X48 Rampage Formula Preview.

[3lfk1ng]

That was an issue present with the Maximus Formula, I thought that they had fixed it. I don't know how to solve that issue besides trying to use a little bit of thermal paste to increase the contact.

[Ron]

You can avoid those scratches on the NB, SB, and heatsinks by using Artic Silver Cleaner and Pureifier. $5.99

[Edro Davis]

You can avoid those scratches on the NB, SB, and heatsinks by using Artic Silver Cleaner and Pureifier. $5.99

Yeah, well, I wish that I had done that. Next time, goo gone or whatever.

I don't think it is as bad as it looks--I hope not.

Ron, Do you think that I need to use some fine grit sandpaper on glass technique to try to remove the scratches? I'm thinking, as someone else said, that the AS5 will do what it is made to do for me without resorting to that.

Edro

[bigslappy]

thinking i'll get this MoBo & keep my P5E as a work platform with the Q6600 OR should I just throw a QX9770 into the P5E .. gonna get a Qx9770 any way

[Edro Davis]

I checked the list of included parts for the Rampage and it did not include anything to mount the mb in the case. I also checked the lsit of parts that came with the Cooler Master CM-690 case and it only included 12 spacers.

It happens that I have exactly 12 screws that were rescued from a mb that I trashed years ago, but I'm a little confused. It seems that either the case or the mobo parts should include the mounting screws. Or am I screwy?

On another subject, the heatsink cleaned up very nicely and it mounted with AS5 and I can tell that the result is very good and that it will be loads better than the stock solution. I highly recommend doing this for the Rampage Formula BEFORE you start it up. Mine came off quite easily (in spite of my fear about doing it) as compared with the stories I've heard others say about how difficult it was for them after letting it heat up and really stick itself together. And they are undoubtly more experienced than I.

I am almost as excited to see my nb & sb temps as I am to see it post for the first time.

On another aside, you might observe how very slow I am to getting this built. I'm disabled and anything that a healthy person can do in an hour may take me days. So I'm actually moving along quite nicely considering that I can hardly even type! Thanks for listening..

Edro

[palese]

No motherboard I have ever owned included mounting screws for a case, if you did not receive them with the case they simply forgot to pack them.

[Edro Davis]

No motherboard I have ever owned included mounting screws for a case, if you did not receive them with the case they simply forgot to pack them.

Found 'em screwed into the case along where the 5.25" drives would be mounted. There are several series of screws, two sizes on the one side, I can see them on the other side but didn't check what size they were. I even looked through the documentation and missed it.

So I got all I need except strength. That's all for today but I have lots to say about the tuniq tower and how it fits (barely) into the Rampage Formula mobo.

Thanks, palese. Later..

edro

[vulcZ]

I've got my Rampage Formula running at 3.6GHz (q6600) @ 450MHz FSB with some of that G. Skill RAM (8gb's the 4GBPQ stuff) withou any issues.

I'm going to be playing with it this weekend though. I plan on dropping the multiplier from 8 to 7 an trying to go for 500MHz FSB... I'll report back in a few days with my findings :P

[mngdew]

500mhz FSB on Q6600 is very possible. I've seen someone with Q9300 doing 500mhz FSB. 45nm quads are more sensitive to high FSB than 65nm quads.

[slugzkea]

My GX2 won't work with this board. anybody have this issue?

[JohnMike]

My GX2 won't work with this board. anybody have this issue?

Details please....

[slugzkea]

i get the beep code of bad VGA.

a bios update might be needed but i can't find any info on that, there is a beta bios availible at the asus website however, teh bios is 2mb! how the fack do you flash that on a floppy, i need a friggen usb key? this is rediculous.

[vulcZ]

i get the beep code of bad VGA.

a bios update might be needed but i can't find any info on that, there is a beta bios availible at the asus website however, teh bios is 2mb! how the fack do you flash that on a floppy, i need a friggen usb key? this is rediculous.

It could be the video card... Is the video card new, or was it working from another system?

My EVGA 9800GX2 worked like a charm on my Rampage; no BIOS update needed!

[slugzkea]

It could be the video card... Is the video card new, or was it working from another system?

My EVGA 9800GX2 worked like a charm on my Rampage; no BIOS update needed!

The card is 11 days old. it worked in my msi p35 neo2-fr board, but that blew.

then my gigabyte board went wacko.

now it doesn't work in my rampage...i never touched the pci-e voltage, the card at max temp reached 71c which isn't that bad....how the feck could it die? what a low grade product...don't make me go back to ATI!!!

[slugzkea]

ok guys help me out here. xp sp3 doesnt' read the asus dvd.

i isntalled chipset drivers via usb hdd, mouse works via usb, usb hdd works via usb, but my keyboard does not work via usb....

what teh heck is going on. how does asus expect you to install anything?

enlighten me please....

wait nvm got the keyboard working, now if only it would read the dvd.

[safan80]

My GX2 won't work with this board. anybody have this issue?

I heard about this

Details please....

there was a rumor when the gx2 came out that it might not work on X48

try the 174.85 beta drivers


I'll see if I can find it.

here what I found so far
http://lly316.blogspot.com/2008/03/g...0-x2_5855.html

On Gigabyte X48, the R680 had no problem running through all tests. But the 9800 GX2 could only pass 3DMark06 on the very same board. Running any other games would results in errors, or worse, BSoD. Since we know from the previous test that SLI needs to be enabled for maximum performance, yet Intel chipset based boards do not support SLI, we might be looking at a compatibility issue here.

http://en.expreview.com/2008/03/13/g...d-still-buggy/

2. The card didn’t work on X48 mainboard. Yes they can use it on the board but if 3D application starts users will only see a crash notice.

[slugzkea]

i don't mean to go off topic but i have a WD passport drive via USB, how do i make that bootable?

Scratch that, i found a way to flash the bios using the EZ flash utility.

Well, i'm hoping this will get my GX2 running again because if this card did actually die after 11 days of operation, that's going to put a lot of 2nd thoughts in my head for using nvidia...

Anybody else having x48 and gx2 compatibility issues?

[slugzkea]

updated to beta bios 0207, gx2 still won't work.

The forceware isn't the problem i can't even get post. Tomorrow i'm going to take the card back.

I've also heard that switching DIMM's would help, anybody got any info on that? i don't see how that could interfere with the PCI-E.

if somebody is using a rampage, and a gx2, please tell me what bios verison you're using.

[slugzkea]

!bump

[JohnMike]

updated to beta bios 0207, gx2 still won't work.

The forceware isn't the problem i can't even get post. Tomorrow i'm going to take the card back.

I've also heard that switching DIMM's would help, anybody got any info on that? i don't see how that could interfere with the PCI-E.

if somebody is using a rampage, and a gx2, please tell me what bios verison you're using.

Did you plug your screen on the second DVI I/O of the GX2?!... Not the card that connects with your board... Try it... I bet it works!

[slugzkea]

I did try that, still no go.

As i said, the motherboard gave me the bad VGA beeping code, which means the pci-e slot cannot read the card, or it thinks the card is absent.

I just returned it, and i got my 2nd one. i shall install it and let u guys know how it goes!

[slugzkea]

Confirmed. the first Gx2 was defective. got the 2nd one in and everything's good!

[3lfk1ng]

Good to hear.

[3oh6]

You can avoid those scratches on the NB, SB, and heatsinks by using Artic Silver Cleaner and Pureifier. $5.99

the AS cleaner doesn't do jack to the rubber...erm, paste that Asus is using these days. what you need is acetone. takes that crap right off. then use the arctic silver two step before re-application

[Edro Davis]

the AS cleaner doesn't do jack to the rubber...erm, paste that Asus is using these days. what you need is acetone. takes that crap right off. then use the arctic silver two step before re-application

Thanks. I knew that stuff wasn't your everyday stuff..

I make notes into a digital voice recorder (but they are sporadic) as I'm building as to my experience, and I hope to write a longer blog somewhere for any who follow.

For instance, I got the Tuniq Tower 120 based on "old news" as to how great it is. Great is a word for it! Re-reading some of the Newegg reviews I'm amazed how many people reported its size and potential problems. I didn't hear it b4 I made the purchase. It is in, but I'm not happy for several reasons, the main one being how large the actual plate is that sits against the processor. I didn't notice until after I had it installed that it crammed against the silver/red caps next to the processor and looks as if it could have damaged them, ripping them out of the PC board as I tightened the screws. I have not read about this problem anywhere else in my research. I would not recommend the Tuniq for that reason alone, not to mention again how huge the entire unit is making it difficult to connect any wires to the mainboard after it is installed into the case. (Okay, so I did mention another complaint.)

All my cards are installed: The audio that came with it into the black, special, reversed connector pci-x1 slot. (Did you all know it is reversed? I didn't see that in the manual... You can't use the audio card on any other than an ASUS board. How stupid!)

Also: hardware raid areca arc-1220, evga 8600gt (i know, i know. It was popular April 2007, remember), Tunix fax speed controller, Hauppauge HVR 1800 tuner (both NTSC and ATSC), uh, I think that's all I got in there..

I've been thinking about bringing the LCD poster out to the front and maybe hot gluing it on to an empty 5.25 inch bay. Is the poster something that is used at all after you complete your OC efforts? Does it, say, give any post mortem if something fails on the MB after it has completed post and bootup? (For instance if the processor overheats (no way!) and the board shuts down, would you see that?) ...Not too lazy.. I looked at the appendix in the manual. It appears to post whatever step it is on during, uh, post-up, the last being "boot attempt" prolly. No point in putting LCD on front panel, eh. Sorry to answer my own question here but all this will go into the extensive blog I want to write so others can read, "no point in putting LCD on front panel." Not that I really know anything at all, just one man's viewpoint..

Well, fingers are killing me.. I just woke up and wanted to debrief the day's build events a little.

Who knows? Maybe tomorrow I'll post for the first time!! Thanks for listening.

Edro