ASUS Z170 ROG Maximus VIII Formula

The ROG Z170 Infrastructure armed with shielding and RGB lighting system

We test the ASUS Z170 ROG Maximus VIII Formula. Armed with a bling customizable RGB LED system, some extensive shielding and then regulars like the hippest features of 2015 and you are sure you'll have the right infrastructure for gaming de-li-cious product. If you fire it up with that new 14nm Skylake based Core i7 6700K processor this product will bring a smile to your face. The Formula ticks the most proper right boxes in terms of its feature-set and aesthetics. I'm not solely talking about the RGB LED system even, as we see a proper AC WIFI (MU-MIMO Qualcomm Atheros QCA61x4A) solution SLI/Crossfire support, SATA3 connectors, M.2., overclock features, a very nice audio solution and much more. A motherboard that offers plenty of features to provide your Intel Core i3/i5/i7 Skylake processor the full infrastructure is needs for a delicious gaming PC. Dressed in black and with added benefits like USB 3.1, a fully fetched M.2. slot and DDR4 support the product will amaze. Last but not least, it even comes with a factory-installed CrossChill EK hybrid cooling block from EKWB covering power delivery.

These motherboards can (well must) be paired with new Skylake-S series processors. We'll quickly dive into the two most import ones. Skylake Core i5-6600K and Core i7 6700K processors for the desktop platform have been released. We test both processors, yet have separate reviews on each of these processors. A new chip, a new package meaning both of them are Socket 1151. The new series Skylake processors are energy efficient, quite powerful and this need to be paired with a new motherboards series. For you guys that means the Z170 and h170 range. In this review we test the Core i5 6600K. An unlocked Skylake processor that has four cores and slim a 92W TDP, that is lower compared to Haswell with its 95W TDP, thanks to the new and smaller 14nm fabrication process. The quad core CPU has 8 MB L3 cache, and an integrated memory controller that supports both DDR4 and DDR3 memory. The Z170 and H170 series motherboards will all be offered with DDR4 though. For the gaming community two processors are the most important. The Core i7 6700K has Four CPU cores with Hyper-Threading, 4.0GHz frequency, 4.20GHz maximum Turbo Boost frequency. Then there is the Core i5 6600K with four cores, 3.50GHz frequency and a 3.90GHz maximum Turbo Boost frequency, both based on the new LGA1151 socket package. Skylake is the code-name used by Intel for the 14nm processor micro-architecture under development and is the successor to the Broadwell architecture. So then, the MSI Z170A SLI PLUS edition motherboard sits in their PRO series range. This is the affordable segment, and with prices at € 159,- with a tenner cheaper in USD you'll be amazed as to what you are purchasing. Sure some stuff is cut out, like on-board power/reset buttons / WIFI and an extra M.2. slot, but other than that, it's more of the same at exactly the same enthusiast class performance. The Z170A SLI PLUS in fact is a very feature rich product for the money, and if you have a peek below ... it will look terrific in any DIY PC build as well thanks to that all dark and clean looking PCB.

Skylake is the code-name used by Intel for the 14 nm processor micro-architecture under development and is the successor to the Broadwell architecture. That cool looking ASUS Z170 ROG Maximus VIII Formula then. The Formula is the somewhat more high-end opposed to enthusiast class (Extreme) in the Maximus VIII sSeries. The new SupremeFX 2015 used in the Maximus VIII Extreme has been carried over for proper audio as the ESS ES9023P digital-to-analog converter (DAC) with Hyperstream (ok which marketing bozo made that name up?) technology is used alongside low-jitter clock, Nichicon capacitors and a 2VRMS headphone amp. As mentioned, there is the new RGB LED illumination on the motherboard (called Aura) and an Aura 4-pin RGB-strip header so you can place extra RGB lighting inside or outside the case. Aura lighting control software can be used to customize the lighting effects. The product comes with an 8-Pin power connector for the CPU which is tied to a 10 Phase DIGI+ VRM. Much like all other Z170 board, you will spot four DDR4 DIMMs which can seat a maximum combined 64 GB DDR4 memory (up-to 3733 MHz).

For your graphics solutions you will spot two PCIe 3.0 slots to be used at x16 or x8/x8, a PCIe 3.0 x4 slot from the PCH can be found and then there are three PCIe x1 slots for add-in-cards. Storage options then, you will spot one PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 connector for SSDs (2242 to 22110 supported), two SATA Express connectors and eight SATA 6Gbps ports for storage devices (two use an ASMedia ASM1061 controller).

The single M.2. slot is linked as x4 thus offers 32 Gbps of bandwidth. But hey, have a peek at the ASUS Z170 ROG Maximus VIII Formula and then let's head on-wards into the review.