Mainboard Front
The ASUS Rampage IV Extreme looks near identical to the former Rampage Extreme motherboard that proved so popular among X58 followers. This time around though the ROG mainboard features 8 DIMM slots, a redesigned heatsink assembly and a slightly different PCIe configuration. The aesthetics look as good as they always have and lovers of this colour scheeme will be happy to see it's return. I do however feel the scheme is beginning to become a little tired or perhaps overused. How could it be improved? Well apart from the overall colour scheme, the white tabs do tend to spoil the whole red/black look somewhat so it wouldn't be too much to ask for black port retention clips would it?
Mainboard Rear
At the rear of the mainboard we can see that the backplate is a little different from what we are used to seeing and the PCIe layout has the main 16x slots in position 1 (top) and four which should ensure plenty of ventilation is afforded for those looking at an SLI/Crossfire setup.
CPU Socket Area
At first glance the CPU socket appears to be a little more cramped that we are used to seeing with a MOSFET heatsink both above and below the socket area with a further heatsink adjacent to the leftmost DIMM slots. There are a few random Solid caps spoiling what could have been a very neat socket area but lovers of extreme cooling should have little problems insulating this area regardless.
Quad Channel Memory
Once again we see a return of the single clip memory slots enabling installation/removal of DIMM's very easy with just a single clasp holding the memory modules in place rather than the two we are used to. This is especially useful for when you would want to remove or install memory with a GPU already in position.
PCIe Area
The Rampage IV features 4x PCIe Gen 3 slots capable of x16, x16/x16, x16/x8/x16 or 16/x8/x8/x8 in either SLI or Crossfire configurations. Previously the NVIDIA NF200 chip was required for quad SLI but thanks to the additional 8 lanes oprovided by the X79 chipset, quad sli is now a reality without the expensive NVIDIA component. IT would have been nice to find a legacy PCI slot thrown into the mix as some people still use this connector type.
