ASUS Rampage II Extreme, "Fast & Furious"
Category : X58
Published by Jean-Luc Hadey on 09.01.09
After the ASUS P6T Deluxe OC Plam left a very good impression because of good performance and overclockability we are now happy to test the ASUS Rampage Extreme II. On this Board you'll find a lot of overclocking features and we also hope good overclockability and performance.
Further you'll find a very solid power supply on this board: 16 phases CPU, 3 phases QPI/DRAM, 3 phases NB and 3 phases memory is much more than you can wish. Even the BIOS is optimized for overclockers and enthusiasts. These and other features we mention later make the Rampage II Extreme interesting to overclockers as well as enthusiasts.
On the following pages you will see what the new Rampage II Extreme is capable of.
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Specifications
| CPU | Intel LGA 1336 Core i7,45nm CPUs |
| Chipset | Intel X58 + ICH10R |
| QPI | 6.4 GT/s |
| Memory | Triple Channel DDR3, 6 x DIMM, Max. 12 GBDDR3 1600(O.C.)/1333/1066 Non-ECC, Unbuffered Unterstützt Intel® Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) |
| Multi-GPU | SLI & CrossfireX |
| Slots | 3 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (x16/x16/x1 oder x16/x8/x8 mode) 2 x PCIe 2.0 x1 1 x PCI 2.2 |
| Sound | SupremeFX X-Fi, ADI 2000B, 8-channel Codec, X-Fi Emulation (bis EAX 4.0) |
| Storage | 7 x SATA 3 Gb/s (RAID 0, 1, 5, 10) 1 x eSATA 3 Gb/s port Marvell Controller 1 x ATA 100/66/33 |
| LAN | Dual Gigabit Ethernet |
| Firewire | 2 x 1394a ports (1 via Backpanel, 1 via Mainboard Header) |
| USB | 12 x USB 2.0/1.1 Anschlüsse (6 via Backpanel, 6 via Mainboard Header) |
| Fan connectors | 8 Anschlüsse |
| Divers | Onboard Switches: Power, Reset, CMOS-Clear, Externe LCD Poster 8 x ProbeIt connectors (Messstelle für Multimeter) TweakIT Beleuchtete ATX-Blende |
| Dimensions | ATX (30.5cm x 26.9cm) |
| Cables and divers |
| 1 x X-Fi Soundkarte mit PCI Express Anschluss |
| 1 x ATX I/O bezel |
| 6 x SATA cable |
| 1x SATA-Stromadapter |
| 1 x IDE Kabel, 1x Floppycable |
| 1 x 3 in 1 Q-connector |
| 1 x USB/Firewire-bezel |
| 1 x Triple SLI Bridge, 1 x SLI Bridge |
| 1 x Northbridgefan (40mm) |
| 3 x Temperatursensoren |
| 1 x LCD Display für BIOS-Post |
| ASUS driver and utilities DVD |
| Diverse Handbücher |
| ASUS TurboV utility, ASUS PC Probe II, ASUS Update, ASUS AI Suite, 3DMark Vantage, Festplatten-Backup-Software, Kaspersky Antivirus |
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Goodies
The Rampage II Extreme comes with a whole bundle of features and useful tools for overclockers. On the following pages you will find most of them:
TweakIt: Makes dynamic overclocking possible during your computer is powered up. With the included LCD you can show either temperatures, current, fan speed or CPU frequency.
ProbeIt:You'll also find measuring points onboard which you can read out by using a multimeter. To be more precise you'll be able to read out the following currents: CPU, CPU PLL, memory, QPI/DRAM, IOH, IOH PCIE, ICJ, ICH PCIE.
Dual Bios:You can for example use two different BIOS versions. In the BIOS itself you can choos from which you want to boot. This is a very good feature for overclockers.
ASUS TurboV: Windows overclocking tool.
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Layout and I/O
When you hold the ASUS Rampage II Extreme in your hands you'll first notice that it is with 30.5 cm x 26.9 cm wider than the standard ATX from factor with 30.5 cm x 24.5 cm. The reason for this you'll find quickly with the onboard ON/OFF- and reset-buttons (A) placed on the right border of the motherboard as well as the eight ProbeIt measuring points. The advantage is that you get into trouble using them when you setup up a triple SLI system.
The layout is clearly arranged. All connectors are well placed and accessible. Installing new hardware is very convenient because on the whole board there is plenty of space around the bigger components. With its 90 degree angled SATA connectors ASUS lets the you arrange its cables neatly (B) and the onboard power- and reset button are very practical (A).
Altogether there are six memory slots (C) on the Rampage II Extreme which officially support DDR3-1066/1333 with up to 12 GByte/s transferrate. If you want to overclock the memory subsystem ASUS claims DDR3-1600 is also possible.
On the Rampage II Extreme you'll also find passive heatpipe cooling solution which provides you with plenty of space around the CPU socket to mount even the biggest coolers available today.
If you are looking for external connectors on the Rampage II Extreme you will find two gigabit ethernet ports, six USB 2.0 connectors, PS/2 keyboard and mouse connector, firewire and eSATA connectors.
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BIOS
Taktraten | |
| BCLK Frequency | 133 bis 400 MHz |
| PCIE Frequency | Auto - 37.3 MHz - 42 MHz |
Spannungen | |
| CPU | 0,85 bis 2,5 V |
| CPU PLL | 1,81592 bis 3,08792 V |
| QPI/DRAM Core | 1,2 bis 2,5 V |
| DRAM Bus | 1,51106 bis 3,00831 V |
| IOH PCIE | 1,51106 bis 2,78306 V |
| IOH | 1,11341 bis 2,19991 V |
| ICH PCIE | 1,51106 bis 2,05431 V |
| ICH | 1,11341 bis 2,00116 V |
It takes some time until you have a good overview of all the settings ASUS delivers. The many different voltage settings and the possibility to save different BIOS configurations are very interesting. This makes it possible to save an overclocking- and a standard profile. Now it is also possible to change all the settings in the Windows tool ASUS TurboV.
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Test environment
| Hardware | |
| Mainboard | Asus Rampage II Extreme Intel X58 Express Chipset, LGA 1366 Sockel |
| CPU | Intel Core i7-920, 2.66 GHz |
| Memory | Corsair 3 x 2GB DDR3 1800 MHz CL8 @ 1066 MHz (Triple Channel Kit) |
| Graphic card | ATI Radeon HD 4850 1024 MB GDDR5 |
| Harddisk | Samsung 620GB F1 |
| PSU | Corsair HX 1000 Watt |
| CPU Cooling | Noctua NH-U12P SE1366 |
To test the mainboard on performance and stability we use the following games and benchmark programs.
Benchmark programs
Futuremark PCMark Vantage: Checks the system performance with five different tests: System, CPU, memory, graphics and HDD.
Futuremark 3DMark06: Checks the systems gaming performance.
Sisoft Sandra XII 2008: Performance- and stability test through memory bandwidth, multi-media performance and arithmetic performance.
Super PI mod 1.5XS: Performance and stability test which calculates PI on a specified number of decimal places.
HD Tach 3.0.4.0: measures the performance of hard disks. We use HD Tach 3.0.4.0.
Games
- F.E.A.R (DX9.0c)
- Crysis (DX10)
Resolution: 800 x 600
Anit Aliasing: none
Filtering: by system
Details: medium
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Test results and overclocking
| PCMark Vantage | Asus Rampage II Extreme | MSI Eclipse | Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 |
| PCMarkSuite | 6256 | 6222 | 6413 |
| MemorySuite | 4811 | 4747 | 4747 |
| Gaming Suite | 7697 | 8833 | 8865 |
| Harddisk | 3905 | 3849 | 3733 |
| 3DMarkVantage | Asus Rampage II Extreme | MSI Eclipse | Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 |
| Total | 8257 | 8218 | 8283 |
| GPU Score | 7070 | 7039 | 7041 |
| CPU Score | 16627 | 16513 | 16430 |
| SiSoft memory bandwidth MB/s | Asus Rampage II Extreme | MSI Eclipse | Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 |
| Floating point | 19120 | 18950 | 18940 |
| SiSoft memory bandwidth MB/s | Asus Rampage II Extreme | MSI Eclipse | Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 |
| Integer | 19007 | 18960 | 18930 |
| SuperPi | Asus Rampage II Extreme | MSI Eclipse | GigabyteGA-EX58-UD5 |
| SuperPi 1M | 15.383s | 15.469s | 15.325s |
| SuperPi 32M | 14m 35.369s | 14m 38.716s | 14m 31.484s |
| HD Tach USB-2.0-interface | Asus Rampage II Extreme | MSI Eclipse | Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 |
| CPU load | 2% | 2% | 3% |
| Burst (MB/s) | 35.1 | 35 | 35.7 |
| Read average (MB/s) | 33.5 | 32.5 | 33.4 |
| HD Tach SATA interface | |||
| CPU load | 1% | 2% | 2% |
| Burst (MB/s) | 232 | 215 | 218 |
| Read average (MB/s) | 94 | 92 | 93.5 |
| Results in FPS | Asus Rampage II Extreme | MSI Eclipse | Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 |
| F.E.A.R (DX9) | 648 | 647 | 644 |
| Call of Juarez (DX10) | 49.7 | 49.5 | 49.1 |
| Crysis(DX10) | 63.95 | 63.47 | 64.12 |
With our overclocking attempts we are looking for the highest possible Busclock. As a stabilitytest we use SuperPI 1.5 which has to run a 32M calculation. Therefore the results can be considered as stable.
With the corresponding BIOS settings we were able to clock the CPU to 4.31 GHz and the board to a BCKL of 205 MHz. Therefore the CPU needed 1.49 volts and a multiplyer of 21.
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Conclusion
The Rampage II Extreme comes with everything a performance-, overclocking- or technology-fanatic could possibly dream of. Performance and overclockability are on a very high level. The board also comes with highest class components and a perfect layout. Concerning options and user friendlyness the BIOS is just perfect and even the automatic overclockgin tool - CPU Level UP - worked great during our tests. Further the package is completed via a hughe delivery where you'll find even more than you could possibly need.
Summing up we can tell that the Rampage II Extreme is perfect except its hefty price tag. But also at this point we have to mention that this price wouldn't be an barrier for a true enthusiast.
Resulting of the above mentioned reasons we give our OCaholic Top Hardware Award to this product.
You can buy the Rampage II Extreme at Brack Electronics to a price of CHF 499.-
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Author: jl.hadey@ocaholic.ch
Revised by: m.buechel@ocaholic.ch