Introduction

It has been several months since Intel's IvyBridge-E CPUs launched, but there has not been a lot of fanfare about the chips themselves since then, except for the general interest users already headed down that upgrade path expressed. There are many of us who simply cannot ignore the Intel X79 Express platform's additional CPU cores and PCIe connectivity, and those of us who cannot also like to clock the crap out of such chips to get as much performance as possible out of today's commercially available hardware. With that in mind, we need the ultimate board to be able to do so truly effectively, and ASUS has answered that need with the ASUS RAMPAGE IV BLACK EDITION.

The ASUS RAMPAGE IV BLACK EDITION draws its heritage from the ASUS RAMPAGE III BLACK EDITION motherboard, a product so favored by many that it still commands top dollars on the used market place – that is, if you can find one. Previously launched in limited numbers, the ASUS RAMPAGE III BLACK EDITION has been held in high regard by those that like to push their hardware to the absolute limit since it features a highly tweaked twist to overclocking on the X58 Express platform. Providing the same super-optimized twist with the Intel X79 Express platform, ASUS decided not to limit production numbers of this gal dressed in black, instead providing the ultimate IVB-E overclocking experience to anyone who wants to pony up their hard-earned dollars for the high $500 entry-fee. The ASUS RAMPAGE IV BLACK EDITION has big shoes to fill, and having missed out on the last one, I have been pretty eager to get my hands on this one myself. I expect a lot. Can the ASUS RAMPAGE IV BLACK EDITION live up to the hype?

Specifications