Hero Alpha build complete. Have some questions/Issues.

[SinisterDev85]

Well, as the title states, I've completed my Alpha build! Much new ground to cover with this build, so i have some questions and Im also experiencing some issues.

Ok, build consists of the Hero Alpha mobo, I5 6600k, 16 gb Trident Z 3400mhz kit, and the Samsung 950 Pro 512gb. Also, upon recommendation by some members of the forum, Im giving Windows 10 Pro x64 a try.

First off, are there any good overclocking guides for this Mobo out yet? How much do the UEFI options differ from the Hero viii? There are many new features and options that differ from my older Hero vi z87 build. I've spent so much time trying to get everything working correctly in Win 10 , that i haven't been able to invest as much in the UEFI yet.

Much to my surprise, once i installed the drivers and such from the disc, and did some updates in windows i was able to get the Trident Z running at their rated speed via XMP profile ,and the cpu @ 4.2ghz for now with the auto tuning. Its been stable, so i haven't tweaked anything manually.

There have been some odd issues that im trying to figure out. For some reason my keyboard and mouse randomly stay lit after shutting down the PC. Not always, but maybe 50% of the time. Not sure what's causing that. Im assuming it's something in the UEFI.
The read/write speeds have been INSANE with the Samsung 950, however i have noticed some sluggishness with programs launching and after closing big programs. Things aren't as snappy as my Hero Vi with the 4790k. But Ive had more time to fine tune that build. Ive tested a few games and theyre performing well thus far.

When i start up the pc, the ROG logo and "press del or f1" msg comes up as usual, but then it disappears , reappears again a couple seconds later, then disappears, then a ROG logo with a loading circle appears , then i arrive at the windows login screen. Seems to take longer to boot than my older pc.

Between this new z170 platform, NVME , and Windows 10, its proving difficult to track down which is the culprit for each issue im experiencing. I figured maybe someone more familiar with these could provide me with some insight and point me in the right direction where to start.

I didn't have any troubles getting this board to read the NVME ssd, installing Win10 via usb, or getting the ram to run at their rated speeds. I haven't experienced most of the issues that Ive seen others mention during this transition, however Im definitely experiencing some issues lol.

[SinisterDev85]

oh also, should I update to the newest bios version? Im on version 0205 from Oct. Are there any updates from ASUS that i should immediately install that weren't included on the install disc? EZ update says that nothing needs to be updated, however i did notice that some of the driver versions on the ASUS site were newer than what i currently have installed.

[brkkab123]

First problem: You installed the drivers from the mobo's cd/dvd. Download them from Asus as they'be newer. Also check for updates to the mobo's software & uefi.
Second Problem: Windows since Windows 8 and still in Windows 10 doesn't shut down if you just click on shut down, it hibernates. Click on restart and at the login screen click on the power icon at the lower right side and click on shut down. Then the mouse & keyboard lights should be off, as the pc will be off now.
Problem three: Run Windows Update until none are found. Then open up Windows Store click where it shows your login picture and click on Downloads and Updates.
PC should now operate more smoothly.

[SinisterDev85]

Ah, the lighting staying on makes sense now. I didn't know about the powering down thing because I skipped Win8 and moved from 7 to 10. So the problem wasn't that my keyboard and mouse were staying lit while the power was off, but rather my pc wasn't actually off, and was not coming out of hibernation properly lol?
Nothing would happen when id press keys on my mouse/kb. They'd just stay lit. Seems to be ok now. Why would Microsoft do such a thing? Seems silly.

[SinisterDev85]

Oh btw, I started getting into Realbench recently. Holy crap your rig has some crazy high scores Menthol!

[brkkab123]

Also, if you're using water-cooling for your cpu, run the 5-way optimization in AI Suite 3. I've got a Hero VIII mobo and a Intel Core i5 6600K cpu. I'm still getting more parts for my build.
From everything I've reas the 6600K can overclock to 4.6/4.7 GHz.

[Oxmo81]

Update bios to 1302. After updating bios. Do the optimized deafult setting in Bios befor changing settings. If this do not help, remove 24 and 8 pin power connectors, and the motherboard battery for 10-15 sec. Always do the Optimazed defult in bios after bios update and if you have to remove motherboard battery.

This helped me when my USB keybord did not work, and when the fans wuld not shut down. Hope it can help You 🙂

[Menthol]

The guides here https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?73856-The-ASUS-Z170-Thread apply to all ASUS Skylake boards, read these then ask more specific questions
Newer boards with DDR4 take longer to boot than previous generations, mostly due to the memory training during post
Some USB ports are powered even when the PC is turned off to charge cell phones and such, there may be a bios option to turn this off
There are many OS optimization guides for SSD's they still apply to Nvme drives and may make your system more responsive with the added benefit of longer life for your drive by eliminating some reads and writes to your drive
http://www.thessdreview.com/ssd-guides/optimization-guides/the-ssd-optimization-guide-ultimate-windo...

[Menthol]

The guides here https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?73856-The-ASUS-Z170-Thread apply to all ASUS Skylake boards, read these then ask more specific questions
Newer boards with DDR4 take longer to boot than previous generations, mostly due to the memory training during post
Some USB ports are powered even when the PC is turned off to charge cell phones and such, there may be a bios option to turn this off
There are many OS optimization guides for SSD's they still apply to Nvme drives and may make your system more responsive with the added benefit of longer life for your drive by eliminating some reads and writes to your drive
http://www.thessdreview.com/ssd-guides/optimization-guides/the-ssd-optimization-guide-ultimate-windo...

[SinisterDev85]

Thanks again for the info. Im curious, back when i got my hero vi, i found an extremely informative guide on here that went over every single bios feature, plus recommendations on what to enable, disable, and range of adjustments. It really helped me fine tune my z87. Is there anything like that on here for the z170 Hero? I followed the auto tuning guide in the link Menthol provided, but i ran into some instability afterwards and i really wanna tweak the bios further manually. There are so many more options that differ from my Hero VI. Im just not familiar enough with them yet. I managed to get it more stable, but I'd still like to find a good manual OC guide.