Problems with GA-X79S-UP5 board - please help!

[xarot]

Hmm maybe not much input, but have you tried to actively cool the VRM area of the MB just for the hell of it? My another Rampage IV Extreme would throttle down above 4.2 GHz clocks if not actively cooled, even that the heatsink did not become even warm. And this is a very high-end MB. Using active 60mm fan directly over the VRM area fixed the issue for me. Does not look too good on my 420 eur motherboard though, and looks like it's a very basic issue with X79 boards. Almost made me thinking of selling my whole X79 setup away.

By the way are you sure it happens only with the C2 stepping or C1 as well? I am thinking that when you found about the 'power limit' of the motherboard, could it also be related to heat and something is triggered. Remember the first Gigabyte X79 boards burning? They released a BIOS that actually limited your overclocking.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...on-and-burning!