Asus Rampage Extreme 2

[geordiepind]

Can anyone please help. I am going with the Intel I7 Chip and was looking at the above board, some say only use water cooling and some say air is fine please help or advise on a diff board

 

[gkay09]

^ Are you a extreme overclocker? and could you explain what do you features you expect the mobo should have??

 

[geordiepind]

CoolerMaster ATCs 840 Black Case
CoolerMaster ATcs 840 Black Side Panel W/ Window
CoolerMaster V8 CPU Cooler
CoolerMaster 4 x 120mm Additional Fans
Corsair Dominator DDR3 6GB 1600 Memory
Enermax Revo 1050w Modular Power Supply
2 x EVGA GTX 275 FTW Video Card ( SLI )
EVGA Xeno Killer NIC
LG Super Multi Blue Ray Optical Drive
LG Super Multi Optical Drive
LG Flatron W2353V Monitor
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatality Pro Sound Card
Creative Fatal1ty 3.5mm Gaming Headset
Razer Lycosa Keyboard
Razer Lachesis Mouse
Razer Goliathus Speed Mouse Pad
Intel Core i7 920 CPU
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Paste
ASUS Rampage 2 Extreme Motherboard
WD Velociraptor 300GB Hard Drive
NZXT Sentry LX Fan Controller
MS Windows Vista Ultimate 64-Bit OS

Very similar to this set up, never overclocked before but looking for a good all round rig

 

[gkay09]

You wouldnt need the Extreme...
Get the ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 mobo...
It has very good features and enough options for a good overclock. should you try your hand at it...

And just a few suggestions about that setup...
1. PSU - You wont need 1050W for dual card setups...Instead get the Corsair 750HX or max 850HX...these can handle the GTX 275 SLI easy...

2. RAM - The domniators are like the Extreme mobos...get them only if you intend for a high overclock...Instead I would suggest you get -
Mushkin DDR3 1600MHz CAS 7
OCZ Platinum DDR3 1600MHz CAS 7
Or the Corsair XMS DDR3 1600MHz CAS 7

3. CPU cooler - The V8 is a good CPU cooler, but I would suggest the Scythe Mugen 2 or the Xig Dark knight or the Sunbeam CCTF with 1366 retention kit...As these options would be cheaper and would perform as good or better than the V8...

4. Dont get the Velociraptors...they are not worth the price...
Instead I would suggest you invest in a SSD...For that price, get the Intel 80GB 34NM SSDs(Silver ones and not the Black ones) for OS and apps...Currently they are not in sale but the sales would resume within this month...And a WD Black 640GB for others...

5. First check out the onboard sound and then buy the sound card...

 

[geordiepind]

how do you put 3 grfx cards in with pcie slots so close together?? Already got the CPU V8 cooler

 

[gkay09]

^ At what resolutions do you want to play ??
2x GTX 275s can max out games @ 1920X1200 resolution and can play current games @ high settings @ 2560X1600 resolution too...

 

[geordiepind]

You wouldnt need the Extreme...
Get the ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 mobo...
It has very good features and enough options for a good overclock. should you try your hand at it...

And just a few suggestions about that setup...
1. PSU - You wont need 1050W for dual card setups...Instead get the Corsair 750HX or max 850HX...these can handle the GTX 275 SLI easy...

2. RAM - The domniators are like the Extreme mobos...get them only if you intend for a high overclock...Instead I would suggest you get -
Mushkin DDR3 1600MHz CAS 7
OCZ Platinum DDR3 1600MHz CAS 7
Or the Corsair XMS DDR3 1600MHz CAS 7

3. CPU cooler - The V8 is a good CPU cooler, but I would suggest the Scythe Mugen 2 or the Xig Dark knight or the Sunbeam CCTF with 1366 retention kit...As these options would be cheaper and would perform as good or better than the V8...

4. Dont get the Velociraptors...they are not worth the price...
Instead I would suggest you invest in a SSD...For that price, get the Intel 80GB 34NM SSDs(Silver ones and not the Black ones) for OS and apps...Currently they are not in sale but the sales would resume within this month...And a WD Black 640GB for others...

5. First check out the onboard sound and then buy the sound card...

Are you on Facebook easier to ask questions if possible Keith Pinder Newcastle

 

[gkay09]

^ I dont visit facebook often P Blocked from my office) So accessing this site would be easier for me...

 

[geordiepind]

^ At what resolutions do you want to play ??
2x GTX 275s can max out games @ 1920X1200 resolution and can play current games @ high settings @ 2560X1600 resolution too...

So 2 Graphics cards will work for latest games ie Call of Duty 5 etc when released in Nov. This will be my first real build so a steep learning curve if you know what i mean, a lot of strange terminology etc.
Got a few part already
Any help will be greatfully recieved

 

[geordiepind]

ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 - Motherboard - ATX - iX58 - LGA1366 Socket - UDMA133, Serial ATA-300 (RAID), eSATA - 2 x Gigabit Ethernet - FireWire - High Definition Audio (8-channel)
Is the board?

 

[gkay09]

^ Yes...
And as for the concern on the graphic cards, by the time you would require more powerful setup than a GTX 275 SLI, newer cards would be available and you can just change to them instead of adding one more in Tri- SLI...And also more than 2 cards wont scale very well in many games...

But if you ask me I wont suggest buying 2 cards now...First off get a single GTX 275, check out its performance...they are good enough for a 1920X1200 resolution monitor(Though some games wont max out, but surely would be playable)...Save the money as ATI is set to launch newer DirectX 11 cards by this October and maybe you could get a more powerful graphics card for the current price of a GTX 275...
But if the newer cards don't have the significant performance gains, then later add one more GTX 275 in SLI...

And some info that you would have to know about Multiple card configurations...
Even adding 2 cards in SLI/ Crossfire configuration, it wont necessarily perform well...It depends on the game and the drivers...So in games, that dont support multiple card config, there wont be any performance advantage...Eg: Wow doesnt support multiple card config...
And 2 cards in SLI/ Crossfire would increase the performance say from 100%(Single card) to say ~ 140%(Multiple cards), maybe be little higher if the games have a very good support for multiple cards...

 

[geordiepind]

Thank you very much for your input