Rampage IV Formula Extensive Overview

And finally the voltage screen, quite a conservative setting for vCore.

It is very important to have suitable cooling for this profile, and you would need a top end air cooed system or a quality water cooled system. Because each CPU has its own unique behaviours you will find that it is possible to fine tune your settings slightly. The profile is based on an average CPU and no two CPU's are the same. Some ram kits will need a few notches increase of VCCIO to be perfectly stable. That being said, the OC profile will work as is for the majority of people and has proven to be the most popular OC profile amongst Rampage IV Formula owners. The multitude of BIOS settings are just shouting out for experimentation. Save your preferred OC settings in one of the user defined profiles and explore the BIOS.

SLI and CrossFireX – Quad Graphics Cards

But what would a gamers rig be without a graphic solution to match the high end performance of the Formula motherboard. I have paired up the Rampage IV Formula motherboard with a ROG Matrix GTX 580 graphics card. As you can see the graphics card is a triple slot beast, however the Rampage IV Formula has provision for two triple slot graphics cards to run in SLI or alternatively up to four double slot graphic cards in Quad SLI. Now that is some serious graphics power. And all of this on a standard ATX motherboard form factor. Just ensure that if you are using a Matrix or some other high-end graphics card that you have sufficient space for the card, as these babies over hang the edge of the motherboard by quite a bit. All of the modern high-performance graphic cards are monsters it seems. Just goes to show size does count sometimes!

LAN

Ethernet LAN is provided a single Intel Gigabit LAN Controller. Doing the OS install for the first time with this motherboard I decided to use only the drivers from the ASUS support page, which worked perfectly right from the get go and I have no complaints.

Sound - SupremeFX III

Sound is a key part of any gamers set up. And ASUS have provided a very competent onboard solution. Now I know that there are many who prefer the dedicated sound solutions over onboard sound but I prefer to have a quality sound solution onboard. Mainly because I tend to fill all my PCIe slots with graphic cards.

• SupremeFX III built-in 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC- Output Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A-Weighted): 110 dB- Output THD+N at 1kHz: 95 dB- Supports : Jack-detection, Multi-streaming, Front Panel Jack-retasking
• Audio Feature :- SupremeFX Shielding Technology- 1500 uF Audio Power Capacitor- Gold-plated jacks- X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity- EAX Advanced™ HD 5.0

  - THX TruStudio PRO

  - Creative ALchemy

  - Blu-ray audio layer Content Protection

  - Optical S/PDIF out port(s) at back panel

The sound quality is in my view is really good, and while the X-Fi is not the actual hardware component, but rather a software layer, it does the job rather well. The onboard SupremeFX III audio solution features eight HD audio channels equipped with a 1500uF capacitor and a metal EMI cover. SupremeFX Shielding technology isolates analogue signals from digital sources to ensure exceptional audio clarity; while a gold-plated jack minimizes audio distortion and prevents corrosion.  Playing some of the more ambient games was quite intense with my Logitech Z-5500, while swapping over to my headphones was painless and again the sound was top notch.  Sound for gamers is of course such a personal choice; there are some that will never use onboard sound, others like me who am satisfied by the quality and just do not see the need to use a dedicated sound card considering the quality of the onboard offering. I would be interested to hear what the hard core gamers have to say about that.

USB Connectivity

Considering the number of devices that a gamer can have connected to their system it is not surprising that a gamer considers how many USB ports a motherboard has available. Do not fear, as the Rampage IV Formula has plenty, providing 12 in all. The motherboard pins have a pair of USB 3.0 and an additional six that are located along the bottom of the board. You can see below there is no shortage of USB connectivity on the rear I/O either.

Different Versions

I have the BATTLEFIELD 3 version of the Rampage IV Formula motherboard. The motherboard came with this card tucked inside the user manual.

Simple to scratch the strip on the back to get the code and all that is left to do is download a full version of the game. Even if you got the full retail version of the game already you can always sell the code online!

Other than the picture on the front of the box and the inclusion of the voucher for the full version of the game there is no difference between the two models. Both have the ASUS three years warranty of course.

Final Wrap Up

The big brother of the LGA2011 line up of ROG motherboards (Rampage IV Extreme) has had all the attention when the platform was released a few months ago, however the Formula has quietly got on with doing the job of delivering a great gaming platform, quad graphic card capability, while still offering all the performance of the Extreme without the extras that a gamer will never use. This is reflected in the difference in price tag between the two. From a gamers point of view the Formula does everything that we want and demand from a board and still retain the edginess of being a ROG motherboard with great overclocking and a unique UEFI BIOS. Interestingly I found that my ram clocked better on the Formula than on the Extreme motherboard, yet my CPU achieved the exact same overclock on both. The power and reset buttons coupled with the diagnostic LCD’s brings a welcome parity between the Extreme and Formula boards. The fact that the board is a ATX form factor is such a big plus for me too as it fits into my existing PC case. Overall I was very impressed with the board and do think ASUS have gotten close as can be to meeting the claim of best gamer board available.