Asus Rampage IV Black Edition (X79) Motherboard Review

Rating: 9.5.

How does a company make a multiple award-winning, enthusiast-grade motherboard even more ‘extreme'? By making it into a black edition version, of course. Asus has updated its critically-acclaimed Rampage IV Extreme X79 motherboard to ‘Black Edition' status. Have the upgraded components and IVB-E tweaks resulted in yet another rampaging master class?

Respected the world over by overclockers and enthusiasts alike, Asus' Rampage IV Extreme was one of the trend-setters for the point that an X79 motherboard has to reach before it is considered truly high-end. Twenty-four months later and here we are with Asus' new-and-improved X79 flagship – the Rampage IV Black Edition.

Compared to the Rampage IV Extreme, the Black Edition's layout is very similar; 4-card CrossFire and SLI configurations are supported, the power delivery system is squeezed between two pairs of 4-DIMM banks, and we still have a partial ‘bling' factor from the LED-magnifying northbridge-style heatsink.

‘So, what's new?', you ask. As the name suggests, the colour is different, for starters. Audio and connectivity gets upgraded to the ‘high-end 2013′ standard, along with the storage interfaces. Asus' unique OC Panel is included in the bundle. And the opinion-splitting chipset fan has been ditched in favour of a passive heat exchanger.

With its upgraded feature set and Ivy Bridge-E performance tweaks, can Asus' Rampage IV Black Edition prove itself as a worthy heir to the company's X79 throne?

Features:

• OC Panel – Overclocking Command Center
• Extreme Engine Digi+ III – Hardcore power delivery with premium components
• Subzero Sense – Find out how cold your board is
• VGA Hotwire – Hotwire your system
• SupremeFX Black – Gaming supremacy through 120dB SNR calibre audio
• Wi-Fi 802.11ac/Bluetooth 4.0
• 4-Way NIVDIA® SLI™ / AMD CrossFireX™ Support

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