Review: ASUS Rampage IV Gene
Published by Marc Büchel on 18.01.12Page:
Fazit
| Allgemein | + | - | |
| At a first glance the Rampage IV Gene definitely leaves a very good impression. The mix of overclocking features and a high quality audio hardware makes this a state-of-the-art motherboard for mATX-gaming. And next to a very nice looking design you find useful features like for example GameFirst. This software allows you to configure your network device the way gaming traffic gets prioritized (keyword traffic shaping). And then there is the "Do Not Disturb" door hanger. When we found this one we really had to smile. It really is these small thing that make manufacturers win gamers hearts! | - Design - Game-First - Supreme FX III Audio-Chip |
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| Layout | + | - | |
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Generally the ASUS Rampage IV Gene's Layout has been very well thought. Once more practical are the angled SATA connectors as well as the power- and reset-buttons. There is also a debug display which is very useful in case you should have issues with a component in your system or the board itself. We also liked the voltage readouts. But on the other hand there also are some hints that the ASUS design team have run out of space when putting all the features onto this little board. You can see this for example when looking at the power and reset buttons, which you can find at the bottom edge of the board. Meanwhile most of the manufacturers place them above the ATX power plug on the right hand side of the motherboard. |
- Angled SATA connectors - Power/Reset-Button onboard - Debug display - Spac around the CPU socket - Voltage readouts |
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| Performance | + | - | |
| Also from this point of view the Rampage IV Gene is a good motherboard. Regarding our 3D performance rating one can find this motherboard on the second position of our comparison charts. Concerning 2D performance it scores well too and you can find it in the center span of our rating tables. With this as a background it's no wonder that especially in 3D benchmarks this board is able to score very well. If you browse through all the results you'll only find SuperPi 1m and SuperPi 32m where the Rampage IV Gene shows a little hick up and scores second to last. In all the other benchmarks it consistently does a good job. | - 3D Performance | - SuperPi 1m - SuperPi 32m |
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| Power Consumption | + | - | |
| We noticed quite a few times meanwhile, that motherboards with a high feature desity also need more operating power. Because the Rampage IV Gene comes with a smaller mATX formfactor there simply isn't that much space to put a lot of power hungry features on this board. From this point of view it isn't surprising at all that this board can be found in the upper half of our comparison tables. | - Reasonable power consumption | ||
| Recommendation | + | - | |
| If you should be looking for a truely excellent mATX motherboard, that comes with a lot of useful features and also good performance values, then ASUS' Rampage IV Gene is most definitely a good choice for you. When this review was published the board wasn't available in Switzerland. On Geizhals.at we were able to find it listed for EUR 299.- (est. CHF 360.-). | -
Enthusiasts - High-End PC - Gaming System |
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| Rating | |||
| We give the Rampage IV Gene very good five out of five stars. | |||
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Author: m.buechel@ocaholic.ch
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