Asus’s Rampage Extreme line has long been considered by many as some of the top overclocking boards that have been on the market, and the Rampage V Extreme is in the same boat.

When the board first came out there was a lot of talk about the inclusion of a non-standard OC-Socket, an aftermarket LGA 2011-v3 socket that has additional contact pins.  These pins help feed additional voltage to the CPU and result in what we have found to be very impressive and stable overclocking from the board.

But is this just a gimmick or is it really something that will make a difference?  The answer we find is that this is no joke and that the board by far surpasses every other X99 motherboard that is currently available when it comes to cache/uncore overclocking.  This leads to massive performance gains that other boards will not be able to achieve and quite frankly they are left in the Rampage V Extreme’s dust.  Once again Asus continues the legend of the Rampage Extreme line with this shining example of engineering and hardware dominance.

Asus Rampage V Extreme Specifications:

• CPU Socket Type: LGA 2011-v3
• Supported CPU Technologies: Turbo Boost Technology 2.0
• Chipset: Intel X99Onboard Video: None
• Onboard Video: None
• Audio Chipset: ROG SupremeFX 2014
• Audio Channels: 8 Channels
• LAN Chipset: Intel I218-V
• Max LAN Speed: 10/100/1000MbpsWireless LAN: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac 3T3R supports frequency band 2.4/5 GHz
• Wireless LAN: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac 3T3R supports frequency band 2.4/5 GHz
• Bluetooth: Bluetooth v4.0

Memory:

• Number of Memory Slots: 8×288pin
• Memory Standard: DDR4 3300(O.C.) / 3000(O.C.) / 2800(O.C.) / 2666(O.C.) / 2400(O.C.) / 2133
• Maximum Memory Supported: 64GB
• Channel Supported: Quad Channel

Expansion Slots:

• PCI Express 3.0 x16: 4 (40-lane CPU @ x16, x16/x16, x16/x8/x8 or x16/x8/x8/x8; 28-lane CPU @ x16, x16/x8, x8/x8/x8)
• PCI Express 2.0 x16: 1 (Max. at x4 mode)
• PCI Express x1: 1
• Quad-GPU NVIDIA 4-Way SLI and AMD 4-way/Quad-GPU CrossFireX Technology (support up to 3-Way with 28-lane CPU)

 Storage Devices:

• SATA 6Gb/s: 8 x SATA 6Gb/s
• SATA Express: Intel X99 – 1 x SATA Express port, red, compatible with 2 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s ports , ASMedia SATA Express controller – 1 x SATA Express port, red, compatible with 2 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s ports
• M.2: 1 x M.2 Socket 3 with M Key, support type 2260/2280/22110 storage devices
• SATA RAID: 0/1/5/10

Rear Panel Ports:

• PS/2: 1
• RJ45: 1 x RJ45
• USB 3.0: 10 x USB 3.0
• USB 1.1/2.0: 2 x USB 2.0
• S/PDIF Out: 1 x Optical
• Audio Ports: 5 Ports

Internal I/O Connectors:

• Onboard USB
• 4 x USB 3.0
• 4 x USB 2.0

The post Asus Rampage V Extreme: An Overclocking Monster appeared first on VR World.

Enthusiasts are on a never ending quest to find better cooling for their CPUs.  Air cooling is the norm these days, but affordable water cooling systems are becoming more affordable.  Water cooling is the next step and can provide great cooling effectiveness.  There are two ways to install a water cooling system into a computer. They are piecing together a system from individual parts, or a “closed-loop” system.  Closed loop water cooler contains the block, pump, and radiator in a sealed loop (that usually require no maintenance).  Many companies are now coming out with their own closed loop systems for enthusiasts.

Today we will look at Thermaltake’s Water 3.0 Extreme closed loop cooler and see how it preforms.  The cooler is Thermaltake’s top end closed loop system, and has a 240mm radiator.  The pump for the system is built into the water block, which can mount to multiple AMD and Intel sockets.

After seeing the pictures you will probably be thinking “I have seen this kit before”, indeed you have if you have looked into AIO water cooling kits.  Asetek is the ODM for this and many other kits and some would argue that the company has a monopoly on the AIO water cooling hardware industry.  Recently, Asetek has caused a stir in being granted another liquid cooling patent by the USPTO which may ultimately hurt consumers. Unfortunately for consumers, Asetek’s aggressive patenting and litigation hurts consumers’ ability to have choice as most kits are now Asetek based.

The kit has many variations through the various companies who sell variants of it, usually with their own fans, features, and packaging.  Many will be buying the kit for those options weighted heavily on price.  With this kit just under the $100 mark it is a definite contender for your case

Everything was well packaged and secured within the box

Mount kits for multiple sockets of Intel and AMD are included; once again it was well packaged and organized

2 PWM Fans are included with the kit. I am told that these were specifically chosen for the kit and that replacing the fans with higher speed models won’t make a big difference.

The instructions that came with the system are very easy to read and understand I do suggest that you get the latest fan control app from the Thermaltake global website, so you can be up to date.

Everything was intact with no blemishes on the system.  There is a USB cable that attaches to a USB2.0 internal header, if you want to use the fan control app with it.

The base is clean with a very flat surface, though not a mirror surface as it still had some machining visible.  Pre-applied TIM is provided on the base, though many (like me) will clean it off and use some fresh product of choice.

Installation is very straightforward and easy to do; the instructions are clear and nicely drawn out.  The Intel mount which I used was easily installed within a couple of minutes.  The 120mm fans plug into the CPU block/pump combo, which itself plugs into an internal USB 2.0 header as well as CPU fan pin-out on the motherboard.  It can then be automatically controlled via the desktop application via the USB. I suggest that if you want to use the included app to regulate your fans, set CPU fan to 100% in bios (or a curve forcing that) with fan failure alarm set.

Tt Water Software

The application for the water cooling system is very easy to use and allows you to run different profiles.  Silent, Extreme, and Custom which is best for running your own fan profile.  I learned that modifying the Silent or Extreme profiles didn’t seem to work as well as setting up custom profile.  Swapping from one profile to another doesn’t have a fast response and sometimes requires fiddling with multiple times to get it to switch. There are Notification options for the coolant temperature and Fan speed, which are good safety measures.  The main thing you get from the app over just plugging fans into headers on the motherboard are viewing coolant temperature, notifications, and fan profiles based on  CPU temps (if you have the pump plugged into the CPU header).

I stress tested my Intel Core i7 4790K Devil’s Canyon ES at 4.7GHz using OCCT against the Cooler Master TPC-812 (their highest end air cooler) and then again with this Water 3.0 Extreme.  I let it run for about 8 hours and over the times when I checked it I was getting readings that were about an average  8C cooler overall.  The sound level at full speed is very reasonable, and thankfully not too distracting.

Overall I would recommend this kit based on its ease of installation, performance, and cost.  I think that the price point is good for a dual 120mm Asetek ODM all-in-one cooler as other of the same type can go for up to $30 more.  The performance is definitely there, holding the 4790K ES solidly @ 4.7GHz while being stressed 100 %.  The only real issue that I saw with this kit was the control app can be a bit buggy, although works well aside from that.

Thermaltake Water 3.0 Extreme retails for $99.99 on Amazon.com right now.

The post Thermaltake Water 3.0 Extreme Reviewed appeared first on VR World.

In one of the most depressing rumor squashings I have ever had to personally experience, I am reporting to you today that Time Warner Cable’s rumored 300 Mbps, 200 Mbps services are not rolling out on July 7th. In fact, after speaking with Time Warner Cable’s representative for the San Diego area we got some even more depressing news.

According to Bret Picciolo of Time Warner Cable, the company will not be rolling out their 300 and 200 Mbps services in the San Diego area. This is in spite of multiple CSRs indicating to myself and other people that such services would be available starting July 7th. Bret made it clear that there was no hard date for any such services and that they were mostly intended for the Los Angeles and New York areas. He said that any such roll outs would be done by hub and not city-wide, which would take time to do rather than doing all at once.

What’s even more depressing about this rumor squashing is that not only is Time Warner Cable neglecting a clear desire for their customers to get 300 and 200 Mbps speeds, but they are also not bringing 100 Mbps speeds to San Diego. That’s right, San Diegans are STILL going to be stuck with 50/5 Mbps service unless they are blessed by the gods and Webpass is available in their building (or Webpass is willing to install).

As if all of that horrible news wasn’t depressing enough, Bret gave absolutely no indication of ANY plans to expand their 100, 200 or 300 Mbps services anywhere or any time in San Diego. He said that if the company were to do so, they would make a public announcement like they had for Los Angeles, New York and Austin. If you read our original article about the rumor you can see what kind of competition (there’s basically none) that exists within the San Diego area. This means that San Diego customers are basically stuck between Time Warner Cable, AT&T Uverse or possible Cox cable if they’re not in a Time Warner Cable service area. Either way, its a disgusting duopoly and this rumor squashing is a perfect example of that.

If anything, this confirms my belief that San Diego should start its own municipal broadband or municipal fiber network in order to keep the city competitive with places that will get Google Fiber or already have fiber.

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Time Warner Cable is rolling out one of the fastest internet speeds available in the country today next month. Our sources have been indicating to us that Time Warner Cable has been in the process of rolling out a 200/300 Mbps service in the San Diego area. They already offer 100 Mbps to new customers, but many of those people will get upgraded to Time Warner Cable’s 300 Mbps service which is one of the fastest in the country. Keep in mind that this 300 Mbps service is still only over cable, so it can’t compete with Google’s 1 Gbps fiber service or the uploads that it or any fiber service can offer. But even so, moving from a 50/5 Mbps plan to a 300/20 Mbps plan for exactly the same price, nobody is going to complain about that. Additionally, this could be yet another one of Time Warner Cable’s justifications that a Comcast merger is okay because they are upgrading customers and not remaining stagnant. All of this will also help Time Warner Cable pump up their image in the eyes of the FCC who sees very little progress in terms of ISPs improving their speeds even though customers keep paying for faster and faster speeds by moving up through more expensive tiers.

As it stands right now, Time Warner Cable offers Ultimate 100 Mbps service for $64.99, Extreme 30 Mbps service for $54.99 a month, Turbo 20 Mbps service for $44.99 a month and Standard service for $34.99 a month. There’s also Basic at 3 Mbps for $29.99 a month and Everyday Low Price 2 Mbps for $14.99 a month. If you look at the current price structure, Time Warner Cable’s pricing only really makes sense at the high end with a 3x increase in speed costing you only $10 a month more.

However, with the new speed structures Ultimate customers will be getting 300/20 Mbps for $64.99 a month while Extreme customers will pay $54.99 a month for 200/20 Mbps speeds. We don’t know what will happen to the lower tiers, but I would expect that the Turbo customers may actually see 100 Mbps depending on what kind of a modem they have. Below that, I would expect to see Standard probably get upgraded to 30 Mbps, effectively doubling the speeds and we’d probably see basic come up to 10 Mbps to satisfy what will likely be a modified definition of Broadband by the FCC.

Time Warner Cable 300 Mbps modem compatibility

However, in order to get these 200 Mbps and 300 Mbps speeds from Time Warner Cable users will have to upgrade from their current models to the currently unavailable. The only modem that Time Warner Cable currently has on their approved list is the Arris (formerly Motorola) Surfboard SB6183. This modem is capable of 16×4 bonded channels which means it can do a maximum of 600 Mbps download and about 150 Mbps upload (theoretically). However, realistically users on Time Warner Cable will expect to see speeds of 300/20 Mbps download/upload with this modem. It has also been incredibly difficult to find any of these modems anywhere and the only place I saw any of them for sale was on eBay and surprisingly it was sold from someone in San Diego, likely testing out this new service in the area.

Needless to say, we’re very excited for this service to roll out over the course of the next month and will hopefully swap out our current SB6580 for one of these since we only use it in bridge mode as it is already as many users that have TWC’s Ultimate tier of service already do. However, if you don’t want to go out and get this modem, you should be able to still get 100 Mbps from Time Warner Cable’s service with nearly all of their approved modems.

The post Time Warner Cable Rolling Out 300 and 200 Mbps Service July 7th appeared first on VR World.

The King is dead, long live the king

Also, this is a short gallery (pictures are 1024 pixel wide) of the stuff he is using right now – have to admit, motherboard looks like a really good one. CrossFire and SLI support in one place – one has to ask what kind of politics kept this for so long.

Now, AMD has a mountain to climb with its upcoming 45nm Deneb processors. I wish them all the best, since my main gaming rig will continue to be AMD-powered, with a hope of replacing Phenom 9950BE with the 45nm one. My workstation will continue to be Intel powered, with QX6800, until I get my hands on these babies.

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