Show Us Your Rig [6]

essenbe said:

...OK, I will freely admit to being crazy. I do a lot of backups to at least 3 different hard drives. I'm obsessive compulsive enough that I have backups of the backups. So, I use a lot of esata ports in my obsessivness. But, I do need a sale on Hard drives. I'm running low. I think I have only about 6 or 7 TB of extra drives. And crankypenguin thought he was crazy. He hasn't met me yet, really. I'm way over the top; about a lot of things.

You think you're crazy? I maintain four backup HDDs for each one in use: two kept locally and two kept in my safe deposit box at my credit union.

I had to add a couple of e-SATA ports to my rig but rarely use them. Instead, I use the hot swap bays installed in my computer to park the backup HDDs during backups. When not in use, I keep them in a foam "egg crate" in a dresser drawer where I can get to them easily.

Tony, as hard as I may want to try, I cannot argue with anything you said. You are right on in my experience with Asus so far. The starnge thing is, they must have bins they throw the boards in, bad memory, bad cpu pins, bad pcie slots and all of that. It just depends which bin the pulll the board from thet deside to send back to you. They seem to send you one from the same bin yours is going into. I just got this board back from RMA because it was running the pcie X16_1 slot at X1 instead of X16. This one, runs the PCIE _1 X16 slot at X8 instead of x16. So, I guess they figured I got a better board. Only problem is, is that X16 slot is the only slot on the whole board that works at all. We're talking about an Eatx board with 5 X16 slots. So, I can't argue with anything you are saying. I have a Maximus V Gene and a Sabertooth that work great (knocks on wood), bit their flagship Extreme model, they can't seem to get to work at all. I need to talk to or write somebody. The real strange thing is, because i wanted a board that would be trouble free, I bought their flagship. I know if I owned the company heads would roll if my flagship model was not an excellent performer and excellent quality control. I would listen to no excuses. I will give it credit for performance, when it works, that is. I guess because I feel that way is why I'm not CEO of asus.

essenbe said:

Alan, The CPU socket takes up half the board. That thing is really small, but it looks pretty nice. Have you had a chance to bench test it yet? I, for one, would like a report on the pros and cons. It gives me some ideas.
Lady F. I know it may mess up your internal wiring slightly, but they do make internal USB expansions that will add a couple of USB Headers to the board, but the piece also has slots for 2 USB flash drives to be mounted to it internally. Something you aren't going to be changing a lot is what I'm sure they would be used for. Something like maybe a USB TV tuner, maybe. I bought one, but haven't done the build with it yet so can't give you a report. The best part for you though, is it does not use a PCIE lane. It just attaches to a motherboard USB header. If you have any interest, I can find the link fairly easily for you. Maybe Gary could give you some info on it, if I'm not wrong, I think he bought one I gave him the link for. I needed it be cause Asus, in their infinite wisdom, decided that on their most expensive and flagship Z77 board, they would only put 2 USB 2.0 headers on it. So, I ran out just from connecting FP connections, then needed one for the Corsair, link, card reader and a couple of other things. I've said this about dozens of things on here, but I have to wonder if the manufacturers who sell some of these components have ever tried to use them for themselves and install everyday stuff. If they did, people like us wouldn't complain about boards, cases, pcie lanes and stuff quite as much. And, I forgot the part about making them work right, for something real new, different and unusual. I say that as I send off my Maximus V Extreme for RMA for the 5Th time in about 15 months. An almost $400 motherboard that Asus has had more than I have. But, honestly, when it works right, there is not another board like it. It's a crime they can't figure out how to make it work and keep it that way. Jack would agree, I'm sure. [/RANT] back to your issues. Let me know if you would like a link to the USB expansion thing. If you have any interest at all, I think they are pretty cheap, so no big risk if you don't like it. Technically, you only gain 2 USB headers as it gives you 3 but takes 1 to make it work. But, that's a 100% gain for me. LOL

EDIT: OK here it is. It's only about 6" long Amazon.com : NZXT IU01 Internal USB Expansion (Black) : Desktop Computer Usb Port Cards : Electronics


Attachment 299899


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Britton30 said:

Steve you're a mind reader, I just PM'ed Jeannie about the USB expander and blamed you for it. I have hooked it up to test it but haven't "installed" it anywhere. It works nicely and takes power from a Molex connector. As a test I booted a flash drive with it and read/wrote some too. Just like having them on the board.

I agree with the rant, I have two mid range ASUS boards that both have 4 USB 2.0 headers, the more expensive Sabertooth has only 3.

I currently have a vacant PCI-e slot available for a dual TV tuner. If I decide I need a second dual tuner, I can change out the card reader and give up two of my current USB 3.0 rear ports. So far, I'm using only one USB 3.0 port for the 2 port hub I'm using on my desk. That can be sacrificed if ever I need to use both of the remaining rear USB 3.0 ports. If push comes to shove and I need more USB 3.0 ports after adding the second tuner, I can use the PCI-e slot that is paired to my GPU card for an expansion card and just settle for running the GPU card on only 8 lanes. I don't see many USB 3.0 devices being connected to a rear port anytime in my foreseeable future, however. The printer is wireless. The two scanners and the UPS connect via USB 2.0. Even if I replace my current ADF scanner with the newer model, which will run on both USB 3.0 and Wi-Fi, I can just run it on Wi-Fi (it will also run on USB 2.0; it would just be a bit slower). The only USB 3.0 device I can see adding is an AC Wi-Fi adapter.

The whole argument is moot for now until I determine if I need more than one tuner anyway. Also, I haven't found any USB dual TV tuners. Adding a USB expansion card and multiple USB tuners inside my case would be just too crowded, if I could even get them all to fit.

Lady Fitzgerald said:

essenbe said:

...OK, I will freely admit to being crazy. I do a lot of backups to at least 3 different hard drives. I'm obsessive compulsive enough that I have backups of the backups. So, I use a lot of esata ports in my obsessivness. But, I do need a sale on Hard drives. I'm running low. I think I have only about 6 or 7 TB of extra drives. And crankypenguin thought he was crazy. He hasn't met me yet, really. I'm way over the top; about a lot of things.

You think you're crazy? I maintain four backup HDDs for each one in use: two kept locally and two kept in my safe deposit box at my credit union.

I had to add a couple of e-SATA ports to my rig but rarely use them. Instead, I use the hot swap bays installed in my computer to park the backup HDDs during backups. When not in use, I keep them in a foam "egg crate" in a dresser drawer where I can get to them easily.

But, I am not the repository of the NSC's evesdropping program But, seriously, my set up leaves me no 5.25" drive bays left to use, so I have 2 to 3 of these filled with drives connected at almost all times. I find it easy and convienent, and I've had good luck with them. BTW, I keep a spare around just in case.

I have a single slot external dock I used before I built my present rig I keep around just in case. It connects via e-SATA.

I have a USB 3.0 external card reader that connects via a cable so I could gain an additional 5.25" bay if push came to shove. I'm using an Antec EasySATA for my 3.5" internal dock (the 2.5" dock came built into my case:

The cable is for the e-SATA port on the front. It's been discontinued so I managed to scare up a spare one while I could as well as some extra connector cards:


I recently spotted this internal dock online:


It looks pretty slick but there are four things I don't like about it. The doors look like they could let a lot of dust in, a 3.5" HDD will stick out about halfway, there is no way to lock or latch the drives in like the EasySATAs do, and the reviews have been less than stellar (mostly quality control issues; pity that).

One thing I like about the Corsair Obsidian 650d case is has a combination 3.5"/2.5" swap bay built in and has four 5.25" bays. Pity it's too big for me.

Drew, the real unfortunate part is that is standard operating procedure for the industry. Neither Asrock, Gigabyte, MSI or anyone else is any better. I've had the opportunity to deal with all of them. I really think the issue lies not with the customer suport people. Actually I have had good service from the customer support people at Asus. I believe the problem lies with the actual technitians who actually do the 'repairs' to the board. I have actually received the same board back from an RMA to install new bios EEPROMs and waht I received still had my exact overclock settings in bios which meant they just put it in another box and sent it right back. They didn't even touch it.

sygnus21 said:

No matter who's at fault, you can't as a company bury your head in the sand a pretend to not hear the cries of your customers. This to me only makes the company worse.

And though this may be SOP, which I reluctantly agree, some don't always go out their way to make you feel like they're doing you a favor by providing you customer support.

But yes, unfortunately many many companies are going the KOA (kiss our a..) way of customer service. All we, the consumers can do is speak with our wallet. if enough consumers do this, companies will have to start listening because their profits will suffer.

Yes, all may be doing the same thing, but when some are louder than others, I stay away from them.

My two cents.

I very much agree with you. I just wish there was some company that gave even mediocre service and good products that we could by from and send the other's a message they understand. That company would be EVGA if only they would start making decent boards.