I'd recommend making a list of reasons for upgrading, to determine if its really worth it.

Personally, I think $300 for a Socket 775 motherboard is crazy... but I'm poor. It's all relative... 😀

If having an absurdly expensive and powerful Socket 775 system is your thing and you have the money for it, only you can determine if its really worth it or not. I'm sure they're uncommon, especially new in box, but these days something would have to really change my life to be worth $300. Its a tough sell when modern systems do the same things but do them faster without any loss of compatibility (that I can think of).

For what its worth, I've read a lot of complaints about this board online.

what are you planning to use it for? I suppose if we are practical about this 775 is very dated and rather slow. So for a practical every day PC I would say you would be crazy to spend that. You would even have to get new RAM so you may as well jump to a newer setup.

However people spend a fortune just for the fun of it. People drink, smoke and all sorts. So if you can afford to burn $300 and if doing so will make you happy well then why not.

I got a Rampage Extreme for the fun of messing with it. I was offered it cheap though and I was after seeing how far I could push the netburst architecture so it fit the bill. But the reality is I am having issues just getting it to run right at the moment 😖

I use my 775 system to play older games, mostly 2008 and back.
I do use it for some daily tasks, but nothing a core 2 can't more than handle.

That and benching, the main reason I want a rampage. The other is just to have fun and mess around with. 775 hardware is in my opinion far funner to mess with.

Also like I said money is not the problem. I just don't like the idea of spending around 300$ on a motherboard when I already have one. And when I could spend 300$ on say a pent pro system.
I guess what I'm getting at, it it worth getting (at any price) to replace the x38 board I have? I never had a rampage before so I do not know what to expect.

Jade Falcon wrote:

So I was given the opportunity to buy a new CIB Asus rampage extreme 775 recently. […]
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So I was given the opportunity to buy a new CIB Asus rampage extreme 775 recently.

In your opinion do you think the Rampage it worth it for someone that wants to stick with a 775 system?

EDIT:
right now I have a DFI DK-x38 with a qX9650. it tops out at about 4.4ghz on the cpu before the VRM's get far to hot and over loaded.

It's not worth it. The DFI is a better overclocking board. Also, 300$ is just ridiculous for that thing. If you're looking for good LGA 775 overclocking boards, try the Abit IX38 Quad GT, Asus P5K64-WS or a EVGA nforce 780i SLi / Zotac nforce 780i supreme. The DFI you own right now is just as good tough.

Be careful - if you do go for the Asus P5k64-WS or the Rampage, they have pretty weak mosfets. I replaced all of them on my P5K64-WS since they started popping after a few months of use with a Xeon X3470 running at 4GHz - but now that I put better quality mosfets on, it runs great. To top that off, the Rampage has issues with the LGA socket (google it). Oh and the northbridge chips on the nforce 780i boards run HOT and the fans are loud. If you get one, make sure to replace the northbridge cooler with something like a Thermalright Hr-05 IFX + fan.

Truth be told, I got the best OC results on my Zotac 780i and a Pentium E6600. It also has additional multipliers for memory, so you can run your ram at 800MHz even with odd FSB values. SLi capability is fun to have as well - but the chipset's caveat is heat and power consumption.

Asus Rampage Extreme is one of the best overclocking boards based on X38/X48 (FSB clock), so you probably could sqeeze more mhz from CPU/FSB (with proper cooling). DFI X38/X48 boards are quite tricky to OC and payoff is usually not very high (P45 boards are better though). Abit IX38 Quad GT is just horrible for quadcore.
It's not worth 300$ though. 775 platform is in "old junk" territory right now not matter how fancy the board is, especially with mentioned durability problems.

The abit ix38 is just junk all around even worse for a quad. I had one before. Also keep in mind the dfi board i have is a low end DK board. I know for a fact the rampage is a better overclocking board. It one of the few 775 bards thst can hit close to 600mhz fsb. Wile the dk x38 tops out around 450-470mhz.

Edit: not finding anything about socket problems.

Edit. Looks like more then anything ill be able to OC more with the board and use ddr3. Aside from that I dint see to much to make it stand out other then the nb block. I think ill pick it up if i can get the guy down to 200$

Did DDR3 deliver a big benefit over DDR2 for 775 systems? Just curious.

Anyway, I guess if you buy the Rampage then the upside is that it will still hold some of its value if you go to resell it. Those boards command a premium generally.

I own both P5K64 WS and Rampage Extreme so I can share what I learn so far 😀
Rampage isn't worth 300$ (I got mine for less than 1/5 of that [~200zł and 1$=3,5zł]).

As for usage :
Rampage has a PROPER MOSFET cooling solution (ie. heatpipes + screws).

My P5K64 WS had weak cooling on top MOSFETs (heatsink wasn't pushed down strong enough and that resulted in bad contact with mosfets).
I discover this when was pushing my Pentium XE 965 past 4,8GHz.
Push pins simpy aren't good enough with stock 0,5mm pads.
I had to used improvised "washers" to make spring compress more for result below :

However it only helped in short term tests (Cinebench R15 was too long and result droped because of throttling), in longer tests P5K64 WSs VRM can't handle that power hog even with active cooling on all heatsinks (results drop accordingly with time, same as GPU Boost 3.0 from latest NV cards).

Back to Rampage :
It's a awesome MB (no MOSFET overheating), and Socket doesn't have problems unless you go LN.
Reason for problems comes from big capacitor undreneath it :

It simply gets it's contacts screwed up with too much force on heatsink/LN pot (and under sub zero temps contacts crack easier).

If you can live without DDR3 buy Rampage Formula or EP45-UD3P/UD3R, and if not think about Maximus Extreme (should be cheaper than Rampage Extreme).

PS. DDR3 vs. DDR2 :
1) You don't really need DDR3 unless you want to go 450MHz+ on FSB and still have 8GB RAM.
Why ? Because 16GB DDR3 can be cheaper than 8GB of 1066MHz+ DDR2 variety 😀
(oh, both ASUS boards support 16GB of RAM, just make sure DIMMs are Dual Sided).
2) From speed perspective alone... DDR3 isn't worth it. IMC settings are more important than RAM itself. Also, high capacity DDR3 RAM can't go really fast on LGA 775 boards.
I managed to do 1600MHz with 16GB, however going over that prooved... troublesome.

Jade Falcon wrote:

... 300$ ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IiHRSBAMwU&i … AOMYbDwE6dGjERg

agent_x007 wrote:

I own both P5K64 WS and Rampage Extreme so I can share what I learn so far :) Rampage isn't worth 300$ (I got mine for less than […]
Show full quote

I own both P5K64 WS and Rampage Extreme so I can share what I learn so far 😀
Rampage isn't worth 300$ (I got mine for less than 1/5 of that [~200zł and 1$=3,5zł]).

As for usage :
Rampage has a PROPER MOSFET cooling solution (ie. heatpipes + screws).

Doom 3 XP 5,1GHz Rampage GPU OC.PNG

My P5K64 WS had weak cooling on top MOSFETs (heatsink wasn't pushed down strong enough and that resulted in bad contact with mosfets).
I discover this when was pushing my Pentium XE 965 past 4,8GHz.
Push pins simpy aren't good enough with stock 0,5mm pads.
I had to used improvised "washers" to make spring compress more for result below :

Doom 3 XP 5,02GHz 198FPS.PNG

However it only helped in short term tests (Cinebench R15 was too long and result droped because of throttling), in longer tests P5K64 WSs VRM can't handle that power hog even with active cooling on all heatsinks (results drop accordingly with time, same as GPU Boost 3.0 from latest NV cards).

Back to Rampage :
It's a awesome MB (no MOSFET overheating), and Socket doesn't have problems unless you go LN.
Reason for problems comes from big capacitor undreneath it :

It simply gets it's contacts screwed up with too much force on heatsink/LN pot (and under sub zero temps contacts crack easier).

If you can live without DDR3 buy Rampage Formula or EP45-UD3P/UD3R, and if not think about Maximus Extreme (should be cheaper than Rampage Extreme).

PS. DDR3 vs. DDR2 :
1) You don't really need DDR3 unless you want to go 450MHz+ on FSB and still have 8GB RAM.
Why ? Because 16GB DDR3 can be cheaper than 8GB of 1066MHz+ DDR2 variety 😀
(oh, both ASUS boards support 16GB of RAM, just make sure DIMMs are Dual Sided).
2) From speed perspective alone... DDR3 isn't worth it. IMC settings are more important than RAM itself. Also, high capacity DDR3 RAM can't go really fast on LGA 775 boards.
I managed to do 1600MHz with 16GB, however going over that prooved... troublesome.

I used to repair or send these things back to Asus back in the day - we had a contract with the asus dealer to collect, service and RMA asus products. The rampage was expensive, so not many were sold in comparison to other models, but we received quite a lot of them for RMA... most had socket issues or blown mosfets. The LGA775 rampage is the worst rampage branded board asus ever made, with the best (in my opinion) being the Rampage IV witch is a great motherboard.

Then again it's possible different regions receive different quality hardware, or it could have been a (very large) problematic lot - I've seen this before.

Thanks for the info agent_x007. Id say its a 200$ board new.

As for its reliability, one has to consider how most use it. And given its complexity im more then sure early batches where buggy. But then again alot of high end x48/x38 board had their fair share of problems with hard overclocking.

More then anything I want a top end ddr3 775 broad. I have the ram, just need the broad.
I think ill pass if I cant get it for 200$ or less. I may get lucky, the guy had it since it was new and may just want it gone.

EDIT
As I thought the owner does not want to let it go for less then 300$

Coincidentally I've just acquired a Supermicro P8SCi. My first 775 board. (I jumped straight from 478 to 1366 back in the day.) Speccy identifies it as a P8SC8 (Socket 423) for some reason.

odd. But I seen things like that before with some other apps.

anyway I got a P5E64 WS Evolution. It will allow me to use 3 4890's and its still a better board then the DFI I have.
Although I'm not a fan of the blue. May I'll swap out off my UV orange parts for UV green. 😕 orange and blue just don't sound right.
I guess I could get different heat sinks.

Jade Falcon wrote:

Thanks for the info agent_x007. Id say its a 200$ board new. […]
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Thanks for the info agent_x007. Id say its a 200$ board new.

As for its reliability, one has to consider how most use it. And given its complexity im more then sure early batches where buggy. But then again alot of high end x48/x38 board had their fair share of problems with hard overclocking.

More then anything I want a top end ddr3 775 broad. I have the ram, just need the broad.
I think ill pass if I cant get it for 200$ or less. I may get lucky, the guy had it since it was new and may just want it gone.

EDIT
As I thought the owner does not want to let it go for less then 300$

Any motherboard will eventually display reliability issues under hard overclocking...

Jade Falcon wrote:

odd. But I seen things like that before with some other apps. […]
Show full quote

odd. But I seen things like that before with some other apps.

anyway I got a P5E64 WS Evolution. It will allow me to use 3 4890's and its still a better board then the DFI I have.
Although I'm not a fan of the blue. May I'll swap out off my UV orange parts for UV green. 😕 orange and blue just don't sound right.
I guess I could get different heat sinks.

Remember to take agent_x007's advice and replace the thermal pads and plastic clips with bolts to keep the VRMs cool. An active cooling solution for the VRM would also be preferable. IF at any point you have trouble with the board (it stops posting) just replace the VRMs and she'll come back to life. Other then that issue, it's rock solid.

kanecvr wrote:

Any motherboard will eventually display reliability issues under hard overclocking...

Very true, but some take overclocking better then others.

kanecvr wrote:

Remember to take agent_x007's advice and replace the thermal pads and plastic clips with bolts to keep the VRMs cool. An active cooling solution for the VRM would also be preferable. IF at any point you have trouble with the board (it stops posting) just replace the VRMs and she'll come back to life. Other then that issue, it's rock solid.

Indeed. I already done this on my DFI board. And tend to do it on any board I'll use for benching or overclocking.

Hopefully I can get all 8gb of my Patriot viper extreme ram to work with it. its ddr3 2133mhz with 9-11-9-27 timings. I'll probity have to run it at 1800 or 1600mhz with tighter timings.

I got my A-Data 2000X 2x2x2GB (Double Dual Channel [8GB]), to 1500MHz and CL6.6.6.18 CR1T @ 1,65V 😀

Of course, ^those are not 24/7 use setting.
The hard part is to get a stable ballance between FSB:MCH Strap/Performance Level and VTT Voltage/GTL settingss 😉.
If you get that right, the rest is easy in comparison (many try and test loops).
With 4 DIMMs don't hesitate to go little hard on "NB Voltage" (1,3V+), depending on frequency you want to obtain.
Max DRAM Effective clock you can set = Max Effective FSB
(For 1800MHz on RAM you need at least 1800MHz on FSB).

I just bought a fully boxed Rampage V Extreme for half that.

Edit: I got a XFX 780i board, are those good for O/C?

Been kinda sheepishly looking for a Maximus II and Rampage board.

They are great if you you need OC with SLI support.
Without SLI... they are OK (NV chipset can do lower DRAM than 1:1).
OC guide : LINK

300$ wouldd be nuts, I bought a nice Abit IP-35 Pro for about 35$ and it overclocks damn well. 775 harware is dirt cheap these days. Good working mb's of the common crop hardly sell for $5-10 and they will soon be heading for the scrap...