In the enthusiast world you can never seem to have enough power or enough headroom for your system. Although you might hear rumors of the “post PC” era or that the desktop is dead nothing could be further from the truth with regards to Asus and their Republic of Gamers line up of boards. We have covered a number of these going all the way back to before the ROG line was even established and can tell you that when it comes to this line Asus spares no expense in components or research and development. Today we have the ROG Rampage IV Formula in the lab and will be covering the design, features and component choices that Asus has made with this this board and across the entire ROG line.
The Box and Goodies -The box for the ROG Rampage IV Formula looks like the rest of the lineup. It is ROG red with the same starburst on the front. One new addition is the PCIe 3.0 Ready banner. It is a nice touch that not only brings a good performance bonus now and will also have more headroom later if the going rumors about Ivy Bridge E compatibility are correct.
Under the very red front cover we find not only more information, but also a view of the Rampage IV Formula. It is a nice touch in reality and if you were to pick this up in a shop (more likely overseas than in the US, but still possible) it would be a good way to see what you are getting. The features detailed on the front flap are also nice and show off what makes the Formula and the ROG line as a whole stand out.
The back follows the same layout as the other ROG boards we have tested. You get a recap of important features, a spec list, and also a diagram of the I/O panel.
You are not buying a box though; you are interested in what is inside the box. After opening it you find two boxes; one with the Rampage IV Formula and the other with all of the accessories that Asus throws into their ROG boards. You get eight SATA cables; four SATA 3.0 and four SATA 2.0. There are two dual card bridges one SLI and One Crossfire also a three-way SLI bridge for any extreme gaming.
Other items include an additional back for the CPU socket (we will cover that later) a door hanger, a USB cable for the ROG connect feature, manuals, Drive DVDs, Cable Labels and Q-Connect blocks. It is a nice little haul.
