[DJINFERNO806]

Oh gawd! I come back to find out I missed Sal starting a console war! Haha. Let's all join the gaben legions.!!!

Ya that's how I OC my CPU too. If you leave all the c states and intel speedstep active in bios, it will only use as much CPU power as needed. It will range between 1.6 and 4.2. I find in older games it won't ramp up past stock speeds. Great for cool gaming and less power drain.

I find most optical switchers cheap and worrisome that some plastic hunk of poop is not reflecting the light properly. Let me know if you find a link for a good one.

 

[SaLX]

One thing consoles naturally win over PC's is that your mates can all sit around on sofas, drink booze and have a laugh; unlike PC's, which don't have that kind of communal get together thing going on.... and even if you connect it to a widescreen TV, it's still lacking somehow.
 
Prefetch.. turn it off for Windows as your SSD doesn't need it. I forget, but I think it's a drive specific setting so it won't affect your HD. Easy Google for how to do it.
 
Man, eyeing up that case has given me the itch.. thing is I don't really need to upgrade my kit as it's a year old and more than capable. Doing a transplant seems like a pain, but tbh it would probably take me 45 minutes. My next video card will be AMD solely in the hope that their new sound tech delivers.

 

[DJINFERNO806]

Actually windows 8 turns off prefetch and superfetch automatically now if you have an ssd. Not sure if you installed 8.1 or 7.

 

[chicolom]

Ya that's how I OC my CPU too. If you leave all the c states and intel speedstep active in bios, it will only use as much CPU power as needed. It will range between 1.6 and 4.2. I find in older games it won't ramp up past stock speeds. Great for cool gaming and less power drain.

 
Ah, good to know.  In that case I will play around with it.
 

   
Prefetch.. turn it off for Windows as your SSD doesn't need it. I forget, but I think it's a drive specific setting so it won't affect your HD. Easy Google for how to do it.
 
Man, eyeing up that case has given me the itch.. thing is I don't really need to upgrade my kit as it's a year old and more than capable. Doing a transplant seems like a pain, but tbh it would probably take me 45 minutes. My next video card will be AMD solely in the hope that their new sound tech delivers.

 
I was tempted to go with an AMD card to get access to any True Audio stuff, but Gat dayum AMD cards were expensive (from all the coin miners)!!  The prices were driven sky high, and they were all selling for well above MSRP.  Maybe next time.
 
I think I already turned prefetch off.  
 

Spoiler: The EVO SSD came with a little program that helps "optimize" some things.

 

[SaLX]

I even think aesthetically (being an arty farty type) that Windows version 8 has finally cracked it. I'll be using the classic mode being an old die hard though. Plus, enough time has elapsed for the majority of problems to be fixed. TBH you'd have to be as mad as a box of spanners to buy any new major Windows release on Day 1.
 
I really like that box chico... but there are other contenders. I like clean lines, something Corsair is good at. Might swing for a Fractal Design http://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/cases/define-series. Same idea: cheap but solid.
 
Oh and nice that Win 8 automatically does that. Think I'll be buying it very very soon.

 

[chicolom]

I did the Asus AI Suite III "Auto-tune > Extreme Tune" and it bumped it up to 4.5 ghz, but it seems like it's not throttling down, as every time I check it it's still at 4.4 - 4.5 ghz, even when the system is idling. 
 
Does that auto method ^ disable the automatic C states, speedsteps, etc?
 
I reset to defaults in the BIOS and it still stays at ~3.8 ghz constantly according to AI suite III.  I swear it was going down to 1.6 ghz, 800 mhz, etc. before, but now it's always at ~3.8ghz. 
 
I guess the voltage is low, and the temps are low, so it may be throttling down still, but why doesn't it show the "800mhz" like before?
 
Weird...

 

 

[SaLX]

Chico.. it by default ought to throttle down: that's it's bread and butter. First off, I'd look for an application that is asking for 100% CPU time, though I doubt that with a new build. I've experienced what you're having before though.. it's always sitting on max overclock...... reinstall the AI suite till you get it right. It's solid software so please don't discount it yet.

 

[chicolom]

I uninstalled and reinstalled AI Suite and reset it in the BIOS a few more times, but I can't get it to go back to showing anything less than the max CPU speed like before.
 
 
 

 

[SaLX]

Just maybe reset the BIOS .. then try using the AI suite, Failing that, there's are a load of tutorials on the intersnatch that than nurse you through it. Don't give up.. it's by no means rocket science.. it's just getting the settings right.
 
Try doing the mediuim OC on AI suite and see how you get on. Also check out Windows power options....??

 

[ethan7000]

Welcome to the club Chico

 

[SaLX]

chico.. presumably you've update all the drivers etc from the Asus site?? Dearly hope you get it all sorted.
 
@Ethan.. grr... yet more show off sexed up pics of amazing rigs... grrrrrr,

 

[chicolom]

 

Welcome to the club Chico

 

Thanks. 

 
Fancy rig you've got there.
 
 
Quote:

  Just maybe reset the BIOS .. then try using the AI suite, Failing that, there's are a load of tutorials on the intersnatch that than nurse you through it. Don't give up.. it's by no means rocket science.. it's just getting the settings right.
 
Try doing the mediuim OC on AI suite and see how you get on. Also check out Windows power options....??

 
I checked all those things.  Even ran an AI Suite cleaner app:
http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?34503-AI-Suite-III-Cleaner
 
Frequency is always maxed out still:

Spoiler: Task Manager Pic

 
 
 

  chico.. presumably you've update all the drivers etc from the Asus site?? Dearly hope you get it all sorted.
 
@Ethan.. grr... yet more show off sexed up pics of amazing rigs... grrrrrr,

 
 
Yeah.  The problem started as soon as I did the auto overclock from AI suite.  Before that it was fine, and I could see it stepping down to 800mhz.  Now it's always at the highest frequency no matter what.
 
I'll just keep messing with it.  I think AI suite is FUBAR now.  There's always reformatting...
 
Sigh.

 

[SaLX]

The AI suite solely tells the hardware what to do with it self at boot, therefore a reformat may not be the best option.. I'd keep farting around and telling the self same BIOS what to do with itself. Don't even bother posting your problem up on the official Asus forums (ghost town).. maybe on OCN or the other popular boards: there are always guys (or girls or whatever) with gigantic brains willing to share their knowledge on all things technical and annoying.
 
Yeah all the default settings everywhere are where you want to be.
 
And yes (edit).. install Core Temp (and it's corresponding widget) - respected monitoring software.

 

[chicolom]

  The AI suite solely tells the hardware what to do with it self at boot, therefore a reformat may not be the best option.. I'd keep farting around and telling the self same BIOS what to do with itself. Don't even bother posting your problem up on the official Asus forums (ghost town).. maybe on OCN or the other popular boards: there are always guys (or girls or whatever) with gigantic brains willing to share their knowledge on all things technical and annoying.
 
Yeah all the default settings everywhere are where you want to be.
 
And yes (edit).. install Core Temp (and it's corresponding widget) - respected monitoring software.

 
Yeah I figured that's what AI suite does.  I did a system restore and it completely hosed AI suite though, and I've tried all the steps to fix it, but it appears to be FUBAR at this point.  So I may need to reformat anyways just fix that.
 
 
Question:  Does your task manager show your CPU stepping its frequency down, or does it always show the max like in my pic above ^?

 

[SaLX]

Task manager.. ie the Windows default task manager won't tell you the current speed of your processor. Install a few of the 3rd party apps like Core temp etc (look on Guru3D website for others) to monitor your CPU multiplier. You have a 'new' board so it may be misreporting what it's doing. It's always consistently worked for me (Z77) but with a few reporting errors here and there.
 
Bizarre that even though installing it still 'exists'. Some registery cleaning may be in order...... maybe a complete reinstall will in fact to the trick. Bloody computers gr........
 
Run as program like Intelburn (I forget all the CPU stress tests .. DJ anybody???). I bet your mobo will kick in an monitor those fans,