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.
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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 )
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I am considering building my Sis a uATX gaming computer using the Antec NSK-3480 case and I've considered this board.
I don't think she needs core i7 though, does anyone know if ASUS plans on a socket 775 or AMD AM3 version of this board?
Also, can you talk a little about the sound quality? This was the only uATX I saw that didn't have RealTek sound, I wonder how it stands up against Creative X-Fi.
I'm sure they have a mATX in the works for AM3, but whether it will be part of the RoG series, I do not know. I don't expect anything new on the 775 platform, especially in the higher end.
I would love to comment about sound quality, but my speakers aren't too good and I'm not anything near an audiophile. I can tell you it sounded good to me, but then again, I always thought integrated sound was good enough
No word on an AM3 version though, and I was wanting to get her a X3 720 too
ETA: I hope you review the Maximus II GENE as well, most reviews of the Rampage II GENE say the northbridge gets very hot and in a uATX case there's not much room for cooling so I hope a 775/AM3 wouldn't have this problem. Also, it'd hopefully be $50 cheaper.
I just reread your review and noticed the board doesn't have a PS/2 mouse port...lol that's a nice start for finally removing these legacy ports...I always wondered why a uATX board in 2009 would make room for VGA, PS/2, Floppy, and IDE ports. I'd love it if they took that space and replaced it with something useful, like a wireless G chip.