Live MB OC Report :: ASUS Rampage Extreme

[ante_ante]

Do u think i can gain some better temps if i mount my EK s-max block directly on the NB instead of ontop of the passive cooling thing ?

[Zeus]

Do you have it on top of the heatpipe construction now?

If so, do you have a pic?

I'm sure temps will be a lot better if you mount it straight on the NB.

[tomati]

Tomati, I would be very careful with that backplate. The Fujistu chip sticks out there a good bit. If you're certain there is clearance, go for it, but as you ratchet down heatsink to backplate to provide better contact, that's where you run your risk, IMHO. Most people that have used an enclosed backplate with the RE have modified it in some way. Just don't want to see you with a board that you can't RMA.

Thanks man,

I also have the TRUE backplate that I can modify if it doesn't work safety with the IFX-10 one.

Doesn't the fujitsu chips need some cooling as the one near the NB ?

I thought it was a good idea to cool it down.

[Mezzro]

# 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

[Mezzro]

Do u think i can gain some better temps if i mount my EK s-max block directly on the NB instead of ontop of the passive cooling thing ?

Yes!

[Mezzro]

Thanks man,
Doesn't the fujitsu chips need some cooling as the one near the NB ?
I thought it was a good idea to cool it down.

My personal opinion: no. Not if you have adequate air circulation in your case.

[Captain Zero]

So I'm about to Dremel my backplate to make room for the fat Fujitsu and I can't seem to get any good views for ideas from people who have done it. I'm using the Apogee block and the backplate issue is holding up my build.

[eternal_fantasy]

Apperently the 16 phase power regulation is not the best suited for quads... so says a pretty well known overclocker Openpagebook when asked what is the best mobtherboard for a Xeon 3350;

http://www.ocxtreme.org/forumenus/sh...56&postcount=4

"wrong
, quadcore +16 phase=bad match..."



Your mileage may vary?

[ThugsRook]

So I'm about to Dremel my backplate to make room for the fat Fujitsu and I can't seem to get any good views for ideas from people who have done it. I'm using the Apogee block and the backplate issue is holding up my build.

[3oh6]

3oh6, My condolences on your magical board, i hope you'll get a good one in return.

Are you sure it ain't moisture from condensation?

definitely not condensation, never saw a drop of water at any point during benching and after pulling the insulation, i have no signs of there ever being water. usually you find some small amounts of a bluish corrosion on some components if there is/was water. i did a thorough inspection of the whole socket area, front and back, and not a single sign of moisture. i was checking for that and perhaps a blown MOSFET or something in hopes that is all that the issue was but no luck.

now...the good news. i have the RE back from CPU INIT!!

basically, i was cleaning the vaseline out of the socket and putting the heat pipe assembly back to the stock setup getting ready for the RMA and when i had the socket cleaned right up, i thought, what the heck...try one last time and make sure the board is still doing the same thing.

saving a loooooong boring story of some of the weirdest behavior i have ever seen a motherboard do, i finally was able to POST, go into the BIOS, then save&exit without getting some funky error or CMOS ERROR on the LCD Poster. i am now idling in the BIOS with defaults loaded, and both BIOS1 and BIOS2 with a functioning BIOS. needless to say, i am a bit hesitant to get too excited but i am quite happy to see something on the LCD Poster other than CPU INIT!

now, to swap the heat pipe assembly for the nylon washered setup again and see if the board still wants to play like it did before its little break

PS...good to see this thread back on track and the parties involved worked out the little stability testing discussion. well done chaps, all those involved showed they can accept someone else's views and opinions without any outside moderation. if only the rest of the discussions here could do that. let's just not go back there again

[tekjunkie]

Hey tekjunkie, saw your post in the general hardware section, debating whether to go for the 790i FTW of the RE. Hopefully you'll enjoy your stay and have no regrets on your decision.
Being owner of the pretty good EVGA 790i Ultra and the diabolical Striker II Extreme, I'm thrilled to have switched to the Rampage Extreme. So thrilled infact I brought one extra, fully modded, placed on a book shelf as a geeky room decoration and emergency backup!!

Also I'd love to know how you get on with your Core SSDs via the very nice Areca controller.

keep us updated with your progress.

Yep was debating very hard between the RE and the 790i FTW and decided to go with the RE. I didn't want to get stuck with all NV stuff so decided to go with Intel/Ati combo. This will give me a lot of options going forward as I already have my S2E.Two different platforms means a lot of upgrade options GFX card wise until I go Westemere in 2010.

@3oh6, I read your write up on the canuks and gr8 job. Do you think if I cut up the silicone gourmets that are used to mount the HDDs, it could be used as washer to mount the NB heatsink??

[Mezzro]

RE 3oh6's saga: this is some of the behavior I've chronicled and commented upon here and elsewhere -- inconsistent and erratic behavior from the board, regardless of BIOS revision used. I actually got a CPU INIT message and failure to boot simply having the monitor plugged into the "wrong" 4870X2 port (when running in 4-way Crossfire). Never had that happen with another board. I still think it has to do with bugs in the automated settings and failure of the manual settings to effectively override them consistently. The fact that the auto settings tend to overvolt overall, but grossly undervolt the vcore without LLC enabled may be part of the problem. I don't think we have a complete picture yet of hidden BIOS bugs in these early releases.

[3oh6]

@3oh6, I read your write up on the canuks and gr8 job. Do you think if I cut up the silicone gourmets that are used to mount the HDDs, it could be used as washer to mount the NB heatsink??

i don't see why not...the whole point is just to get something there to increase the screw travel so you can tighten them more. grommets should work just fine

RE 3oh6's saga: this is some of the behavior I've chronicled and commented upon here and elsewhere -- inconsistent and erratic behavior from the board, regardless of BIOS revision used.

the CPU INIT that i have encountered is of a different nature entirely i believe. the board has been 100% tip top under the most extreme of conditions then all of a sudden bam. this exact same thing happened to another bencher and sure enough, after my PM to him of what i did to get mine back to life...his is up and running again too.

every board has BIOS 'quirks' this board is obviously no different. but i have to also say that this is one of the strongest boards i have ever used, BIOS included. all other 'quirks' i have learned to work around are related to the issues with D9GTR and D9GTS...other than that, this board is solid. stoopid solid at 600+ FSB under LN2 in my experience.

[Mezzro]

every board has BIOS 'quirks' this board is obviously no different. but i have to also say that this is one of the strongest boards i have ever used, BIOS included. all other 'quirks' i have learned to work around are related to the issues with D9GTR and D9GTS...other than that, this board is solid. stoopid solid at 600+ FSB under LN2 in my experience.

What processors have you used with it -- quad, dual, both?

[3oh6]

What processors have you used with it -- quad, dual, both?

yeah, that's where my opinion is of only half the story i guess. i am all dual core, all the time so that is why i haven't had any issues with the board aside from this random CPU INIT issue. it is understood that you guys running quads are having problems.

and just a quick update post CPU INIT issue...after flashing 0501, the BIOS seems to have settled and i just fired out dual 32M at 600x6 tRD 9 2:3 ratio with 1.50vNB so the board seems to be back to its old self

[eternal_fantasy]

and just a quick update post CPU INIT issue...after flashing 0501, the BIOS seems to have settled and i just fired out dual 32M at 600x6 tRD 9 2:3 ratio with 1.50vNB so the board seems to be back to its old self

[Mezzro]

and just a quick update post CPU INIT issue...after flashing 0501, the BIOS seems to have settled and i just fired out dual 32M at 600x6 tRD 9 2:3 ratio with 1.50vNB so the board seems to be back to its old self

Congrats, 3o! Must be a big relief.

[Zeus]

Rock on Jody, good to see you revived it!

[ACE76]

Wow...lots of great info here guys...keep up the great work..my first RE was all messed up...it would keep restarting when I tried to shut it down and I couldn't flash it for the life of me...I RMAd it and my new one should be here next week...I have 3 quad core CPUs and one dual core which I will be testing...Q9650, QX9650 and QX9770 for quad...and I'm waiting for a E0 E8400 to arrive for dual core...I'm also waiting on a Murderbox TJ07 with 2 triple rads and pumps to water-cool everything along with two 4870x2s....it's gonna be a monster build and I hope to contribute to this thread once I get it all up and running...until then, keep up the great work everyone.

I haven't seen too many people here talk about GTL tweaks...are you guys simply leaving this on auto or just not talking about it?...lol.

On a side note - I was able to hit 500fsb on my Q9650 with my Maximus II Formula with air-cooling....I think this board will/should easily do that...E0 stepping CPUs are great fsb clockers....I'm also going to test it on a DFI P45 DK Plus board to see if it will od among different boards and not just one.

[Mezzro]

Gtl (0,1): +30

[Holmer]

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

I totally agree with that conclusion concerning RE and quads - but this morning I just could not resist a good price and ordered it anyway

I have very reliable information that EK Waterblocks will have a NB replacement block similar to the Swiftech one http://www.swiftech.com/products/MCW-NBMAX.asp finished from production this week! I have already one in order.

[rob2k]

Trials and Tribulations with the Rampage Extreme and Quad Core; Less Tribulation with the E8600

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.

Mezzro - I tend to agree - I'm on my 3rd set of memory trying to get a 420+ FSB. Now on Corsair Dominator 1800Mhz C7 not yet on my sig. The RE is my gaming rig whilst I have an AMD FX62 (i think) for general digital photo/office/internet use. Thinking about getting an E8600 for the RE set up and replacing the AMD machine entirely but utilising the QX9770 - what mobo would you recomment for that chip ?....I'm thinking P5E3 Premium maybe.

Still hoping for a bios update to help things along

[Mezzro]

what mobo would you recommend for that chip ?....I'm thinking P5E3 Premium maybe.
Still hoping for a bios update to help things along

The P5E3 Premium receives mixed reviews here, but pretty positive response elsewhere: AnandTech Review. I think it's a good choice. X38 chipsets seem a safer bet with quads, overall, although I think that will change as the X48 BIOS's mature. If you're buying now, though, the X38 may be your best option: The highest 3DMark06 scores I've obtained using a quad were achieved with the Maximus Extreme. The Maximus Formula is also excellent. Again, mixed reports on the P5E3 Dlx, but still not a bad choice, IMO.

[rob2k]

Great - thank you ^^^^

[CCC]

is the gskill pi 4gig set with jnl, jnm ics still the way to go on this board 3oh6?

I know when I tested gts ic 4gig kit the results where not like the x38 asus board I had the same kit on not even close