With their ROG-series ASUS traditionally aims at gamers and overclockers. Finally the manufacturer managed to target gamers with their Formula and Gene motherboards and overclockers with the Extreme models. For the Gene series motherboards it's special that they feature an mATX formfactor and it is therefore possible to build a gaming powerhouse that is compact in size. 
The Rampage IV Gene is ASUS' high end mATX gaming motherboard regarding Intels X79 chipset. Therefore we're really curious what they've done.
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Spezifikationen / Lieferumfang
| CPU | Intel Socket 2011 2nd Generation i7 Processors |
| Chipset | Intel X79 |
| Memory | 4 x DIMM max 32 GB, DDR3 2400 (O.C.) /
2200 (O.C.) / 2133 (O.C.) / 2000 (O.C.) / 1800 (O.C.) / 1600 / 1333 /
1066 MHz Quad Channel |
| Multi-GPU | NVIDIA SLI AMD CorssFireX |
| Slots | 4 x PCI-Express 3.0/2.0 x16 (quad at x16/x8/x8/x8,
triple at
x16/x8/x16, dual at x16/x16) 2 x PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (single at x8, grey) |
| Sound | SupremeFX III 8-Channel Audio |
| Storage | 2 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s (Intel, RAID 0, 1, 5, 0+1) 3 x SATA 3.0 Gb/s (Intel, RAID 0, 1, 5, 0+1, JBOD) 2 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s (ASMedia 1061) 1 x eSATA Gb/s (ASMedia) |
| LAN | 1 x Gigabit LAN (Intel) |
| I/O internal | |
| I/O Back Panel | |
| Forfactor | ATX (24.4cm x 24.4cm) |
| BIOS | Bios (64 Mb flash ROM, UEFI AMI BIOS) |
Uboxing the Rampage IV Gene shows quite a lot of accessories and ASUS has been very consequent in making a motherboard for gamers. Therefore you even find an ASUS ROG "do not disturb" door hanger. We very much like this little idea. With stuff like that a manufacturer can definitely win a gamers heart. What you also find is a SLI Bridge and there even is an entire set of SATA cables.
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. |
| SupremeFX III | The SupremeFX III Audio-Chip is an Audio processor that comes from Creative. It is paired with a carefully selected 1500 uF capacitor which delivers a ripple free audio signal. Furhtermore the chip got an EMI shield cover that makes it immune to electromagnetic interferences. |
| 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. |
| ROG Connect | ROG Connect enables real-time overclocking via a notebook. For this purpose you connect your notebook via a USB cable to the rig you'd want to overclock. Afterwards you can overclock your computer remotely. |
| Game First | Game First is a feature that enables you to do traffic shaping. Traffic shaping itselfe describes a process which analyzes network traffic and gives priorities to the individually sized data packets. At the end of the day the network interface can prioritize small data packets. The result is low latency in when gaming even when you should be downloading big files from the internet. |
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Layout
Already at a first glance the ASUS Rampage IV Gene 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 connectors which have been angled by 90 degrees, allow an easy installation of oversized graphics cards like for example a Radeon HD 6990.
ASUS equipped the Rampage IV Gene with an 8+3 phase power design. In this case the CPU can rely on eight phases and the VCCSA gets its own three phases. Furthermore the memory gets another two plus two phases. Each of these 15 pahses comes with new high quality "Black Metallic Chokes". These can resist 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 four DIMM-slots on the Rampage IV Gene. Officially supported are the following clock speeds: 2400 (O.C.) / 2200 (O.C.) / 2133 (O.C.) / 2000 (O.C.) / 1800 (O.C.) / 1600 / 1333 / 1066 MHz. There is also 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. Fortunately ASUS decided to not install an active southbridge cooler.
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Anschlüsse und I/O
Totally ASUS equipped the Rampage IV Gene with six angled SATA ports as well as a straight one which can be found at the bottom edge of the motherboard. There are two SATA-III ports which come from the X79 chipset. Furthermore there are two more SATA-III connectors realized via an ASMedia 1061 controller as well as three additional SATA-II ports also coming from the X79 chipset. There are even practical onboard power- and reset-buttons located at the bottom edge of the board. And you'll even find a debug display in the top right corner. Inbetween the ATX power plug and the Debug-LED you can find measurement points to read out the different voltages.
Totally you'll find five fan headers on the Rampage IV Gene which is more than enough, to provide a well equipped and compact 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 Gene with one PS2 mouse/keyboard connector, two USB 3.0/2.0 ports, eight USB 2.0/1.1 ports, one Power eSATA port, one gigabit ethernet port, an optical out as well as an analogue audio panel. Furhtermore you'll also find a BIOS reset button and the ROG connect button.
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[pagebreak]
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.
Discuss this article in the forums [pagebreak]
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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[pagebreak]
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 | |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 | 6'627 | 102.17 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Gene | 6'550 | 100.99 % |
| 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-UD3 | 11'029 | 106.01 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Gene | 11'009 | 105.82 % |
| 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-UD3 | 26'834 | 101.63 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 | 26'691 | 101.09 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Gene | 26'670 | 101.01 % |
| 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 | |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 | 32'786 | 103.44 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Gene | 32'541 | 101.80 % |
| 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 | ||
Discuss this article in the forums
[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 Rampage IV Gene | 4'707 | 100.23 % |
| 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 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 | 4'569 | 97.30 % |
| more is better | ||
| Video playback and transcoding / Video playback | fps | Percent |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 | 23.14 | 100.09 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Deluxe | 23.14 | 100.09 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth X79 | 23.13 | 100.04 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Gene | 23.12 | 100.00 % |
| 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 Gene | 74.11 | 100.79 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Formula | 74.05 | 100.71 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Pro | 73.97 | 100.60 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Deluxe | 73.76 | 100.31 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 | 73.74 | 100.29 % |
| Intel DX79SI | 73.53 | 100.00 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4-M | 73.48 | 99.93 % |
| more is better | ||
| Image manipulation / Image manipulation | Mpx/s | Percent |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 | 10.10 | 101.41 % |
| 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 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Gene | 10.04 | 100.80 % |
| 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 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Gene | 19.58 | 101.71 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 | 19.53 | 101.45 % |
| 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 | ||
Discuss this article in the forums
[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 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Gene | 187.39 | 99.35 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 | 186.83 | 99.05 % |
| 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 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Gene | 116.00 | 100.08 % |
| 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 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 | 115.90 | 99.99 % |
| 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 Gene | 288.63 | 100.16 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Extreme | 288.61 | 100.15 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth X79 | 288.57 | 100.14 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 | 288.51 | 100.12 % |
| 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 Rampage IV Gene | 394.33 | 100.08 % |
| 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 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 | 393.83 | 99.96 % |
| 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 Rampage IV Gene | 12.30 | 120.00 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Deluxe | 12.30 | 120.00 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Pro | 12.30 | 120.00 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 | 12.27 | 119.71 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 | 12.17 | 118.73 % |
| 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-UD3 | 1'430 | 100.00 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Gene | 1'430 | 100.00 % |
| 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 | ||
Discuss this article in the forums
[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 |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 | 37.83 | 104.27 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth X79 | 37.77 | 104.11 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Deluxe | 37.76 | 104.08 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Pro | 37.74 | 104.02 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Gene | 37.58 | 103.58 % |
| 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 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 | 37.84 | 103.81 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Pro | 37.76 | 103.59 % |
| ASUS Sabertooth X79 | 37.70 | 103.43 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Extreme | 37.69 | 103.41 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Gene | 37.66 | 103.32 % |
| 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-UD3 | 74.80 | 101.63 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Gene | 74.80 | 101.63 % |
| 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 |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 | 175.63 | 103.20 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Gene | 175.57 | 103.16 % |
| 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 | ||
Discuss this article in the forums
[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 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 | 11.778 | 93.79 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Formula | 11.763 | 93.67 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Gene | 11.794 | 93.92 % |
| 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 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 | 635.452 | 94.56 % |
| 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 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Gene | 636.247 | 94.68 % |
| 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 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 | 171.164 | 99.98 % |
| Intel DX79SI | 171.204 | 100.00 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Gene | 171.299 | 100.06 % |
| 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 |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 | 149.065 | 106.56 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Gene | 148.475 | 106.14 % |
| 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 Gene | 205.4 | 105.28 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 | 204.9 | 105.02 % |
| 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 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 | 800.95 | 100.01 % |
| Intel DX79SI | 800.90 | 100.00 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Gene | 797.34 | 99.56 % |
| ASUS P9X79 Pro | 792.67 | 98.97 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 | 785.97 | 98.14 % |
| more is better | ||
Discuss this article in the forums
[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 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Gene | 140 | 106.87 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 | 141 | 107.63 % |
| 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 Rampage IV Gene | 226 | 109.18 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 | 228 | 110.14 % |
| 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 |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 | 103.55 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Gene | 102.94 % |
| 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 Gene | 102.57 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 | 102.39 % |
| 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-M | 98.26 % |
| ASRock X79 Extreme4 | 95.16 % |
| ASUS Rampage IV Gene | 95.12 % |
| Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3 | 94.57 % |
| 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 | + | - | |
| 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. | |||
Discuss this article in the forums
Author: m.buechel@ocaholic.ch