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Asus Rampage II Gene Review - PAGE 1
Pier-Luc Gendreau - Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

Every motherboard manufacturer now has their own Core i7 platform, although they pretty much all come in the same flavor. This market segment is very crowded and it seems like everything has been done before. As soon as a company comes up with something unique, the rest of the crowd shortly follows along with a similar feature. The i7 powered motherboards all sport the enthusiast X58 chipset and boast an equally enthusiatic price tag. With high end features such as triple channel DDR3 memory and support for both CrossFire and SLI, this isn't a platform for the faint of heart.

What we have today is truely different from what we are used too, although admitedly not unique. The Rampage II Gene is Asus' latest product out of the Republic of Gamers series. The RoG motherboards usually come in ATX and some even E-ATX format, but this one is a tiny mATX. Size matters, you say? Maybe not. The Gene is equipped with the usual six memory slots, a whole bunch of connectivity, X-Fi SupremeFX sound, CrossFire, SLI and the list goes on.

Specifications
CPU
Intel® Socket 1366 Core™ i7 Processor Extreme Edition/Core™ i7 Processor
Supports Intel® Dynamic Speed Technology
* Refer to www.asus.com for Intel CPU support list
Chipset
Intel® X58 /ICH10R
System Bus
Up to 6400 MT/s with QuickPath Interconnection
Memory
6 x DIMM, Max. 24 GB, DDR3 2000(O.C.)/1800(O.C.) /1600(O.C.)/1333/1066 Non-ECC,Un-buffered Memory
Triple channel memory architecture
* Supports Intel® Extreme Memory Profile (XMP)
**Due to Intel spec definition, DIMMs of DDR3-1333 or above are out of spec. Please refer to www.asus.com or user manual for the Memory QVL(Qualified Vendors List).
Expansion Slots
2 x PCIe 2.0 x16 support at dual x16 speed
1 x PCIe 2.0 x4
1 x PCI 2.2
Multi-GPU Support
Support NVIDIA SLI™ / ATI CrossFireX™ Technology
Storage
Intel ICH10R controller
6 xSATA 3 Gb/s ports
Intel Matrix Storage Technology Support RAID 0,1,5,10

JMicron® JMB363 PATA and SATA controller
1 xUltraDMA 133/100/66/33 for up to 2 PATA devices
1 xInternal SATA 3.0 Gb/s port
1 xExternal SATA 3.0 Gb/s port (SATA On-the-Go)

*Due to the Windows XP/ Vista limitation, the RAID array with the total capacity over 2TB cannot be set as a boot disk. A RAID array over 2TB can only be set as a data disk only. For more information, please refer to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/946557/en-us
LAN
Realtek® 8111C PCIe Gigabit LAN controller featuring AI NET2
Audio
SupremeFX X-Fi onboard 8 -Channel High Definition Audio CODEC
EAX® Advanced™ HD 4.0
X-Fi CMSS®-3D
X-Fi Crystalizer™
Creative ALchemy
Supports Optical S/PDIF out ports on rear
IEEE 1394
2 x 1394a ports (1 port at back I/O, 1 port onboard)
USB
12 USB 2.0 ports (6 ports at mid-board, 6 ports at back panel)
ASUS Unique Features
Power Design
- 8-phase CPU power
- 2-phase QPI/DRAM power
- 2-phase NB power
- 2-phase Memory power
CPU Level Up
Keyboard-TweakIt
Memory Level Up
iROG
Extreme Tweaker
Loadline Calibration
Intelligent overclocking tools:
- ASUS AI Booster Utility
- O.C. Profile
Overclocking Protection:
- COP EX (Component Overheat Protection - EX)
- Voltiminder LED
- ASUS C.P.R.(CPU Parameter Recall)
Special Features
MemOK!
External LCD Poster
Q-Fan Plus
ASUS EPU-6 Engine
ASUS Q-Connector
ASUS Fan Xpert
ASUS EZ Flash 2
ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3
ASUS MyLogo3
Back Panel I/O Ports
1 x External SATA
1 x IEEE 1394a
1 x LAN(RJ45) port
6 x USB 2.0/1.1
8 -Channel Audio I/O
1 x PS/2 Keyboard port(purple)
1 x S/PDIF (Optical)
1 x Clr CMOS switch
Internal I/O Connectors
3 x USB connectors supports additional 6 USB 2.0 ports
1 x IDE connector for two devices
7 x SATA connectors
5 x Fan connectors: 1 x CPU / 2 x Chassis / 2 x Optional
2 x thermal sensor connectors
1 x IEEE1394a connector
1 x LCD Poster connector
1 x Chassis Intrusion connector
24-pin ATX Power connector
8-pin ATX 12V Power connector
1 x En/Dis-able Clr CMOS header
1 x Front panel audio connector
1 x CD audio in
System panel connector
BIOS
16 Mb Flash ROM
AMI BIOS, PnP, DMI2.0, WfM2.0, SM BIOS 2.4, ACPI2.0a Multi-Language BIOS
Manageability
WOL by PME,WOR by PME,Chasis Intrusion,PXE
Accessories
1 x SLI Cable
1 x External LCD Poster
1 x 2-in-1 ASUS Q-Connector Kit
1 x UltraDMA 133/100/66 cable
2 x SATA cables
1 x I/O Shield
1 x Cable Ties
1 x ROG theme label
1 x User's manual
Support Disc
Support DVD:
- Drivers and applications
Sound Blaster X-Fi Utility
Futuremark® 3DMark®06 Advanced Edition
Kaspersky® Anti-Virus
ASUS TurboV utility
ASUS PC Probe II
ASUS Update
ASUS AI Suite
Form Factor
uATX Form Factor
9.6 inch x 9.6 inch ( 24.4 cm x 24.4 cm )
next: The Board »

Article Index

1.Introduction
2.The Board
3.The BIOS
4.More BIOS
5.Test Setup & Benchmarks Used
6.SiSoftware Sandra 2009
7.TMPG Rendering Program & POV-Ray
8.WinRAR & Cinebench
9.HD Tune & PCMark Vantage
10.Crysis Warhead & Bioshock
11.Call of Duty: World at War & Far Cry 2
12.Left 4 Dead & Mirror's Edge
13.Overclocking, Power Consumption & Conclusion

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