Pictures Emerge of the ASUS Rampage Extreme

[chron]

Originally Posted by newtekie1

Because that is all the x48/x38 chipset will support.

x38 and x48 both support 3 pci-e 2.0 x16 lanes, so who knows why there aren't 3 on this board. Maybe they'll have a ultra super duper edition that costs an extra 100 bucks.

the only boards I could find with 3 pci-e 2.0 x16 lanes were x38 x48 btw lol

[Ravenas]

Originally Posted by btarunr

These are bad times to buy anything of this range, considering it could become 'Extremely' obselete by the end of the year, with Nehalem detivatives and X58.

You can't think like that Anytime is a bad time to buy lol...There is always something better on the horizon in the world of PC hardware.

[imperialreign]

Originally Posted by chron

x38 and x48 both support 3 pci-e 2.0 x16 lanes, so who knows why there aren't 3 on this board. Maybe they'll have a ultra super duper edition that costs an extra 100 bucks.

the only boards I could find with 3 pci-e 2.0 x16 lanes were x38 x48 btw lol

agreed, X38 and X48 support up to 3 . . . but the 3rd lane is typically limited to either x4 or x1 performance; ASUS could've decided to free those lanes up for other onboard components.

it would make more sense, as well, but, IIRC, ASUS audio cards and ASUS motherboards are operated by two seperate divisions.

Asides, though, I don't think ASUS have a xonar style riser card available yet, whereas Creative does, and ADI does as well with the SoundMax riser, and seeing as how Creative still hold the title for audio gaming performance, they're a perfect shoe-in in the eyes of consumers.

[chron]

Originally Posted by imperialreign

agreed, X38 and X48 support up to 3 . . . but the 3rd lane is typically limited to either x4 or x1 performance; ASUS could've decided to free those lanes up for other onboard components.

sounds right. I did notice the 3rd lane on the x38 and x48 is listed as full x16 performance though. Maybe crossfirex will work on these boards?

[newtekie1]

Originally Posted by chron

x38 and x48 both support 3 pci-e 2.0 x16 lanes, so who knows why there aren't 3 on this board. Maybe they'll have a ultra super duper edition that costs an extra 100 bucks.

the only boards I could find with 3 pci-e 2.0 x16 lanes were x38 x48 btw lol

No, they don't support 3 PCI-E 2.0 x16 slots. See here.

They only support 2 PCI-E 2.0 x16 slots. Another PCI-E Grapics port can be added using the left over PCI-E lanes provided by the chipset. The x38/X48 chipset provides 38 PCI-E lanes. 32 of those are used up by the 2 x16 graphics ports, that leaves just 6 for the rest of the components. Another lane is used up by the audio card on this board, that leaves 5. Another is used up by the IDE controller, that leave 4. Chances are ASUS also using another lane for the Mavell Gigabit LAN controller, that leaves 3. So with this board, best case, is that you get a third PCI-E Graphics slot that is physically x16, but electrically only x1(because you can only have x1, x4, x8, or x16). Not a good thing, and performance would be terrible with any graphics card plugged into that port. ASUS has already done this with the P5E3 Premium, the third slots works as an x4 if you have nothing plugged into the white PCI-E x1 slot, and x1 if you do. You are already taking a performance hit dropping down to x4, the hit taken dropping down to x1 is horrible.

They also could have split the two graphics ports up and added a third, so that when the third card is plugged in, two of the slots share the x16 and it gives you triple CrossfireX at x16/x8/x8, however then people would complain that it does give true x16/x16 CrossfireX and it make the board design a lot more complicated, which translates to even higher prices on a board that is already extremely highly prices.

[chron]

Originally Posted by newtekie1

No, they don't support 3 PCI-E 2.0 x16 slots. See here.

They only support 2 PCI-E 2.0 x16 slots. Another PCI-E Grapics port can be added using the left over PCI-E lanes provided by the chipset. The x38/X48 chipset provides 38 PCI-E lanes. 32 of those are used up by the 2 x16 graphics ports, that leaves just 6 for the rest of the components. Another lane is used up by the audio card on this board, that leaves 5. Another is used up by the IDE controller, that leave 4. Chances are ASUS also using another lane for the Mavell Gigabit LAN controller, that leaves 3. So with this board, best case, is that you get a third PCI-E Graphics slot that is physically x16, but electrically only x1(because you can only have x1, x4, x8, or x16). Not a good thing, and performance would be terrible with any graphics card plugged into that port.

They also could have split the two graphics ports up and added a third, so that when the third card is plugged in, two of the slots share the x16 and it gives you triple CrossfireX at x16/x8/x8, however then people would complain that it does give true x16/x16 CrossfireX and it make the board design a lot more complicated, which translates to even higher prices on a board that is already extremely highly prices.

newegg.com > motherboards > intel motherboards > PCI Express 2.0 x16: 3 (4 available) > Results: nothing but x38 x48 boards.

You should email newegg and let them know they should reword some stuff.

Also, don't get mad at someone because they didn't know what you MEANT to say.

by: DOM;875642
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why only 2 pci-e
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Because that is all the x48/x38 chipset will support.

clearly all I was saying is it DOES support 3 pci e lanes so lighten up.

you LOSE! good DAY sir! (j/k :P)

[newtekie1]

Originally Posted by chron

newegg.com > motherboards > intel motherboards > PCI Express 2.0 x16: 3 (4 available) > Results: nothing but x38 x48 boards.

You should email newegg and let them know they should reword some stuff.

Also, don't get mad at someone because they didn't know what you MEANT to say.



clearly all I was saying is it DOES support 3 pci e lanes so lighten up.

you LOSE! good DAY sir! (j/k :P)

When did what newegg listed things as suddenly become the end all and be all? Newegg's descriptions are wrong all the time.

What I meant to say was pretty easy to figure out. I was responding to DOM, I even quoted him in my post to make that clear, he was referring to the board only having 2 PCI-E Graphics Ports, therefor I was talking about the chipset only supporting 2 PCI-E graphics ports. How is that hard to follow?

[chron]

Originally Posted by newtekie1

When did what newegg listed things as suddenly become the end all and be all? Newegg's descriptions are wrong all the time.

What I meant to say was pretty easy to figure out. I was responding to DOM, I even quoted him in my post to make that clear, he was referring to the board only having 2 PCI-E Graphics Ports, therefor I was talking about the chipset only supporting 2 PCI-E graphics ports. How is that hard to follow?

whatever dude. It's hard to follow because not everyone can read your mind and know what you MEANT to say.

Let it go and stop trolling. Also, keep it in the thread relavent to the discussion. Stop posting this in a ps3 update thread lmfao.

You simply didn't word what you meant to say completely, and i corrected it.

That is all.

[DOM]

well the Foxconn BlackOps X48 shows to have Expansion Slots: 3 x PCIe 2.0 x16

But I thought since there was 4x CF whats the point if there not all full x16 lanes

[chron]

Originally Posted by DOM

well the Foxconn BlackOps X48 shows to have Expansion Slots: 3 x PCIe 2.0 x16

But I thought since there was 4x CF whats the point if there not all full x16 lanes

YOU SEE HOW MUCH DAMN TROUBLE YOU CAUSED WITH YOUR SEEMINGLY INNOCENT QUESTION!?

It lists it as 3 x16 slots, but what I think that means is, alone or paired they are x16, but if all 3 are used at once, only 2 can be x16 while one remains x4.

lololol

[newtekie1]

Originally Posted by chron

It lists it as 3 x16 slots, but what I think that means is, alone or paired they are x16, but if all 3 are used at once, only 2 can be x16 while one remains x4.

Correct, that is how it works. The third slot is not a true PCI-E x16 slot, unfortunately.

What I don't get is why ASUS didn't give the board 4 PCI-E x16 slots, and just have them all run at x8 when bore than 2 cards are used. The market on the Intel side for a good CrossfireX board that can take 4 cards is all but dead.

Edit: The third slot on the Foxconn BlackOps x48 is an actually an x4 slot. The only place they confirm this is on page 14 of the manual. I couldn't find it anywhere on their site, which is not a good thing.

[chron]

Originally Posted by newtekie1

Correct, that is how it works. The third slot is not a true PCI-E x16 slot, unfortunately.

What I don't get is why ASUS didn't give the board 4 PCI-E x16 slots, and just have them all run at x8 when bore than 2 cards are used. The market on the Intel side for a good CrossfireX board that can take 4 cards is all but dead.

Edit: The third slot on the Foxconn BlackOps x48 is an actually an x4 slot. The only place they confirm this is on page 14 of the manual. I couldn't find it anywhere on their site, which is not a good thing.

buy and sue! BUY AND SUE!

I dont know when you'd use the third slot without first using the first 2, but what I think is, each slot is simply CAPABLE of x16 on it's own. Technically they haven't written anything false, but it's kind of misleading.

[erocker]

This bickering stops now. The X38/X48 is capable of utilizing 2 full PCI-E x16 lanes at the same time, no more than that. QFT, this piddly little argument is over and not suitable for this thread in the first place. No more.

[WarEagleAU]

Anything over 185 is killer for me and I wont spend that much w/ shippid

[Megasty]

This thing is overly stupid expensive for what it is. With X58 on the horizon, this doesn't even qualify as overkill - just a dumb buy. Anyone with a maximus would just wait for the X58 version since this wouldn't provide any noticeable performance increase for its processor class. Looks like ASUS is trying to milk X48 for all its worth b4 its completely obsolete.

[HTC]

Originally Posted by Darknova

For $250 I'd buy it easy....but knowing the PC market, the price will translate to £250 over here

Dunno about US or UK, but here, in Portugal, i payed 249 euros for my Rampage Formula.

It was the most expensive board i have ever bought.

[newconroer]

Originally Posted by flashstar

I paid $250 for my Fatal1ty AN8 SLI and it was definitely worth it. If this is good enough, I'll probably consider it. I look at it this way: Instead of buying a cheap motherboard every two years, why not get a really good one every 4 years?

Maybe because other hardware tech and architecture changes long before that?

This board comes off as nothing but a gimmick platform.

[Morgoth]

dont wast your money on thisget your self a X58

[chron]

Originally Posted by erocker

This bickering stops now. The X38/X48 is capable of utilizing 2 full PCI-E x16 lanes at the same time, no more than that. QFT, this piddly little argument is over and not suitable for this thread in the first place. No more.

the argument wasn't about having (3)16x lanes working at the same time, just if it had 3 16x lanes...

[J-Man]

zomg i have this board.

[Darkrealms]

Originally Posted by DOM

lol I c what you mean but the HS going on the mobo its not the mobo its can be hooked up to water see the barbs in the NB

Thanks, didn't notice that. Just glanced and was like @_0 thats a lot of heat sinks!

Damn I remember when I payd $220 for my A8NSLI Deluxe board when it was just about to come on the market, lol. Thats the last time I think I'll be "bleeding edge" for a while. It was expensive and had several bugs to fix.
I'll probably stick with a 780i or somewhat older 790i for now.

[WhiteLotus]

Looks like it's made out of lego, well the 1st picture does anyway.

[chron]

hey what if I don't have a water cooled system? Will that northbridge come with an optional heatsink or is it waterblock only?

[imperialreign]

Originally Posted by chron

hey what if I don't have a water cooled system? Will that northbridge come with an optional heatsink or is it waterblock only?

It'll still function fine without an HOH setup - the NSB is heatpiped to the cooling fins around the CPU socket, and the SSB is heatpiped to the NSB.

The ports over the NSB, though, allow you to hookup liquid cooling for extreme OCing, or simply improved mobo cooling, without the need to have to find an aftermarket NSB cooler, SSB cooler and having to jimmy-rig something for the mosfets and VRMs


Also, on a full-liquid setup, ASUS boards come with mini-fans that typically attach over the mosfets coolers to help keep all that cool as well. Those fans, though, will typically interfere with an air-powered CPU cooler.

[CDdude55]

I can just hear people wallets crying.