ASUS Rampage II Extreme X58 Motherboard Review

Included Software

Now that we have gotten the motherboard unpacked and installed, it is time to take a look at some of the software utilities that ASUS have included with the Rampage II Extreme.


PC Probe II


PC Probe II is a system monitoring utility that displays information regarding fan speeds, component temperatures, and voltages, as well as alerting users once preset thresholds have been surpassed. In coordination with the RIIE's abundant temperature and voltage readouts, PC Probe II is a joy to use and it is easily the best piece of manufacturer-provided monitoring software that we have encountered.


AI Suite


The AI Suite provides basic system information, but its main function is to host shortcuts to five other ASUS utilities and features, namely the EPU-6 Engine, AI NAP, CPU Level Up, Fan Xpert, and TurboV. The AI NAP is an advanced sleep feature that allows users to put their computers to sleep without terminating any tasks. Fan Xpert allows users to select from 7 fan speed profiles that can be individually applied to any fan.


TurboV


TurboV is an overclocking utility that allows users to alter all essential system parameters, such as the BLCK frequency, CPU voltage, memory voltage, QPI/DRAM voltage, IOH & ICH voltage, all without the need to reboot. One of the coolest aspects of this application is that the settings that you apply in TurboV are actually saved to the BIOS. As a result, once you find your stable settings with TurboV, you no longer have to go into the BIOS to manually insert them. This innovative functionality is courtesy of the onboard iROG controller.


EPU-6 Engine


First showcased on the P5Q series, the EPU-6 Engine has been one of ASUS' most highly touted new features. This utility works in coordination with the EPU (Energy Processing Unit) controller in order to minimize your system's energy consumption. It does this by continuously monitoring and altering the speeds and voltages of the CPU, VGA card, memory, chipset, hard drives and fans. There are four manually selectable modes and an automatic mode that varies settings according to system load. Regrettably, unlike Gigabyte's Dynamic Energy Saver (DES) technology, EPU-6 will not work when your system is overclocked, which obviously makes it borderline useless on an overclocking-oriented motherboard like the Rampage II Extreme.