Asus M4N98TD Evo Fluctuating VCore

[maxima88]

I've had this mobo for a week and I just noticed that when I set my vcore to 1.36v and in a span of 5 minutes I saw it fluctuate from 1.34v to 1.38v and this is at idle with only hwmonitor, cpu-z and another asus monitor running.

I also have had no luck running my clock at 244 even with increased voltages. It's perfectly stable at 240 though. I know my cpu and RAM can handle up to 258x15.5 (4ghz) because I was able to do it with a biostar 790gxb3.

Should I RMA this board or just return it and buy a different mobo?

Any feedback will be highly appreciated.

 

[QuietIce]

Are you talking about the numbers jumping around in CPU-Z (or whatever)? A variance of ±0.02v isn't too uncommon for most boards unless they're really high-end and even then it's not unheard of. With an unlocked CPU who knows what's going on in there? Does it still do this when you're not unlocked?

On the subject of your clock speed, have you tried turning down the CPU multiplier to see how far the clock will go? I'd use a multiplier of 11X and a cpuNB and HT Link multiplier of 7X with stock voltages then start cranking up the clock. Oh, and don't forget to turn the RAM down as well. I'd drop it clear down to 400 MHz (DDR3-800) just to keep it completely out of the equation. You'll also need to set the RAM timings manually and I'd use the 1333 timings just to keep it simple. With those settings you won't exceed stock speeds for anything until you're above 280 MHz on the clock. If the board will go that high with those settings then there could be a problem elsewhere ...

 

[maxima88]

thanks for quick reply quietice.

Yes, the vcore drops and rises in cpu-z, hwmonitor and another asus monitor that I don't recall the name of.

My multi is locked so I can only o/c by increasing the clock speed. I was using a Biostar 790gxb3 a month ago and was able to run my RAM at 258 mhzspeed so I know my RAM can handle it.

 

[QuietIce]

I think you misunderstand what a locked multiplier is on an AMD. All AMD CPU multipliers for the last 4-5 years can be lowered if the BIOS allows (and yours does) but only the BE/FX CPU multipliers can be raised. Doing as suggested is a relatively easy way to check how high the clock will run while knowing there is nothing else getting in the way. Whether you test it or not is your call.

As for the RAM thing I'll just say "Every system is different" and leave it at that. If I were in your shoes I would test the clock speed as described above because it's the only way I would know for sure ...

 

[maxima88]

I get you now. I was thinking about increasing the multiplier. Sorry about that. Of course I can lower the multi. So you mean to say that this mobo may be the problem as to why I can't do 244mhz? Kinda crappy mobo if that is actually the case. I'll certainly try your suggestion and if it is my mobo holding me back, then I'm going to switch back to biostar. Only reason I wanted this mobo was for the SLI feature. Thanks again.

 

[QuietIce]

It's just one possibility that should be explored. I learned OC'ing by testing each component individually before trying to put all the pieces together into a good OC'ed system. And, yeah, I agree that 240, 250, even 260+ shouldn't be a problem for that board - but you never know until you test it.

Is the rest of your system exactly the same as before? Same heatsink, same case and case fans, same PSU, same everything? A lot of things can effect an OC and not all of them are real obvious ...

 

[maxima88]

YES, all components are the same (see sig). I just switched mobos for the SLI.

 

[Dolk]

The problem is that you have something called LLC on. It automatically increases CPUv when the CPU reaches high usage levels.

The M4N98TD Evo is part of ASUS huge BIOS upgrade project. Currently there is no new BIOS for this board, but I know there are some being made.

I'm not sure if the 0803 BIOS helps, but you may want to update to the highest regardless.

 

[maxima88]

The problem is that you have something called LLC on. It automatically increases CPUv when the CPU reaches high usage levels.

The M4N98TD Evo is part of ASUS huge BIOS upgrade project. Currently there is no new BIOS for this board, but I know there are some being made.

I'm not sure if the 0803 BIOS helps, but you may want to update to the highest regardless.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll try everything you guys suggest.

 

[maxima88]

Looks like my Bios (I just updated to 0803) doesn't have any options to lower CPU, cpu nb nor HT multipliers. Kinda disappointing considering this is suppose to be a good mobo.
Anyway, I was able to get to my clock up to 262 (4062mhz) on 1.62v DRAM, 1.42v vcore and 1.22v cpu nb.

I noticed a .05v drop in vcore on load. Should I keep ny vdda on auto or set it to a specific voltage?

 

[QuietIce]

Try setting "Ai Overclock Tuner" to manual. All those options should be there, only the very, very cheap boards don't have them nowadays ...

 

[maxima88]

Try setting "Ai Overclock Tuner" to manual. All those options should be there, only the very, very cheap boards don't have them nowadays ...

I thought I checked my bios real well for all options but I'll check it again when I get home from work.

 

[Evochuck]

Looks like my Bios (I just updated to 0803) doesn't have any options to lower CPU, cpu nb nor HT multipliers. Kinda disappointing considering this is suppose to be a good mobo.
Anyway, I was able to get to my clock up to 262 (4062mhz) on 1.62v DRAM, 1.42v vcore and 1.22v cpu nb.

I noticed a .05v drop in vcore on load. Should I keep ny vdda on auto or set it to a specific voltage?

I have issues too with my M4N98TD EVO, with the voltage specificaly, I easily OCed to 3.6 with auto voltages but i just stopped there since i wasnt able to make the voltages stable past that if it was not on auto.

 

[QuietIce]

I thought I checked my bios real well for all options but I'll check it again when I get home from work.

Just going by what the manual is showing. Even though manuals are often lacking they are seldom screwed up that badly ...

 

[maxima88]

Even though manuals are often lacking they are seldom screwed up that badly ...

+1

 

[maxima88]

I went through each option in the ai tweaker section and there is NO option to change any multiplier. I already have ai overclocker tuner set to manual.

 

[QuietIce]

We are talking about the M4N98TD EVO board? Your page doesn't look like this???

 

[maxima88]

That's it.

 

[QuietIce]

So what is "CPU Ratio", "CPU/NB Frequency", and "HT Link Speed" if they're not multipliers ...???

 

[maxima88]

Looks like I misundertood what you meant by "multiplier". I was looking for the actual numbers like 10x, 10.5x or 11x that I could select. This bios only gives you the option to select 5 frequencies for the cpu/nb and ht link which is what I did. It doesnt give you a list of multipliers (i.e 1x,1,5x,2x...) to choose from.
So I actually did lower the frequencies which was the main point of this all.

Thanks for being so patient and helpful.