ASUS X79 Motherboard Preview

Rob Williams · 10-27-2011, 08:59 PM

At its annual tech summit held a couple of weeks ago, ASUS talked in great detail about what's coming to its X79 mobo line-up. Certain NDA's have not yet lifted, but we can talk about a few of the new things ASUS is introducing, and also take an early look at four of the company's X79 motherboards.

Read through Robert's look at what's en route from ASUS, and then discuss it here!

Rob Williams · 10-27-2011, 09:21 PM

As I deal with multiple chipset/CPU launches each year, it's a little rare when I find myself more excited for one launch than another (after all, it takes time to innovate), but I admit this article piqued my interest in motherboards quite a bit for this launch.

Couple of things...

I can use 8 DIMMs at speeds of 4 DIMMs? That is awesome. With 8 DIMM motherboards looking to be rather popular for this platform, I hope other manufacturers will jump on this dedicated Digital VRM for DIMM bandwagon also.

SSD caching... to a RAMdisk. Might be time to splurge for 64GB, huh?

BIOS flashing... which can be done without a CPU even installed into the board. Amazing. I've had at least three experiences in the past two years where this feature really would have come in handy. Yes, only three experiences, but given I need to install an old CPU first to update the BIOS, and then the new one... a feature like this would have saved a lot of hassle.

6 fan connectors... at least on the Sabertooh. I've often hated the fact that most motherboards skimp out on these things, giving either just three or maxing out at four. It's not that I need six, it's that I want to have the option of plugging them in where I need them rather than be forced into a location and have resulting wires hanging in front of my motherboard.

Great showing all around, looking forward to giving one of the boards in this article a good test.

Doomsday · 10-28-2011, 03:32 AM

These boards and the X79 line up are truly hardcore!

Optix · 10-28-2011, 07:11 AM

I'm a big fan of GIGABYTE but ASUS boards are in a league of their own and these look so boss (yes, I used the term boss) that I can't pick which I like more, the Sabertooth or the Rampage.

marfig · 10-28-2011, 07:42 AM

The Sabertooth looks absolutely gorgeous... (what!? That is important too!). I'm sure it goes very nicely with my office earth tones. All I need now is military green RAM and a brown GPU. But not mahogany. Or pine. Oak. Oak would be fine, thank you. Please ship to my usual address

On another account... Is it a given that this 8xDIMM setup with the 90 degree rotated CPU will present serious clearance challenges to the new line of big air coolers we've been seeing? I'm probably mistaken, but boy, those DIMMS seem way close for the sides of some of these coolers. And while they won't be facing a fan anymore, that back platting will... and seems very high on some cases.

Optix · 10-28-2011, 08:37 AM

I agree, marfig. You can't count out air coolers because they do offer a level of security for some folks who don't want to put liquid near their components but forward compatibility is likely to be an issue with this new design.

All the more reason to make the jump to an all-in-one liquid cooler.

Kougar · 10-28-2011, 12:05 PM

Yeah. I've officially been converted to an ASUS guy. It's all your fault Rob, for sending me to these events! Comparing everything I've seen to my experiences with Gigabyte... I'm done accepting the issues I've had with GB boards.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob Williams

I can use 8 DIMMs at speeds of 4 DIMMs? That is awesome. With 8 DIMM motherboards looking to be rather popular for this platform, I hope other manufacturers will jump on this dedicated Digital VRM for DIMM bandwagon also.

Yep, and I cannot underscore this enough. I couldn't list specifics in the article, but there is plenty of proof behind this statement!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob Williams

BIOS flashing... which can be done without a CPU even installed into the board. Amazing. I've had at least three experiences in the past two years where this feature really would have come in handy. Yes, only three experiences, but given I need to install an old CPU first to update the BIOS, and then the new one... a feature like this would have saved a lot of hassle.

When I got my Gulftown chip, I installed it into a new system build right away, pressed the power button... and nothing. The system wouldn't POST and I had to unmount my waterblock and open up the case, and fumble around to install the old Core i7 920 so I could flash update the BIOS. That was a ton of extra work and time wasted, and made all the more irritating given it was a new motherboard and Gulftowns had been on the market for eight months!

As a side note, this flashing ability is thanks to the TPU, it provides the CPU functionality required to make this work.

Quote:

Originally Posted by marfig

The Sabertooth looks absolutely gorgeous... (what!? That is important too!). I'm sure it goes very nicely with my office earth tones. All I need now is military green RAM and a brown GPU. But not mahogany. Or pine. Oak. Oak would be fine, thank you. Please ship to my usual address

You will get your wish, I distinctly noticed one unique Corsair RAM kit plugged into one of the Sabertooth boards... it matched the color scheme very well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by marfig

On another account... Is it a given that this 8xDIMM setup with the 90 degree rotated CPU will present serious clearance challenges to the new line of big air coolers we've been seeing? I'm probably mistaken, but boy, those DIMMS seem way close for the sides of some of these coolers. And while they won't be facing a fan anymore, that back platting will... and seems very high on some cases.

It might pose an issue for the largest coolers, but most coolers that can fit on an X58 board should not have an issue here either. The pinout for the cooler mount itself is still square, so anyone can rotate the coolers whichever orientation they want, unlike AMD's rectangle cooler mounts. That said, every system I saw was using a self-contained Corsair waterloop, so I didn't see too many extreme air cooler examples firsthand yet to be sure!

Also, I did mention the ROG series will be using the X-socket feature... I'm sure it can be applied to waterblocks and air coolers as well... it's a feature I hope ASUS will consider including in its Deluxe boards in the future!

10-29-2011, 12:20 PM

The company has other workstation class motherboards, but as much as we want to, we unfortunately we cannot discuss them at this time. But what we can tell you, is that the EVGA SR-3 will no longer be the only choice this time around.

Did anyone notice that ASUS will be having a dual LGA2011 mobo

DarkStarr · 10-29-2011, 11:02 PM

I want the rampage

it looks just so

However..... I am sure the board will be a $400 board soooooo..... Techgage review one and send me the sample to keep

muhahahahah

OriginalJoeCool · 10-30-2011, 02:44 PM

I want the Rampage too! Send it to me. I'll private message you my address.

Kougar · 10-30-2011, 04:56 PM

Well, since everyone's digging the Extreme.... ASUS did mention a Rampage IV Formula in addition to the Extreme variant while I was at the event, so there will be a slightly cheaper alternative. I do not know what the differences are, and the price point of the Rampage IV Extreme had yet to be determined.

OriginalJoeCool · 10-30-2011, 05:47 PM

When can we expect these to be released?

10-31-2011, 03:43 AM

I am looking at the Rampage and I see a six-pin EPS connector next to the first PCIe slot, but no 8-pin.
Also a "black box" next to the black SATA connectors.

Any idea what & why?

Optix · 10-31-2011, 06:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I am looking at the Rampage and I see a six-pin EPS connector next to the first PCIe slot, but no 8-pin.
Also a "black box" next to the black SATA connectors.

Any idea what & why?

Maybe an 8-pin connection would be overkill on a board that is equally so? Hehehe.

The black box next to the SATA ports is the LED display that shows status codes on POST/boot.

OriginalJoeCool · 10-31-2011, 08:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Optix

Maybe an 8-pin connection would be overkill on a board that is equally so? Hehehe.

The black box next to the SATA ports is the LED display that shows status codes on POST/boot.

That's a nice feature! So have you shipped mine yet?!

10-27-2011, 08:59 PM	#1
Rob Williams Editor-in-Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 13,246	ASUS X79 Motherboard Preview At its annual tech summit held a couple of weeks ago, ASUS talked in great detail about what's coming to its X79 mobo line-up. Certain NDA's have not yet lifted, but we can talk about a few of the new things ASUS is introducing, and also take an early look at four of the company's X79 motherboards. Read through Robert's look at what's en route from ASUS, and then discuss it here! __________________ Intel Core i7-990X EE @ 3.43GHz, GIGABYTE X58A-UD5, Kingston 12GB DDR3-1333, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD, WD VR 1TB, WD 2TB, Seagate 2TB, LG BD-ROM, ASUS DVD-RW, Corsair 1000HX, Corsair H60 Cooler Corsair 800D, Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Gentoo (KDE 4.10, 3.7 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter <Toad772> I don't always drink alcohol, but when I do, I take it too far.

10-27-2011, 09:21 PM	#2
Rob Williams Editor-in-Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 13,246	As I deal with multiple chipset/CPU launches each year, it's a little rare when I find myself more excited for one launch than another (after all, it takes time to innovate), but I admit this article piqued my interest in motherboards quite a bit for this launch. Couple of things... I can use 8 DIMMs at speeds of 4 DIMMs? That is awesome. With 8 DIMM motherboards looking to be rather popular for this platform, I hope other manufacturers will jump on this dedicated Digital VRM for DIMM bandwagon also. SSD caching... to a RAMdisk. Might be time to splurge for 64GB, huh? BIOS flashing... which can be done without a CPU even installed into the board. Amazing. I've had at least three experiences in the past two years where this feature really would have come in handy. Yes, only three experiences, but given I need to install an old CPU first to update the BIOS, and then the new one... a feature like this would have saved a lot of hassle. 6 fan connectors... at least on the Sabertooh. I've often hated the fact that most motherboards skimp out on these things, giving either just three or maxing out at four. It's not that I need six, it's that I want to have the option of plugging them in where I need them rather than be forced into a location and have resulting wires hanging in front of my motherboard. Great showing all around, looking forward to giving one of the boards in this article a good test. __________________ Intel Core i7-990X EE @ 3.43GHz, GIGABYTE X58A-UD5, Kingston 12GB DDR3-1333, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD, WD VR 1TB, WD 2TB, Seagate 2TB, LG BD-ROM, ASUS DVD-RW, Corsair 1000HX, Corsair H60 Cooler Corsair 800D, Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Gentoo (KDE 4.10, 3.7 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter <Toad772> I don't always drink alcohol, but when I do, I take it too far.

10-28-2011, 03:32 AM	#3
Doomsday Tech Junkie Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: KHI, PAK Posts: 1,539	These boards and the X79 line up are truly hardcore! __________________ PSU: Corsair AX850 - Case: Cooler Master HAF X - CPU:Core i7-2600k - Cooler: Cooler Master V6 GT - Motherboard: Asus Z68 Maximus IV Extreme Z - Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8 GB-1600Mhz - GPU: AMD MSI R6970 Lightning - HDD: WD Caviar Black 1TB, Seagate 2TB Barracuda Green - SSD: Intel 520 Series 120GB - K/B: Razer Lycosa Mirror - Mouse: Logitech G700 - MouseMat: Steel Series 4HD - LCD: Samsung 2333SW 23" - Speakers: Creative Inspire M4500 4.1 - Headset: Logitech G35 7.1 "Do not look at a man's prayers nor his fasts, rather, measure him by how well he deals with others, the compassion he shows his fellow man, his wisdom and his integrity" - Umar Ibn Al-Khattab

10-28-2011, 07:11 AM	#4
Optix Basket Chassis Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: New Brunswick, Canada Posts: 1,653	I'm a big fan of GIGABYTE but ASUS boards are in a league of their own and these look so boss (yes, I used the term boss) that I can't pick which I like more, the Sabertooth or the Rampage. __________________ Intel i5 3570K, MSI Z77Z-GD55, 4x2GB Kingston Genesis 2133mhz, 120GB Mushkin Chronos SSD, 1TB Western Digital Caviar Blue, Intel 210 cache drive, MSI 7850 Power Edition OC, Corsair H100, Silverstone Strider 750w Gold, Killer2100 NIC, Corsair 600T SE White, LG W2242, ROCCAT Kone+, Isku & Kave, 200GB Western Digital Scorpio Black external drive

10-28-2011, 07:42 AM	#5
marfig No ROM battery Join Date: May 2011 Posts: 783	The Sabertooth looks absolutely gorgeous... (what!? That is important too!). I'm sure it goes very nicely with my office earth tones. All I need now is military green RAM and a brown GPU. But not mahogany. Or pine. Oak. Oak would be fine, thank you. Please ship to my usual address On another account... Is it a given that this 8xDIMM setup with the 90 degree rotated CPU will present serious clearance challenges to the new line of big air coolers we've been seeing? I'm probably mistaken, but boy, those DIMMS seem way close for the sides of some of these coolers. And while they won't be facing a fan anymore, that back platting will... and seems very high on some cases. __________________ NOX COOLBAY Side Window Black; NOX Apex 600w Modular; ASUS P7P55D-E Socket 1156, Sata 6Gb/s & USB 3.0; Intel Quad Core i5 760 2.80 Ghz @ 3.60 Ghz, 8 Mb de cache; Gskill Ripjaws 4 Gb DDR3 1600 Mhz CL8 Dual Channel; ASUS GEFORCE GTX 560 TI DC II 1024MB GDDR5; Samsung 1 Tb 32 Mb SpinPoint F3; NEC 24x Sata black Artic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2; 2x Samsung SyncMaster S43NW 8000:1 (1440x900) Logitech K120 Keyboard and Logitech Performance Mouse MX Last edited by marfig; 10-28-2011 at 07:53 AM.

10-28-2011, 08:37 AM	#6
Optix Basket Chassis Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: New Brunswick, Canada Posts: 1,653	I agree, marfig. You can't count out air coolers because they do offer a level of security for some folks who don't want to put liquid near their components but forward compatibility is likely to be an issue with this new design. All the more reason to make the jump to an all-in-one liquid cooler. __________________ Intel i5 3570K, MSI Z77Z-GD55, 4x2GB Kingston Genesis 2133mhz, 120GB Mushkin Chronos SSD, 1TB Western Digital Caviar Blue, Intel 210 cache drive, MSI 7850 Power Edition OC, Corsair H100, Silverstone Strider 750w Gold, Killer2100 NIC, Corsair 600T SE White, LG W2242, ROCCAT Kone+, Isku & Kave, 200GB Western Digital Scorpio Black external drive

10-29-2011, 12:20 PM	#8
Unregistered Guest Poster Posts: n/a	ASUS dual LGA 2011 The company has other workstation class motherboards, but as much as we want to, we unfortunately we cannot discuss them at this time. But what we can tell you, is that the EVGA SR-3 will no longer be the only choice this time around. Did anyone notice that ASUS will be having a dual LGA2011 mobo

10-29-2011, 11:02 PM	#9
DarkStarr Tech Monkey Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 623	I want the rampage it looks just so However..... I am sure the board will be a $400 board soooooo..... Techgage review one and send me the sample to keep muhahahahah __________________ Intel Core i7 2700k (4.8 @ 100x48) Watercooled - 16GB Crucial Ballistix @ 1600 Mhz 9.9.9.24 2T 8GB Corsair Vengeance @ 1600 Mhz 9.9.9.24 2T - Asus Sabertooth P67 - Asus Radeon 7970 Ref. (Non Ghz) Heatkiller 79xx Ni-Bl (Soon) @ 1050/1500 - 64Gb Crucial M4 SSD - 3x Hitachi 1Tb - Corsair TX950W Azza Genesis 9000B - 2x Samsung SyncMaster S27A550H - Vizio 32" LCD

10-30-2011, 02:44 PM	#10
OriginalJoeCool Tech Monkey Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada Posts: 617	I want the Rampage too! Send it to me. I'll private message you my address. __________________ Last.fm Raptr "Man could hold the universe in his palm, if only he could learn to unclench his fist."

10-30-2011, 04:56 PM	#11
Kougar Techgage Staff Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Texas Posts: 2,643	Well, since everyone's digging the Extreme.... ASUS did mention a Rampage IV Formula in addition to the Extreme variant while I was at the event, so there will be a slightly cheaper alternative. I do not know what the differences are, and the price point of the Rampage IV Extreme had yet to be determined. __________________ Core i7 4770k Gigabyte Z87X-UD5H Crucial Ballistix Sport LP 1600MHz 32GB EVGA GTX 480 HydroCopper FTW ASUS Xonar DX Corsair Neutron GTX 240GB \| Windows 7 64-bit Apogee XT + MCP655 & Thermochill Triple 140mm Radiator Corsair AX1200 PSU \| Cooler Master HAF-X

10-30-2011, 05:47 PM	#12
OriginalJoeCool Tech Monkey Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada Posts: 617	When can we expect these to be released? __________________ Last.fm Raptr "Man could hold the universe in his palm, if only he could learn to unclench his fist."

10-31-2011, 03:43 AM	#13
Unregistered Guest Poster Posts: n/a	I am looking at the Rampage and I see a six-pin EPS connector next to the first PCIe slot, but no 8-pin. Also a "black box" next to the black SATA connectors. Any idea what & why?

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