Do you use\trust Asus AI Suite 3?

[gijoe50000]

Feel free to skip the story if you just want to answer the question..

 

I had a no POST issue on my old Gigabyte z97x board, and 4790k, for about 2 years, it kept getting worse and worse until it wouldn't POST at all, maybe once every 60 times it would POST, but once it POST'ed everything was fine. I switched back to my old FX8350 for a while.

So eventually I picked up an ASUS z97 Deluxe on eBay with a 55 error, for €25, to confirm it wasn't the cpu.. cpu's never die, right?

 

I had a sneaking suspicion that the 55 was not a permanent fault, just somebody using faulty memory, corroded contacts, or tightening the mobo screws too much, and so they rma'd. Anyway, it turns out the board is perfect, I initially got one or two 55's, but after reinserting the memory a few times and some general wiggling it was perfect. and new, all the wrapping on the NFC, Wireless charger etc.. Score!  But it had the same problem as with the Gigabyte board,  No-POST. 

 

Thought I was done for, as the cpu was a few years old,  but I decided to check my cpu purchase date and warranty anyway for the hell of it, and I had a week left of the 3 year warranty, phew!

So I rma'd the 4790k, after passing the first level Intel boss who claimed my warranty was invalid, (That was easy, just an indignant reply about how I expected more from such a large company as Intel.)

Got the spanking new 4790k within 4-5 days and I got the ASUS up and running, no problem.. Well chuffed! (I know it's old now, but it's a hell of a lot better than the FX8350.)

 

So, on to my question:

Does anybody use the ASUS AI Suite?

For power management?

Overclocking?

Fan Control?

Anything else?

 

I've never really trusted motherboard manufacturer software.. maybe just because Gigabytes stuff looks horrible, rushed, and always crashes and glitches..

 

The ASUS Suite seems OK, but I'm still reluctant to overclock using it. I do prefer using the bios as I feel like it's more "permanent". Desktop software can crash, not load, uses additional resources etc.

 

But, I'm open to listening to what others think. I mean, maybe desktop overclocking is handy because you can adjust on the fly, test it quicker, and turn it on only when needed?

 

What do YOU think?

[desertcomputer]

I only used Ai Suite to control fan but I found it easier to just set fan speed via bios and set and forget. This is same with overclock.

[Dabombinable]

For controlling the fans the Ai Suite is fine. For anything else though its kind of useless.

 

I don't use it anymore though as my Z97 Sabertooth MKII only has half of both memory channels working (and had its onboard audio died 2 weeks after recieving it), and my H87M Pro appears to work perfectly and be undamaged....but after around an hour or so shuts off and needs to be left for several hours or it refuses to post (no over heating, or shorting out-odd).

[Kc7vwc]

6 hours ago, gijoe50000 said:

 

As a personal rule, I don't use any software to control CPU/RAM/Mobo functions. If I need something done, I only use the BIOS for that. Probably doesn't matter, but IMO anything that's tinkering with the hardware controlling everything shouldn't be susceptible to Window's temper tantrums.  
I have used Evga, Asus & MSI's own software for GPU control & haven't had any issues with any of those. 

[gijoe50000]

So I have given AI Suite a go for the last week or two. I thought I'd give it the benefit of the doubt.

 

I ran the auto overclock, or 5 way optimisation or whatever it's called. It ended up at 4.5Ghz @1.312V. It didn't even crash and reboot once, it's like it just set some random oc, gave it a bunch of voltage, and restarted. lol. I immediately set the voltage back down to 1.22v and all was well again.

 

Stupid thing keeps setting my core voltages up to about 1.264, and 1.248, though, even though I manually set the core voltage 1.22v. It also displays the cpu cache voltage as 1.22v, even though it's set to 1.05v, just above it. Maybe it's some setting like LLC, or some "turbo" setting that I'm unaware of. I think I'll just get rid of it and do everything in the bios.

 

I do like the idea that it actually sets your settings in the bios too though. That should, in theory, help speed up your overclocking as you don't have to be going in and out of the bios all the time. But I'm still sceptical.

 

Like most here, I usually like to set my settings in the bios. Then I know they're "set in stone", and that some other stupid program isn't going to be doing whatever it wants.

 

 

 

 

[Salacious B Crum]

Get rid of that crap completely from your rig and use the bios that software is wonky at best and even after going into the bios it seems to maintain settings that you've made and conflicts with the system causing instability