ASUS Rampage V Edition 10 Motherboard Review

Features and Motherboard Layout

Features

Courtesy of ASUS

• Intel® Core™ i7 processors on LGA 2011-v3 socket
• Quad-channel DDR4 3333 (OC) support
• Best gaming lighting: Aura RGB illumination and Aura 4-pin RGB-strip header
• Best gaming extra – SupremeFX Hi-Fi
• Best gaming performance – 5-Way Optimization with Auto-Tuning, second-generation T-Topology and Extreme Engine Digi+
• Best gaming audio – Reinvented SupremeFX with intuitive Sonic Studio II
• Best gaming networking – Best-in-class Intel® Gigabit Ethernet ,LANGuard and GameFirst technology
• Best gaming connectivity — 3×3 802.11ac Wi-Fi , NVMe U.2, M.2, SATA Express and USB 3.1 Type-A and Type-C for extreme-speed transfers and total compatibility
• Best gaming protection – SafeSlot, pre-mounted I/O shield, and carefully-selected premium components for maximum durability.
• ROG gives you more – More gaming-focused utilities, all free!

Motherboard Layout

The Rampage V Edition 10 motherboard features the latest ROG aesthetics, featuring base black PCB and chrome black heat sinks. The board name emblazoned on the rear panel cover with the ROG logo prominently emblazoned on the X99 chipset heat sink. The board was designed with an E-ATX form factor to accommodate all the integrated features with enough space provided to easily access those components.

The board's back contains covers over the areas behind the CPU VRMs as well as the X99 chipset, covering most of the exposed circuitry on the back of the board. These aluminum plates also provide a secondary heat dissipation path for the components on the top of the board. The area directly behind the CPU socket is mostly clear of components, alleviating the risk to the board when using overly large backplates.

The Rampage V Edition 10 motherboard includes the following ports integrated into its rear panel assembly: a PS/2 keyboard/mouse port, four USB 3.0 ports, four USB 3.1 ports (2 Type-A and 2 Type-C), two USB 2.0 ports, two RJ-45 ports – the Intel I218-V controller and the Intel I210-AT controller, ASUS Wi-Fi GO! module featuring three ports tied 802.11ac Wi-Fi controller, a BIOS reset button, the USB BIOS Flashback button, an optical audio port, and five analogue audio ports. The blue colored USB 3.0 ports and the USB 3.1 ports are controlled by the integrated ASMedia controller. For the USB 2.0 ports underneath the PS/2 port, the top port is used in conjunction with the ASUS Keybot II software with the bottom used in conjunction with the USB BIOS Flashback functionality.

The USB BIOS Flashback button can be used to re-flash the BIOS without having to boot the system into the UEFI BIOS interface or a command-line mode interface. Simply plug in a USB drive containing the proper BIOS file in the root of the drive into the lower USB 2.0 port (black colored) located beneath the PS/2 port and power on the system. As the BIOS is updated, the LED flashing frequency increases. Once the LED goes out, the flash operation is completed and the board can be booted. Note that if the BIOS Flashback LED flashes for 5 seconds and then glows solid, it means that something went wrong with the flashback operation. Check the USB drive for the the BIOS file in the root and make sure that the BIOS file is named correctly. BIOS Flashback looks for a specific filename and file format when attempting to replace the on-board BIOS. According to the user manual, the BIOS file in the root of the flash drive must be named R5E10.CAP for the BIOS Flashback applet to successfully re-flash the board's BIOS.

40-lane CPU PCIe Bandwidth
Courtesy of ASUS

28-lane CPU PCIe Bandwidth
Courtesy of ASUS

The Rampage V Edition 10 motherboard has a total of six PCI-Express device ports – four PCI-Express x16 slots, a PCI-Express x4 slot, and a PCI-Express x1 slot. With a 40-lane CPU, the board supports full x16 bandwidth with a single card, x16 / x16 bandwidth with dual cards (slots 1 and 3), x16 / x8 / x8 with three cards, and x8 / x8 / x8 / x8 with four cards in PCIe x16 slots 1, 2, 3, and 4. With a 28-lane CPU, the board supports full x16 bandwidth with a single card, x8 / x8 bandwidth with dual cards (slots 1 and 3), x8 / x8 / x8 with three cards in PCIe x16 slots 1, 2, and 3. Note that the M.2 and U.2 ports are disabled if PCIe x16 slot 1 is used in full x16 mode with a 40-lane CPU. Also, PCIe x16 slot 4 shares bandwidth with the M.2 and U.2 ports. The board's CMOS battery is between the middle of PCIe x16 slots 3 and 4, just below PCIe x1 slot 2.

The board's integrated audio components are covered by a plastic overlay just above the PCIe ports with the SupremeFX logo stamped into its surface in chrome lettering. The sections directly above and below the logo glow in-line with the board RGB LED settings. The audio subsystem lives on an isolated PCB to minimize line-noise and distortion caused by other integrated components. ASUS included the following audio components into the sound systems design: the SupremeFX 10-channel DAC (digital-to-analogue converter), Nichicon audio capacitors, dual RC4580 OP-AMPs dedicated to headphone output, Sonic SenseAmp for automatic headphone impedance detection, and a de-pop relay to prevent popping when audio components are connected and/or disconnected from the board. The audio output header is located to the lower right of the overlay along the board's edge.

In the upper left corner of the board (and along the outer edge of the PCIe x16 slot 4) are the front panel audio header, the EZ Plug power port, and the trusted module port (TPM) header. The EZ Plug power port can be used to supply extra power to the PCIe bus when multiple cards are plugged into the board's PCIe ports. To use, you simply plug in a MOLEX power connector from your PSU.

The 12V RGB LED header, a USB 3.0 header, and a 4-pin chassis fan header are located to the lower left of the PCIe x16 slot 4. The RGB LED header can be used to power and synchronize a connect LED strip with the board-integrated LEDs.

With an RGB LED strip connected to the 12V RGB header, it becomes possible to sync the LED strip color and activity with that of the motherboard's integrated LEDs.

The two 4-pin chassis fan headers, a USB 3.0 header, the OC Panel headers (labeled ROG_EXT), multi-GPU switch (SLI/CFX), BIOS switch button, temperature sensor header, ThunderBolt 3 header, external fan device header, the front panel header, and chassis intrusion jumper are located in the lower left corner of the board. Note that the chassis intrusion jumper is located at the very bottom of the front panel header, just above the BIOS switch button. The lower header in the ROG_EXT group can be used for two additional USB 2.0 ports if the OC Panel II device is not connected to the system. The OC Panel cable (bundled in with the ROG OC Panel device) connects to the ROG_EXT ports, allowing the ROG OC Panel II device to interact with the board. The external fan device header can be used to add additional fan and temperature ports by connecting the external fan board to the header using the included cable. The multi-GPU switch illuminates LEDs next to the PCIe x16 slots, indicating which slots to use for dual and tri-card mode when moved to the proper position (left is off, middle is dual card, right is tri-card). Note that this functionality only works with the board powered off. The BIOS switch button switches between the board's main and backup BIOSes with the active BIOS indicated by an LED to the left of the BIOS chips.

The X99 chipset is cooled by a low-profile black heat sink with a stylized ROG logo in its center. The logo and design above and below the logo glow, configurable by color and mode through the UEFI or the AURA applet in Windows.

To the lower right of the Intel X99 chipset is the PCIe x4 M.2 slot. The M.2 port supports M-Key style M.2 SSDs with PCIe or SATA interfaces and length of up to 110mm. Note that the M.2 port shares bandwidth with the U.2 port and PCIe x16 slot 4.

ASUS integrated a total of 10 SATA 6 Gb/s ports and a PCI x4 NVMe capable U.2 device port in the Rampage V Edition 10 motherboard. Note that the U.2 port shares bandwidth with the M.2 port and PCIe x16 slot 4.

The eight on board DDR4 memory slots are located directly above and below the CPU socket with support for up to 128GB of memory across all slots. Quad Channel memory mode is enabled with memory modules seated in slots 1 and 3 or slots 2 and 4 in both the upper and lower memory slot sets. The primary memory slots are the grey colored slots the top and bottom sets. Note that memory speeds above 2133MHz are considered overclocked speeds and are outside of the official Intel stock memory speed specifications.

to the lower left of the lower set of memory slots are a USB 3.0 header, the PCIe x4 M.2 slot, a chassis fan and water pump (W_PUMP) 4-pin fan / power header, the Probelt voltage measurement points, and the 24-pin ATX power connector. The 4-pin water pump header can be used to power a standard 12V water pump – an AIO cooler's integrated coolant pump or a pump integrated into a DIY loop. The Probelt voltage measurement points allow for direct board voltage measurement using a volt meter.

To the lower right of the lower set of DIMM slots are the MemOK!, Safe Boot, ReTry, Start, and Reset buttons, the Slow Mode switch, the PCIe Lane switch block, the DRAM Lane switch block, the LN2 mode jumpers, the 2-digit diagnostic display, and the primary and secondary CPU 4-pin fan headers. The 4-pin CPU fan header is located to the upper right of the DIMM slots. The MemOK! button can be used to reset memory-related BIOS settings to defaults, useful when the system doesn't boot because of memory options set over-aggressively. The ReTry button can be used to attempt system reboot that locked up during the initialization process, while retaining the previously set UEFI settings. The Safe Boot button forces a system reboot, enacting a direct to UEFI boot using factory set "safe" settings while retaining the previous settings in the UEFI pages for modification. The 2-digit diagnostic display can be used for debugging system issues during system initialization. The displayed debug codes can be decoded using the table from the motherboard manual.

For sub-zero enthusiasts, ASUS integrated key functions into the board's design to aid in getting the best performance possible. The LN2 Mode jumper enables a cold bug fix that can be encountered when attempting to boot a CPU at sub-zero temperatures. The Slow Mode switch can be used to automatically slow the system boot process and CPU frequency to help prevent system crashing at extreme cooling speeds. The PCIe Lane switch block can be used to individually disable the PCI-Express x16 slots. The DRAM Lan switch block can be used to disable DIMM slots on a per channel basis with the corresponding slots in the upper and lower slot sets disabled as a result.

To the upper right of the upper set of DIMM slots are a 4-pin chassis fan header and the RGB LED port for the LEDs embedded into the rear panel cover.

The CPU socket area is mostly clear of obstructions allowing use of most coolers without issue. The board was designed with a total of eight digital power phases for CPU power delivery requirements, which should provide more than sufficient power under any situation. The VRMs are cooled by a large passive aluminum heat sink to the right of the CPU socket, connected to the rear panel cover via a heat pipe for extra cooling potential. Notice that the VRM's chokes have integrated metal covers with ridges to aid in passive cooling. The ROG LED block to the left of the CPU socket illuminates according to the color scheme configured through the UEFI or the AURA applet in Windows.

The dual ATX12V power connectors, both an 8-pin and a 4-pin connector, are positioned to the right of the CPU socket along the outer edge of the VRM heat sink.