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It is difficult not to walk away feeling impressed with the Asus Rampage III Extreme motherboard. After opening I immediately raised a smile because clearly ASUS wanted to include everything possible in the box [shoulder massage when you open it maybe? – Ed]. There is literally nothing we could think of adding as they have covered every base, then some.
Overclocking with the Asus Rampage III Extreme is as pain-free as it gets. Solid, flexible and hugely capable. Wanna feel like an F1 engineer? Add a Ferrari baseball cap, USB cable and start overclocking remotely from your laptop. The actual design also needs a special mention. All of the niggling issues normally associated with board layout have been intelligently avoided. Parallel positioned SATA connectors for instance? check. Multiple 12V power input for overclocking stability? check. Good heatsink design? check. Optional active cooling? check. The list just goes on and on – there are so many extras that I could easily make this a conclusion book, rather than a simple closing statement.
If I was being picky? I'd ask Asus to include another Gigabit LAN connection. When I saw only one I was stunned. Do I need two? Not really, but hell if you can include something as random as ‘Bluetooth overclocking software' then I would immediately expect two LAN ports.
With all good things however there is always a negative, and while you would expect this board to be expensive, it is retailing in the UK for well over £300 and a quick search found it on huge UK retailer SCAN for £330, which is a huge amount of money for any component. You certainly get what you pay for but this motherboard is exclusively in the ‘deep pockets enthusiast‘ sector.
For this particular audience however price is a moot point, I am positive if Asus charged £450 for it, the hardcore enthusiast would still buy it. All in all we have one of the finest motherboards I have ever seen, with every angle covered and with a build quality in a league of its own. The baseline performance is strong and the overclocking capabilities are vast, even for relative newcomers.
Asus set out to create the fastest, most feature rich motherboard for the hardcore enthusiast and they certainly have delivered the goods. The big question is now that the gauntlet has been thrown down, which manufacturer has the stones to step up to the plate?
KitGuru Says: Do you overclock? do you like shiny heatsinks? Then this is a must have.
Discuss in our forums here or just leave a comment
Available from Scan, Overclockers and YOYOTech
As U2 once said… de-si-i-i-i-i-i-rre !
DEAR GOD, is that for real? look at the price, but I still WANT ONE !
DEAR god is that for real? the price is insane but I STILL WANT ONE!
actually, I think id need a new case as it wouldnt take it
Nah it would fit ok, its just a bit bigger than ATX, like 2cm max, should fit ok, just might be tight on the hard drives
ASUS sure as shit know how to make motherboards, no argument there
The price puts me off, but im sick getting crap motherboards and them failing in a few months, maybe if you buy this it would last forever.
The reviews on this site KICK ASS, cant believe this is just up!
Wicked review guys, love the product, been saving up for it for months now, almost there !
I want one, too much money asus !
on Ln2 our team got a 980X to 6.2ghz ! with this very board, love it ±
6.2ghz you are kidding me, any links?
No links but we are talking about it over on xtremesystems. The CPU might be dead though but it was worth it.
love the review, its on my to buy list, didnt know this was out yet. thanks.
Yeah its been out a while but this has made me want to buy it now, I just will get killed by my wife if I fork out the money. maybe I can hide it on the credit card?
Hey Zardon if you are bored with the mobo, fire it over, ill give you £200 for it !
Wow, very pretty board, thanks for the review, really good read, out of stock here. so people are buying them (unless they only made 5)
Yeah its dead for sure. 6.2ghz on the CPU though and the motherboard is still going. time to get another one !
Hey Darth what voltage did you use on the CPU before it popped?
was actually nearer 1.9, we just confirmed. it held up well, and give us insane bench results in superpi, a few seconds.
1.9 volts, fuck me ! im not letting you near my hardware :p
Asus Rampage III Extreme!!!
I like it, I love it, I order it.
up to 24 gb of ram at 1333mhz !
and it takes i7 extreme
just if i had the money