Quote Originally Posted by Holmer View Post
# Mezzro thanks, now you have a chance to read the full uncut story (I still haven't figured out the multi quote system - sorry ;-)
# Captain Zero, very cool build
Holmer, thanks for the links. As I said to Eternal, IMHO, both of you contribute to the Forum, and I'm genuinely sorry to see that there was some misunderstanding along the way.

I'm starting to feel more like Henry Kissinger here and less like an overclocker. So, without further ado, here is my Rampage Extreme/QX9650/E8600 build log: Trials and Tribulations with the Rampage Extreme and Quad Core; Less Tribulation with the E8600

Summation: Based on my personal experience, that of a few friends that are experienced builders, and mixed reports on this excellent, XtremeSys thread, I cannot recommend the Rampage Extreme for use with quad core processors -- yet. Hopefully this situation will change with subsequent BIOS releases, and my opinion along with it. As it stands, it's a diamond in the rough . . . with one or two inclusions.

As a rule, I love Asus products and do my best to get them to perform to spec. If these issues were limited to my personal experience, I would state that. They aren't. And I'm in good company.

This forum has been a tremendous resource to me in the past, so I feel I owe it to fellow quad core owners contemplating purchase of a Rampage Extreme a heads up that it ain't all a bed of roses in this instance. Go into the purchase fully aware that, through the luck of the draw, you may end up with a board that plays nice with quads, like Eternal's, or you may end up with a board that goes all Mahatma Gandhi on your ass and stages a virtual 'sit down protest,' powering down abruptly when anything other than auto settings are used at overclocks above 4.20GHz (again, where a quad core is involved).

No one likes to hear bad news. Particularly after they're just dropped $400 on a motherboard and $1,400 on a CPU. There are so many times that I could have saved big bucks had a few early adopters stepped forward and presented the "other side of the story." That's all I'm attempting to do here -- spare others some lost cash and grief. That's not to say the Rampage Extreme is a dog. Far from it -- I think it's a stallion paired with some dual cores, but even then it's hit and miss as Cool_Case can attest to.

Not sure if he's posted it yet, but Cool_Case experienced the same board shutdowns and overall poor OC performance with the QX9770 as I did with the QX9650. And he fared no better with his E8600 . . . using LN2. Cool_Case is not only an experienced overclocker, but also a mathematics professor that oversees a college science department, so brings talent, credentials and experience to the table. And brevity. Something I'm working on. LOL