Asus MAXIMUS IV EXTREME

RedvGreen · 15 Mar 2011 at 14:52

NathWraith said:
We had one instock before any competitors and sold it (unsurprisngly) hours of it being live on the site.

I am not listening to another thread of people moaning about price.

How were we to know that it was a pre-stock 'offer' if it sold very quickly ?!

When the complete batch arrives to yourself and all other companies, what are the chances of you reviewing your price competitively?

Thanks

NathWraith · 15 Mar 2011 at 14:54

f00f1ght0r said:
How were we to know that it was a pre-stock 'offer' if it sold very quickly ?!

When the complete batch arrives to yourself and all other companies, what are the chances of you reviewing your price competitively?

Thanks

Fair point.

Yeah once new stock arrives price will be reduced but to secure a board on the limited stock shipment. The price has been reduced now.

RedvGreen · 15 Mar 2011 at 14:55

Thanks, good to know.

Any ETA on the batch?

NathWraith · 15 Mar 2011 at 14:58

f00f1ght0r said:
Thanks, good to know.

Any ETA on the batch?

Looking at approx 2 weeks.

However we do have sabertooth B3s instock

The Asgard · 15 Mar 2011 at 15:24

Well just pulled the trigger on a Maximus and 26K.

The motherboard colour will fit better than my UD7 so I thought I would treat myself.

RedvGreen · 15 Mar 2011 at 16:26

The Asgard said:
Well just pulled the trigger on a Maximus and 26K.

The motherboard colour will fit better than my UD7 so I thought I would treat myself.

Considering the same myself, Mr Stargate fan - 2600k and a decent OC mobo.

NathWraith said:
Looking at approx 2 weeks.

However we do have sabertooth B3s instock

Yes, but it doesn't support 16x16x XF

Or does it... ?

hlennie · 15 Mar 2011 at 16:48

supports 16 x 16 x 8 tri sli or tri fire

in crossfire and sli suppose to do 16x 8x native which is suppose to be better than 16x 16x via the nf200 chip

will test this using a 3rd card which will force 16x 16x to see which is faster

edit well when i get me board that is

Atavist · 15 Mar 2011 at 16:56

f00f1ght0r said:
Yes, but it doesn't support 16x16x XF Or does it... ?

Not according to its maker's site (x8/x8 only).

I'm a little confused about the lanes on the AMIVE actually. This is what the Asus website has to say on the subject:

"4 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (single @x16, dual @x8, triple @x8, x16, x16 )"

Does that mean the NF200 is only used for Tri-SLI/Trifire (i.e. to produce x8/x8/x8) and normal SLI/XF is x8/x8? And what do the 2 "x16" at the end of the parenthesis refer to? Is this saying the bottom 2 slots always operate at x16 (which would be too many lanes even with NF200 if all slots are populated)?

If it could be confirmed that you can run 2 cards in the top and bottom slots at x16/x16 then I'd pick the AMIVE over the UD7 (which forces you to watercool your cards or accept suboptimal cooling on the top card. why put the two x16 slots next to each other? why???)

Atavist · 15 Mar 2011 at 17:00

hlennie said:
supports 16 x 16 x 8 tri sli or tri fire

in crossfire and sli suppose to do 16x 8x native which is suppose to be better than 16x 16x via the nf200 chip

will test this using a 3rd card which will force 16x 16x to see which is faster

edit well when i get me board that is

Answered my question before I posted it

. Will be interested in your findings. Thanks.

Tim Enchanter · 15 Mar 2011 at 20:22

This Message EDITED and Fixed

hlennie said:
supports 16 x 16 x 8 tri sli or tri fire

in crossfire and sli suppose to do 16x 8x native which is suppose to be better than 16x 16x via the nf200 chip

will test this using a 3rd card which will force 16x 16x to see which is faster

edit well when i get me board that is

hlennie,

This info is from their manual. I'm a bit n00bish, so tell me, does it agree with what you said?

[EDIT: Next screenshot was revised in the manual. See this post below.]

It appears to me that, for 2 cards, they want them in what they call slots 1 and 4 on the lower pic. Right?

Any drawback to that? Are they then two PCIe x16 lanes?

Thx!

Tim

RedvGreen · 15 Mar 2011 at 21:50

Tim, after reading about the Mobo, I think you can only get 2 x 16x PCIE ports in Three-way GFX.

Tim Enchanter · 15 Mar 2011 at 22:08

f00f1ght0r said:
Tim, after reading about the Mobo, I think you can only get 2 x 16x PCIE ports in Three-way GFX.

WOW! I was kinda' thinking that was the case, too, f00f1ght0r. I'm feeling less n00bish now.

I guess I'll probably never be doing 3-way SLI. I have 2 of the Asus GTX 580 ENGTX580 DCII/2DIS/1536MD5 Fermi (pic below) on order.

With them installed, it doesn't look like there would be room for any other PCI board... ever.

Thx!

Tim

hlennie · 15 Mar 2011 at 22:11

Sorry got mixed up sli or crossfire uses 8x 8x which are slots 1 & 3 these are native connection which mean a direct connection to the CPU which is just as fast as 16x 16x which connects via the NF200

If u go sli with another card for physics like I'm going to

Physics 8x native slot 1
Graphics 1 16x NF200 slot 3
Graphics 2 16x NF200 slot 5

Edit tim I don't think Tri slot cards will sli the nf200 chip is not active with just 2 cards this saves on power and heat wasted on the board.

Also think 8x native = 16x NF200

The native 8x 8x in sli are to close together.

Maybe some one with sli on this board can fill us in.

Tim Enchanter · 15 Mar 2011 at 22:37

hlennie,

You're talking a little over my head, but...

? did you note that PCIE_X8_3 is Slot 4 on the mobo? (They might have made that more confusing if they would have just put it in Chinese.) LOL

I guess it has something to do with board architecture design, but I would have thought they would have used Slot 1 and 5 (or 1 and 3), for 2-way SLI since they seem to me to be the PCIe X16 slots -- but what do I know.

The 2 boards are due in tomorrow or Thursday. I guess I'll try them and see what happens.

Thx!

Tim

Tim Enchanter · 16 Mar 2011 at 06:06

Guys!

I must apologize.

I got my MIVE mobo today and was looking at the manual, particularly reading the areas about SLI. I noticed that IT is different than the information I gave above.

Those screenshots from the Asus Maximus IV Extreme manual in my post above were taken from a PDF file I downloaded from the Asus website about 10 days ago. It was updated on March 7. DOH!!! They must have revised it JUST after I downloaded the old one. Sheese!

I downloaded the new PDF and this is what the manual now says about the PCI slots:

Note that for Slot No. 4 they have added the text, "(PCIe 2.0 x16 slot with x8 bandwith)," to their manual.

I'm not sure if this makes a difference in the discussions we've had, and the advice you more experienced members have given.

Again, I am very sorry for spreading misinformation.

Thx for understanding.

Tim

hlennie · 16 Mar 2011 at 08:07

Seems like the NF200 is active and can be used just in sli

I also found this review might clear things up a little better

http://www.techreaction.net/2011/01...us-maximus-iv-extreme-battle-of-the-titans/3/

But it seems from physical testing sli is best in slots x16-1 & x16-2 which is how most would use it

Atavist · 16 Mar 2011 at 10:35

Thank you for posting that review, hlennie. Great find.

Looking at the schematic in that review of the PCI-E lanes for the MIVE makes me wonder the following:

Would using 2 cards in SLI/XF in slots x16-1 and x16-4 give you the same performance as slots x16-1 and x16-2? They didn't test that configuration (presumably because they also had a revodrive to fit in), but it looks as if it should be identical to the x16-1 & x16-2. I.e. the x16_1 has x8 native and the x16_2 and x16_4 both get x16 from the NF200.

The reason I'm wondering is that x16_1 and x16_4 would obviously give you more clearance for aircooled cards.

hlennie · 16 Mar 2011 at 11:06

i think it would work the same way funny that this guy found that asus's idea for the best sli slots to be wrong

asus says pcie slots x16-1 & x16-3 @ 8x 8x native

tester says pcie slots x16-1 & x16-2 @ 8x native 16x NF200

Atavist x16-1 & 16-4 shoul work just as u say and will give u great space if you are on air

Tim Enchanter · 16 Mar 2011 at 12:37

FWIW, it does look like the length of the 3-way SLI strap would allow any of the slots to be used.

Also pictured, the 3-way SLI bridge/card, and the XFire strap.

Tim

hlennie · 17 Mar 2011 at 11:51

so tim how u enjoying your new board any teething problems with the b3