Asus Rampage II Gene Review

Stability

As usual we reset the BIOS to its default values and loaded up both Prime 95 torture test and 3DMark 06 looping to see if the board could withstand the stress to CPU, memory and PCI-Express power draw for 24 hours. Apart from a fan to cool the CPU heatsink, there was no other used, meaning the heatsinks and heatpipes have to withstand very little airflow and still keep cool.

After a full 24 hours we came back to to find both 3DMark and Prime95 still running and the system completely responsive; an excellent result for the Asus Rampage II Gene. However, we were mildly concerned that the northbridge/pwm heatsink that reached a finger melting 83.6C with no extra airflow, although clearly it didn't affect the stability result.

Value and Conclusion

X58 motherboard prices have dropped massively since they first launched and a few can now be found for as little as £135 - the Asus P6T SE, for example. That said, most are still the wrong side of £200. That means for £170, the Rampage II Gene is good value considering it's a Republic of Gamer's motherboard and is an mATX Core i7 design. Yes, you only pay for half the PCB, but the biggest cost is the core hardware like the chipset, CPU socket and components that are common to whatever size of board you buy. All you're really missing is a few PCI slots.


With the resurgence of micro ATX, and the popularity and overclockability of Core i7-920, the Rampage II Gene is in a prime position to build a very powerful little box. In all its performance and overclocking is somewhere between average to good: you won't be disappointed but it'll not set the world on fire either. What tips the balance for us towards positive is the usual excellent RoG feature-set that extends from LCD displays to motherboard hardware to BIOS - the stuff just works, and it's very useful.

The bottom line is that if you fancy a small build but you can't live without your high performance hardware, the Rampage II Gene should certainly make the shortlist.

• Performance
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• 7/10

• Features
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• -
• 9/10

• Value
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• -
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• 8/10

• Overall
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• -
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• 8/10

Score Guide