Wednesday, December 7th 2011
ASUS Rampage IV Gene Detailed
Nearly a month after going all guns blazing into the Sandy Bridge-E LGA2011 market with the Rampage IV Extreme, ASUS is close to launching its premium Republic of Gamers motherboard in the micro-ATX form-factor, the ROG Rampage IV Gene. News of this board surfaced in mid-November along with details of Rampage IV Formula, but with close to no details, not even a picture to go on. Sweclockers scored an internal presentation by ASUS that details this new kid on the block.
The Rampage IV Gene could very well be the first micro-ATX motherboard that's designed to be 3-way SLI/CrossFire capable, with PCIe slots wired to the system's main root complex. Its top-half layout is similar to that of every other X79 motherboard, with the LGA2011 processor socket sitting between two sets of DDR3 DIMM slots. In this board, each set has just two slots, each with its own 64-bit wide memory path (channel) to the processor IMC. The processor is powered by an 8-phase Digi+ II VRM. The VRM makes use of compact DrMOS chips, that are cooled by two sets of heatsinks connected by a heat pipe.
Expansion slots include three PCI-Express 3.0 x16, which are configured as x16/x16/x8, and an open-ended PCI-Express 2.0 x4, wired to the X79 PCH. Storage connectivity includes four SATA 6 Gb/s (red, from which two are wired to the X79 PCH, two to an ASMedia-made third-party controller); and three SATA 3 Gb/s ports (black, all wired to the PCH). The fourth SATA 3 Gb/s port from the PCH is assigned as eSATA. General connectivity includes SupremeFX III 8-channel audio backed by X-Fi MB software, one gigabit Ethernet connection driven by an Intel-made controller, four USB 3.0 ports (from which two are via header), USB 2.0, and PS/2 combo. There are several ASUS ROG-exclusive features, including ROG Connect, ROG GameFirst, USB BIOS Flashback, ASUS UEFI BIOS with ROG-exclusive features. We still don't have a clear release date.
Source:
SweClockers
The Rampage IV Gene could very well be the first micro-ATX motherboard that's designed to be 3-way SLI/CrossFire capable, with PCIe slots wired to the system's main root complex. Its top-half layout is similar to that of every other X79 motherboard, with the LGA2011 processor socket sitting between two sets of DDR3 DIMM slots. In this board, each set has just two slots, each with its own 64-bit wide memory path (channel) to the processor IMC. The processor is powered by an 8-phase Digi+ II VRM. The VRM makes use of compact DrMOS chips, that are cooled by two sets of heatsinks connected by a heat pipe.
23 Comments on ASUS Rampage IV Gene Detailed
I still have a very good soundcard that's pci, so wtf am I supposed to do with that? lol
Many soundcards are still PCI and most of them are the best in pure analogic quality (Xonar Essence ST)
Very nice board imo.
I totally agree about the PATA/IDE part, I'm not going to miss it for sure :laugh:
4 dimm is downgrade
need to skip this and wait for 6/8 slots on rampage v gene ivy bridge-ep
the motherboard manufacturers get smaller area to put their vrm, chokes and other stuff without sacrifice ram slots
To be synthetic the ST has a better clock circuit than the STX due to the PCIe adapter.
I was complaining about that because on my Rampage 4 too there is no PCI but hey I said I can live well even without it and in fact I purchased a brand new STX even though I have an ST soundcard myself.
Maaybe if they use SO-DIMM slots,Impossibru.Made an account specifically to make this post. I just want to let you guys know that none of the consumer oriented chipsets - P/H-61/67 nor the Z68 have native legacy PCI, any boards you see with these chipsets and a legacy PCI slot will have the same PCI to PCIe bridge supplied by whatever the motherboard manufacturer deemed fit. The argument of PCI sound cards being better than PCIe is therefore moot - doesn't really matter if your bridge is on the sound card or the motherboard. Enterprise oriented Q67 chipset still provides a native legacy PCI slot, and I would expect this to continue; however there will never be overclocking of any sort on these chipsets.
Also, since Microsoft went full software only sound since Vista and seeing as this whole thread is about a top end motherboard aimed mostly at gamers running Windows I really don't see the point of buying any sound card. But then you know, it's your money, do what you want with it.
Back on topic for this mobo goes though, I really wish these guys would get into the habit of providing a mini PCIe slot, especially in a SFF mobo. These things really don't take up any space, the obvious use is of course wifi expansion - which could also be done via USB, but mini PCIe tends to lead the trend as far as bleeding edge wifi is concerned. There are also other weird things you could put in there and all without taking up a full PCIe slot.
Gigabyte includes a PCIe x1 card, that also uses USB for the other device, but quite a few either have it built into the rear I/O towers, or via an add-on USB card, like ASUS does. Looking at the rear I/o of the Gene pictured here, I can even see where the card would go, jsut belwo the top USB 2.0 and the USB BIOS Flashback button.