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First look: ASUS Rampage GENE III mATX motherboard - what's new

by Tarinder Sandhu on 2 July 2010, 17:08

Tags: ASUSTeK (TPE:2357)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qayxw

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We're going to have to wait a while before we see any brand-new chipsets and motherboards on the Intel front, which will probably arrive in the guise of boards supporting next-generation Sandy Bridge processors.

So what's a manufacturer to do with its current arsenal? ASUS sees the interim gap between chipsets as reason enough to update its offerings with the latest technologies. A case in point is the overhaul of its Rampage GENE II board for the X58 chipset, now released in the third incarnation.

We took a look at the microATX-sized Rampage GENE II just over a year ago and concluded that it was a good choice if you needed extreme power in a smaller-than-usual form factor, albeit with an unenviable street price of £200.

The Rampage GENE III now takes over the performance mATX segment of ASUS' catalogue. Still arriving with a retail price of £200, including VAT, what's changed? 

First off, the GENE III just looks so much nicer than its direct predecessor. The red-and-black colour scheme works really well, we think, and gives the board a premium look straight off the bat.

The overall layout is fundamentally the same as the GENE II, and ASUS manages to include six DIMM slots - now able to handle DDR3-2,200MHz memory - and yet provides ample room around the CPU socket to mount big-ass coolers. In keeping with mATX tradition, the battery is mounted vertically.

Keeping a similar layout means that the board, whilst chock-full of features, doesn't feel overly cramped - an impressive feat for a mATX offering. ASUS also throws in Probelt points that enthusiasts can hook multimeters up to.

Be aware, however, that the GENE III gives up on providing an IDE connector, so it may not be a good fit if you need to use older devices.

The first major technology departure between boards is the inclusion of SATA 6Gb/s support by way of a Marvell 9128 controller. The two red-coloured ports, to the right, will come in useful if connecting super-fast SSDs such as the Crucial C300.



Audio, too, get a boost, and the GENE III is home to SupremeFX X-Fi v2, providing EAX 5.0 and THX TrueStudio compatibility.

Slot layout is the same, that is, two x16 PCIe, a single PCIe x4, and a conventional PCI. The two longer slots support both two-card CrossFire and SLI at full bandwidth speeds.

The X58 IOH heatsink was large on the GENE II, but now it's positively huge on this model, and it should bode well for those that want to overclock their Core i7 CPUs.

USB 3.0 is very much the flavour of 2010 as far as premium boards are concerned, so ASUS grabs the ubiquitous NEC 7200 controller chip and plonks it to the left of the topmost x16 PCIe slot.


Maybe it's the child in us, but we like to see big buttons on motherboards, and these are carried over from the GENE II. The 'Start' button produces a satisfying click when pressed.


The blue-coloured USB 3.0 ports are new, obviously, and there's a specific USB port, positioned vertically, that makes use of the on-the-fly overclocking through the iROG chip. Users expecting to see eSATA on the I/O section, present on the GENE II, will be left disappointed as the board does without. Both the IDE and eSATA ports are powered by a JMicron controller on the GENE II, and it's simply not here on the newer design.


Not skimping on extras on a £200 board, eight SATA cables are included, of which two are specifically marked as 'SATA6'.

Summary

The ASUS Rampage GENE III updates the company's mATX X58 chipset-based offering by including a modern look, USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s connectivity, upgraded audio, but does without IDE or eSATA. Worth £200? We've got it on the testbench and will give you the verdict in a few days' time.


HEXUS Forums :: 6 Comments

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I really like that board actually.

In the right circumstances, that could be a 24GB RAM, i7 980X, dual 480/5970 monster, with SATA3 and USB3 - all crammed into a uATX board. Will be interesting to see how it overclocks compared to its full-sized brethren.

Cost is pretty crazy though… I know X58 is expensive, but nothing would convince me to blow £200 on a motherboard alone, however good it was.
snootyjim
I really like that board actually.

In the right circumstances, that could be a 24GB RAM, i7 980X, dual 480/5970 monster, with SATA3 and USB3 - all crammed into a uATX board. Will be interesting to see how it overclocks compared to its full-sized brethren.

Cost is pretty crazy though… I know X58 is expensive, but nothing would convince me to blow £200 on a motherboard alone, however good it was.

i would but that because i would have to buy a new case plus it is a matx board with a intel nic and that makes me happy
Nice board in many respects. With the USB 3.0 train in full motion now and USB 3.0 backwards compatible with USB 2.0, you'd think high end motherboards would have a complete array of USB 3.0 ports instead - assuming someone makes a controller for that many.

Also with this being a M-ATX motherboard, you'd think the price would be more competitive, it is smaller than a standard size motherboard, therefore gotta be cheaper to make.

On the whole, motherboard prices like £200 is alot to be asking, when they don't offer a great more than a board 50% cheaper. Imagine is someone brought out a premium board at £100 ish, it would clean up.
Brewster0101
On the whole, motherboard prices like £200 is alot to be asking, when they don't offer a great more than a board 50% cheaper. Imagine is someone brought out a premium board at £100 ish, it would clean up.

Isn't that a bit like saying if Ferrari brought out the Enzo for £15,000 everybody would be driving them?
snootyjim
Isn't that a bit like saying if Ferrari brought out the Enzo for £15,000 everybody would be driving them?

Think the Enzo offers a lot more than your typical £15,000 car.

Put a £200 mother board into context over a £100 motherboard. You have on average 5% - 10% performance difference and some extra over clocking head room. Thats it.