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ASUS Crosshair IV Formula AM3 AMD 890FX Motherboard Review

Motherboards/AMD AM3 by leeghoofd @ 2010-06-04

It is time to present the first 890FX motherboard that entered the Shrimps lab. And boy does it look stunning, ladies and gentlemen let me introduce you: The Asus Crosshair IV Formula. The previous Crosshair III was a master in efficiency, can the new 890FX chipset top the older generation? How does it pair with the new 6-Core Thuban CPU ? Let us go and explore this new addition to the Republic Of Gamer product line-up.

The Fun Can Begin

Fun can begin!

After the hard work and troubleshooting the overclocking issues, it’s time to get down to extracting the most of your hardware with help of the Asus Crosshair IV Formula.

The Core unlock function has come a long way. Beforehand it could be a super easy setup or a struggle for life to get the hidden cores working. I've seen different implementations and I must say that Asus has got one of the easier ones.

Either you press 4 during boot and it will try to unlock the cores. Or you select the Unlock Cores button on the PCB. If your CPU is cooperating you might see a message like this :

Madshrimps (c)

Thanks to Gamer for lending me his 555BE CPU. As this is the sole CPU we got that allows to unlock the 2 disabled cores.

Madshrimps (c)

Then just some LN2 fun with this same CPU

Madshrimps (c)

And finally our Thuban sample :

Madshrimps (c)

Comment from leeghoofd @ 2010/06/04

New Beta bios is up for grabs here : CrosshairIV-Formula-ASUS-0903.zip

Gary Key confirmed me the final version will have some small updates. Not tested this bios myself.

image courtesy of ChriSch

Comment from Teemto @ 2010/07/05

Hi guys,

Just got myself a new CH IV board as well. Flashed it to Bios 0905 as the inital version it got shipped with displayed the Spinpoint F3 issue.

Spinpoint F3 can't be detected by the Bios. In the latest bios this is fixed as you can select the controller to work in SATA-300 mode.

What kind of voltages were you using to achieve the OC's?
I'm going for 20x200 @1,40-1,45V but I'm not sure about the NB/SB voltage.
Any tips would be welcome.
What kinds of temperatures should the NB and SB be able to handle (as measured in ASUS PC probe)?

Grtz
Teemto

PS. The 555 from Gamer is coming my way that'll be for a second bench setup

Comment from leeghoofd @ 2010/07/05

NB voltages were mostly not that high around 1.35ish. CPU NB is dependant on the CPU type itself. For Thuban I never needed above 1.35 for the CPU NB, 965 BE needs 1.4 at least to get anywhere close to 3000mhz NB speed. it all depends on the cooling you use. It's still better to go 1800ish speeds with tight timings then to show off at 2000mhz with C7 or worse...

Ha you bought the 555. You can grab some points with it at Hwbot

if any issues you can always pm me for MSN contact...

Comment from Teemto @ 2010/07/19

Been testing a bit. So far the Crosshair IV allows higher clocks than the Crosshair III. Have my 1090T (with VNB=1.3V) now tested at:
4GHz 20x200 1.45V
4.1GHz 20.5x200 1.50V
4.2GHz 21x200 1.50V
4.3GHz 21.5x200 1.50V
Stable in SuperPi1M, Wprime32M, 3DMark Vantage, 3DMark06, Cinebench 11.5, Orthos (1h run w/o problems)
4.4GHz 22x200 1.55V (1.50V crashed during WPrime1024M)
Stable in SuperPi1M, Wprime32M. Further tests need to be done.
In the meantime upgraded my 2xHD5850's with Gamer's 5870 Lightning

(second 5870 planned for crossfire)

My question is related to the RAM: I currently have my Patriot's running at 1600MHz 7-7-7-20-36-1T 1.9V for all CPU voltages. CPU/NB is set to Auto and HT Link is set to Auto as well (should probably set the HT Link to 2000 or slightly less depending on RAM speed). Would 1800 RAM with 888 timings be better? The Patriot's won't do more than 1667 at 888.

Comment from leeghoofd @ 2010/07/19

nah mate, either keep ya current kit or upgrade to Hypers or PCS rams... 1800Mhz C6 is where the love is... for benchers at least...

I'll be testing the Corsair GTX2, Gskill Flare and some cheapo kits soon... This to see if it really all pays off or you can keep ya money safely in ya wallet...

Comment from Teemto @ 2010/07/20

Looking forward to your review then

Comment from Teemto @ 2010/08/16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teemto

Looking forward to your review then

Where can I buy them? Didn't find any store in Belgium that had em.

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