ASUS p6x58D Premium versus Asus Rampage Extreme III

[Timid newbe]

Am about to pull trigger on parts for my first build. But I am torn between the ASUS p6x58D Premium and the ASUS Rampage Extreme III boards.

I'm not really into OCing as I am knew to this world (currently a Mac guy), but given that either of these boards will obviously do that kind of thing it's perhaps not a big issue. There is a difference in price of $100.00 from my source, which obviously is something to consider. The Ram' does feature the Bluetooth thing allowing for an Iphone or what have you to be used for over clocking if you so desire. Not sure how useful or whether a gimmick.

One concern I have is that with two "brick" cards in CF or SLi are very close together, at least on the Premium. I'm not so sure about the Rampage. I plan on just one Sapphire 5870 by the way, at least for now.

There are more reviews on Newegg for the Premium, not as many for the Rampage, which makes sense as the former has been out longer. One concern I have is about documentation/owner's manual. I remember reading that the Rampage is better, but I don't know for sure. All I know is that good documentation is a great help when building--especially for a "newbe" (timid or otherwise).

If you use either, please let me know. Stability is important for me, as I don't want to have to constantly hassle with the setup.

Thank you for your attention.

 

[lcdguy]

i use the p6x58d premium. not issues so far. However the pci express slots are quite close which could be a heat issue for sli/cf cards. Currently i run 2x 5770 in cf. if your looking at getting a 5870x2 for cf i would look at either a 5970 eyefinity edition or a asus ares when they get released.

 

[Zero82z]

The Rampage has better slot spacing for sure. However, I don't think it's worth the extra cost over the P6X58D Premium. The documentation for both should be good enough. ASUS manuals are pretty solid in general.