Asus Rampage IV Extreme Motherboard Review
Author: Dennis Garcia
Published: Monday, April 23, 2012
Benchmark Configuration
The system as it was tested
Asus ROG Rampage IV Extreme - X79 Chipset
Intel Core i7 3960x (3.3Ghz) Hex Core 6 x 256KB L2 Cache 15MB L3 Cache
Cooler Master TPC 812
Custom Single Stage Phase Cooler (OC)
1x nVidia GTX 580
4x GSKill RipjawsZ PC2133 16GB DDR3 (9-11-10-28)
Western Digital VelociRaptor 150gb SerialATA 10000RPM
LG 20x Super Multi GSA-H55L
Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1050 Watt PSU
Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
Intel Core i7 3960x (3.3Ghz) Hex Core 6 x 256KB L2 Cache 15MB L3 Cache
Cooler Master TPC 812
Custom Single Stage Phase Cooler (OC)
1x nVidia GTX 580
4x GSKill RipjawsZ PC2133 16GB DDR3 (9-11-10-28)
Western Digital VelociRaptor 150gb SerialATA 10000RPM
LG 20x Super Multi GSA-H55L
Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1050 Watt PSU
Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
Reference System
Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 - X79 Chipset
Intel Core i7 3960x (3.3Ghz) Hex Core 6 x 256KB L2 Cache 15MB L3 Cache
Custom Watercooler
1x nVidia GTX 580
4x GSKill RipjawsZ PC2133 16GB DDR3 (9-11-10-28)
Western Digital VelociRaptor 150gb SerialATA 10000RPM
LG 20x Super Multi GSA-H55L
Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1050 Watt PSU
Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
Intel Core i7 3960x (3.3Ghz) Hex Core 6 x 256KB L2 Cache 15MB L3 Cache
Custom Watercooler
1x nVidia GTX 580
4x GSKill RipjawsZ PC2133 16GB DDR3 (9-11-10-28)
Western Digital VelociRaptor 150gb SerialATA 10000RPM
LG 20x Super Multi GSA-H55L
Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1050 Watt PSU
Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD7-B3 - Z68 Chipset
Intel Core i7 2600K (3.5Ghz) Quad Core 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache
Cooler Master V6 GT Heatsink
1x nVidia GTX 580
2x GSKill RipjawsX PC2133 4GB DDR3 (9-10-9-28)
Western Digital VelociRaptor 150gb SerialATA 10000RPM
LG 20x Super Multi GSA-H55L
Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1050 Watt PSU
Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
Intel Core i7 2600K (3.5Ghz) Quad Core 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache
Cooler Master V6 GT Heatsink
1x nVidia GTX 580
2x GSKill RipjawsX PC2133 4GB DDR3 (9-10-9-28)
Western Digital VelociRaptor 150gb SerialATA 10000RPM
LG 20x Super Multi GSA-H55L
Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1050 Watt PSU
Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
CPU-Z
Our old motherboard testing suite was compiled to expose differences in chipset design. In the beginning this worked very well for us however there was very little effort spent to test the other aspects of the motherboard. Now with the advent of an IMC and PCI Express being moved to the processor we found ourselves needing to improve our testing procedure and find new ways to determine actual performance and quality of the boards we review. Because of this we will be rolling in some new tests and saying good bye to some old friends.
Other than the new standard tests it will be business as usual with out of box testing first followed by overclocking results. This is assuming the system allows overclocking.
Other than the new standard tests it will be business as usual with out of box testing first followed by overclocking results. This is assuming the system allows overclocking.