XFX 790i Ultra SLI vs. Asus Striker II Extreme

[orthomofo]

let the show down begin.

XFX 790i Ultra SLI vs. Asus Striker II Extreme

building new system and narrowed it down to

Does anyone know or feel which one is better.
bios,
oc,
tech support

i know they are practically the same mobo, but 790i's from different vendors.

part of me is partial to asus, and xfx hasn't been in the mobo domain for that long.

don't let this tree fall in the woods on deaf ears
weigh in

 

[Hipcrostino]

The Asus board has a better memory track design and has better memory timing options than the XFX board which is the referance design. From what ive seen the Asus is a better board. I couldn't find (or afford) the Extreme version, so i went with the much cheaper NSE board, which is just a 790i, not the Ultra. Not that there is much differance, just a few less memory options. I have only owned the board a few days, so i don't have any results for you, but the bios seems good and there are more features than you can poke a stick at.

As you can see, i recommend the Asus. Just be warned though, the Asus Extreme board is significantly more money than the XFX or EVGA referance designs. (at least in my area). I found the NSE fitted the bill quite well.

 

[Anubis_386]

The Asus board just has a few of Asus's extras (most of which are gimmicks really tho) .. It does offer a few more BIOS options then the reference boards then the XFX boards are dam nice too and their BIOS offers more then enough tweaking .. Check out the review I did of my XFX 790i board .. HERE

As for tech support, I've no idea about Asus but OC wise they should be pretty similar as its the same chipset ..

 

[orthomofo]

damn! nice post, thanks for the link.

do you know of which features of the asus are gimmicks? and not necessary.

so, as far as quality, would you guess they are pretty much the same?

because every review of each of the two boards i read, it seems to point out how both rock. just wondering if there is any real benefit of one over the other.

temp, oc ability, stability...

 

[Anubis_386]

Well unless you are watercooling then the board coming pre-installed water block is pointless and means you might not get as low SPP/MCP temps as with a reference board that has a hefty fan (despite the fan being bloody noisy on the XFX board) ..

Then there's things like 'CPU Level Up' and 'AI NOS', the auto OCing utilities .. Asus's 'EPU' (Energy Processing Unit) which apparently is a complete scam and does nothing to do with energy saving .. Either way tho - energy saving features and OCing don't tend to mix well (well they haven't with me) and usually end up with increased instability. LED voltage indicators - you know what voltage your setting and having a random coloured LED doesn't that's red isn't gunner make u think "O no .. Its red, maybe I have set it too high" .. Really if your OCing you should know the max safe voltage and would thus stop at it .. Then your also paying for Company of Heroes and a very short subscription with Kaspersky anti-virus ..

OK Anti-Asus rant over ... The Striker II is a great board, I just don't see it as being much better then the reference 790i boards .. Because both boards use the same chipset its unlikely one will OC much better then the other and both should be as stable as the 790i chipset is .. As for temps, if your watercooling then the Striker II would be better, if not then a reference board like the one for XFX or Evga ..

 

[Hipcrostino]

Well unless you are watercooling then the board coming pre-installed water block is pointless and means you might not get as low SPP/MCP temps as with a reference board that has a hefty fan (despite the fan being bloody noisy on the XFX board) ..

Then there's things like 'CPU Level Up' and 'AI NOS', the auto OCing utilities .. Asus's 'EPU' (Energy Processing Unit) which apparently is a complete scam and does nothing to do with energy saving .. Either way tho - energy saving features and OCing don't tend to mix well (well they haven't with me) and usually end up with increased instability. LED voltage indicators - you know what voltage your setting and having a random coloured LED doesn't that's red isn't gunner make u think "O no .. Its red, maybe I have set it too high" .. Really if your OCing you should know the max safe voltage and would thus stop at it .. Then your also paying for Company of Heroes and a very short subscription with Kaspersky anti-virus ..

OK Anti-Asus rant over ... The Striker II is a great board, I just don't see it as being much better then the reference 790i boards .. Because both boards use the same chipset its unlikely one will OC much better then the other and both should be as stable as the 790i chipset is .. As for temps, if your watercooling then the Striker II would be better, if not then a reference board like the one for XFX or Evga ..

all the things you mention there are indeed usless gimicks. The bios options shouldn't be touched with a 40 foot pole IMO. The voltage LED's as described byt he manual are not to indicate to the overclocker, but to indicate to passers by. Its usless too as they passers by won't understand what they mean, and the leds don't change colour untill the voltages are way past what one would use unless LN2 is involved anyway. The BIOS POST LCD thing is actually usefull. I use it to see if my overclock will boot well before the screen has a chance of turning on.

Also the "water block" on the NB leaves a lot to be desired I use water cooling and im still undecided as to wether i will use it (probably not).

and finally, the Asus mobo isn't a referance board. It uses a modified memory track design that had been somewhat proved to increase OC'ing ability of the ram, and at the speed DDR3 operates that actually matters. Also you get access to lower memory timings that you would not on the referance boards.
Oh and the packaged sound card on the Asus boards is really nice. you would have to have top dollar speakers to bother getting another sound card.

so there are some good points, and some bad points for the asus. I think its a really good board, but as with everything, its not perfect.