Some ASUS Rampage III Extreme, eVGA GTX 480 SC, and PNY GTX 480 eye candy

Vectrexer

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 5, 2009
Messages
232
ASUS Rampage III Extreme and eVGA GTX480 SC arrived today to go with the PNY GTX 480

Getting a feel for how it might all come together later.

Might also be useful for others wondering how tall those accessories are when installed.



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????

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You're not the only one that is crazy!

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This system best enjoyed extra big and potent Bawls! ( where can I get more? running low! )

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OMFG....that is insanity. My head seriously almost blew up. WTF you trying to do!!? Launch a missile from home!!? WOW man lol. Props!
 
Just let you know, 16x will run in PCI-E slots 1 & 3, so separate those 480s if you're running a dual setup. The quad setup is insane.
 
Notice the green hue on my face. :(

Let us know what happens when you power that thing up:eek:


BTW, congratz on that [H]ard setup:D
Looking forward to some benchmark score...
 
Notice the green hue on my face. :(

Let us know what happens when you power that thing up:eek:


BTW, congratz on that [H]ard setup:D
Looking forward to some benchmark score...



SHITTTTTTTT, this guy IS the benchmark!
 
Low noise........................:eek:

Where's the air conditioner?

Did you call your electrician and install a dedicated 20 amp breaker?

Nice photos.

ASUS version of the 4 way Classified.:D......that's some serious graphics horsepower, right there. (not to mention the freekin cash...........are you married? I bet not. My wife would be up my ass so far I'd have to use GPS to find her)
 
makes me appreciate the wife more.. she saw the pics and said 'that's awesome'. And yes she knows what the 480s are, the 980x , and the board.

no pics either. :D

Low noise........................:eek:

Where's the air conditioner?

Did you call your electrician and install a dedicated 20 amp breaker?

Nice photos.

ASUS version of the 4 way Classified.:D......that's some serious graphics horsepower, right there. (not to mention the freekin cash...........are you married? I bet not. My wife would be up my ass so far I'd have to use GPS to find her)
 
WOW! That looks pretty nice!


Question.... Is the PCI slot covered with the 480 in slot 3? Was just wondering because I am thinking about getting this board and doing a dual 480 setup. I need the PCI slot for my audio card for music mixing.
 
That is totally insane. I almost choked when I saw the 4th card...I bet you create some global warming with that set-up!
 
Awesome! I'm thinking of picking up a forth card myself, where did you get the 4x bridge? It looks to be from a Classified? Did you own a Classified or pick up the bridge separately?
 
Why not all 4 EVGA SCs?

What CPU cooling are you going to use? It had better be pretty to match!

Actually, no you should do something totally hilarious and have that setup with the stock intel cooler. That would be funny!
 
Oh goodness gracious, good grief, holy crap! I nearly choked when I saw the 4th 480.

Edit: nevermind, I saw the psu box.
 
Why not all 4 EVGA SCs?

What CPU cooling are you going to use? It had better be pretty to match!

Actually, no you should do something totally hilarious and have that setup with the stock intel cooler. That would be funny!

This is just what I have right now. More SC's coming soon.

BTW, This motherboard DOES have some design issues. See my YouTube posts (same handle). Sent Asus a message today via their web site Tech Support interface.

More info on my testing at this link http://forums.legitreviews.com/post173674.html?hilit=asus rampage#p173674

Not trying to suck people away from [H]. Just started posting info for this system over at the other site first.
 
I have never felt more broke in my life!! LOL!! Nice setup man!! Let's see some numbers w/ that monster!!
 
Dang, that is one insane setup. You'll probably need a dedicated air conditioner blowing straight onto that setup.
 
Let us know if the street lights dim when you power that sexy beast up.

I'm afraid to ask what the final cost is for this rig. I would love to follow this build all the way into the case. Please continue to update the threads.
 
My jaw just hit the floor :eek:. I too am very curious how power hungry that beast is. Do you plan on running and bench tests on it?
 
My jaw just hit the floor :eek:. I too am very curious how power hungry that beast is. Do you plan on running and bench tests on it?

:eek: Bench tests ran! :)

If you are impatient to see the results while I am cross posting here then have a look over at my original post on Legit Reviews here: http://forums.legitreviews.com/about27269-20.html

More pics follow of the incremental build points for this system. Any pics showing the Kill A Watt display are the results from the previous testpage. Several of the tests show the begining and end of the test phase. If you have a question or need more details about the test just ask.

BTW, Looks like I might need the nVidia 197.55 driver set for the GTX 480 running under Win 7 x64. Can anyone give me a hand accessing that set so I can complete the Quad-SLI tests?
Flyover of the system at the end of the test with the four cards installed. (yeah, sometimes I like a little spoiler now and then.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6a5JQ75llI&feature=player_embedded\
 
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Looks like we have a little problem here. The Asus mechanical engineering team for the Rampage III Extreme forgot to leave room for the CPU heatsink when they designed the optional "Fan-Thermal Module" in the Rampage III kit that is part of the included Rampage III accessories.

Note the Ill fitting Thermalright TRUE 120. Asus QA should have noticed this problem. Looks like Asus QA will need to develop a test to start checking fit for one of the most common enthusiast CPU coolers in existence before releasing new boards for production runs.

As we see later the situation does not improve for the stock Intel i7-980x cooler and still fits poorly as well.


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Shown here is the same poor fit of the Asus "Fan-Thermal Module" with the stock intel i7-980x cooler. It was in fact pressing so hard against the Asus cooler that I had to rotate the Intel cooler 180 degrees. Even after the rotation of the Intel cooler I had to remove the fan guard from the Intel cooler or it would not have fit at all!

Come on Asus! I know your design team is better than this!

This design problem with the Asus "Fan-Thermal Module" has been reported to Asus Tech Support. Asus has responded today with a message indicating they passed on the information to their engineers. Always a great indication of good service rather than letting the problem lie stangnant.


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Notice the "BIOS Status". This is where you can tell which of the two BIOS's on the Asus Rampage III Extreme is active. Nice to have a fallback plan in case your BIOS upgrade fails. There is a button on the motherboard to select the active BIOS.

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First boot up plus The begining of the installation for Windows 7 x64 ultimate.

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A short test from before. Better put your hand on the GTX 480 now. Once testing with Furmark has started there is no freeaking way you even get close to the card without gettting an nVidia heatpipe branding.


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After OS load and during a phase the OS is idle

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Short LinX test. Start of the test and finish is shown. First is watts and second is amps. Pretty impressive considering we are not evening using the video card yet except in low power 2D mode. Not overclocking the CPU either. Rememeber this 980x is still running at stock speed with the memory also set to stock.

Next set of readings is a for a short first test using Furmark 1.8.2 for the single eVGA GTX 480 SuperClocked card. That was Furmark only. What's a measly 480 watts anyway?


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Notice difference for the wattage after you have run Furmark for even a short a while. 52 watts difference. Proof positive for you newbiew system buyers and builders out there a two minute test is no indication of assured survival. Keep this point in mind if you are going out buy a new system preassembled. Test it sure. But give it a gool long test of at least 15 minutes or more under high load. Not just a short boot and run test.


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One nice thing during all this testing was I never needed to reload the nVidia drivers. The recognition of the added GTX 480 cards were completely automatic by Win 7. You just have to pay attention to the messages presented and reboot when indicated.

After reboot the only thing to do is to open the nVidia control panel and re-select the option to use SLI.


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You DIY system builders out there should take not of theses images. A GTX 480 card in the last slot will present some challenges for your connector space and access planning. Give consideration to your choice of case used for the Asus Rampage III. Ends up being less room under that card than 12 piglets going after a 6 teated sow!

The molex power connector on the side could be the difference between a smooth system build, or a frustrating day going back to the store / shipper for an exchange. The same can be said for the other connectors and buttons on the bottom edge of the Asus Rampage III.

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Unfortunately this is where the testing runs into a pothole in the road. Or in this case a sinkhole. the OS recognized all of the GTX 480 video cards. But something in the test setup would not allow a Quad-SLI selection for configuration of the video cards. What we are left with is a Dual-SLI operation even though we have the Quad-SLI cable connected. This means the last test leaves two of the four GTX 280 cards idle while the other two are used by Furmark.

I have done some checking for the the equipment used and so far it's looking like the culprit is the nVidia driver set used. i'll try to get a confirmation of this and retest later if I can.


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Today even more testing was done to verify which slots can be used for SLI. I can verify that Dual and Triple SLI work with any combination of PCIe slots on the Asus Rampage III Extreme motherboard.

Furmark was close enough for all tests as to count the difference irrelavant. If i were gaming I would have no problems using any configuration for SLI if there was a need to access the other PCI slots for a sound, network, or storage cards. Or as needed to manage cooling requirements.

Until I can get a hold of the other nVidia 197.55 driver set for the GTX 480 running under Win 7 x64 I have to stop for now. Unless anyone else has a suggestion to get Quad-SLI running that I haven't thought of yet.
 
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Spent some more time on Hardware.info. Long enough to translate Dutch and realize they have a link to the 197.55 drivers posted in plain sight.

For reference the URL to their review of a Quad-SLI setup is here: http://www.hardware.info/nl-NL/articles/amdnampoZGSa/4way_SLI_GeForce_GTX_480_test/

The 197.55 drivers were downloaded and installed. Tried to enable Quad-SLI once more. Same result fo defaulting back to Dual-SLI.

So unless there is a BIOS update for the Asus Rampage III Extreme enabling Quad-SLI I think I am now stuck for going any further.
 
Man the star of this whole thing has to be that PSU!!!

This is awesome. Thanks for sharing.
 
Hehe, when I saw the 4th card picture, instantly I thought about the neighborhood around Griswald's house when he turns on his setup :)
 
Looks like you need to take a dremmel to that little ASUS fan so you can use your Thermaltake heatsink.:eek:

I think if you shaved a bit off the corner you'd be just fine......the fan would look funky, but it would allow you to use it.

Slick pictures, great information.:p
 
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