My Dual Harper - Asus Z7S WS living review *56K warning*

[s0lid]

Yup , both my SuperMicro and Tyan boards did that. The clockgenerator is 'stuck' somehow
CMOS clear and it's reset. Pretty cool feature actually

I've this thought:
Since that mobo don't have OCing options it don't have to refresh clockgenerators freg, since it's once set during first boot up & setup :P

This way it thinks everything is set ok and don't need to start recalibrate the clockgen at boot

[spiro]

I would highly recommend the Intel Skulltrail. I have one running 24/7 on a watercooled rig at 4Ghz using 2 QX9775's. I had it at 5ghz 8 cores on vapor but have since moved it to water. It is an extremely reliable platform. I even had my E5430's running perfectely at 3.2 Ghz with minimum voltage increase. It does not like high FSB's and personally I wouldn't even try anything higher than 410 FSB.

I have since gotten this Asus board hoping to get more performance out of my E5430's. Although I can run it at 3.2 Ghz , it will not prime more than a couple of hours. I then went down to 3 Ghz and also it will not prime for more than a couple of hours. I guess I will have to go to default speed now and maybe order a new D5400xs. Not being able to use LGA 775 HSF's is a real pain in the ass and had I known that I wouldn't even have dreamed of getting this Asus. The Noctua HSF for LGA 771 would cost more than the additional cost for spending a bit more and getting a D5400XS.

The only thing I like about the Asus is that it is a small motherboard and will fit in almost any case. That is unfortunately not true with the Skulltrail ... I had to shop very hard to be able to get something that would fit that motherboard.

[VistaViewer]

I would highly recommend the Intel Skulltrail....

Funny thing about that Skulltrail...

Intel originally published the mechanical specification for dual-socket 771 pin motherboards, available here:

http://www.intel.com/Assets/PDF/designguide/313871.pdf

Note that it is called a Design Guide and not a standard. But as a practical matter, any manufacturer (like Asus or SM) who doesn't follow the recomended form factor leaves themselves open to criticism of being non-standard. This type of thing can sometimes be the deathknell of a product. So this Design Guide has become a "defacto" standard for 771 mobos.

On page 36 of the Design Guide there is a drawing entitled "Figure A-11. LGA 771 Socket Motherboard Footprint (Sheet 7 of 7)". It shows the exact orientation of the two sockets, including their center-to-center spacing.

Now all of us who have built up systems have had some difficulty finding and selecting our coolers, (except for you Water Bugs) because of the overly tight spacing. Let's face it, for every different 771 cooler available there are probably 50 available for the 775 socket. But we can't easily use those 775 coolers because TWO won't fit. This restrictive situation makes the build process far more difficult than it really needs to be.

So fast-forward a couple of years and Intel decides to build an "enthusiast" level dual-771 motherboard. They will call it the Skulltrail, a very catchy name. And what do they do about the aforementioned spacing problem? They violate their own published mechanical specification. Incredible!

Some would call this a "dirty trick". But Intel can get away with it because they are a monopoly. But ultinmately, the consumer gets to "vote with his wallet" and no one has to buy the Skulltrail. But the increased center-to-center socket spacing certainly does give the board some additional appeal.

I have no doubt that the Skulltrail is a good board, at least from the technical standpoint. But I personally would never buy one because it's just TOO BIG! From my viewpoint, smaller is better.

They call these things PERSONAL COMPUTERS for very good reason, because we each get to choose. Hence, there is room in the market for many choices.

Good Luck.

VV