# X58-OC Choosing a Mainboard



## Dinnercore (Oct 13, 2019)

Heya, I´d like to add an X58 Board to my collection and I want to choose something that can handle serious OC, preferably with Xeons too.
I currently have three options, all at the same price:

A) ASUS Rampage III Extreme 

B) MSI Big Bang XPower 

C) Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD9 (but this offer looks a bit funky, not sure If I´ll consider it)

Are there any special things to know about X58-boards in terms of CPU / RAM compatibility? I heard there was some kind of uncore-bug on an MSI board?

I have not been on intel during the days of X58 and I have absolutly no idea which boards did well and which were a pain.


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## agent_x007 (Oct 13, 2019)

Early EVGA's X58 boards* don't support Xeon's (or require hard modding).

X58A-OC > X58A-UD9

Rampage III Black Edition



> * Westmere processors are only supported natively on the X58 SLI3, FTW3, and Classified3 Models. A product modification may be needed for older models.


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## TheMadDutchDude (Oct 13, 2019)

The Rampage II Extreme is actually more efficient and faster than the III.

As far as choice goes, the X58A-OC is one of the best, if not the best motherboard ever produced.


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## Dinnercore (Oct 13, 2019)

Thank you for the input, I think I´ll check out the Rampage II Extreme. 

As the Black Edition and X58A-OC may be among the best boards they blow the budget. Each of those are far beyond 500€ currently here. I was looking towards the 200-300€ price range 

But maybe I´ll just wait a month or two and save up. However the Rampage II is highly available at the moment and dirt cheap (just under 100€ or with bend pins but working for 30€), I might just go with it and later aim for a holy grail piece.


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## TheMadDutchDude (Oct 13, 2019)

Oof! Those are super expensive and not worth that much. I am gutted that I missed the HiCookie signed one on HWBOT a while ago. I’ve got one on the way soon... but I will not reveal my source.


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## DR4G00N (Oct 13, 2019)

Dinnercore said:


> Thank you for the input, I think I´ll check out the Rampage II Extreme.
> 
> As the Black Edition and X58A-OC may be among the best boards they blow the budget. Each of those are far beyond 500€ currently here. I was looking towards the 200-300€ price range
> 
> But maybe I´ll just wait a month or two and save up. However the Rampage II is highly available at the moment and dirt cheap (just under 100€ or with bend pins but working for 30€), I might just go with it and later aim for a holy grail piece.


R2E is solid, it'll do just as well as any other board for 99.9% of the time. If you can grab one for cheap then go for it.

I mainly use Evga Classified boards for 1366 now since that's what I have. They're also pretty good provided you get one that can do high-ish BCLK. 
Used to use an X58A-OC but the NB died one day and haven't gotten around to buying a pcb pre-heater to put a new one on.


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## TheMadDutchDude (Oct 14, 2019)

There’s a R2E on eBay from Spain right now for a great price... and it’s boxed. Check it out. 









						ASUS Rampage II Extreme Republic of Gamers, LGA 1366/Socket B, Intel Motherboard for sale online | eBay
					

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for ASUS Rampage II Extreme Republic of Gamers, LGA 1366/Socket B, Intel Motherboard at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!



					rover.ebay.com


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## freeagent (Oct 14, 2019)

I’ve got a Rampage III Formula, it’s been a solid board. Excellent even. I’ve got one driving an x5690 E.S. and a set of Super Talent Hypers. It’s been a relatively solid setup for about eight or nine years. No problems with high voltage over extended periods. No problems with voltage sags like some of the “other” guys. Old school muscle


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## Zyll Goliat (Oct 14, 2019)

I have EXCELLENT eXperience with P6X58D Premium this is such a good board also it does have USB 3 and sata 3(not true 6gbs it's Marvell not that fast)but the very best thing is incredible 16+2 Phase Power Design that can easily handle any OC with 6 core Xeons......I have 6 core @E5645 Xeon (2,4Ghz stocked)that is OC on 4,2Ghz for every day use with only 1,312V on core....So if you asking me between this 3 boards that you mention above I think that I will go with Asus Rampage III Extreme....Yeah also there are many stories about X58 and some ram issues,I personally didn't have any bad experience also atm I have 30gb of ram and this mobo that can handle up to 48gb without the problems but as far as I know majority of this boards(non-server) accepting only non-ECC and unbuffered-ECC RAM....GL


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## timta2 (Oct 14, 2019)

TheMadDutchDude said:


> There’s a R2E on eBay from Spain right now for a great price... and it’s boxed. Check it out.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



"Perfectly working EXCEPT 2 of the 6 RAM sockets doesn't recognize inserted modules due to a bent CPU pin (typically in this socket). Can be repared"


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## oinkypig (Oct 14, 2019)

Rampage uses marvels sata 3 controller which is worse than onboard sata 2 controller, big time.
asus p6td-v1(achieved 4.2ghz c0 stepping i7 920, 4.4ghz i7 920 d0, and x5675 up to 4.8ghz) and ran tight timing(9-10-9-18) occupying 2/6 ram slots with g skill trident x 2400(2x8gb) @ 2095Mhz left in dual channel. Managed to break 1100 points in cinebench r15 with that.
evga sr-2 would be my personal choice if i were to go with an x58 board to experiment with two 4/6 core xeons.
youre going to want a dedicated sound card, so get a newer one on pci-e or find something that went with that era with pci. So make sure your board supports more than just pci-e unless you dont plan on using pci for sound cards. The only m.2 nvme ssds boot compatible on x58 are the samsung 950 pro and kingston predator hyperx. Also pay attention to pci-e slot placement. Running 3 gpus on my asus p6td-v2, would leave no pci slots since they got covered up.


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## Dinnercore (Oct 14, 2019)

oinkypig said:


> Rampage uses marvels sata 3 controller which is worse than onboard sata 2 controller, big time.
> asus p6td-v2(achieved 4.2ghz c0 stepping i7 920, 4.4ghz i7 920 d0, and x5675 up to 4.8ghz) and ran tight timing(9-10-9-18) occupying 2/6 ram slots with g skill trident x 2400(2x8gb) @ 2095Mhz left in dual channel. Managed to break 1100 points in cinebench r15 with that.
> evga sr-2 would be my personal choice if i were to go with an x58 board to experiment with two 4/6 core xeons.


Already got an SR-2 (two in fact, but one is broken with a fried mosfet directly on the input circuit) I want to play around with single socket on my bench and the SR-2 will move into a system.

That P6TD looks decent too, I´ll include that in my search.


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## oinkypig (Oct 14, 2019)

asus p6td-v1 - this is the one Version 1 which has 2 additional sata 2 ports using marvels controller SATA 2 not 3 and its got another plus the 16+2 phases. Thats the one i used and would rather get than v2. Also some other bios are compatible with this board. i believe the asus p6tws is and added two more features to the bios which i tested. one gives you a high TDP limit so you can constantly run with the Turbo Multiplier as seen on x58 boards. The multipliers vary between all xeons, but usually do not offer much in terms of max overlock, from 20x-26x. x5650-x5690 typically all reach a 4.8ghz threshold for stabilty no matter the multiplier. My x5675 I had was set at 23x but could be ramped to 25x with the TDP limit off. i couldnt quite get an overclock to sit comfortably on this setting, in hopes of reaching 5ghz, but Its just as likely you want to run a more stable oc with tdp limit off to change blck and thus adjust memory frequency to your liking. All while lowering voltages by 0.1v potentially as reported. Any Instability i experienced was probably to do with crossflashing on top of a rather high OC, but it couldve been i just didnt know how to work with setting AUTO/MANUAL/SPEEEDSTEP/TURBO MODE/HIGH TDP mode to properly get the multiplier i was looking for. I would have probably imagined so if I could get the Asus p6tws to verify further this fact.

Theres tons of threads on crossflashing and removing thermal throttling. If you mess one up you can buy a new ROM chip from ebay. just pull the old one out and install the new one. I can tell you the bios for rampage boards are not compatible with the p6t lineup.


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## freeagent (Oct 14, 2019)

I don't think its a big deal it uses that controller.. It doesn't have to be used.. You can always use a pcie solution. I used a Revo Drive before pcie was remotely mainstream.. until it died  Can still drive x5690 to 4800 no problem. with regular gulftown can still max out MGH-E, BBSE and PSC.. Anyways, lots of boards to choose from.


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## TheMadDutchDude (Oct 14, 2019)

Stick to the boards built for OC. That’s the best advice I can give you.

I didn’t notice the description. I didn’t check to be fair. But keep an eye out. There can be good deals around.


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## agent_x007 (Oct 14, 2019)

oinkypig said:


> The only m.2 nvme ssds boot compatible on x58 are the samsung 950 pro and kingston predator hyperx.


Just use Clover or DUET to boot any other NVMe.


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## Tomgang (Oct 14, 2019)

In general I will say most x58 boards overclock pretty great. I have only used Asus X58 boards so can truly only tell about asus. I can so also say that asus rampage 2 extreme (I7 920 oc to 4.4 ghz) is a dam capable board. I whas limit by cooling and not motherboard at 4.4 ghz on my I7 920 and the ASUS P6X58D Premium I have to my I7 980x is also proper capable for overclock as my I7 980x runs 4.4 ghz 24/7 and for benchmark up to 4.75 ghz. Again I am not limited by motherboard but by cpu cooling.


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## 111frodon (Oct 14, 2019)

Let's not forget the assassin.g1

Just an awesome board, flies with any xeon, lots of usb3 and 4 pci-e x16. Just retired mine to replace it with a ryzen 3600. Lots of good memories!


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## Dinnercore (Oct 18, 2019)

Again thank you all for your inputs and thoughts. I hope you are not too mad at me for going against every single suggestion made here.





I chose the XPower for a couple of reasons. It was kinda love at first sight and even tho the other boards may be better suited for OC because of the poor memory VRM and bad compatibility on the XPower, I had to get it.
Reason one, the looks. I love the colors, the overall layout and I really like the touch-buttons. They are kinda unique and work surprisingly well with the visible feedback, that unique-factor makes a big difference for me. Next thing I like are the proper voltage read-points it features. Not just little pads but real sockets to plug into so you have your hands free while measuring.
The third reason would be the socket layout, as the SMD tantalum caps offer the space needed for my direct-die experiments and I would like to try different ideas before applying them to really expensive hardware (like my SR-2) later on.





I´m very happy with it so far, had some trouble to get it to boot first time because it did not like my memory kit but I already found out it is still on the original v1.2 bios... I hope it will work better after a bios update. With two sticks instead of three its working fine, currently busy installing OS. It came with an i7 960. (yes the memory channels each are working, tested them all)
Already gave it a clean, replaced the old and sticky paste + pads with new Kryonaut and the Thermal Grizzly minus pads.


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## DR4G00N (Oct 18, 2019)

Dinnercore said:


> Again thank you all for your inputs and thoughts. I hope you are not too mad at me for going against every single suggestion made here.


The XPower is a solid board, probably wasn't mentioned because that's the only x58 board that MSI made that wasn't mediocre.


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## Dinnercore (Oct 20, 2019)

Okay I guess I made the wrong decision, that´s what I get for going with the oddball.

The board does work, as long as you don´t OC with it. After the bios update it does accept my RAM in triple channel without a problem but I can not change the baseclock on this board. 

If I manually set a bclk in bios it does not seem to apply it. Either I´m very very dumb, or this board has a weird defect.
During POST it even displays the desired clock (e.g. 140 * 24 = 3360 MHz) but as soon as I´m in windows it shows 133 again in all software and benchmarks confirm that its indeed running at stock speed again. 

I tried every setting in bios I could find and tried them enabled/disabled, nothing changes this behaviour. First things I tried were disabling Intel Speedstep, Intel Overspeed protection and setting every voltage manually. 
Voltages apply fine, speedstep off works fine, but clock still stays 133. 

Then I tried to set manual 'ratios' for the Uncore / NB and RAM speeds. My board calls it 'ratio' but does not specifiy what this ratio uses as reference. I assumed it uses the BCLK, as in 5x 140 = 700MHz RAM and 16x on the Uncore would achieve 2240 MHz Uncore. 
For the RAM that is correct but the Uncore is already at 3GHz when I use the 11x ratio. So the Uncore is like double the BCLK as base multi. They could have atleast explained that a bit in the manual, but nope. 
Again no luck when setting these manual too, still 133 BCLK no matter what I tell it.

Next I set my RAM timings manually, disabled XMP. Worked fine but still can´t change BCLK. 
After that I disabled all the onboard buttons, like OC-Genie stuff and BCLK buttons just in case one of those is fishy. Nope, still stuck to 133 BCLK. (And the BCLK button on the board does not work in enabled state either).

Now I looked at the QPI setting, even tho my i7 960 is 4.8QPI it sets 6.4 in auto. I tried the three options manually 4.8, 5.X and 6.4, all three work fine and do apply in Windows as CPU-Z shows the correct adjusted speeds but BCLK is still glued to 133.

So at this point I started to question the state of my Bios and did a reflash, but same results. Every other setting seems to apply just fine, I can change memory timings, frequency, Uncore/NB and it all shows up in CPU-Z but I can not, for the love of christ, change the BCLK. I disabled all CPU features, and no luck, enabled them again, no luck. 
At this point I´m questioning my sanity and the state of this board. It seems like such a weird and specific error that I can´t really imagine it being a hardware -level defect. It just looks like I´m really dense and overlook some obvious setting that I need to toggle to enable the BCLK I set in bios but there is none. 

Well it´s what you get if you don´t listen to suggestions :/ Really feeling like an idiot right now.


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## agent_x007 (Oct 20, 2019)

@Dinnercore For 45nm LGA 1366, UnCore = Effective DRAM Frequency x 2 (and that's for MIN. value you must set for it).

Example : If BIOS says it can work with 2GHz effective memory, on lower than 4GHz UnCore for 45nm CPU - it's drunk.
In Your case, try x3 multi for memory at first, and see how far BCLK will go.
Also, UnCore may need more voltage (depending on settings used and RAM capacity).

Check if there isn't any Windows utility from MSI, maybe it has BCLK OC.


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## Dinnercore (Oct 20, 2019)

agent_x007 said:


> @Dinnercore For 45nm LGA 1366, UnCore = Effective DRAM Frequency x 2 (and that's for MIN. value you must set for it).
> 
> Example : If BIOS says it can work with 2GHz effective memory, on lower than 4GHz UnCore for 45nm CPU - it's drunk.
> 
> Check if there isn't any Windows utility from MSI, maybe it has BCLK OC.



Yeah I know about that double the effective RAM speed Uncore. Which is why my RAM is set to 1033 effective speed and my uncore currently at 2.8 GHz.
Which my bios does not tell me, if I choose a ratio manually it wrongly states that RAM will be 860MHz and Uncore 1680MHz no matter which value I try. I can set 3x or 7x RAM and 8x or 20x Uncore and bios still wants to make me believe it will equal 860 / 1680 no matter the ratio.
In CPU-Z it does read-out correctly tho, I was just confused that MSI did choose to already ad a hidden 2x multi on the Uncore so that you will always be above 2x effective memory. If they would have written that in the manual I would not have tried to boot with 5GHz Uncore on my first try 

My problem is that if I set a value in 'CPU base Frequency' (aka BCLK) it is unable to apply the value. I set 135 / 140 / 145 / 150 and it calculates in bios the resulting CPU speed, then continues to show me said CPU speed during POST but fails to apply them when I reach OS.
Could that be a chipset driver issue? I used the intel inf tool from the intel website instead of using the inf tool MSI provides because MSI version number was 2 years behind.

I´ll try to find the MSI software for adjusting OC in OS, but that seems like a poor workaround if it will work at all. As I said my onboard BCLK adjustment buttons do nothing when in OS.

Just to be clear I´m on Windows 7 64bit, 6GB RAM in 3x2. Kit is rated 1.6V 1600 7-7-7-24. I set 1.6V DRAM, I use 1.25V Vcore, 1.25V QPI. Other voltages are manually set to default.


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## agent_x007 (Oct 20, 2019)

Maybe they calculate it for real value, but do not compensate for effective one (which basicly means UnCore gets clock double that of what BIOS says) ?

PS. How high tRFC you can set in BIOS ?
Did you use Command Rate 1T or 2T ?


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## Dinnercore (Oct 20, 2019)

agent_x007 said:


> Maybe they calculate it for real value, but do not compensate for effective one (which basicly means UnCore gets clock double that of what BIOS says) ?
> 
> PS. How high tRFC you can set in BIOS ?
> Did you use Command Rate 1T or 2T ?



Max. tRFC is 255, currently on 128.
I´m on 2T.


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## DR4G00N (Oct 20, 2019)

It should work regardless of a chipset driver. Try some older bios'. There are also some beta bios' floating around.


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## Dinnercore (Oct 20, 2019)

I flashed back to Version 1.5, gonna try the original 1.2 again now.

Here are some pictures of the problem:





After running defaults I set 140 manually and this POST seems to confirm that it has the settings.








Note the '840' MHz DRAM and 1680MHz Uncore, because in CPU-Z with these settings I actually got 401 (802MHz) RAM and 2400 Uncore.











This is one of the POST codes that it takes the most time on during start-up, it stays on 0C for 15 whole seconds before going further. I could not find documentation about this code in my manual it seems to be 'Reserved for future AMI SEC error codes' but why does it take so long on this step? Is a total POST time greater then 20 seconds normal for X58?




And here is the result in OS, always 133. Doesnt matter if I try 140, 145 or 150. Temps seem good, performance is where it should be. Ran some CB15s fine and it was stable the whole night when I made an overnight stability test on default settings.

I´m going to try the other bios versions too and download some OS overclocking tool. I really hope I can use this board, I don´t know how I should explain to the seller that it is working but actually not really working.

EDIT: 



So I installed the MSI tool and guess what, it has the same issue. Voltage changes do apply fine, but baseclock does not move one bit.


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## phill (Oct 20, 2019)

agent_x007 said:


> Early EVGA's X58 boards* don't support Xeon's (or require hard modding).
> 
> X58A-OC > X58A-UD9
> 
> Rampage III Black Edition



I can vouch for this as all three of mine won't work with a Xeon and I wish they did as I found trying to get 12Gb of ram working with the boards proved to be a bloody nightmare and a pain..  That said I have a few Gigabyte X58 motherboards and they work fine, including a X58A-OC, well two but with my good mate @TheMadDutchDude trying to get one repaired, the guy who was looking at it buggered off and we never got the board back or fixed either..  Was a waste of a few quid..  If need be I'll grab another at some point, but with 6 X58 boards, I think I've enough 

I do agree 110% with TheMadDutchDude, don't waste buying a board that's only 75% of what you're after, if you're going to spend the cash, do it 100% right if not more  

Apologies a bit late to the party


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## Dinnercore (Oct 21, 2019)

Going back to version 1.2 bios did not help either. I´m now going to try beta bios too, but after I try some other things.
Gotta write this down before tho, I´m really frustrated with this issue and myself right now. Again my dumb face falling for either a scam or just having the luck of picking the worst possible option.

*rant on*
I have spend the past 3 months on several things and all turn out to be dead ends resulting in me throwing money out the window and loosing many hours for nothing. I have a broken SR-2 that I thought I could fix but after finally finding the parts from china, waiting weeks for shipping, it turns out there is no hope. Fine, I expected that. Then there is my other SR-2 which is ready to go in a build, the parts all there except for the mainboard cooler which now got delayed way past its original ETA in September and I start to doubt that I´ll ever see it...
And now this. With all the things combined I spend 600€ on these projects during the past couple of months and many hours of searching, reading, soldering, trying, installing software, etc.. And nothing, absolutly nothing is working.
*rant off*

So now that I got that out let´s start to think logical about the issue. I tested if I could atleast set a lower BCLK. Nope -> This means that the mechanism of changing the BCLK frequency seems to be broken or obstructed on some level. I doubt it´s a bios version issue at this point (tested 5 different versions).
I can succesfully change literally every other setting, multipliers up and down etc.. I tried with 20x CPU multi and it still is stuck at 133 BCLK. Which in return makes me think that may not be the intel 'overspeed protection', but I won´t rule this option out completly for now.
Just to be sure I switched to a new battery too, that 3.04V bat is now 3.3V.

The socket looks good, no broken or bend pins. I doubt the CPU can be the issue since the BCLK is board level? Still I will try a different CPU just to make sure.

Under the bios setting 'ClockGen Tuner' there are multiple mV options like 700mV, 800mV up to 1000mV for 'CPU Amplitude Control'. I will try setting this above and below default (800mV).

I have seen that MSI has a dip-switch on the X58 Platinum to control the BCLK, if you activate that switch it will force a certain clock like 133 or 166 and ignore everything else. Seems like exactly what my board is doing, except that I don´t have such a switch for clocks, only overvoltage settings.
Could it be that someone did some hardmods to my board? I did not spot anything when changing paste and pads but maybe I should check again. (Or did some dingus try to use a modded bios from a dip-switch supporting board and screwed my rom up in a place the original bios does not touch?)

There is some OC-Dashboard from MSI that can plug into the Xpower, maybe this is able to set some hard-limit? But why would that persist after bios flashes and clearing CMOS?


To sum it all up I got some ideas left, the beta bios @DR4G00N suggested might be working too. But I´m getting a bit tired of it all. One part of me wants to finally get atleast something working after all, the other part just wants to throw it all in the trash and never touch this topic ever again.
I miss the 775 boards, they were atleast fun to fail. This is just a brick wall I´m running against.


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## TheMadDutchDude (Oct 21, 2019)

That looks like a Windows issue to me. I forget which setting blocks BCLK OC... but that’s where I’d start.


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## agent_x007 (Oct 21, 2019)

Try enabling XMP profile, and adjust it manually for what you need.
Maybe BIOS is too dumb to know how to set stable (2-nd and 3-rd rate) timing without a map when it's over or below 133MHz.


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## Dinnercore (Oct 22, 2019)

Thank you for further suggestions but I had no success with anything. No bios, no Windows setting - even reinstalled OS and tried the older chipset driver version.

I tried XMP on/off/auto with manual secondary and tertiary timings and full auto timings.

Last straw I tried was pushing the OC-Genie button to see if the auto-OC can do anything and well the board gets stuck on postcode: 'A1 - IDE Reset '

The board is broken in some way and I have no idea how I would even begin to figure out where and if I can fix it. I´m sad, mad and just want to catch some distance from it all. Three boards in a row now that end up as expensive bricks. Can´t even argue to return this one since it does work at default.
Never buy used from private people, only go with companies that offer a limited warranty or some kind of return policy. Lesson learned threefold.

Update:



 

 

 



Atleast I got some fun out of it. I can set the max. values and the bios does actually believe it applies them. Max value for BCLK stated was 600 but at 567 it jumps to 760 and frequency rolls over to the start. So I only set 567MHz BCLK and left all voltages on auto as a small experiment.

The board set 1.28V for the 13.6GHz. Atleast you can never really overvolt on auto, gotta give MSI credit for that.
Decent OC I´d say, 3400MHz RAM, 20.4GHz QPI and 13.6GHz CPU.


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## Dinnercore (Oct 25, 2019)

Sorry for double-posting, but I wanted to let you all know I´m now happy with the Rampage III. This time I bought from a registered company offering one year warranty and guess what it´s working. Did not even have to do anything, no software change, no bios setting just default and then change the BCLK. As simple as that. 





So the MSI-Board is definitly broken on a hardware level. 
It wouldn´t be me and my luck if I wouldn´t give myself the next heart attack right away tho: 





Just remove the backplate to install the one from your own cooler and you break off an SMD on the rampage... Great. You can´t even know things like these beforehand, you see four screws and take them out -> well RIP SMD. 

Luckily this guy seems to just be signal/power filtering and not 100% necessary. All memory channels are present, RAM runs even above XMP profile in 1T on this board and the CPU is working fine. Maybe I´ll run into trouble with OC-stability later but if so I think I can add the little cap back on. But looking at the thin isolation material and how it poked through, I´d say this thing was shorted out anyway and must be on many other boards out there so eh. 


Thank you all for posting and trying to help me out! I seem to have broken my bad luck streak, lets keep the fingers crossed.


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## snorlaxgangs (Nov 7, 2019)

@Dinnercore I'm using R2E for long time, and i love this board. It never failed me. Idk if it's just me but over years i found that asus bios setting is easier than other brands. 
I recently just bought 1x 4GB Gskill Sniper 2400 and 2x4 GSkill Ripjaws 2400, all cas 12 but it's stable at cas 11.  Didnt expect that i can run 2400MHz DDR3 on this board.

Anyway i would love to play R3E and see what's the different between them. I read somewhere ocn or ltt forums, ppl can achieve higher BCLK on R3E than R2E. Mine is walled at 220, beyond that i have to set slow mode in qpi. 

Btw, does anyone know where to get a pre-binned i7 990x or w3680/w3690?


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## R-T-B (Nov 7, 2019)

snorlaxgangs said:


> Btw, does anyone know where to get a pre-binned i7 990x or w3680/w3690?



I have no idea about prebinned x58, but I have a complete dirt cheap set of x58 stuff coming into the BST forum here soon (likely tomorrow, just parting out and photographing a complete system) and a W3690 is the centerpiece of the whole thing really.  I don't have any idea how she clocks though because the board is a horrible ocing board (Intel X58SO2)

You may want to watch for it, as it will be priced to move.  Just a heads up.


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## Dinnercore (Nov 9, 2019)

snorlaxgangs said:


> @Dinnercore I'm using R2E for long time, and i love this board. It never failed me. Idk if it's just me but over years i found that asus bios setting is easier than other brands.
> I recently just bought 1x 4GB Gskill Sniper 2400 and 2x4 GSkill Ripjaws 2400, all cas 12 but it's stable at cas 11.  Didnt expect that i can run 2400MHz DDR3 on this board.
> 
> Anyway i would love to play R3E and see what's the different between them. I read somewhere ocn or ltt forums, ppl can achieve higher BCLK on R3E than R2E. Mine is walled at 220, beyond that i have to set slow mode in qpi.



So far I have not found a bios that is 'difficult' to work with. Some are just a bit more clean and faster to navigate and I agree that Asus does a good job on that. I got some decent Corsair modules with my SR-2, 2400MHz C11 rated. I think they are a bit overkill on the SR-2, I doubt this dual socket server chipset will run that high.

As for the R3E, I can tell you in a bit if I can make it beyond 220. If I find a CPU that plays along too. I like that the NB does not need any voltage and runs very cool. That stock heatsink block with nearly no surface area keeps it below 40°C for me.
What I can tell you already is, IF you want to try an R3E I recommend enabling QPI LLC with the jumper from the start. It does slightly overshoot, ~15-20mV but without it it droops out of control. 
Example: 
I set 1.34V for the QPI in bios without LLC = 1.32V idle and only 1.29V (!) during load. On my X5650 I always crashed benchmarks due to the QPI droop.
With QPI LLC I got 1.337V in bios = 1.345V idle and 1.35V during load. Much more usable. 

Could just be my board tho, I don´t know.


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## Kissamies (Nov 9, 2019)

Kinda offtopic, sorry, but X58 is just a damn awesome platform. Kinda the only Intel platform I miss of all the hardware I've had in recent years.. 

Well, the basic AM3 (Phenom II) has also a place in my heart.


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## freeagent (Nov 9, 2019)

My R3F is the same way. Gravy train. Runs cool, oc like a mofo. I also have qpi llc jumper enabled. No sags anywhere


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## snorlaxgangs (Nov 9, 2019)

@Dinnercore How to enable QPI LLc with a jumper? Is it in bios? I dont know if R2E have one. My qpi drop 0.014 under max load.


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## Dinnercore (Nov 9, 2019)

snorlaxgangs said:


> @Dinnercore How to enable QPI LLc with a jumper? Is it in bios? I dont know if R2E have one. My qpi drop 0.014 under max load.


That drop on your board is fine, the R3E has this: 




There is no bios setting. If you bridge pin 2-3 its enabled, if you dont or set pin 1-2 its disabled. Bios only tells you if its on or off but you cant set it in bios.


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## snorlaxgangs (Nov 9, 2019)

Dinnercore said:


> That drop on your board is fine, the R3E has this:
> View attachment 135985
> There is no bios setting. If you bridge pin 2-3 its enabled, if you dont or set pin 1-2 its disabled. Bios only tells you if its on or off but you cant set it in bios.


I see. The only jumpers i found on my board are chasis intruder, bios flash back and and CLRTC_SW.


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## Dinnercore (Nov 10, 2019)

snorlaxgangs said:


> Anyway i would love to play R3E and see what's the different between them. I read somewhere ocn or ltt forums, ppl can achieve higher BCLK on R3E than R2E. Mine is walled at 220, beyond that i have to set slow mode in qpi.



I tried my luck and got to 225 just by lowering the CPU multi, have not changed any voltages from 200. However 230 would not post, stuck on CPU initialisation. Could be CPU limit, maybe it would boot with higher NB voltage or setting PCIe to 103 (I have 102 right now).




So maybe the R3E can get higher, I´m not sure. I don´t have much time to test further now and I´m still new to this platform. If you ever decide to get one, let me know how it went


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## Zyll Goliat (Nov 10, 2019)

That is nice&solid OC numbers for this platform.....check the stability first with prime or IBT and be EXTRA careful with PCI-E OC,it should be fine to go from 101-105 but anything beyond that can damage your hardware....


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## Dinnercore (Nov 10, 2019)

Zyll Goliath said:


> That is nice&solid OC numbers for this platform.....check the stability first with prime or IBT and be EXTRA careful with PCI-E OC,it should be fine to go from 101-105 but anything beyond that can damage your hardware....


I know about the horrors of raising the PCIe clock, I don´t think I´ll go any higher than 102 any time soon. This was just a run to test the BCLK question for snorlaxgangs. My stable OC is 200 x22 on this X5650. Same voltages and 800 / 1600 RAM.


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## snorlaxgangs (Nov 10, 2019)

That's pretty good bclk. IIRC most x58 can't boot further if QPI > 8800, maybe try QPI slow mode, it works for me but the bios is stuttering afterward.


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## DR4G00N (Nov 10, 2019)

Dinnercore said:


> I know about the horrors of raising the PCIe clock, I don´t think I´ll go any higher than 102 any time soon. This was just a run to test the BCLK question for snorlaxgangs. My stable OC is 200 x22 on this X5650. Same voltages and 800 / 1600 RAM.


PCIE freq is reasonably safe for bench use but I wouldn't push it with a drive that has important data on it. I used 120MHz the other day to run ~234 bclk on my 920 and classy 4-way without slow mode.
That much is good for like 250 bclk with the right cpu though.


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