Shootouts

Going to the Extremes - Intel X58 Motherboards Roundup

By Vincent Chang - 30 Nov 2008

ASUS Rampage II Extreme

Features and Layout

We start off with the ASUS Rampage II Extreme, which for those who have seen the first Rampage Extreme made for the X48 chipset, should look quite familiar. The exciting red and black color scheme is retained but the motherboard
cooling system on the Rampage II looks less 'extreme' with the Southbridge heatsink noticeably more modest. The water block on the original Rampage has also been removed, but ASUS has reassured water cooling enthusiasts that they would still be able to remove the current heatsink and replace it with supported water blocks, like like this one from Swiftech.

ASUS has kept with the PS/2 keyboard port but there are no other legacy ports here. 6 USB 2.0 ports, eSATA, FireWire, dual Gigabit LAN and a Clear CMOS button complete the set.

The board itself is teeming with ports, headers and those special 'Republic of Gamers' overclocking tools. We have no complaints about the layout generally, except that if you're doing 3-way GPUs with dual slot graphics cards, the floppy connector at the edge could become quite inaccessible. Few users however are keeping their floppy drives now (especially with BIOS-based flash tools) so it's a minor issue. You do get the full complement of 12 USB 2.0 ports, support for 2 FireWire devices, dual Gigabit LAN controllers and two IDE/PATA devices.

ASUS also states in its spec sheet that the Rampage II Extreme will support up to 12GB of DDR3 memory, with the usual (for X58) six DIMM slots. For those few users who would like to pile on the memory, this maximum amount pales when compared to the 24GB on the Gigabyte and MSI boards.

3-way SLI and CrossFireX is the main draw for high-end X58 boards like this and the ASUS has three PCIe 2.0 slots for it, which can be either configured as 2 x16 or x16/x8/x8, depending on how many graphics cards you install. And though it does come with 2 PCIe x1 slots, the black slot (close to the ROG heatsink) is practically reserved for the audio add-on card due to space constraints.

There are 7 SATA 3.0Gbps ports onboard, 6 are from the default Intel ICH10R and the remaining port from the JMicron JMB363 controller that also provides the eSATA and IDE (2 devices) functionality.

3-way SLI and CrossFireX is the main draw for high-end X58 boards like this and the ASUS has three PCIe 2.0 slots for it, which can be either configured as 2 x16 or x16/x8/x8, depending on how many graphics cards you install. And though it does come with 2 PCIe x1 slots, the black slot (close to the ROG heatsink) is practically reserved for the audio add-on card due to space constraints.

The presence of the TweakIt controls do mean that this ASUS board has the fewest storage options of all three X58 boards compared, with just one additional SATA 3.0Gbps and one eSATA besides the standard six ports from the ICH10R.

Solid capacitors are standard on motherboards now, so ASUS has to trump it for its Extreme series with multi-layer polymer capacitors (ML caps) to complement its 16-phase PWM, a package that ASUS dubs the Extreme Engine. These elements are touted to improve the overclocking headroom by ensuring a stable power output during overvoltage situations. With each vendor trying to sell their own unique 'features', the proof would be in the pudding (or testing).

Although the heatsinks near the CPU socket are not overly intrusive, we would have appreciated having more space. Nevertheless, we had no trouble mounting our huge Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme cooler. This board comes with 16-phase power and solid Japanese-made conductive polymer capacitors.

In fact, ASUS touts its use of multi-layer polymer capacitors (ML caps) from Fujitsu to improve stability during overclocking and overvoltage situations.

And finally, with all the enhancements and features onboard, it's not surprising that ASUS has gone for an audio riser card that fits into the black PCIe slot near the heatsink. With optical and coaxial outputs besides the usual audio jacks, this HD audio is powered by ADI's AD2000B CODEC and is unfortunately the last we'll see from the company as ADI is withdrawing from this business. Despite the X-Fi features like Crystalizer and EAX Advanced, the SupremeFX X-Fi here does its X-Fi magic via software emulation unlike a proper Creative X-Fi soundcard. Nevertheless, it's still a very competent CODEC, if only for the Creative X-Fi features.

ASUS bundles an audio riser card, the SupremeFX X-Fi, which actually uses an ADI AD2000B HD audio CODEC inside. While it supports the suite of Creative branded sound features like EAX 4.0 Advanced, X-Fi Crystalizer, etc, it's done through software and has no hardware accelerated sound effects.

The OC Factor

When it comes to the tools for overclocking, the ASUS Rampage II Extreme looks heads and shoulders above the competition. At least in terms of what you can see and play with. Those who have seen the Rampage Extreme would find more of the same, with the return of the almost all the features, minus the Fusion water block mentioned earlier. That means the TweakIt control panel, the dual BIOS (BIOS Flashback), the iROG chip which allows for real-time system monitoring and tweaking and of course all the ASUS proprietary technologies, like the EPU 6-Engine.

What's new this time is the Probelt, which is seriously for the hardcore O.C enthusiasts. Basically ASUS has gathered the voltage detection points below the TweakIt controls and using the included sensor, you can connect your multimeter to it for the most accurate readings. That's convenient if you don't want to keep going into the BIOS to check them (or don't trust the BIOS readings). It only makes this Extreme go even further into the O.C niche and we really don't see ourselves or anyone we know using these tools. But if you do, it's probably another cool toy to play with.

And we haven't even talked about the BIOS, which has quite a lot more options and settings than your average motherboard. The best thing is that ASUS has made the BIOS relatively easy to use despite the number of advanced settings. Settings are organized properly and understandable while simple and effective profiles (CPU Level Up) instantly pushed our Core i7-965 XE to 4GHz, without us doing anything else. Also, with the BIOS Flashback feature, you can go crazy with your settings knowing that you always have a backup (provided you know what you're doing).

Even without looking at the rest of the two motherboards in contention here, we can safely say that this ASUS board is the most extreme when it comes to satisfying your overclocking urges and we're looking forward to a good showing in our tests.

ASUS's Republic of Gamers (ROG) is all about the high-end enthusiast and these iROG IC chips enables the various ROG functions found on this board, including the monitoring and tweaking aspects.

ASUS' TweakIT was in the previous Rampage and it's no surprise that it makes a return here. Basically, you can access and change your overclocking settings on the fly though this 'control panel', even while running the benchmarks or applications.

TweakIt works together with the LCD Poster module shown here.

With two BIOS aka BIOS Flashback, it's very convenient for enthusiasts to keep a save copy to restore in an emergency, while having the freedom to go wild with the other BIOS. You can enable/disable this functionality in the BIOS under the iROG subsection while also setting the priority for each BIOS.

These LEDs help enthusiasts tell at a glance what their memory are running at, especially since these are color-coded, with red being too dangerous for their own good. Yellow and green are the other colors. Similar LEDs are present for the Northbridge (NB) and Southbridge (SB) voltages.

If you like to check the voltages yourself using a multimeter, ASUS has conveniently gathered all the various detection points here near the TweakIt controls. Users just need to attach the included cable to their multimeters to measure the desired voltages

We have talked about accidents occurring with the Clear CMOS buttons found at the rear I/O panels on some motherboard nowadays. With this onboard jumper however, you can now disable or enable this Clear CMOS button.

Just like other recent ASUS motherboards, it comes with Stack Cool 2, a passive cooling solution where the heat is dissipated through the metal plate at the bottom. However, with the advent of the Core i7, we have noticed that X58 boards do come with such a metal plate at the bottom for this purpose so it's probably no longer that unique.

The Southbridge heatsink is also where users sign off on their overclocking achievements.

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