Rampage IV Gene is coming, Rampage IV Formula already multi-pictured

[Leeghoofd]

Are they the website that never even included a few game tests in previous CPU reviews before BD ? Coz HH could make a particular product look better than it actually was... and even RECOMMEND IT AS VALUE !! Decent conclusion, though the award given and the rating are contradicting the write up !! They claim to have running a BD at +5Ghz at 1.5 Vcore prime stable, have you seen a screenshot of that ? I have one that does 5.2 at 1.45Vcore, ow sorry I lost the screenshot... and CPU...

With them game tests you don't prove much of how good a brand new CPU architecture is as most games don't even support over 4 cores and you need to avoid the GPU bottleneck. GPU drivers/game patches also play a big part in the outcome. Look at them COD MW3 2700K results...

Here's the comment on the MOW3 results : The i7-2700K doesn't even come close to the socket 2011 processor, in fact it finishes a little behind the AMD FX CPU in this test.

Now what I see in COD MW3 : I see the FX pumping out a lot more max FPS (who cares about a fluke) Yet most important min FPS are way below the 2700K (102 vs 64). So conclusion to me is that the FX platform is worse than the 2700K in another more intense maybe online battlefield... And because the 3690X is better in that particular game does that imply then it is a good gaming CPU ? You tell me... most review sites have indicated that for a gaming setup the 1155 has got more than enough potential and is surely close to being as fast, if not faster in gaming CPC, runs cooler is far more watt efficient then SB-E ever will be.

FYI because reviewers include Dirt 3 and co doesn't mean they are necesarrily are using the benchmark tool or timedemos... I use Dirt 3 and F1 2011 too but I just drive a few laps at the same track with fraps monitoring. And even then to be consistent you should do exactly the same handling each time... I had weird FPS monitored by Fraps in BF3, it takes ages to do...

Another thing : HH award the motherboards, but where are the mobo head to head tests (and not the USB2.0 and PCI-E tests pffffffff) ? HH gives a rating according price, gimmicks, features, box art ? According PR/marketing influence ?



Be a happy reader at one of the most overhyped and biased towards awards websites in history dude !! Changing their test suite on the fly... ow man that you even buy it and are a member here since 2004 really surprises me...

[noobzed]

You right Leeghoofd.

[burningrave101]

Be a happy reader at one of the most overhyped and biased towards awards websites in history dude !! Changing their test suite on the fly... ow man that you even buy it and are a member here since 2004 really surprises me...

The reason I referenced Hardware Heaven's results is that they are one of the only ones that reviewed SB-E at launch and actually used recently released game titles like MW3 and Skyrim. In fact I have yet to find a single other review that used those two games even though they're both two of the main reasons for even building a high-end gaming computer this year. A couple included BF3 results but that was about it in terms of recently released titles.

Games like Far Cry 2, Crysis Warhade and Dirt 3 are so GPU limited that they are just not good choices for a CPU review unless you are running a Tri/Quad Sli or Crossfire setup so that the CPU is actually being stressed to keep up with the GPU's. Those types of games just do not tax the CPU like a late game scenario of Civilization 5 where you have to wait a couple of minutes each turn just for all the moves and actions to be calculated or a heavily modded Skyrim or Oblivion where you have dozens of scripts running in the background every time you enter a new cell.

In Anandtech's review you can see the difference in Civizliation V that the 3960x made in the CPU No Render test:



The 3960x was 30% faster than the 2600k

And again we see the same scenario in World of Warcraft:



http://www.anandtech.com/show/5091/i...gh-end-alive/6

Even in heavily GPU limited titles like BF3 you can see the advantage the 3960x has as you continue to add more GPU power:



And again we have World of Warcraft, this time running 3-way SLI:

The same platform-oriented bottlenecks that kept GeForce GTX 580s from stretching any higher in two-way SLI keep a trio of cards from scaling, well, at all, really. WoW just isn’t one of those games that demands more than one really powerful GPU.

It does, however, put the extra performance enabled by Core i7-3960X to good use, as the game shows off a 20 FPS advantage over the next-closest finisher (Core i7-2600K) at all three resolutions.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...e,3071-18.html

So my point was never that SB-E is a better value for gamers over current SB processors but to say that SB-E sucks for gaming over SB is misinformed. SB-E is the enthusiast level platform and for buyers that have the money it will offer the performance because those who are running multi card setups are going to benefit more from the 3930k/3960x processors than those who play only GPU limited titles and use a single current gen graphics card. We may see that change however with the release of the next gen hardware from nVidia and ATI if the performance increase they are spouting is there.

Anyways, isn't the name of this site Xtreme Systems or did they recently change it to Xtreme Value Systems and not tell anyone?

[Leeghoofd]

And now OC them CPUs to eg 4.5Ghz and do the test again...

[burningrave101]

And now OC them CPUs to eg 4.5Ghz and do the test again...

What difference is that going to make clocking them both to 4.5Ghz? The 2600K is already clocked 100Mhz faster than the 3960X and in CPU intensive games like CIV 5 and WoW the 3960X is still going to have the lead. You can't say SB-E isn't faster than SB for gaming just because your using GPU limited scenarios.

[Leeghoofd]

Plz tell me at what speeds all cores loaded run on the Asus boards for the 3690X and the 2600K... then rephrase... I think you have got no idea what happens... hence compare all setups at 4.5Ghz... I think you will be surprised

Plus I never recal to have said that SB-E sucks in games... Take it all into perspective : looking at the price for a complete X79 setup, it does not seem worthwile the upgrade from even a 1366 rig... unless it makes you feel good you can run a game at 120 FPS iso 100... Ever visited a LAN party, how many SLI/Crossfire setups do you see running there ? Most gaming rigs are single cards mate...

sorry for derailing the thread lads...

[burningrave101]

Plz tell me at what speeds all cores loaded run on the Asus boards for the 3690X and the 2600K... then rephrase... I think you have got no idea what happens... hence compare all setups at 4.5Ghz... I think you will be surprised

I'm aware of how Turbo Boost works and how it's implemented on ASUS boards but even with the 3960X running at its peak Turbo core frequency of 3.9Ghz vs the 3.8Ghz of the 2600K that 100Mhz frequency difference isn't going to make up for the large FPS differences shown in the above graphs. It would be like comparing the 2600K to the 2700K and you can see how little of a difference that is:

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1751/11/

Except in the case of the 3960X when you overclock it to 4.5Ghz your getting 6C/12T running at 4.5Ghz vs 4C/8T running at 4.5Ghz on the 2600K.

And if anyone is interested is a more in depth look at how Turbo functions on ASUS boards in relation to C states:

http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=...3&postcount=25

Plus I never recal to have said that SB-E sucks in games... Take it all into perspective : looking at the price for a complete X79 setup, it does not seem worthwile the upgrade from even a 1366 rig... unless it makes you feel good you can run a game at 120 FPS iso 100... Ever visited a LAN party, how many SLI/Crossfire setups do you see running there ? Most gaming rigs are single cards mate...

And I never said that YOU said it, but you entered into the debate which was directly disputing that fact. And again, this is Xtreme Systems, not Xtreme Value Systems so if you want the best value for your money in building a gaming rig go Sandy Bridge and if you want the fastest most Xtreme and have the money to spend go SB-E. It doesn't get any simpler than that. It's no different than deciding whether or not to buy something like the 980x/990x or i7 970 in the past except now you can get a 3930K for about half the cost of the 990x and it will outperform it across the board in every area.

[Mungri]

What difference is that going to make clocking them both to 4.5Ghz? The 2600K is already clocked 100Mhz faster than the 3960X and in CPU intensive games like CIV 5 and WoW the 3960X is still going to have the lead. You can't say SB-E isn't faster than SB for gaming just because your using GPU limited scenarios.

Because overclocking to 4.5 Ghz+ would most likely remove any CPU limitations.

Also I'm not too sure about you, but 124 FPS on a 2500k, vs 162 FPS on the 3960X ... Would you ever notice that difference outside of looking at graphs? Would it be worth the £350 price difference between those two CPUs?

For me it isnt. I see lots of people playing Civ V on a Phenom CPU, and none of these graphs would even convince them to upgrade to an I5 2500k because the game is still playing smoothly for them!

I just ordered a 2500k and MSI GD 65 mobo - The total cost was £300, thats £200 less than just the 3960X alone! I actually decided against the order as well - it was an impulse buy with an offer on the CPU and 20% cash back on MSI mobo promotions, and will simply refuse the delivery and ask the courier to send it back. By the time I actually need a new CPU, everything that is currently available will actually be obsolete.

[Leeghoofd]

I just wanted to point out how HH reviews work mate, looking at MOW3, hopefully you can see my point. Reference what you see in the graph and what they conclude... I feel we are discussing different things

I concluded in my review it's the best all round CPU you can buy, as it runs circles around older technology...Intel redefines high end again... In my gaming tests it was sometimes better, sometimes as fast as the 2600K. Maybe the limited GPU games I use don't reflect the same finding as WoW or co. (FYI I am an overclocker not a die hard gamer) In all the rest ( besides SuperPI & 3D01 for benchers) it excells vs S1155 and 1366.

FYI Asus does the same with X79 mate, all cores run at 3900mhz when loaded, this without manual intervention of the end user... MSI implemented this too ahum feature too now.

I agree with you : Indeed if you have cash to spend this is it ( till now ). It should be faster than S1366 as it's the fuzion of the GT hexacore technology with the SB features. Too bad they don't overclock as smooth under cold as SB (IMC craps out) and the binning is even harder as with SB...

But being realistic for most users/gamers this is far too expensive, you can build a 2500K high end GPU setup with the price of just the CPU, QC ram and mobo... And for those that have 1366 or 1155 setups there's no need to upgrade just for playing games. But darn this thing is fast...

Back to the topic...

[SKYMTL]

Personally, I think 2011 is about the PLATFORM rather than just the processors. Sure, you can roll your eyes at the $550 price of SB-E CPUs but the platform's features are geared towards gamers, power users and benchers (quad channel DDR, native PCI-E 3.0 support out of the gate, native 3-way and 4-way SLI, etc). Sure, for 95% of consumers 1155 is the way to go but for the other 5%, 2011 is the way to go.

As for the Rampage IV Formula, I really think it will be my next motherboard purchase. Sure, it "only" has four DIMM slots but 8GB modules will quickly come down in price if you need such a massive setup and 4x 4GB kits are dirt cheap. Plus, the Extreme is great for overclockers but the majority of its add-on features will likely just collect dust around my neck of the woods.

[TheCarLessDriven]

So when are PCI-E 3.0 video cards actually coming out? Is it the generation coming up, or the next?

[3lfk1ng]

I eagerly await Asus and EVGA's X79 mATX boards. It has been a while, but it is time for me to build a new computer.

[ChinStrap]

Techpowerup reporting on sweclockers: http://www.techpowerup.com/156365/AS...-Detailed.html

[en4cer]

OMG that looks nice

[3lfk1ng]

I have more pictures of the Rampage IV Gene posted here for your viewing pleasure.

[hokiealumnus]

As for the Rampage IV Formula, I really think it will be my next motherboard purchase. Sure, it "only" has four DIMM slots but 8GB modules will quickly come down in price if you need such a massive setup and 4x 4GB kits are dirt cheap. Plus, the Extreme is great for overclockers but the majority of its add-on features will likely just collect dust around my neck of the woods.

I heard a little birdie tell me that SKU wasn't coming to the North American market. Things might have changed in the interim (that conversation was weeks ago), but FWIW, it might not be available over here.

[dctokyo]

I heard a little birdie tell me that SKU wasn't coming to the North American market. Things might have changed in the interim (that conversation was weeks ago), but FWIW, it might not be available over here.

If it comes out here in Japan, I will let you guys know

[dctokyo]

ROG Rampage IV Formula X79 gaming motherboard
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tKjRjOltrU

"Password is 1337, repeat 1337"

[nordicdiver]

Awsome

Thanks !