Crosshair IV Extreme

......this board isnt aimed at the entusiast or gaming market guys.......its aimed at the OC market.....it is designed with L2N in mind.....thats why its high priced, they want it to make records, atleast thats the impression i received when it was first announced, the Formula is for most people, this is for those that want to push to the physical limits of the chips out there....
 
It's also a board for AMD users who want the best of both worlds (AMD and NVIDIA GPU's).

Lucid Hydra isn't on every board either..... so it comes with a premium.

And, who else better to sell it to? The overclocking market.

If you think most good X58 boards are $300USD+, it isn't that bad. ROG boards are always feature packed.
 
If you have patience to go through Google translate you can see a review from my friends here. Original article in Romanian.
This is the first part. Second part will be about LucidLogix Hydra 200 and SLI/Crossfire configurations.
 
holy shit batman.. that heatsink is effing massive.. price isnt to bad though.. 300 Euro.. should be right around 250ish USD.. basic rule of thumb on euro prices is always subtract 50-75 dollars and you get the US price..
 
anthony256 said:
It's also a board for AMD users who want the best of both worlds (AMD and NVIDIA GPU's).

Lucid Hydra isn't on every board either..... so it comes with a premium.

And, who else better to sell it to? The overclocking market.

If you think most good X58 boards are $300USD+, it isn't that bad. ROG boards are always feature packed.
Click to expand...


Did you seriously just say that AMD is the best CPU company? Show me where a AM3 cpu outperforms a 980x.

They were the best at one time, but that time is not now.

sirmonkey1985 said:
holy shit batman.. that heatsink is effing massive.. price isnt to bad though.. 300 Euro.. should be right around 250ish USD.. basic rule of thumb on euro prices is always subtract 50-75 dollars and you get the US price..
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I do <3 the heatsink though.
 
W.Feather said:
......this board isnt aimed at the entusiast or gaming market guys.......its aimed at the OC market.....it is designed with L2N in mind.....thats why its high priced, they want it to make records, atleast thats the impression i received when it was first announced, the Formula is for most people, this is for those that want to push to the physical limits of the chips out there....
Click to expand...

Exactly. This board has a plethora of options geared towards the OC community, specifically the LN2 benchers/clockers plus you get the hydra chip. There's really no reason for your layman builder/clocker to have this board other than bragging rights.
 
greengrovesystems said:
Did you seriously just say that AMD is the best CPU company? Show me where a AM3 cpu outperforms a 980x.

They were the best at one time, but that time is not now.



I do <3 the heatsink though.
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no...he said that if you want to go AMD and have the best of both worlds (IE AMD CPU AND NVIDIA GPU like he said), this will let you......he never said AMD was better, just that you can have the CPU you want and GPU's you want.
 
no....it has been stated a few times that AM3 will not support BD, though the next socket WILL support AM3 chips.


as for the review, i am disappointed they used a active HS cooling for the NB.....very disappointed
 
well when you consider the fact that its cooling 3 chipsets im not all that surprised it needed active cooling.. they are having to cool the SB850, Lucid chipset and the AMD chipset, then dont forget about the VRM's..

but this motherboards purely designed for overclocking and the majority of people overclocking arent going to give a damn about some small fan hidden in a heatsink..

"Our suggestion? If you have the money, then go for it; just prepare to budget some noise cancelling headphones to complement the purchase..."
always love stupid comments like that in a review.. yeah no shit sherlock you have the motherboard sitting 5 ft from your face in an open bench.. what did you expect it to be quiet?
 
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lol, i figure a bunch of the perspective buyers will end up takign the HS off anyhow, for better OC and do water
 
This post will provide an extensive overview to help you get a better understanding of the technology behind the Crosshair IV Extreme. This information in the overview is aimed to be useful for both the up and coming ROG enthusiasts and the Pros alike.

This image is for your reference of the overall board layout.
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I have marked off all the key talking points of the board with numbers as a key to the details below in hopes to give you a better understanding of what makes this board so badass.:D
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1. The VRM on the board is a 8+2 phase VRM design. This means we have an 8 phase powering the CPU plus 2 phase powering the integrated memory controller and additional 2 phase for the actual system memory.
The VRM on the board uses higher grade capacitors which each of them are rated at 40 amps which allow us to run more amperage and power delivery to the CPU under extreme condition. Whether that’s under high overclocks under water, dice, ln2, the VRM is designed to allow high level of power to the CPU socket.

2. The C4E also uses a SUPER ML CAP. This allows higher current draw and can deliver the same amount of power when compared to 15 normal capacitors. ASUS has gone through extensive testing comparing these to other options like HI-C caps on competitor boards. In the end we decided to stick with SUPER ML CAP for better performance.

3. This is a FULL AMD AM3 socket based off the 890fx chipset to support dual core, tri core, quad core, hex core. ASUS has put a lot of focus on the VRM design to get the best performance out of Thuban - 6 core CPUs.

4. Extreme OC Zone has 3 physical buttons. The first button is the core unlocker button which allows you to unlock potentially hidden cores in AMD CPU. With a dual core, tri core, or upcoming quad core, you can unlock to a tri core, quad core or potentially hex core. The advantage of ASUS’s core unlocker over some competitors that have "similar" technology is that when this button is pressed it will automatically scan the cache on the CPU, automatically unlocking it. The user does not have to go into the bios, select core unlocking, select the cores, reboot, adjust the voltage, and then restart. This is a huge waste of time and effort. ASUS’s core unlocker will seamlessly unlock all possible cores. This is all dependent on the CPU of course. Some CPU are able to unlock some are not. The test and unlocking process takes about 30 seconds. You want to be sure to turn this feature on before you booth your system and not during. If you clear CMOS, it will disable core unlocker. These are all improvements from previous generation core unlockers from ASUS.
We then have the obvious power and reset buttons.

5. We also have PCI-E lane dip switches. These allow you to physically turn off the power to each individual PCI-E lane. This can be used in various scenarios such as when overclocking and you want to bench scores on 1 card and quickly switch to 2, 3, 4 cards, all you have to do is flip the switch and you’re ready to bench. No downtime!

You can also use these from a diagnostic standpoint to quickly figure out which GPU may be faulty. Especially if you have a watercooled GPU setup, it will be a pain to take out individual cards. This way you can still have the system running without physically taking the card out.

The QLED, which has physical LEDs on the board, will indicate the post status of the CPU, DRAM, VGA, or Boot device. If any of those are having issues, the LED will lock on them notifying you there is a problem.

6. ProbeIT allows you to use a digital multi-meter at the hardware level to accurately measure the voltages on the board in real time. Under varying types of load or extreme conditions, the voltage can skew so it’s good to monitor that. You can use either the direct contact points or use the belts provided to connect to the multi-meter. Probe IT will be the most accurate way to measure and monitor your voltages.

7. Go button/MEM OK serves 2 functions depending on the power state. If you press the go button while in windows, the board reboot and load a preset overclocked profile that the user defined in the bios, then the system will restart. You may find this useful in situations where your system locks and you want to bring your system back to a known profile that is able to boot. You will not need to re-input your bios settings from scratch.

When your computer is in the OFF state, by holding down this button, It will turn your system on and you would be activating the MEM OK process. This is used when you are not able to boot or run your system due to memory issues. BEFORE the CPU is initialized, it will attempt to interact with the memory and see if it can post with the pre-detected settings. If it still cannot post, the system will try to adjust the memory timing. If it’s not successful, it will adjust the frequency. If it’s not successful, it will attempt voltage cycling. If it’s still not successful it will try a mixture of all three. In a complete rare event, it will lock the Dram LED and let you know there is an issue with the memory. You may need to try 1 or 2 dimms and other diagnostic measures. Now in some cases, say you have 2000MHZ ram, in some cases the memory frequency will degrade and will not be able to boot at 2000MHZ, but still possible at 1600MHZ. MEM OK will bring the frequency down and let you run your system until you can figure out your RMA or replace it. But at least you will able to use your system.
Primary slots for the memory dimm are red. Secondary is black.

8. 890FX Chipset is AMD’s high end enthusiast chipset. The main advantage is that they have an increased number of PCI-E lanes, allowing X16 x16 Multi GPU configuration. Additionally with the enhanced number of PCI-E lanes, we can provide the additional controllers to the USB 3.0 and retain full performance while having multi GPU configurations, unlike most P55 boards that saturate the bandwidth or like ASUS mainstream boards using a PLX Bridge chip to maintain the full performance. For the best performance when running Multi GPU, you want to utilize slot 1 and 3 for a dual slot configuration. To enable SLI, you have to have your cards in slot 1 and 3, otherwise the Lucid drives will not detect it. These slots have been specifically assigned to work with the Lucid chip.

The C4E has also been tuned for memory to take full performance past 2000MHZ, which on AMD is rare, so we are fully maximizing the 890FX chipset.

9. 890FX supports SATA 6G natively. All 6 ports are SATA 6G compared to P55 or X58 boards that only support 2 SATA 6G. It also supports RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10. The SATA 6G bandwidth on the 890FX is not capped like intel boards. 890FX does not support USB 3.0 natively so we have included an NEC controller for USB 3.0. There are an additional 2 SATA 3G ports specifically for optical drives so that they are separate from your potential raid configuration.

10. ROG Connect Bios flashback has several elements. We have incorporated dual socket bios chips where other competitors have soldered on their chips. The advantage is, if one fails, we can easily replace it.

Typically when you have your system ready to run, the user will install the CPU, Memory, and GPU in order to boot and load your bios. With USB bios flashback, you can load the latest bios on a thumb drive, plug it in the vertical ROG connect USB port, and flash the bios by holding down the ROG connect button for about three seconds and wait for the bios light to start flashing which will indicate the bios being written. The only thing you need is standby power connected to the board. The bios “.rom” file must be rewritten depending on the board. For a Crosshair IV Extreme, you must rename the file to “C4E.rom”. If you have a Rampage III Formula, you will rename the file to “R3F.rom”
It will work for either bios chip, you can use the bios switch button to switch between the chips. You can also flash your bios through ROG Connect via notebook.
Both of these features are exclusive to ROG.

11. The C4E is equipped with a Lucid hydra controller that can run both AMD Crossfire X and Nvidia SLI. In the past you were only able to run single AMD or Nvidia GPU or AMD Crossfire X. With Lucid you are now able to run single, dual or triple SLI configurations. Lucid will also allow you to have a mixed mode. You will be able to mix cards from the same vendor for example; AMD 5870 and 5850 combo or Nvidia GTX480 and GTX460 combo. You also have X mode which will allow you to mix and match Nvidia and AMD cards.

12. We also have a PCI slot for some overclockers to run an old PCI VGA card, enough to display video and put as little load on the PCI-E lanes which they tend to overclock PCI-E bus which can potentially cause instability.

It can also be used for PCI post diagnostic cards and older generation high end audio cards.

13. ROG Connect and ROG connect Bluetooth, is a software application that allows users to tweak various bios features through a notebook. You can adjust various frequencies, voltages, monitor temperatures, voltages, and remotely turn on and off your system and much more. Bluetooth connect allows you to utilize the functions of ROG connect through your android, win mobile, symbian, and iphone. You can also use the Bluetooth module to pair normal Bluetooth connectivity for additional Bluetooth peripherals. To initialize ROG connect, you must press the ROG connect button. To initialize Bluetooth ROG connect, you must press the Bluetooth ROG connect button.

14. Intel Ethernet Lan was implemented based on the research and demand from the gaming community as the best supported and best performing network controller. Intel Ethernet is providing the best performance with the least CPU overhead giving you the best gaming performance and compatibility.

15. The Extreme series adds additional power support for the GPU. We have added extra power connections for the GPU. There is 1 molex connector behind the audio ports and 1 next to the last PCI-E lane. These are specific to provide additional power to the PCI-E lanes under very extreme load conditions. Even if you are running a full 4 way GPU setup with moderate overclocks under air environment, it is not required for the additional power. Some of you may be wondering, does it matter which molex you connect into depending on how your GPU is setup? No, both molex are going to the same backplane and is not dedicated to specific lanes. If you need additional power, you can choose either molex or both.

16. Heatsink design is a uni-heatpipe design, so it goes through the VRM -> 890FX-> Lucid chip-> and the Southbridge. There is a 40mm fan to cool the hottest point of the heatsink.
There are 8, 4pin fan headers on the board with advanced fan control for the CPU, chassis, and the optional controllers. We have one of the most advanced fan controllers on the market as the board can target CPU and chassis temperatures, fan rotational speed. For example, you can set your fans to automatically adjust RPM at a desired speed when your chassis hits 25 degrees, 50 degrees, or whatever degree you decide to set it at.

The C4E comes equipped with Q design elements such as:
17. Q-Dimm – Designed for our Dram slots where only one side of the memory is notched and the other has a retention clip allowing for easier installation and removal. Typically a double sided retention clip can be obstructed by the GPU possibly forcing you to tension your graphics card or having to remove it. With Q-Dimm, you just need to push down on one clip to remove the memory.

18. Q-Slot - has a wider switch, which allows easier access when removing graphics cards. The Depression clip is actually wider than the Graphics card so that you can use a probe or pencil to push the clip down and easily remove the card. This Is especially useful when running multi GPU setups. In competitor boards, you would typically have to taking out the first 3 cards in order to remove the 4th card due to the inferior switch design.

19. We also have our volt meter LED technology which will indicate the voltage being supplied is normal, high, or CRAZY. It will pretty much tell you if you’re in the danger zone.
The package also comes with 2 thermal probe headers that allow you to include the thermal sensor anyone on the board to get a direct reading.
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IO Ports
1 PS2 port; (can use keyboard or mouse)
2 USB 2.0 ports
Clear CMOS; (press it until it turns green)
2 USB2.0 ports, ESATA
TOSS link out/optical
2 USB 2.0 port, 1 Firewire, Powered ESATA; (important note; for the 2 ESATA, we are not using a combination port. Some competitors may advertise 8 USB ports, along with 2 ESATA (same as ASUS), but you may not always be able to use the USB and ESATA at the same time. Often Competitors share the bandwidth to use USB OR ESATA, so you are limited to one port or the other. ASUS has dedicated ports allowing you to fully use each and every port that’s advertised.
Intel Gigabit LAN and 2 USB 3.0 ports
ROG Connect Button
ROG Connect USB port; (also used as a normal usb)
ROG Connect bluetooth module; Once this module is inserted, you will be able to use it to activate ROG connect via phone or use with normal Bluetooth peripherals.
8 channel audio using the Realtek 889 chip.
 
This thing gives me wood!
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I like the fact that its overbuilt. If this thing is built to handle insane overclocks and set records, then it can take anything the average OC'ing / PC gamer can throw at it. That bulletproof-ness is worth extra IMO.
 
thanks for the extra info OC_seer.. makes a huge difference in how i look at the board.. that things a friggin beast!
 
sirmonkey1985 said:
thanks for the extra info OC_seer.. makes a huge difference in how i look at the board.. that things a friggin beast!
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no problem. i'll have some performance screenshots and numbers up soon...finding good cards for Lucid :)
 
sweet.. yeah that overclock3d review was lacking a lot of important information.. any chance [H] got one of these boards to review?
 
i don't handle press releases so i'm not certain if [H] has one but overclock3d is not a US site and the Crosshair IV Extreme samples will be sent out to US sites shortly
 
OC_Seer said:
i don't handle press releases so i'm not certain if [H] has one but overclock3d is not a US site and the Crosshair IV Extreme samples will be sent out to US sites shortly
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They're already at retail here. [H] should have had one before that happened. I'd love to see an [H] review.

Then they can send it to me when they're done with it.
 
It's been sent out and some reviews are popping up - but they're useless.

Reviewing it as a motherboard - and not testing the Crossfire/SLI/Hydra mix, that's what I want to see, how it performs with CFX/SLI and then Hydra, all seperately.

I'll be getting this board the second it hits retail and testing it as so.
 
OC_Seer-- Any insight into why this board took so long to get to market?

I hope to see some better reviews of this board also. I'm sill not sold on Hydra.
 
anthony256 said:
It's been sent out and some reviews are popping up - but they're useless.

Reviewing it as a motherboard - and not testing the Crossfire/SLI/Hydra mix, that's what I want to see, how it performs with CFX/SLI and then Hydra, all seperately.

I'll be getting this board the second it hits retail and testing it as so.
Click to expand...

+1 This.
 
anthony256 said:
It's been sent out and some reviews are popping up - but they're useless.

Reviewing it as a motherboard - and not testing the Crossfire/SLI/Hydra mix, that's what I want to see, how it performs with CFX/SLI and then Hydra, all seperately.

I'll be getting this board the second it hits retail and testing it as so.
Click to expand...

its already on newegg...
 
ahh, missed that bit ;) i love it in Aus, was there this summer on the great ocean road.....there i go off topic again
 
Too bad this board seems overpriced.

If I want to spend $300 dollars I would just got Intel and go MSI x58 Big Bang.
 
Overpriced? I thought it was a far better deal compared to a Rampage III Extreme. Its only 80.00 more than the Formula board, with a lot more features. I think its a pretty good deal.

The funniest thing, a friend of mine decided to build with an X6 rig. We looked at the pre launch info on this board, and the day he ordered, New Egg put the Extreme board up for sale less than twelve hours after he ordered the Formula IV board. The mobo he ordered was already on a truck and shipped out and too late to cancel. You should have heard him on vent when he found the sale listing. That was too funny.
 
Really looking forward to seeing some benches of this board with either Crossfire or SLI, since every review I've seen doesn't really cover that. Here's to hoping there's a ROG board like this for Bulldozer in a timely manner!!
 
Subweevil said:
Really looking forward to seeing some benches of this board with either Crossfire or SLI, since every review I've seen doesn't really cover that. Here's to hoping there's a ROG board like this for Bulldozer in a timely manner!!
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i heard that the hydra chips don't work really well right now
 
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