ASUS Rampage IV Extreme Pro Reviews

I was able to achieve excellent overclocking scores on this motherboard achieving an overclock of over 5.0GHz using the Intel I7 3960X and their stock cooler, I was also able to solder a pair of Direct CU II 7970 cards directly to the motherboard and will tell you more about those conclusions in another review, but lets just sat WOW and go from there. At first we were going to build another Extreme system, but after using the board on my test station I have decided it has found a home as my X79 testing board as it just has an almost infinite amount of options to explore and really leaves a lot of room for change and modification so here it stays. When you have the ability to do so much with a motherboard it just opens a lot of doors for you to explore, and if you really want the headroom and flexibility of options that is where this motherboard really shines. Also I only used a very low-end water cooler on this system, with better cooling and memory I could achieve a better overclock and if I wanted to go LN2, all the options are here for me to Rock and Roll. If you are looking for the Ultimate Enthusiast/Test System Motherboard for the X79 platform, or just want to have the option of going the distance if you get the chance, The ASUS X79 Rampage IV Extreme is a worthy product well worth looking into. The bottom line for the ASUS X79 Rampage Extreme is this: many motherboards made today are very similar in their feature set and their options, not true with X79 Rampage IV Extreme as it breaks the standard mold and recreates itself as the absolute king of X79 motherboards and a Solid Editors Choice Product.

Each time I look at a ROG offering from ASUS, there are features that just set the bar that one step higher for the high end user and even sometimes head and shoulders above the crowd. With this iteration, built for Intel's latest SB-e socket 2011 processors and X79 chipset, the bar is raised several notches. At stock speeds and similar overclocks, it is going to give you the same performance you will see with boards offering less richly appointed feature sets, with all things being equal. But that's where the similarities end. Even though my 3960X is limited to just short of 4.8GHz (yeah, I know, it's lame), it was a very easy road to get to the end of the rainbow, even though I did not get the pot o' gold I was hoping for. What I mean is, that even with this beautiful and fully capable piece of hardware, I still could not coax more than a few more MHz from my CPU. That does not mean I did not try! The CPU was the limiting factor here. When it came to memory overclocking, the Rampage IV Extreme is equipped to get the most that your CPU has to offer, with speeds in excess of 2400MHz. Just over 2400MHz is the limit for the test chip. Is the board capable? Yes it is, but that has to be tempered by the luck of the draw on the CPU. Manual overclocking was easily reminiscent of the socket 1155 motherboards — set the clock and multiplier, up the voltage, test, wash, rinse, and repeat. Even using the CPU Level Up tool in the AI Suite II utility proved fruitful with a bump up to 4.25GHz that was fully stable.

This is the first X79 board I’ve worked with. So I have nothing to directly compare it to. ASUS did a pretty good job with the layout though I had a couple of issues with it in that regard. Nothing major, but normally on a board this high end I’ve got zero complaints. Feature wise I am very pleased with the board despite X79’s short comings. ASUS did a good job adding the LN2 features, VGA hotwire. The platform does need some time to mature but for a first gen board with a brand new chipset, ASUS did an excellent job as usual. The board was rock solid and stable, the standard integrated features worked flawlessly, and for a brand new platform, I’ve got no real complaints. However, while I liked most of ASUS’ specific or unique features, the OC Key was one area where I was left disappointed. This is one cool idea but the implementation seems half-assed at best. Almost like a hack job. It’s not well thought out at all. Not much thought seemed to go into how this would actually work in a real computer. On a test bench it’s fine, but in a box under your desk, not so much. I really would like to see this feature revisited and revised with something smaller and better, or more integrated. Threading a USB cable through the back plane is just sloppy. Having that big bastard dangle off your video card with thumb screws that hurt your thumbs and are difficult to reach also has no appeal. Let’s not forget the fact that I couldn’t even make the feature work 100% right.

The ASUS Rampage IV Extreme Intel X79 motherboard does carry a pretty hefty price tag with it. At $449.99 the ASUS R4E isn't for those on a budget. It's just over double what the lowest cost Intel X79 motherboard would cost right now. Though if you're already planning on spending $1049.99 on the latest and greatest Intel Core i7 3960X Sandy Bridge-E Extreme processor, whats another $200 for a motherboard that out performed the top offering from GIGABYTE Intel X79 product stack which retails for $369.99! Then again an entire Intel X79 system is going to be significantly more expensive the an Intel Z68 system would be. If you're building a system on a budget, you would be better of with a processor like the Intel Core i5 2500K Sandy Bridge and a Intel Z68 motherboard. That being said, peace of mind when sinking a large chunk of your wallet into your computer system is an absolute must! The ASUS Rampage IV Extreme Intel X79 motherboard is backed by ASUS with a three year warranty.

When receiving the Rampage IV Extreme in for review we really did not expect what we were getting ourselves into. This board has more features than we could cover in detail here, and the polish to make them all work well in unison. Granted, not every feature will be for everyone--most may never be used by the masses, but for those creative enough, many of these can be used for some awesome ideas such as K probes placed in key places to monitor temps. Many of the features of this board are specifically targeted on the extreme overclocking crowd, and they hit the nail on the head. As overclockers, we can say that hitting 5.1GHz easily on water cooling is nothing to scoff at, especially with quad channel enabled and full stability. This is a feat that the team at ASUS should be very proud of and we can only hope that others take up this level of detail and attention to an ever-growing crowd of the enthusiasts community because we do notice, and it will not go unappreciated. Now down to the fine points, yes the board is on the high end for a motherboard, but then again when looking at the features it will be a hard feat to find a board as thoroughly featured and fine tuned as the Rampage IV Extreme. ASUS offers a whole line of boards, many of which we will feature here at Bjorn3D, but if you must have the best of the best, and are ready to annihilate the competition with the press of a button then give the Rampage IV Extreme a look.

Overall, we feel the ROG team has outdone themselves with the Rampage IV Extreme and it may possibly be the best board ASUS has released to date. Whether it be gamers that want the absolute best multi card 3D performance on the market, a mid-range user that wants a modest overclock but run a ton of memory, or the hard core bencher that eats and sleeps by the LN2 Dewar, this board will fit like a well worn glove. Here at Hardware Canucks we don’t just give out awards to every product we review, we give them to those that earn them, which is why ASUS gets our DAM Good award and a DAM Innovative award for the Rampage IV Extreme.