ASUS Shows off 4-way SLI on GeForce GTX 480 or do they

[Vectrexer]

Ok,,, so if I am going to do this what kind of numbers do you want? Short list I can think of for power.

This would be an open air test on the bench.

Off: Hopefully 0. But just stitting there the Fermis sucked the energy right out of the bank, So maybe not 0.
Standby:

Boot:

Idle in OS, Win 7 x64 or Win XP x64:

Furmark, Multi GPU, Benchmark test, default settings, start/finish temp and power:
Furmark, Benchmark test, start/finish temp and power, setting 1:
Furmark, Benchmark test, start/finish temp and power, setting 2:
Furmark, Benchmark test, start/finish temp and power, setting 3:

Furmark, long test until temp stabilizes , start/finish temp and power, setting 1:


LinX 3 minute run, start/finish temp and power:

Everest System Stability Test, 3 minute run, start/finish temp and power:


Furmark default settings benchmark + Everest System Stability Test, test start/finish temp and power

Furmark default settings benchmark + LinX Test, test start/finish temp and power

[Velo:Sity]

I'd be surprised if the motherboard didn't melt in a minute.

[Apoptosis]

dude just thinking about those power tests you are cooking up makes me nervous!

[Vectrexer]

started

[Vectrexer]

Note the poorly fitting optional cooler. The Asus mechanical design team for the Rampage III made a mistake on this point.

The Thermalright fit was so poor I chose to run with the Intel CPU cooler. This is not an CPU test. At least, not really. Beside, the stock intel i7-980x CPU cooler really rocks anyway! I know from experience on another 980x build already done.

[Vectrexer]

Alrighty! quick testing is nearly done. The quick results??? Using the the gear I have on hand at the moment a Asus Rampage III Extreme in a nVidia GT 480 Quad SLI setup is not possible. The reason is the nVidia driver work for Triple SLI but not Quad SLI.

There are some obvious hole in the methods I am using to get Quad SLI going.

• I don't know if the Asus Rampage III Extreme is Quad SLI capable yet.
  I don't know if the Asus Rampage III Extreme BIOS I have has anything to do with my problems.
  I am using a mixed set of nVidia GTX 480 board at the moment. Perhaps the driver is am using has a problem mixing vendors? not sure.
  Quad SLI cable I stole from an eVGA E762 kit is not meant for Quad GTX 480 SLI setups. Although I see Hardware.info used this same cable.
  Some other software issue I am not aware of right now.
  Some other firmware or hardwaere issue I am not aware of right now

With four cards in the system and running with the Triple-SLI cable I was able to get Triple-SLI going. Leaving one card idle. The maximum wattage I was able to get was 1292 watts peak for GPU only usage. This wattage was with Furmark Build 1.8.2 set to Stability Test, Fullscreen 1600x1200, no MSAA, Xtreme Buring Mode, No Displacement Mapping, No Post FX, in version 1.8 mode. FPS AVG=249.


I welcome any knowledge or useful suggestion to get this steup going for Quad-SLI testing using the gear I have.

Gear I am using right now in case you didn't look at the pictures so far

• 1 - Silverstone Strider 1500 wat power supply.
  1 - Intel i7-980x CPU. Running at the standard clock.
  6 - Muskin Enhanced 998750, 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2000 (PC3 16000) modules for a total of 12 GB.
  2 - eVGA nVidia GTX 480 SuperClocked video cards.
  2 - PNY nVidia GTX 480 video cards. Thes are running at the standard clock.
  3 - Various SLI "cables". Asus used for the Dual-SLI and Triple-SLI testing. eVGA used for the Quad-SLI testing.
  1 - Seagate hard drive, SATA. ST320005.
  1 - LD HD DVD Super-Multi optical drive GGC-H20L.
  2 - Reams of Paper standing in as test bench to support the rig.

Windows 7 x64 Ultimate, with all the patches.
nVidia driver version 197.41.
All current hardware drivers present


More images of the system coming.soon

[DJ Tucker]

wow and *colapses* thats gota be some serious heat and power use there!

[spitter]

"Were gonna need a bigger power supply"

[Vectrexer]

More pics follow of the incremental build points for this system. Any pics showing the Kill A Watt display are the results from the previous testpage. Several of the tests show the begining and end of the test phase. If you have a question or need more details about the test just ask.

BTW, Looks like I might need the nVidia 197.55 driver set for the GTX 480 running under Win 7 x64. Can anyone give me a hand accessing that set so I can complete the the Quad-SLI tests?

Flyover of the system at the end of the test with the four cards installed. (yeah, sometimes I like a little spoiler now and then.)

[Vectrexer]

Looks like we have a little problem here. The Asus mechanical engineering team for the Rampage III Extreme forgot to leave room for the CPU heatsink when they designed the optional "Fan-Thermal Module" in the Rampage III kit that is part of the included Rampage III accessories. Note the Ill fitting Thermalright TRUE 120. Asus QA should have noticed this problem. Looks like Asus QA will need to develop a test to start checking fit for one of the most common enthusiast CPU coolers in existence before releasing new boards for production runs.

As we see later the situation does not improve for the stock Intel i7-980x cooler and still fits poorly as well.

[Vectrexer]

[Vectrexer]

Shown here is the same poor fit of the Asus "Fan-Thermal Module" with the stock intel i7-980x cooler. It was in fact pressing so hard against the Asus cooler that I had to rotate the Intel cooler 180 degrees. Even after the rotation of the Intel cooler I had to remove the fan guard from the Intel cooler or it would not have fit at all!

Come on Asus! I know your design team is better than this!

This design problem with the Asus "Fan-Thermal Module" has been reported to Asus Tech Support. Asus has responded today with a message indicating they passed on the information to their engineers. Always a great indication of good service rather than letting the problem lie stangnant.

[Vectrexer]

Notice the "BIOS Status". This is where you can tell which of the two BIOS's on the Asus Rampage III Extreme is active. Nice to have a fallback plan in case your BIOS upgrade fails. There is a button on the motherboard to select the active BIOS.

[Vectrexer]

First boot up plus The begining of the installation for Windows 7 x64 ultimate.







A short test from before. Better put your hand on the GTX 480 now. Once testing with Furmark has started there is no freeaking way you even get close to the card without gettting an nVidia heatpipe branding.

[Vectrexer]

After OS load and during a phase the OS is idle



Short LinX test. Start of the test and finish is shown. First is watts and second is amps. Pretty impressive considering we are not evening using the video card yet except in low power 2D mode. Not overclocking the CPU either. Rememeber this 980x is still running at stock speed with the memory also set to stock.

Next set of readings is a for a short first test using Furmark 1.8.2 for the single eVGA GTX 480 SuperClocked card. That was Furmark only. What's a measly 480 watts anyway?

[Vectrexer]

Notice the standby and bootup power requirements.

[Vectrexer]

[Vectrexer]

Notice difference for the wattage after you have run Furmark for even a short a while. 52 watts difference. Proof positive for you newbiew system buyers and builders out there a two minute test is no indication of assured survival. Keep this point in mind if you are going out buy a new system preassembled. Test it sure. But give it a gool long test of at least 15 minutes or more under high load. Not just a short boot and run test.

[Vectrexer]

One nice thing during all this testing was I never needed to reload the nVidia drivers. The recognition of the added GTX 480 cards were completely automatic by Win 7. You just have to pay attention to the messages presented and reboot when indicated.

After reboot the only thing to do is to open the nVidia control panel and re-select the option to use SLI.

[Vectrexer]