ASUS Rampage II Extreme Core i7 940 testing & pics

[neil@kobalt]

ASUS Rampage II Extreme and Core i7

Now that the X58 and Core i7 NDA date has passed here's a little taster of what we have been testing for the last couple of weeks.



I took loads of pictures so will upload more of them when I have time, can't post any of the actual setup we are running with the cooling etc as that will all be revealed around the 17th November

The i7 chips do perform very very well, we have one of the very first sample Core i7 940 CPUs which I will compare to a 965 later, sub 10 seconds SuperPi is obtainable with an overclock to 4-4.2GHz and the 3DMark06 score with a 940 CPU @ 4GHz and a single 4870X2 GPU is 24k. It runs through the CPU tests faster than a Q9650 @ 4.5GHz which is what we can send systems out at now with Prime95 load temps well below 60C.

We got about 3.8GHz out of the Core i7 940 on the stock cooler before we switched to liquid (we have had our own plates made so we can liquid cool the chip with several existing CPU blocks) as it started to get a little toasty but on liquid you can push well above 4GHz...

6 DIMM slots dominate the board as well as the enthusiast orientated TweakIt/Probelt area which previously featured on the Rampage Extreme (X48). I won't write a full review as there are quite a few already out on the interweb but one of the especially nice features is that as well as supporting the usual Crossfire the board will also support SLI from an NF200 chip. We now therefore have both laptops and desktops with Intel chip boards that support SLI

You will be able to see reviews of our new desktops featuring the above in 2-3 weeks, of course also available will be the new RAM from OCZ supporting the max 1.65v for X58 boards and also other slightly less extreme X58 MBs like the P6T Deluxe which is a very good board in it's own right.

EDIT - some more pics Can't post pictures of the actual setup, RAM etc as none of it is on the market yet...

[dR.bEEf]

My god that sounds so sweet. I really can't wait to see the final rig specs.

[MrDJ]

ohhh! thats a pretty picture with nice colours on that board.

i think you will need someone like me to test it for you guys

[henrybutt]

Wow that looks great... lots of nice blue to go with the Kobalt blue cases (if they are still that colour with the new cooling system :P)

Will it get damaged atall by being submerged in the coolant?

[andrew@kobalt]

Wow that looks great... lots of nice blue to go with the Kobalt blue cases (if they are still that colour with the new cooling system :P)

Will it get damaged atall by being submerged in the coolant?

As before you'll be able to have the cases in what ever colour you want.. and some new and interesting finishes.

We're not going down the submerged coolant route...ours is better and runs cooler