ASUS Rampage or EVGA Classified

A

(\/)agungis

Weaksauce
Joined
Mar 18, 2009
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First off, I am not concerned with price. I would like your opinions on the following boards for an i7 build.

ASUS P6T Deluxe V2
ASUS Rampage GENE
ASUS Rampage II Extreme
EVGA X58 3X SLI
EVGA Classified

What i will be using for:
Gearing towards the gaming enthusiast and programming multitasker, little 3D rendering if any. I also would very much like to delve into OC'n and am not too familiar with each boards BIOS UI, how does ASUS compare to EVGA BIOS?

Miscelaneous:
i like the idea of the onboard contacts for my meter on the classified, however i do not know much about ASUS's product line or their tech support. I know EVGA's support is badass since i am currently building an i7 for a friend specs are below

Friends i7 build:
CPU: intel i7 920
RAM: Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600
GPU: 512 Nvidia gForce 9800GT
OS: Vista Ultimate 64-Bit / SP1
PSU: Corsair 750W

Simply put, I have only worked with one of these boards (EVGA X58 3XSLI). I'm sure alot of you either own or have worked with some, if not all, of the above mentioned boards. I'm looking for opinions on both ASUS and EVGA manufacturers board layout, style, bios, etc... what do you guys think should i try ASUS or stick with EVGA? I hear ASUS tech support is poop however i have never used it. Let me know what you think, thanks in advance.

It also looks as if I am limiting myself to either ASUS or EVGA, which is not the case. If you can prove another manufacturers x58 mobo is better please link

(anyone heard of any boards set to release in Q4 of 2009 or 2010 you think i should hold out for or know a good website i can check out for future info?)
 
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I just made this decision yesterday. I chose between the ASUS Rampage II Extreme, the ASUS P6T6 WS Professional and the EVGA X58 3X SLI Classified. I also considered other boards, but those were my three top contenders. In the end I chose the EVGA X58 3X SLI Classified.

Really what won me over about the EVGA X58 3X SLI Classified is the layout. With it I can have my 3-Way SLI and two other cards of my choice provided they are single slot. I'll be able to add in an audio card and either a network card (since the Realtek 8111C sucks) or another video card for PhysX acceleration. While not terrible, the layout of the Rampage II Extreme would prevent me from having anything other than the three Geforce GTX 280's installed that I'll be using until the next generation cards are released. I also do not like the position of the last PCI-Express x16 slot on the Rampage II Extreme. This was really the deciding factor for me.
 
vsboxerboy said:
If you were going single card instead of 3xSLI which would you have chosen?
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Probably the ASUS Rampage II Extreme. Mainly due to the price more than anything. The EVGA X58 3X SLI Classified is very expensive even compared to the ASUS Rampage II Extreme.
 
i say go for classified seeing as you can get them for 399 now and you'd spend almost as much on the rampage, the layout is absolutely perfect for me.

and dont forget evga is lifetime warranty on that board... that was the most important thing for me, having a good RMA service incase of something going wrong.
 
(\/)agungis said:
anything on waranty/support for the ASUS product line?
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It sucks. EVGA has ASUS beat hands down on that. There is one thing in ASUS' favor and that's the fact ASUS doesn't require original purchase receipts and EVGA does. EVGA also requires registration.
 
lol and decision made lol

classified it is

off topic: what type of memmory manufacuter do you guys prefer for the classified? corsair or ocz or, who cares?
 
(\/)agungis said:
lol and decision made lol

classified it is

off topic: what type of memmory manufacuter do you guys prefer for the classified? corsair or ocz or, who cares?
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if you have the cash then the corsair GT's are TEH SEXXX.... but if you're sensible then any of them will be fine as long as you buy 1.65v maximum ram, keep an eye out because theres still plenty of higher voltage ddr3 out there.
 
thanks guys if anyone else has any opinions i will check back later til lthen it looks like the classified wins
 
the NF200 chip is to give 'true 3-way sli' but a lot of people are saying its a waste and performs worse than boards without it. theres a whole thread on it on the EVGA forum with people mad because they want the board without it now and they don't offer it as any kind of step-up

i bought the non-NF200 one because not only is it cheaper, i didnt need the little overclocking voltage panel thingy.
 
nightwalker said:
which version did you go for Dan ? NF200 or non-NF200 ?
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The one I ordered will have the nForce 200 MCP. Honestly that wasn't on purpose. I added a whole bunch of stuff to my cart and I did a search on Newegg for the board and just added it to my cart. I only realized later that there were two different part numbers on Newegg's site. One having the nForce 200 MCP and one that didn't. The order was already billed and processed before I could change it. I don't think the nForce 200 MCP will help or hurt things either way. I don't really believe it matters considering the latencies added by the chip are virtually meaningless and it really doesn't add lanes. All it does is multiplex what the chipset already provides. So in a way it works like a port multiplier. Still the bottleneck will be present at the chipset. So any theoretical increase the nForce 200 MCP could give you over the native PCI-Express lanes privided by the chipset are meaningless.

I'll say this. Given issues I've had with the Intel D5400XS and ATI cards in Crossfire/CrossfireX, I'd avoid the nForce 200 MCP version of the board. I believe the issues I had with Crossfire/CrossfireX (Specifically with the 4870 X2's.) to be issues caused/created by both drivers and latencies created by the nForce 100 series MCP's through its multiplexing and translation of the PCI-Express lane signals. In the case of the nForce 100 MCP's on the D5400XS, that meant that the nForce 100 would actually translate the native PCI-Express lanes of the Seaburg 5400 chipset from PCI-Express 2.0 to version 1.0/1.0a signalling. As a result I do not suggest that anyone who wants to use multi-GPU ATI cards with the EVGA X58 3X SLI Classified should bother with the nForce 200 MCP version. The nForce 200 MCP is a bit different animal than the nForce 100 MCP is, but I have concerns about it given that all the people that reported the same problems I had with the 4870 X2 all used boards that had either the nForce 100 MCP (Skulltrail) or the nForce 200 MCP which was part of the nForce 780i SLI chipset. I never heard of performance related issues with the ATI 4870 X2 when used on Intel or ATI/AMD chipset based boards.

Kyle selected the ASUS P6T6 WS Professional which is also equipped with the nForce 200 MCP for his Core i7 upgrade and he has a 4870 X2. I don't believe he has installed this setup yet so we'll have to see how that turns out. I'm just providing a word of caution as it would suck to spend $429.99 on a board that wouldn't work with your expensive ATI cards. Single GPU users can have it either way. It shouldn't make any difference to you.

nightwalker said:
the NF200 chip is to give 'true 3-way sli' but a lot of people are saying its a waste and performs worse than boards without it. theres a whole thread on it on the EVGA forum with people mad because they want the board without it now and they don't offer it as any kind of step-up

i bought the non-NF200 one because not only is it cheaper, i didnt need the little overclocking voltage panel thingy.
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After finding both part numbers after I had already ordered, I thought the $429.99 version just came with the overclocking/voltage panel and that was the difference between it and the $399.99 version. Upon closer examination of the specifications and a little more research I realized that one was equipped with the nForce 200 MCP and the other wasn't. Had I been paying closer attention I wouldn't have ordered the nForce 200 MCP version of the board. Still I remain unconcerned about the fact that the board coming to me has the nForce 200 MCP. In other words, I can take it or leave it.

As for the nForce 200 MCP performing worse, well that's true technically. The difference can only be measured by benchmarks and even then the difference is hardly worth mentioning. The nForce 200 MCP doesn't help anything because it has to multi-plex the PCI-Express lanes from the chipset. This means that the X58 chipset remains a bottleneck. So why add the latency? The nForce 200 MCP also adds power usage and generates heat on the board. With that said the added heat doesn't seem to be an issue on either the ASUS P6T6 WS Professional or the EVGA X58 3X SLI Classified. Essentially the nForce 200 MCP offers no benefit I can think of. The only thing it does is allow manufacturers to stretch the truth and pad the specs of the board to say that it offers "true 3x16 PCI-Express lanes" for 3-Way SLI. This is an outright lie as no lanes are really added unless the cards communicated with each other over the nForce 200 MCP without actually going through the nForce 200 MCP to the X58 chipset. I do not believe this is the case as the SLI bridge handles intercard communication on high end cards. Lower end cards that do not use the bridge do not generate a significant amount of bandwidth usage over the PCI-Express bus. Certainly nothing that PCI-Express x8 can handle. So a 8x8 configuration is more than sufficient and PCI-Express 2.0 provides as much bandwidth (theoretically) as PCI-Express x16 1.0/1.0a does. Since I know quite a bit of data still has to go through the chipset, this potential advantage is probably moot. All the performance data on this matter suggests that this is the case.
 
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vanilla_guerilla said:
neither. jesus christ. what would you choose, the yugo or the fiat?
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the fiat:
alen1d.jpg
 
i will admit, it was the stupidest 399 dollars ive ever spent, and i wont even use everything on it, but the layout is so perfect for me and it looks so sexy. if it didnt have lifetime warranty i wouldnt have bought it, good job it does lol.
 
Based on my experience with the ASUS Rampage 2 Extreme, I would take it off of the list. While it may be an overclockers dream, the layout issues negate any of the overclocking benefits. Mine is almost sold.
 
Just curious... what layout issues?

I'm looking at a high-end x58 board for my build... I figure I'm going all out anyways... :)
So I was looking at the non-n200 Classified, or the Rampage II ... I was set on a Gigabyte UD5 or P6T Deluxe, but think I'll go above those...

The most I'll go is 2 cards in SLI... starting with a single GTX280, and then move to the 300's when they come out, probably getting 2 for SLI.
 
Blazestorm said:
Just curious... what layout issues?

I'm looking at a high-end x58 board for my build... I figure I'm going all out anyways... :)
So I was looking at the non-n200 Classified, or the Rampage II ... I was set on a Gigabyte UD5 or P6T Deluxe, but think I'll go above those...

The most I'll go is 2 cards in SLI... starting with a single GTX280, and then move to the 300's when they come out, probably getting 2 for SLI.
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If you are only planning on 2 way SLI this is the wrong board. The expense is only justified if you are planning 3 way SLI. I was planning 3 way SLI, but the last slot is so close to the edge of the board, you will need a case with at least 8 expansion slots (not common) in order for 3 way to work. There are also issues with the location of the System Panel Connector. It sits directly under the rear of the 3rd video card and if the connectors from your case are just a little tall the card will not fit in the slot. You should refer to Dan's review of this board for a better description of some of the layout issues. If you are set on a 3 way board the non n 200 Classified would be a good choice: that is the direction I am going. I hope this helps.
 
jstenuf said:
If you are only planning on 2 way SLI this is the wrong board. The expense is only justified if you are planning 3 way SLI. I was planning 3 way SLI, but the last slot is so close to the edge of the board, you will need a case with at least 8 expansion slots (not common) in order for 3 way to work. There are also issues with the location of the System Panel Connector. It sits directly under the rear of the 3rd video card and if the connectors from your case are just a little tall the card will not fit in the slot. You should refer to Dan's review of this board for a better description of some of the layout issues. If you are set on a 3 way board the non n 200 Classified would be a good choice: that is the direction I am going. I hope this helps.
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I don't think you need a case with 8 expansion slots to make 3-Way SLI work. I think you can do it with normal cases provided they leave enough clearance. Cases with PSUs on the bottom have the problem of having additional support brackets most often in the way. Cases where the PSU is mounted on the top may have issues as well as they'll have the boards near the very bottom of the case. This is really to be taken on a case by case basis. (No pun intended. :D )
 
Dan_D said:
I don't think you need a case with 8 expansion slots to make 3-Way SLI work. I think you can do it with normal cases provided they leave enough clearance. Cases with PSUs on the bottom have the problem of having additional support brackets most often in the way. Cases where the PSU is mounted on the top may have issues as well as they'll have the boards near the very bottom of the case. This is really to be taken on a case by case basis. (No pun intended. :D )
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Don't disagree, but trying to match the right case to this board in order to achieve 3 way SLI is a PITA. I orginally tried this on a CM Stacker EVO and 3 way SLI would not fit. A good question for the forum might be: "What case are you using to achieve 3 way SLI on an ASUS R2E?" The list may be of value to anyone considering this motherboard.
 
jstenuf said:
Don't disagree, but trying to match the right case to this board in order to achieve 3 way SLI is a PITA.
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This is one reason why I didn't go with the Rampage II Extreme. If I went with ASUS this time around it most likely would have been the P6T6 WS Professional.
 
I hate pour water on your fire but If you look closely at the classified and the rampage 2 they almost have something in colon. For 3xsli on the rampage with duel slot cards you need a case with 8 expansion slots. For 3xsli on the classified you if you only use7 slots you can use a regular 7 slot case how ever if you want to use the extra pcie for physics or networking then the last pcie will hang over the end of the board just like the rampage and you will need the case with 8 expansion slots.

rody

cases that work for both listed here
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133072 coolermaster speedo. newegg descreptions are off this one does have 8 expansion slots

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133072
Thermaltake ArmorPlus has 10 expansions slots

those are just off the top of my head I am sure there are more.
 
I like that idea... need more cash. the old lady keeps speending my overtime money!
 
Rody said:
I hate pour water on your fire but If you look closely at the classified and the rampage 2 they almost have something in colon. For 3xsli on the rampage with duel slot cards you need a case with 8 expansion slots. For 3xsli on the classified you if you only use7 slots you can use a regular 7 slot case how ever if you want to use the extra pcie for physics or networking then the last pcie will hang over the end of the board just like the rampage and you will need the case with 8 expansion slots.

rody

cases that work for both listed here
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133072 coolermaster speedo. newegg descreptions are off this one does have 8 expansion slots

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133072
Thermaltake ArmorPlus has 10 expansions slots

those are just off the top of my head I am sure there are more.
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Sorry, but this isn't quite accurate. With either the Rampage II Extreme or the EVGA X58 3X SLI Classified you do not necessarily *need* a case with 8 expansion slots. You do however need to have some extra clearance past the 7th expansion slot. Many cases don't which is why you run into problems.
 
I like how dude is trying to argue with the motherboard editor lol.

Hey guys, I'm going to go argue with god about how intelligent design works....lol
 
Because slot layout is important, I am actually between the P6T6 Del and the Classified Non Nf200 version. Only going 2 way SLI but that's not a mistake. I plan to make use of 3 expansion slots, sound, network and eventually USB 3.0. NF200 on the WS prof and the full Classified just multiplex lanes and that won't really do any honest bandwidth work for me so they are a waste.

The solution to the GPU issues and to get the most slots available is to use single slot waterblocks, that's a given. But for me the real issues come in the ease of use. The Bios on the Asus is well recognized as simple as pie to lock in a good chip. Can the same be said of the Classified?
 
Anemone said:
Because slot layout is important, I am actually between the P6T6 Del and the Classified Non Nf200 version. Only going 2 way SLI but that's not a mistake. I plan to make use of 3 expansion slots, sound, network and eventually USB 3.0. NF200 on the WS prof and the full Classified just multiplex lanes and that won't really do any honest bandwidth work for me so they are a waste.

The solution to the GPU issues and to get the most slots available is to use single slot waterblocks, that's a given. But for me the real issues come in the ease of use. The Bios on the Asus is well recognized as simple as pie to lock in a good chip. Can the same be said of the Classified?
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The EVGA X58 3X SLI Classified probably has a more complex BIOS. All the screenshots I've seen indicate that. All the reports I've seen also indicate that it is a better overclocker too.
 
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