Rampage II extreme X58 or Gigabyte EX58 UD5

Flanno · 1 Oct 2009 at 12:40

Have narrowed it down to 1 of the above boards for a new build

i7 920 clocked to 4ghz hopefully with Corsair H50 cooler
6ig Gksill 1600mhz ddr3 cas 6
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-038-GS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1389
Saphire 5870
Corsair HX1000
HAF 922
etc..

I am impressed with the gigabytes ability to take a sound card in the top pci-e 4x slot and you can still run Xfire. Another 5870 may be a possibility in the future. And the UD5 is popular on these boards. Anyone know if it will take a full length asus xonar ? Any cons with this board. Read some threads on people reporting about it restarting after you power up and issues with the nics.
http://forums.pcper.com/showthread.php?t=460345
http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/ex58-ud5-problem-28739/
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/256210-30-ex58-skill-ddr3-1600-issue

The Asus on the other hand, looks better, comes with a x-fi already (is this a proper X-Fi), but I am not sure if it's worth the extra cash. Even using the x-fi will depend how the onboard sound on the 5870 fares so having it may not be an advantage at all. Does the Asus fit in an HAF 922 ?

So which board is best ? Pros and Cons ?

knightpt · 1 Oct 2009 at 14:06

You might wanna check this post:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18059718

Flanno · 1 Oct 2009 at 14:22

Yep. multiple restarts. read about it on these forums 1st, and linked to other boards reporting same behaviour. Am thinking I'll get the Asus anyway. It's supposed to be slightly bigger than the ATX standard allows for. Anyone know if it fits in a HAF922 ?

knightpt · 1 Oct 2009 at 14:36

Flanno said:
Yep. multiple restarts. read about it on these forums 1st, and linked to other boards reporting same behaviour. Am thinking I'll get the Asus anyway. It's supposed to be slightly bigger than the ATX standard allows for. Anyone know if it fits in a HAF922 ?

Sorry can't help you with that on the rampage, but out of curiosity, why didnt you put into consideration the ASUS P6T DELUXE V2 ?

Flanno · 1 Oct 2009 at 15:53

If I remember rightly that can't support 3 dual slot cards over the spacing between the 1st and 2nd pci-e 16x slot. Then again I probably will never use tri-sli. Does that mean the p6t deluxe v2 is the best board for crossfire/sli in terms of cooling over the pci-e slot spacing ?

Shilz · 1 Oct 2009 at 17:28

Got the AR2E myself and all I can say is its a quality bit of kit! I don't even do that much overclocking I just wanted a solid board and something I can play around with when I get into OC'ing a bit more... I also got the Corsair H50 cooler and thats works very well cooling my 920 at 3Ghz.

As for the Xfi - Supreme audio card I dont even bother using the X-Fi "software" I just use the Soundmax HD driver/win 7 standard software and just use coax out to my amp for surround.

Flanno · 1 Oct 2009 at 17:32

Sounds cool. I probably wont even use the X-Fi or the onboard. Plan to run a hdmi cable from my 5870 to my amp for proper HD audio over LPCM.

Shilz · 1 Oct 2009 at 18:05

Flanno said:
Sounds cool. I probably wont even use the X-Fi or the onboard. Plan to run a hdmi cable from my 5870 to my amp for proper HD audio over LPCM.

Thats the best option. I hopefully want to be able to run a HDMI direct to my amp for HD audio. You can still use the Xfi card if you ever want to do audio recording etc.

JonJ678 · 1 Oct 2009 at 19:06

I'm very fond of the UD5, having been loyal to Asus until this point. No issues with the ethernet or with restarting. It does take a terrible length of time to post, XP boots swifter than the board. Went to 4ghz with depressing ease, I really should push it further one of these days.

malachi · 1 Oct 2009 at 21:33

As I said in my other post, I RMA'ed my x58 Gigabyte and brought the Asus Rampage 2 Extreme.
The best board I have brought ever, the only let down is what stated above is the so called onboard Xfi sound card which its not. But replaced that with my own Xfi sound card, along with my 4870's in crossfire and i7 920, it runs sweet.

Flanno · 2 Oct 2009 at 09:33

I bought the rampage.

So the X-Fi isn't a X-fi. How did you run a proper X-Fi card with 4870's in crossfire as I thought all the slots were used in crossfire mode and the top pci-e slot for the asus x-fi was blocked by the heatsinks that only a really short card would fit ?

knightpt · 2 Oct 2009 at 10:07

Flanno said:
I bought the rampage.

So the X-Fi isn't a X-fi. How did you run a proper X-Fi card with 4870's in crossfire as I thought all the slots were used in crossfire mode and the top pci-e slot for the asus x-fi was blocked by the heatsinks that only a really short card would fit ?

I believe you can use a Xi-Fi (pciexpress 1x) on the bottom pciexpress slot, its backwards compatible i think.

malachi · 2 Oct 2009 at 12:19

knightpt said:
I believe you can use a Xi-Fi (pciexpress 1x) on the bottom pciexpress slot, its backwards compatible i think.

Yeah thats right,any pci 1x card can fit into any pci express slot so i popped the xfi in the bottom pci 16x slot.

Flanno · 2 Oct 2009 at 18:23

Ah right. Got ya. Of course your 2nd video card is then downgraded to run at 8x speed isn't it ?

reygjabla · 3 Oct 2009 at 01:02

Flanno said:
Ah right. Got ya. Of course your 2nd video card is then downgraded to run at 8x speed isn't it ?

Nope. It's going to run at 16x16x1

thevet · 3 Oct 2009 at 01:20

there both good,choose the cheaper one