New Build: Asus X48 Rampage Formula

[traveler]

Originally Posted by zapionics<alt>

Thats bad luck. I also found the cooler was a very tight fit on the Evo, but I managed to get it on. Its currently "hard up" against the fins of the heat sinks but I dont think it causes any issues.

It's not the heatsink itself. It's the mounting method. It's actually the mounting base top ring. The mounting tabs on each side protrude too far out from the socket area and will not fit in the CPU socket area. The heatsink would work fine if the mounting base was "better" designed.

I wish it mounted with the twin bar method like my last Zalman. I think I need a screw down type mount to fit.

BTW the Intel stock CPU cooler which came with the Q9450 would fit fine.

[VSEKH]

I'm using the Zalman 9700 cooler in my Asus Maximus Formula SE system. The screw down method on this cooler makes it easier to install on this motherboard. The Zalman 9500 is another option, which uses a 92mm fan compared to the 110mm fan in the 9700 model.

[traveler]

Originally Posted by VSEKH

I'm using the Zalman 9700 cooler in my Asus Maximus Formula SE system. The screw down method on this cooler makes it easier to install on this motherboard. The Zalman 9500 is another option, which uses a 92mm fan compared to the 110mm fan in the 9700 model.

Thanks VSEKH. I'll go take a look at those.

[traveler]

Thanks VSEKH.

I ordered a CNPS9700-NT from Directron (lowest price).

How's the PWM working for you? Or do you have the other model?

[VSEKH]

I have both 9700LED and 9700NT heatsinks. I have the 9700NT installed in 2 of my systems that run FAH all the time. The fan always spinning at 100% and did a great job of cooling, though it is pretty loud. When I am not running FAH, the fan speed goes down automatically to the slowest speed.
The 9700LED has a fan controller, which allows me to change the fan speed manually. Get this product if you would like to manually control the fan speed. Otherwise the 9700NT should work fine for you.

[traveler]

Originally Posted by VSEKH

I have both 9700LED and 9700NT heatsinks. I have the 9700NT installed in 2 of my systems that run FAH all the time. The fan always spinning at 100% and did a great job of cooling, though it is pretty loud. When I am not running FAH, the fan speed goes down automatically to the slowest speed.
The 9700LED has a fan controller, which allows me to change the fan speed manually. Get this product if you would like to manually control the fan speed. Otherwise the 9700NT should work fine for you.

Good to know. Thanks VSEKH.

Now as soon as it gets here I can go back to building.

[traveler]

VSEKH:

Does the mounting ring for your Zalman 9700 have two square tabs on it by two of the four bolt holes? Or are all of the four bolt holes around the ring exactly the same with just a smooth plastic bump around all four bolts?

I'm ticked because my 9700NT just arrived and the included ring is the same one with the tabs that the 8700NT had which does not fit!!! The 9700 does not need the tabs to mount!!!

[traveler]

Good news!

Zalman tech support is sending me the original "old style" socket 775 mounting ring.

They said that they changed the design of the socket 775 mounting ring so it can use the new pseudo AMD style mount method used on other coolers. I told them their new design doesn't work on my MB. I don't need the "useless" tabs on the ring for a Intel style bolt down cooler.


All these delays! I WANT MY NEW COMPUTER BUILT ALREADY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


And thanks for the info you sent VSEKH.


(I should have water cooled. A good CPU waterblock would have fit no problem.)

[traveler]

The "new" old style ring has arrived from Zalman. And it looks like it will fit with no problems. I can finally mount my CNPS9700-NT.


But ....

Now I'm having problems removing the pushpins attaching the southbridge to the motherboard. Maybe I just need a better pair of pliers. I want to replace the stock Asus thermal material with Ceramique on both the northbridge and southbridge. I hear your temps go down by as much as 10°C to 15°C just by replacing the the thermal material under the heatsinks on the chipsets! Asus did not do a good job on the heat transfer off the X38/X48 chipset on the Formula motherboards.


To: Whoever has an Asus X38/X48 Formula motherboard: What are your chipset temps?

[traveler]

Originally Posted by traveler

[snip]


To: Whoever has an Asus X38/X48 Formula motherboard: What are your chipset temps?

Yep, I remember the good ol' days when there were at least a dozen or two Buds with the same mobo. Questions like this would have multiple answers in a matter of only a few hours. Yes, I still do get those questions answered quickly, but sadly not at ABX.

Anyway ... on with the build.

It is a matter of having the right tools. I just acquired a set of good precision electrical pliers and with their assistance the pushpins came right out. I never really needed a good set of pliers before. My old pair always did whatever I needed.

Northbridge, southbridge, and CPU have now all been treated with Ceramique and have their heatsinks mounted.

[fvbounty]

Ceramique,is all I use too, good stuff, today must be the First Boot Day, always a fun day, hope everything runs like a top!!!!!

[traveler]

Originally Posted by fvbounty

Ceramique,is all I use too, good stuff, today must be the First Boot Day, always a fun day, hope everything runs like a top!!!!!

If only computer building was the only thing on the schedule yesterday.

But today .... might be.

[traveler]

Good news and bad news.

First the bad news.

Plugged it in. Turned it on. Fired it up and went into the BIOS. (Man does this thing look pretty with all the blue lights red lights green lights and motherbooard LEDs all over the place ... the X-Fi has a blue lit up "X-Fi" logo ... the MB has the built in on board power button lit up in red and the built in on board reset button lit up in green ... this thing is amazing to look at! )

Back to the bad news .... It won't recognise the floppy drive or the DVD drive, and I get an error message on the monitor saying "No CD-ROM drive found" and "IDE CD-ROM device driver not installed". Eventually it reads the optical disk and starts Caldera DOS but then stops saying "driver not found" and "invalid drive specified". I tried two different optical disks. Both of the optical disks boot fine from another computer so based on that and looking at them, I would say no scratches on them. One disk is PowerQuest's PartitionMagic, a OEM factory made disk and the other is Western Digital DLG Tools, burned to disk by me. As I said both optical disks boot fine on any other computer I put them in. The jumper switch on the DVD burner, which is a Samsung SH-S202N, is set to master as per the instruction sheet for the drive and is the only drive on the IDE channel.

Am I overlooking something?

Furthermore, I can go into the BIOS and see "1st floppy drive" in the boot sequence. But after exiting the BIOS, the floppy drive light will go on for a couple seconds, go off, and then the monitor says "Please place boot media into a boot device and press any key". I press a key and the same error message appears. I remove the floppy disk and put it into another computer and there it boots into Memtest86+ just fine.

Am I missing something here?


Oh, and the good news. I ordered a Raptor X. It's on the way. If anyone wants a Raptor X with the see thru window, order it now because they are now a discontinued item.


Do I maybe have a defective MB?





__________________
Asus X48 Rampage Formula / Intel Q9450 / 2 x 2GB OCZ Reaper HPC PC2 8500 / VisionTek Radeon HD3870X2 OverClocked Edition /
Western Digital Raptor X Hard Drive / Two Western Digital Caviar RE2 WD5001ABYS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drives /
Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Elite Pro 7.1 / Creative Gigaworks S750 7.1 Speaker System /
Lian Li 343B cube case / PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Crossfire Edition

[ctal]

Hi Trav -- Yes, that's all kind of puzzling. Just a few random thoughts, which you've most probably already taken care of: In the bios settings for Advanced PCI/PnP, set "Plug and Play OS" to "No" if it is not already set that way. If the floppy cable is the ribbon type, make sure the connector that is near the twisted part of the cable is connected to the floppy drive and not the mobo. If it is the round-cable type, hopefully which end is which is marked on the cable. If you are using an ide cable that has both master and slave connectors, make sure you are connecting the end (master) connector to the drive.

That's about all that occurs to me, which as I say you've probably already taken care of.

Looks like you had a late night/early morning working on it. Get some rest!

-- Al

[Sir Skully]

Congrats on the new parts bud, now just getting it all to run right.
Maybe a bad ploppy drive, Ide cable on right, bad ide cable.