Asus Striker II Formula 780i

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That evga FTW dealio sounds kinda interesting.....want to bet they charge over 4 bills for it though???

Damn, I just wish nvidia would license SLI to somebody who makes a reliable MB.....maybe INTEL!!!! Oh well wake up......maybe the Striker II will be as good to me as my P5N32-E SLI.:D
 
That evga FTW dealio sounds kinda interesting.....want to bet they charge over 4 bills for it though???

Damn, I just wish nvidia would license SLI to somebody who makes a reliable MB.....maybe INTEL!!!! Oh well wake up......maybe the Striker II will be as good to me as my P5N32-E SLI.:D

They did. Its' called Skulltrail and by the time you buy FB-DIMMs and two processors for it you're looking at a months salary or more for many people. :eek:

The Striker II Formula has potential and hopefully it is better than the original. So far though everything concerning the P5N-T hasn't been encouraging so I don't know. Hard to predict how it will go until I get one on the bench.

As for the 780i SLI FTW Edition, I don't think EVGA will charge $400 for it. I'd bet on a price between $300 and $329.99.
 
Dan_D

A 3870 X2 might beat one 8800 Ultra but 2 3870 X2 will not beat 2 8800 Ultras SLI.

Simply because even if it is more powerful in some areas- Quad or rather Crossfire X drivers will never be as optimised as SLI- As seen with QUAD SLI....
Hence why Tri-Sli was such a great Idea.

Im not too familiar with Crossfire X but im assuming it will divide rendering sort of the same as Quad SLI does.
 
Dan_D

A 3870 X2 might beat one 8800 Ultra but 2 3870 X2 will not beat 2 8800 Ultras SLI.

Simply because even if it is more powerful in some areas- Quad or rather Crossfire X drivers will never be as optimised as SLI- As seen with QUAD SLI....
Hence why Tri-Sli was such a great Idea.

Im not too familiar with Crossfire X but im assuming it will divide rendering sort of the same as Quad SLI does.

We will see soon. My predictiion is that you will be wrong about that. Now, Crossfire X supports up to 4 GPUs. So I don't know if it is possible to use more than two 3870X2's. If it isn't then that solution will not match 3-Way SLI with 8800GTX's or Ultra's.
 
I can't elieve you aren't considering skulltrail dan. im not getting a striker ii anymore since my 680i is on dialysis with 1.35v SPP hopefully it lasts a week or 2 then ill be able to get skulltrail. im so lucky that the tj07bw will fit it np.. hehehe phew!

btw dan I am at 1333fsb on the cpu and it was prime stable until I woke up 8 hrs later except on the irst core which only lasted an hr..
any ideas? thx
 
I can't elieve you aren't considering skulltrail dan. im not getting a striker ii anymore since my 680i is on dialysis with 1.35v SPP hopefully it lasts a week or 2 then ill be able to get skulltrail. im so lucky that the tj07bw will fit it np.. hehehe phew!

btw dan I am at 1333fsb on the cpu and it was prime stable until I woke up 8 hrs later except on the irst core which only lasted an hr..
any ideas? thx

Well I can't seriously consider Skulltrail for use in my own system until I know the final cost. Sure I'm far from frugal, I think everyone here knows that. At the same time I typically can find better uses for my money than throwing it at FB-DIMMs, super-expensive processors, and a motherboard I won't likely have more than a year. The cost of Skulltrail would likely make a nice downpayment on a house, a new truck or get me some new guns. Things that all will last longer and be wiser investments than computer parts are.

As for your problem, It's got to be something in the settings. Every board and CPU combination is different. I've typically found that problems like that are either NB voltage related, CPU voltage related, memory voltage related or memory settings related.
 
correct e if im wrongbut isn't the xeon 771 socket relatively new? the reason I ask is because with skulltrail cpu limitations aret existant and you get 4 16x pci express lanes fore true quad sli or crossfire when it comes. people had this board months ago and now intel has perfected it.

im buying skulltrail for intelsstability and reputation. like I said I have a p4c800 deluxe in 4x512mb ddr1 at 400mhz and the build has NEVER crashed. I think at one point it was up for 120 days without restart- that's intel.

sure im an intel fanboi and a true nvidiot but im spent when it comes to nvidia boards. skulltrail and those 771s will keep me tided over for a long time. no desire for nehalem yet. my parents spend roughly 2-3k evry 2 years so I can upgrade I think ill let them buy me 1 covertown and skulltrail lol

fb dims are getting cheap I saw 1x2 fb 800s for 150
 
correct e if im wrongbut isn't the xeon 771 socket relatively new? the reason I ask is because with skulltrail cpu limitations aret existant and you get 4 16x pci express lanes fore true quad sli or crossfire when it comes. people had this board months ago and now intel has perfected it.

im buying skulltrail for intelsstability and reputation. like I said I have a p4c800 deluxe in 4x512mb ddr1 at 400mhz and the build has NEVER crashed. I think at one point it was up for 120 days without restart- that's intel.

sure im an intel fanboi and a true nvidiot but im spent when it comes to nvidia boards. skulltrail and those 771s will keep me tided over for a long time. no desire for nehalem yet. my parents spend roughly 2-3k evry 2 years so I can upgrade I think ill let them buy me 1 covertown and skulltrail lol

fb dims are getting cheap I saw 1x2 fb 800s for 150

Socket LGA771 has been around for close to a year if I am not mistaken. If not longer. I can't vouch for Skulltrail being perfected, but I do believe that it is in its' final form now and it should be releasing soon.
 
Socket LGA771 has been around for close to a year if I am not mistaken. If not longer. I can't vouch for Skulltrail being perfected, but I do believe that it is in its' final form now and it should be releasing soon.

Almost 2 years Dan ;)
 
Rumor is Nehalem is a new socket-- right?

I can't see them doing that for the business spectrum because I understand that 775 is getting old and whatnot, but 771 isn't nearly old enough to cannibalize their 771 line is it? I'm not sure-- Getting a skulltrail either way :p:
 
Can you use the Asus Xonar PCI-E in the slot where the SupremeFX II Audio Card is supposed to go?
 
Yeah Jesus you can.
BTW how is the Xonar? Is it better than the X-Fi?

I'm so confused when it comes to newer sound cards because i hear the xonar is mediocre for gaming but great for home theatre.

Doesn't the X-Fi also come with DTS, dolby and all those good things? Because I'm not so sure anymore when I see new reviews talking about the decoding and stuff-- I always thought the X-Fi's had it
 
Yeah Jesus you can.
BTW how is the Xonar? Is it better than the X-Fi?

I'm so confused when it comes to newer sound cards because i hear the xonar is mediocre for gaming but great for home theatre.

Doesn't the X-Fi also come with DTS, dolby and all those good things? Because I'm not so sure anymore when I see new reviews talking about the decoding and stuff-- I always thought the X-Fi's had it

Not sure how that Xonar card is. I've been reading mixed reviews.
I need to figure out my new system fast. I'm kinda fed up with creative. Last Soundcard I purchased was an Audigy2. I've always had driver issues with them. I would like a PCI-E card since space will be limited if I go with an SLI setup. Right now I'm leaning toward a Striker 2, 2 8800gts with q9450. I've been waiting around 2 piece everything together and I just need to get moving.
 
Well, what's going to be in your other slot if I may ask?
I have 2 PCI devices. One PCI-E wireless N card and one PCI sound-card.

I had the AUdigy 2 platinum and I've had no problems with it, I also have an X-Fi fatal1ty with front bay-- No problems on this guy either. THere are Vista compatible drivers that have the full CD stuff on it. I can give you a site to download if you'd like.

Creative has smartened up recently they update their drivers when necessary, 2 came in 1 month last year and now it's been 04 Nov 07. I believe they're working hard.
 
I have triple SLI and still can squeeze in an X-Fi card.
I water cool the middle card.
Vista 64 and X-Fi work just fine, even better since the Nov 07 driver update.
 
Well, what's going to be in your other slot if I may ask?
I have 2 PCI devices. One PCI-E wireless N card and one PCI sound-card.

I had the AUdigy 2 platinum and I've had no problems with it, I also have an X-Fi fatal1ty with front bay-- No problems on this guy either. THere are Vista compatible drivers that have the full CD stuff on it. I can give you a site to download if you'd like.

Creative has smartened up recently they update their drivers when necessary, 2 came in 1 month last year and now it's been 04 Nov 07. I believe they're working hard.

I'm not sure. I just don't think I will have much room if I run 2 8800 gts since they take up 2 slots each. The Striker 2 is attractive since you can use that top PCI-E slot for the Xonar.
I'm using win xp and it seems like I can never update my drivers. the .exe crashed last time I tried and has everytime I tried to update them. I'm just having computer problems in general and I'm far overdue for a nice upgrade.
 
I always see people talk abuot the Auzentech Prelude 7.1. It's 200 without a front bay. is it that much better than an X-Fi fatal1ty?

Magoo does our X-Fi have onboard Dolby,dts, etc?
 
You know, I had have to look it up.....but I think that there is one (dts) but not the other.....
The Azentech is built using the X-Fi chip, is it that much better, not to my ears it wouldnt be...but it has gotten good reviews on most sites.....I had a tough time with 120 that I spent on my X-Fi.
 
I'm not sure. I just don't think I will have much room if I run 2 8800 gts since they take up 2 slots each. The Striker 2 is attractive since you can use that top PCI-E slot for the Xonar.
I'm using win xp and it seems like I can never update my drivers. the .exe crashed last time I tried and has everytime I tried to update them. I'm just having computer problems in general and I'm far overdue for a nice upgrade.

Unless you run three way, you'll have room for a sound card if you want one. Alot of folks feel the SupremeFX sound card that comes with the board is pretty good; I never used mine because I have the X-Fi. One thing I can say is that I could tell the difference between my Audigy cards and the X-Fi. Ive used the X-Fi with XP and Vista without a problem.
 
Unless you run three way, you'll have room for a sound card if you want one. Alot of folks feel the SupremeFX sound card that comes with the board is pretty good; I never used mine because I have the X-Fi. One thing I can say is that I could tell the difference between my Audigy cards and the X-Fi. Ive used the X-Fi with XP and Vista without a problem.

Cool, good to know I have options then. I appreciate the input, I'll take a look at some X-Fi based cards.
 
Yeah and I had a tough time spending 229 2 1/2 years ago :p Just making sure my stuff is still good

My friend landed an XtremeMusic with the X-Fi chip on it open-box for only 70 bucks local at a store. Lucky SOB, told him to grab it asap and find an audigy bay for it to have a fatality setup-- He doesn't need xram.
 
Hmm, I don't know...

My first evga 680i A1 board lasted a good 10 months before it crapped out on me (just after an upgrade to a Q6600, I start getting "--" errors. I recovered from two of them, but the third was the death knell.) Now I've got my second one (after an RMA) and it's working fine so far. I do agree with you Dan that the issues with the reference nVidia design likely stem from the less-than-stellar electrical components used.

AnandTech just posted a rather positive first-look on the Striker II. They say it performs in line with the x48 Rampage Formula, which they outright love. Right now I'm in line for the $90 780i upgrade as I hear that the 780s have been proving to be better quad OCers. However, what I really want is a beefed up board like the evga FTW -- something like a Striker, but without the OC and memory issues.

If my second evga board fails, I think I just might switch to the ASUS, assuming the first full reviews are equally positive. I don't know when the FTW is coming out or what the price will be... but the Striker II is out now and the proven ASUS brandname is a bit appealing at the moment, despite EVGA's superior customer service.

Dan, do you plan to have a 780i review up soon? I'd like to see what [H]'s official verdict on a 780i reference board is, and whether or not the Striker II does indeed lack the issues of the original.
 
Hmm, I don't know...

My first evga 680i A1 board lasted a good 10 months before it crapped out on me (just after an upgrade to a Q6600, I start getting "--" errors. I recovered from two of them, but the third was the death knell.) Now I've got my second one (after an RMA) and it's working fine so far. I do agree with you Dan that the issues with the reference nVidia design likely stem from the less-than-stellar electrical components used.

AnandTech just posted a rather positive first-look on the Striker II. They say it performs in line with the x48 Rampage Formula, which they outright love. Right now I'm in line for the $90 780i upgrade as I hear that the 780s have been proving to be better quad OCers. However, what I really want is a beefed up board like the evga FTW -- something like a Striker, but without the OC and memory issues.

If my second evga board fails, I think I just might switch to the ASUS, assuming the first full reviews are equally positive. I don't know when the FTW is coming out or what the price will be... but the Striker II is out now and the proven ASUS brandname is a bit appealing at the moment, despite EVGA's superior customer service.

Dan, do you plan to have a 780i review up soon? I'd like to see what [H]'s official verdict on a 780i reference board is, and whether or not the Striker II does indeed lack the issues of the original.

Honestly, I haven't touched a 780i SLI board yet. So I can't say when one will be done by the [H]. I really look forward to getting my hands on the Striker II Formula as that's the board I've been looking to replace my Striker Extreme with. I'm waiting on many things before I start spending money on my box again. I'm waiting to find out what happens with the video card market. I may however just go ahead and grab a Striker II Formula anyway. It can't be worse than the Striker Extreme I have now which I can't OC worth a damn on when paired with quad core CPUs.
 
I have ordered one so I can use my physics card but I know you could buy PCI extender for both pci slots but to get a long adapter for the pci slot its not cheap just under 100 bucks for longest length of extender so you could get a sound card in but then you would have to modify case for it to work.
 
Hehe, I liek your optimism , Dan_D - You may be right = I dont think so- But I do think 2 9800GX2's will prob beat 8800 Ultra SLI's. by how much will be my question. I guess we'll see what will win out- Drivers and scalability or pure horsepower. The reason being- with CF i see so many games that just dont register- and some CF 3870s almost match 2 8800 GTX sli in some games- while in other games CF 3870s dont even come close to one 8800GT.

You should know Im quite biased at this point as i just shelled out 675 3 weeks ago for my second 8800 ultra + swiftech stealth waterblock LOL. Im not regretting it too much about the 3870s but am a lil with the 9800 GX2s- But theres always EVGA's step up program if need be.

Im just waiting to see benchmarks with 8800 Ultra SLI vs 9800GX2 Quad Sli or 3870X2 CF.

I dont care too much about 3Dmark06 as ATI's always do better than Nvidia- whereas in game its much much different;)
 
Honestly, I haven't touched a 780i SLI board yet. So I can't say when one will be done by the [H]. I really look forward to getting my hands on the Striker II Formula as that's the board I've been looking to replace my Striker Extreme with. I'm waiting on many things before I start spending money on my box again. I'm waiting to find out what happens with the video card market. I may however just go ahead and grab a Striker II Formula anyway. It can't be worse than the Striker Extreme I have now which I can't OC worth a damn on when paired with quad core CPUs.
Just to let you know, the Striker II Formula is available on newegg.com right now as I type this (1-25-08, 11:19pm PST)..............for $349.99.
 
My board should be arriving tuesday. well excited.

Truthfully I haven't been excited about most of the motherboards coming out right now. The X48 is just a speed binned X38 and even X38 wasn't all that. It really has very little over P35 aside from more PCIe lanes. I couldn't care less than it has PCIe 2.0 support since that doesn't seem to be a big deal at present and probably won't within the time frame I'd have any given board right now. The X48 boards are all based on X38 and are really just the same board in some cases with a slightly different name. Take the P5E3 Premium for instance. It is almost identical to the P5E3 Deluxe. Just the chipset was really changed and I think the Premium also has upgraded WiFi. Something I wouldn't use anyway.

The 780i SLI is identical to the 680i SLI chipset except that it has a third chip in the set providing PCIe 2.0 support and additional PCIe lanes. The reference boards don't seem to be that much improved over the 680i SLI boards. So again I'm not that excited about it. Really the only reason I'm considering the Striker II Formula in my own machine is due to the fact that my Striker Extreme sucks so bad at overclocking quad core CPUs. If it was decent with quad core CPUs and ASUS did release the rumored BIOS to provide 45nm quad core compatibility I'd stick with what I've got. However I'm sick of running PC 6400 memory modules or running 1150MHz capable RAM at 800MHz and having to run my Q6600 that I used to have overclocked to 3.2GHz at close to stock speeds.

I'm kind of put off to doing anything either with the video card market looking like it does right now. Sure the 3870 X2 beats the 8800 Ultra right now but NVIDIA's new flagship card is just around the corner. So depending on how all that turns out I'm not sure what board I'll end up with. What ever it will be, it will be appropriate for the multi-GPU solution I end up with.
 
Really the only reason I'm considering the Striker II Formula in my own machine is due to the fact that my Striker Extreme sucks so bad at overclocking quad core CPUs.

That is exactly my reason. I was so disappointed with my striker's performance with quads. Even with the 1303 bios, getting a stable overclock over 3GHz was an exercise in witchcraft. Got so annoyed I tried to volt mod the board. Result: dead board. But it gave me a good excuse to get the 780i. I do appreciate that the new SLI boards are very similar to their predecessors but if I can stretch my Q6600's legs I will be happy.
 
I dno, I have my EVGA 780i clocking my QX9650 at 4.2 at 1.45 Vcore- 8 hr prime stable.

Pretty cool on my water setup too- 55-60 C load
 
Truthfully I haven't been excited about most of the motherboards coming out right now. The X48 is just a speed binned X38 and even X38 wasn't all that. It really has very little over P35 aside from more PCIe lanes. I couldn't care less than it has PCIe 2.0 support since that doesn't seem to be a big deal at present and probably won't within the time frame I'd have any given board right now. The X48 boards are all based on X38 and are really just the same board in some cases with a slightly different name. Take the P5E3 Premium for instance. It is almost identical to the P5E3 Deluxe. Just the chipset was really changed and I think the Premium also has upgraded WiFi. Something I wouldn't use anyway.

The 780i SLI is identical to the 680i SLI chipset except that it has a third chip in the set providing PCIe 2.0 support and additional PCIe lanes. The reference boards don't seem to be that much improved over the 680i SLI boards. So again I'm not that excited about it. Really the only reason I'm considering the Striker II Formula in my own machine is due to the fact that my Striker Extreme sucks so bad at overclocking quad core CPUs. If it was decent with quad core CPUs and ASUS did release the rumored BIOS to provide 45nm quad core compatibility I'd stick with what I've got. However I'm sick of running PC 6400 memory modules or running 1150MHz capable RAM at 800MHz and having to run my Q6600 that I used to have overclocked to 3.2GHz at close to stock speeds.

I'm kind of put off to doing anything either with the video card market looking like it does right now. Sure the 3870 X2 beats the 8800 Ultra right now but NVIDIA's new flagship card is just around the corner. So depending on how all that turns out I'm not sure what board I'll end up with. What ever it will be, it will be appropriate for the multi-GPU solution I end up with.

I've found that bios dan, you want it?
 
Truthfully I haven't been excited about most of the motherboards coming out right now. The X48 is just a speed binned X38 and even X38 wasn't all that. It really has very little over P35 aside from more PCIe lanes. I couldn't care less than it has PCIe 2.0 support since that doesn't seem to be a big deal at present and probably won't within the time frame I'd have any given board right now. The X48 boards are all based on X38 and are really just the same board in some cases with a slightly different name. Take the P5E3 Premium for instance. It is almost identical to the P5E3 Deluxe. Just the chipset was really changed and I think the Premium also has upgraded WiFi. Something I wouldn't use anyway.

The 780i SLI is identical to the 680i SLI chipset except that it has a third chip in the set providing PCIe 2.0 support and additional PCIe lanes. The reference boards don't seem to be that much improved over the 680i SLI boards. So again I'm not that excited about it. Really the only reason I'm considering the Striker II Formula in my own machine is due to the fact that my Striker Extreme sucks so bad at overclocking quad core CPUs. If it was decent with quad core CPUs and ASUS did release the rumored BIOS to provide 45nm quad core compatibility I'd stick with what I've got. However I'm sick of running PC 6400 memory modules or running 1150MHz capable RAM at 800MHz and having to run my Q6600 that I used to have overclocked to 3.2GHz at close to stock speeds.

I'm kind of put off to doing anything either with the video card market looking like it does right now. Sure the 3870 X2 beats the 8800 Ultra right now but NVIDIA's new flagship card is just around the corner. So depending on how all that turns out I'm not sure what board I'll end up with. What ever it will be, it will be appropriate for the multi-GPU solution I end up with.

Again, If you read most benchmarks/reviews you'll see that 3870X2 beats the 8800 ultra in about half the games benched- while the other half get beaten by 8800 ultra- A weird thing i see is some reviews/benches will show bioshock getting beaten by the 3870x2 while the other times the 8800 ultra will beat the 3870x2 lol

Some weird benches out there

http://209.85.135.104/translate_c?h...ttp://www.pcpop.com/doc/0/266/266637_12.shtml
 
I am running an eVGA 780i now. I feel it is the best board I have ever run.
Thats my 2 cents worth.
 
I've found that bios dan, you want it?

I have that BIOS as well.

Again, If you read most benchmarks/reviews you'll see that 3870X2 beats the 8800 ultra in about half the games benched- while the other half get beaten by 8800 ultra- A weird thing i see is some reviews/benches will show bioshock getting beaten by the 3870x2 while the other times the 8800 ultra will beat the 3870x2 lol

Some weird benches out there

http://209.85.135.104/translate_c?h...ttp://www.pcpop.com/doc/0/266/266637_12.shtml

Yes there are. I expect that NVIDIA's next card will dominate the 3870 X2, but I think the rumor is that R700 isn't that far off either.

I am running an eVGA 780i now. I feel it is the best board I have ever run.
Thats my 2 cents worth.

Well many people thought the same thing about their 680i SLI boards until a couple months later when they started frying RAM and burning themselves up. So I remain skeptical.
 
In NYC (where I hail from,) there is absolutely no place to shop for computer parts brick & morter. The Comp USAs are all closed or nearly so, J&R's computer parts inventory is at least 6th months old (they haven't even ordered a shipment of G0 Q6600's,) and Datavision's prices are astronomical. It's terrible. There's a Microcenter in Long Island, but it's a good hour away, there's no public transit to get there, and the store is only so-so. Now yesterday, I found myself at the Microcenter in Paterson, NJ (after a jaunt to Ikea, I thought i'd try it out since I needed a replacement HD for a backup RAID.) No joke, this store (which I think is rather new) was nicer than the one or two Fry's I've seen in California, and their sales people were hardware geeks who knew what they were talking about. I could've easily had a conversation with them for hours. They even had a full isle of nothing but do-it-yourself WC components -- were talking Tygon tubing, Switech pumps, DD blocks, and even Thermalchill rads (I think.) I would go so far as to say it's the nicest B&M computer store I've ever seen, and with a stock of E8400s for $185 (still the best deal to be had anywhere, online or off)... well, I couldn't resist.

I'm still trying to get my quad up to at least 3.6ghz on my 680i, if not 3.8 or 4.0, but now I have this nice back-up chip in case my Q6600 peters out. Only thing is I've heard horror stories about the P32 680i bios which enables it, and I'm not even so sure how well the 680i will OC them. If I do decide to try out Wolfdale, it may be that I'll be needing a good 780i board sooner than later. Atm, at least I'm enjoying the design of the significantly jazzier box the Wolfdale comes in :)
 
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