ASUS Republic of Gamers and X79 ROG Review – Rampage IV Gene, Formula and Extreme
by Ian Cutress on August 3, 2012 1:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- Asus
- X79
- ROG
Rampage IV Formula In The Box
As the primary focus of the Formula is gamers rather than overclockers, and it being a notch ahead of the Gene, we would expect more in the box than the Gene and perhaps something for the gaming crowd. What we get is:
Rear IO Shield
User Guide
Driver CD
ROG Connect Guide
Eight SATA cables
ROG Connect Cable
X-Socket
Short SLI Connector
Long SLI Connector
Three-Way SLI Connector
ASUS have lashed it on with a full compliment of SATA cables, and putting almost every SLI connector in the box except the 4-way SLI (that is part of the Extreme).
Board Features
| ASUS Rampage IV Formula | |
| Price | Link to Newegg |
| Size | ATX |
| CPU Interface | LGA2011 |
| Chipset | Intel X79 |
| Power Delivery | Intel Second Generation Core i7 Sandy Bridge-E |
| Memory Slots |
Four DDR3 DIMM slots supporting up to 32 GB Up to Quad Channel DDR3, 1066-2400 MHz |
| Onboard LAN | Intel |
| Onboard Audio | SupremeFX III |
| Expansion Slots |
2 x PCIe 3.0 x16/x8 2 x PCIe 3.0 x8 2 x PCIe 2.0 x1 |
| Onboard SATA/RAID |
2 Intel SATA 6 Gbps, supporting RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 4 Intel SATA 3 Gbps, supporting RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 2 ASMedia SATA 6 Gbps |
| USB |
6 ASMedia USB 3.0 (4 back panel, 2 onboard) 12 Intel USB 2.0 (6 back panel, 6 onboard) |
| Onboard |
1 x USB 3.0 Header 3 x USB 2.0 Headers 4 x SATA 6 Gbps 4 x SATA 3 Gbps 8 x Fan Headers 1 x SPDIF Output Header 1 x SlowMode switch 8 x Measurement Points Power/Reset Buttons LN2 Mode Switch Go Button |
| Power Connectors |
24-Pin ATX Power Connector 8-Pin CPU 12V Power Connector 4-Pin Molex PCIe Power Connector |
| Fan Headers |
2 x CPU Fan Headers 3 x Chassis Fan Headers 3 x Optional Fan Headers |
| IO Panel |
1 x PS/2 Combination Port 2 x eSATA 6 Gbps 1 x Gigabit Ethernet 4 x USB 3.0 6 x USB 2.0 1 x Optical SPDIF Output 6 x Audio Jacks 1 x Clear CMOS Button 1 x ROG Connect Button |
| Warranty Period | 3 Years with ASUS Premium Service |
| Product Page | Link |
Similar to the Gene, the Formula does push the gaming features such as Audio and Network. The step towards overclockers is obvious, with voltage read points provided. The main downside most users will see is a high end X79 board, full size ATX, only having four DIMM slots rather than a full compliment of eight. Again, reasons behind this are squarely at gamers rarely requiring more than 4x4GB of memory in a typical setup (the Formula does support 4x8GB if required). If you need more than that, then chances are that gaming is not the top priority of your system.
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34 Comments
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Flunk - Friday, August 3, 2012 - link
Ivy Bridge is more of a notebook oriented update anyway. The much better integrated graphics don't really matter to us anyway.G-Man - Friday, August 3, 2012 - link
Fantastic article, Ian! You must have been working on this for a long time. Thanks for a great read.B - Friday, August 3, 2012 - link
Ian -I would like to point out that under that nice metal Creative X-FI chip badge is, in fact, a Realtek processor. The Soundblaster piece of this is a merely a software implementation. I have this motherboard and was quite disappointed to discover this.
Thanks for great and thorough article.
just4U - Friday, August 3, 2012 - link
Indeed.. It's a little bit of a letdown. It will be nice if they are pushed away from the realtek chip now that Gigabyte is into similiar type boards which utilize the Creative recon chips.primonatron - Friday, August 3, 2012 - link
The article should be edited to specificy that it's only a Relatek chip, not a Creative one, at this point it's just blatent false advertising.When doing the review, did Anandtech actually do a Windows 7 install on it themselves?
They would have known if they did.
IanCutress - Friday, August 3, 2012 - link
As per my comment above, it states this in the tenth page. And yes, I do install Windows 7 fresh on every board I test. It would be crazy not to. I see the whole install procedure at least twice a week, as well as installing each vendors drivers and software. The ASUS install procedure for drivers is all one-button automatic, no user input required, no giant screens flashing up on the screen to ask to confirm this that or the other.Ian
primonatron - Friday, August 3, 2012 - link
I would not put " ASUS have dug into their pockets to provide the Gene with a better-than-Realtek solution, in the SupremeFX III" since it IS a Realtek solution.IanCutress - Friday, August 3, 2012 - link
Written in page 10:"In our SupremeFX III, we essentially get a Realtek codec (presumed ALC898), but by being stage III this chip is isolated from the rest of the board, has a separate EMI shield around the chip, its own PCB layer for audio tracing, a 1500 mF capacitor to reduce ripple, and gold plated audio jacks to minimize resistance. As a result, the SNR is increased to 110dB."
Ian
just4U - Saturday, August 4, 2012 - link
It also needs to be noted that soundchips getting decent software can be a fairly substantial bump.. atleast from my point of view. I seem to recall Creative nailing a company to the wall because they used software the emulated soundblaster stuff and they were reall popular 7 years back.just4U - Friday, August 3, 2012 - link
I've been using these for several years... and have always found that they offer more then most standard ATX boards in lesser and similiar price ranges. Your not paying the Big bucks but you have your foot in the door.. (as it were.. lol)They can be problematic at times mind you.. I've found that quality control can be a bit of an issue with dead boards coming in now and again. We are dealing with sensitive electronics mind you so that happens.
I must say they do have some competition now with Gigabyte's M3s sniper boards, that do utilize a true recon3d sound chip from Creative (as opposed to a realtek chip with software emulation). My hope is that it pushes Asus towards a similiar move as the sound is a key feature for these baby boards.
Personally I think the Gene series deserves your silver award. While high end boards can be had from all makers getting a good solid feature rich gaming MATX board is not the norm and they are almost allways a pleasure to work with.
Great review Ian.