Asus X79 Rampage IV Extreme | Core i7-3930K (Successful)

[Brucedrummer]

Please be very careful when overclocking. The #2 post in this thread has all the details:

http://www.tonymacx86.com/golden-bu...reme-core-i7-3930k-successful.html#post326729

Please read and consider. I spent at least a week working on the overclock section. Only judge stability with 24 hours of prime95, not "it feels stable".

Thanks MK500. Yeah, ive looked at that number 2 post a lot. For some reason, when I follow your settings exactly, I get much lower geekbech scores than you did. Im sure im missing something.
I still havent run prime 95 for more than an hour. I think its time for the long haul.
Great thread you started here, thanks for still being involved!

 

[aznewt]

MK500, I too am glad you are still monitoring. Local big box store has discontinued the i7-3960 and dropped the price by $300, so I have made the leap. Asus X79 Rampage IV Extreme is confirmed on its way from the online jungle. Expect to put it all together this weekend.

 

[shilohh]

Made some R4E bootloader themes. Enjoy

If the themes appear stretched, Open theme.plist and change the following values in the example below to match you screen resolution if your GPUs VESA modes support it. At the boot prompt hit the down aarow until you get to "Video Info" and hit enter. Make sure that your monitors native resolution is listed. If it's not choose the next resolution down that matches the monitor's native aspect ratio. i.e. 16:9 = 1920x1080, 1280x720 16x10 = 1920x1200, 1280x800.


Example:
<key>boot_height</key>
<string>800</string>

<key>boot_width</key>
<string>1280</string>

<key>screen_height</key>
<string>800</string>

<key>screen_width</key>
<string>1280</string>

For 16:9 make it:

<key>boot_height</key>
<string>720</string>

<key>boot_width</key>
<string>1280</string>

<key>screen_height</key>
<string>720</string>

<key>screen_width</key>
<string>1280</string>

or make the width 1920 and the hight 1080 if your graphics card has 1920x1080 VESA mode and your monitor's native resolution is 1920x1080.

 

[MK500]

MK500, I too am glad you are still monitoring. Local big box store has discontinued the i7-3960 and dropped the price by $300, so I have made the leap. Asus X79 Rampage IV Extreme is confirmed on its way from the online jungle. Expect to put it all together this weekend.

Cool! You'll love it. Just make sure to use the same versions of everything I did and you should be up and running in no time. What cooler are you using?

 

[MK500]

Made some R4E bootloader themes. Enjoy

Really nice shilohh! I'll put the link on the main build. Here are some really poor photos to give everyone an idea what they look like. Sorry my contrast was completely screwed up for these (the blacks should be black and colors vivid, etc). They look much MUCH better in real life.

AmourGris (Black R4E Remix) by Shilohh:


AmourGris (R4E Remix) by Shilohh:


wetOS (R4E Remix) by Shilohh:

 

[shilohh]

If the themes appear stretched, Open theme.plist in text edit and change the following values in the example below to match your screen resolution if your GPUs VESA modes support your screen's native resolution. At the boot prompt hit the down arrow until you get to "Video Info" and hit enter. Make sure that your monitors native resolution is listed. If it's not choose the next resolution down that matches the monitor's native aspect ratio. i.e. 16:9 = 1920x1080, 1280x720 or 16:10 = 1920x1200, 1280x800.

Example:
<key>boot_height</key>
<string>800</string>

<key>boot_width</key>
<string>1280</string>

<key>screen_height</key>
<string>800</string>

<key>screen_width</key>
<string>1280</string>

For 16:9 make it:

<key>boot_height</key>
<string>720</string>

<key>boot_width</key>
<string>1280</string>

<key>screen_height</key>
<string>720</string>

<key>screen_width</key>
<string>1280</string>

or make the width 1920 and the hight 1080 if your graphics card has 1920x1080 VESA mode and your monitor's native resolution is 1920x1080.

Also, @MK500. I'm currently on BIOS 4102 (anything newer than 4206 kills my overclock) and all is good. If you want to do another linux extract of the DSDT, I'll apply the edits for the masses. I've also notice that people are having trouble finding the correct audio kext. I have it posted on my DSDT guide and you may want to post it as an attachment in this guide.

 

[aznewt]

The hack is up and running, albeit without sound. I've created a dsdt per the How To Add HDEF instructions. I have 4 output options (built-in internal speakers, audio line-out port (x2), and Digital out), but still don't get sound. Just static. Are there other posts on this topic that might provide additional insight?

A couple of things I've learned by trial and error that would be nice to have confirmed.

1) MultiBeast is absolute in what it installs. In other words, when I installed my dsdt for audio, I didn't select any other options, and my machine would not start because GraphicsEnabler had returned to the default Yes because I didn't select when I did the dsdt install. Seems like everytime I run MultiBeast, I need to select all required/desired options.

2) I always have to add the boot argument of npci=0x2000 manually.

Geekbench 3.0 scores are 2940 single-core and 17589 multi-core with vanilla bios (e.g. no oc) at 3.31GHz.

Updates:

After reading shilohh's dsdt thread ( http://www.tonymacx86.com/dsdt/9233...eme-x79-guide-extract-edit-your-own-dsdt.html) I think #2 will turn out to be false and the npci boot pram will not be required either. Plan to create my dsdt this evening.

Another observation from shilohh's thread: get the BIOS config established straight away before moving on to the more beastly tasks.

 

[shilohh]

2) I always have to add the boot argument of npci=0x2000 manually.

If you require "npci=0x2000" or "npci=0x3000" to boot, You'll need to add it to /Extra/org.chameleon.boot.plist to avoid having to enter it manually since multibeast doesn't seem to have this option included anymore. Open org.chameleon.boot.plist with text edit and add it to the kernel flags like the example below:

<key>Kernel Flags</key>
<string>npci=0x3000 darkwake=0 PCIRootUID=1</string>

Note: Only add the flag/s you need here. "darkwake=0 PCIRootUID=1" is just to show an example of multiple flaggs entered.

After reading shilohh's dsdt thread ( http://www.tonymacx86.com/dsdt/9233...eme-x79-guide-extract-edit-your-own-dsdt.html) I think #2 will turn out to be false and the npci boot pram will not be required either. Plan to create my dsdt this evening.

If you can boot fine without it, you don't need it. Some users need it and it doesn't seem to hurt if you don't. So it's easier to recommend that everybody boot with it rather than point everyone to the solution once they have the "hang at pci configuration begin" issue.

Another observation from shilohh's thread: get the BIOS config established straight away before moving on to the more beastly tasks.

Config the BIOS and install all PCI hardware before you extract the DSDT but you can install MultiBeast and kexts at any time. However, you may not be able to boot if you set some things wrong in the BIOS so yes try to set the BIOS correctly before you try to install the OS. BIOS should be your very first step.

 

[shilohh]

I have 4 output options (built-in internal speakers, audio line-out port (x2), and Digital out), but still don't get sound. Just static. Are there other posts on this topic that might provide additional insight?

A note to new builders: If have the proper audio devices showing in sys prefs but get only static or noise or nothing out, there are a lot of R4E owners having to RMA their mother borads because audio is not working. If your having this issue in OS X, I'd suggest trying to get audio working in winblows. If you run into the same issue in win, you may need to send your MoBo back for a new one. A big pain in the A but sooner is better than later.

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?25448-Rampage-IV-Extreme-Audio-not-working

 

[shilohh]

Reverted to BIOS 4102 because 4310 and 4403 killed my over clock in OS X.