Live MB OC Report :: ASUS Rampage Extreme

[cool_case]

@cool_case, I see on your sig you had a Maximus Extreme, does it have a temp sensor on the NB?

Maxxx - yes there was a temp sensor on the Max Extr NB. I ran it on LN2, so it was always under 30 even at 1.7v+. A buddy of mine, Jason, reports his Max Extr NB temps in the 50 - 60 range, on water - with NB voltage topping out at 1.73v.

[NiscoRacing]

@rob2k

Did you hit FSB 500 whit that QX9770 off yours? and are those new mem's doing well ?

[MnM]

Guys,

I have question - do any of you run a PCI-E raid card on this board?
Asking as I have an Adaptec plugged in. When the ICH9R is configured in bios as raid (as I have other hdds plugged in to the Intel raid controller) there is some very strange behaviour.
Firstly the ICH9R biuos screen is disabled completly.
Second all the drives plugged in the ICH9R are not visible anymore.
Adaptec raid works fine BUT whwn trying to install Vista it will not see the raid group I have created.
The only way to ge it to work is to make ICH9R in bios as IDE. Then Vista will see the raid group on Adaptec.

I have verified that ICH9R by itself work fine and also the Adaptec by itself (ICH9R bisabled in bios) works fine.

If you run a PCI-E raid card do you have the same issue?

[ante_ante]

Just flashed the board to 0403 bios. When i´m trying to overclock either it wont start or it get suck at iniatilizing usb. Have tried 500x8 and 600x7 and memory at 1600 and 1800. Is there any special thing i have to change. Or is it dividerproblem ? Please give me sugestions how i may achieve theese clocks

System:

Rampage Extreme ( 0403 )
E8600
G.skill PC12800 HZ 2GB

[maxxx]

@MnM: err, stupid suggestion since I know you may have done it already, have you loaded the raid drivers for the Adaptec card during the Vista install? The part where in your supposed to select the partition.

@Turbodream: that's strange. I am also using 0403 with no boot problems. Though, I have never gotten to those speeds yet.

Been battling with the NB temp all day. I decided to run on an ambient room temp of about 31c to 33c. NB temp reads 41c idle from the LCD poster and 47c on a full load using OCCT ram test. Putting it back to an airconditioned room with about 21c to 23c room temp, NB temp drops to 35c on idle and 42c on load. I am still hesitating in pumping 1.5v on it.

[ante_ante]

Is 0403 the latest bios? I´m running water on NB and have around 39c idle. How high can i go on PLL and NB ?

[maxxx]

So far, 0403 is the latest BIOS. Some say its safe to go up to 70c on the NB. After that, things become unstable. Am not sure about the PLL though, I try to stay as low as possible on that.

[MnM]

Just flashed the board to 0403 bios. When i´m trying to overclock either it wont start or it get suck at iniatilizing usb. Have tried 500x8 and 600x7 and memory at 1600 and 1800. Is there any special thing i have to change. Or is it dividerproblem ? Please give me sugestions how i may achieve theese clocks

System:

Rampage Extreme ( 0403 )
E8600
G.skill PC12800 HZ 2GB

Ths is happening to me as well. I have the USB/DVI KVM switch and when I use the mouse and keyboard through that it never goes past "intialising USB".
Keyboard + mouse plugged directly into the motherboard is fine.

maxx: when I have ICH9R as raid + adaptec adding ICons in Vista is fine except Vista will not see my raid on Adaptec.

This problem is a bios one. It seems that both ICH9R and Adaptec uses the same memory space for their respective bioses. I just whish that Asus/Adaptec will implemet the fix sooner rather than later.

[rob2k]

Wow !! - away 1 day and the posts go crazy good to see this board becoming more popular.

Well I have my heat pipe assy off the mobo and what I thought was 7g of Arctic Silver 5 is actually AS thermal adhesive part B which I have been sent by mistake . Need to order AS5 and new thermal pads for delivery Tuesday so been grouting the bathroom instead.

@EF - lovely build mate, must have large M/B stand offs to fit passive H/S to underside of M/B hence my question about case.

@3oh6 - good to see you back, are those long days regular for you ?.

@Maxxx - any pics of what you did with plastic washers when putting the heat pipe asembly back on the board ?.

@MikeMK- how are you getting on with the PI sticks ?.

@NiscoRacing - still nowhere near 500, not even 450, pulled the board apart to apply AS to NB and SB.

Looks like anyone thinking of buying this board NEEDS to apply a better quality thermal paste than what Asus has used which is holding this board back badly.

Thinking of using the thermal sensors on CPU, NB & SB when I put mine back together.

Is HyperPi on all 4 cores too much of a stability test ?, I mean in what real life app or game will load the computer up as heavily ?. Would be good for us all to use the same monitoring and stability testing S/W so that all our results are comparable .........

[maxxx]

@rob2k: sorry but I wasn't able to take pictures. The washers are just made from a used pre-paid phone card which I cut into small pieces and put holes in the middle. Wish I could find better washers but it had to do.

I've been using Asus PC Probe II, CoreTemp and Everest to monitor temps and voltages, plus the LCD poster as suggested by EF. I just wish you can make the LCD poster cycle though all those stuff.

[rob2k]

Hi Maxx, that sounds like a painstaking job making 12 of those, you must have a lot of patience !!!. I guess they are used on the underside of the board to increase the pressure of the springs and to stop the screws from bottoming out hence increasing heatsink contact pressure ?. Hmmmmm .......

Cheers for posting your test S/W. I have the same but need to get CoreTemp.

[maxxx]

@rob2k: wasn't that difficult and I made 24 of those (2 for each screw). A soldering pen did the job for the holes.
Yes, they are in the underside of the board. I decided to put them when I pressed on top of the stock sink on the NB. I felt it kinda pressed down so I was thinking the screws needed more tightening.

[3oh6]

@3oh6 - good to see you back, are those long days regular for you ?

only when we try to get new contracts and this one happens to have a lot of specialized hand soldering required that we are shooting for and being one of only a handful of folks that can do that kind of work...i could pretty much work 24 hours a day last week. so no, not really regular, but not un-common in spurts.

Is HyperPi on all 4 cores too much of a stability test ?, I mean in what real life app or game will load the computer up as heavily ?. Would be good for us all to use the same monitoring and stability testing S/W so that all our results are comparable .........

well, stability testing is a touchy subject but one thing to keep in mind is that a system is only as stable as you have tested it. if you're just testing with quad 32M SPi (dual 32M in C2D cases like me), then it is just that...only quad 32M SPi stable. if it is Prime Blend stable for a few hours, then it is just that...Prime Blend stable for a few hours. each program can and will stress different components at different times so for full stability, you need a combination of everything. multiple instances of SPi, Prime (I like Blend for its work on memory), 3D (games and benchmarks), HCI Memtest, OCCT, etc...they can all find a weakness in an overclock.

as an example for full stability testing in my reviews which are targeted at mainstream users i tend to go with 2 hours of Prime Blend, 2 hours of OCCT, dual 32M SPi using Hyper Pi, 30 mins of 3DMark 01 looped, 3 loops of 3DMark Vantage, and 2 hours of HCI Memtest for FSB and overall stability testing. for memory clocks, i do the same but drop the OCCT as it never finds memory issues in my experience. it is a compromise of time which is always a battle for a review, and actual stability...but a good one i have found.

for most anything i post in forums, dual 32M SPi is a good compromise of time and stability as it only takes 10~15 minutes to run and displays a 'usable' level of stability. dual 32M stable is usually 10~20MHz off the full stability testing above for memory, and most of the times fully 3D/Prime Blend stable for FSB clocking, or at least in the same ball park in my experiences. keep in mind, everyone has different levels of stability needs...sometimes you want to see 'decent' or 'full' stability testing which i would classify as dual 32M SPi or the whole slew of tests i outlined. some users here just want to see a single pass of 3DMark 01. you have a lot of guys here who can't wrap their head around the fact that a lot of us, when benching, just want to see bench stable...whether it be 1M SPi or 3Dmark 01, it is all some of us need in certain situations AKA benching.

as for temp/voltage monitoring, Everest and PC Probe II should be polling from the same sensors that show in the BIOS so aside from a bit of lag, should also be the same from the LCD Poster as i would imagine they are polling directly from the BIOS. i have shown all my screenshots with PC Probe II and the voltages/temps it displays are all bang on with the BIOS (aside from CPU when it goes wonky but that is what Real Temp is for). voltages are also pretty darn close...a couple hundredths off here or there from a calibrated DMM for vCORE, vDIMM, vMCH from the chokes and the DIMM slots. so needless to say, close enough to know what i set in the BIOS. as for Core Temp vs Real Temp...they use different tJunctions so they are 10C different, with Core Temp reading 10C higher. believe which ever one you want, to me, with my ambients...Real Temp seems more realistic under load

man, that turned out much longer than planned, but at least now you guys know how i feel about stability testing and monitoring software

[ante_ante]

Should i put memorys in the blue or white slots, is there any difference ??

[3oh6]

white slots are designed for higher clocks, like most every motherboard these days.

[rob2k]

Thanks 3oh6 for taking time to answer in such a concise way - you know your stuff

I now know what to shoot for when my rig is back in one piece and not thrown around the back bedroom. Short tests to gain confidence in CPU, FSB and MEM speeds and then prime, vantage, etc to prove long term system stability.

[MikeMK]

@MikeMK- how are you getting on with the PI sticks ?.

Well, they are here and they work - beyond that i havnt pushed them at all. They are in my SIIE atm, and I prob wont push them until my RE gets back here (should be tues all being well!)

[3oh6]

Thanks 3oh6 for taking time to answer in such a concise way - you know your stuff

I now know what to shoot for when my rig is back in one piece and not thrown around the back bedroom. Short tests to gain confidence in CPU, FSB and MEM speeds and then prime, vantage, etc to prove long term system stability.

thanks, and no problem, you are bang on with your methodology. start low and work your way up with incremental bumps. only touching voltages as you go one at a time so you get a feel for what does what.

using dual 32M as a stability test as you go then when you hit limits, work your way slightly down with Prime, OCCT, etc...for full stability testing. that's how i do it and it works well and goes relatively quickly once you get a feel for the setup.

[REVHEAD]

Well guys they said I could send my board back so off it will go tomorrow, hope by next week sometime I should be in action again with the Rampage.

[ante_ante]

Move my memorys to the white slots. And when i dont have any USB connected i get past the intializing usb thing. But hey i need keyboard and mouse Don´t get it

[MusicIsMyLife]

Last weekend we (team BenchBrothers) tested ASUS Rampage Extreme. Unfortunately we got weired vcore-issues.

Vcore higher than 1.6 gave about 0.1 volt less. Highest possible vcore was 1.70000 which resulted in about 1.59 volt real. If we set 1.70625 vcore dropped to only 1.1 volt real . If we set higher, vcore went up but never higher than 1.59 real - even at 2.4 volt set in bios we never had more than 1.59 volt real - no matter if we set in bios or if we used TweakIT.

Does somebody have the same issues?

[eternal_fantasy]

So far, 0403 is the latest BIOS. Some say its safe to go up to 70c on the NB. After that, things become unstable. Am not sure about the PLL though, I try to stay as low as possible on that.

As you go up in FSB/RAM frequency, Northbridge becomes more sensitive to temperature increase. At default 333Mhz FSB, the NB can go up to around 70ish degrees without compremising system stability. But with a higher FSB speed, it will become unstable, and maybe not even able to boot. Thats why reducing the NB temperature absolutely helps with FSB overclocking. In my experience of X38 and X48 chipsets as long as the NB temp is under 47 degrees under load the temperature will not limit your FSB overclock. Any higher the overclocking margin will start to reduce.

@EF - lovely build mate, must have large M/B stand offs to fit passive H/S to underside of M/B hence my question about case.
Looks like anyone thinking of buying this board NEEDS to apply a better quality thermal paste than what Asus has used which is holding this board back badly.

Thanks mate. I used the low profile Enzotech ramsinks so it does not touch the motherboard plate. It's actually low enough that all of my motherboard standoffs clear the height.

I'm just waiting for a BIOS update now to get it to work with my other set of ram, and in the mean time enjoying some game time with it.

[CCC]

I tested a RE

The stock heatpipe unit was like TM's no contact at all and could not bend it to make it fit so went to aftermarket cooling 'no big deal'

Problem is when cooling the chipset with cool water below 24c temp via bios reading any voltage over 1.401v including auto and the board will not post

Once I turn off the water and chipset goes over 25c it will post with nb voltage on auto to 1.7v+ no problem and once I post and set voltage/fsb and then turn water pump and get chipset to even 10c with ice water inside windows Im fine untill i have to reboot which then results in a no post

A very weird issue which made me stick with air for now and I dont even use a fan for the thermalright nb cooler as when I bench test in the AM when ac is on and house is cool, as even then the nb can be below 24c and I can't post at over 580mhz fsb,

vcore tho is fine as is all other aspects of the board just a weird x48 issue which Ive seen happen on a p5e64 evo board so I guess this happens to some.

[T_M]

Hmmm wonder if thats why i was having problems with teh CPU on LN2.

[cool_case]

vcore tho is fine as is all other aspects of the board just a weird x48 issue which Ive seen happen on a p5e64 evo board so I guess this happens to some.

Hey CCC -

How far up have you been able to get the vcore?