ASUS Rampage III Extreme review

RC Bluetooth

The primary new features are of course an updated ROG Connect and RC Bluetooth, allowing you to remotely overclock the motherboard. RC Bluetooth is unfortunately limited in terms of supported smartphones; you'll need a phone with Windows Mobile 6 with a minimum resolution of 480x800, Symbian S60 3rd edition and Android phones revision 2.0 or newer.

Why Apple iPhone isn't supported completely baffles me. And since my HP iPAQ Smartphone is still on the Windows Mobile OS 5.1 there was no chance to check it out. This is the problem with features like this, you'll be limited in a lot of ways.

To setup an active session:

1. Launch the Bluetooth manager:

• A. Tap > Settings > Connections tab > Connection Manager
• OR B. Tap > Connection manager.

2. Then Tap Bluetooth to turn it ON/OFF.
3. Press the RC Bluetooth button on the ROG system, then ensure the mobile phone or PDA is visible and within connectable range.
4. Tap Start > Settings > Connections > Bluetooth to enter the control screen of your Bluetooth device
5. Tap Add new device to search for available Bluetooth devices. This may take a while.
6. Select RC Bluetooth from the list of detected Bluetooth devices, then select > Next >
7. Input the association key 0000 then tap Next
8. Tap COM Post > Add new COM port > RC Bluetooth > COM 0
9. Tap Programs > RC Tweak it to activate RC Bluetooth

Below you can see the smartphone output, which is certainly nice ... but to me overclocking through a mobile phone just doesn't make much sense. It's an extraordinary geeky gadget to fool around with though! Very innovative.

ASUS includes software called ASUS ROG Connect, which actually allows you to overclock the PC from another PC, or your laptop. We explained this technology several times already in previous reviews.

If the overclocked PC crashes, you reboot and will still have the settings available at say that laptop. Change them, apply them and you are good to go.

You make the connection with the help of a special (included) bi-male USB cable (5V power line cut), and in the near future it will even be possible to utilize this connection to flash the BIOS of the motherboard, even if it died completely after say a firmware crash.

ASUS ROG Connect works nice. What's the best for me is that after a crash you reboot the crashed system, while you retained the settings on the other PC.  So you can immediately start where you left off.

We  used some reference screenshots from the Maximus review here btw.

Some other newly introduced features:

USB BIOS Flashback
BIOS updates have always troubled end users. The update procedure may be rather complicated, unsafe under some very rare circumstances, and most importantly, the system needed the update has to be on and alive to allow BIOS update. With the revolutionary USB BIOS Flashback technology, users can now update the system BIOS via any USB pen drive with a simple press of ROG Connect button without even the need to switch the system ON.
 

Extreme Engine Digi+
Unlike typical digital VRM designs, the Extreme Engine Digi+ combines the advantage of both the digital and analog VRM design, delivering less switching delay while offering better accuracy at the same time. Not only it offers finer spacing of PWM power frequency interval, the FET+ in Metal packaging also offer 1.3x faster heat dissipation, and 40%+ better conductivity. The choke used also sustains 25% more current than ordinary design, capable of delivering up to 40A. This result in better permeability and less power loss, meaning less heat will be produced under the same configuration.

ROG Extreme OC Kit:

• LN2 Mode - Cold-boot bug is a barrier which overclockers often need to face when conducting subzero overclocking with LN2 (Liquid Nitrogen). When cold-boot bug occurred, CPU will no longer POST till it has been warmed up again. The LN2 Mode exclusively supported by Rampage III Extreme enables users to remedy this limitation, delivering non-stop smooth extreme overclocking capability, which makes Rampage III Extreme the perfect choice for all overclockers under LGA1366 platform.

• Q Reset - Extreme overclockers may sometimes face the hard decision between whether they should reset or force power down the system when the extreme overclocked rig half once in a while, as the press of reset button does not always work, while force power down may often result in freezing the components under S5 mode. This is where Q Reset comes in. With the exclusively design Q Reset button at the top left hand corner of the board, users will be able to clear CMOS then power up in a flash to bypasses S5 mode to avoid the need to face either of these limitations.

Anyway, enough tech chatter, let's have a peek the actual product with the help of an extensive photo-shoot.