Test System

Initial Setup

Initial boot-up with the ASUS RAMPAGE IV BLACK EDITION was quick and simple, and installing device drivers off the CD was quick and painless. There is not a lot for me to say here because everything worked exactly as expected, but I noticed that the ASUS RAMPAGE IV BLACK EDITION runs with a boosted Turbo profile.

Some boards have custom Turbo profiles that boost performance at "stock" settings, giving the appearance of having more performance than they really should. ASUS has told me that they don't condone such custom profiles without informing the user but do understand that some users want this function to be available, so they offer such Turbo profiles in some instances. A boosted Turbo profile becomes available when XMP is enabled or via a switch in the BIOS, but can also simply be disabled via that same option in the BIOS. The ASUS RAMPAGE IV BLACK EDITION comes with a boosted Turbo profile by default since users purchasing such a board tend to look for it – you simply do not spend $500 on a motherboard for "stock" performance. I personally feel that a coupon for Intel's Performance Tuning Protection Plan should be included in the box to protect against CPU failures if boards do so without giving the end user a way to turn it off, or d not explicitly state doing so on the outside of the box. For more information on Intel's Performance Tuning Protection Plan, check their site found HERE.



The ASUS RAMPAGE IV BLACK EDITION definitely impresses with its presence, whatever case you install it into, and it is ready and waiting, irregardless of whether you want to go all-black or pick a completely different color scheme for a thematic build. Want to do some overclocking? The board is ready and fully featured for that too. All hardware-specific ROG features for hardcore-clocking are here, including those on-board buttons and switches you need to make such adventures all that much simpler.


Installing my usual testing hardware was pretty easy because the board's design clearly focuses on running multiple GPUs right out of the box, with plenty of room for everything, though I had problems fitting the fan for my G.Skill TridentX 2666 C11 DIMMs in because of that upper-most PCIE slot next to the DIMMs themselves. This is something I look at because I often use high-end VGAs with a backplate in my tests, which helps with cooling, but although I ran into some issues as I tried to install the fan over the memory, I did not encounter any other problems. My CoolerMaster TPC812 cooler comes pretty close to touching the ASUS MATRIX 7970 PLATINUM I have installed in these pictures, yet the perfect amount of clearance actually made sure nothing touched, and while the CoolerMaster cooler is one of my better air-based coolers, getting everything out of Intel's X79 Express platform and the CPUs that fit into the RAMPAGE IV BLACK EDITION's socket requires the most cooling you can possibly get, so one dual-slot GTX780, four fans, and one Corsair H100 later, my clocking adventures began. You may run into issues with larger coolers, but this board is not for you if you want to use air-cooling. The board's focus on hardcore overclocking will probably have most users opt for watercooling, making this a smaller issue than on some other motherboards. Specialized motherboard waterblocks are already available.

Power Consumption

We measure CPU power consumption since one of our first tasks is to truly verify system stability. I isolate the power coming through the 8-pin ATX connector with an in-line meter that provides voltage and current readings and total wattage passed through. While this may not prove to isolate the CPU power draw in all instances, it does serve as a good indicator of board efficiency and effective VRM design. Total system power consumption is no longer reported as it can change based on what VGA is installed. The sole board-only power measurements possible without physically modifying a motherboard are those taken via the 8-pin CPU connector, making it the only figure worth reporting. I use wPrime with eight threads selected in the options, since it provides a consistently high workload throughout the full length of the test and runs long enough for the VRM and CPU to produce a fair bit of heat. Most average workloads will draw far less than this, although distributed computing applications are quite similar. This is not supposed to test stability since I use several other applications to do so, but merely to provide repeatable power draw numbers that anyone can replicate. The meter used is an off-the-shelf Zalman unit that has been on the market for some time. It provides results similar to a FLUKE 337 clamp meter in my testing environment.


The ASUS RAMPAGE IV BLACK EDITION's power consumption was good at both "stock" and when overclocked. I am actually pretty impressed with the result as ASUS has the CPU multiplier drop to 800 MHz by default at my overclocked settings to save a few watts. I test with all DIMMs populated and multiple VGAs. The board only pulled 250 W while I tried to put a high load on my overclocked CPU, which is pretty respectable to me.