ASUS Rampage VI Extreme Omega Motherboard Review
The ASUS Rampage VI Extreme Omega is one of the highest-end motherboards we have ever seen, it's so good we gave it Editors Choice award.
Introduction, Specifications, and Pricing
Today we take a look at ASUS's new Flagship for the Intel X299 chipset, the Rampage VI Extreme Omega. You might have seen our review of the Rampage VI Extreme before, and we really liked the motherboard, where we awarded it the Editor's Choice Award, something we do not give out lightly. Let us see if this new variant can match it!
Specifications
The Rampage VI Extreme Omega offers Intel NIC, a 10Gbit NIC, Wireless AC, USB 3.1, USB 3.0, and SATA6Gb/s.
Pricing
The Rampage VI Extreme Omega costs $749.99
Packaging and Rampage VI Extreme Omega Overview
Packaging and Overview
ASUS's box and packaging are top notch.
The accessory package includes four SATA6Gb/s cables, two weaved SATA 6Gbps cables, three thermistor cables, RGB extension cable, addressable RGB LED extension cable, ROG logo stickers, WIFI antenna, Q-Connector, M.2 screws, ROG thank you card, ROG coaster, SLI HB Bridge, dual function screwdriver, DIMM.2 with heat sink, ROG NODE, NODE power cable, NODE connector, NODE screw kit, USB with drivers, and manuals.
ASUS put nine fan headers on the motherboard, all of them are hybrid DC/PWM mode fans, one is occupied by the heat sink fans. The red and blue fan headers are all rated 1A, but the red share controls. The orange and yellow headers offer 3A, but the yellow headers run full speed by default.
The purple header is for the NODE which extends fan control and offers more temperature input as well as RGB support. The two thermal probe input headers are circled in green. The motherboard has RGB accents, and all of the heat sinks and covers are metal, even over the audio section and the PCI-E area. The back of the motherboard has a heat sink for the back of the VRM and a shield on the right side of the motherboard.
The IO shield offers a clear CMOS button, a BIOS FlashBack button, WIFI antenna, 10 USB 3.0 ports, 10G LAN, 1G LAN, USB 3.1 typeA, USB 3.1 type-C, and gold plated audio with S/PDIF out.
With a 44-lane CPU the PCI-E will be x16/x0/x0, x16/x16/x0, or x16/x8/x8. With a 28-lane CPU, the PCI-E will be x16/x0/x0, x16/x8/x0, or x8/x8/x8. The x4 PCI-E slot looks to be wired to the PCH. One of the M.2 slots is routed to the PCH and the other to the CPU, but switches with the U.2 port. Two more M.2 slots can be had with the DIMM.2 card, which is included and they both get bandwidth from the CPU, but with a 28-lane CPU, you will only get one M.2 slot on the DIMM.2 card.
There are six SATA6Gb/s ports on the motherboard along with a right-angled USB 3.0 internal header. There is a USB 3.1 (10Gbps) type-C internal header under the 24-pin power connector.
At the top right corner of the motherboard we have a Water Block header (for a monoblock), an RGB LED header, a slow mode switch (takes CPU to x8), a RSVD switch (probably cold boot avoidance) and voltage read points. At the bottom of the motherboard to the left of two USB 2.0 internal headers we find a safe boot button, a retry button, a reset button, a power button, and an LN2 mode jumper.
In the bottom right corner of the motherboard we have another RSVD switch (probably cold boot again), a system pause switch, a BIOS switch button, our VROC header, an RGB LED header, an addressable RGB LED header, water flow header, water temperature in/out headers, and a NODE header. At the back of the motherboard, we find there is a hole in the PCB to put a temperature sensor, and it might be positioned for the mod to overclock the Kabylake X299 CPUs further.
The VRM heat sink has two fans in it, much like the Dominus, which has more. The heat sinks are very heavy and loaded with quality.
ASUS Rampage VI Extreme Omega Circuit Analysis
Circuit Analysis
The motherboard looks great without heat sinks.
The VRM here is one of the largest we have seen on any X299 motherboard, ASUS even moved the socket down to fit in all the power stages. This 16 phase VRM is a beast, and meant for Intel's 9980XE and other really high power CPUs that can draw over 1kw under LN2. It is controlled by an IR35201, which is relabeled ASP1405I. There are 16 IR3555M, which are 60A PowIRstages, and no doublers are used so each power stages attaches to one PWM channel from the PWM, this improves transient response.
The CPU VRM gets its power from two 8-pin power connectors. The VCCSA gets its power from two On Semiconductor NCP302045 DrMOS rated 45A, and is controlled by another ASP1405I.
Each memory VRM uses the same On Semiconductor DrMOS, but they are controlled by the ASP1250.
ASUS Rampage VI Extreme Omega Circuit Analysis Continued
X299-Aorus Gaming 9 Circuit Analysis Continued
A Realtek ALC1220 audio codec is used in conjunction with an ESS Sabre 9018Q2C, and Nichicon audio capacitors.
A 10Gbit NBase-T AQC107 which offers up to 10Gbig, 5Gbit, 1Gbit, and 100Mbit speeds, and they added an Intel i219v for Gbit LAN. An Intel Wireless AC 9260 rated up to 1.733Gbps with BT 5.0.
Rear USB 3.1 comes from an ASMedia ASM3142 along with an ASM1543 switch that controls the type-C port. There is another ASM3142 used for the internal USB 3.1 header.
Two ASMedia ASM1074 are used to expand USB 3.0 for four of the rear USB 3.0 and the two internal USB 3.0 headers. We find a single ASM1454 USB 3.0 re-driver, perhaps for the USB flashback port on the rear IO.
We find a clock generator labeled Pro Clock II. A chip labeled BIOS is responsible for USB BIOS Flashback.
The Nuvoton NCT6796D is the main SuperIO. Two 128Mbit BIOS ROMs are used for redundancy.
Two chips labeled TPU help with fan control and other unique features such as the OC features on the motherboard.
An AURA chip facilitates the RGB LEDs on the motherboard and headers. The SMT32F is used to control the OLED display in the IO cover.
BIOS and Software
BIOS
ASUS's X299 UEFI on their Rampage VI Extreme Omega is very similar to all of ASUS's other high-end motherboards. Overall, it has both an EZ Mode and an Advanced mode, as well as GUI and menu input based fan control. There are also many OC profiles there to help you overclock your CPU and RAM. It's a very well laid out UEFI and has all the settings you will need to overclock, tune, and perfect your system.
Software
Software includes Dual Intelligent Processors 5-way Optimization, LiveDash OLED, AURA, AI Suite 3, Si Charger, Armoury Crate, RAMCahce III, GameFirstV, and RAM Disk.
Test System Setup
Steven's Motherboard Test System Specifications
- Motherboard: ASUS Rampage VI Extreme Omega
- CPU: Intel Core i9 9980XE
- Cooler: Corsair H150i Pro - Buy from Amazon
- Memory: G.Skill TridentZ RGB (4x8GB) 3600MHz
- Memory: Geil EVO SPEAK (4x8GB) 3200MHz
- Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti FE - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
- Storage - Boot Drive: Corsair LS 240GB
- Storage – M.2 Drive: Samsung 950 Pro 256GB / Read our review
- Storage - USB Drive: Corsair Voyager GS 64GB - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
- Case: Corsair Obsidian 900D - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
- Power Supply: Corsair RM1000 - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
- OS: Microsoft Windows 10 - Buy from Amazon
- Monitor: ASUS PA328 ProArt 32" 4K - Buy from Amazon
- Keyboard: Corsair K70 LUX - Buy from Amazon
- Mouse: Corsair M65 PRO RGB - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
- Headset: Corsair VOID RGB Wireless - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
- BIOS: P1.00
The motherboard has RGBs in the audio section, an addressable RGB strip across the motherboard, and some RGBs on the back of the right side of the motherboard.
Overclocking
Overclocking Results
CPU Overclocking
We set VInput to 2.1v, LLC to level 7, vcore to 1.31v, no offset, and XMP. The motherboard easily took the CPU, the 9980XE to 4.7GHz, which is impressive.
CPU, Memory, and System Benchmarks
CINEBENCH R15
wPrime
AIDA64 FPU
AIDA64 Memory
ScienceMark
SuperPi 32M
3DMark: Fire Strike
3DMark: Cloud Gate
ResidentEvil 6
The ASUS Rampage VI Extreme Omega has solid performance all around, the is doing quite well in the rankings.
System IO Benchmarks
CrystalDiskMark SATA6G:
CrystalDiskMark M.2:
ixChariot Network Throughput:
The Rampage VI Extreme Omega has excellent storage performance and networking performance.
Audio
Excellent audio performance, the audio on this motherboard doesn't sound like on-board audio, which is a good thing. There are five ratings for audio: 1. Problems, 2. Okay, 3. Acceptable, 4. Very good, 5. Excellent
VRM and System Thermal Imaging and Power Consumption
Thermal Imaging and Power Consumption
System power is measured at the wall with an AC power meter.
Note on Thermal Images: In the temperature section, we use our Seek thermal imaging camera to capture the surface temperatures of major components on the board. I look at the VRM and then all other things that light up the screen. If there is something to worry about, then I will state it. Otherwise, I will just show the hotter running parts of the board for fun. Unless some component is over 80-90C, then there isn't anything to worry about.
All systems will act differently, so I will look for commonalities, such as how far from the VRM the heat spreads through the PCB and the difference in temperature between the front side and backside of the PCB. Keep in mind, the majority of the heat from the VRM goes into the PCB as it is a giant soldered on copper heat sink. A larger difference in temperature between the back and front of the PCB points towards a more effective heat sink.
Thermal Testing at Stock Speeds:
The image on the left is always at idle, and the image on the right is at load. During ALL TESTS, fans above the VRM that cool the CPU cooler's (Corsair H110i) radiator are turned on to high (12v).
Full frontal.
Up-close of the front of the VRM.
Up-close of the back of the VRM.
Temperatures barely increased from idle to full load, but that is to be expected with the integrated fans, and huge heat sinks teamed up with excellent VRM components in huge amounts. The motherboard has one of the best VRMs and VRM heat sinks on an X299 motherboard.
What's Hot, What's Not & Final Thoughts
What's Hot
Revamped VRM Parts: Playing on the Dominus Extreme theme the new VRM is huge and well designed. They actually moved the socket down a bit to facilitate more 60A PowIRstages over the memory area, which in turn increases the current capability of the motherboard's VRM. It also allows for a much larger VRM heat sink, which looks very similar to the one on the Dominus Extreme.
10Gbit NBase-T: The motherboard has both a 10Gbit Aquantia NIC and a 1Gbit Intel NIC are both loaded onboard along with a nice WIFI card with support for up to 1.73Gbps WIFI. The motherboard has you covered for future endeavors into multi-GBT networking.
NODE and Fans: While the motherboard has nine hybrid headers, eight of which are available for use. With the included NODE device you can increase that count by six and increase the number of external temperature sensor inputs of addressable and normal RGB LED lighting.
What's Not
Price: At $750, the motherboard is one of the most expensive X299 motherboards.
Final Thoughts
ASUS's Rampage VI Extreme Omega is one of the most loaded X299 motherboards, and that's pretty much reflected in the price of the product. We get an excellent VRM with best in class performance, a very nice VRM cooler, and all the OC features your heart could desire, so it has you covered for overclocking.
The motherboard's lack of flashy RGBs like its predecessor has is something that will attract a lot of serious buyers who want a high-end motherboard without too many frills, but that's not to say it doesn't have bling.
We like the addressable RGBs built into the motherboard and the OLED screen, albeit we would have liked to see a larger OLED. If you are in the market for a really high-end X299 motherboard, give the Rampage VI Extreme Omega a look.
Performance | 98% |
Quality | 95% |
Features | 95% |
Value | 85% |
Overall | 93% |
The Bottom Line
Loaded with top of the line components, an excellent VRM design, and tons of features, the X299 Rampage VI Extreme Omega is one of the highest-end motherboards we have ever seen.
