ASUS Rampage Extreme X48 Motherboard Review

Included Software

The software section isn't going to be too in-depth because there is just too much else to cover with this motherboard. The software package appears to be the standard ASUS group of programs with nothing really new or exciting to get a lot of air time. ASUS has included a copy of 3DMark 06 as well as Kaspersky Anti-Virus which are nice touches but a copy of 3DMark Vantage would likely be more appreciated by users. We start off with a quick look at the installation CD included with the Rampage Extreme.


Driver Installation

First off, as soon as the CD auto runs, the dialogue stating to not use AI Suite/EPU Six Engine/PC Probe II in conjunction with TweakIt pops up. Obviously there are issues with using hardware and software that do the same thing at the same time but if there is a potential to actually damaging the motherboard by using two at the same time, ASUS really needs to do more to prevent that than a small dialogue box during installation. Aside from that, the software interface is the same as any other ASUS motherboard for the last while and we think the images speak for themselves as to what it offers. Driver installation is simple, program installation is just as easy, and the tabbed interface is easy to navigate. ASUS must feel that if it isn't broken, don't fix it. We couldn't agree more because we have never had a single issue with the installation interface from ASUS. Tucked into the utilities section are a couple programs we will now take a closer look at.


Kaspersky Anti-Virus

Admittedly, I personally am not an anti-virus user. It has just never been necessary for my systems and I really am stupid when it comes to the whole anti-virus scene. So we figured, why not have a virtual rookie see what the included Kaspersky Anti-Virus is all about? As it turns out, the software is quite user friendly and very simple to get up, running, and configured. An update is done first and foremost after an install as it should be and the user interface doesn't overwhelm us. The settings menu is well laid out with easy enough to understand options and the levels of protection that Kaspersky offers is very complete. Again, this is coming from an anti-virus illiterate user and we see the inclusion of a one year Kaspersky prescription a good thing for a premium motherboard like the Rampage Extreme.


PC Probe II

No ASUS software section is complete without a quick look at PC Probe II and if you are new to PC Probe II, you might be surprised at just how nice a monitoring software it is. It doesn't compete with Everest as far as system integration and the ability to integrate the data to a desktop for instance, but it is still a nice piece of software as far as manufacturer supplied software goes. Plus, it makes adding information like voltages to screenshots a whole lot easier being small and compact. PC Probe II still gets the two thumbs up from this reviewer but a little progression wouldn't hurt into desktop integration or a Vista side bar option.


EPU 6 Engine

It really is inevitable, at some point we are going to complain about the software supplied by a manufacturer and that point in this review is right now. This whole energy saving kick motherboard manufacturers are on is just silly in our opinion. We figured we would install the EPU-6 Engine just for kicks, to humor us really after the DES software from Gigabyte seemed to be almost decent. "Perhaps we would be surprised" is what we were saying...that didn't happen. As per usual, half of the software didn't work for us with very few options being available. In the second screenshot above you can see a grayed out screen, this is what we looked at for the better part of 5 minutes after clicking on the calibrate button. That is until we realized that there actually was a prompt there waiting for a response. In the third screenshot you can see that prompt, but it is only visible when dragging another window over the interface, we happened to be moving a CPU-Z window over and magically the prompt appeared. In the end, the software was disappointing as we expected it to be, none of the features worked from what we could see, and the whole point of this software really is a marketing gimmick in our minds. If you want to save energy with your computer, turn it off.