- Date:
- Wednesday, August 17, 2016
- Author:
- Daniel Dobrowolski
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
ASUS Rampage V Extreme 10 Motherboard Review
ASUS celebrates the 10th anniversary of its Republic of Gamers brand in style with the new Rampage V Extreme 10! To properly commemorate its decade of innovation, this motherboard needs to be nothing short of the best motherboard ASUS has ever built and a worthy successor to the Rampage name.
Overclocking
Overclocking with any Republic of Gamers board is a pleasure. They are always easy to work with as they respond very well to automatic settings. For overclocking I have moved away from the 6950X due to its less-than-stellar overclocking abilities, and have gone back to using our Core i7-5960X processor. Starting with AI Suite III I was able to get a solid 4.3GHz overclock. This isn’t a stellar result, but it’s about the best you’ll find with automated overclocking. Under manual control the system was well behaved with no issues with failures to POST, or other difficulties. XMP worked for me with the DDR4 2666MHz Vengeance LPX modules which was a surprise. Those don’t usually work well on most X99 motherboards when it comes to XMP compatibility. With the CPU input voltage set to a relatively low 1.90v, the system overclocked to 4.5GHz without issue. I did have to manually set the CPU vCore to 1.35, which is normal for this CPU. Stability wasn’t an issue and the result was easily achieved.
Core i7 5960X @ 4.5GHz (100x45) DDR4 2666MHz
The results speak for themselves. The Rampage V Extreme 10 manages to match any other motherboard on the market, but does so without nearly as much manual tuning. Whether you are clocking via AI Suite III or via the UEFI BIOS, the RVE10 doesn’t disappoint.
Conclusions
Dan's Thoughts:
My experiences with the Rampage V Extreme 10 were nothing short of excellent. I do have a couple of minor complaints. First, the heat sink next to the primary PCI-Express slot is annoying. This is something many Rampage motherboards have suffered from now that I think about it. This isn’t a big deal most of the time until you try and remove, replace or upgrade your video card. Other motherboards manage to cool the same components without this problem so ASUS needs to take a page from some of the other guys on this one. The layout is superb other than that one flaw. The construction is high quality, and the LED lighting is unique. I feel it’s got some of the best lighting and lighting effects out there today. The experience aside from that was almost flawless aside from the wireless controller. Again I question ASUS’ decision to use a Broadcom controller for the Wireless instead of an Intel or even a Killer wireless solution. It’s just not that good. I have experienced those controllers before, always with unsatisfactory results. With that said, I’ve not generally had the best luck with wireless solutions in my test area. There may be environmental variables at work here which should not be discounted. I can only see this as a cost cutting measure. I suppose I understand that in the grand scheme of things, given this motherboards price. Still, it’s not a premium solution.
At the time of this writing the Rampage V Extreme 10 is about $600 or so. As a result, it isn’t much of a value proposition. People who want the very best are often willing to pay for it. I’m not so sure I’d go as far to say this is the best motherboard on the market, or the best Rampage motherboard to date. Certainly, It’s worthy of the Rampage name. Despite the one or two minor issues I see with the design, this is as solid a motherboard as I’ve seen this generation. As a result, I’d actually be installing this in my own system had Kyle not already claimed it. As an owner of the original Rampage V Extreme, this motherboard held a special fascination for me. Compared to the original, I think it’s better or at least just as good where things haven’t change too much. Most of the X99 refresh motherboards are little more than X99 motherboards with USB 3.1 controllers and some RGB lighting. I think the RVE10 is more than that. This is one of the few motherboards were XMP actually worked for me. Aside from my wireless performance issues, this was the most well behaved motherboards I’ve worked with thus far.
Again, this motherboard isn’t cheap. In this halo level price bracket there isn’t much to compare it to. Many people will ask why this is worth more than the $350 or so that most reasonably high end X99 motherboards go for. It’s all in the extras. It’s like buying a car. A lesser model with the best engine is pretty much the same as a fancy one with the same engine and leather. The devil is in the details. In short, this is a worthy 10th anniversary product to commemorate the Republic of Gamers brand and its worthy of the Rampage name. It’s not remotely a value option but it’s one of the best motherboards I’ve tested this generation.
Kyle's Thoughts:
I like this motherboard more than any other I have had come through my hands in the last few years. I have had the MSI X99S XPower AC in my personal box for about a year and a half now. The ASUS Rampage V Extreme 10 will be replacing that motherboard soon with a new Core i7-6950X processor. The RV10 is an extremely impressive piece of hardware. I see its M.2 port getting put to use and the two forward looking USE Type C connectors will hopefully see use in the future. Do I need a new motherboard? Certainly not, but the RV10 is one of those motherboards that still gets my inner hardware geek to full attention. And it is just an incredibly sexy looking motherboard.
It performed flawlessly during my time with it. I tried my best to break it, but the RV10 was having none of that. As we have mentioned previously, our Core i7-6950X processors have degraded over time in terms of highest stable overclocks. 4.2GHz at 1.26v vCore was the best stable overclock I could obtain, but this is the fault of the processor, not the motherboard.
I don't have a lot more to say as my thoughts on the RV10 align perfectly with Dan's, and he is right about the heatsink blocking the PCIe slot release. It is not a deal breaker, but surely a PITA. You will most likely have to use a tool to push down the release, unless you have a very skinny finger. I would however suggest you not use anything metal to do this as one slip onto the PCB could be a costly one.
The Bottom Line
The ASUS Rampage V Extreme 10 motherboard is one of the best LGA 2011-v3 motherboards have come across our test benches in quite a while. It is beautifully laid out in terms of features and design, and is great looking to boot with all the latest RGB lighting you could ask for. It performed flawlessly and proved to be an ample overclocking platform. That said, it is very much meant to be a halo product, and is priced as such at $600.
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