Asus Rampage Formula has sticky residue on the back???

[Weeble1976]

I just purchased this board from Newegg and it looked fine at first inspection but when I turned it over there were smudges and scuff marks all over it . Kinda looks like what happens when you handle something that has been sprayed with clear lacquer before it gets a chance to dry but in some places ... it is still sticky... There are also permanent finger prints on the top of some of the topside components from someone touching the underside and then the top.

What is this stuff? Do these MB just have some weird coating on the back???

A lot of people say they have "Made in China" on their boards but mine says "Made in Taiwan". Not pertinent to my case but just a little bit of info.

[Zucker2k]

Is it Open Box?

[cadaveca]

Sounds like someone bought it for some extreme benching, sprayed with with plastic coat, and returned it when they were done.

[ownage]

I have had this stickie coating with various Asus boards, from value to high-end.

[Weeble1976]

It's supposed to be new but it didn't come with a factory seal. Not sure if it is supposed to but it really makes me wonder what's up. I should probably just return it because of the price I paid for it.

I wonder if Newegg takes returns from people and sells them as new if the previous person said they never used it. How could you tell if it didn't have a factory seal in the first place? I always check my stuff for finger prints and scour marks on the back plane. I have received questionable stuff from Newegg before. I have only received a couple items that looked like they have been used before. This may be the third??

I have had this stickie coating with various Asus boards, from value to high-end.

Do you have any idea what it is? Maybe a factory rework?

[Loser777]

I think most boards come like that nowadays... my 750i SLI FTW was like that out of the box, fresh and unopened.

[cadaveca]

Ok boys, but workers @ asus factory wear gloves, so where did teh fingerprints come from?

[philbrown23]

wow another faceplant from new egg man they are getting more and more questionable as time goes by. I have NEVER gotten a board with what you are decribing from asus and I have had bout 20 asus boards new and used.

[3oh6]

the residue is likely flux residue from the wave soldering. i have had varying degrees of residue over the years from motherboard manufacturers. some have come fairly well coated and some clean as a whistle. usually you can see patches because areas are masked off that don't get soldered in the wave, areas that have surface mount components mounted before wave soldering. the board progress like this through manufacturing...a simple explanation

bare board > SMT on both sides (surface mount components) > insertion of connectors, through hole capacitors, etc... > wave solder > hand soldered components

there are a few other steps in there but at any time a board may also receive manual re-work and sometimes residue from that rework can make it out of the factory. to make a long story short, without seeing or feeling the 'sticky stuff' my first guess is flux residue from the wave soldering process. during wave soldering, the board is literally soaked in flux.

[Weeble1976]

I already decided to return the board since it was around $280. Don't want that stuff getting on anything else in my computer. For a board that has all the bells and whistles and they can't wash the flux off the board. Hmmm. I am having it shipped FedEx overnight, although it still won't get here until Monday, at least UPS won't get their hands on it. That's a rant for another day. Thanks for the input.