ASUS Striker II Formula under the Microscope
by Rajinder Gill on March 19, 2008 4:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Board Layout and Features - ASUS Striker II Formula
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ASUS sticks with the tried and tested 8-phase CPU power circuit they have used for the past two years along with the regular array of heatsinks and heatpipes. Most air-cooling solutions should fit fine, though access to thumbscrews will be a little tight for coolers like the Tuniq Tower. The EPS 12V connector is at the top corner of the board. The CPU fan header is near the memory slots in the lower right corner of the picture. Seven system fan headers are located across the board to provide a variety of locations for attaching fans. Fan control is offered in the BIOS and via ASUS' own software, though the level of customization does not match that of abit's µGuru utility.
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The PCI-E 2.0 compatible slots are far enough apart to allow a third graphics card to be used in the white PCI-E 1.1 x16 slot. The supplied Supreme FX II soundcard uses the black PCI-E x1 connector above the top PEG slot. Using dual graphics cards allows the use of the central PCI slot. When three air-cooled graphics cards are used, all other expansion slots (apart from the soundcard connector) are blocked.
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Six 3Gbps SATA ports capable of RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5 and JBOD arrays are located at the edge of the board. The IDE connector is placed to the right of the SATA ports and has enough clearance from the PEG slots to allow access at all times. Power and reset buttons are at the lower edge of the board, for users who run open testbeds.
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The ATX 12V connector is adjacent to the memory slots, with the 3.5" floppy connector placed to its right. Interestingly enough ASUS has employed a 2-phase memory power circuit using the low RDS MOSFETs we often see on their DDR3-based motherboards. This should allow extra overhead when using double density modules for 8GB memory overclocking - we will test this in a few pages.
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joex444 - Wednesday, March 19, 2008 - link
"1500QFSB (350MHz)" 2nd to last page, last paragraph.Do you mean 1400QFSB or (375MHz)?
Rajinder Gill - Wednesday, March 19, 2008 - link
Sorry, 1400 is what it should read - corrected now..Thanks
Raja
Beenthere - Wednesday, March 19, 2008 - link
Asus continues to produce half-baked CRAP for motherboards. They have been doing this for the past five years and people still buy their defective crap. When are consumers going to learn that a company will sell crap until people stop buying it and demand properly functioning products? People who are foolish enough to buy these defective products deserve exactly what they get.Margalus - Thursday, March 20, 2008 - link
sounds like someoone is bitter because they didn't buy an Asus board and thinks nobody else should have a decent motherboard because of that. Asus makes very good, stable motherboards.. Better than most. I don't know a single person that has had a problem with Asus. I am currently using this Striker Formula because I wanted sli and an e8400. The thing is typical Asus. Quality from the ground up, and not a single problem with it, as usual.takumsawsherman - Wednesday, March 19, 2008 - link
There's no point to this board anyway. $340 and you still don't get Firewire800? Even if it does work properly and doesn't fail prematurely, it's overpriced for any benefit you could possibly derive from using such a board.skinflickBOB - Thursday, March 20, 2008 - link
If there were REAL demand for Firewire 800 on a board like this, it would probably be here. If it's such a big concern, have you thought about writing the big guns direct? I doubt anyone other than an old fart like me is really listening. Looking back at the review section (god it's been a long time since I last did), all I see is this comment about Firewire 800. Such a burning desire for an 'extra' should surely be chased down to where it matters.. But then, you would never buy a board for $300, so what's the issue?. I don't go down to the nearest Lamborghini garage and complain about the Murciélago using a 6.5 litre engine or being a low ride or whatever, cos I ain't buying the SOB. If it's such a big deal, buy yourself one of those budget 650i boards and spend the rest on a top notch Firewire card. there you go - job done.. Is that hard or something to think of?booyakasha..
Bazoo - Wednesday, March 19, 2008 - link
As a previous owner (and unhappy one) of striker extreme, I would say that's a total waste of money. I heard lot's of reports of 650 and 750 based motherboards being much better overclockers and still capable of sli for much less money. It seems the little brothers are not that buggy like the 680/780 and would be interesting if anandtech dwelve in to that. In any event, only time would restore (or not...) my confidence in nvidia chipsets, even the 790 one (could be a joy in the sky) but... I would take a wait and see attitude. Then again, with intel changing socket in 9 months, I rather will sticky with my trust and fas p35 mb.Lord 666 - Wednesday, March 19, 2008 - link
While I agree with you on the defective piece as the only MB that has ever died on me is an ASUS, you are a little off base with your pointless rant.Only with the 790's is the price getting a little out of hand, but MB's aren't that expensive so you can just buy another one.