With all of the news about the Z77 Express motherboards and Ivy Bridge we thought we would step back and take a look at our old friend the X79 and the Sandy Bridge-E CPU. This platform still represents the top end for Intel and although it does not have the same mainstream media acceleration that Ivy Bridge does it is still quite the platform. We are going to dive into the design and features of one of the more prominent enthusiast products for this chipset; Asus Republic of Gamers Rampage IV. We have the Rampage IV Gene and the Formula in the lab and will be running both of these through their paces in the coming days. Right now we are going to walk around the Rampage IV Gene which at $290 is a lot of money to shell out, but it also looks like a lot of motherboard in a small package. Let’s take a look shall we?
The Box and Goodies - As this is a Republic of Gamers board you are going to get the now standard box (and marketing material) on the Rampage IV Gene. The front cover flap has been kept clean with not much more than the name the ROG starburst and a few badges indicating what the board supports (CPU type, SLI etc). Under the flap we do have a more detailed listing of features as the real-estate has doubled. It is also a little less intrusive to the potential buyer by doing this.
The back is also very typical of the ROG box style with a short listing of what Asus feels are important features along with a spec break down. After you are done looking over the box and get inside you will find a nice assortment of accessories which is also very typical of Asus’ top end lineup. We cover all of this in more detail in our video coverage which is at the end of the next section.
