[H] Asus Striker Review

lol damn, that sucks. I wasn't going to buy it anyway...I prefer the DS3 but still, I expected more from a "Republic of Gamers" board.

Then again...maybe a few bios updates should fix the problems. I know my board sucked until I flashed it to the latest bios.
 
in this case, a stick in the eye might in fact be nicer! ;) lol
 
ouch.... too think I had regretes purchasing the eVGA board instead of waiting.
 
Hmm, since the other Asus 680i based board (can't remember the model number right now) is really the same board without all of the bling, guess that means it would operate pretty well the same as the Striker, right? Too bad!
 
I wonder if the issues in the review are the reasons its hard to find one of these boards. Asus is not sending out the Striker in its current condition.
 
LOL ASUS Striker "strikes out."

A bit harsh, but reality is sometimes harsh.

I was not looking forward to the board too much, because I am perfectly content with my eVGA. Not to say the STriker doesnt look cool though... My 9500 would look sexy with all that copper.
 
I just got the cheaper board, the P5N32-E SLI, which runs the same chipset. I havent had time yet to get it out of the box.
I'm anxious this weekend to see how it will perform.
I'm sure at stock this will be a great board, but I was planning on OCing a bit, I just hope I wont be disappointed.

I'll try and post a thread with my impressions this weekend.
 
I'm a big fan of this band, so I beg everyone at the [H] to stop messing up their name in all of your reviews/previews! I've seen it over and over. The name of the band is "System of a Down" NOT "System of THE DownED. For the record, the CD is titled "Mezmerize", NOT MeSmerizeD. This has been my PSA for the day. Thanks. ;-)
 
Wow, yet another wrinkle in the saga that is hardware reviewing.

I wanted to comment briefly on a concern of mine that has been growing for sometime with hardware reviews recently. OK, I think most everyone here on some level will concede that this board (based on this review) has some pretty serious flaws, especially in light of the fact that it is retailing for over $400.

I also think most people will concede that this board has the POTENTIAL to be one of the difinitive gaming boards of '07. All of the bells and whistles are there but they are just not singing in harmony....yet.

If anyone here has purchased a MoBo in the last 3 years, almost everyone can recall some horror story about cold-boot problems, ram incompatibility, instability, temperature reporting problems, PCI card non-operability, RAID horrors and yet, it seems that in almost every case, the board maker is able to iron these things out and even produce bios images that allow better overclocking and stability.

So the problem I suppose is that when we look at boards hot off the solder lines, we are also getting very immature software and that, it seems is a huge problem for ASUS who expects us to plunk down $400 for their wares.

In the software realm, just look at XP at release and now. It's practially two different OSs that would have garnered 2 very different reviews if they had been reviewed at the same time.

Now raise your hand if you are OK with reading reviews online for 8 month old hardware with mature and stable bios? Anyone? Anyone? I didn't think so.

Now raise your hand if you think this board has maxed out its potential? Anyone? Anyone? Interesting!

So you don't want to wait to make a decision on the board but you also know flaws are par for the course with new releases (especially new chipsets). How do you estimate whether this product (vista, zune, ps3, Striker Extreme) will live up to it's potential.

I for one know that brand goes a long way for me. I can buy any DFI board on day1 and know that in the end, it will be the most stable tweakalicious board in it's class, inspite of the fact problems will be present at launch. I know vista will mature over time and I know that the PS3 will have great games but will not touch the xbox online component.

Similarly, I am pretty confident that ASUS will address a lot of these issues and whether is be a new board revision, or some bios tweaks, the Striker Extreme has yet to hit it's stride but when it does, it will strike....though maybe not to the extreme.
 
The flaw that underlies that logic is that the purpose of a review is to critique something in its current condition as available to the public.

Making an underling assumption that the object in question will eventually be fixed negates the very purpose of critiquing it in the first place. You might as well give every piece of hardware/software reviewed an "editors pick" because they will eventually, possibly, if you are lucky, fix the issues in question.

The fact that this reflects poorly on a companies product is just something that they will have to grin and bear with, particularly because they know that this is the outcome from a shoddy release. The fact of the matter is, that at present, there are far better and cheaper m/boards to pick from. The possibility that they may fix these issues is not something which is relevant to the review or, in most cases, a buyers decision.
 
Sneak said:
Hmm, since the other Asus 680i based board (can't remember the model number right now) is really the same board without all of the bling, guess that means it would operate pretty well the same as the Striker, right? Too bad!
Click to expand...

No, the Asus,DFI and the Abit board is not a reference board.
 
All Nforce 680 board are the same specs, probly Asus put aluminium caps more than reference board plus their r&d released more (tweaked) bios. Basically any 680 board with more voltages on SPP and MCP will achive higher FSB and stability.....But for how long:)
 
defiant007 said:
The flaw that underlies that logic is that the purpose of a review is to critique something in its current condition as available to the public.

Making an underling assumption that the object in question will eventually be fixed negates the very purpose of critiquing it in the first place. You might as well give every piece of hardware/software reviewed an "editors pick" because they will eventually, possibly, if you are lucky, fix the issues in question.

The fact that this reflects poorly on a companies product is just something that they will have to grin and bear with, particularly because they know that this is the outcome from a shoddy release. The fact of the matter is, that at present, there are far better and cheaper m/boards to pick from. The possibility that they may fix these issues is not something which is relevant to the review or, in most cases, a buyers decision.
Click to expand...

I dout that most of its problems can be fixed with a simple bios update as well. All that heat pipe mess and it still runs HOT :eek:
 
defiant007 said:
The flaw that underlies that logic is that the purpose of a review is to critique something in its current condition as available to the public.

Making an underling assumption that the object in question will eventually be fixed negates the very purpose of critiquing it in the first place. You might as well give every piece of hardware/software reviewed an "editors pick" because they will eventually, possibly, if you are lucky, fix the issues in question.

The fact that this reflects poorly on a companies product is just something that they will have to grin and bear with, particularly because they know that this is the outcome from a shoddy release. The fact of the matter is, that at present, there are far better and cheaper m/boards to pick from. The possibility that they may fix these issues is not something which is relevant to the review or, in most cases, a buyers decision.
Click to expand...

I completely agree that the review needs to focus on the hardware in it's current state. And the review most likely will mirror the end users experience if they install the board today.

But, it is also a little near-sighted to omit the fact that at least some of the issues can, and likely will be ironed out over time. I suppose I am simply stating that the enthusiasts are aware of these issues and typically chalk it up to the price you pay for being an early adopter. I guess it would just be nice for motherboards to be given the same consideration as CPUs and gfx cards with respect to software being an integral part of the story. Most reviewers were quick to point that while quad core CPUs offer little benefit today, but that over time their value will increase as the cores are leveraged more by games and apps.

That is really why I like the concept of the round-up which typically occurs after products have had time to mature. I would have never bought my Infrant ReadyNAS NV based on the first reviews that pointed out many problems with the OS. Now after a few updates it is the most recommended home NAS device.

I am sure the community at large will be keeping an eye on this board so I have no doubt the ongoing value of this board will be well documented.
 
I am fairly certain that this is not too bad of a board and a batch of marginal samples got passed around which didn't thrill many, to say the least... Asus's lack of efforts to swap these board out with better samples not the best PR move ever... anyways.. it's hefty price tag doesn't help it's cause, making the issues many have had with it extremely frustrating.. you would think it would perform better with a price tag like that, ect.. and from Asus.. anyways.. some peeps on XS have had more luck with this board.. but they're acting like a gaggle of ass-hats poking fun at the [H] review.. really lame, but I guess that's how they get their jollies. sad really. I am getting sick of that place..

anyways.. seems the board is very touchy with NB voltage.. you really shouldn't go over 1.5v (it won't boot over 1.6v) and you should put a fan on the NB sink.. it likes D9 memory chips a lot.. the vdimm goes up to 3.5+ while the vcore only reaches 1.6?? crazy.. seems pretty unbalanced.. hopefully some of the wacky voltage issues can be fixed with bios updates.. only time will tell.
 
I have been waiting this board about a month now. Now seeing the board can't pass 400Mhz FSB, I'm so disapointed! BUT, I'll still buying this board, cos' Kyle said this in the review:

"ASUS told us that there were BIOS issues causing voltage issues with the northbridge."

I am convidence that the FSB oc issue can be solved by BIOS update!
 
that comment about the striker's northbridge being 5-10 C hotter than the egva 680i ...

is that at stock speeds? overclocked? and..with or without the evga nb fan ( i assume it was attached)?

i really want a silent solution as quite a few say the evga fan is too loud...but, after this review, heh. i am unsure as the evga seems to have multiple issues also --like sata when memory over 800, limited hsf without a dremel,nb fan noise, 2 pin ...

but the striker ...expensive, underperformer ...and possibly the NB DOES need a fan even still.

??
 
OC'ing is suffering, a loud ass fan, and it's still $400? I'll pass.

It's like saying "This new Ferrari has bald tires, the engine's timing is way off, and it still costs $540,000."

I think the review told the [H]ard truth and I welcome that as someone who makes informed decisions about how to spend my cash.

$400!! :eek:
 
I thought I'd chime in on this.

One problem I've always had with reviews even before I started writing them was that they can not by design focus on long term reliability.

In that reguard ASUS is almost always top notch.

Another comment that I'd like to leave here is that I am using the Striker in my own system now. I replaced the eVGA board with it because the eVGA board did not work correctly and left me with a huge list of problems. Almost every system problem I have had with my personal machine was resolved when I installed the Striker. I tried two different eVGA boards and both of them had malfunctioning RAID controllers, stability issues and sound issues with SLI enabled. This was the case even after the BIOS was updated to P21.

I don't know if there will be a featured article following up on the Striker on the [H] main site, but I will follow up with my new experiences with this board as I overclock my E6600 and use this board in my own system. I will post in the forum with my experiences, good or bad.
 
RedStarSQD said:
that comment about the striker's northbridge being 5-10 C hotter than the egva 680i ...

is that at stock speeds? overclocked? and..with or without the evga nb fan ( i assume it was attached)?


??
Click to expand...


having had both, I can tell you that the asus striker heatsink setup is far less effective than the Evga's was. In any case, I removed all that pipe stuff on the striker and replaced it with better chiopset coolers.
 
Dan_D said:
I thought I'd chime in on this.

One problem I've always had with reviews even before I started writing them was that they can not by design focus on long term reliability.

In that reguard ASUS is almost always top notch.

Another comment that I'd like to leave here is that I am using the Striker in my own system now. I replaced the eVGA board with it because the eVGA board did not work correctly and left me with a huge list of problems. Almost every system problem I have had with my personal machine was resolved when I installed the Striker. I tried two different eVGA boards and both of them had malfunctioning RAID controllers, stability issues and sound issues with SLI enabled. This was the case even after the BIOS was updated to P21.

I don't know if there will be a featured article following up on the Striker on the [H] main site, but I will follow up with my new experiences with this board as I overclock my E6600 and use this board in my own system. I will post in the forum with my experiences, good or bad.
Click to expand...


ASUS has had a pretty good run here lately and have more than competent engineers, but I think one thing that needs to be kept in mind here is that ASUS was NOT a launch partner with the 680i so there is no way they have had the time to engineer that they usually would have had in such a case. Also, them not being a launch partner makes me question the chip quality they are getting from NVIDIA. I am sure NVIDIA is speed binning early parts, or at least that is my GUESS. Would you give ASUS as good or better chips than you are keeping for your own boards through launch partners using your reference design?

As for the storage issues some are reporting on the eVGA, I have had two eVGA boards and have yet to see the issue on either. I also have the BFGTech board here now and have not seen any issues on it as well and we do run SATA RAID arrays on all mobo test setups. Obviously the issue is real from the rumblings heard about. I am asking eVGA and NVIDIA this morning if they have any answers.
 
HONG KONGer said:
I have been waiting this board about a month now. Now seeing the board can't pass 400Mhz FSB, I'm so disapointed! BUT, I'll still buying this board, cos' Kyle said this in the review:

"ASUS told us that there were BIOS issues causing voltage issues with the northbridge."

I am convidence that the FSB oc issue can be solved by BIOS update!
Click to expand...

I am not convinced of that otherwise we would have already seen the update....
 
grdh20 said:
having had both, I can tell you that the asus striker heatsink setup is far less effective than the Evga's was. In any case, I removed all that pipe stuff on the striker and replaced it with better chiopset coolers.
Click to expand...


Wow, now that is saying something. That is a lot of expensive cooling to pay for and not use.... :(
 
RedStarSQD said:
that comment about the striker's northbridge being 5-10 C hotter than the egva 680i ...
Click to expand...
Actually Kyle said it was 5-10 F hotter. 5-10 F is a much smaller difference than 5-10 C.


Kyle said:
Another thing to note when you compare the ASUS Striker to the eVGA 680i board, we saw temperatures of the northbridge and CPU run hotter on the Striker by 5 to 10 degrees F.
Click to expand...
 
With how much ASUS was bragging about all the x-mas lights they placed on the mobo, i thought for sure that would have been photographed on this review, along with the LCD on the backplane.
0nboard_led.jpg
 
another thought: it seems like to me these new chipsets might need more than just passive cooling.. I mean I like it and all, but they run so hot.. I think I would rather just have a smaller sink + fan combo than the heatpipe rollercoaster.. then there would also be no issue at all with ATX/BTX config changes.. centered wick heatpipe and all, the chips at one end can be made to absorb heat from the other end.. so while it's ok in reverse order, it's not always optimal.. anyways, marginally high chipset temps and possible marginal chips (if Kyle's hunch is correct) = probable stability issues.
 
grdh20 said:
Expensive as in cost of board. Cheap as tin as far as the pipes themselves. Also, whey should we distribute the heat from the NB aound to the mofstes etc?

Kyle, have you tried the 505 bios? They have a 508 that they won't share yet also. Suposed to fix some issues that have been seen so far. I haven't flashed the 505 yet, but I'll try it later tonight and see.
Click to expand...


We don't spend time using every bios found on the web. We notified ASUS of the exact issue, and they have not responded with a fix. I am sure if they had a fix, they would make me aware of it.
 
I have the 680i eVGA board and haven't experienced any of the SATA issues. Memory over 800mhz, SLI, SATA HDD's, no issues. I don't use raid, but the SATA controller itself is not universally broken. I would imagine BIOS updates will begin to stabilize it out.
 
Maybe I'm just a n00b, but is NB temp the same as MB temp?

According to my readings, my MB (NB?) temp is only 33*C right now (no massive load). I'm using stock settings for all my hardware currently. I'm waiting for a new BIOS (non BETA) before I start trying to overclock my system.



One thing that is wrong in the above picture is the fact that the temp, mem voltage and PCIE Voltage are not the same for the Asus Probe and the Asus AI booster. However, the temperatures are very cool compared to the temps in my old AMD X2 system. Is 33*C considered hot for MB (NB) temps?

Since I built this system a couple weeks ago, I have not had any major problems with it what so ever. I suppose when I start trying to overclock things, I might start seeing these issues the [H] review is alluding to. Overall, I'm happy with this motherboard. Yeah, the $409 was a hefty price to pay and it would have been an easier pill to swallow if the price had been a bit cheaper, but I think the board will pay for itself over time and last several years.
 
revenant said:
another thought: it seems like to me these new chipsets might need more than just passive cooling.. I mean I like it and all, but they run so hot.. I think I would rather just have a smaller sink + fan combo than the heatpipe rollercoaster.. then there would also be no issue at all with ATX/BTX config changes.. centered wick heatpipe and all, the chips at one end can be made to absorb heat from the other end.. so while it's ok in reverse order, it's not always optimal.. anyways, marginally high chipset temps and possible marginal chips (if Kyle's hunch is correct) = probable stability issues.
Click to expand...

well said, and a very good point.
It would seem a better cooling solution is needed for the chipsets.
I'm not a big fan of the way they have all those heat pipes connected to each. It would seem all it's doing is moving the heat around from the hottest area to the cooler area of the board through the heatpipes.
I've requested eddy of EK waterblocks to make some custom chipset wb for these new boards so, if yea into watercooling, it might just be the ticket ta solve this problem. ;)
 
Mysogonist said:
Wow, yet another wrinkle in the saga that is hardware reviewing.

I wanted to comment briefly on a concern of mine that has been growing for sometime with hardware reviews recently. OK, I think most everyone here on some level will concede that this board (based on this review) has some pretty serious flaws, especially in light of the fact that it is retailing for over $400.

I also think most people will concede that this board has the POTENTIAL to be one of the difinitive gaming boards of '07. All of the bells and whistles are there but they are just not singing in harmony....yet.

If anyone here has purchased a MoBo in the last 3 years, almost everyone can recall some horror story about cold-boot problems, ram incompatibility, instability, temperature reporting problems, PCI card non-operability, RAID horrors and yet, it seems that in almost every case, the board maker is able to iron these things out and even produce bios images that allow better overclocking and stability.

So the problem I suppose is that when we look at boards hot off the solder lines, we are also getting very immature software and that, it seems is a huge problem for ASUS who expects us to plunk down $400 for their wares.

In the software realm, just look at XP at release and now. It's practially two different OSs that would have garnered 2 very different reviews if they had been reviewed at the same time.

Now raise your hand if you are OK with reading reviews online for 8 month old hardware with mature and stable bios? Anyone? Anyone? I didn't think so.

Now raise your hand if you think this board has maxed out its potential? Anyone? Anyone? Interesting!

So you don't want to wait to make a decision on the board but you also know flaws are par for the course with new releases (especially new chipsets). How do you estimate whether this product (vista, zune, ps3, Striker Extreme) will live up to it's potential.

I for one know that brand goes a long way for me. I can buy any DFI board on day1 and know that in the end, it will be the most stable tweakalicious board in it's class, inspite of the fact problems will be present at launch. I know vista will mature over time and I know that the PS3 will have great games but will not touch the xbox online component.

Similarly, I am pretty confident that ASUS will address a lot of these issues and whether is be a new board revision, or some bios tweaks, the Striker Extreme has yet to hit it's stride but when it does, it will strike....though maybe not to the extreme.
Click to expand...

Well written, I would hire you.
:D
 
It would appear that some people *cough* KYLE *cough* need some Overclocking and BIOS training. Look at my signature for a Striker Extreme setup that is 24/7 stable. Please try and tell me that 3.5GHz is not superb.

Not only that you guys need to read the mobo manual and realize you need to switch a jumper to enable the CMOS Clear to even work. When the power is off the CMOS Clear buuton will still be on. Push it the light goes off. Push it again and the light goes back on and then back to overclocking.

There is a clear CMOS switch on the motherboard to aid in making testing easier. Unfortunately, this switch doesn't seem to do anything. On more than one occasion I'd have to remove the battery and wait 10 minutes before I could actually get the CMOS to clear.
Click to expand...
:rolleyes:

Personally I think the editors here need some computer training because the sure can't write reviews for the life of them. Especailly to the enthusiast market.

THE CORE 2 DUO REVIEW IS THE BEST EXAMPLE OF THIS. :confused:

THIS BOARD ROCKS PLAIN AND SIMPLE. MY SIGNATURE TELLS ALL. ;)
 
tikiman44 said:
It would appear that some people *cough* KYLE *cough* need some Overclocking and BIOS training. Look at my signature for a Striker Extreme setup that is 24/7 stable. Please try and tell me that 3.5GHz is not superb.

Not only that you guys need to read the mobo manual and realize you need to switch a jumper to enable the CMOS Clear to even work. When the power is off the CMOS Clear buuton will still be on. Push it the light goes off. Push it again and the light goes back on and then back to overclocking.


:rolleyes:

Personally I think the editors here need some computer training because the sure can't write reviews for the life of them. Especailly to the enthusiast market.

THE CORE 2 DUO REVIEW IS THE BEST EXAMPLE OF THIS. :confused:

THIS BOARD ROCKS PLAIN AND SIMPLE. MY SIGNATURE TELLS ALL. ;)
Click to expand...

I am sorry we did not all have the same exact experience as you. Also, these problems has existed across two Striker boards with three different people doing the tweaking. It is hardly MY problem, I wish it was.

Still ASUS will not get $400 from me when I can go with either eVGA or BFG and save a ton of money. And yes, they have some of their own problems to work out as well. I wish they were all perfect.

As for my overclocking abilities, you might check this page. I have my E6300 running faster than your setup. Looks like you must suck compared to me. You spent hunreds more and my rig is still faster. :p

And no, your use of caps does not constitue a fact.

Also, which Core 2 Duo review are you talking about? The one written for our readers showing them that those with faster AMD processors need not abandon their rigs as Intel's promises of 40% better gaming does not happen unless you play at 800x600? Or the one that shows just how powerful the Core 2 Duo is outside of the gaming arena when it comes to other uses?
 
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