bit-tech.net

Asus Rampage III Extreme pictured, detailed

Published on 19th March 2010 by Richard Swinburne

Asus latest Rampage III Extreme motherboard looks, uh, Extreme!

Asus' latest Republic of Gamers motherboard for Intel LGA1366 is the Rampage III Extreme. Asus has upgraded its previous LGA1366 beast, the Rampage II Extreme, with a tidier design and very angular red and black aesthetics.

As you can see from the photos below, the board is fatter than your usual ATX, although not taller - so it should fit in most tower cases. Asus has dropped in the same motherboard voltage check points and overvolt switches from the Rampage II, although the twiddly knobs have been dropped in favour of the RoG Connect over USB and Bluetooth: something the Maximus III first showed off.

Three (although we can only see two) very high capacity 'ML' caps are dropped in for the CPU, QPI and memory for extra high performance stability, although we suspect only the extreme overclockers will actually benefit from these. The CPU socket itself gets 8-phase power, the QPI/DRAM (on CPU), X58 northbridge and DDR3 memory slots all have 3 phase each too. Two 8-pin EPS 12V CPU connectors supply the CPU - a demand from pro-overclockers we've heard - although only one actually needs to be used.

Naturally the board features a pair of SATA 6Gbps and USB 3 ports, although the core chipset remains the Intel X58 and ICH10R underneath. An update for X58 is not expected until Q4 this year.

The Rampage III Extreme feature list includes:

LGA1366 socket for Core i7 CPUs
Intel X58/ICH10R
Six DDR3 DIMM slots supporting a maximum of 24GB of memory. Asus claims "up to 2,133MHz OC"
Four PCI-Express 2.0 slots: x16/x16, x16/x8/x8, x8/x8/x8/x8 bandwidth with support for 3-Way SLI and ATI CrossFireX
One 4x PCI-Express slot
One legacy PCI 2.2 slot
Six SATA 3Gbps ports
Two SATA 6Gbps ports from a Marvell controller
One SATA and eSATA 3Gbps port from a JMicron controller
Intel PHY Gigabyte Ethernet
Two IEEE1394a Firewire ports
Nine USB 2 ports - 2 pin-outs, 6 rear I/O ports, 1 RoG connect
Two USB 3 ports from an NEC controller

Are you interested in a the latest Asus Republic of Gamers motherboard? Could it be better or is it more than enough? Let us know, in the forums.

Click to enlarge
Asus Rampage III Extreme pictured, detailed Asus Rampage III Extreme pictured, spec'd

46 Comments

Discuss in the forums Reply

mi1ez 19th March 2010, 15:43

Hot, but overkill for 95% of us.

NuTech 19th March 2010, 15:44

Looks more like the skyrise from Blade Runner than an actual motherboard.

thehippoz 19th March 2010, 15:49

maybe maybe =] best part is it's not evga!

Unknownsock 19th March 2010, 16:01

Aslong as its below £300 i may just get this board next month, nice timing for my new setup!

Fizzban 19th March 2010, 16:20

Looks rather tasty I must say.

Jack_Pepsi 19th March 2010, 16:28

I'd want an µATX version - :drool:

crazyceo 19th March 2010, 17:11

I've been waiting to see when Asus would intergrate the USB3 and SATA6 on their boards. When will we see Bit-Tech benchtests?

Looks fantastic though.

HandMadeAndroid 19th March 2010, 17:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by NuTech
Looks more like the skyrise from Blade Runner than an actual motherboard.

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. I've seen CMOS glisten in the dark off the shoulders of an Asus board.......

B1GBUD 19th March 2010, 17:29

I think I just http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pXfHLUlZf4

Burnout21 19th March 2010, 18:07

horrid looking board, looks like they hired someone to design those heatsinks in sketchup, horrid horrid angles!

confusis 19th March 2010, 19:14

I love the design!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Burnout21
horrid looking board, looks like they hired someone to design those heatsinks in sketchup, horrid horrid angles!

You'd be surprised what you can achieve with sketchup. Check out the design contests in the modding forum some time!

Fizzban 19th March 2010, 19:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by HandMadeAndroid
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. I've seen CMOS glisten in the dark off the shoulders of an Asus board.......

+ Rep for that.

Madness_3d 19th March 2010, 20:03

As A teenager I think this board looks absolutely awesome, and I'd love one for my folding machine. Perfect Board layout ^_^

bagman 19th March 2010, 20:13

about time asus bought out a high end gamers board for x58 there last one was one release i hope this is really good perfomer like the rampage II extreme was

ramliz 19th March 2010, 21:01

As much I love to see best being surpassed by the latest awesome thing coming out, I hate myself when I remember I can afford one these well after it becomes a piece of junk :/ GO ASUS \../

Bloody_Pete 19th March 2010, 23:22

I've been looking forward to this, just in time for next years Student Loan payments... Any idea of price yet?

1ad7 19th March 2010, 23:52

OOO I WANT ONE!!!!! I will get this if I upgrade before a new socket... looks sexy... I love asus lately.

Farfalho 20th March 2010, 01:17

I've seen the new Asus Crosshair 4 Formula and the Extreme from CeBIT from a brazilian site. BT you are a tad forgetting about that 2 mobos. Thought I would see some coverage done by you, I know you have a lot of news from the CeBIT but shame on you.

The only thing I can point my finger at the new Crosshair range is the fact that they use the 890GX chipset from AMD and not the 890FX, when that chipset comes out with a high-end board, then I'll get my "jizz in my pants" moment.

Oh, one last thing, Crosshair 4 Formula had that mosfet heatsink design with a slight change to the NB and SB. The Extreme, if I recall properly, was a tad different

l3v1ck 20th March 2010, 07:17

I dread to think what the price will be.

[PUNK] crompers 20th March 2010, 12:44

meh, its only useful for about 1% of people, and most people who do buy it will never use it to its full potential

Tuthmose 20th March 2010, 12:57

It may seem kind of a marginal point, but it's nice to see a high-end ASUS board with 8 SATA ports again. I've been bummed at the lack of prolific SATA connectivity by many of their latest offerings. I've got some drives to hook up, people - what's with the skimpy 6 ports on the P6T and p6TDs?!?

That said, it's far more board that I will ever need or can afford . . .

-Tuthmose

tron 20th March 2010, 14:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tuthmose
It may seem kind of a marginal point, but it's nice to see a high-end ASUS board with 8 SATA ports again. I've been bummed at the lack of prolific SATA connectivity by many of their latest offerings. I've got some drives to hook up, people - what's with the skimpy 6 ports on the P6T and p6TDs?!?

Yeah I think 8 SATA ports should be a minimum on any high end board. Some people think I go over the top, but I like to have massive hard drive storage in my PCs.

As for this new Republic Of Gamers motherboard, it looks absolutely beautiful to look at. I'm definitely interested in this. ;)

Redbeaver 20th March 2010, 14:56

if i got the money, im definitely picking this up.

oc'ing from your smartphone = win! LOL! (may not work as intended, but totally awesome bragging rights - oh wait, can i put u on hold? i think my CPU is getting too hot, i need to reduce the FSB real quick)

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/29741-asus-rog-rampage-iii-extreme-lga1366-motherboard-preview.html

bulldogjeff 20th March 2010, 16:54

Dribble, dribble,droooool!!! this thing is just mobo porn in the extreme...Just as i'm thinking about a new build this pops up and make the idea look even more appealing, I've run out of kidneys to sell from the last build so it looks like the missus and the kids will have to be ebay'd.....Any offers any1, they're not a bad bunch

yougotkicked 20th March 2010, 18:05

looks like a really good motherboard, but honestly i'm not seeing anything really innovative on this board. for a super-high-end board like this i would expect to see something a little more unique or inventive. like adding a second PCI-E controller so you could have 16x16x16x16 quad-SLI (this IS possible, there are boards with 7 PCI-E slots using two controllers). all i see on this one is a collection of high-end features asus has already offered for a while.

M7ck 20th March 2010, 19:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by yougotkicked
all i see on this one is a collection of high-end features asus has already offered for a while.

But not all on the one board, this thing is awesome (a little ugly though)

Gradius 20th March 2010, 20:21

Loved it, I hope it support i7-980x right out of the box!

Any idea on price? ETA?

knuck 20th March 2010, 20:43

"X-treme" looking boards got popular because they were different. Asus, or anyone else for that matter, should try using the same tactic. They should make "classic boards" with green PCB and white/beige components. I bet they would sell

I am not kidding

rickysio 21st March 2010, 02:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ghys
"X-treme" looking boards got popular because they were different. Asus, or anyone else for that matter, should try using the same tactic. They should make "classic boards" with green PCB and white/beige components. I bet they would sell

I am not kidding

Riiight. Because most people that KNOW how to fix up a computer goes for green and white.

Please remember that most of the gaming community love loud loud colours.

H2O 21st March 2010, 04:43

I like the easy BIOS update procedure!

Hopefully the RIIIE will spur EVGA on to refresh the E759/E760. :D

knuck 21st March 2010, 06:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by rickysio
Riiight. Because most people that KNOW how to fix up a computer goes for green and white.

Please remember that most of the gaming community love loud loud colours.

not really. This is just what the companies want you to think. Most of the people here are dead tired of blue leds and transformers-like designs

I would personally love to go back to an old green PCB board with ugly as hell connectors :) . Vintage is cool :D

As for modern designs however, they need to calm down a little and try to make white boards like Asus first did (No, Sapphire weren't first)

Bindibadgi 21st March 2010, 08:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gradius
Loved it, I hope it support i7-980x right out of the box!

Any idea on price? ETA?

Soon. We'll have a first sample maybe next week.

OleJ 21st March 2010, 13:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Article
Intel PHY Gigabyte Ethernet

Soooo... Intel and Gigabyte co-developed a NIC? Or is it a magic new 8Gbit standard?

I thought knowing bits from bytes came naturally to you guys ;-)

bobwya 21st March 2010, 16:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gradius
Loved it, I hope it support i7-980x right out of the box!

It only supports CPUs with >=6 cores :-)

Omnituens 21st March 2010, 20:09

I'm liking the look of this board - might sell on my gigabyte board for cheap and get this one.

M7ck 21st March 2010, 22:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobwya
It only supports CPUs with >=6 cores :-)

It only supports 6 core cpus? Where did you get that from?

-VK- 22nd March 2010, 08:53

It'll support all 1366 Core i7 CPU's.

I've got one on my desk and it's even more awesome than in the pictures. :D

Omnituens 22nd March 2010, 12:18

woo! definitly going to be selling my UD5 and getting this when it comes out.

Going to the summit restored my faith in Asus -VK- :D

Cyberpower-UK 22nd March 2010, 15:05

Shall be getting these in soon hopefully

bodkin 22nd March 2010, 15:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by -VK-
It'll support all 1366 Core i7 CPU's.

I've got one on my desk and it's even more awesome than in the pictures. :D

When can we buy one?

-VK- 23rd March 2010, 10:47

Soon! Stock is expected in about 2 weeks from what I hear from the sales team.

Alternately, raid the Bit Tech labs :D

Bindibadgi 23rd March 2010, 10:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by -VK-
Soon! Stock is expected in about 2 weeks from what I hear from the sales team.

Alternately, raid the Bit Tech labs :D

We have 24hr security and 2 sets of internal door locks :p

Edison 30th March 2010, 10:13

Looks like it's getting time to retire my RE-1 and get one of these and a 980x.
I have been very happy with the RE-1 and my Qx9650e, Very stable, been running it at 3.83GHz for a little over two years now but it's time to move on.

G0UDG 5th May 2010, 08:11

Definately getting one of these for my new pc build will be awsum pared with the 980x and 12 gig of dominator gt triple channel my video encode times will rocket not to mention my folding scores

badman_mo007 6th May 2010, 15:25

Woahhh that's a motherboard.

How well does the bluetooth overclock feature work?

Arj12 6th May 2010, 16:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by mi1ez
Hot, but overkill for 95% of us.

100% agreed. Most of use will be happier with a lot less features for a cheaper price! In my opinion, there's no point getting a sata 3 or USB 3 board right now as their aren't many devices that support it and use the full bandwidth!