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Official Asus Rampage III Formula Review/Owners Guide

118K views 622 replies 116 participants last post by  Quantum Reality 
#1 ·
Welcome to Asus Rampage III Formula Owners Club

Specifications:

  • Form factor: ATX

  • Dimension: 12.0" x 9.6" (30.5 cm x 24.4 cm)

  • Socket Type: LGA1366 (Intel Core i7)

  • FSB: QPI 6.4GT/S

  • Chipsets: North Bridge - Intel X58, South Bridge - Intel ICH10R

  • RAM Slots: 6 x 240pin

  • RAM type: DDR3 2200(OC)/2133(OC)/2000(OC)/1800(OC)/1600(OC)/1333/1066

  • Max RAM: 24 GB

  • Expansion slots: PCI Express 2.0 x16 - 3 (supports x16/x16 or x16/x8/x8 config)
    PCI Express x1 - 2
    PCI Slots - 1
  • Storage: SATA 3 - 6, SATA 6 - 2, RAID (SATA 3) - 0,1,5,10
  • Onboard audio: SupremeFX X-Fi 2 (8 channels)
  • Onboard LAN: Intel Ethernet 82567V (10/100/1000Mbps)
  • Rear panel ports: PS/2 - 1 (Keyboard), USB 2.0 - 7, USB 3.0 - 2, IEEE 1394 - 1, eSATA - 2 (3Gb/s), S/PDIF Out - 1 x Optical


Included Accessories:
  • 1 I/O Shield
  • 1 Q connector Kit
  • 1 North Bridge fan (optional)
  • 1 ROG Connect cable
  • 1 3-Way SLI Bridge (black)
  • 1 SLI Cable (flexible)
  • 3 SATA 3.0 cables (black)
  • 1 SATA 6.0 cable (black)
  • 1 x 2-port USB2.0 + 1-port eSATA module
  • 1 pack of zip ties (white)
  • 1 sheet of labels (for SATA cables)
  • 1 CrossFire cable


Link to download manual

BIOS history:
  • 0702 (04/21/11) - Add Memory Recheck feature
  • 0701 (04/08/11) - Update Intel Raid Option ROM
  • 0505 (11/08/10) - Support new CPUs
  • 0404 (08/27/10) - First release BIOS
R3E BIOS template:

Code:

Code:
[CODE]
Asus Rampage III Formula - BIOS 0505

Sync Mode:  
AI Overclock Tuner:
Overclock from CPU Level Up:
2D Performance Booster:
CPU Ratio Setting:
CPU Turbo Power Limit:

   CPU Configuration
     CPU Ratio Setting:
     C1E Support:
     Hardware Prefetcher:
     Adjacent Cach Line Prefetch:
     MPS and ACPI MADT Ordering:
     Intel Virtualization Tech:
     CPU TM Function:
     Execute Disable Bit:
     Intel HT Technology:
     Active Processor Cores:
     A20M:
     Intel SpeedStep Tech:

BLCK Frequency:
PCIE Frequency:
DRAM Frequency:
ULCK Frequency:
QPI Link Data Rate:
Memory Configuration Protect:

CPU Differential Amplitude:
CPU Clock Skew:
IOH Clock Skew:

Digi+ PWR Mode:
PWM Volt. Control:
Load-Line Calibration:
CPU Voltage OCP:
CPU PWM Frequency:

Extreme OV:
Extreme OC:

CPU Voltage:
CPU PLL Voltage:
QPI/DRAM Voltage:
DRAM Bus Voltage:

IOH Voltage:
IOH PCIE Voltage:
ICH Voltage:
ICH PCIE Voltage:

CPU Spread Spectrum:
PCIE Spread Spectrum:
[/CODE]

Reviews:
And here is the XS thread for it:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=257881

From Robilar (original thread's owner):

"What attracted me to it was the pci slot layout. For dual cards, you actually use pci-e slots 1 and 3 rather than 1 and 2 thus providing a significant amount of space between graphics cards. It also supports tri-sli/tri-fire within a 7 slot architecture, support for either a pci or pci-e sound card (the pci-e card could be used with 3 dual slot gpu's without interfering) and of course USB 3.0 and SATA 6GB.

Pretty nifty board for under $300..."

Some teaser pics
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8
#2 ·
Some more pics

FYI, you cannot install a TRUE vertically with a 38mm fan push. It interferes with ram slot 2 (see pic).

It does fit (albiet carefully) aligned horizontally though.

This is a crazy bios!

The spacing between the video cards is frankly amazing.
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#3 ·
So you ditch your P6TD for the RIIIF, looking forward to hear what you have to say about it, I´m interested in this board myself, it´s the layout that I like, awesome spacing for a SLI or Crossfire setup.

Much better layout then the RIIE that I have now, thinking of switch the RIIE for this RIIIF.
 
#4 ·
And almost $100 cheaper...

I love the P6TD, so far my favorite board to date but the Formula had some features that I was looking for.
 
#5 ·
more pics added
 
#7 ·
I noted that too. I was running some Furmark and the two cards were very close in temperatures.

The bios is far more complex than any of the Asus P6T series of boards. There are literally more options here than most users would ever require.

Note in the pics, the ram slots only open from the top (to prevent bottom retention clips from banging into anything)

my lapped TRUE
needs a bit of a buff
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#8 ·
#9 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by Robilar View Post
Does anyone know if the Asus OC Station would work with this board?

The Rampage III Extreme apparently does.

Edit: NVM, just read the review on it at Bit-tech.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/mot...ation-review/1

Yeap, it should work, you have the connection panel for it at the bottom of the card, check out the pictures.





Should be nice to hear your opinion about how the onboard sound is compare to your Sonar DX2, I´ve heard that the onboard should be the same as the SupremeFX X-Fi discrete Audio Card that was bundle with the older ROG board.



Some people do complain about that the X58 IOH on the RIIIE run hot, any comments on that for the RIIIF?
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#12 ·
yeah, it's a great board, i definitely recommend it.

about the chipset running hot, the heatsinks do get pretty hot to the touch, i don't know the actual temperature though. i haven't reapplied the TIM though, so that may help.
 
#16 ·
I have to say, I'm not super impressed by the Xfi2 SupremeFX audio. While the included software enhancements make a noticeable difference, it's still a realtek chip (see the drivers) underneath it, and it's still a far cry from the quality of my Xonar DX.

You must use the drivers on the CD that comes with the board. If you use audio drivers downloaded from Asus, the bundled software won't detect the audio chip and you won't be able to use the surround effects and enhancements. Any software limitation is lame in my book.

Fortunately, the audio is really the only thing I'm disappointed about by this mobo though.
 
#17 ·
Onboard sound... No thanks.
 
#18 ·
I really do like this board, the bad onboard audio is to be expected. Then again they shouldn't even try to gimmick it lol.....

I like the price point and i don't ASUS has a really weird lineup.

Sabertooth < P6X58D-E < formula < extreme

so $70 dollar jump from P6X58D-E I think it would be helpful to list things you get with this board for that extra money.

- Slightly better sli layout specifically helpful with 3 slot coolers i would imagine(still some hang off in this case) and spaced sli(without hang off).

- better button placement aka not on the side where spaced sli would cover them.

- all right angled sata slots, sabertooth has this funny enough.

- Rog features + service you get advanced RMA or something correct? like on extreme?

- dual bios.

- red

edit: - true x16 - x16 WITH spaced sli assuming from your OP.

am i missing anything? I'm not trying to diss the board at all, just trying to lay out all the Pro's and see what exactly is being paid for.
 
#19 ·
Also, Formula has these over p6x58d-e:

- Intel Network adapter (vs. realtek)
- More fan headers, all PWM compatible
- Better fan speed control in the bios
- Better voltage monitoring (bios and software)
- Despite my comments above, the audio solution is better than the plain realtek audio on the p6x58d-e.
 
#21 ·
Well, since it's not a full review, all we get is his opinion that it's "not worth the price" and that you should "buy a P6X58D-E as it overclocks and performs MUCH better." - This from the text overlay, not even from the video itself. We don't know why he drew this conclusion, and certainly don't have any benchmarks to back it up.

I will say this - having just upgraded from the P6X58D-E to the RIIIF and run multiple benchmarks on each, any claim that the p6x58d-e performs "MUCH better" is flatly incorrect. The 2 boards perform identically at identical settings the RIIIF definitely out-overclocks the P6X58D-E at the same voltage settings.

Perhaps they he is just upset that the board won't be released on the UK? I don't know, but unsubstantiated statements like the ones he's printed on this video are irresponsible to the point of being worse than saying nothing at all. Just because you have a camera and an affiliation with some hardware review site doesn't qualify you to review a product.
 
#24 ·
Quote:


Originally Posted by ChickenInferno
View Post

How's the overclocking on the RIIIF?

My chip (Xeon 5620) is multiplier limited (19 turbo multi) so needs high bclk. I run it at 216 on the RIIIF - that's a 24/7 stable OC. There's evidence that after 216 blck, there are some performance issues - not sure if that's specific to the RIIIF.

I could reach 216 on the P6X58D-E, but definitely not for 24/7 stability. Even 211 wasn't stable on the P6X58D-E, so the RIIIF wins in that dept.

The RIIIF also gets it done with slightly lower voltages (vcore and QPI DRAM) than did the P6X58D-E at every step.

I'm on air only, so I can't/won't really push this thing, but it's hands down the best air-overclocker of the X58 boards I've owned (X58A-UD3R, MSI Big Bang X-Power are the other two).
 
#25 ·
I'm currently running my 950 at 21x191 (4ghz). Needs only 1.19 vcore(so far). I will be pushing it harder once I get all the bugs ironed out of my newly assembled media centre pc.
 
#26 ·
Quote:


Originally Posted by ChronoTrigger
View Post

Well, since it's not a full review, all we get is his opinion that it's "not worth the price" and that you should "buy a P6X58D-E as it overclocks and performs MUCH better." - This from the text overlay, not even from the video itself. We don't know why he drew this conclusion, and certainly don't have any benchmarks to back it up.

I will say this - having just upgraded from the P6X58D-E to the RIIIF and run multiple benchmarks on each, any claim that the p6x58d-e performs "MUCH better" is flatly incorrect. The 2 boards perform identically at identical settings the RIIIF definitely out-overclocks the P6X58D-E at the same voltage settings.

Perhaps they he is just upset that the board won't be released on the UK? I don't know, but unsubstantiated statements like the ones he's printed on this video are irresponsible to the point of being worse than saying nothing at all. Just because you have a camera and an affiliation with some hardware review site doesn't qualify you to review a product.

P6X58D-E is solid and i imagine the guy is trying to save people money, but that's why i dotted out reasons for the 70 dollar increase helps people figure out exactly what they are getting and make the decision themselves.

I sometimes see people buying the P6X58D premium, at that price bracket the asus rampage formula is a deal.

I still think the price points are a little strange, but it's a good middle of the road $70/$70 between extreme and budget. I actually like the layout on this better than the extreme.
 
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