Explosive Thoughts!!!!!

[DaemonCantor]

Well Folks I got the New PSU in Monday and it's taken me until today to get most everything back in order. So now my thoughts on the Crosshair V Thunderbolt.

Start off with the Formula Side of things since I was able to do a lot of testing with it in this Mode.

Lay Out is a little better than the Crosshair IV Formula as in it's a lot easier to get to the Serial ATA ports with my LONG HD5870 since ports 1&2 are not covered by the Card. The PCI-E Slot Configuration is about the same so not much to say there. It is nice to have the additional Power for SLI/Crossfire back on the Board but remember that this port is wired to the same bus as Main power so it not only helps the PCI-E slots but also adds power to the System as a Whole just as it was in the past.

UEFI BIOS is a lot better in the fact it has better descriptions of the settings plus less BS items to set up since the ones that you need are the only ones displayed all others are Automatic (About DAM Time!). The Mouse thing is already being used by Both IBM's Power Systems that cost in the Neighborhood of the $8000+ USD and Apples Power Macintosh Lines so that was no real Shock to me.

Performance....Well between the CHIVF with a 965Black and the CHVF with same CPU, there was none to speak of..they both ran the same and received the same scores in Future Mark Vantage. Now the Difference between the 965Black and the 1100T well so far the 965Black Wins! I have yet to see any advantages for the Six versus Four Cores yet and I've used both to the best I could...BUT I haven't tried RAGE yet which boast that the 965doesn't have enough Cores?????

Now the to AI Suite II, I have no Idea what the Hell everyone's is complaining about here because I installed this version the same way I do with every board I build and haven't had a Single error yet! So lets get down to the correct ways and means of doing it....When you finish installing Windows the first thing you should do and I don't care a dam what other think, Put the Motherboard CD in and install all of the Software! now that that is done Update Windows. Next update your software to what's on the Site. Now that you have the Updated AI Suite II on and running Fire up Driver Genus and let it update all but the Realtech Audio...I have found that the updated Driver works Great till you try to use X-Fi and then no matter what you do X-Fi doesn't work! Now you have a fully updated system and ready for any other Tweaks you want to do plus AI Suite II seems to work just FINE.

Next installment I'll get into the Thunderbolt and my Bitchfest will begin!

[DaemonCantor]

Ok I just got a chance to go into a game of RAGE today and Yes the 6 core did make a Difference I was able to get better graphics going but it still will not allow me to use TransCode even though it now states I have enough Cores for good Performance...Must not like the ATI Cards to much...

Now as to the Thunderbolt! The Audio is as good as the normal Built in sound plus the side benefit that it's LOUDER than the On-board Sound but it still will not Play Nice with the X-Fi Software so no Fancy Surround Sound or Killer Effects on and on...So it really Sucks compared to the Killer On-board Sound even though it's LOUDER...I'm almost Deaf right now because it jumped to FULL VOLUME when I started a Game. My ears are still Ringing and that Mishap happened Monday evening! Next the Killer Networks NIC...I did the update and it got no better? Why the Hell does it connect to my Local Net at a gigabyte Per Second but will only work at .98kbs on the Internet??? How the hell do you play a game at those rates???? Oh Well in the Drawer it goes till it's needed.

I hope all of you have enjoyed a n00bs Guide to the Crosshair V Thunderbolt....Now it's time to ROG Crysis!

[xeromist]

The important thing is that you've got it running to actually GAME!

[DaemonCantor]

YES! I'm no longer board and going Knutz!...I'm now just Knutz!

[DaemonCantor]

I hate to bring this old Topic Back up but I've just ran Across a New Problem or Nightmare... I've left the Thunderbolt installed but Not using any of it's features with out noticing all the while a Degradation in Performance of the System till Yesterday! I re enabled the Bigfoot Killer Networks of the card and retested it to the Point of completely Shutting Down the Onboard Intel Nic. Then Problems started Showing... Steam refused to start stating to Turn Off Computability Mode when I never even set it in the first place and when I went into Properties it wasn't set... Next Stalker SOC and COP refused to Start with BUG Trap Errors that didn't even display what the Error was... Then I tried to play Guild Wars(the Original Series) and my Ping Times Tripled and was so bad I kept getting Disconnected. Then came the BSOD! which stated it was a Driver Problem but didn't Identify the Driver???? So I yanked the Thunderbolt and Uninstalled all of the software through Windows Uninstall (I've still haven't gone back yet and cleaned up), restarted...Now Steam is working again, as well as all of my Games plus the side bonus Razor Synapse is finally updating once again. I did notice when I pulled it that on the Back Side of the Card, what ever Asus Coated it with looks like it was submerged in water and left to dry and in 3 spots there are what looks like Dabs of Resin or Flux that has been Harden, 2 By Soldered Pins and 1 by a Screw...

So in conclusion is one question... WHY THE HELL DID ASUS MAKE THIS DAM THING IN THE FIRST PLACE?...Sorry a little emotional for all of the people out there that payed an extra $100USD to get a piece of GARBAGE! and a name! I guess Advertizing Does work!

[Myk SilentShadow]

I always wondered why HiVizMan hated the T/B, now I guess I know why lol

[ParadoX]

This thread made my day. My chum Geoffrey will have a blast over this in the pub tonight. I told him that forums can be a great read if one wants to unwind and have a real chuckle. Blowing up two PSUs and then running a PSU close to spec takes the biscuit. Thanks for the entertainment.