The ASUS X99 Rampage V Extreme ROG Review
by Ian Cutress on June 22, 2015 8:45 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- Asus
- ROG
- Haswell-E
- X99
Conclusion
Having used the last two Extreme versions of the top of the ROG line, the Rampage IV Extreme and the Rampage IV Black Edition, it subsequently occurs perhaps the Rampage V Extreme comes across as a little underwhelming. If you've been there, seen that, it's hard to get as pumped up as the first time. The Extreme is a very good motherboard, and comes across as well engineered and with some fun stuff to play with that new users will enjoy. If you were happy with the X79 Extreme and need a comparable hardware option for X99 then the Extreme is ready to take that place. My fear is that it the Rampage V Extreme isn't as breathtaking as the X79 was.
The measure of breathtaking-ness isn't the defining feature of a motherboard however. In terms of kit we get ASUS' enhanced OC socket at the front and center, which reportedly gives better overclocking margins as well as high end memory support which we covered in our initial X99 coverage as it also featured on the X99 Deluxe. Another big feature is the use of three-stream dual band 802.11ac Wi-Fi which will aid throughput and beam forming for routers that are capable. ASUS is using tri-stream as a defining feature on the top end of its product stack, which means it is also on the Deluxe as well. To complete the trifecta, the OC Panel allows gamers to get hardware information and implement fan controls at the touch of a button while extreme overclockers can adjust voltages and frequencies on the fly.
Other features in play include eight fan headers with DC and PWM support, with four extra headers on the OC Panel, SupremeFX audio via an upgraded ALC1150 solution (PCB separation, extended EMI shield, upgraded filter caps, headphone impedance detection) as well as SoundStage and Keybot. Storage comes from the 10 SATA ports provided by the chipset as well as two more from an ASMedia controller and two SATA Express ports therein. An M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 slot is also here for 2260, 2280 and 22110 drives, but shares bandwidth with the bottom PCIe 3.0 port in red. This has implications when multiple graphics cards are in play and SLI limitations, but the subset of M.2 users and 4-way SLI users should actually be fairly small. A total of 14 USB 3.0 ports populate the board, two from headers and ten on the rear panel from ASMedia controllers/hubs.
The BIOS and Software packages from ASUS still continue to be on the better side of interactive and informative, with the ROG packages aiming for something a little bit more than the standard. Due to the overclocking nature of the Extreme, there is the potential to get bogged down in all the overclocking options for new users. To this end there are several automatic overclocking options, both in the BIOS and software, as well as assistance through the ROG forums. Our overclocking performance showed that a mediocre CPU is still a mediocre CPU, whichever way you slice it, but good luck to those who scored nice silicon. We’ve tested the X99 Extreme up to DDR4-3333 on the latest BIOS as of testing, although our contacts at ASUS have stated that they are working on the new higher-end kits (3400 and up) to add to the QVL.
Whatever the X-Factor (or Y-Factor, or Z-Factor) is, I’m not getting the same feeling as I did from the X79 Extreme. In the words of James May of ex-Top Gear fame, there’s no fizzing root here. Part of that may be the saturation of high-end boards in the market, always going for halo, or the lack of a 4.7+ GHz overclocking CPU architecture when testing as was the case with Sandy Bridge-E and X79, but I’m not sure. It will be interesting to see the sales numbers this time around, and whether ASUS can hold that high end lead. Overall, the Rampage V Extreme continues the trend of the ROG Extreme halo series and builds on the nicely designed X99 Deluxe with an ROG garnish. For users looking for that direct, high-end upgrade from X58 or X79, it will have to be in the list for consideration.
It is also worth noting that since we received this sample, ASUS has released a USB 3.1 edition with a bundled USB 3.1 card in preparation for when the appropriate devices hit the market.
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frodbonzi - Monday, June 22, 2015 - link
This board is many months old... why is the review coming out now?!!?!?Saying that, it's a great board... If you are trying to use the M.2 SAS connector I should warn you that the cable will force your video card up in the first slot... Had a buddy blow his board that way (ASUS sent a replacement and acknowledged that it's a known problem!).
If you are trying to use a PCIE HD (I have the Intel 750), triple SLI AND use the USB 3.1 add-on card... let me know, as I'm still unable to get it to go (I thought I could get the SSD into the black PCIE_X4 slot, but there doesn't seem to be enough room with all the red PCIE_x16 slots occupied (3 TitanX and the USB 3.1 card)...
mazzy80 - Tuesday, June 23, 2015 - link
Why add a M.2 slot on a EATX board, with limit capacity, even more on a Extreme board ?The space is not a problem on a Big Tower, a PCI-e slot SSD is not limited on the PCIe lanes or capacity.
maybe a day it'll possible to buy a full slot x16 PCIe 3.0 SSD for extreme performance...
SATA Express is a waste of space, useless..
why a integrated Audio card ? If I can pay $500 for a motherboard I can pay $100 for a top of line Audio card of my choice.
I don't see how X99 can match the X79 success. A underwhelming High-End platform that will look old in 2 month when Skylake will be out... 2 gen ahead... with the new DMI 3.0, new SAS ports, cheaper and faster.
frodbonzi - Monday, June 22, 2015 - link
Another thing... when reviewing such a high-end motherboard, why are all of the benchmarks (except for the last Shadow of Mordor one) in 720p or 1080p?If you're buying a $1000+ processor and $400+ motherboard, you are most likely gaming at at LEAST 1440p, if not 4k...
ggathagan - Monday, June 22, 2015 - link
Generally, sites will test motherboards and CPU's at lower resolutions to eliminate the GPU from the equation as much as possible.pseudoid - Tuesday, June 23, 2015 - link
Thanx for the review!Back in the day of Intel X38 Core2 Extreme, I had the Asus Maximus Formula SE MoBo, based on AnandTech's review! It would not die! But now that Asus has decided the ROG boards are not worthy of dual NICs, I won't go near them, as I got spoiled running a NAS off the 2nd LAN. It is also funny that Asus has never seen fit to integrate a cheezy $2 speaker on their MoBoz, when boot errors are detected/occur!
AnandKid - Friday, June 26, 2015 - link
I like the RAMdisk solution - they should work on that in next generation of MOBOs. For instance add a Li-ion battery to keep RAM disk refreshed for some time - that would enable using it as 'normal' disk drive and boot the system option should be then added. I still remember in 2006 Gigabyte i-RAM card - amazing thing! (http://techreport.com/review/9312/gigabyte-i-ram-s... should make another one for PCIe 3.0. no need to wait for PCIe 4.0 - come on ASUS bring it on!skypine27 - Friday, June 26, 2015 - link
Im a high end, and target audience, user of this board. System specs:*CPU: Intel 5960x @ 4.2 ghz on Corsair H110i GT WaterCool Unit
*Mobo: Asus Rampage V Extreme
*RAM: 32 GB DDR4 G.Skill Ripjaws4 3000 (set to 2400)
*Graphics: 2 x Titan X (Nvidia Reference cards) SLI
*Monitor: LG 34UC97 curved 34" 3440 x 1440 @ 60hz
*Storage A: Samsung SM951 512MB Windows 8.1
*Storage B/C/D: 2 x V-Raptor 1.0TB Raid0. 1 x Crucial M4 512MB. 12TB USB 3.0 External Raid0
*Case/PSU: Thermaltake V51+ Corsair AX1200i PSU + Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit
People that are complaining "E-ATX kills it for me...". Well, go back and google the Extreme lineup from Asus. They have been E-ATX for a LONG time. These aren't, and never were, aimed at guys going for a tiny build.
I like the M2 slot. The SM 951 Im running as a boot drive (+ Star Citizen) gets performance that clobbers even a 2 x SSD Raid 0 setup. And, it tucks out of the way and is totally concealed beneath my #1 Titan X.
Anyway, if size is a concerning, don't waste your time ever looking at an Asus Extreme product. They will always be "max size"
Oscarcharliezulu - Friday, June 26, 2015 - link
The grammar in this article is giving me headache. It reads like a clean up of a google translation.Oscarcharliezulu - Friday, June 26, 2015 - link
One benefit I found from my old gene mtx board other than it worked so damned well was the fantastic resale on eBay - I bought it second hand and sold it 2 years later and got a lot of my money back. ROG are top of the line so people seek them out rather than cheaper boards. And this was a 775 chipset which was 2 generations old when I sold it.godzrule - Monday, July 20, 2015 - link
Can I have a 5820k i7 running 2x980ti in 16x and 8x(or16x?) and then have my 951 M.2 running at its full speed on 4x as my Boot drive? The 5820k has 28 pcie lanes and so 16+8+4=28 But i would like everyones thoughts on this as its been impossible to find solid info thanks!