Overclocking - The Hardware

The ASUS RAMPAGE IV BLACK EDITION comes with a dual-BIOS solution that uses two socketed chips. There are different ways to utilize these – either as a main BIOS to use daily and another for OC or with one as a back-up to possibly flash back to a working BIOS when things go wrong. The choice is yours. There is a switch at the lower board's edge that allows you to switch between BIOSes, along with a “DirectKey” button next to it for a direct boot into the BIOS on the next boot and after the button is pressed.


ASUS placed the usual START, RESET, and MemOK! buttons above the 24-pin connector, and a dual-digit LED POST display just above them. Four LEDs right next to the 24-pin power connector indicate which part of the POST process the board is in after you press that power button, so you should have a good idea of where to look for fault if things go wrong.


Power delivery to the motherboard's various parts is provided for with ASUS's self-branded DIGI+ parts, with the main CPU VRM controller apparently a fairly standard “DIGI+/EPU” controller that allows for quite a bit of power-phase-option customization.


The DIMMs each carry a dual-phase power delivery mechanism, and the banks also have their own VRM controller, each, which allows each group of DIMMs to run independent voltage settings. This can prove very useful once you try to push to or beyond that ultimate limit since you might have a couple sticks that need more voltage than the others, a fairly common scenario with quad-stick kits. Whether the sticks or the memory controller prefers it I do not know, but it is nice to have the option to do so.


With all the different voltage options you can change in BIOS, there are also matching read points on the board's right edge. Each has its own tiny LED next to it. There are also a bunch of secondary read points without LEDs next to each touch pad, which gives you a total of eleven different voltages you can monitor in real-time with a multimeter.


Push those voltages fairly high and the board is going to produce a fair amount of heat, never mind that SB-E CPU you can install, which can quickly increase power consumption to well over 300 watts when pushed hard. Including two large metal elements connected via a heatpipe, the board's main CPU VRM cooling is more than adequate. The main "radiator" sits over the board's rear I/O towers, with the board's name proudly emblazoned across the top in black nickel letters. Don't be fooled – the rear I/O is surrounded by a huge and heavy chunk of metal, not a piece of plastic. It saps a fair amount of heat off the board's VRM via the built-in heatpipe.


Yet another "cooler" has been placed in the middle of the board; a chunk of metal with an LED inside, ASUS's Republic of Gamers logo shines through nicely, although it serves no other function than to look pretty. Another puzzling inclusion is the PCH cooler's backplate as there is absolutely no need for it. It is not connected to anything other than the board via the posts that hold the screws attaching it to the ASUS RAMPAGE IV BLACK EDITION and has no function, though it could act as a "stand-off" for some desktop clocking. Like ASUS's ROG logo, it is there for purely esthetic reasons.


Used to plug in the ROG OC Panel that was included in the box, the ROG_EXT header at the board's bottom edge is definitely not there for show, however.

The ASUS ROG OC Panel - Up-Close

The ASUS RAMPAGE IV BLACK EDITION come with ASUS's new OC PANEL, a hand-held device you can prop up on top of your desk. It has several built-in OC features that are both useful to normal enthusiasts and those pushing the limits of what is possible. There are several buttons on its front, and the rear hides a thin plastic stand you can pop out to then prop the OC Panel up like you would a picture frame.


With the stand out, you can see how it sits upright, with the LED display at the top. That top tilts 90 degrees, but that function is for installing the device into a 5.25" bay with the provided bracket.


On one side are the ports for two K-Type thermal probes, something most extreme clockers will be familiar with. On the bottom is a plug for the cable connecting it to the motherboard, and there is also a SATA power plug. It provides power to on-board fan headers, but what fan headers?


Slide the gray panel off the top to access the real functionality provided by ASUS's ROG OC Panel. Inside are switches to control boot modes, GPU voltage mod points for ASUS GPU VTweak-enabled cards (most modern ASUS Direct CU II and MATRIX cards), the four 4-pin PWM-based fan headers I mentioned earlier, and a few goodies to help repair commonly damaged components. It really is the ultimate ASUS GPU overclocking tool to me, but does obviously have a few other features, too.


Attaching the cable to the OC Panel and sliding the cover back on worked fine, but truly getting the most out of it will probably have the cover collect dust somewhere. I simply threw mine back into the box. The cable's other end is nicely sleeved and connects to a header ASUS includes with all ASUS MAXIMUS VI-series boards, from top to bottom.


When paired with the ASUS RAMPAGE IV BLACK EDITION, the two make a formidable couple that gives functionality like no other Intel X79 Express overclocking product. You could stuff it into its included bay adapter to monitor temperatures and voltages, but what is the fun in that?