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ASUS Rampage II Extreme @ [H]
- Thread starter FrgMstr
- Start date
Looking for insight from people who actually built with this mobo/soundcard. I have my system running for a week now, and can't get the sound right.
I loaded both:
Sound Max ADI Audio Driver & Sound Blaster X-fi Drivers.
#1) I have the AC 97 plug from X-fi card to front jacks.
Head phone sound works, but not microphone. Microphone
works when pluged into sound card.
#2) I have a 5.1 speakers. (3wires) Two wires to subwoofer,front & rear speakers are powered from sub.
one wire to center channel. When using windows sound check,all speakers chim in right order. When I put a cd in the drive,all sound comes from center channel.
#3) I can't get the X-fi audio utility to come up. I see the little volume knob in task bar,but when I click it I get an error.
I thinking about reinstalling Vista (64),but useing the Digital drivers. Should I use both drivers.
HD & Sound blaster ?
On the back of the x-fi card (inside the case) are 3 jacks.
#1)Digital audio connector
#2)Front panel connector / the only one I'm useing
#3)Optical drive audio connector
Is this right ?
I loaded both:
Sound Max ADI Audio Driver & Sound Blaster X-fi Drivers.
#1) I have the AC 97 plug from X-fi card to front jacks.
Head phone sound works, but not microphone. Microphone
works when pluged into sound card.
#2) I have a 5.1 speakers. (3wires) Two wires to subwoofer,front & rear speakers are powered from sub.
one wire to center channel. When using windows sound check,all speakers chim in right order. When I put a cd in the drive,all sound comes from center channel.
#3) I can't get the X-fi audio utility to come up. I see the little volume knob in task bar,but when I click it I get an error.
I thinking about reinstalling Vista (64),but useing the Digital drivers. Should I use both drivers.
HD & Sound blaster ?
On the back of the x-fi card (inside the case) are 3 jacks.
#1)Digital audio connector
#2)Front panel connector / the only one I'm useing
#3)Optical drive audio connector
Is this right ?
So I was wondering if we can get an objective review on the onboard sound card with the rampage extreme from anyone? I would be happy if it sounded good, worked without any driver bugs, and didn't slow down the cpu too much. My last build was plagued by the infamous nforce xfi scp bs problem that took my motherboard maker (abit) a year to fix. So I would settle for onboard sound with an x-fi label on it as long as it works without any hiccups...
PS: About raid controllers, I think they will go obsolete in the mind of gamers in a couple of years once SSDs come out at affordable prices. Only people multimedia mavens will be interested in raid I think. Those people that want terrabytes of space with data redundancy. Performance minded gamers I think will love SSDs.. at least in the mind of this gamer.
Happy Thanksgiving,
Dave.
PS: About raid controllers, I think they will go obsolete in the mind of gamers in a couple of years once SSDs come out at affordable prices. Only people multimedia mavens will be interested in raid I think. Those people that want terrabytes of space with data redundancy. Performance minded gamers I think will love SSDs.. at least in the mind of this gamer.
Happy Thanksgiving,
Dave.
Just got a shipping retail Rampage II Extreme from Newegg. It's the same revision 2.01g as you guys reviewed. Any explaination from Asus?
Well I had no issues installing this board, EE965, and 12Gb of Corsair goodness inside a Silverstone KL03 tower. The v1ax Thermaltake cooler I bought from A#@)$n.COM did not come with LGA 1366 attachment hardware. Thermaltake stated that they will send it to me at no cost. Had to utilize the retail fan instead which I will say does provide satisfactory cooling, even at the 3.6 OC mobo setting.
I did a fresh install with Vista x64 over a RAID 0 setup with two Velociraptors. I was shocked to see the pagefile.sys grew to 12Gb... hehe. So I put that onto another slave drive. I didn't want my raptors working overtime for no reason. hahaa
I was not keen on having to activate my Creative software that came with the X-Fi card... and I am not sure if I could have gotten away with just drivers. Oh, well. Audio quality is fine. I have audio static noise coming through my HDMI cable to my HDTV.. but I think this is a video card issue as I experienced the same issue with my 790i board. All my audio goes through a Yamaha receiver anyways... so not a show stopper.
What I have tested so far? Well I installed World In Conflict and ran it on Very High settings with 4XAA. Game play was flawless. I ran the benchmark utility and by turning AA off, I was able to hit ~70fps in 1080p. Which in my opinion is outstanding. The consistent frame rate is what makes this so enjoyable. In general what sucks with playing WIC on low end vid cards is the intense graphics experience when there is just tons of action on the screen (multiple nukes going off at the same time, lots of smoke, explosions, etc.). I play WIC on my laptop with the lowest settings but I still have to look away when a nuke goes off... LOL
Since this is my HTPC box, I wanted to test 1080p WMV-HD and .MKV playback. My previous build had jitter and playback issues with HD content. So I installed MPC HC and both my WMV-HD and .MVK files played flawlessly with no dropped frames or jitters.
For those that say 12Gb of memory makes no real performance difference I will say I have to argue that. Almost all my interactions with Vista are extremely fast. SP1 installed extremely fast... all updates, drivers, program installs, configurations, reboots were also extremely fast. I tried these same evolutions with 6gb of the same speed and type of memory and it did take longer. Sorry, no actual time specs. Maybe I will add that to this post later. I did NOT have any issues installing Vista x64 with a full complement of 6 or 12Gb of memory. No BSD to report either.... be sure to disable AUTO UPDATE/INSTALL during the OS installation and manually install SP1 before you do anything else.
Another area I am extremely impressed with is the BIOS. It is extremely FAST and easily configurable. I am having an issue getting the system to recognize my Razer Tarantula keyboard during the posting process. I think the USB controller does not initialize early enough.. not sure yet. Regular PS2 keyboards have no problem. I have not done much OCn yet.. I did bump the pre-configured OC setting in the BIOS to 3.6 and man this box screams.
Obviously there is a lot more testing to be done. Bottom line is that this is the best box I have ever built and I might just say that I refuse to ever go back to an NVIDIA based chipset... Sorry NVIDIA, the 680i, 780i, 790i was plenty of pain for me, your vid cards still ROCK though.
Cheers and Happy Turkey Day!
I did a fresh install with Vista x64 over a RAID 0 setup with two Velociraptors. I was shocked to see the pagefile.sys grew to 12Gb... hehe. So I put that onto another slave drive. I didn't want my raptors working overtime for no reason. hahaa
I was not keen on having to activate my Creative software that came with the X-Fi card... and I am not sure if I could have gotten away with just drivers. Oh, well. Audio quality is fine. I have audio static noise coming through my HDMI cable to my HDTV.. but I think this is a video card issue as I experienced the same issue with my 790i board. All my audio goes through a Yamaha receiver anyways... so not a show stopper.
What I have tested so far? Well I installed World In Conflict and ran it on Very High settings with 4XAA. Game play was flawless. I ran the benchmark utility and by turning AA off, I was able to hit ~70fps in 1080p. Which in my opinion is outstanding. The consistent frame rate is what makes this so enjoyable. In general what sucks with playing WIC on low end vid cards is the intense graphics experience when there is just tons of action on the screen (multiple nukes going off at the same time, lots of smoke, explosions, etc.). I play WIC on my laptop with the lowest settings but I still have to look away when a nuke goes off... LOL
Since this is my HTPC box, I wanted to test 1080p WMV-HD and .MKV playback. My previous build had jitter and playback issues with HD content. So I installed MPC HC and both my WMV-HD and .MVK files played flawlessly with no dropped frames or jitters.
For those that say 12Gb of memory makes no real performance difference I will say I have to argue that. Almost all my interactions with Vista are extremely fast. SP1 installed extremely fast... all updates, drivers, program installs, configurations, reboots were also extremely fast. I tried these same evolutions with 6gb of the same speed and type of memory and it did take longer. Sorry, no actual time specs. Maybe I will add that to this post later. I did NOT have any issues installing Vista x64 with a full complement of 6 or 12Gb of memory. No BSD to report either.... be sure to disable AUTO UPDATE/INSTALL during the OS installation and manually install SP1 before you do anything else.
Another area I am extremely impressed with is the BIOS. It is extremely FAST and easily configurable. I am having an issue getting the system to recognize my Razer Tarantula keyboard during the posting process. I think the USB controller does not initialize early enough.. not sure yet. Regular PS2 keyboards have no problem. I have not done much OCn yet.. I did bump the pre-configured OC setting in the BIOS to 3.6 and man this box screams.
Obviously there is a lot more testing to be done. Bottom line is that this is the best box I have ever built and I might just say that I refuse to ever go back to an NVIDIA based chipset... Sorry NVIDIA, the 680i, 780i, 790i was plenty of pain for me, your vid cards still ROCK though.
Cheers and Happy Turkey Day!
They might have made changes but didn't update the PCB revision. I'd have to talk to Kyle to do anything more than just "guess" at this point.
[I was not keen on having to activate my Creative software that came with the X-Fi card... and I am not sure if I could have gotten away with just drivers. Oh, well. Audio quality is fine. I have audio static noise coming through my HDMI cable to my HDTV.. but I think this is a video card issue as I experienced the same issue with my 790i board. All my audio goes through a Yamaha receiver anyways... so not a show stopper.
Was the "Sound Blaster X-fi" the only sound drivers you installed
from the mobo start-up CD ? MyJ|gg4-see prvt Message.
Was the "Sound Blaster X-fi" the only sound drivers you installed
from the mobo start-up CD ? MyJ|gg4-see prvt Message.
Was the "Sound Blaster X-fi" the only sound drivers you installed
from the mobo start-up CD ? MyJ|gg4-see prvt Message
Sorry about the double post !
I don't want to delete & just leave a blank post
To me, the onboard sound card tends to sound "brighter" than my previous X-fi Fatality card. I am using a high end reciever for my decoding using the optical audio output. Speakers are a 5.1 Mirage satellite system with a 300 watt 10" powered subwoofer. Previously I was using an X-fi fatality with the PCM digital output.
Otherwise, the onboard sound card is excellent (I think). I have been trouble free on all my games with it.
Otherwise, the onboard sound card is excellent (I think). I have been trouble free on all my games with it.
Thanks for the reply Dan. Saw a post by Tony / OCZ that the R2E board is being retraced in line with the P6T. If true, it's unfortunate that Asus decided to release a flagship board with apparent memory compatibility issues.
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?p=3462129#post3462129
2lowSniper
n00b
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2008
- Messages
- 11
Just curious about the Tri 8800GTX's & the drivers used. Did you have any trouble with them? I see they say th 8800's aren't supported but yet you guys used 3 in your tests lol.
managerman
Limp Gawd
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2004
- Messages
- 133
Kyle or Dan,
I just built a new rig with this board...I went to plug in my two 300GB velociraptors and the bios hangs trying to identify them...I plugged them into another Motherboard (EVGA 780i) and they are identified and I installed Windows with no issues...I have tried everyhting I can think of...Any ideas would be appreciated...
I am using BIOS 0603
On a side note...I plugged two Raptor drives into the Rampage and they worked fine...
-M
I just built a new rig with this board...I went to plug in my two 300GB velociraptors and the bios hangs trying to identify them...I plugged them into another Motherboard (EVGA 780i) and they are identified and I installed Windows with no issues...I have tried everyhting I can think of...Any ideas would be appreciated...
I am using BIOS 0603
On a side note...I plugged two Raptor drives into the Rampage and they worked fine...
-M
No trouble. I just grabbed whatever was the latest off the website.
2lowSniper
n00b
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2008
- Messages
- 11
Awesome thx Dan!
No trouble with my board recognizing a single velociraptor. Might try the 705 bios.
- Joined
- May 18, 1997
- Messages
- 55,772
QFT. Update to the latest BIOS on the website.
managerman
Limp Gawd
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2004
- Messages
- 133
Update: It was not the board...I have the Velociraptor version for SATA Backplane and server mounts..(HFLS vs. GFLS)..apparently my SATA backplane is not compatible...once I hooked them up directly they worked fine..
-M
-M
Received my board yesterday and the 2nd ram channel just went busted today. Now I need to send it back to retailer for a replacement.
Sorry to hear about that, same thing happened to me with my last Asus board, the Maximus Formula. Hope the replacement works out better for you!
Anyone noticed this board being picky about the power supply? I've tried two different samples of the BFG 800ES and both caused cold boot issues. Only way to get it to boot in the morning was to cycle the main power switch on the back of the supply. Put in a Corsair HX620 and the board boots fine, hot or cold.
That is so funny that you write that. I had the EXACT same problem with my last board, the Abit IP-35 Pro. This was with the Corsair HX-620. Now the Rampage likes the HX-620 so far. It just shows that the motherboard manufacturers should start posting lists of known compatible power supplys (like RAM)
There are too many combos out there that just don't work.
There are too many combos out there that just don't work.
Odd... I have a pair of BFG 800ES PSUs.. one in my 790i setup and the other in my Rampage II Extreme setup.. no issues on either.. Can you elaborate on exactly what is happening when you cold boot?
Odd... I have a pair of BFG 800ES PSUs.. one in my 790i setup and the other in my Rampage II Extreme setup.. no issues on either.. Can you elaborate on exactly what is happening when you cold boot?
Thanks for the reply. When the machine sits off (but power supply has power) for a long period of time (like overnight) it will not boot. Everything powers up but only the power led comes on. Doesn't even get to the point where you get video and it looks for drives. A power cycle on the power supply gets things going again. In hindsight I should have hooked up the poster to get some codes.
Given that you have an 800ES working with the board without this issue I expect the problem is the board. I suppose it's RMA time.
This board is being retraced for a better memory compatitbility? You guys think Asus can issue a recall for the first wave of boards produced? I bet the Revision is going to be 2.02G (as appose to 2.01G now).
As far as PSU compatibility is concerned, I don't have any problem with either my Thermaltake PurePower 680W, a Logisys 650W or even a somewhat generic Ultra 350W (not even when fully loaded with all kinds of peripherals attached).
As far as PSU compatibility is concerned, I don't have any problem with either my Thermaltake PurePower 680W, a Logisys 650W or even a somewhat generic Ultra 350W (not even when fully loaded with all kinds of peripherals attached).
I just finished my first pass and this MB is outstanding! V64 picked up everything and I flashed to the latest BIOS and it screamed!
Kyle had two negatives in his review and so far those are the only negatives I have. You must be careful when you H20 cool this MB.
If you intend to H20 cool with 2x280 you could be in trouble, depending upon your card cooler. This MB requires a single slot cooler so check your fitting height's.
I do love this MB! Out of the box it is rock solid!!!
BTW, it also noticed all 12GB's of Dominator 1600
Kyle had two negatives in his review and so far those are the only negatives I have. You must be careful when you H20 cool this MB.
If you intend to H20 cool with 2x280 you could be in trouble, depending upon your card cooler. This MB requires a single slot cooler so check your fitting height's.
I do love this MB! Out of the box it is rock solid!!!
BTW, it also noticed all 12GB's of Dominator 1600
sonofander
Gawd
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2007
- Messages
- 1,000
Has anyone got networkteaming succesfullyon this board? If so, care to walk me through it?
I would to ask anyone running this board with SLI. Is it possible to SLI with the full sized PCIe slot 1 and 3? I have a PCI X-Fi and would like to slot the X-Fi card in between the 2nd and 3rd PCIe slot.
Or do the cards need to be in slot 1 and 2 respectively to run SLI?
Or do the cards need to be in slot 1 and 2 respectively to run SLI?
You should be able to run SLI using any combination of the three PCI-Express x16 slots.
Is there a trick to get the optical audio output to work on the included sound card?
I'm not getting anything using the optical output to my headphones. Regular analog output works from the sound card, and my optical cable tests okay with other sources.
I'm not getting anything using the optical output to my headphones. Regular analog output works from the sound card, and my optical cable tests okay with other sources.
I don't know on that one. I didn't test it out. The only digitial audio device I have is down stairs on my HTPC.
I tried it once and the MB gives you " SLI Cards in the wrong slot." I am told that their is a fix for this but I have yet to find it.
sonofander
Gawd
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Seeker, how high have you got that 965 clocked?
I seem to be stuck just short of 4.3. Any luck getting stable at higher speeds?
I seem to be stuck just short of 4.3. Any luck getting stable at higher speeds?
Check you PM's.
sonofander
Gawd
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Please post settings for 4.6 stable...
How long did you run prime at that speed?
How long did you run prime at that speed?
Here are my settings for 4.4. Until I change my loop this is as far as I go for now.
CPU-4396
CPUv -1.525
BCLK -157
MULTI - 28
DRAMv -1.511
QPI/DRAM 1.48
RAM timinings- 8-8-8-20 1.5v
The funny thing is Real Temp and Asus Probe show very different CPU temps?
Hopefully I will have my H20 problems solved in the next two weeks. However, since I am mainly gaming, anything above 3.8-4.0 doesn't accomplish much. It appears, and I may be wrong, you are GPU limited above that point. I really have not done much with OC'ing the 280's as I have been busy enjoying the eye-candy in 25x16!
sonofander
Gawd
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