So I managed to break the board.Due to boot problems I had and memtest crashing even on all stock speeds, I decided to bring the board back.When I removed the CPU I managed to slip a bit thermal paste onto metal hinge around the socket. So I attempted to clean it with a bit of paper, which resulted in paper hanging onto one of the socket pins and pulling it out...So I brought it back to the shop, they knew about the problem with boot and memory because I called them 2-3 days ago.They were very kind and gonna exchange the board at no cost. SUCH LUCK!!!Anyway, boards are coming in Monday, now gotta wait...

So I managed to break the board.Due to boot problems I had and memtest crashing even on all stock speeds, I decided to bring the board back.When I removed the CPU I managed to slip a bit thermal paste onto metal hinge around the socket. So I attempted to clean it with a bit of paper, which resulted in paper hanging onto one of the socket pins and pulling it out...So I brought it back to the shop, they knew about the problem with boot and memory because I called them 2-3 days ago.They were very kind and gonna exchange the board at no cost. SUCH LUCK!!!Anyway, boards are coming in Monday, now gotta wait...

That's too bad Word Not Allowed! Once I had to reallign a few posts after stupidly dropping a CPU on it's side in a socket. I used a double pair of magnifying glasses and a handheld magnifying glass, two table lamps and a small sewing needle. I was able to straighten things out well enough for everything to work right. Ever since then I handle CPU and sockets with fear but hopefully not trembling!Kind regards,

New mainboard installed, RAM exchanged...I must say, they did me a grand favour by exchanging the board, but the reason also that I wanted to exchange the board, is that I was suspicious about the MemTest not working (at all).It was freezing after 5 seconds.Now, I got a new board, new RAM... AND IT'S STILL DOING IT!!!!!!!!!!!!! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr............ friggin's SB. Man, I'm so pi$$ed. My X58 was ROCK stable. It's like Intel and everyone that I ever trusted started suddenely producing $hit.I'll order from Amazon G.Skill Ripjaws, it's more expensive, but supposed to be really good. Corsair was my trusted company - until now, it can't be that replaced RAMs are also bad. The whole batch?!Argh...

Yeah, I'm aware of that.Everyone advised me to take Asus though...And seriously, I think troubles here are coming from RAM incompatibility.Corey also suggested this RAM, I saw others on internet using it, but also on his UD5 (Gigabyte!) there are problems - that should have been a sign for me.Anyway, G.Skill should be here on Wednesday, until then Corsair is "working", causing just little troubles. I hope things are gonna get straightened out with the new RAM.

ASUS isn't the only mobo company, and the reason there is so much confusion is because their boards aren't stable.

Well, my stuff may not be stable at the speeds your signature tells us -I've not tested mine at those speeds, but I can tell you my stuff is as stable as any rig on the planet at 5 GHz.Ken

Buying an ASUS board is a lottery and you are just luckly you have a good one I presume. Regarding my signature, I am happy with my overclocking and I don't want to go beyond that. If I want to go any further I could go but I don't see the point.Friends of mine has the exactly the same specification as myself and he has overclocked at 4.5, stable as a rock without using any turbo technology.Is your board stable if you turn off C1E/EIST /turbo boost and overclock it manually at the 5Ghz?

That is one of the confusing things with Asus. You are supposed to turn off turbo and just run at specified multi. To do that, you would have to disable EIST (so that speed doesn't drop).But the board say Turbo ON, when you set multi 35+.I almost got me a Gigabyte board, but just in the last moment, I stumbled upon this:http://www.anandtech.com/show/4130/the-battle-of-the-p67-boards-asus-vs-gigabyte-at-190/11The reason was overclocking instability with Gigabyte (permanent reflashing of BIOS if OC failed) and the missing USB3 bracket. This is where Asus has won for me.If the board isn't working, I can always return it until May on Cougar-Point-Return policy, I believe its something like end of May.I got a new one now, which seems to be playing along same as the old one, just the RAM isn't playing along and we all know, RAM can be a cause of lots of troubles.

Is your board stable if you turn off C1E/EIST /turbo boost and overclock it manually at the 5Ghz?

The 1st month I had my board I ran @ 5.0 without ESIT or C1e due to the VRM issues with MY board -associated with the BIOS(1204) at that time, with no issues. Issues I had with Speedstep: stutters, voltage spikes, and the idle state(1600mhz) performing like an 800mhz Athlon. Since then, Asus has dialed in the VRM associated with Speedstep/ESIT/Turbo Boost/C1e -smooth as a babies &@($*, and I use 'em.

I am using all C1E/C3/C6 and EIST, only thing I can't configure correctly is Vcore.I can fix it to 1.5 and it's stable - gonna be running 1.5 24/7, but I would like EPU to lower it when at idle.Going Auto in Manual mode gives me 1.52, but the puter is stable with 1.49-1.5 on manual.EPU doesn't work when in Manual/1.5, but it does with Manual/Auto.So only other chance is going with Offset, but I still didn't figure out how to use it correctly...

Offset, have a look...http://hardforum.com...hp?p=1036950185PLL: 1.8125LLC: HighVRM Fixed: 370Phase Control: ExtremeDuty Control: ExtremeCPU Current Cap.: 130%CPU Volt: Offset +CPU Offset Volt: 0.060OBS! I use this for my i5 2500K, yours might be different, so adjustments are needed up or down...

Ty. I found out right now through couple of tests 0.23 brings it to some 1.49 and for now it's stable (Prime always on).Everything is on auto... afterwards I will go setting after setting and try different positions to see how it plays out.Maybe I can sink it a bit, but I hardly doubt it.

Apparently we are cautious ppl us simmers, others crank up the volume!http://www.jack-brennan.com/?p=1025

Yeah, that is why I'm just going over this "recommended" settings of vcore 1.35. If Intel says 1.5, then it's 1.5 or a little bit more, so long the temps are OK.As I already said: if it dies, it was ment to be

I use offset +005. The base voltage I used is the "optimized default" voltage for my mobo/ cpu (I2500K 3.3GHz 1.191). One can tell what their base is by looking at the reported voltage in BIOS. Notes (my puter):For 5.2 my offset might be .025.For 5.4 it may look like .075 or .050 with some added turbo volts.Edit:Another tool I used while playing with the offset feature is Real Temp. Real Temp/Settings/Disable Turbo. This will show your base voltage (no turbo) while allowing you to switch the turbo feature on the fly (important, because a lil bit of offset can go along way in turbo mode :Big Grin: ).

Well, I guess this is a positive result:Time (s) Speed (GFlops) Result108.713 70.8998 3.161416e-002110.603 69.6884 3.161416e-002109.031 70.6932 3.161416e-002107.377 71.7815 3.161416e-002107.476 71.7159 3.161416e-002108.126 71.2848 3.161416e-002114.798 67.1414 3.161416e-002112.680 68.4034 3.161416e-002108.142 71.2741 3.161416e-002108.334 71.1478 3.161416e-002113.718 67.7795 3.161416e-002108.433 71.0831 3.161416e-002108.683 70.9191 3.161416e-002111.549 69.0973 3.161416e-002108.930 70.7585 3.161416e-002110.788 69.5720 3.161416e-002109.293 70.5232 3.161416e-002108.293 71.1745 3.161416e-002107.240 71.8733 3.161416e-002107.245 71.8699 3.161416e-002This is an output of Very High test of IntelBurnTest 20 runs.Prime95 was also 4 hours stable...Vcore is going up to 1.49 or about. Now set with offset, which is great, since it drops to 1.28 and 1600. Probably good for a longer processor life.

Not sure I'd put 1.49V and long processor life in the same sentence LOL even under water