X99 Motherboard Preview Roundup

Asus Rampage V Extreme

RRP: £335.99
Specifications

• Expansion slots: Five PCI-E 16x (Two x16, Two x8, One x4) , One PCI-E 1x
  
• Networking: Intel I218-V, 3X3 Dual Band Wi-Fi 802.11 ac
  
• SATA Express support: YES
  
• M.2 Support: YES, type 2260, 2280, 22110
  
• Storage: 2 x SATA Express via Intel X99 and ASM106SE, 1 x M.2, 12 x SATA 6Gbps (10 via X99, 2 via ASM106SE)
  
• USB: 14 x USB 3 (4 via X99 headers, 10 via ASM1042AE and ASM1074)
  
• Audio: ROG SupremeFX 2014
  
• Extras: ROG RAMDisk 2014, KeyBot, OC Panel (bundled)

If money was no object, or at least not a particularly important one. This is possibly the motherboard to go for. Asus' Rampage has been one of the ultimate premium motherboards for four generations now and the fifth looks set to continue that trend. The Rampage V Extreme is an absolute monster with pretty much every feature you could possibly want except for built-in waterblocks like its cheaper LGA1150 sibling the Maximus VII Formula.

There are all the on-board buttons you could wish for, M.2 and SATA Express support, five 16x PCI-E slots plus you get Asus' O.C. Panel bundled too. There's a host of overclocking tools too, including a ReTry Button, which reboots the PC without switching to fail-safe mode on over-zealous overclocks, meaning you'll be in with a chance of booting and getting into Windows if the first try results in a freeze.

Equally, a Safe Boot Button eliminates the need to use the CMOS clear button, losing all your settings. Safe settings will instead be loaded, allowing you to enter the BIOS with your previous settings still applied so you can tune them down. To boost Cooling, Asus has also introduced DirectCU to the Rampage V Extreme - a similar technology to that employed in its graphics cards. Finally, this is one supremely menacing motherboard in person and looks every bit as good as it does below.





Head over the page to see the Asus X99 Deluxe.