ASUS P6T family - all about it.

[Trembledust]

at this point i will stand very critical against asus. after the commando/maximus formula/rampage formula fiascos i _suggest_ serious overclockers to examine very carefully asus's latest offerings...
even as it seems rampage extreme has almost all flaws corrected still i will not easily forget my pasts experineces with the previous rog mobos... i am waiting for your comments people...

I soooooo dont blame u. I to have been burned by Asus. Maximus board in particular. But honestly I was surprised my Rampage Formula board worked as well as it did. They really did make it a good board. And not as sensative as the Maximus. I am sooo tempted to try out the Rampage Extreme II but user reviews are giving me flashbacks of the Maximus board. The P6t6 Revolution board however is looking to be a d*mn good board per reviews. I will wait and see.

[louiscar]

Hi everyone,

Can I ask a fairly simple question regarding the p6T? I am being told by the people supplying a system with this board that the pci-e x16 slots can only be used for graphic cards.

My understanding is that pci-e is downward compatible so if only putting one graphic card into the blue slot I should be able to use slot 2 and 3 for other pci-e devices but these people are adamant about their advice.

It would be huge disadvantage with this board if the only expansion slots available are 1 pci slot (the other gets blocked by the graphic card) and 1 x4 pci-e.

I'd appreciate a confimation from you guys particularly anyone that has used or tried to use a pci-e x16 for anything else as I can't get through to Asus and the manual is not clear either way about the issue.

[CodeNinja]

Hi everyone,

Can I ask a fairly simple question regarding the p6T? I am being told by the people supplying a system with this board that the pci-e x16 slots can only be used for graphic cards.

My understanding is that pci-e is downward compatible so if only putting one graphic card into the blue slot I should be able to use slot 2 and 3 for other pci-e devices but these people are adamant about their advice.

It would be huge disadvantage with this board if the only expansion slots available are 1 pci slot (the other gets blocked by the graphic card) and 1 x4 pci-e.

I'd appreciate a confimation from you guys particularly anyone that has used or tried to use a pci-e x16 for anything else as I can't get through to Asus and the manual is not clear either way about the issue.

A PCIE slot is a PCIE slot. The top two slots, at least on the P6T (not deluxe or anything) are 16x, it's possible I suppose that if you installed an 8x or slower card in one it might slow the other down, but I've not seen anything that claims that anywhere.

[louiscar]

A PCIE slot is a PCIE slot. The top two slots, at least on the P6T (not deluxe or anything) are 16x, it's possible I suppose that if you installed an 8x or slower card in one it might slow the other down, but I've not seen anything that claims that anywhere.

Thanks for this, it's what I understand too however, I need to know if there is anything about the P6T and Asus' design that differs in any way.

Sorry I wasn't clear that I was talking about a P6T deluxe in this instance btw.

The Asus manual isn't clear but does mention device rather than graphic card when talking about how using the other two slots affect the configuration.
In that respect when they talk about putting a 'device' into slot 2 or 3 there is no adverse affect on slot 1 speed. If I remember there are two end results depending on the lanes needed on 2 or 3. ie. x16 x8 x8 and the other is x16 x8 x1.

What I can't understand is why this company is telling me that the slot can't be used for anything else and if their claim is for the Asus P6T specifically or PCI-e x16 slots in general. I get the idea they mean the latter - in other words their understanding of pci-e x16 is more like a replacment for agp and hence just meant for graphic cards. Crazy idea and unbelievable for a company that builds top end systems.

Telling them they are talking rubbish just makes them more shirty with me so I'm hoping someone here can tell me that they have actually put a device into one of those slots and it does work.

Can anyone confirm?

[CodeNinja]

What I can't understand is why this company is telling me that the slot can't be used for anything else and if their claim is for the Asus P6T specifically or PCI-e x16 slots in general. I get the idea they mean the latter - in other words their understanding of pci-e x16 is more like a replacment for agp and hence just meant for graphic cards. Crazy idea and unbelievable for a company that builds top end systems.

You've likely hit it square on the nose with that one, after working as a tech at a computer store for a while, I was always surprised by the amount of BS these supposedly 'professional' people spout.

Judging by the number of people getting PCIE RAID cards in the Storage forum, specifically Dell Perc 5/i (8x), I'm going to take a stab and say it's not a problem.

[louiscar]

You've likely hit it square on the nose with that one, after working as a tech at a computer store for a while, I was always surprised by the amount of BS these supposedly 'professional' people spout.

Judging by the number of people getting PCIE RAID cards in the Storage forum, specifically Dell Perc 5/i (8x), I'm going to take a stab and say it's not a problem.

Thanks CodeNinja. I used to build systems in the 90s, it's just I'm a bit out of touch since 2000. I knew these guys were talking BS but when I tried to argue they got very shirty eg. "We are a computer company"

Now in my frantic search I realised that actually the P6T deluxe manual spells it out perfectly in a table which I missed first time round. The table starts off with a Single VGA configuration and shows that the other two slots have 2 "pci-e cards" capable of running at x8. I wish I'd seen this before as it's pretty conclusive. If that isn't enough there is an explanation later (as I mentinoned earlier) that talks about putting devices lower or higher than x8 in those slots.

I'm going to have a right go at them today. I've got one of the other sales guys who said he'd talk to an Asus agent and get back to me. I'm in two minds about whether to let these guys build my system now. I did'nt want to do it myself as I've not got enough stuff lying around for 'process of elimination' testing anymore should anything go wrong so I had opted for one of these companies.

Thanks for your help and opinions.

regards

Louis

[ewitte]

A PCIE slot is a PCIE slot. The top two slots, at least on the P6T (not deluxe or anything) are 16x, it's possible I suppose that if you installed an 8x or slower card in one it might slow the other down, but I've not seen anything that claims that anywhere.

Look at the review of EVGA X58 on newegg. One person couldn't get any RAID cards working and their tech support kept telling him the board wasn't a server board so its not supported. I had the same issue trying to use a PCI card in a Dell PE1300 a long time ago. I wish these companies would stick to standards. Standards are there for a reason. I'm sure if the engineers knew about it they would work on a BIOS fix. Stuff like that is hard to get past the basic tech support people.

[DeathTyrant]

That's my new upgrade sitting right there.
i7 920 OEM (3835A882)
P6T6 WS Revolution
Geil Ultra Series 1600MHz 7-7-7-24 (3x 2GB)
Noctua NH-U12P

I will get it all put together this weekend.

[ewitte]

I'm still short DDR3 from Newegg. Doesn't look like I'll be able to build this weekend.