Live MB OC Report :: ASUS Rampage Extreme

[Holmer]

There is definitely an FSB wall with the RE and quad core processors -- any quad core. I'm experiencing this on my personal rig, as well as seeing it from members on my Asus tech forum running the QX9770 with LN2 (www.asusindependent.com), so it's not a matter of temperature.

Frankly, I think the board is so over automated that even when the auto settings are (supposedly) overridden by manual settings, some are reverting resulting in instability. I can not think of any other explanation why manually setting NB/SB/vcore voltages and FSB consistent with voltages & FSB employed by the board in 'auto' OC mode do not yield stable overclocks above 4.20 GHz.

I've been able to boot into the OS at 4.30GHz using the CellShock Blue RAM, but only using auto settings -- with the exception of manually setting vcore to 1.475v. That voltage is high compared to overclocks on this same processor -- QX9650 -- obtained with the Maximus Extreme up to and beyond 460MHz FSB on water.

Until Asus gets its act together and comes out with a decent BIOS (that ain't 501 and it's not 403 or 401), the Maximus Extreme is hands down the superior motherboard for running quad core processors in competitive benchmarks (hwbot, etc). The RE is great for overclocking dual core processors, but that's where the party ends for now.

This is very disappointing. Is this really the consensus with this board? As far as I recall Eternal Fantasy was able to run FSB 470 stable with a QX9650. Is it a FSB problem or will e.g. 11x400 be fine with a QX9650 (if the CPU can handle it)? I have replaced my QX9650 with one I know can run 4.5 on good water (on a Evolution) and am planing to buy high end water cooling and the Rampage Extreme to be able to run 10x450. My current Evolution maxes in the FSB area around 425 when running memory 1:1. Should I forget about that ambition?

Have anybody tried the Corsair XMS Dominator TW3X4G1800C8DF (2x2GB with Samsung chips) on the RE?