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wacko24 · ‎02-23-2015

Hi All,

First time Asus buyer, always been a gigabyte man.

I am Building a new system, and will start receiving the parts this week, i have a few questions, and i know you guys maybe able to help.
I am english, but currently live in china, which puts me in a fortunate position to be able to acquire new parts at good prices.
so heres the build

Rampage V x99
I7 5960x
ddr4 3000 gskill 16g
r9 295x2
AX 1500i
crucial m550 256g raid0 (opal was a requirement)
Samsung SM951.

the rest you can probably guess, water cooling blabla, all in a cosmos 2 case with 5k screen.

Now i used to be a gamer, still am in part, now i am much more an ethusiast with a bit of overclocking.

Even though i have seen bad reviews on new egg, this doesnt deter me, i dont mind getting my hands dirty and working it through, this is the reason i registered here, i hear you guys know your stuff, and will be able to help if i get issues i cant deal with.

My question is this, the SM951 is blindingly fast, i have seen reviews over in china that make this thing unreal, it is on the way anyway, i see the XP has already been validated for the board, but does anyone know if the SM will boot with the board ?
I guess i am about to find out, but thought i would ask here anyway.

another question is, have all the bios and driver issues been fixed with the updated drivers and bios on the support website ?
I see there were a couple of Ram issues with anything over 2300, have these been fixed?

of course, if i come up with anything worth sharing during the build i will post on here.
Thanks Guys.

Avenger411 · ‎02-23-2015

Hi buddy!

First of all, welcome to the ROG clan. You'll find that ROG product are top notch (yes they're expensive) and you get what you pay for. As for the bios/board issues. There will alway be little kinks to solve but the board is very stable and has a lot of compatibility with a bunch of ram providers etc. Bios update come every month or so and it's been like that since the beginning mostly so we can all guess that asus are doing their jobs. For the ram issues, they weren't really ram issues. From what i've been through and alot of others like me, it all depends on your cpu (some are stronger than others even though they are binned the same). You see the default ram speed of our cpu is DDR4-2133mhz. So as soon as you put "let's use your parts as exemple" DDR4-3000mhz CAS15 (g.skill) you're overclocking your cpu a little bit and asking more from your internal memory controller. Depending on your cpu, it might be easier for you or hard to attain such speeds and keep them stable. Chino has made a nice "how to setup ddr4-3000 tutorial" that proved to be handy. No worries though, i am sure you'll be able to use your ram at it's full potential! Most of the time people just put the XMP profile and it works. Some others like me who were less lucky had to do it manually but the end result is the same. Take the time to learn all the aspect of your new motherboard and components, this new board has so many options so at the beginning it will be easy to get lost but the forum here is one hell of a good community and help is never far if you ever have the panic button pushed :). As for your M.2, indeed it is realllly fast. From what i've understood, you'll have to install windows in UEFI otherwise it won't work. tomshardware did a small review of the product here.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/samsung-sm951-m.2-pcie-ssd,4045.html

Have fun with your new components buddy.

Thanks

Max

Cpu : Intel 5930K@4.25ghz@1.2v / Cache @4.25ghz@1.20v
Cpu Cooler : Corsair H100i
Case : Corsair 780T
Memory : G.Skills 32GB DDR4-3200mhz CAS 15-15-15-35-1T@1.370v
Motherboard : Asus Rampage V Extreme (BIOS 3504)
M2 : Samsung 950 Pro NVME 512gb (Gaming)
M2 : SSD1 : OCZ RD400A 128gb (windows)
SSD1 : Crucial MX100 512gb (data)
Gfx : EVGA Titan X w/ 980 Hybrid Cooling AiO Liquid Cooler
PSU : Antec HCP-1000W
Monitor : Asus RoG Swift

Chino · ‎02-23-2015

wacko24 wrote:

i see the XP has already been validated for the board, but does anyone know if the SM will boot with the board ?
I guess i am about to find out, but thought i would ask here anyway.

I haven't seen the SM951 paired up with a R5E yet. But it should work without problems. Tweaktown used a Maximus VI Extreme in their testing so I would guess the SM951 should work on the R5E as well.

wacko24 wrote:

another question is, have all the bios and driver issues been fixed with the updated drivers and bios on the support website ?
I see there were a couple of Ram issues with anything over 2300, have these been fixed?

With a much mature BIOS now, getting your RAM to run at its advertised speed should be as easy as enabling XMP. Nevertheless if your CPU is an exception, I have a short guide linked in my signature that you can consult. But from what I've seen, the new BIOS fixed DRAM overclocking for a lot of users.

BrutalAttis · ‎02-23-2015

I can't exactly comment regarding your SM951, I went with Plextor M6e Series 512GB M.2 PCIe SSD (PX-G512M6e).

Moving from my previous system using a SSD to a M.2 has been a shocking pleasant experience for me. My OS boots in some crazy amount of time and games like the new Dragon Age that have bad loading times is like none issue for me. I am very very happy with my M.2 choice. I still catch myself every now and again going: dang that was fast! So what I am saying is you going to love your choice of going M.2.

With my new build I had gone with Win 8.1 (I am not a Win 8 fan at all), I figured it was time to check it out. It was then that I learned all about UEFI secure boot. I never ran into an issues with it, but read all about it during trouble shooting a random Q-code issues initially.

As far as I can tell the M.2 mounts like any other drive from the OS perspective. So you can install whatever you want probably like you could on an SSD. I think there are some raid restrictions regrading booting if you have more than one M.2 - not 100% on that.

Only other tip I can give is some older USB devices dont play well with X99 - something I had to learn the hard way. I got random failed boots with strange Q-code's due to an older CH Products Peddles I had plugged in. For the life of me I never would have thought a USB device like that could create a boot issue. First thought it was my M.2, then I thought Win 8.1 with UEFI related, but no in my case some USD device. So just a heads up, I guess 🙂 Start with basic USB like mouse and keyboard before you add more toys.

Overclocking RAM/CPU with this MB had been a pleasure, I love the new BIOS and there are some great post here once you get around to that.

Anyways, have fun with you new baby 😉

wacko24 · ‎02-23-2015

Hi Guys,

Firstly, thanks for the replies.

I am going to work through the issues, if indeed there are any, my biggest gripe here, is having to use windows 8 XXX.
I really don't like windows 8 any version, i tried it when it came out on preview, and very quickly dumped it.
I hear they are fixing up windows 10 to look much more like windows should, so i am anxiously waiting this one.

Meantime, i already know, to get the best out of X99, it looks like i have no choice but to use 8 for now.
Thanks for the Ram run through Chino, if i get stuck, i will have a go, or post on here.

I am wondering if any of you guys use single card multi GFX, and how this works on PCIE 3, as the main reason for me getting the r9 295x2 is to save pcie lanes. If it works well, and there are no issues, i will eventually add another for quad fire, and still save enough lanes for other uses.

I have already downloaded all of the literature for the RVE, and gone through it, and gone through how the lanes are allocated to make sure it can be done.

but i have a question on the power side, the molex connector for extra power to the GFX, i will connect anyway.
24 pin is obvious, and cpu power 4X4 is obvious, but the 6 pin connector EATX 12_1 comes from peripherals side of the psu?
this is the only 6 pin connector on the ax1500i, if so, any idea what this power is used for? is it specifically to provide extra power for over clocking ?

Chino · ‎02-23-2015

wacko24 wrote:
Hi Guys,

Firstly, thanks for the replies.

I am going to work through the issues, if indeed there are any, my biggest gripe here, is having to use windows 8 XXX.
I really don't like windows 8 any version, i tried it when it came out on preview, and very quickly dumped it.
I hear they are fixing up windows 10 to look much more like windows should, so i am anxiously waiting this one.

Meantime, i already know, to get the best out of X99, it looks like i have no choice but to use 8 for now.
Thanks for the Ram run through Chino, if i get stuck, i will have a go, or post on here.

I am wondering if any of you guys use single card multi GFX, and how this works on PCIE 3, as the main reason for me getting the r9 295x2 is to save pcie lanes. If it works well, and there are no issues, i will eventually add another for quad fire, and still save enough lanes for other uses.

I have already downloaded all of the literature for the RVE, and gone through it, and gone through how the lanes are allocated to make sure it can be done.

but i have a question on the power side, the molex connector for extra power to the GFX, i will connect anyway.
24 pin is obvious, and cpu power 4X4 is obvious, but the 6 pin connector EATX 12_1 comes from peripherals side of the psu?
this is the only 6 pin connector on the ax1500i, if so, any idea what this power is used for? is it specifically to provide extra power for over clocking ?

If the SM951 is similar to the XP941, then you can only install Windows in UEFI mode. You can still use W7 as long as you do a UEFI install. But you would get faster boot up times with W8/8.1 though.

As for the power connectors, please populate the 24 pin, 8 pin and the 4 pin power connectors. Your AX1500i should have all the cables that you need.

Avenger411 · ‎02-25-2015

Hey

Just a heads up concerning two gpu chips on 1 pcb. I have a gtx690 and it's all good on my end. Don't see how it would go wrong with a R9 295. This board is uber stable..

Edit : multi gpu performance is only as good as the driver/game support. The hardware works great but the software is the problem.. Most of the time

Thanks

Max

Cpu : Intel 5930K@4.25ghz@1.2v / Cache @4.25ghz@1.20v
Cpu Cooler : Corsair H100i
Case : Corsair 780T
Memory : G.Skills 32GB DDR4-3200mhz CAS 15-15-15-35-1T@1.370v
Motherboard : Asus Rampage V Extreme (BIOS 3504)
M2 : Samsung 950 Pro NVME 512gb (Gaming)
M2 : SSD1 : OCZ RD400A 128gb (windows)
SSD1 : Crucial MX100 512gb (data)
Gfx : EVGA Titan X w/ 980 Hybrid Cooling AiO Liquid Cooler
PSU : Antec HCP-1000W
Monitor : Asus RoG Swift

kenshinco · ‎02-23-2015

I have the sm951 and i had win8.1 installed on it with no sweat :). I installed it as boot in UEFI mode.
But the speed is not as they advertised. I only get 1560/1570 read/write respectively cuz its sill on AHCI. Haven't see the sm951 on NVMe pop ups on the net yet.
Also the sm951 doesn't works well with any other BCLK frequencies beside 100 and 125. You will get BCD boot error if other than 100/125.

wacko24 · ‎02-23-2015

Hi Kenshinco,

Thanks for your reply.

Take a look at this
http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a1z0d.6639537.1997196601.3.rCfrZn&id=43624728314

its in chinese, but just use translate.
it only advertises the rates you are getting on there. i think samsung are, shall we say, fluffing the figures a bit.

i will have a play with it and see what i come up with, but basically, its the fastest i can find at present. if i get issues where it doesnt play very nice, i will have a go with an intel version when they release one that doesnt cost the price of a house.

Thanks for the info, so i will install on safe settings and start from there.

kenshinco · ‎02-23-2015

[QUOTE=i will have a go with an intel version when they release one that doesnt cost the price of a house.

Thanks for the info, so i will install on safe settings and start from there.

You can wait for the intel dc p3500 with nvme.

R5E and samsung SM951