[alextan94]

Source: Custom PC, 16th July 2008 by Ben Hardwidge

New X48-based motherboard allows amazing amount of headroom for overclockers

We’ve seen some impressive overclocks on our time, but this FSB overclock of 710.4MHz (2,840MHz effective) is usually the stuff of fantasy. Asus has just sent us these CPU-Z validation screenshots (below) following an overclocking session with the company’s new Rampage Extreme motherboard, showing that the board could be a godsend for extreme overclockers.

The overclock was achieved on a Core 2 Duo E8400 using just one core, although Asus also managed to overclock both of the CPU’s cores with an FSB of 703.98MHz (2,815.9MHz effective). Both overclocks were achieved by dropping the CPU’s multiplier to 6x, resulting in a CPU clock of 4.26GHz in the single-core overclock, and 4.22GHz in the dual-core overclock.

The overclocking session was conducted using Asus’ new Rampage Extreme board, which is based on Intel's X48 chipset and features the company’s Republic of Gamers Fusion Block system. This allows you to cool the Northbridge passively, with air (via an optional fan) or with a water-cooling loop. Asus claims that this can keep ‘Northbridge temperatures 22.7% cooler.’

As well as this, the new board also comes with Asus’ new TweakIt tool, which allows you to change BIOS settings via an LCD and a joystick on the motherboard, without going into the BIOS. Asus says that the feature is for those ‘who want a convenient way to perform trial and error runs for overclocking without entering the BIOS for great time savings.’ In fact, Asus says you can even use the feature for overclocking on-the-fly, meaning that you could even tweak your CPU overclock mid-game if you wanted to.

Asus’ component PR and marketing guy, Iain Bristow, was extremely excited about the overclock, telling Custom PC that ‘Our new Rampage Extreme motherboard is absolutely fantastic.’ He also added that Asus had ‘seen some excellent results in real world overclocking,’ as well as extreme overclocking. Bristow said that the board was ‘aimed at overclocking enthusiasts,’ adding that ‘our new TweakIt feature gives total overclocking control. This combined with our fusion block is a fantastic match.’

Asus has specifically geared the board towards overclockers, and claims that it’s equipped the board with ‘high-performance ML Caps (Multilayer type Polymer Capacitor),’ which are located at the CPU, memory and Northbridge. This, according to Asus, ‘ensures a stable power supply during overvoltage by lowering ESR (Equivalent Series Resistance) – resulting in reliable performance from the mission-critical components of the processor, system memory and the Northbridge.’

[MasterBubba]

DAMN, nice.

[Pfa]

Jeez.. looks like a Ferrari or something. :D

[cvbn]

omg its look soo cool and soo expensive :P

[Cruvenium]

The Rampage Extreme is just like a upgraded version of the Rampage Formula, but better in alot of ways.

[Mr.Lucifer]

Did they use air/water cooling? In that case, damn nice.

Too expensive though.

[AnDy]

is 4.2ghz that impressive? my other pc i played mir2 on i had overclocked at 3.84ghz

[OnlinePixel]

Quote: Originally Posted by AnDy

is 4.2ghz that impressive? my other pc i played mir2 on i had overclocked at 3.84ghz

Hmmm, I could probs run it on a 100mhz single core lets face it thats nothing impressive.

Lewis

[Sardaukar]

Quote: Originally Posted by Mr.Lucifer

Did they use air/water cooling? In that case, damn nice.

Too expensive though.

Considering it is a record for overclocking on this FSB; they definitely did not use air; I doubt they used water cooling as well -- its good for ambients; but will heat up real quick at the speeds they were posting. Chances are, they used No2 cooling or a likewise variant. Remember, this was to test the upper limits and extreme edges of the board; you couldn't probably hit this speed on a daily usage computer.

[TheAJ]

Holy shit

If i overclocked to that my computer to bust