ASUS Rampage Extreme Motherboard

I am planning on getting the ASUS RAMPAGE EXTREME and the ATI 4870 X2 GRAPHICS CARD. Are these two components compatible? Here are all the specs for my pc:

Motherboard : ASUS Rampage Extreme
Video Card : ATI 4870 X2
RAM: 4.00 GB
CPU: Q6600 quad core
hard drive: 500GB

 

They will work, but do you really need to spend that much on a motherboard?

 

well i need a mother board that has a chip set as stable as the rampage motherboard. So this way it would overclock better. So i guess rampage extreme would do . By the way, is the rampage extreme significantly better than the rampage formula?

 

Not really, it's just got more features on it. Neither board will make a blind bit of difference for overclocking an older chip like the Q6600. There's no point in even owning the Formula unless you have a 45nm Quad like the Q9550.

 

you'd be better off getting the formula and a better chip

 

What do you mean a different chip? Is it my cpu? or my video card?

 

The CPU. The Q6600 is fine, but the newer Q9450/9550/9650s are a better match for such an expensive motherboard.

 

If i stick with the rampage extreme is it going to slow down the overall speed? Or should I change to the rampage formula? Because, I want the best motherboard for my current specs. Here is wat i have now:

Motherboard: Maximus Formula Special Edition
Sound: Sound FX II
RAM: 4 GB
Video Card : EAH3870 512MB
CPU: Q6600 3.01GHZ

I am planning to get the 4870 X2 video card for sure, but I do not know which motherboard is the best for my specs.

 

It won't be a slower motherboard, but there's no reason to buy one as doesn't give you anything cheaper boards do.
The Maximus Formula was a superb board, but uses an older chipset. That's not so much a problem in itself as I use one. It does limit overclocking performance on newer CPUs, but makes no difference for the Q6600 - you may as well keep the same board you have now and use the money for a Q9550 instead.

 

So I should keep my board and get the 4870X2 and the Q9950 instead? How will the Q9950 affect my system? How far will my cpu be able to overclock on the maximus formula?

 

The Maximus Formula is quite similar to my board, so you should get similar results. I've got 3.65Ghz out of my Q9550 nice and stable, it can benchmark at 3.8, but isn't truly stable, so I don't count it. It's worth noting though, that a 3.65Ghz Q9550 is as fast as a 4.0Ghz Q6600.

 

So, I should stick with my board?

 

Yes.

 

btw how far will the 4870X2 overclock till?

 

Not very much. I got mine from 750/900 on both cores to 782/940 on both cores.

 

but it is acutally the fastes and strongest card on the market. And will play crysis on high setting correct?

 

As I said, the original it will, but not necessarily Warhead.

 

Is there a difference between the Q9550 and Q9560?

 

You mean Q9650? The 9650 has a higher multiplier, so it will overclock further (and it also starts at a higher speed), but it's also far more expensive.
X38 chipset boards are limited to 455mhz FSB with 45m Quad cores. The Q9550 will max out at 455x8.5 = 3868mhz. The Q9650 will max out at 455x9 = 4095mhz.

 

So which processor should I stick with?