First Looks: ASUS ROG Rampage IV GENE (Intel X79) - mATX gaming powerhouse

[siopao1984]

---

Micro-sized box for the microATX motherboard - ASUS has some of the best packaging designers in the industryRear ViewIncluded Accessories and DocumentationThe board - we see 4 DDR3 memory slots (which is excusable oweing to its size), 3 x PCIe x16 slots (more on the config later) and 1 PCIe x4 slot. Like its bigger Rampage IV Formula brother, passive heatpipe coolers take care of the cooling of the PCH and MOSFETs.Back of board - no chance of accidental electrical shots at the power circuitry area. Notice that the last PCIe x16 slot actually has 8 PCIe lanes of soldering points only.I/O Panel - Like all the other ASUS X79 boards, Bios Flashback (white USB port) makes it here as well. The eSATA is only 3GB/s and wired from the Intel PCH instead of the usual ASMedia 6GB/s (probably due to limited board space). Gold plated audio connectors are used as well, which is a nice touch. Only 2 USB 3.0 ports are provided, although the 7 USB 2.0 ports should be enough for most users.

Read more: First Looks: ASUS ROG Rampage IV GENE (Intel X79) - mATX gaming powerhouse by VR-Zone.com

[siopao1984]

The board, stripped of all its heatpipe coolers



Thoughtfully designed and minimalist heatsinks - we still would advocate active cooling of the mosfet area especially during heavy overclocking



A thermal pad is used to ensure good contact



The LOTES CPU socket is actually the same as the ones on the R4F and R4E, but no X-Socket (LGA1366 backplate) was bundled with the board



Plenty of power phases for heavy overclocking on this board. The usual 8-pin EPS connector is also included to provide enough juice



Voltage reading points are still present, and the PORT-80 debug LED is moved to this side of the board



4 x 6GB/s (2 from an ASMedia controller) + 2 x 3GB/s SATA Ports



Power/Reset buttons - the placement is a little disappointing as it is going to be hard to reach when the PCIe slots above them are filled



SupremeFX III audio solution, which is actually a Realtek hardware codec with Creative EAX enhancements. ASUS has enhanced it by using a big "Power Cap" and dedicated gold circuitry to keep the audio SNR ratio high



The PCIe slot configuration allows for triple-slot graphic cards (although the mATX casing will need 5 expansion cutouts instead of 4)

[isyot_daut]

niiiinnndoootaa!

[buknoy24]

Small But terrible

[archt_vin]

grabiha! na inlove ko!

[akomao]

nindot jd kaayo na board ui. makalaway

[eXpLoDe]

oh my gulay. kalamai... samot na cguro ug tag 3 ram slots each side.

[archt_vin]

4 bai on each sides....

[eXpLoDe]

4 bai on each sides....

batian nako tan.awn kung 4 each side mag huot na sa board ug sa case.

[harhar]

The motherboard in red...