Asus Rampage IV Black Edition (X79) Motherboard Review

1. Introduction2. Asus Rampage IV Black Edition: Packaging and Bundle3. Asus Rampage IV Black Edition: Board Layout and Features4. Asus Rampage IV Black Edition: BIOS5. Testing Methodology6. System: PCMark 87. System: 3DMark 118. System: 3DMark9. Processor: SiSoft Sandra10. Processor: Cinebench R11.5 64 bit11. Processor: Super Pi 12. Processor: WinRAR13. Processor: HandBrake14. Motherboard: SATA Performance15. Motherboard: USB 3.0 Performance16. Motherboard: Audio Performance17. Gaming: Bioshock Infinite18. Gaming: Metro 203319. Gaming: Metro: Last Light20. Overclocking: Frequencies21. Overclocking: Performance22. Technical: Power Consumption23. Closing Thoughts24. View All Pages

We will outline the performance increases that can be obtained from using the Asus Rampage IV Black Edition motherboard to overclock our system. Our overclocked processor frequency was 4625MHz and memory speed was 2000MHz.

As a performance comparison, we have included the overclocked results from MSI's X79A-GD45 Plus motherboard. The maximum overclocked configuration achieved with the MSI board was a 4500MHz (36 x 125MHz) processor frequency and 2000MHz CL9 memory speed.

3DMark benefits from the Rampage motherboard's additional CPU clock speed over its MSI contender.

With a 125MHz CPU frequency advantage over MSI's X79A-GD45 Plus, Asus' Rampage IV Black Edition shows chart-topping performance in Super Pi and Cinebench.

Handbrake also benefits from the 125MHz clock speed advantage offered by Asus' Rampage motherboard – conversion time is reduced by just over 4% in comparison to MSI's 4.5GHz setup.

Utilising a 4.625GHz clock speed, the Asus system is able to gather a few extra tenths of a frame in Bioshock Infinite and Metro: Last Light which allow it to outperform MSI's motherboard by 1 FPS in each test.

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