete to work with...(A permenant fix?)
 
I had many issues with my EVGA 790i FTW the first couple of months. Worked most of them out though. Running a Q9650 and 4gb OCZ platinum 16000 linked and synched @ 1800mhz giving me a CPU speed of 3.83Ghz. Run Prime95/Memtest stable all day and never have problems with booting. However, I still get the periodic freezes and crashes while gaming and need to ctrl+alt+del to bring up Window's task manager to close program manually and sometimes need to physically restart. If I step the multiplier to 9 @ 1800Mhz fsb it puts my clock at 4.05; however, cannot even get past boot. Tried increasing SPP/MCP voltage; increased FSB voltage and core volts. Temps are not an issue. Possibly try to reflash bios. Anyways, here are my bios settings at current and stable:

BIOS Version: SZ16 (5/4/2009)
**System **
CPU Freq, MHz: 3.833
FSB Reference Clock, MHz: 1800
CPU Multiplier: [8.5]
N/2 Ratio: enabled
PCle x16-1 & 16-2, MHz: [100]
PCle x16-3, MHz: [100]
SPPc->MCP Ref Clock, MHz: [200]
nForce SPP --> nForce MCP: [5X]
nForce SPP c-- nForce MCP: [5X]
**Spread Spectrum**
CPU Spread Spectrum: [Disabled]
HT Spread Spectrum: [Disabled]
PCle Spread Spectrurn(SPP): [Disabled]
PCle Spread Spectrurn(MCP): [Disabled]
SATA Spread Spectrum: [Disabled]
**FSB & Memorv Config**
FSB - Memory Clock Mode: [Linked]
FSB - Memory Ratio:[Sync Mode]
FSB (QDR), MHz: [1800]
Actual FSB (QDR), MHz: ****
x MEM (DDR), MHz: ****
Actual MEM (DDR), MHz: ****
P1: [Enabled]
P2: [Enabled]
**Memory Timing Setting**
Memory Timing Setting: [Expert]
tCL (CAS Latency): 9
tRCD: 9
tRP: 9
tRAS: 29
Command Per Clock: [2T]
** Advanced Memory Settings **
tRRD: [Auto]
tRC: [Auto]
tWR: [Auto]
tWTR: [Auto]
tFAW: [Auto]
tREF: [7.8]
**System Voltages**
Vdroop: [Disabled]
CPU Core: [1.32V]
CPU FSB: [1.25V]
Memory: [1.75]
nForce SPP: [1.42]
nForce MCP: [1.5]
cpu pll: [auto]
GTLVREF Lane 0: [-20]
GTLVREF Lane 1: [-10]
GTLVREF Lane 2: [Auto]
GTLVREF Lane 3: [Auto]
**CPU Configuration**
Limit CPUlD Maxval: Disabled
Intel Speedstep: Disabled
xPPM Mode: [Native]
CPU Thermal Control: [Disabled]
C1E Enhanced Halt State: [Disabled]
Execute Disable Bit: [Disabled]
Virtualization Technology: [Disabled]
CPU Core 0: [Enabled]
CPU Core 1: [Enabled]
CPU Core 2: [Enabled]
CPU Core 3: [Enabled]
 
Hi, I also have an Asus Striker II NSE.

I had to rma 4 before getting one that worked well. It's weird but the 4 broken ones had all shipped with a bios prior to 0805 (you can tell from the small sticker on the mb). And they gad a rog led logo with a yellowish glow.

These 4 boards were weird, mainly you could tell by inconsistent boots. Once it would boot a setup, the It wouldn't oc without adjusting vtt or pll, etc, would beep on ram oc's, etc. And I said 4 rma's as they all eventually popped. /the blue fsb leds failed one day and one wouldnt work anymore, e.g. etc.

This latest board (factory bios 0805) and it had an additional blue advertising sticker on the front of the box lower right side) works rock solid. The rog led is bright white (no dimming of the letters) boots all oc's without voltage adjustment, etc.

Piece of advice, NEVER run the cpu voltage on auto on these boards, it selects a way high voltage. My pi was running at 68 degrees (E8500@3.8 ghz, 1600fsb, 1600ram) at 1.35 volts. Guess what? I downvolted to 1.200v in the bios, still 100% stable at 54c degrees!!! Crysis fully stable at 49c cpu. Idle went down from 59c to 37!!!. An amazing difference when you realise you just have to change the volts from auto to something low. On the E8x00 use core temp to determine your cpu's unique start up voltage (vir) and set the bios at that to start with, then work down. Mine was 1.2375v but it works with the bios at 1.2000v. It might go lower, I'm going to try 1.1000 and maybe 1.0000v.

One thing on the striker II though, the mcp runs hot. Setting the case fa
ns to q-fan (an automatic mode) runs the mcp at 68c!. Setting the fans to duty runs it at 56c.

I havent messed with the other voltages (like mcp, spp, etc) yet. But I'll try to bring them all down to the bare minimum see if that will help the temps. Any one got any advice on the mcp temp on 790i?
 
Gold, you wrote,"But I'll try to bring them all down to the bare minimum see if that will help the temps. Any one got any advice on the mcp temp on 790i?"

If you are in SLI or overclocked much, bringing down the voltage will most likely ensue with more mysterious crashes. Consider that most of the components in your system utilize the MCP; which heats it up initially. I have found that direct airflow onto chips and efficeint airflow throughout chassis along with decnt ambient room temps are the cheapest and easiest way to ascertain your ideal temp. Maybe wedge or attach a small 60/80mm near or on GPU to blow directly through the chip and out the rear. Good luck!

Well, I got the clock for the Q9650 up to 4.175 Ghz and has been running Prime for over an hour.Core voltage @1.32 and baby stepping the volts down unilt I crash, then I would find the sweet spot.

How I did it... FSB @ 1.25; RAM, changed timings slightly 9-9-9-31-2T. I also changed tRC timing from auto(48) to 42 and the tRF from (110) to 85, as well as the tREF to 7.8us instead of 'auto'. Also, I found that for higher memory clocks and tighter timings, as well as higher FSB its needed to enable both P1 and P2 options from auto. I haven't figured out the GTLVREF lanes yet as I have heard so many contradicting statements. But, I reset those as suggested above.

So, I stabilized system with very little heat increase. Thanks to some good(correct) advice above. I have watercooling coming in a month and nothing in chassis(including chipsets) idles above 40c so I may not need it and may save the money for my up-coming build with 1366 socket. However, I pay the price for cool PC temps with 75f room temps ambient (chilly) and a small army of 6x120mm, 2x 220mm, GPU fans and some other small; yet, high- powered fans directed on the hottest components, the MCP and SPP. This produces a bit of noise, so I purchased a longer DVI cable for monitor and put case in a well ventilated area away from my eardrums since I was having no luck with grommets and matting.

Many issues with the MCP/SPP temps. Especially in SLI the MCP is covered by GPU and receives insufficient airflow. One either needs just one super GPU in order not to suffocate MCP with a second, or replacement chipset heatsinks with grease/pads, or the expensive route of watercooling or getting a better quality full tower aluminum chassis to accomodate all of the noise and heat/airflow . SLI not only suffocates the MCP, but the MCP's heat is recycled through GPU fans rendering unnecessary heat accumulation. One needs DIRECT airflow onto these chips for sufficient cooling. Any questions about my rig from a similar set-up, just simply ask and I will get you going best I can. I for one do not enjoy the bashing of my head on the wall for days:).
 
One definite problem can be attributed to setting the DDR3 slot voltage manually and the actual M/B DDR3 Voltage output being higher than you set it, ASUS M/Bs are inherently bad about doing that.

For example my ASUS Striker II Extreme when I manually set my DDR3 voltage to 1.9V, it was actually 1.98V causing all kinds of problems, I reset my manual setting to 1.82V and attained a 1.9V actual and the memory hasn't given any more problems.

Some memory modules can operate at higher voltages with no bad results and some just cannot go past their rated voltage specs without producing errors.

Your 790i M/Bs DDR3 actual output voltage may very well be the same as your manual setting but ASUS is not, so this is at least something to check on your setup, no matter what brand of M/B you're running.
 
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