RAMPAGE II EXTREME MEETS 5GHZ i7 1st Run!

[Gouhan]

Some Rampage II Extreme Results for you guys to look at. Will improve soon enough, hopefully with some ATI power under the hood
Here are the results, they could have been significantly higher, but had some issues that will be discussed after results.

CPU: Intel Core i7 Extreme 965 (C1 Stepping Retail chip)
Mobo: Asus Rampage II Extreme
GPU: Asus ENGTX295
RAM: OCZ DDR3 1600 PC12800 3GB - Sick RAM provided by Syntech!
PSU: IKONIK VULCAN 1.2KW (Crazy PSU available at Prophecy)
Cooling:30L Liquid Nitrogen + 14Kg Dry Ice






Really the most efficient X58 board yet.

Issues:
(1) Wasted the entire 3L of LN2 only to find that this CPU does not need LN2 even DICE temps result in the same clock speeds. If I had known this earlier I would not have been keeping the CPU at -90~ 100'C because that was what caused the instability.

(2) VDroop fix is not your friend on the RE2, it works great as it keeps the voltage stable but for some reason this particular CPU needs that slight droop to clock well, Spi 32M capable at 5.1GHz but by the time I found out I was out of ice and LN2

(3) Really Didnt' have enough time with the hardware so VGA clocks were very low, but will attempt again int he coming weeks and the scores are sure to be fantastic.

NEXT:
AMD Phenom II X4 955BE
ASUS Radeon EAH4890 1GB
OCZ PLatinum PC14400 1800 DDR3
ASUS M4A79T-Deluxe
Liquid Nitrogen at -190'C

[VoodooProphetII]

Hey NEO..... some great results you got there. Any Phenom II clocking yet? I just got a 955 yesterday which I want to give a go under LN2. My 940 only managed 5.6Ghz on all 4 cores, but then again there might have a been a little more if I tried harder.

How did you manage to get the 965 that high for benching? Or should I ask how many hours of tweaking?

[Gouhan]

Hey man. Long time
Yeah I tell you I'm just preparing my 955 + M4A79T run right now. Just sealed and tweaking now pot ready.
Will LN2 it ASAP maybe even on weekend but I doubt it. ON wknd I'll spend more time with i7 and DICE

I tell you this CPU is so so so difficult. The thing is i7 is an exercise in the extremes of your emotions. I tell you this CPU sometimes can boot windows and SPi at 5.15GHz, then next fail at 4.8GHz.
The multipliers wreak havoc and dealing with IOH temp is something else... I'll write all about my adventures soon.
You can spend more than 7 hours just passing some benchmarks and failing some with clock speeds varying from 4.7Ghz to 5.08GHz

I'm looking forward to PhII though, also needs some learning as its ot like 939 which as you know was the last AMD setups I seriously oc'ed.

[VoodooProphetII]

Good to hear from you Neo. Yes it has been a long time. Looks like you enjoying yourself. I don't know if I'll have your patience when it comes to i7, but you doing great when I looks at the clocks.

Anyways, the PHII will be a walk in the park. The fact that you can just cool the pot and fill it up with LN2 is amazing and a lot less troubles. You will enjoy it, and the performance is pretty amazing to say the least. Let me know how it goes. Can't wait to see your results. Will keep uou up to date with my clocking. At present I'm very impressed, being able to get to 4Ghz a lot easier then with my 940. Can't wait for LN2. When I saw Vince, Sampsa and the others results, which I know was with SE samples, I just needed to get myself a 955 to try and reach 6Ghz, or there about for benching.

Anyways, keep well. Good to hear from you.

[Gouhan]

Yeah PhII results from Sampsa and co were amazing, but in general the 955's are more consistent in clock speeds than i7 or core 2's even. The one sample I have did 6Ghz fairly easily, could not bench, but that had everything to do with me not clocking correctly, was just pulling validation screenshots and what not confident the CPU can 3D just fine at 6.1GHz at the very least.

D0 stepping of i7's are looking good but I think the real champions will be the 32nm variants or the E or F stepping be it on 45nm or not. B0 was terrible, C1 a little better, and D0 obviously the best right now.

[I34z1k]

WOws wicked ram guy! Is that some cheapish c7 stuff?

[Gouhan]

Yeah the Ram is relatively cheap
It can bench just fine at 2050MHz CL8 1T as well
It's about R1,880 retail for 3x1GB I suppose its a little steep for 1600MHz RAM seeing as you can get other 3x2GB for about the same if not less also rated 1600, but I doubt it'll clock like this.

[I34z1k]

Ah didn't see it's 3x1gigs...

Pretty good nonethe-less.

What're the chances of us 3 posting on Pcf. Lol

[Mystical_Titan]

Gouhan - Maybe I could ask you for some advice?

I also have the Rampage II Extreme. Brilliant board, isn't it? I'm running my 920 (D0 stepping) at 3.6 GHz. I 'm using OCZ i7 Tri-channel (3 x 2 GB) RAM, rated at 1,333 MHz, but I would like to run it at 1,600 MHz, which it can handle. When I OC the CPU to 3.6, the RAM speed is adjusted to 1,443, I can not manually set it to 1,600 MHz without the CPU reverting to stock speeds. On my previous board I could set the RAM multiplayer, but it appears not on the Rampage.

Any advice?