ASUS ROG Rampage VI APEX on the Test Bench

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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May 18, 1997
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The ASUS ROG Rampage VI Apex is an interesting motherboard. In the days when you think that PCB real estate is at a premium on these feature-rich motherboards, ASUS has made the design choice of trimming out some angled sections of the PCB to allow all those frag-harder lights to get a bit more exposure along the edges.

Check out the pics.

Certainly an interesting concept however I will surely need to see it in some cases to make a call on it.
 
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I bought a lan party board once for a blacklight build back in the days of AMD fx's gaming glory. However I really don't get any kicks out of led lights on mobos, memory, vid cards, and hard drives. It's nice for tradeshows and other showcases but for me it's always been moot when gpu and cpu rein supreme.
 
20171017_191528.jpg

upgrade still a WIP (hence only dual channel etc) but heres an idea of what it looks like in a case (cable management not done because build not done ;) )
 
meh... I don't care for LEDs or flashing lights. I even have the LEDs on the front of my case unplugged except for the power light.
 
Probleminfected said:
I turn all that crap off...
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the good news is these boards have jumpers so you can turn them all off and make them stay off unlike most other boards where bios and software can just decide to bring the lightshow back to life on a whim
 
I see this as adding cost for no reason.

Every angle, every cut increases cost per unit, and if it doesn't result in performance increases, it is wasted.

All function. Fuck form.
 
Nothing says "Extreme" like an un-rectangular motherboard. Sound like they did strip it down to potentially provide better overclocks, so I guess there is some functionality there. Never thought it would cost more to remove features though lol.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
I see this as adding cost for no reason.

Every angle, every cut increases cost per unit, and if it doesn't result in performance increases, it is wasted.

All function. Fuck form.
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Agreed, however having many more SKU's will also increase overall price. It many people buy boards with lights it probably doesn't necessarily cost more to manufacture but they can certainly market it for more just because it has the lights. I haven't had a window on my case in ages so I could care less for the lights. My buddy however is building a new box and he's getting all the RGB stuff, spend probably as much on this as he could have on getting a GTX 1070 or 1080. lol To each their own I guess, clearly if there wasn't demand for this they would make such boards.
 
zkostik said:
Agreed, however having many more SKU's will also increase overall price. It many people buy boards with lights it probably doesn't necessarily cost more to manufacture but they can certainly market it for more just because it has the lights. I haven't had a window on my case in ages so I could care less for the lights. My buddy however is building a new box and he's getting all the RGB stuff, spend probably as much on this as he could have on getting a GTX 1070 or 1080. lol To each their own I guess, clearly if there wasn't demand for this they would make such boards.
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The good old lowest common denominator problem...
 
Guys, I'm going to need to build a new system...my 2600k is going to find a new home and a few more years of life, in the end I need an 8700k and a motherboard that suits it. Is there a mid-tier motherboard that will work? I do not do RGB anything, this will go in as plain and light a case as is possible. want to use an AIO and pair it up with the 1080 Ti Hybrid currently on its way from newegg. Helpz.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
I see this as adding cost for no reason.

Every angle, every cut increases cost per unit, and if it doesn't result in performance increases, it is wasted.

All function. Fuck form.
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The two do not have to be mutually exclusive. It is possible to have both.

TitaniumLizzard said:
Any possibility of scrapping the RGB bullshit and just giving us cheaper boards?
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LED's cost next to nothing. Motherboards like this aren't for people who are overly concerned with the budget of their system build.

Brian_B said:
Don't be ridiculous.

Of course not.
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Motherboard manufacturers think it's the hot thing right now. Even many of the PR / Marketing people we deal with roll their eyes at the RGB craze. The thing is, we aren't necessarily the market that feature appeals to. There are a lot of people that simply buy fast hardware and want it to be as flashy as possible.

WhoBeDaPlaya said:
Nope. $5 of LEDs, and charge you $50 more? Hell yeah!
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We've had motherboards at this price point for quite some time now. It isn't LED's that drives the price up.

infin@ said:
Nothing says "Extreme" like an un-rectangular motherboard. Sound like they did strip it down to potentially provide better overclocks, so I guess there is some functionality there. Never thought it would cost more to remove features though lol.
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Look at the auto industry. Cars with a factory installed cage or roll bar in the back, rear seat deletes, lightweight materials and missing features often go for a lot more money. A rear seat delete shouldn't cost you more. Ripping out the air conditioning shouldn't cost you more but it does.

CombatChrisNC said:
AMEN!
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Again, this isn't an either or situation. Especially since the cuts to the PCB and RGB LED's probably don't cost that much compared to other features. I'd wager an Alpine Ridge controller for Thunderbolt 3 does more to drive the price up on a motherboard than those features do. You are paying a premium for it's overclocking focus. It's not really any different than GIGABYTE's SOC boards or any other premium product that goes fast.

Bang for your buck is great, but this isn't [F]rugal|OCP. If you think ditching some LED's and making the PCB perfectly rectangle would result in a drastic price reduction, your dead wrong. We had motherboards that were perfectly rectangle with no LED's on it that went for as much as the Rampage VI APEX does years ago.
 
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