ASUS ROG Rampage IV Extreme (X79) Review - Air Overclocking with Core i7-3960X

[siopao1984]

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If you are a serious overclocker or a power user looking to maximize the potential of your new Sandy Bridge-E processor, then the ASUS Republic of Gamers Rampage IV Extreme (X79) is the definitive choice for you when it hits the shelves. We put the board together with the debuting Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition CPU through the tests and overclocked it on air cooling to see how much millege the typical intermediate user might get. Later this month, we will also attempt high-end liquid and LN2 cooling with this setup.

Introduction

We had already covered the ASUS Republic of Gamers Rampage IV Extreme in a exclusive preview last month, so we will spend the first section of the review talking about the new LGA 2011 based Sandy Bridge-E processor and the X79 Patsburg chipset.

Top of the line Core i7-3960X - 6 Core/12 Threads, 15MB Cache, Quad Channel IMC, AVX/AES/SSE4.2/SSE 4.2 support and a whopping 40 PCI-E lanes



The new SNB-E die is a lot bigger than Intel's previous desktop offerings - no surprise as there are 2.27 billion transistors on die and six real processor cores (rather than pseudo integer/FP units). We also note with interest the 2 disabled cores - which will appear in the server Sandy Bridge-EP variants.



The SNB-E is the last of the 32nm desktop chips from Intel since Westmere. Next year, we will see the 22nm Ivy Bridge platform, which should bring significant power savings and higher operating frequencies.



Launching today is the six core i7-3960X (3.3GHz, 15MB cache) and the much cheaper i7-3930K (3.2GHz, 12MB cache). The TDP for the new chips are rated at 130W and they are poised to replace the aging Westmere based LGA1366 processors.



X79 Patsburg Chipset Block Diagram. The 40 lane PCI-E design allows for flexible multi-GPU slot configurations.



Separately available Intel Liquid Cooler (Asetek OEM)

[siopao1984]

ASUS Rampage IV Extreme (Board and Engineering)

Since we have already previewed the hardware on this board, we will just go through what we think is most impressive and relevant to intermediate air overclockers.

The Board - the red splashes are very striking and macho



I/O Panel (Intel Gigabit LAN, Bluetooth V2.1+EDR, 4 USB 3.0 ports, 2 ESATA 6gbps ports and 2 buttons to activate ROG Connect and reset CMOS)



Full 8 DIMM slots (unlike most of the top offerings from other vendors) and good clearance from the CPU Socket for good HSF compatibility



Depending on the number of graphics cards installed in the red slots, they will operate at either 8x or 16x native from the CPU without a NF200 multiplexer. This layout also supports triple-slot cards.



PCI-E 3.0 compliant ASMedia ASW1480 switches for next generation Ivy Bridge compatibility



100% 10K Black Metallic Caps, Chokes and NexFET™ Power Block MOSFETs - these should help provide reliable power and long-term endurance during extended extreme overclocking sessions





ASUS Propietary DIGI+ II Digital VRMs (8 Phase for the CPU, 3 Phase for VCCSA and 2+2 Phase for the DIMMs) for precise control and output.





Like previous ROG Extreme boards, a dedicated area of the board is reserved for diagnostic LEDs, voltage measurement points and switches/buttons for easy access to system power/MEMOK! (bypass for acute DRAM boot failures)





One of the new innovations on the R4E is OC Key, which is a DVI video overlay dongle to access an extensive overclocking menu and realtime monitor, directly interfaced with the onboard management engine without incurring any CPU interrupts or software to corrupt your benchmark scores





X-Socket allows the use of existing LGA1366 brackets to be used (see demostration)



2 SATA 6Gbps ports (red) and 4 SATA 3Gbps ports (grey) from the Intel X79 chipset, and 2 more SATA 6Gbps ports (red) provided by an ASMedia controller. You can also plug a K-type thermocouple to the "Subzero Sense" (black block on the right) to get the readings from the motherboard's temperature diodes during extreme LN2 sessions

[siopao1984]

ASUS Rampage IV Extreme (UEFI Bios 1 of 2)

The UEFI Bios layout on the R4E is similar to the ones we have seen on previous ROG Extreme series boards - adequately verbose, functional for human use and pleasantly responsive.

Here, we can load profiles for various levels of overclocking dexterity. One new feature of the SNB-E platform is the use of a CPU strap, allowing more flexible BCLK frequency scaling at various intervals between 100-200MHz while mitigating the frequencies of the PCI-E or DMI bus.







In the memory timings section, we can also load profiles for various types of RAMs (AUTO is tuned for ubiquitous Hynix modules by default) and there lots of obscure expert settings which will please the most OCD overclockers wanting to max out their overclocks.





DIGI+ VRM Control - bountiful levels of adjustments for every critical component

[siopao1984]

ASUS Rampage IV Extreme (UEFI Bios 2 of 2)

Signal Skew Adjustments for CPU, Memory and X79 PCH







Other notable menus in the bios

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Bundled Software

TurboV EVO





DIGI+ Power Control



EPU Energy Saving Menu



Probe II



Sensor Recorder



ASUS Update



Mem TweakIt





ASUS ROG Skinned CPU-Z



The Rampage IV Extreme also comes with Battlefield 3

[siopao1984]

Test Setup





CPU: Intel Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition (3.3GHz Stock)
Motherboard: ASUS ROG Rampage IV Extreme (bios version 0070b)
RAMs: 4 x 4GB G.Skills RipJawsX 2133Mhz 10-12-10-28 1T (memory frequency/timings investigation later today)
Graphics: Dual AMD Radeon 6990 (Quadfire muhahaha) with Catalyst 11.10 Preview 3/11.9 CAP4
HSF: Thermalright Archon with two 0.4A 2800RPM Fans in push-pull
SSD: Intel 510 SSD 250GB
PSU: CM Silent Pro M 1000W
OS: Windows 7 x64 with SP1
For stock results, the EIST/Turbo/C-States/EPU was set to on and Maximal Power Savings. In some of the tests, we have also included a i7-2600K running at 4.7GHz, albeit with slower rams.

Air Overclocking



CPU-Z Validation Link (CPU-Z Validator 3.1)

To show the performance gains from overclocking, we will pit the stock Core i7-3960X (3.3GHz turbo to 3.9GHz, all power saving options on) against itself when overclocked (4.7GHz Linpack Stable with 1.475v Vcore, 1.3V VCCSA/VTT, 2.0V CPU PLL, all power savings options off).

Due to suboptimal RAMs (we didn't have the new XMP 1.3 ones), we didn't explore further BCLK adjustments or higher/tighter memory working frequencies.

Later this month, we expect to put our setup through water and LN2 for the benefit of our readers. We also have a mega-cpu roundup (including older processors from both Intel and AMD) which should be released around shortly after this review.

Just for kicks, this is what we managed to achieve on a single threaded benchmark like SuperPI (5105MHz):

[siopao1984]

CPU/Memory Benchmark - AIDA64

i7-3960X Stock (3.3GHz)



i7-3960X Overclocked (4.7GHz)



Intel i7-2600K @ 4.7GHz:



Comments: Seems like the quad channels of memory didn't provide any noticable benefit for memory bandwidth.



CPU/Memory Benchmark - Cinebench R11.5

i7-3960X Stock (3.3GHz)



i7-3960X Overclocked (4.7GHz)



Intel i7-2600K @ 4.7GHz:



Comments: From here, we can see that the 3960X is like a 2600K with 2 more cores. Scaling is almost 50%.



CPU/Memory Benchmark - wPrime

i7-3960X Stock (3.3GHz)



i7-3960X Overclocked (4.7GHz)



Intel i7-2600K @ 4.7GHz:



Comments: Yet again, we see 50% more cores resulting in 50% better performance.

[siopao1984]

CPU/Memory Benchmark - x264 Encoding (1080p)



Comments: This test is incomplete. We will try to update this section ASAP.

CPU/Memory Benchmark - WinRAR

3960X Stock (3.3GHz)



3960X Overclocked (4.7GHz)



2600K @ 4.7GHz:



Comments: Improved cache or instructions have helped the 3960X here - clock for clock its nearly double the throughput of the 2600K


CPU/Memory Benchmark - 7-Zip

3960X Stock (3.3GHz)



3960X Overclocked (4.7GHz)



Comments: Overclocking helps quite a bit in this test.

[siopao1984]

Graphics Benchmark - 3DMark 11

3960X Stock (3.3GHz)



3960X Overclocked (4.7GHz)



2600K Overclocked (4.7GHz)



Comments: Notice in the Physics Test, the 3960X smokes the 2600K (48.68fps vs 26.71fps) by nearly a factor of two.



Graphics Benchmark - Unigine Heaven (DX11)





Comments: This is a GPU limited benchmark - so the differences with overclocking is marginal.

[siopao1984]

Game Benchmark - Battlefield 3 (Gone Hunting Level FRAPS Sequence)

Read more: http://vr-zone.com/articles/asus-rog-rampage-iv-extreme-x79-review--air-overclocking-with-core-i7-3960x/13950.html#ixzz1dl1Eu0Ru






Comments: CPU Overclocking does help quite a bit for Battlefield 3.



Game Benchmark - Crysis 2





Comments: GPU limited benchmark here - CPU doesn't scale with frequency.