Overclock3D were given the opportunity to preview the ASUS Rampage II Extreme in the lead-up to Core i7's release next month.

http://www.overclock3d.net/gfx/artic...034915401s.jpg

Check out the preview here

dribble ... did i spot a stick of corsair in one of the pictures...does this mean you have tested it but are bound by the NDA....bum...we want hard figures...

Yes we are bound by the NDA, and no we won't be breaking it. But feel free to continue dribbling...I haven't stopped myself

lmao...it does look tasty though....very very tasty....i dont believe you...I think you just haven't got the hardware yet...go on prove me wrong ...

Hey its worth a try

Well I didn't draw those pictures in the preview with crayon You will see the full review soon enough as it's being benched as I type this

now your just rubbing it in....

Maybe just a little Anyway you looking to getting an X58 board and Bloomfield CPU when they arrive mate?

depends on the reviews...I built a system about 12 months back (am2 6400, 4GB OCZ, EVGA 9800GX2 (got it for 171 quid new due to a mistake on a leading sellers website)) that was only designed to last 18 months before a full beastly upgrade...was gonna go wolfdale but as news about the nehalems came about I just kept putting it off.....I've got £2000 saved up...so am looking at a very nice rig to complement my media setup...(46' Samsung LCD, getting an extra 20/22 inch monitor (we work with a company who does touch screens so may go touch screen), and DTS HD Surround AMP)...was looking at the skeleton case as well however may go lian li as they have more room for the EATX FF. If the reviews are good I may take the plunge, if not I may wait a bit longer. And contenplating another 9800gx2, rather then ditching it. Theres so many available options I get easily sidetracked by emerging tech......arrrgggghhhh...it does my head in

*wonders how much the contents of my C: would auction for right now*

right thats it....(slams door in hissy fit).....I'm not coming back on this site till there out....

Hahah....All I can say is that you did the right thing in waiting.

Yeah it's always fun deciding whether to purchase new tech the moment it's out, or whether you sit back and wait. This time around I hope to be building a new rig on release day

ROFL. All in good time Padwan

I did have a feeling, after the bean incident I decided to go back to my original setup for a few months..(1 year old+bowl of beans+Q9300+antec 900 top fan not working and grill removed due to it being cleaned+me not paying attention= instant RMA) ... see your leaking info without knowing it

*Checks for holes*

Nah....I think its just a really slow puncture.

Intel officianados are coming to get you for that comment

Hopefully they'll give me a big fat cheque for helping to promote their latest product........but I doubt it

what...arent free samples enough...or do you lot have to cage fight over industry supplied samples....

I've actually hired a hitman to follow DHL vans out of Intels factory. Once he has confirmed that the required goods are on board (by means of X-Ray vision), he then takes out the driver with a well placed shot to the head and drives the van all the way to OC3D.

ahhh i see....but obviously smuggling such precious goods through customs would be difficult...and he'd probably have to take the slow boat from china...by the time he gets back with said products...Intel will have released there next socket

I think the layout of the board has been pretty hurried together.

There are many things that could be either omitted or moved to have kept it at ATX spec. Floppy control, oversized feel-nice buttonage - far more important. Being prepared to go with the expanded ATX goes against the grain in terms of tech getting smaller, or requiring less space. Server mobos are of this size with ofc 2 sockets on them and an array of 8 dimm.

The slots are a little concerning, however the soundcard takes 1 factor out of it and it is mainly looking for people, gamers, wanting to stick gfxcards into. Creative ? didn`t figure on that myself. I knew there would be a leaning as Creative are kind of a monopoly, but XFi & 7.1, be nice if that works well with Vista. I can`t get the 2xSATA pciex1 cards in them due to the proximity of the cooler. However they work fine in the gfxcard slots (not alot of people know u can do that)

It`s quite mysterious that the pciex1 slot & card are planned for, with the ommision of conventional i/o plate placements, giving the option to exclude it in favor for.. an Auzen-Creative based sound card ? On maybe a pci slot u can get at with the xfire/sli bridges.

No doubt this is going to perform darn well, along with the other board on preview. Only another 4 or 5 variations of the same thing to come up with and the fleet will be out.

If I were hell bent on looking out for this edition, I`d perhaps hang out for the regular ATX size variant that will follow.

aye, EATX ftl

also, why have they not decked it out with usb ports? you could fit a good 12 - 15 on that backplate, but they havent...

i mean, modern era, people use usb everything, can never have too many...

It has the same amount of USB ports as the Rampage Extreme, and I found those more than ample. USB keyboard and mouse, pinter, plus one for external HDD still leaves me with 2 spare.

i think ill just stick with my q9450 and p45 maximus formula 2, good enough for me right now and the x58 and core i7's are not appealing to me yet, but im just going to keep saving until i get fed up.

i have to have a usb hub on my main pc, it has 8, but thats not enough

usb mouse

keyboard

misile launcher

bluetooth adapter

wifi adapter

card reader

wire for phone

wire for mp3 player

EHD

and two for my usb sticks..

... note to self, order missile launcher.

:rollingla

As for the motherboard, I have to say that the X58's are all very nice looking motherboards. Same thing goes for the Foxconn 'Blood Rage'.

Shame about the EATX, thats a bit dissapointing, however, anyone willing to buy something as expensive as this will have the spare change to invest in a full tower case.

that bloodrage is freakin the best looking board ive seen

problem is only 3 memory slots, for a board that comes with its own waterblock that seems a bit odd as the chipset is only dealing with one triple memory channel, hhmmmmm, whats there gameplan, depending on the price i think it maybe a bit of a turkey, looks bloody gorgeous though.

Darn, when is this NDA going to be lifted? At the i7 release?

When was that, anyway? I've read between the 10th and 19th of November

now i'm getting excited...just got word from our distributor on I7 pricing for 2 1336 mobo's and 3 I7 CPU's...there being added for preorder as I type

Ohhh can you tell us?

don't see why not...check our retail site here from what ive been told more info/pricing will be added through the day...so check back frequently...

You state that if you have three video cards they are x16/x8/x8.

What if you have a memory appliance or RAID card x8 plugged into the single white PCI-E x16 slot and two x16 video cards in the two blue slots. Do you still get x16/x16 for the video cards?

This is very important for me to know.

Thanks.

Can anyone confirm the Form factor?

Asus's site says ATX. Review says EATX.

Link to site omitted

"ATX Form Factor, 12" x 10.6" (30.5 cm x 26.9 cm)"

Thanks

Can anyone confirm the Form factor?

Asus's site says ATX. Review says EATX.

@

news_show.aspx?id=13130

"ATX Form Factor, 12" x 10.6" (30.5 cm x 26.9 cm)"

Thanks

It is an EATX format. This means you might need a new case if you don't have an EATX case yet, they are quite expensive although I think there might be some cheaper ones out there, I just don't know where to look LOL

Unfortunately I won't be going down that road anymore as I do not want to buy a new case, my Antec Nine Hundred is fine

I wouldn`t buy it merely on the basis that it`s an eATX, if u have to go through so many changes.

There are so many ATX size ones coming out, including some well designed ones.

Saw a great Intel one the other day where they moved the dimm slots and the bridges.

This one has been thrown together imo.

Well, I already purchased my case, in prep for all the new stuff coming out. I purchased a Li-Lian a17-a. So at this point I am stuck with ATX (which I prefer, don't want some huge box in the corner).

Sizes from Wiki

Mini ATX 11.2 inches (284 mm) 8.2 inches (208 mm)

Standard ATX 12 inches (304.8 mm) 9.6 inches (243.8 mm)

EATX (extended ATX) 12 inches (304.8 mm) 13 inches (330.2 mm)

WTX (workstation ATX) 14 inches (355.6 mm) 16.75 inches (425.4 mm)

from Asus' website for thos ROGII: ATX Form Factor, 12" x 10.6" (30.5 cm x 26.9 cm)"

This MB comes right inbetween the ATX and EATX sizes.... so that is what was confusing.

your probably right on how the MB was thrown together... but haven't really had issues with Asus's stuff. Maybe I will just go with the P6T instead....

The P6T is quite known for its overclockability (at least in the one i7 o/c thread I could find). If you want to overclock, you can disable to 130W TDP limit in the bios.

Disreguard my specs here in my profile, as this is what I want to have. But my question is, What kind of psu do I need for this? I was looking at a Corsair 750 watt and was hopeing this was enough...any thoughts????

A 750w corsair will be more than enough. It depends what you are planning on plugging into the motherboard but a 750w will be plenty for all but the ultra highend setups.

Ok, thanks...I am only putting on:

1 x Nvidia 7800 GT video card, for now...maybe more later, but I want to save some money.

I will have probably 3-4 hard drives hooked up. (All SATA Drives).

3 x Optical Drives, 2 x DvD Player/Burner, 1 x CD Player/Burner,

2 x Monitors, many USB devices....

1 External TB Hard Drive probably gonna hook up via eSata now, since this board has it.....

OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2G 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory

APEVIA X-JUPITER G-Type X-JUPITERG-BL Blue Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case that has 4 fans installed.

700w is most likely overkill for that setup but it should give you a fair amount of 'future proofing' if there is such a thing.

Ok, Thank you very much.......