Want the power of Intel’s Core i7 CPUs in a small “shoebox-sized” PC chassis?
One new motherboard to consider may be Asus’ Rampage II GENE, a “small brother” of the no-holds-barred Rampage II Extreme motherboard, which I used in my own watercooled PC as well as Digital Life’s Dream PC 2008.
The Rampage II GENE is a micro ATX board with the same Intel X58 chipset, and tri-channel DDR3 support. More importantly, it will support both Nvidia SLI and ATI Crossfire dual-graphics modes. That lets you squeeze two graphics cards onto a small shoebox PC – cool!
I’m not sure how you’re gonna dissipate the heat of two giant graphics cards in a rather tight shoebox PC, but at least this board lets you try!
I have to mention that there’s also the add-on SupremeFX X-Fi soundcard onboard, which gives you a “software” version of Creative’s X-Fi sound effects in games. All in, this is not a microATX board that stinges on features – it’s a full-blooded enthusiast part.
Notably, the heatsinks here are smaller and less elaborate than on the Rampage II Extreme, but that may be done to ensure that the smaller board will fit into shoebox chassis.
If this follows on the excellent (though expensive) Rampage II Extreme, then Asus may have a winner here for users who want performance in a shoebox PC.
As a fan of Asus ROG series of boards (I also bought the X48-based Rampage Formula), I’m looking forward to fitting this in my lil’ Lian Li case. Now if only I got moolah left for a Core i7…
