ASUS Rampage IV Formula.......when?

evganerd said:
Thanks. Where can one get a coupon?
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Usually on their front page. The current one is DRAGON which is 10% off up to $10. Sometimes their coupons are 15% off up to $15.

I'm waiting for the CPU myself so I'm not ordering either board yet myself. Plus I got 2 BF3 codes during Black Friday with the Intel SSDs so I don't really need anymore. :)
 
|-Goku-| said:
Thanks garden!

I just ordered the extreme from them for 405 shipped!
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Alright Mr. GardenTool, I took your recommendation of SuperBiiz and ordered the Formula from them today.....

I will haunt you forever if these guys suck.....:eek::eek::D

Ordered the Formula for 370 and got a 10 dollar off coupon......shipping sucked though......3 day was 26 bucks......I live in New York and if I chose cheapy ground I might see the board in April.......:eek:

So maybe by this time next week I'll be up and running? I hope.

Thanks for the heads up about this store, ResellerRatings look really good......egg boys lost 400 bucks for being asleep at the switch.:rolleyes:
 
magoo said:
Alright Mr. GardenTool, I took your recommendation of SuperBiiz and ordered the Formula from them today.....

I will haunt you forever if these guys suck.....:eek::eek::D

Ordered the Formula for 370 and got a 10 dollar off coupon......shipping sucked though......3 day was 26 bucks......I live in New York and if I chose cheapy ground I might see the board in April.......:eek:

So maybe by this time next week I'll be up and running? I hope.

Thanks for the heads up about this store, ResellerRatings look really good......egg boys lost 400 bucks for being asleep at the switch.:rolleyes:
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My extreme already shipped out :D
 
Damn........it's shipped.:eek:

I placed the order at 2:30 Pacific and the package was ready for shipping at 6:30.
Should be to me by Wednesday this week.

So far, so good.:D
 
I don't have a date on mine. Can't wait though. But I won't be able to use it until next month XD

Unless I can find a good deal on a 3930k
 
|-Goku-| said:
I don't have a date on mine. Can't wait though. But I won't be able to use it until next month XD

Unless I can find a good deal on a 3930k
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Maybe those new revisions will hit next week?

What baffles me is.....how come this place I've never heard of has the board, and all the major outlets still aren't selling it?

Seems odd to me.:confused:
 
not sure. Maybe they will appear on newegg on monday.

but I caved and went Extreme. Granted, I won't use most features, lol
 
Newegg finally has the Formula, must have arrived today.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131808

I got my board from Superbiiz this afternoon, a day early, I might add.
Haven't had time yet to fire it up, hopefully tomorrow. Looks like i arrived in one piece.

Only impression so far is the "stuff" is kind of sparse.......one long SLi bridge, one medium Crossfire bridge, one three way SLi bridge, about 8 SATA cables,the ROG connect,I/O shield,manual and disc, and the "X-Socket" adapter.......:eek: Oh well, the Extreme it ain't. The newegg pictures don't show the X-Socket adapter, but it's there.

I got mine for 360 due to a discount coupon, but the shipping was retardedly high.

Newegg's price is 379 + 9 bucks shipping.........3 day guarantee, so I think it was a wash overall.

Anyway, time to see what this thing can do!!;)
 
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Very nice!! I'm glad I went with my extreme. Especially because I thought newegg would have it cheaper. Just got to wait for my 3820. Unless I can find a good deal on a 3930k
 
Kind of disappointed with the Formula but it does seem to be about the same price difference as the previous iteration even though all three of the ROG boards have gone up a bit in price.

I am looking forward to what you have to say about the board, magoo. I'm still torn between the Extreme and Formula. Wish I could get an answer if I can still run 16x/16x SLI with a soundcard in a 16x physical slot on the Extreme. Otherwise the Formula has the better layout. I just can't find any information if anybody is going to release a waterblock for the Formula. I have a feeling the chipset and VRMs will still get quite toasty without some sort of cooling over them which I might not have.
 
TheGardenTool said:
Kind of disappointed with the Formula but it does seem to be about the same price difference as the previous iteration even though all three of the ROG boards have gone up a bit in price.

I am looking forward to what you have to say about the board, magoo. I'm still torn between the Extreme and Formula. Wish I could get an answer if I can still run 16x/16x SLI with a soundcard in a 16x physical slot on the Extreme. Otherwise the Formula has the better layout. I just can't find any information if anybody is going to release a waterblock for the Formula. I have a feeling the chipset and VRMs will still get quite toasty without some sort of cooling over them which I might not have.
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Yeah........I was hoping for 350 or lower, but no such luck.

I'll let you know what is what as soon as I get the board up and running.
I'm trying to a new case for the build done, but it's one pain in the ass thing after the other.
I planning for tomorrow.

As for your question.....I would think that if you added a sound card to any of the slots it would end up being 16-8-8......generally any pci-e slot filled over two drops the multiplier.....but that's just my guess on that one.
 
Wow that is probably the worst review I've ever read, even on a motherboard. Thumbs down for Tech Radar.
 
evganerd said:
Anyone get their stuff from superbiz yet? How was the experience?
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I received my Formula from Superbiiz on Tuesday, ordered it on Friday. The order placement, processing and out the door was less than 2 hours.
I actually got the package UPS one day early.
The packaging was OK, not great, but it survived.
When I placed the order the price was 370 - 10 dollar discount.
I am very pleased so far, I will definately check their prices before I order from newegg.

TheGardenTool said:
And you guys doubted me for saying they were a legitimate business. :)
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I have to admit, it made me nervous ordering from a company I'd never dealt with before.
That said, the deal was smooth, no problems. Kept me informed with email every step and shipped fast.
Their shipping costs are really shitty though.......what newegg charges 8.95 for Superbiiz charged 26.85:eek::eek:

As an aside, tomorrow the board goes on the bench for it's first trial.
I had to get my watercooling set up for my bench table, and my daughter wanted to go to the movies......they had the day off school and I was off work, so how can you turn down a little dad-daughter time......we never get enough alone time amymore.
So, I'll let you all know tomorrow how the board works out.
Pictures, etc................

I'll tell you what, my initial impression is solid.
The packaging is protective and pretty high end I must say.

The board itself is sturdy. The caps are all a silver-grey and look nice up close.
The socket area is spacious and the RAM sockets are well spaced for a big cooler, the socket itself is HUGE..........two levers to open and close!
The heat sinks are very,very thick anodized aluminum. They are so thick, I don't think there is any worry about heat dissipation.
The GPU sockets are well spaced and well designed. For Crossfire the first and third slots are the main dual 16x, so there is no worry about air circulation. The PCI-e x1 slots are also well placed, so I can use my Azuentech X-Fi if the onBoard stinks.

Honestly, I can't think of a thing this board doesn't have for my needs.
The kit is really complete. Sure the Extreme has more stuff, but in my opinion, I wouldn't use it anyway.

So, tomorrow it is.:D
 
Magoo, can you do some overclocking tests without active airflow over the chipset and VRM heatsinks? I'm interested in those temps as I'm not sure my build can accomodate active cooling anywhere near the board. That is a reason I'm still leaning toward the Extreme since there are several blocks available now.
 
magoo said:
I'll tell you what, my initial impression is solid.
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Good to hear.

The GPU sockets are well spaced and well designed. For Crossfire the first and third slots are the main dual 16x, so there is no worry about air circulation. The PCI-e x1 slots are also well placed, so I can use my Azuentech X-Fi if the onBoard stinks.
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If you were to end up using your Azuentech, do you know if the vid cards stay x16 - x16 or do they drop to x16 - x8 as is common with many boards?

So, tomorrow it is.:D
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Excellent! Inquiring minds want to know. I am all aquiver.:p
 
olsonpm said:
If you were to end up using your Azuentech, do you know if the vid cards stay x16 - x16 or do they drop to x16 - x8 as is common with many boards?
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I'm guessing that the 2 x1 slots are coming off the Chipset as opposed to the CPU.

X79 has 8 PCI-E 2.0 lanes while the CPU provides 40 PCI-E 3.0 lanes.

I'm also thinking if it goes into a x16 physical slot it will downgrade but I haven't found the answer, as that is what I may end up doing if I do with the Extreme because I don't like where the x1 is placed. Maybe Magoo can test it for us.
 
olsonpm said:
Good to hear.



If you were to end up using your Azuentech, do you know if the vid cards stay x16 - x16 or do they drop to x16 - x8 as is common with many boards?



Excellent! Inquiring minds want to know. I am all aquiver.:p
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The pci-e x1 utilization will not affect the x16 slots.
That said, on this board I'm pretty sure x16-x16-x8 is all you get with three, and if you populate all 4 GPU slots.....16-8-8-8 since 40 is the maximum off the cpu.

TheGardenTool said:
I'm guessing that the 2 x1 slots are coming off the Chipset as opposed to the CPU.

X79 has 8 PCI-E 2.0 lanes while the CPU provides 40 PCI-E 3.0 lanes.

I'm also thinking if it goes into a x16 physical slot it will downgrade but I haven't found the answer, as that is what I may end up doing if I do with the Extreme because I don't like where the x1 is placed. Maybe Magoo can test it for us.
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I'll try to check that out......not sure exactly how to do it.

Just getting started this AM......about to turn the thing on for the first time.......hopefully no blue smoke.

Do you all want shots of the BIOS screens? They are pretty much all in the manual which can be downloaded.
I'll post overclocking voltages and the like once I get that far.......but screen shots of BIOS windows are pretty useless in and of themselves, unless you are interested in a certain one(s).
 
TheGardenTool said:
I'm still leaning toward the Extreme since there are several blocks available now.
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I think it was over at "Xtreme Systems" where a poster was saying that the VRM's on the R4E get hot, as in very hot. He said putting his board under water allowed a significantly higher overclock. I think, (not certain), the R4F uses the same components but with different physical spacing.
I saw a post somewhere that said EK has stated they will not be making a block set for the Formula. Don't know if the other block makers - (KOOLANCE etc.) will or won't. Assuming that none do, I've been giving some thought to adapting a R4E block to the R4F. Looks to me that it might be possible with the help of my friendly local machine shop.
I've got an old socket 775 Swiftech Storm CPU block around here somewhere. Hmmmm.......wonder if that would work on the X79 leaving the VRM's to be handled seperately.
If "maggoo" find's the Formula's on board sound is all ASUS has hyped it to be and find's no other problem's, I'm going to try to pull off something along these line's. If he say's it suck's I suppose I'll just cough up the extra $100.00 and get the R4E.
 
magoo said:
Just getting started this AM......about to turn the thing on for the first time.......hopefully no blue smoke.

Do you all want shots of the BIOS screens? They are pretty much all in the manual which can be downloaded.
I'll post overclocking voltages and the like once I get that far.......but screen shots of BIOS windows are pretty useless in and of themselves, unless you are interested in a certain one(s).
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No smoke of any kind is preferred. :)

You might need GPU-Z to tell the bandwidth off of the 2 GPUs if you pop the soundcard into a x16. No idea if there is a way to to check in UEFI.

No need for the screens for me. Should still be pretty standard stuff for the ROG line.

I am still very interested in chipset/VRM temps without any fans blowing across them. If they stay cool while overclocking then this will be the board for me. :) Otherwise its R4E and motherboard blocks for me.
 
magoo said:
Do you all want shots of the BIOS screens?
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"Glossy 8x10 color photograph's with circle's and arrow's and a paragraph on the back of each one telling what each one was to be used as evidence against us.":p
 
Ouch magoo...looks like SuperBiiz just updated it's pricing and shipping charge on the R4F. :(

$360.99 plus $6.99 shipping...you got the shaft for being early adopter :)
 
TheGardenTool said:
Ouch magoo...looks like SuperBiiz just updated it's pricing and shipping charge on the R4F. :(

$360.99 plus $6.99 shipping...you got the shaft for being early adopter :)
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Actually.......my price was 360.99 after a discount coupon.....and ground was free when I ordered mine, except it would have been 5 days, so I used 3 day guaranteed. Unfortunately that price is 26 dollars............the same service that newegg offers for 8.95!!!:eek:
 
So I finally had some time to play with this board a little.
I'm trying to build this from scratch in a Corsair 800D with all new wiring and watercooling, so I've had to split my time between the board testing and the work on the case.......

Picture:

DSC_0087.jpg



So anyway.......
Bench set up went as well as I could expect it to.
The damn CPU is giant.....you need two hands and a shovel to get it placed in the socket.:eek:
I loaded in the CPU, placed the block, the RAM and my piece of shit little GS 7600 gpu and held my breath.......it POSTed up like a big dog.

BIOS..........the BIOS is really clean and functions like it is advertised on many reviews of P67 and 68 boards and the Extreme. It has more bells and whistles than I can even begin to pretend I know how to use or even pronounce.
I cheated and looked up some OC guides for my initial settings.

My board came with the 0505 BIOS version, so the first thing I did was flash the BIOS to the 1005, the latest. I had all sorts of problems initially with the USB ports......none of them would work except for the mouse port which is right below the legacy PS2 slot......I was certain the board was FUBAR'd.

I shelved the flash until I could figure out what was wrong......I figured it was probably a chipset thing, so I went ahead and installed W7 and then the driver sets. Sure enough, as soon as the Intel X79 chipset drivers installed the USB ports worked. I also had to install a third party USB 3.0 driver to get everything functional in Device manager.

I used EZ-Flash then to load the new BIOS.

BOARD.......

I really like the way this thing is set up. Spacing is excellent. I think you could put a giant aircooler on this and be fine. The Heatkiller installed just fine.....S1336 = 2011 as far as mounting goes. The backplate on the stock socket is hefty so you probably won't need one.
For bling there are little red LEDs on the bottom left quadrant......looks like a landing strip in the dark....;)

DSC_0089.jpg


So Overclocking and temperatures.......

I have a Heatkiller 3.0 and a MCP 355 pump on a single 120.1 Swiftech Radiator on my bench. I am not sure what a more beefy radiator setup might provide. My final setup will have a 120.3 and a 120.2 radiator on a mcp 655 and a regulation reservoir.

Full stock, everything on auto.......idle temperature on the CPU was 28C.

I have only gone to 4.5 GHz so far.

4.3 GHz .......VCore 1.20V, everything else on AUTO except for VDimm at 1.55V
Intel Burn Test, all cores, hyperthreaded, 10 instances. Idle temps were in the high 30C, low 40Cs.
CPU temp.......58-60C, VReg......45C open bench with a single 120mm fan
Rock steady.

Now for 4.5 GHz.......idle temps are about 42-45C.
VCore:1.335V
first VTT:1.2V............ Temps: CPU: 68-72C, VREG: 58-60C
VCCSA: 1.2V
PLL: 1.45V
VDIMM: 1.575V

The jump in heat was impressive. I'm sure to get 4.6 or 4.7 I would be in the 75-80C range.
The word about these CPUs running hot is true.
But the board was very stable, It ran Burn Test until I told it to stop and never wavered.
The total CPU wattage draw was 170W however at that overclock.

To be honest, I am very satisfied with the board's performance so far. I would like to see the high 4s for an OC, but I really think the thing just runs too hot.

Nothing on the board felt hot to me during my torture testing. The heatsinks were very cool to touch, they are massive anyway, sio it doesn't surprise me.

Well.............that's it for the first round of testing.........gaming with Crossfired 7970s maybe tomorrow.:p
 
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Thanks magoo:

Sounds like it's going well so far except for CPU temps. Temps may get a lot better with bigger rad. Looking forward to hearing of your progress.
 
magoo said:
Well.............that's it for the first round of testing.........gaming with Crossfired 7970s maybe tomorrow.:p
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I tried to order 7970's.....really I did. But the more I read of users experiences here and on other forums, including multiple instances of guy's stating they were re-installing 580's and returning 7970's, I just could not do it. Two new EVGA GTX 580 Classified Ultra Hydro Copper's arriving here Monday. I hope you have GREAT luck with your 7970's.
 
I'm just wondering if this is worth $360 + shipping when the Extreme in only $415 w/free shipping. That is only $47 difference. I would jump on this if SuperBiiz had the extreme priced like everywhere else ($450). I'm not sure which to get with that small of a price difference.
 
MartianMonkey said:
I'm just wondering if this is worth $360 + shipping when the Extreme in only $415 w/free shipping.
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Oh the magical question. I think it comes to needs and wants.

The Formula is ATX while the Extreme is EATX, which won't fit in everybody's case.

The Formula supports EAX 5.0 out of the box while the Extreme does not. This isn't going to matter much going forward in new games but it could mean something if you don't want a seperate sound card for older games that use EAX and work in ALchemy under Vista/7. Otherwise expect about the same out of the SupremeFX as in the past I suspect.

The Formula has 2 PCI-E x1 slots while the Extreme only has 1.

The Extreme has specifically made waterblocks for the chipset and VRM while the Formula does not and likely will not.

The Extreme offers more DIMM slots, even if it may be problematic to get all 8 slots working properly.

The Extreme has the OC Key, which could be gimmicky at best for non-benchers. Apparently it doesn't support Eyefinity/Surround setups or single displays larger than 1920x1200. Also seems to have problems if you use a USB keyboard.

I'm sure there's other key differences but yeah the cost difference isn't much between them through SuperBiiz.

I'm really bummed out about the $370 price tag but maybe Magoo can confirm if his is the BF3 edition. If it is then there should be a $20 drop when somebody starts carrying the regular edition.

Personally, I'm still leaning toward the Extreme now. I'm not comfortable with the VREG temps Magoo posted since he had a fan going across the board. I won't have that luxury in my case. I think I'll need watercooling on the chipset.
 
TheGardenTool said:
Oh the magical question. I think it comes to needs and wants.

The Formula is ATX while the Extreme is EATX, which won't fit in everybody's case.

The Formula supports EAX 5.0 out of the box while the Extreme does not. This isn't going to matter much going forward in new games but it could mean something if you don't want a seperate sound card for older games that use EAX and work in ALchemy under Vista/7. Otherwise expect about the same out of the SupremeFX as in the past I suspect.

The Formula has 2 PCI-E x1 slots while the Extreme only has 1.

The Extreme has specifically made waterblocks for the chipset and VRM while the Formula does not and likely will not.

The Extreme offers more DIMM slots, even if it may be problematic to get all 8 slots working properly.

The Extreme has the OC Key, which could be gimmicky at best for non-benchers. Apparently it doesn't support Eyefinity/Surround setups or single displays larger than 1920x1200. Also seems to have problems if you use a USB keyboard.

I'm sure there's other key differences but yeah the cost difference isn't much between them through SuperBiiz.

I'm really bummed out about the $370 price tag but maybe Magoo can confirm if his is the BF3 edition. If it is then there should be a $20 drop when somebody starts carrying the regular edition.

Personally, I'm still leaning toward the Extreme now. I'm not comfortable with the VREG temps Magoo posted since he had a fan going across the board. I won't have that luxury in my case. I think I'll need watercooling on the chipset.
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Well said. VRM and CPU temps are my concern right now with the 2011 platform. I may just hang back now and wait a little bit to see what happens. The 4 core 3820 is coming out soon.

New mobos may come out with better heatsinks or more vrms. If the 3820s overclock like a champ, Intel might have just killed itself with the delayed shipment of the 3930ks.
 
I went with the extreme because it was 405 shipped. The extra bonus of being able to get a waterblock for it.

Plus I like the eatx size of it :)
 
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