ASUS ROG Xpander enables 4-way SLI on Rampage III Extreme

[massman]

I think my curiosity is getting the upper-hand of the skepticism ...

Just a few more questions:

- Did you run performance checks on the daughterboard (well, yes) - did you see anything good/bad? Any performance gain/loss over the NF200-on-mainboard solutions? I suppose that the daughterboard interconnects introduce some kind of latency as well. Negligable?
- More importantly, can this device be hooked up ANY motherboard? At first sight, I don't see any ROG cables going to or coming from the daughterboard.

[Kinc]

I think my curiosity is getting the upper-hand of the skepticism ...

Just a few more questions:

- Did you run performance checks on the daughterboard (well, yes) - did you see anything good/bad? Any performance gain/loss over the NF200-on-mainboard solutions? I suppose that the daughterboard interconnects introduce some kind of latency as well. Negligable?
- More importantly, can this device be hooked up ANY motherboard? At first sight, I don't see any ROG cables going to or coming from the daughterboard.

The performance is the same as other MBs with dual nf200 integrated (e.g. P6T7).

In theory yes.

[Computurd]

very innovative, tbh that is awesome. i hate NF200 just as much as anybody, but that is smart thinking there. i likey!

[lkiller123]

- More importantly, can this device be hooked up ANY motherboard? At first sight, I don't see any ROG cables going to or coming from the daughterboard.

Technically, it seems like it would work for other boards. It just plugs into the other PCI-express slots to work.

[SamHughe]

So this product is basically targeting Rampage III extreme owners who suddenly want to ditch their cases and run 4X480 GTXs. WHOOO! All five people will be very happy! How 'bout selling your Rampage and just buying a Classified or P6T7 (and being able to keep your case in the process)?

[Sly Fox]

So this product is basically targeting Rampage III extreme owners who suddenly want to ditch their cases and run 4X480 GTXs. WHOOO! All five people will be very happy! How 'bout selling your Rampage and just buying a Classified or P6T7 (and being able to keep your case in the process)?

Gotta look out for those 5 people though. They get you all the good press and reviews.

[Blacky]

I still wondering what justifies the $699 gigabyte is asking for their UD9. EVGA 4 -way includes two NF200 chips and doesn't cost $699 and does the same stuff,

EVGA SR-2 includes DUAL-SOCKET <-- emphasis and has two NF200 as well and still does not reach the $699, even ASUS P6T7 has two NF200 chips and its

cheap, although I haven't seen any P6T7 doing 4-SLI and I bet even RE3 with this add on card doesn't reach that price tag. So please can someone explain to

me, what the UD9 have that adds almost $100-200 value over the products mentioned, because for me doesn't make sense at all...

[turtletrax]

I have an R3E and what I love about this product is it kept the R3E as pure as I need it and kept the NF crap off it.

Never in a million years will I run quad SLI and dont need to pay for the ability to do it and add latency to boot.

Like it has been said this will keep the five people that need it happy and the thousands that dont glad there is no NF200 on the mainboard.

[JumpingJack]

I guess this is something of a niche product for those who really really want 4 way, but to me it looks like the dumbest idea conceived.

[sofos1990]

to me it looks like the dumbest idea conceived.

qft +1

[CraptacularOne]

Stupid add on is stupid

[saaya]

Gigabyte's motherboard is listed for $700 at Newegg.com, while Rampage III Extreme is listed at $380.

oh please...

R3E+daughter board = 380$+150$(?)= 530$
530$ vs 700$ is still much cheaper, but its not like it costs half of the gigabyte solution as the quote above suggests :P

sounds very nice... dfi was working on this a while ago but nvidia didnt allow them to sell it iirc... anyhow, this is going to be a HUGE pain to insulate i think...

[sofos1990]

Who's gonna bench 4-way sli guys? Only 5-6 guys ! Most of the overclockers will bench single gpu so the daughter board is not necessary .
I would prefer the oc panel instead of this ...

P.S : I know this new feature is not only for ocers but the same is with the power users ( most of them would prefer 2 or 3 gpus ) .

[Oliver]

wicked wonderland .

Cmon guys, is the first thing we think of now, how hard it is to insulate?. For that matter, we have grease, paper and knetgummi.

Beside, it looks so bad a$$

KEEP PUSHING IT

[saaya]

i think asus rog branded gold plated flexible pciE risers would have been a lot more useful and cool... and much much cheaper too
marcus, if you read this, please push for it! its so hard to find pciE risers!

[zanzabar]

there arnt many people who will run 4 card sli, and there are alot more that dont want a hindered board, this dose seam like a cheap way out but hopefully the low sales on it (as it will be for benching only) will show NV that they do not need to force the nf200 on people. it would be nice if gigabyte had also stood up to NV and went NF200 less since i cant see NV taking on the 2 largest enthusiast board makers on something that lowers performance.

[saaya]

oh theyd do that... trust me... they would...
and numbers sold are really low on this kind of board or expander card... i dont think nvidia really makes a lot of money with this... a few thousand us$, maybe 20K max... thats nothing for nvidia...
and if it werent for their perf situation right now, they wouldnt have allowed quad sli at all, even with 4 nf200 chips and a 200$ license, trust me

[Monstru]

AFAIK, Asus tested NF200 versions of RE3 and non-NF200 versions of RE3, and the non-NF200 version got into mass production. The reasons behind this are pretty simple, this way you can get a cooler, cheaper board, that does the job for 99% of the people. Also there is no NF200 induced latency. Which is good. The only two weird things about this board are the 4th PCI-E x16 lane, which shouldn't be there, and the fact that there is no OC Panel in the package, so if you want external control you have to use Rog Connect (which is ok, but you should still have the option of using a simple oc panel if you want).

Ok, now, for marketing purposes, technology show-off, those 5 people, and so on, wouldn't it be a better ideea to have the 4Way SLI version of RE3? Let's be serious, there are MANY people out there that have Classified 4Way SLI simply because it is the most expensive and exclusive motherboard ever, not because they would ever come close to a 4Way SLI system. So...the same thing would happen with a 4Way version of RE3. Unlike this adapter thingy which will literally only be used by those 5 people who want to test 4Way GTX 480 on Asus.

[Kinc]

Who's gonna bench 4-way sli guys? Only 5-6 guys ! Most of the overclockers will bench single gpu so the daughter board is not necessary .
I would prefer the oc panel instead of this ...

P.S : I know this new feature is not only for ocers but the same is with the power users ( most of them would prefer 2 or 3 gpus ) .

You are spot on, there are only a very few number of people that are actually going to go for 4-way 480. There is little point in 4-way 480 other than all out Vantage benching

It is only for overclockers. It will be used on open benchplatforms only and not sold to be put in to a case.

[sofos1990]

It is only for overclockers. It will be used on open benchplatforms only and not sold to be put in to a case.

So it won't hit the retail market ?
What about the oc panel ?

[Kinc]

So it won't hit the retail market ?
What about the oc panel ?

Based on the market situation (maybe 5 customers?). My personal guess is that it cant be sold in retail since there is no demand for 4-way 480.

[Monstru]

Personally I am not quite fond of things that are all over the forums but will never be found in retail... OC Panel, OC Station, ROG Xpander... allready too many accesories that are shown off but not available.

[sofos1990]

Monstru is right .
Too many things that are not available . So there is no reason to be made cause we can't have/buy them . There are only 5-10 samples and that's all .

[saaya]

hmmmm not sold in retail at all? thats sucks though, so what if theres a guy who wants to actually use 4way sli, i mean really, for tri 27" 3d gaming with 470s for example...
he wont be able to buy this daughter board? cant you guys sell it through the asus.com website directly?
if you cant, then at least sell 2 or 3 dozen pieces to a shop that ships worldwide...

its def a low number of people who will go for this, but it should def be available in retail imo...
if this is a gadget you will only get if you have good relations with asus somehow, that would suck :/

[Kinc]

hmmmm not sold in retail at all? thats sucks though, so what if theres a guy who wants to actually use 4way sli, i mean really, for tri 27" 3d gaming with 470s for example...
he wont be able to buy this daughter board? cant you guys sell it through the asus.com website directly?
if you cant, then at least sell 2 or 3 dozen pieces to a shop that ships worldwide...

its def a low number of people who will go for this, but it should def be available in retail imo...
if this is a gadget you will only get if you have good relations with asus somehow, that would suck :/

It is my personal guess, only based on previous products like OC Station. When the demand is so low it is verticly not existing the local teams will have a very hard time selling it in to distis.

Your idea to sell via a WW dealer is a good idea in my oppinion.