The Rampage IV Extreme, is ASUS' new flagship model regarding Intels latest X79 chipset. With this product the manufacturers promises nothing less than: extreme is back! This makes aus very curious about what exactly is ASUS' understanding of extreme. 
The Rampage IV Extreme will be ASUS' high end overclocking motherboard regarding Intels upcoming X79 chipset. Therefore we're really curious what they've done from the layout and design perspective. After the NDA is over we will publish some more articles which are about the features of this board.
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Spezifikationen / Lieferumfang
| CPU | Upcoming Intel CPUs |
| Chipset | Intel X79 |
| Memory | Upcoming multi channel memory interface |
| Multi-GPU | NVIDIA 3-Way SLI AMD Quad-GPU CorssFireX |
| Slots | 4 x PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (quad at x16/x8/x8/x8,
triple at
x16/x16/x16, dual at x16/x16) 1 x PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (single at x8, grey) 1 x PCI-Express 2.0 x1 |
| Sound | Realtek ALC898 8-Channel HD Audio Codec |
| Storage | 2 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s (Intel, RAID 0, 1, 5, 0+1) 4 x SATA 3.0 Gb/s (Intel, RAID 0, 1, 5, 0+1, JBOD) 2 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s (ASMedia) 2 x eSATA Gb/s (ASMedia) |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR |
| LAN | 1 x Gigabit LAN |
| I/O internal | 2 x USB 3.0 connecotrs supports
additional 4 USB 3.0 ports 2 x USB 2.0 connectors support additional 4 USB 2.0 ports 4 x SATA 6 Gb/s connectors (red) 4 x SATA 3 Gb/s connectors (black) 2 x Subzero Sense connectors 1 x OC Key header 1 x OT header (ROG Connect Switch) 8 x 4-pin Fan connectors: 2 x CPU, 3 x Chassis / 3 x Optional 7 x ProbeIt measurement points 3 x Thermal sensor connectors 1 x SPDIF out connector 1 x 24-pin ATX power connector 1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector 1 x 4-pin ATX 12V power connector 1 x LN2 Mode jumper 1 x Slow Mode switch 1 x Start button 1 x Reset button 2 x EZ Blug connectors (4-pin in white for memory DIMMs; 6-pin in black for PCIe slots) 1 x Go Button 1 x BIOS switch button 1 x Q-Reset switch 1 x Audio front panel (AAFP) connector 1 x System panel connector |
| I/O Back Panel | 1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse port 1 x Clr CMOS button 1 x ROG Connect ON/OFF button 4 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports 8 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports 1 x Gigabit LAN 1 x Optical S/PDIF Out port 2 x eSATA 6 Gb/s ports 1 x 8-channel audio |
| Forfactor | eATX (30.5cm x 27.2cm) |
| BIOS | Bios (64 Mb flash ROM, UEFI AMI BIOS) |
- 1 x ROG Connect cable
- 1 x 3-Way SLI bridge
- 1 x 4-Way SLI bridge
- 1 x SLI cable
- 1 x CrossFire cable
- 1 x 2-in1 Q-Connector kit
- 2 x 2-in-1 SATA 3 Gb/s signal cables
- 2 x 2-in-1 SATA 6 Gb/s signal cables
- 1 x I/O Shield
- 1 x 12-in-1 ROG Cable Label
- 1 x ProbeIt cable set
- 1 x OC Key
- 1 x OC Key cable
- 1 x X-Socket pad module
Regarding the delivery one might find more than needed. For instance: you get a quad- and a tripl-SLI bridge which feature a PCB. Furthermore there is a flexible SLI-bridge as well as a flexible CrossFire-Bridge. One can also be very curious about the OC-Key which allows an overlay screen while you're benching your system. For this littel bugger we will write an independant article.
Features
| EPU | If you activate the EPU this chip monitors all possible voltages and clock speeds and automatically sets them to guarantee an energy efficient operation of you system. |
| TPU | As soon as one activates the TPU this chips monitors all possible voltages and clock speeds using the according software. The difference to the EPU is that TPU will provide as much performance as possible. Therefore it can increase clock speeds and voltages. |
| Extreme Engine Digi+ II | Since quite some time ASUS has been equipping its boards with digital power designs. Using the the right software it is not only possible to adjust voltages whilst being in Windows on can now also control impedances. Furthermore this board features high quality 10K black metallic capacitor which guarantee a long lifespan. |
| VGA Hotwire | If you want to overvolt you GPU then you have the possibility to solder two wires on the VGA's voltage regulator and connect it to the onboard variable resistors. |
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Layout
Already at a first glance the ASUS Rampage IV Extreme looks very good with its harmonic design. Once again the ROG-colors - red, grey and black - suite nicely and together with the black PCB it becomes a very beautiful product. The layout itself is well thought and there is for example plenty of space around the CPU socket to install even todays largest CPU coolers. The fact that there are SATA connectere which have been angled by 90 degrees allow an easy installation of oversized graphics cards.
Until today we don't know how many phases the power design of the upcoming Rampage IV Extreme features. What we know is that we count twelve of the new high quality "Black Metallic Chokes". These can withstand much higher current (50A instead of 30A). In other words this means that one phase can cope with far more load than the predecessor.
Totally you'll find eight DIMM-slots on the Rampage IV Extreme. The official clock speeds that are supported will be disclosed after the NDA ended. There is engough space between the DIMM-slots and the CPU socket which means that you wont encounter compatibility problems with big coolers even when you choose to install RAM with big heatspreaders.
Northbridge, Southbridge as well as the current converters are being held at adequate temperatures via a passive heatpipe cooling solution. The cooling blocks haven been positioned wisely, which means that they don't collide with memory or CPU cooler.
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Anschlüsse und I/O
Totally ASUS provided the Rampage IV Extreme with eight angled SATA ports which should be enough for any office gaming system or overclocking setup. You'll also find practical onboard power- and reset-buttons. There even is a debug display which is be very useful if you should once have issues with one of the components in your system. Also in this area of the board there are measure points to read out the different voltages. Almost standard for the ROG Extreme motherboards meanwhile is the possiblity to disable the different PCI-Express x16 Slots one by one. Between power/reset button and the DIMM slots one can find the headers to which you can connect the cables you soldered to a GPUs voltage regulation.
Totally you'll find eight fan header on the Rampage IV Extreme which is more than enough, to provide a well equipped high-end or overclocking-system with fresh air. The fan headers are located around the CPU socket as spread over the motherboard
Looking at the external connectors directly at the back-panel ASUS equipped the Rampage IV Extreme with one PS2 mouse/keyboard connector, four USB 3.0/2.0 ports, six USB 2.0/1.1 ports, two Power eSATA ports, a bluetooth transmitter/receiver, one gigabit ethernet port, an optical out as well as an analogue audio panel.
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BIOS
The ASUS UEFI BIOS is an absolute pleasure to use. The company succeeded in creating an interface that looks good, is well structured and offers all the setting one might possibly ask for concerning a motherboard in this segment. For ASUS a very well though BIOS is standard and most of the other manufacturers out there should take a leaf out of this example.
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Test setup
Hardware |
|
| Motherboard | |
| Processor | Intel Core i7-3930K, 3.2 GHz |
| Memory | 8 Gigabyte Kingston H2O KHX2133 @ 1600 MHz CL9-9-9-24 |
| Graphic card | ASUS ENGTX 580 |
| Driver | Version 275.33 |
| Hard disk | Samsung Spinpoint F1 320 GByte |
| Power supply | bequiet! Dark Power Pro 1000Watt |
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3D Mark
3D Mark11
3DMark 11 is Futuremarks latest benchmark for the entire graphical subsystem. The benchmark uses DirectX 11 and it supports all recent features which can possibly generate high load on a GPU. Therefore you find tessellation, compute shader calculations, divers lighting effects and different depth of filed animations. Following we publish values regarding the performance preset of 3DMark 11.
Total
| 3D Mark 11 Total | Percent | |
| ASUS Rampage IV Extreme | 6'518 | 100.49 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth X79 | 6'515 | 100.45 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Deluxe | 6'506 | 100.31 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Pro | 6'505 | 100.29 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Formula | 6'499 | 100.20 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 | 6'494 | 100.12 % |
| Intel DX79SI | 6'486 | 100.00 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4-M | 6'478 | 99.88 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4 | 6'482 | 99.34 % |
| more is better | ||
Physic
| 3D Mark 11 Physic Score | Percent | |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 | 10'579 | 101.68 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Deluxe | 10'558 | 101.48 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Extreme | 10'557 | 101.47 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Pro | 10'518 | 101.10 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth X79 | 10'510 | 101.02 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Formula | 10'501 | 100.93 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4-M | 10'456 | 100.50 % |
| Intel DX79SI | 10'404 | 100.00 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4 | 10'385 | 99.82 % |
| more is better | ||
3D Mark Vantage
3DMark Vantage is able to squeeze nearly everything out of a recent system. Therefore the feature liste is also pretty long: DirectX10, FP16-HDR, motion blur, parallax occlusion mapping, GPU-physics simulation and different shader effects are being used to even make recent high-end systems struggle.
Total
| 3D Mark Vantage Total | Percent | |
| ASUS P9X79 Deluxe | 26'943 | 102.04 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth X79 | 26'903 | 101.89 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Extreme | 26'892 | 101.85 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Pro | 26'870 | 101.76 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 | 26'691 | 101.09 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Formula | 26'645 | 100.91 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4 | 26'632 | 100.86 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4-M | 26'519 | 100.44 % |
| Intel DX79SI | 26'404 | 100.00 % |
| more is better | ||
CPU
| 3D Mark Vantage CPU | Percent | |
| ASUS P9X79 Deluxe | 32'106 | 101.29 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Pro | 32'090 | 101.24 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4-M | 31'807 | 100.35 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Extreme | 31'798 | 100.32 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth X79 | 31'784 | 100.27 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4 | 31'736 | 100.12 % |
| Intel DX79SI | 31'697 | 100.00 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Formula | 31'628 | 99.78 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 | 31'535 | 99.49 % |
| more is better | ||
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[pagebreak]
PC Mark 07
3DMark 11 is Futuremarks latest benchmark for the entire graphical subsystem. The benchmark uses DirectX 11 and it supports all recent features which can possibly generate high load on a GPU. Therefore you find tessellation, compute shader calculations, divers lighting effects and different depth of filed animations. Following we publish values regarding the performance preset of 3DMark 11.
Total
| PC Mark 07 Total | Percent | |
| ASUS P9X79 Pro | 4'757 | 101.30 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 | 4'749 | 101.13 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Formula | 4'716 | 100.43 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Extreme | 4'716 | 100.43 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Deluxe | 4'714 | 100.38 % |
| Intel DX79SI | 4'696 | 100.00 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth X79 | 4'670 | 99.45 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4-M | 4'654 | 99.11 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4 | 4'642 | 98.85 % |
| more is better | ||
| Video playback and transcoding / Video playback | fps | Percent |
| ASUS P9X79 Deluxe | 23.14 | 100.09 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth X79 | 23.13 | 100.04 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Formula | 23.12 | 100.00 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Extreme | 23.12 | 100.00 % |
| Intel DX79SI | 23.12 | 100.00 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Pro | 23.12 | 100.00 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 | 23.11 | 99.96 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4-M | 23.06 | 99.74 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4 | 23.05 | 99.70 % |
| more is better | ||
| Graphics - DirectX 9 / Graphics - DirectX 9 | fps | Percent |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4 | 75.78 | 103.06 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 | 74.65 | 101.52 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Extreme | 74.57 | 101.41 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth X79 | 74.44 | 101.24 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Formula | 74.05 | 100.71 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Pro | 73.97 | 100.60 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Deluxe | 73.76 | 100.31 % |
| Intel DX79SI | 73.53 | 100.00 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4-M | 73.48 | 99.93 % |
| more is better | ||
| Image manipulation / Image manipulation | Mpx/s | Percent |
| ASUS P9X79 Deluxe | 10.10 | 101.41 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Extreme | 10.10 | 101.41 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Pro | 10.10 | 101.41 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth X79 | 10.10 | 101.41 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Formula | 10.07 | 101.10 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 | 10.06 | 101.00 % |
| Intel DX79SI | 9.96 | 100.00 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4-M | 9.90 | 99.40 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4 | 9.54 | 95.78 % |
| more is better | ||
| Web browsing and decrypting / Web browsing | Pages/s | Percent |
| ASUS Rampage IV Extreme | 19.70 | 102.34 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Pro | 19.65 | 102.08 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth X79 | 19.64 | 102.03 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Deluxe | 19.62 | 101.92 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 | 19.60 | 101.82 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4-M | 19.36 | 100.57 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4 | 19.35 | 100.52 % |
| Intel DX79SI | 19.25 | 100.00 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Formula | 19.22 | 99.84 % |
| more is better | ||
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[pagebreak]
SiSoft Sandra 1
SiSoft Sandra is a theoretical multi purpose benchmark suite which is able to show differences in CPU architectures. We split the tests with SiSoft Sandra into two parts. Therefore on this page you'll find Arithmetic-, Multimedia- and Cryptograph99y-benchmarks.
Arithmetic Benchmark
| SiSoft Sandra - Arithmetic Benchmark - Dhrystone | GIPS | Percent |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4-M | 189.33 | 100.68 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 | 189.29 | 100.36 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Pro | 189.24 | 100.33 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth X79 | 188.82 | 100.11 % |
| Intel DX79SI | 188.62 | 100.00 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4 | 188.36 | 99.86 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Extreme | 188.00 | 99.67 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Deluxe | 187.90 | 99.62 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Formula | 187.80 | 99.57 % |
| more is better | ||
| SiSoft Sandra - Arithmetic Benchmark - Whetstone | GFLOPS | Percent |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4 | 116.57 | 100.57 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Formula | 116.20 | 100.25 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4-M | 116.00 | 100.08 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Extreme | 116.00 | 100.08 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Deluxe | 115.93 | 100.02 % |
| Intel DX79SI | 115.91 | 100.00 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Pro | 115.87 | 99.97 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth X79 | 115.78 | 99.89 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 | 115.00 | 99.21 % |
| more is better | ||
Multimedia
| SiSoft Sandra - Multimedia - Integer | MPixels/sec | Percent |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4-M | 290.24 | 100.72 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4 | 290.18 | 100.70 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Formula | 288.64 | 100.16 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Extreme | 288.61 | 100.15 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth X79 | 288.57 | 100.14 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Pro | 288.49 | 100.11 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 | 288.47 | 100.10 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Deluxe | 288.48 | 100.11 % |
| Intel DX79SI | 288.17 | 100.00 % |
| more is better | ||
| SiSoft Sandra - Multimedia - floating point | MPixels/sec | Percent |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4-M | 396.52 | 100.64 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4 | 396.27 | 100.58 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth X79 | 394.24 | 100.06 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 | 394.14 | 100.04 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Extreme | 394.10 | 100.03 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Deluxe | 394.07 | 100.02 % |
| Intel DX79SI | 394.00 | 100.00 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Pro | 393.87 | 99.97 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Formula | 393.40 | 99.85 % |
| more is better | ||
Crytography
| SiSoft Sandra - Crytography - AES 256 | GB/sec | Percent |
| ASUS Rampage IV Extreme | 12.55 | 122.44 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth X79 | 12.31 | 120.10 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Deluxe | 12.30 | 120.00 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Pro | 12.30 | 120.00 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 | 12.27 | 119.71 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Formula | 12.10 | 118.05 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4 | 11.56 | 112.78 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4-M | 11.51 | 112.29 % |
| Intel DX79SI | 10.25 | 100.00 % |
| more is better | ||
| SiSoft Sandra - Crytography - SHA 256 | MB/sec | Percent |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4-M | 1'440 | 100.70 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4 | 1'440 | 100.70 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 | 1'430 | 100.00 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Formula | 1'430 | 100.00 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Deluxe | 1'430 | 100.00 % |
| Intel DX79SI | 1'430 | 100.00 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Pro | 1'430 | 100.00 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Extreme | 1'430 | 100.00 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth X79 | 1'430 | 100.00 % |
| more is better | ||
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[pagebreak]
SiSoft Sandra 2
At this point we deliver the values regarding Memory Bandwidth, Memory Latency as well as Memory and Cache Access.
Memory bandwidth
| SiSoft Sandra - Memory bandwidth - Integer | GB/sec | Percent |
| ASUS Sabertooth X79 | 37.77 | 104.11 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Deluxe | 37.76 | 104.08 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Pro | 37.74 | 104.02 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Extreme | 37.41 | 103.11 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 | 37.27 | 102.73 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4-M | 37.18 | 102.48 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Formula | 37.00 | 101.98 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4 | 36.74 | 101.27 % |
| Intel DX79SI | 36.28 | 100.00 % |
| more is better | ||
| SiSoft Sandra - Memory bandwidth - floating point | GB/sec | Percent |
| ASUS P9X79 Deluxe | 37.85 | 103.84 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Pro | 37.76 | 103.59 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth X79 | 37.70 | 103.43 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Extreme | 37.69 | 103.41 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 | 37.38 | 102.55 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4-M | 37.23 | 102.14 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Formula | 37.20 | 102.06 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4 | 36.86 | 101.12 % |
| Intel DX79SI | 36.45 | 100.00 % |
| more is better | ||
Memory latency
| SiSoft Sandra - Memory latency | ns | Percent |
| Intel DX79SI | 73.60 | 100.00 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Extreme | 74.40 | 101.09 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth X79 | 74.60 | 101.36 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Deluxe | 74.70 | 101.49 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Pro | 74.70 | 101.49 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 | 75.00 | 101.90 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Formula | 76.00 | 103.26 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4-M | 79.30 | 107.74 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4 | 79.30 | 107.74 % |
| less is better | ||
Memory and cache access
| SiSoft Sandra - Memory and cache access | GB/sec | Percent |
| ASUS P9X79 Pro | 175.00 | 102.83 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth X79 | 174.75 | 102.68 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Deluxe | 174.24 | 102.38 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Formula | 174.15 | 102.33 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 | 174.14 | 102.32 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Extreme | 173.41 | 101.89 % |
| Intel DX79SI | 170.19 | 100.00 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4-M | 170.00 | 99.89 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4 | 169.37 | 99.82 % |
| more is better | ||
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[pagebreak]
Super Pi 1M - 32M / wPrime 32M
Meanwhile Super Pi even in its latest version has become pretty old. Never the less it is able to show scaling to the clock speed nicely.
Super Pi 1M
| Super Pi 1.5 XS - 1M | sec | Percent |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4 | 11.669 | 92.92 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4-M | 11.704 | 93.20 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Deluxe | 11.731 | 93.41 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Pro | 11.746 | 93.53 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Extreme | 11.747 | 93.54 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth X79 | 11.747 | 93.54 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 | 11.762 | 93.66 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Formula | 11.763 | 93.67 % |
| Intel DX79SI | 12.558 | 100.00 % |
| less is better | ||
Super Pi 32M
| Super Pi 1.5 XS - 32M | sec | Percent |
| ASUS Rampage IV Extreme | 632.909 | 94.18 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Pro | 633.033 | 94.20 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Deluxe | 633.377 | 94.25 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4 | 635.483 | 94.56 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 | 635.498 | 94.57 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth X79 | 635.920 | 94.63 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Formula | 636.154 | 93.92 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4-M | 636.984 | 94.79 % |
| Intel DX79SI | 672.018 | 100.00 % |
| less is better | ||
wPrime 1024M
wPrime is based on a multithreaded algorithm to calculate the square root to up to 32 billion digits. Therefore it is possible to put 100 percent load on every core or thread and to see differences between architectures.
| wPrime - 1024M | sec | Percent |
| ASUS Sabertooth X79 | 170.652 | 99.68 % |
| Intel DX79SI | 171.204 | 100.00 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4 | 172.334 | 100.66 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4-M | 172.503 | 100.76 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 | 172.803 | 100.93 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Deluxe | 172.878 | 100.98 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Pro | 173.851 | 101.55 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Formula | 175.667 | 102.61 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Extreme | 176.217 | 102.93 % |
| less is better | ||
Discuss this article in the forums
[pagebreak]
Games
Crysis 800 x 600, low details
Crysis is still one of the games which has very high system requirements. Therefore developer Crytek implemented Direct3D-10-API, High-Dynamic-Range-Rendering, Parallax Occlusion Mapping, Soft Shadows, Motion Blur, Depth of Field as well as Soft Particles. We test Crysis by using DirectX9 to show CPU-sacaling especially which low resolutions. If we look at the high resolutions we are able to spot that the CPUs influence compared to the graphic card becomes much less important.
| Crysis DirectX10 (800 x 600 low details) | fps | Percent |
| ASUS P9X79 Pro | 146.665 | 104.85 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Extreme | 146.240 | 104.54 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Deluxe | 145.935 | 104.32 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth X79 | 145.855 | 104.27 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Formula | 143.740 | 102.76 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4-M | 143.575 | 102.64 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 | 143.510 | 102.59 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4 | 143.460 | 102.56 % |
| Intel DX79SI | 139.885 | 100.00 % |
| more is better | ||
Resident Evil 800 x 600, low details
Resident Evil uses nearly every modern rendering technology: HDR, Hemisphere Lighting, Soft Shadows, Soft Particles, Field- und Motion-Blur oder auch Alpha to Coverage and static Ambient Occlusion. Furthermore Resident Evil 5 has been optimized for multicore architectures and already comes DirectX11 ready. By using the DirectX9 benchmark we can again show CPU-scaling with low resolutions and the compared to the CPU overproportional influence of the graphics card at high resolutions.
| Resident Evil DirectX10 (800 x 600 low details) | fps | Percent |
| ASUS Rampage IV Extreme | 200.2 | 102.61 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Formula | 199.2 | 102.10 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Pro | 198.8 | 101.90 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth X79 | 198.6 | 101.79 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Deluxe | 198.2 | 101.59 % |
| Intel DX79SI | 195.1 | 100.00 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4-M | 193.8 | 99.33 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4 | 192.2 | 98.51 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 | 191.2 | 98.00 % |
| more is better | ||
Street Fighter 4 800 x 600, low details
Street Fighter 4 comes with an extra benchmark version which makes testing you system childrens play. At low resolutions the system requirements are pretty low and we can see CPU-scaling in the results. At high resolution the graphic card becomes more important and the CPUs clock speed has less influence on the fps.
| Street Fighter 4 (800 x 600 low details) | fps | Percent |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4-M | 823.86 | 102.87 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4 | 820.72 | 102.47 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Deluxe | 813.27 | 101.54 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Extreme | 812.27 | 101.42 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth X79 | 808.62 | 100.96 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Formula | 802.24 | 100.17 % |
| Intel DX79SI | 800.90 | 100.00 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Pro | 792.67 | 98.97 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 | 785.97 | 98.14 % |
| more is better | ||
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[pagebreak]
Power Consumption
Idle
| Idle | Watt | Percent |
| Intel DX79SI | 131 | 100.00 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4-M | 132 | 100.76 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4 | 138 | 105.34 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 | 144 | 109.92 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Deluxe | 148 | 112.98 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Pro | 149 | 113.74 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth X79 | 156 | 119.08 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Formula | 160 | 122.14 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Extreme | 162 | 123.66 % |
| more is better | ||
Load
| Load | Watt | Percent |
| Intel DX79SI | 207 | 100.00 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4-M | 219 | 105.78 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4 | 225 | 108.70 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Pro | 229 | 110.63 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 | 230 | 111.11 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth X79 | 238 | 114.98 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Formula | 239 | 115.46 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Deluxe | 243 | 117.39 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Extreme | 246 | 118.84 % |
| less is better | ||
Discuss this article in the forums
[pagebreak]
Performance Rating
| 3D and Gaming Benchmarks | Percent |
| ASUS Rampage IV Extreme | 101.81 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Deluxe | 101.78 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth X79 | 101.52 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Pro | 101.44 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Formula | 100.98 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4-M | 100.86 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4 | 100.65 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 | 100.16 % |
| Intel DX79SI | 100.00 % |
| more is better |
| 2D Benchmarks | Percent |
| ASUS P9X79 Pro | 102.69 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Extreme | 102.68 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth X79 | 102.68 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Deluxe | 102.61 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 | 102.41 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Formula | 102.19 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4-M | 102.08 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4 | 101.84 % |
| Intel DX79SI | 100.00 % |
| more is better |
| Performance per Watt | Percent |
| Intel DX79SI | 100.00 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4 | 95.16 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4-M | 98.26 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 | 91.65 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Pro | 90.98 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Deluxe | 88.72 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth X79 | 87.24 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Extreme | 85.95 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Formula | 85.51 % |
| more is better |
Discuss this article in the forums [pagebreak]
Fazit
| Allgemein | + | - | |
| The first impression the Rampage IV Extreme from ASUS leaves makes us want more. Once again we like the ROG design, which meanwhil belongs to the evergreens in the industry. Furthermore there are four PCI Express 3.0 slots which makes this board future proof. In the introduction we were talking that with the motherboard ASUS claims that extreme is back and in this category then, we find for example the OC-key. This little device lets you monitor all the system readouts onscreen. What you're also going to find are connectors for professional temperature sensors, which allow accurate temeprature monitoring. This is especially useful for extreme overclocking where you have tempeture which go all the way down to -196°C. | - Design - 4 x PCI-Express 3.0 Slot - OC-key - Professional temperature sensors |
- Active chipset cooling | |
| Layout | + | - | |
|
Generally the ASUS Rampage IV Extreme's Layout has been very well thought. Once more practical are the angled SATA connectors as well as the power- and reset-buttons. There even is a debug display which is very useful in case you should have issues with a component in your system or the board itself. Even the placement of the PCI-Express x16 is very well chosen. There is a total of five of these slots. We also liked the voltage readouts as well as the possibility that one can deactivate the different PCI-Express x16 via dip switches. The Rampage IV Extreme really seems to be a very good overclocking motherboard. |
- Angled SATA connectors - Power/Reset-Button onboard - Debug display - Spac around the CPU socket - Placement of the PCI-Express slots - Voltage readouts |
||
| Performance | + | - | |
| Also from this point of view the Rampage IV Extreme is top! Regarding our 3D performance rating one can find this motherboard on the very top and concerning 2D performance it scores second in our rating tables. With this as a background it's no wonder that in a lot of benchmarks this board is able to score first. If you browse through all the results you'll only find wPrime where the Rampage IV Extreme shows a little hick up and scores last. In all the other benchmarks it consistently does a good job. | -
3D Performance - 2D Performance |
- wPrime | |
| Power Consumption | + | - | |
| As we noticed quite a few times meanwhile motherboards with a high feature desity also need more operating power. Because the Rampage IV Extreme from ASUS is one of the boards that offers really a lot of features it is a small wonder that it also drains a lot of power. When you compare it to an intel "reference" board you see an increase in power consumption in idle of more than 23 percent. | - Power hungry features - Power consumption under load - Energy efficiency |
||
| Recommendation | + | - | |
| If you should be looking for the best overclocking motherboard which you can buy these days, then the Rampage IV Extreme from ASUS is a perfect match for you. The board has everything you need and with features like the OC-Key it offers even more. The only drawback might be the price of CHF 418.- (est. EUR 348.-) but a real overclockers knows that really good hardware also costs some real money. | -
Enthusiasts - High-End PC - Gaming System |
||
| Rating | |||
| We give the ASUS P9X79 Deluxe good four out of five stars. | |||
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Author: m.buechel@ocaholic.ch