ASUS Rampage Formula Review Comment Thread

[SKYMTL]

You will have to hear from Jody about his one since I did not do the tests.

[zlojack]

Great review!

I notice you make this comment:

Intel’s X48 has long been considered the older sibling to X38 and is continually referred to as a higher 'binned' X38 chipset offering nothing new that we haven't seen before. This is partially true, however, X38 appears to have been conceived with at least one different set of genes. Despite the similarity, there are noticeable differences that set the X48 chipset apart as a refined performance monster.

What are those noticeable differences? I saw that you got a bit more out of the FSB. Any others?

[3oh6]

Originally Posted by Frost

SKYMTL, did you have any problems with the NB heating up a lot during your tests? People on Newegg are reporting this (yeah I know people on Newegg can be stupid or good) and now that I'm looking at it before its been powered, I'm wondering if I should reseat all the heat sinks and replace the pads with real thermal grease...

The NB on my sample was never an issue. I never had any symptoms of over heating as the voltages started to rise or anything of that nature. Ambient temps are always 22-23C in my place and I only had active cooling from the 120mm fan this is primarily intended for getting some airflow over memory.

I have, as of yet, even removed the stock heat sink assembly. All results from that board in the review are basically straight out of the box on stock cooling with stock thermal paste...just like it left the factory. If your NB is getting hot, then it might not be a bad idea to change thermal paste as you may have a bad mount...but you just have to make sure when re-seating everything to keep the heat pipes flat so all the heat sinks 'rest' on the component they are cooling. If not, you might end up with something putting pressure on the NB heat sink to lift and end up with worse temperatures.

If your heatpipe and heat sinks are not getting hot but the NB temp reading is showing it hot...then you likely have bad contact. If the heatpipe assembly and heat sinks get progressively hotter with the NB temp reading, then re-seating likely won't do a thing for you...you just need more cooling at that point.

HTH and answers your question.

Originally Posted by zlojack

Great review!

I notice you make this comment:

What are those noticeable differences? I saw that you got a bit more out of the FSB. Any others?

Thanks...the biggest difference is the fact that the BIOS has matured. Personally I think X38 and X48 was a big BS cash grab by Intel and all of their motherboard partners. There, I said it.

X38 felt like the beta and X48 the retail product. The fine tooth adjustments of tRD that accompany X48, increased skew adjustments for components, these are the types of things that X48 really shines in over the X38 counterparts. This DDR2 Rampage Formula has been great from the get go...my X48 DDR3 buddy, the P5E3-Premium has been a different story entirely.

I can't really think of anything else off the top of my head now but I might go through the two reviews tonight and see if anything comes up I missed.

[yycraven]

Great review SKYMTL as always.
So is it worth buy this mobo or is it better to hold off for the DDR3 version
Reason is Im thinking of building a second rig.

[SKYMTL]

Originally Posted by yycraven

Great review SKYMTL as always.
So is it worth buy this mobo or is it better to hold off for the DDR3 version
Reason is Im thinking of building a second rig.

Not my review guys.

[Frost]

Originally Posted by 3oh6

The NB on my sample was never an issue. I never had any symptoms of over heating as the voltages started to rise or anything of that nature. Ambient temps are always 22-23C in my place and I only had active cooling from the 120mm fan this is primarily intended for getting some airflow over memory.

Thanks for the detailed reply. I have not powered up the Rampage Formula yet (was waiting for my 4870 to come in) and so I don't know if it's good or not. I'm going to take the safe route and power it up without modifying anything. If I see bad NB temps then I will try to figure out why and see where we go from there.

[zlojack]

Originally Posted by 3oh6

Thanks...the biggest difference is the fact that the BIOS has matured. Personally I think X38 and X48 was a big BS cash grab by Intel and all of their motherboard partners. There, I said it.

X38 felt like the beta and X48 the retail product. The fine tooth adjustments of tRD that accompany X48, increased skew adjustments for components, these are the types of things that X48 really shines in over the X38 counterparts. This DDR2 Rampage Formula has been great from the get go...my X48 DDR3 buddy, the P5E3-Premium has been a different story entirely.

I can't really think of anything else off the top of my head now but I might go through the two reviews tonight and see if anything comes up I missed.

Thanks for the response

So basically, I'm good to go with my Maximus Formula flashed to a Rampage...

[3oh6]

it's been a while, but i busted out the Rampage Formula while another Rampage was drying off this weekend. needless to say, it really liked my E8600 under dry ice. it was a rather quick 20 minute break i took so only some 1M action but it sure was fun...



the Rampage Formula is a great board for this E8600 as an unsupported BIOS gives a rather nice boost in 1M so expect to see a bit more from this board with this CPU after i finish with the RE...



my first sub-8 second 1M run and at a pretty low frequency thanks to the boost. i wasn't really sure what to expect from this CPU but 5800MHz 1M isn't to shabby for only dry ice. i also had a quick go with my better E8400 and FSB run out around 600MHz. i was kind of hoping for a solid 620~640FSB but 6GHz later on with the E8600 will have to do i guess