ASUS RAMPAGE XTREME

[Computex08] RoG X48/P45 boards at ASUS

Author: Marc Mouthaan

Publication: 06/05/2008 4:56 PM

News type: Product news

Views: 12489

ASUS showed two new Republic of Gamers motherboards on its stand. The Rampage Extreme is the new topmodel, based on Intel's X48 chipset, combined with DDR3 memory. The Maximus II Formula is the RoG board with P45 chipset. Both should be available soon. A quick glance at the pictures show that ASUS has drastically changed the design of its high-end board to enhance the looks. Since nice looks aren't everything, ASUS has added some interesting new features to these boards.

Both the Maximus II and the Rampage feature a 16-phase power design for the CPU. ASUS has chosen a 3-phase power solution for the chipset and the memory modules have a 2-phase design. This should keep the boards stable even under extremely high voltages. We're not done yet though: both boards have an external display which shows things like clockspeed and voltages. In both cases the heatpipe cooling is done passively, with optional fans bundled to place on the heatsinks. The Rampage Extreme also has a water cooling block for the north bridge. ASUS has been clever enough to allow this block to be removed with only two screws, making it possible to remove and replace it with any other northbridge block.

Also handy is the presence of two BIOS chips on both boards. They aren't just there to have a backup of the BIOS in case a flash fails: ASUS also offers the possibility to flash two seperate BIOSes, for example, one stable and one beta version, which can be switched between using a jumper.

The X48 board takes it even further. This one features an enormous Fujitsu 1000 uF capacitors beneath the CPU-socket and next to the memory modules to increase the stability with high voltages. We find a few buttons and some sort of miniature joystick to the far left of the Rampage board, this allows use to configure while overclocking/benchmarking. OC'ers that wish to adjust the voltage during the benchmark will no longer have to solder their own potentiometers to the board.

ASUS claims that both boards, obviously dependant on the processor, are able to reach an FSB of over 600 MHz. Apparently they have reached DDR2 speeds of over 1400 MHz on their Maximus II Formula. The Rampage Extreme has reached DDR3 speeds of over 2100 MHz.

The new RoG boards should be available by mid-July.

ASUS Rampage Extreme (Intel X48 / DDR3)

On the fly adjusting of frequencies or voltages on the Rampage Extreme.

ASUS Maximus II Formula (Intel P45 / DDR2)