Thread: My new ASUS Crosshair 2 Formula issues

  1. #1
    Registered User VirtualAce's Avatar
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    My new ASUS Crosshair 2 Formula issues

    Finally upgraded my system:


    Mobo: ASUS Crosshair 2 Formula
    CPU: AMD Phenom X4 940 BE
    Memory: 4GB Corsair Dominator DDR2 1066
    Video: BFG GeForce 260 GTX 896MB OCX MaxCore
    Power: Antec 1000W PSU
    Case: X-Clio Windtunnel case
    Monitor: Samsung 20" Syncmaster LCD with max res of 1600x900
    Sound: Extreme 2 FX sound card (comes with crosshair 2)

    My 3DMark score is 15244 as is without overclocking the board or CPU.
    If you intend on buying this board beware that the BIOS does NOT recognize Phenom II's and will probably not recognize your memory as well. Had big time problems getting this baby to post as it would not recognize my RAM. Also the CMOS reset switch did not function at all. Had to put in some DDR2 800 I had from a previous purchase just to get my system up so I could update the BIOS.

    Now it seems to run fine. Not a major issue but definitely not something you should have to deal with for a top of the line ASUS board. The thing cost me 250 dollars so I'm a bit upset that I had so many issues.

  2. #2
    Chinese pâté foxman's Avatar
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    That's a nice setup you have there, but isn't the PSU too overkill for the (current) application ?

    As for the motherboard not supporting the CPU by default, I find it quite "normal" on motherboards older than the CPU. As for the memory, I never understood why some motherboard are such picky. And as for the CMOS, I agree that on this kind of motherboard, it should work.
    I hate real numbers.

  3. #3
    Devil's Advocate SlyMaelstrom's Avatar
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    There is no harm in going overboard on the PSU. All it means is it will last longer as the capacitors age and the wattage deteriorates.
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  4. #4
    Registered User VirtualAce's Avatar
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    Yeah 1000w might be a bit overkill but the board recommends 780 or greater if I go with two high end video cards. In order to extend the life of the system as it ages I may purchase one or two more video cards. Three video cards would put me over 1000w. My board does support three-way SLI under Vista (and hopefully Windows 7). The main issue is I have no idea how I would fit them all in there since the NVidia cards are so wide they take up 2 slots.

  5. #5
    Devil's Advocate SlyMaelstrom's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bubba View Post
    The main issue is I have no idea how I would fit them all in there since the NVidia cards are so wide they take up 2 slots.
    It'd be foolish to run 3-Way SLI on air. I know you see all those wonderful images in reviews with that big block of videos cards sitting just below the processor, but the truth is, that's impractical from a space, heat, and weight standpoint. A real triple-SLI setup would need a nice water-cooling set up. ... and you'd need a separate loop for the video cards, alone. Most of the GPU waterblocks are single slot height and look a lot sleeker when you connect them all to each other than they do with the standard air cooling. Just look below. Yum!
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  6. #6
    Registered User VirtualAce's Avatar
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    I pretty much have the same exact setup and pieces in my mobo and my box. The SLI card came with my mobo as well as the SLI cables. If I ever want to go water cooled it also came with a fan that plugs into the mobo near the 'heat pipe.'

    It is a good mobo for overclockers and performance but it is not cool to charge 250 bucks for a board that needs a BIOS upgrade out of the box to work right.

    Overall I am very satisfied and that is a good 3D Mark score for starters. I'm sure with some overclocking I could get far more. Most i7's are getting around 18000 to 20000 but then I didn't pay over 400 bucks for my CPU either. The black edition i7 is around 1000 bucks right now which is insane. Intel is and has been far too costly.

    From the power connectors for the fans on the video cards I'd say those were at least 280 or 285 GTX's. Very nice.

  7. #7
    Devil's Advocate SlyMaelstrom's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bubba View Post
    From the power connectors for the fans on the video cards I'd say those were at least 280 or 285 GTX's. Very nice.
    Those would be 8800GTXs with a Danger Den block on them, I believe.

    http://pcpowerzone.com/daden88vgaco....hannelid=FROOG
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  8. #8
    Chinese pâté foxman's Avatar
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    Well, this guy has 4 air-cooled GTX295 in his system and he says heat is under control. Must say, he's not running his system in a case. He have that much GPU power because he's building an impressive "folding" farm. More info here.

    And I guess you could run 3 video card on a quality 1000W PSU without problems except if you own some really power hungry video card (read Radeon 4870 X2). For example, the 260 GTX made with the 55 nm process consumes less than 110 watts at full load according to this site.
    I hate real numbers.

  9. #9
    In my head happyclown's Avatar
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    Bah!

    My 6 year old Dell 2350, with Celeron 2.2 Ghz, 768 MB Ram, and integrated video would smoke your new toy. Fanboy!

    OS: Linux Mint 13(Maya) LTS 64 bit.

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