Compared to the specification of our last four motherboard subjects based on the X79 chipset, the ASUS Rampage IV Extreme looks to hit the sweet spot managing to balance features with powerful on-board components with little compromise. Below is a comparison shot between the ASUS Rampage IV Extreme and it's closest competitor, the MSI X79 Big Bang XPower II:
Straight away we see that the ASUS motherboard is dwarfed by the MSI. ASUS have managed to cram a huge array of features and a quite impressive specification (below) into a standard motherboard design which conforms to ATX standards rather than the XL size of the MSI. The MSI has double the size voltage regulation module (22 phase vs 11) while both motherboards retain quad channel memory.
The MSI mainboard has 7 PCIe ports whereas the ASUS board has 5. In fairness to ASUS though, the liklihood of all seven slots on the MSI being used are extremely slim considering that most mid-high end graphics cards today are double size meaning each GPU would take up two PCIe slots. That said more and more add-on cards are becomming available that use the PCIe bus and thus the MSI does have that extra appeal.
Also worthy of note is that the ASUS has a fan on the X79 chipset cooler but has smaller heatsinks than the MSI so rather than opt for a large passive design, ASUS have trimmed back on the use of metal and gone with an active cooling design. We will investigate this further later in the review.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and while the MSI certainly looks oppresive, the ASUS traditional red/black theme i sure to appeal to the masses even if it is starting to look a little 'same old same-old'.
Straight away we see that the ASUS motherboard is dwarfed by the MSI. ASUS have managed to cram a huge array of features and a quite impressive specification (below) into a standard motherboard design which conforms to ATX standards rather than the XL size of the MSI. The MSI has double the size voltage regulation module (22 phase vs 11) while both motherboards retain quad channel memory.
The MSI mainboard has 7 PCIe ports whereas the ASUS board has 5. In fairness to ASUS though, the liklihood of all seven slots on the MSI being used are extremely slim considering that most mid-high end graphics cards today are double size meaning each GPU would take up two PCIe slots. That said more and more add-on cards are becomming available that use the PCIe bus and thus the MSI does have that extra appeal.
Also worthy of note is that the ASUS has a fan on the X79 chipset cooler but has smaller heatsinks than the MSI so rather than opt for a large passive design, ASUS have trimmed back on the use of metal and gone with an active cooling design. We will investigate this further later in the review.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and while the MSI certainly looks oppresive, the ASUS traditional red/black theme i sure to appeal to the masses even if it is starting to look a little 'same old same-old'.
