October 31, 2008 Aimed squarely at power hungry nerds ASUS has released the Republic of Gamers (ROG) Rampage II Extreme high performance enthusiast motherboard. The latest Intel chipset and SLI/CrossFireX on Demand provide support for the new range of Intel processors and multi-GPU technologies such as 3-Way SLI and CrossFireX. The motherboard is designed to be overclocked and to this end features the ROG Extreme Engine, a true multi-phase power management system – 16 phases for the CPU and 3 phases each for QPI/DRAM, the Northbridge and memory – with premium Multilayer type Polymer Capacitors (ML Caps) that keep the power supply stable, even under the most demanding loads.
Overclocking solutions, TweakIt and ProbeIt enable overclockers to adjust and monitor frequency and voltage settings directly from the motherboard itself. TweakIt enables overclockers to make real-time changes to the system’s core frequency, voltage and other parameters using the joystick-like control on the motherboard itself – even while the benchmark utility is running. At no point does software come into play; the tweaking is completely hardware-based. ProbeIt, on the other hand, distinguishes the motherboard’s measurement points so that users will know exactly where they will be able to get quick yet accurate readings using a multitester. There are eight sets of detection points in total.
The ROG Rampage II Extreme also delivers SLI graphics technology on an Intel chipset-based platform. SLI/CrossFireX on Demand provides support for 3-Way SLI, which means that users will be able to install up to three 3-Way SLI-capable graphics cards – although users do still have the flexibility though to run a CrossFireX setup instead of an SLI one. Meanwhile the inclusion of a SupremeFX X-Fi sound card utilises established X-Fi technologies such as CMSS-3D and EAX to deliver multichannel audio.
No US pricing as yet, but the ASUS ROG Rampage II Extreme is available now in Australia for AUD$649 (approx. US$435).
For further info visit ASUS.
