ASUS Maximus II Formula - new P45 king?

[Zucker2k]

well i have tried
the dfi x48 LT, rampage formula, ramapage extreme, maximus formula se,

in terms of bandwidth clocking of the rams the dfi x48 is much better.

I have heard many people say this, but it's not true in my experience.

now for ddr2 rampage formula...
if u have tried the maximus 2 formula
and then move on to rampage extreme
u will find the rampage extreme is what the rampage formula should have been.
the exact nature of the bios clocking of the rampage extreme and maximus 2 formula is almost the same.
whats my beef...
rampage formula gtl controls are just not good enough.
hence the high vnb voltages it needs.

What good is gtl control if it doesn't translate into higher fsb overclocks? High VNB? Check out the screenie below.

and my arguement with those that claims the RF clocks better than the m2f..
its because their gtl settings are all wrong for m2f.
the RF u dont really need to worry about the gtl's as much as m2f

That's a good thing in my books.

for e8600 on m2f and RE
i can confirm with u many of times .. using the two test to show gtl stability
running IBT for 50 runs and also running orthos ( blend then custom then choose each run 1 min) priority 10.
core 0 +40 the rest auto. tested right up to 563fsb for both boards super stable at 4.5ghz.

I've gotten similar results on rampage formula.

I guess I should have been more clear when I was speaking about the Rampage Formula. I meant the average FSB for quads is around 475, and it appears very difficult to stabilize quads over that, with most topping out around 495 FSB. This may be due to the poor GTL control which I have mentioned before, causing the need for high vNB, and reaching the limit of safe vNB level around the 495 FSB mark. At high FSB speeds they just seem to struggle with quads from what I have seen, even if you thrash the board in an attempt to keep up. Their BIOS is too sparse, and lacks the functionality it should have and needs. I'm not saying the board is no good at all, it's just not my cup of tea.

This is still better than the competition, imo.

The Rampage Extreme is probably the best X48 board available, massive FSB and ram clocks (DDR3 of course) and low tRD are par for the course. Whether or not they have used high binned X48 chipsets and clockgens I'm not sure, but they outperform any other X48 available, and their BIOS options are great.

Yes, the RE is the best, this debate is about DDR2 though.

I think the DFI DK-T2RSB Plus is probably the best DDR2 X48 board available now, it clocks both quads and duals better than the UT & LT's as it uses a revised clockgen, the same one used on the Rampage Extreme, and has a solid digital PWM circuit - more than 560 FSB stable has been done. It clocks ram very well, and is highly tweakable. It's also under $300, and even if the RF is slightly better and could be proven to be, there is no way it's $220 better, as it costs around $520 here. For another $100 I could have the Rampage Extreme, which actually is easily $100 better than the RF.

That's just my opinion, the rampage formula will appeal to some, just not me.

Well, what can I say, if it's not better than the rampage formula then my point is made; I know where that 640 figure comes from, and I haven't seen a single quadcore overclock in that thread, let alone past 500 fsb so again, if it is to be considered a contender, then we must see some justification for that. That 640fsb was is reasonable, but it was done with a x6 multi. I could show you my own screenie of a 7.5 x 600, even went up to 610, on the rampage formula and I wasn't even trying hard, and was limited by ram. Trust me, I've been in some ram bandwidth combat with some dfi nuts, etc. and came out feeling good so I know all about the hype. The RF is a solid overclocker; it may not overclock quads nearly as good as some p45s, but the x48 chipset was designed with other strengths which the RF demonstrates very nicely; eg. high fsbs and tight PLs.

Rampage Formula low volts prime action, everything set to the lowest.



More of the same...



G.Skill PC2-8500 2x2GB overclock on Rampage Formula...



7.5x600 FSB



my 24/7 with my E8600 before I switched to 9550



As you can see, I have gotten some pretty good results with rampage formula.