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X-fire ASUS ROG ARES II's & Motherboard

Skyehawk
By Skyehawk
in Graphics Cards
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I have 2 ASUS ROG ARES II's; no joke. I need a motherboard to run this beast of a system. I feel that a LGA 1155 socket will not provide enough PCI-e lanes. Should I go for an LGA 2011 running a 3970x to compensate for this problem? I want to be able to run thunderbolt if at all possible so I am also considering the LGA 1155 socket running an OC 3770k. I have picked out a few Asus MoBos and I was wondering if you could give your opinion.

LGA 1155 (Z77)

-ASUS MAXIMUS V EXTREME

LGA 2011 (X79)

-ASUS RAMPAGE IV FORMULA

-ASUS P9X79 PRO

It would be nice to stick with Asus for trouble-shooting as well as asthetics, but if you guys have a better motherboard please tell me. I appriciate your opinion. Thank-you

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I really like the Rampage board. Looks nice and lots of features. The x79 boards also support dual x16 mode, which you will need for that type of setup.

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Thank you I had just one card to begin with, then the opertunity for two presented itself >:D The formula is a nice board. It also has som nice audio built in. Thanks again for a second opinion.

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You went all in for the GPUs.

Why not motherboard?

Asrock Extreme11.

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Asus Rampage IV Extreme or MSi Big Bang Xpower-II

And remember - Linus said he would go to that person who would have 2 of these Ares II in one system :DD

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IMO go with the Rampage IV formula/extreme.

Workstation: 3930k @ 4.3GHz under an H100 - 4x8GB ram - infiniband HCA  - xonar essence stx - gtx 680 - sabretooth x79 - corsair C70 Server: i7 3770k (don't ask) - lsi-9260-4i used as an HBA - 6x3TB WD red (raidz2) - crucia m4's (60gb (ZIL, L2ARC), 120gb (OS)) - 4X8GB ram - infiniband HCA - define mini  Goodies: Røde podcaster w/ boom & shock mount - 3x1080p ips panels (NEC monitors for life) - k90 - g9x - sp2500's - HD598's - kvm switch

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Go X79 and pretty much the Mpower, or the UD5, or the Maximus V. For the CPU I would suggest the 3930K as its basically a slightly underclocked 3960x/70x. For a cooler I would definitely wait for the Swiftech H220, if you saw Linus's CES video on it it is AMAZING!. Just get a really big case like the 900D so you can fit the 4 radiators you will have.

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I think you should go with the sabertooth x79 board because that gives you 2 x16 slots and a spare x1 slot for a sound card. You look like you have the money for a 3970x and a high end sound card. You should watercool the 3970x with a custom loop or a h110 Sabertooth is a great board. I did a build for a mate with that board.

XYPHER AMD FX8350 @ 4.6Ghz ASUS SABERTOOTH 990FX R2.0 AMD RADEON HD 7970 @ 1140Mhz 16GB Corsair VENGEANCE 1600Mhz OCZ VERTEX 3 240GB SSD Corsair H100i 1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA FRACTAL DESIGN DEFINE R4 CORSAIR K90 MADCATZ RAT 3 iiyama ProLite B2480HS 24"

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Ok, some additional specs...

Case: Cooler Master Cosmos II

PSU: Cooler Master - Silent Pro - 1500 watts

GPU: Asus Ares II x 2

RAM: CORSAIR Dominator Platinum 32GB (4 x 8GB) 2400

CPU: Intel 3930K (I think, I will probally upgrade to an Ivy Bridge Extreme Edition when it comes out in late 2013)

- Corsair H100?

Also could I be directed to where Linus says that he will go to the person w/ two Ares II's? It's cool to have somthing on Linus that he might reget XD.

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Not sure if this was the video,at [3.41] he says "4 of these cards".... Just a question regarding your chice of mobo, have you considered a dual CPU one? Not that it's necessary, just a tought, since you're going overboard with your build =) EVGA makes a couple, but here is an asus: Z9PE-D8 WS. Do post pics of you build =)

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Workstation Boards are very robust. But they lack the gaming speed I desire here. I think I will wait until the Ivy Bridge Extreme edition prosessor comes out in July-August. There is no official word on the details of this prossessor, it might have 6 cores or maybe 8. I haven't researched it too much. But this seems like the safer move right now. Hepburn is about to replace Ivy Bridge and the Ivy Bridge Extreme will soon replace the Sandy Bridge extreme. I dont want to spend $1400 on a mobo and CPU that will be obsolete in 6 months. There may be a faster graphics card by that time, but rember I have 2 of them so I am pretty sure I will still be close to the best system out there. Any more input in this thread is still welcome though.

[Edit] I am banking on the fact that thunderbolt will be offered in the next generation of LGA 2011 boards. If anyone can confirm/deny this it would be of great use to me.

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Not sure if this was the video,at [3.41] he says "4 of these cards".... Just a question regarding your chice of mobo, have you considered a dual CPU one? Not that it's necessary, just a tought, since you're going overboard with your build =) EVGA makes a couple, but here is an asus: Z9PE-D8 WS. Do post pics of you build =)
It's a dual GPU videocard , so yeah... you can't put 4 of those in a system *flies away*
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Rampage iv extreme obviously, lol. It's the best x79 board and matches the colour scheme of the ares.

If you *need* the thunderbolt you'll need to wait I guess.

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i would second the rampage 4 extreme, i have one, and i won't swap it out, the biggest thing you need to look at is the case, not the motherboard, the motherbaord is easy, R4E, and a 3930k or 3960/70x, but finding a case that can accomodate 3 factory presealed radiators is going to be a bit more difficult, i know the Cosmos2 wont do it, try looking at the 800D

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I suggest going with LGA 2011, and going with the ASUS ROG MOB. Also what did you pick for a case to pit all the gear in?

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And also don't bother going with a extreme edition CPU, it's not worth it, just go with the K-series!

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honestly dont buy 3960x or 3970x if you want thunderbolt wait or buy a 3820 and a cheaper board than wait than upgrade to ivy bridge e and buy the best mobo they have during that time but, plz dont be dumb like some people who buy a 3960x/70x its 100-200 mhz. Also water cool, get the h220 from swifttech when it gets released than add a radiator or 2 and slowly upgrade. For example put h220 on top than after a while or right away order a triple rad on top and put the h220 rad in the bottom it should work for the cosmos ii hope I helped.

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And also don't bother going with a extreme edition CPU, it's not worth it, just go with the K-series!
ye do need a socket 2011 cpu because otherwise the cards will be running at pci-e 8x which they should not need to in a really high end system like this should turn out to be.

XYPHER AMD FX8350 @ 4.6Ghz ASUS SABERTOOTH 990FX R2.0 AMD RADEON HD 7970 @ 1140Mhz 16GB Corsair VENGEANCE 1600Mhz OCZ VERTEX 3 240GB SSD Corsair H100i 1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA FRACTAL DESIGN DEFINE R4 CORSAIR K90 MADCATZ RAT 3 iiyama ProLite B2480HS 24"

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You should wait until haswell/ivy bridge e come out so that your system will be even more beast. Trust me it will be worth it. Also why try folding@home on that pc when it is done. It should do really well. Rampage IV Extreme is a good idea because of the colours if you are gonna go for sandy bridge-e but if you are gonna wait for ivy bridge/haswell-e you could just get the new equivalent of the Rampage IV Extreme for this new spec on the socket 2011 platform

XYPHER AMD FX8350 @ 4.6Ghz ASUS SABERTOOTH 990FX R2.0 AMD RADEON HD 7970 @ 1140Mhz 16GB Corsair VENGEANCE 1600Mhz OCZ VERTEX 3 240GB SSD Corsair H100i 1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA FRACTAL DESIGN DEFINE R4 CORSAIR K90 MADCATZ RAT 3 iiyama ProLite B2480HS 24"

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I want one of those cards so bad..... I wonder how well it would run under linux? Yea get a 2011 board, it would just add you the beastness, espically if you got the money for it, you might as well go all out.

Work Station:: Cooler Master Storm Trooper // i7-3930K @ 3.9 GHz // Asus Sabertooth X79 // Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4X4GB) 1600 MHz // Cooler Master 1200W Gold // Xonar Essence STX // Radeon HD 6970 // Avermedia HD Live Gamer Pro

 

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evga sr-x anyone?

go for a good x79 board, preferably the ROG series. it will look awesome, and those are widely known as a good and respected board. it will handle the madness :)

the extreme cpu isn't needed. you can just go for the 3960K. the extra's that the extreme will give are not worth it ;)

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