ASUS Rampage III Extreme Smiles for the Camera

[btarunr]

One of ASUS' premier offers for this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) event is a new high-end socket LGA-1366 motherboard, the Republic of Gamers (ROG) Rampage III Extreme. The board succeeds the Rampage II Extreme which launched over an year ago along with Intel's then new Core i7 series processors. The new model based on the Intel X58 Express + ICH10R chipset, comes with four well spaced out PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots, a new set of overclocking enhancements such as the ROG connect which lets you control the motherboard's overclocking from any Bluetooth and Java enabled mobile phone, SATA 6 Gb/s and USB 3.0 connectivity using ASUS' innovative PCI-Express 2.0 bridge implementation, and a more powerful CPU VRM to keep the board stable with bleeding-edge settings.

The board features an enhanced CPU VRM which is now powered by two 8-pin ATX connectors apart from two 4-pin Molex connectors. Some of these could be redundant and needed only for electrical stability. The CPU and memory power circuitry makes use of super-ML capacitors for cleaner power delivery. Voltage readouts are located next to the DIMM slots for accessibility. The motherboard makes use of slimmer component heatsinks that look to be made of the ceramic composite which the TUF Sabertooth P55 motherboard uses.



Expansion slots include four PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x16, NC, x16, NC; or x8, x8, x8, x8) depending on how they are populated, and one each of PCI-Express 2.0 x4 and PCI. A PLX ExpressLane PEX 8613 bridge chip is used to give out up to 12 PCI-Express 2.0 lanes (using three ports) connecting to the southbridge using its PCI-Express 1.1 x4 link, so that any PCI-E 2.0 device can make use of that amount of bandwidth. Devices connected to it include a Marvell 2-port SATA 6 Gb/s controller, and an NEC 2-port USB 3.0 controller. Connectivity includes 8-channel audio with optical SPDIF output, gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth, eSATA, USB 2.0 and 3.0. The Rampage III Extreme should come out in Q1, just in time for Intel's 32 nm Core i7 980X six-core processor based on the Westmere architecture.

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[cool_recep]

I saw dual BIOS chips

 

[CDdude55]

I bet the rich people are having an orgy over this.

Looks like a great mobo with tons of nice new features.

 

[DrPepper]

It has two 8 pin cpu power connectors and two molex connectors

 

[pantherx12]

I don't like the look of it.

 

[Mussels]

It has two 8 pin cpu power connectors and two molex connectors

i hope it doesnt REQUIRE both 8 pins to work.

 

[overclocking101]

yeah its going to costway to much and then when prices start to drop become obsolete just like the R2E and the RE

 

[Mussels]

ooh, built in bluetooth.

i want to see that become standard.

 

[theubersmurf]

Bluetooth overclocking? (Facepalm) I can't imagine wanting to overclock remotely using your phone. Seriously, does anyone see any real value to that feature? To me that strikes me as sort of Frankenstein-ish a feature. Technologies built and put together for the wrong reason...

 

[pantherx12]

i hope it doesnt REQUIRE both 8 pins to work.

To be honest, I don't see the point of an extra cable in the first place, sure the power is more evenly distributed ( supposedly) but presuming you've got a non shit psu you should be golden with 1 connection always.

to put an additional one on, AND two molex power connection just screams MARKETING to me.

" LOOK AT ME AND MY POWER"


I'm finding a lot of motherboards boring recently, getting bigger and flashier rather then working on the things that matter.

Component layout for example D:

 

[assaulter_99]

ooh, built in bluetooth.

i want to see that become standard.

+1 And I'd love to see wifi come a standard too!

 

[pantherx12]

Bluetooth overclocking? (Facepalm) I can't imagine wanting to overclock remotely using your phone. Seriously, does anyone see any real value to that feature? To me that strikes me as sort of Frankenstein-ish a feature. Technologies built and put together for the wrong reason...

I agree with this too, why use your phone, you have a freaken keyboard infront of you, and guess what's easier to use chaps

 

[btarunr]

Bluetooth overclocking? (Facepalm) I can't imagine wanting to overclock remotely using your phone. Seriously, does anyone see any real value to that feature? To me that strikes me as sort of Frankenstein-ish a feature. Technologies built and put together for the wrong reason...

There's tons of value to that. It's better than EVBot or the OC Palm, is wireless, and relatively cheaper (OC Palm or EVBot add to the motherboard's cost).

 

[Mussels]

+1 And I'd love to see wifi come a standard too!

when i see a board with:

2x PCI-E 2.0 x16 slots with decent spacing
4x USB 2.0 ports
2x SATA - III ports
Built in wireless N
Built in Bluetooth
2x E-sata
SLI support
Crossfire support

Then i will upgrade

 

[pantherx12]

There's tons of value to that. It's better than EVBot or the OC Palm, is wireless, and relatively cheaper (OC Palm or EVBot add to the motherboard's cost).

Yes but what benefit does it have over you know, bios and keyboard?



The only thing I can see is on the fly clocking whilst your in the OS, but I don't like doing that, things tend to crash.

 

[btarunr]

Yes but what benefit does it have over you know, bios and keyboard?



The only thing I can see is on the fly clocking whilst your in the OS, but I don't like doing that, things tend to crash.

In the middle of a game or benchmark, you can overclock your VGA, CPU, and memory. No, on-the-fly overclocking has been around for years, more often it doesn't crash the machine if you know what you're doing.

 

[pantherx12]

Still seems gimmicky to me, if others find it useful how ever good for them I guess : ]

 

[btarunr]

Still seems gimmicky to me, if others find it useful how ever good for them I guess : ]

Evidently, you're not the target consumer of this motherboard.

 

[pantherx12]

Evidently, you're not the target consumer of this motherboard.

Obviously, I was only sharing my opinion, we are after all on a public forum, its what they're for I imagined

 

[douglatins]

Concerned about those skinny heatsinks

 

[uro]

rampage?

Two things i would like to point out, it seems to be missing a Pci-e x1 slot?
and i hope there would be a gene version for this as well.

 

[pantherx12]

Concerned about those skinny heatsinks

Another thing I don't like on knew motherboards, especially the new heatsinks Asus are using.

The chipsets are becoming hotter yet they use stupid coloured aluminium in silly inefficient shapes.


Why can't they go back to p5q type designs of copper heatsinks in sensible shapes.



You can plug a pci-e 1 card into a pci-e x16 slot can't you?

 

[btarunr]

For X58+ICH10R, that heatsink is more than sufficient. The chipset no longer houses the memory controller, so you'll almost never be playing with its voltages.

 

[pantherx12]

For X58+ICH10R, that heatsink is more than sufficient. The chipset no longer houses the memory controller, so you'll almost never be playing with its voltages.

Didn't know that, I never got round to playing with my x58 so never got round to finding out about it : [

Thanks.

 

[trt740]

yeah its going to costway to much and then when prices start to drop become obsolete just like the R2E and the RE

Nothing obsolete about any of the boards you mentioned and they are some of the best overclockers made. I like this motherboard and the Rogue series is not about what you need it's all about overkill and I love overkill.