So far, this has been a fantastic board. I find the north and south bridge temps a little high for my taste, but still far lower than old Maximus Formula that used to hit 65+ under load while idling near 60, and prompted me to add it to the water circuit. This tends to hover around 52 at idle, but really do not climb much even under load. It has yet to see anything over 59. Considering adding it to the circuit as well, but I hate to remove the stock heatsink. I'm usually not one to worry a whole lot about what the mobo looks like, but in this case, that sink just looks fantastic. So I really don't want to remove it, to be completely honest.

So I have just a couple of questions. One, can anyone confirm replacing the thermal paste between the cooler and chipsets has had any real benefits in doing so? It was one of the first things I did to my Maximus when I realized how high, and it did not have a significant effect. In the end, it lowered temps by a matter of one or two degrees at best. To be quite frank, if I'm going to go through the trouble of reapplying paste and waiting a week for it to cure to see it did next to nothing, I may as well tear the entire box down again to install waterblocks. But if someone can honestly say that replacing the paste made a difference, then I would be willing to at least try that first. I've also considered working on the contact area between the optional fansink and the cooler to see if that would help as well. Neither surface is exactly the cleanest on Earth, and it's covered by the red powdercoat/paint/anodization used to color the cooler anyway. Whether or not that would actually make a difference or not, I don't know. But it wouldn't be much work for me if I have removed the cooler to replace the stock thermal paste anyway.

Two, what exactly is the purpose of the three pin jumper next to the 24 pin power connector labeled QPI_LL_SW? I think I have a pretty good idea of what it's for, but it would be nice to have a confirmation, since I can't seem to find it in the manual. I don't know if I'm just not seeing it in there, but I've been through it several times trying to confirm what it does.

But this has been a great board so far. Currently running an i7-950 with 6 gigs of Crucial Ballistix at 1600 MHz, and it's been stable as a rock. I love having the dual BIOS, since I was always nervous about tinkering on the old board, especially when I was running the Maximus Rampage mod. Never had any problems, but it was always in the back of my mind, especially considering the BIOS was not removable. Having the ability to try BIOS updates and switch back with just a button push in case of any problems is really a great option. The ROGConnect options have been really useful as well. I've been an ASUS man for a long time, and this board really made me glad I've stuck with them for as long as I have. About the only thing I would have liked to see included with the board is a water block for the chipset like the original Rampage and Maximus Extreme. And I have to say I completely agree with doing away with the dual NF200 chipsets as standard equipment. I know there are probably some who are disappointed, and I can understand their point of view, I do believe the added cost would have shied me away from this board.

Ok, I'm done babbling now. Thanks for your time!