So last week I took a look at Asus’s AM3+ board, today I have the chance to take a look at a more recent AMD based ROG board called the Crossblade Ranger. Asus launched the Crossblade Ranger not to long ago and as you can tell from the lack of any numbers in the name this is their first Republic of Gamers FM2+ board. Why did they take so long to bring one out? Frankly the FM2+ platform was always designed to be more of a mainstream platform but that didn’t stop some people from using them for gaming. Asus noticed there was interest in a gaming focused board and here we are. Today I’m going to dive into the Crossblade Ranger and see what kind of features Asus packed in then after that I will get it on the testbench and make sure it performs like it should as well.

Product Name: Asus Crossblade Ranger

Review Sample Provided by: Asus

Written by: Wes

Pictures by: Wes

 

Specifications

CPU

AMD Socket FM2+ Athlon™/A- Series Processors

Supports CPU up to 4 cores

Supports AMD® Turbo Core 3.0 Technology

Chipset

AMD A88X (Bolton D4)

Memory

4 x DIMM, Max. 64GB, DDR3 2666(O.C.)/2400(O.C.)/2250(O.C.)/2200(O.C.)/2133/1866*/1600/1333 MHz Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory *

Dual Channel Memory Architecture

Support AMD Memory Profile (AMP) memory

Graphic

Integrated AMD Radeon™ R/HD8000/HD7000 Series Graphics in the A-Series  APU

Multi-VGA output support : HDMI/DVI-D/RGB ports

- Supports HDMI with max. resolution 4096 x 2160 @ 24 Hz / 1920 x 1200 @ 60 Hz*1

- Supports DVI-D with max. resolution 2560 x 1600 @ 60 Hz

- Supports RGB with max. resolution 1920 x 1600 @ 60 Hz

Maximum shared memory of 2048 MB

AMD® Dual Graphics technology support

Multi-GPU Support

Supports AMD 3-Way CrossFireX™ Technology

Expansion Slots

2 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (Single at x16, dual at x8/x8, red) *2

1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (max at x4 mode, black)

2 x PCIe 2.0 x1

2 x PCI

Storage

AMD A88X FCH(Bolton D4) chipset :

8 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s), ,

Support Raid 0, 1, 5, 10, JBOD

LAN

Intel® I211-AT, 1 x Gigabit LAN Controller(s)

Audio

ROG SupremeFX 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC

- Supports : Jack-detection, Multi-streaming, Front Panel Jack-retasking

- SupremeFX Shielding Technology

- ELNA® premium audio capacitors

Audio Feature :

- DTS Connect

- Optical S/PDIF out port(s) at back panel

- Sonic SoundStage

- Sonic SenseAmp

- Sonic Studio

- Sonic Radar II

USB Ports

ASMedia® USB 3.0 controller :

2 x USB 3.0 port(s) (2 at back panel, blue)

AMD A88X FCH(Bolton D4) chipset :

4 x USB 3.0 port(s) (2 at back panel, blue, 2 at mid-board)

AMD A88X FCH(Bolton D4) chipset :

8 x USB 2.0 port(s) (2 at back panel, , 6 at mid-board)

ROG Exclusive Features

Extreme Engine Digi+ III :

- Full Digital CPU/DRAM Power

- NexFET™ Power Block MOSFET

- New Alloy Chokes

- 10K Black Metallic Capacitors

ROG Extreme OC kit :

- Slow Mode

- LN2 Mode

ProbeIt

KeyBot

- CPU Level Up

- XMP

- Direct Key

UEFI BIOS features :

- GPU.DIMM Post

- Tweakers' Paradise

- ROG SSD Secure Erase

- Graphic Card Information Preview

ROG RAMDisk

GameFirst III

Extreme Tweaker

USB BIOS Flashback

Special Features

ASUS Dual Intelligent Processors 5-Way Optimization by Dual Intelligent Processors 5 :

- The tuning key perfectly consolidates ASUS-exclusive DIGI+ Power Control, TPU, EPU, and Fan Xpert 3 optimize the digital power setting, system performance, power saving and whole system cooling configuration

ASUS Exclusive Features :

- MemOK!

- AI Suite 3

- Ai Charger+

- USB Charger+

- USB 3.0 Boost

- Disk Unlocker

Interactive HomeCloud

- Media Streamer

ASUS Quiet Thermal Solution :

- Stylish Fanless Design Heat-sink solution & MOS Heatsink

- ASUS Fan Xpert 3

ASUS EZ DIY :

- ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3

- ASUS EZ Flash 2

- ASUS UEFI BIOS EZ Mode

- Push Notice

ASUS Q-Design :

- ASUS Q-Shield

- ASUS Q-Code

- ASUS Q-LED (CPU, DRAM, VGA, Boot Device LED)

- ASUS Q-Slot

- ASUS Q-DIMM

- ASUS Q-Connector

Operating System Support

Windows® 8.1 86x64

Windows® 8 86x64

Windows® 7 86x64

Back I/O Ports

1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse combo port(s)

1 x DVI-D

1 x D-Sub

1 x HDMI

1 x LAN (RJ45) port(s)

4 x USB 3.0 (blue)

2 x USB 2.0

1 x Optical S/PDIF out

6 x Audio jack(s)

1 x USB BIOS Flashback Button(s)

Internal I/O Ports

1 x USB 3.0 connector(s) support(s) additional 2 USB 3.0 port(s)

3 x USB 2.0 connector(s) support(s) additional 6 USB 2.0 port(s)

1 x TPM header

8 x SATA 6Gb/s connector(s)

1 x CPU Fan connector(s) (1 x 4 -pin)

1 x CPU OPT Fan connector(s) (1 x 4 -pin)

3 x Chassis Fan connector(s) (3 x 4 -pin)

1 x 24-pin EATX Power connector(s)

1 x 8-pin ATX 12V Power connector(s)

1 x Front panel audio connector(s) (AAFP)

1 x System panel(s)

1 x DRCT header(s)

1 x MemOK! button(s)

1 x Slow Mode switch(es)

7 x ProbeIt Measurement Points

1 x Power-on button(s)

1 x Reset button(s)

1 x Clear CMOS button(s)

1 x LN2 Mode jumper(s)

1 x ROG extension (ROG_EXT) header(s)

1 x KeyBot Button

1 x Sonic SoundStage Button

Accessories

User's manual

I/O Shield

4 x SATA 6Gb/s cable(s)

1 x Q-connector(s) (2 in 1)

1 x 12 in 1 ROG Cable Label(s)

1 x ROG Door Hanger(s)

1 x ROG Mouse Mat

BIOS

64Mb UEFI AMI BIOS, PnP, DMI2.7, WfM2.0, SM BIOS 2.7, ACPI5.0a, Multi-Language BIOS

Manageability

WfM 2.0, DMI 2.7, WOL by PME, PXE

Support Disc

Drivers

ROG GameFirst III

ROG RAMDisk

ROG CPU-Z

Kaspersky® Anti-Virus

DAEMON Tools Pro Standard

ASUS WebStorage

HomeCloud

ASUS Utilities

Operating System

Windows® 8.1 32/64-bit

Windows® 8 32/64-bit

Windows® 7 32/64-bit

Form Factor

ATX Form Factor

12 inch x 9.6 inch ( 30.5 cm x 24.4 cm )

Management Solution

WfM 2.0, DMI 2.7, WOL by PME, PXE

 

 

Log in to comment

garfi3ld's Avatar
garfi3ld replied the topic: #36031 26 Dec 2014 18:25
I hope everyone had a great holiday. Before we get to the weekend check out our review of the Asus Crossblade Ranger, Asus's first ROG FM2+ board.

We have 1401 guests and one member online

supportus