*** rampage ii extreme ***

[Dan-Baer]

I have decided on the RII-E. Here is my unfinished rig so far followed by a few questions.

Case Tt Armor+
Mobo Rampage II Extreme
PSU Corsair HX1000W
GPU BFG GTX 285 OCXE
Boot and OS drive 2 300 Gb V-Raptors (RAID-0)
Storage drive 1 Tb WD RE3
Optical drives 2 ASUS SATA DVD RW
Floppy and card reader
CPU cooling Zalman CNPS9900
Fan controller NZXT
Sound Card Internal supplied software X-Fi for now

The key missing componnents are:
*The CPU. I have been waiting for the i7975 to become available but the prices on the 920 are getting so low and I am tired of waiting so I am thinking of starting with it and seeing how far I can OC it on air and then upgrade to a 975 later.
*The Memory, I am waiting for the Dominator GT to be available again. I am going with the lower latency instead of the higher speed.
Any comments on my choices so far and any and all advice will be apriceated.
I am so glad I found this thread as I am far from an OCing expert and it looks like there are a number of you who have experience with this board.

Now my questions;
1. In looking through various threads I see some speculation on a newer Rev. What Rev do you all have? I just got this board from New Egg and the Rev is 1.01G. Is there anything later than this out?

2.There is a 7th SATA port which is not on the ICH10R in the lower right below the 6 SATA outputs. I have an eSATA port on the front of my case which I will connect to it. There is also an eSATA output on the back of the board which is the one I will be using. I am assuming this is the same port and that I can only use one e SATA drive at a time, either the front one connected to the post on the lower Rt or the rear. Is this correct?

Also, there is a 1394 output on the back as well as a 1394 set of pins in the lower left of the board. Are they two 1394 ports and can both be used or only one at a time.
I am wiring and if there is no sense in connecting the two sets of outputs on the board (the eSATA and the 1394) then I will not bother running cables to the front of my case for them.

Thanks in advance for any informatiuon or comments.

[CrowdAds]

[Sir Skully]

I can't find any Rev #'s on mine. I need to tell you, I've only had this mobo 2 days. I haven't even hooked up the sound yet. I've been oc'ing from the time I got this mobo untill now. But its one great oc'ing board. I would think you have the newest Rev. I don't know myself about the 7 Sata port. The 1394 set of pins comes with a bracket for it, its an extra add on 1394. You'll be learning this mobo along with me. Keep posting and let me know how it goes..and congrats on the new setup.....

By the by your choices look good to me...

[Sir Skully]

I just got the Asus software installed along with the SupremeFX
sound card. Sound card is working ok. Now I have a bunch of Asus utilities to play with......

[Sir Skully]

By the by, its looking like the sweet spot is 3800mhz. I sure can get 4gig oc. But I don't like the high Vcore it takes, and higher temps. Also can get 4200mhz but not stable, just good for SuperPI. Things could change as I learn this mobo's bios.

[Sandog]

Congrats Sir Skully! An awesome rig you are sure to enjoy for a long time.

[Sir Skully]

Originally Posted by Sandog

Congrats Sir Skully! An awesome rig you are sure to enjoy for a long time.

Thanks, it is enjoyable....fun-ya...

[Dan-Baer]

Thanks. I connected the 1394 bracket to the extra port and I also used one of the two additional USP ports on that bracket, the other I used for the card reader.
I got my GTX 285 today and installed it. As I am having to wait for my chosen memory I am at least doing my best job of wireing ever :-)
All I need is the CPU and the memory. (waiting)

[Sir Skully]

Originally Posted by Dan-Baer

Thanks. I connected the 1394 bracket to the extra port and I also used one of the two additional USP ports on that bracket, the other I used for the card reader.
I got my GTX 285 today and installed it. As I am having to wait for my chosen memory I am at least doing my best job of wireing ever :-)
All I need is the CPU and the memory. (waiting)

Yeah the waiting is a killer....

[NBK]

Originally Posted by Sir Skully

Just bought this yesterday at Microcenter. Installed last night, all went well and easy. Also picked-up the i7 920 chip, 6 gig's of Corsair memory. Gone-a pick up 6 more gig's of Corsair today. Everything running @ defult for now. I have a learning curve with this new-tech/Rampage II. This mobo is a beauty and it does about everything period. I'll be posting more here as I get the hang of oc'ing this bundle of eye-candy. CPU cooled by
chemicals/water.

Hey Skully,

You just cannot stay pat. Can you?

I wish i had your money...

NBK

[Sir Skully]

Originally Posted by NBK

Hey Skully,

You just cannot stay pat. Can you?

I wish i had your money...

NBK

A rolling geek doesn't gather any PC-moss....

[Sir Skully]

Dan-Baer, here's somrthing you may want to think about before installing your mobo. I found this on the internet and pasted here.

" This is my second review on this item so Im gonna school you rookies with your post issues. First and formost this board is extremly GROUND sensitive. Meaning that before you drop this in your tower it must have 18 rubber o-rings. 2 per screw. This should eliminate the on/off problem your having. 1 o-ring on one side of the motherboard and 1 on the other side of your mother try that and you will see. Trust me I had this issue myself ".

I wish I had seen this before my install. I always use the little red fiber gaskets. But only the top side of the nobo. I may later on reinstall the mobo with rubber o-rings on both sides.

[Sir Skully]

Hey Dan-Baer, I did find my rev # and its rev 2.01 I think by messing with voltages I found the sweet spot. Its 4gig, nice Vcore voltage, and nice load temps. I'm running Prime95 and Orthos at same time. It max's out the CPU.

[ctal]

Truly awesome, Skully! Congrats!

On all four of the builds I've done in the last several years I've never insulated the mobo mounting screws or posts from the metal protrusions on the board that surround the mounting holes, and I haven't previously read anything suggesting that is typically required. And I never had any erratic operation or other problems that might have been attributable to grounding issues. Of course, those were completely different boards (Gigabyte EX38, Gigabyte X48, 2 x Asus P4C800 Deluxe).

Enjoy! Judging by the times shown on some of your Realtemp captures you've been having too much fun to sleep!

Regards,
-- Al

[Sir Skully]

Thanks bud, when having fun who needs sleep.........
I've always used the little red fiber gaskets, under the mobo screws. I've went through more mobo's then I can remember, with no grounding problem.
With only one cold boot so far, and hoping that's it. Most likely nothing to do with grounding. Some times I'm a nervous Nelly...

[Dan-Baer]

Originally Posted by Sir Skully

Dan-Baer, here's somrthing you may want to think about before installing your mobo. I found this on the internet and pasted here.

" This is my second review on this item so Im gonna school you rookies with your post issues. First and formost this board is extremly GROUND sensitive. Meaning that before you drop this inEtc Etc I may later on reinstall the mobo with rubber o-rings on both sides.

Thanks Sir Skully. I did see this in fact but I think he is off track. Those mounting holes are meant to be grounded, they in fact connect directly to the ground plane inner layer and they have plated up bumps to assure proper contact. Apparently the cold boot issue that some have had seems to be due to a compatibility issue with some PSU's apparently this board is like a fine car, give it crappy gas and it complains. Removing the normal ground path might just tweak things enough for a marginal PSU to avoid a cold boot for some reason but with a major ground path not connected to a key RFI shield (the case) there could be other issues.
I am very impressed with the construction of this board. I want to see how it runs. It is sitting here looking at me just asking for a CPU and Memory.
Thanks for all the updates. I bet this will become a vary popular thread for R-II-E users.
BTW, very impressive clocking with that 920. I have been waiting for the 975 but with what you are able to do with that 920 I may rethink it. Nice!