Asus Maximus Formula

[Wile E]

yea I'm thinking thats going to be the way to go. I'm hoping this would be the last build for a few years anyways. What I'm seeing this is about the best looking board out there, pricey and all but it seems like a good board. I hoping some one else has or had for some input. Than I'm looking to see what graphics card will be be on top the x2 or the 9800s. For processor i'm looking at the 8400 unless someone can tell me a good reason to go with a quad. Everything I'm seeing there's really not much software out there that requires a quad so when time comes I would upgrade to quad. But other than that I want to be solid.

Does this look like a sol,id build? or is there a better board out there that I should be looking at.

Well, if you want it to last years, a quad is a good purchase, as more and more software is starting ot use it. Buying it now (if you can afford it), will only make it so you don't have to buy it later.

 

[viczulis]

But will the quads that are out now, be worth the buy for say one year from now. Thats what I was wondering. Thats why I was thinking the 8400 say for 8 - 12 months and see then if software starts really using quads. Then chances are trhey will have a whole new set of quads out in that time.

Does that seem feasible ? I don't know. Just wondering if I buy quad now will I be buying another in less than a year, when software/ games start using them.

Dam just way to many choices out there

 

[Wile E]

But will the quads that are out now, be worth the buy for say one year from now. Thats what I was wondering. Thats why I was thinking the 8400 say for 8 - 12 months and see then if software starts really using quads. Then chances are trhey will have a whole new set of quads out in that time.

Does that seem feasible ? I don't know. Just wondering if I buy quad now will I be buying another in less than a year, when software/ games start using them.

Dam just way to many choices out there

I do a lot of encoding, so I'm biased. The quad benefits me now. If you are only gaming, the 8400 will do for now. But if you encode, or if benchmark scores are important to you, the quad is the way to go.

 

[Judas]

Ill be going on Tatty's side and vote for this :

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128326

It may be gay but it's a kick ass product

 

[giorgos th.]

in general if you want to go for an fsb of ~500 both maximus formula-extreme are very good...i`d say the best around especially in memory management....very tight internal timings which can give you excelent mem performance...

for high fsb 550+ the best choice is Abit X38 QuadGT or a Gigabyte X38.
but mem performance is much slower than the maximus series..

i`ve had a 545 full stable fsb with my maximus but to get there i went crazy..

 

[viczulis]

Ill be going on Tatty's side and vote for this :

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128326


But if i'm building for future wouldnt it be better to go with DDR3 now where thats DDR2 ?
I know future is not long but I'm hoping a couple years at least. With upgrading CPU if and when needed. What I'm seeing is the trend this year will be going to DDR3 with the X38 / X48

 

[AsRock]

Well the Max supports DDR3 according to there site.

Intel® X38 Chipset
The Intel® X38 Express Chipset is the latest chipset designed to support the next generation 45nm CPU in high-end desktop and workstation platform; and up to 8GB of dual-channel DDR3 1066/800 MHz or DDR2 800/667 MHz memory architecture. It also supports 1333/1066/800 FSB (Front Side Bus), fully dual PCI Express x16 graphics and multi-core CPUs.

http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=572&l4=0&model=1889&modelmenu=1

 

[viczulis]

Far as I can see from that site Max Formula and SE dosent support DDR3. Thats why I'm looking at Max .Extreme

 

[trt740]

DDR3 is almost a zero increase in performance over DDR2 and a waste of money right now.

 

[tzitzibp]

DDR3 is almost a zero increase in performance over DDR2 and a waste of money right now.

well there is an increase but not enough to justify the cost difference one has to pay.... so stick to ddr2 for now.....

 

[Nitro-Max]

I read a report earlier today but i cant seem to find it now it was testing a QX cpu on a maximus and DFI lanparty board the maximus managed a 497 fsb the dfi managed a 496 fsb not a big difference but the maximus seemed to handle memory latency better and won most of the benchmark tests.

 

[Tatty_Two]

Ill be going on Tatty's side and vote for this :

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128326


But if i'm building for future wouldnt it be better to go with DDR3 now where thats DDR2 ?
I know future is not long but I'm hoping a couple years at least. With upgrading CPU if and when needed. What I'm seeing is the trend this year will be going to DDR3 with the X38 / X48

There are 2 models of DQ6, the "T" supports DDR3

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128329

 

[Nitro-Max]

The DQ6 boards rock!! The only niggle i had with my GA-965P-DQ6 was the cpu backplate copper heatsink made choosing air cooling difficult do the newer versions have this?.

 

[Tatty_Two]

The DQ6 boards rock!! The only niggle i had with my GA-965P-DQ6 was the cpu backplate copper heatsink made choosing air cooling difficult do the newer versions have this?.

Yes, I just took mine off when I installed the TRUE that came with a mounting bracket.....no heat issues.

 

[Nitro-Max]

DQ6 on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40DXWVO0b3o&feature=related

 

[trt740]

Damn the maximus is killing the pack.

 

[AsRock]

Newegg stopped selling these mobos a few days ago. Probably getting ready to sell the Rampage huh ?.

 

[mandelore]

My maximus is now a Rampage formula

you can upgrade it to one with a bios flash, much better bios settings. so +1 for maximus

 

[AsRock]

My maximus is now a Rampage formula

you can upgrade it to one with a bios flash, much better bios settings. so +1 for maximus

Yeah thought about doing that but high overclocks are only for better benchmarks not any game improvments really if any. So other than overclocking for benchmarks it's pointless lol..

+ i like to keep this bios even though i did like the 1004 bios i went back to 907 in case the mobo fried or some thing.

Which is all so why i am going 8GB ( PC8500 ) of ram instead of 4GB ( PC9600 ). The extra 4GB is more beneficial.

 

[Fitseries3]

so is there any advantage to making it a rampage? the REAL rampage will still be a tad better.

 

[mandelore]

the "real" rampage is just a cherry picked x38 chipset rebadged as x48.

 

[Cold Storm]

I just love Asus boards in general for the fact a bios flash unlocks everything, and all ways gives you more to know about!
and +1 mandelore on the cherry pick "rampage"... With Asus, the Bios upgrades is what you have to look at when you go and buy the board. A lot of times, you can get a 100 dollar Asus board, and with a bios flash, you can do it all.. IMO

 

[trt740]

the "real" rampage is just a cherry picked x38 chipset rebadged as x48.

can P5E be flashed to a maximus? they are similar aswell.

 

[Frogger]

can P5E be flashed to a maximus? they are similar aswell.

P5E -> Maximus:

Would probably kill the board.
Even the layout is same there are few chips missing from P5E compared to Maximus.

It might work but I recon there aren´t that many volunteers for a high risk test like this.

P5K Deluxe / Premium -> Blitz:

Blitz uses IDT lane splitter so most likely does not work.

P5E3 -> Maximus Extreme:

Same as Blitz, IDT lane splitter on board so...


from the man who thunk it up look

 

[Frogger]

up date
"I confirm that a vanilla P5E works perfectly with the rampage BIOS 219.
I can read now all the voltages in BIOS (NB, SB, RAM, etc.) that with P5E BIOS was not displayed. I guess my MB has all the voltage sensors of a formula mobo"

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showpost.php?p=2850033&postcount=615