Overclockers Elmor and kinc last gathered to set a singl-card 3DMark Vantage world record, the duo and SF3D got together in Sweden to set another record, of the highest multi-GPU 3DMark Vantage score with a single processor. Vantage multi-GPU records are lead by multi-processor (dual LGA1366) setups. The team achieved a Vantage score of P75892 points. For this feat, the team used a single Intel Core i7-990X Extreme Edition processor 6213 MHz (177.5 MHz x 35.0) with all cores and threads enabled, backed by 4 GB of dual-channel memory by ADATA clocked at 887.5 MHz (actual), running on ASUS Rampage III Extreme motherboard with ROG Xpander to enable 4-way SLI capability.

Leading the graphics department were four ASUS GTX 580 DirectCu graphics cards clocked at 1105/1301/2210 MHz (core/shader/memory). The setup was powered by two Antec HCP 1200W PSUs. Liquid nitrogen cooling was the weapon of choice, the CPU was cooled by SF3D OC Inflection Point LN2 evaporator, and four Kingpin Tek-9 6 Slim evaporators for the graphics cards.

ASUS unveiled a number of new gaming products at CeBIT in March this year, including Republic of Gamers (ROG) notebook PCs, high-performance motherboards, graphics cards, 3D monitors, router and headsets. All hold true to the ASUS promise to provide choice for everyone and complete its line-up of immersive gaming products.

The new Republic of Gamers (ROG) G Series notebooks lead the charge. Designed for hardcore gamers who want to be able to play anywhere, the G74Sx uses the latest Intel 'Huron River' Core i5 and i7 processors for outstanding performance with any application, while the latest NVIDIA enthusiast level graphics card ensure class-leading 3D performance. NVIDIA 3D Vision is supported as standard too, as is big-screen 3D output via HDMI 1.4 to a compatible display.

Renowned overclockers elmor and Kinc did the unthinkable, breaching the 1500 MHz barrier for the core (geometry domain) clock speed of GeForce GTX 580. Using ASUS EN580GTX DirectCu graphics card, the duo managed to achieve 1504 MHz core, 3008 MHz CUDA cores, and 1253 MHz (5012 MHz GDDR5 effective) memory, churning out 240.6 GB/s memory bandwidth. With this in single-card configuration, the testbed consisting of Intel Core i7-990X clocked at 6.14 GHz and 6 GB of DDR3 memory clocked at 1750 MHz, and ASUS Rampage III Extreme motherboard, the duo achieved a 3DMark Vantage score of P45819 (performance preset), setting a new record.

The bench was powered by a 1200W Antec HCP PSU, the graphics card ran with a whopping 1.62V vGPU, and 1.86V vMem, it is estimated that the graphics card drew 600W (12V, 50A) of power in itself. The CPU and graphics card were cooled using liquid nitrogen evaporators, the GPU VRM was directly air-cooled, using a high-flow fan. A number of hard volt-mods were employed to achieve those voltages.

ASUS has come up with a Frankenstein solution which enables 4-way SLI on the Rampage III Extreme motherboard with full PCI-Express 2.0 x16 bandwidth, called the ROG Xpander. The device is a daughterboard that sits on the motherboard with connections to its PCI-E 2.0 x16 slots. While it might not fit into cases, it is intended to work on test-benches. The two PCI-E x16 connections from the motherboard are wired to two NVIDIA nForce 200 bridge chips, which give out two x16 links each, driving the four x16 slots on the daughterboard. It takes input from one 6-pin PCI-E power input, and three 4-pin Molex inputs, though not all may be required.

The ROG Xpander ideally would draw 12W of power per nForce chip, and with its own power inputs, will not draw any power from the motherboard for the four PCI-E cards. The point of using this device is that ASUS did not give 4-way SLI capability to the Rampage III Extreme from the factory, even though it already has four PCI-E x16 slots (x8 each when all are populated). A fan seated on the Xpander ensures components on the motherboard under it aren't suffocated of cool air. ASUS ran a 4-way SLI test of four GeForce GTX 480 graphics cards on 3DMark Vantage, where the Core i7 980X @ 6 GHz powered setup scored P52422 points.

ASUS, the leading provider of high performance motherboards, launches the highly anticipated Republic of Gamers (ROG) Rampage III Extreme and Maximus III Extreme motherboards in North America today. Featuring class leading designs and innovative features, the ROG Rampage III Extreme and Maximus III Extreme set a new standard for world class enthusiast motherboards. Rigorously tested and approved by leading enthusiasts, the Extreme series is engineered from the ground up for exceptional performance, stability, overclocking prowess, and most of all, reliability under extreme conditions.

In an overclocking feat by XtremeSystems community members Elmor and Kinc, an ASUS EAH5870 MATRIX Radeon HD 5870 graphics card was able to achieve a mind-boggling core speed of 1525 MHz (core) from its default speed of 894 MHz, and AMD reference speed of 850 MHz. This translates into 70% over default speeds, and 79% over reference speeds. The not-so-relevant memory overclock was 1300 MHz (5.2 GHz effective), an 8.3% overclock. The card was cooled using liquid-nitrogen evaporators.

This wasn't a "hit-and-run" feat, either. The stability of the GPU at 1500 MHz was proven with a run of 3DMark Vantage, where it scored P29342 points at the performance preset. The rest of the bench comprised of an Intel Core i7 980X Extreme Edition six-core processor running at 4492.9 MHz, at 1.52V, also cooled by liquid nitrogen, ASUS Rampage III Extreme motherboard, 6 GB of Corsair Dominator GTX DDR3 memory, and Antec 1200W power supply. The validation for the 3DMark Vantage run where it scored P30542 can be found here.

A team of overclockers Sampsa and Stummerwinter set a new world-record score for 3DMark Vantage (Performance preset). The duo set the record using a test-bed made of Intel Core i7 975 Extreme Edition, four ASUS ATI Radeon HD 5870 in CrossFireX mode, 6 GB of Corsair Dominator GTX2, and the upcoming ASUS Rampage III Extreme motherboard to seat it all.

The Core i7 975 XE processor sailed through to 5508.9 MHz (27 x 204 MHz @ 1.664V, HTT on), with the memory running at 2040 MHz DDR (7-8-7-21). The four ASUS Radeon HD 5870 cards were hand-picked from a batch of 18 pieces. Core/memory speeds of 1325 MHz / 1300 MHz, were set. Catalyst drivers version 9.12 were used for the record feat.

The team achieved a 3DMark Vantage score of P47002, with a GPU score of 53,911 points, and CPU score of 33,949. To cool the machine, F1 EE & Tek 9.0 liquid nitrogen evapourators were used for the GPUs and CPU. The duo credit their success (besides their skills), to Kinc and Christian from ASUS and Thomas from Intel.

According to ASUS the Rampage III Extreme is "Designed for those who know the Dark Art of Overclocking". It comes equipped with all features that overclockers dream of, and also has new stuff like ROG Connect for example.
The board supports CPUs for Intel Socket 1366, which means Core i7 including Gulftown (yes, I asked). As chipset Intel's X58 and ICH10R is used like on the Rampage II Extreme. ASUS has routed 32 PCI-Express 2.0 lanes to the PCI-E x16 slots, so you can either run x16+x16, x16+x8+x8 or x8+x8+x8+x8 - all without the added heat and latency of NVIDIA's nForce 200. As we hear this does make quite a difference in a 4x HD 5870 configuration for example. Major improvements have also been made to the power solution which is now 8-phase digital 250 - 1000 kHz. Of course support for USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gb/s is included as well.While exact details are not known, the price of the board will be "highest priced ROG" - my guess is around $400, with availability starting around the Gulftown launch which should be some time in March.

Big, big picture, about 5 MB, can be found here.

One of ASUS' premier offers for this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) event is a new high-end socket LGA-1366 motherboard, the Republic of Gamers (ROG) Rampage III Extreme. The board succeeds the Rampage II Extreme which launched over an year ago along with Intel's then new Core i7 series processors. The new model based on the Intel X58 Express + ICH10R chipset, comes with four well spaced out PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots, a new set of overclocking enhancements such as the ROG connect which lets you control the motherboard's overclocking from any Bluetooth and Java enabled mobile phone, SATA 6 Gb/s and USB 3.0 connectivity using ASUS' innovative PCI-Express 2.0 bridge implementation, and a more powerful CPU VRM to keep the board stable with bleeding-edge settings.

The board features an enhanced CPU VRM which is now powered by two 8-pin ATX connectors apart from two 4-pin Molex connectors. Some of these could be redundant and needed only for electrical stability. The CPU and memory power circuitry makes use of super-ML capacitors for cleaner power delivery. Voltage readouts are located next to the DIMM slots for accessibility. The motherboard makes use of slimmer component heatsinks that look to be made of the ceramic composite which the TUF Sabertooth P55 motherboard uses.