This board is one heck of a design innovation from the Asus design team. I myself am passionate about Asus Formula series motherboards and design of this motherboard is identical to the Maximus IX Formula with few differences which have been highlighted in the Key Features section. We have a regular ATX size PCB in grayish black tone with a beautiful ROG Armor plate or cover on top of it. This cover adds more the overall aesthetics of the motherboard look and feel. CODE is printed on the heat sink cover of the VRM. There is a Republic of Gamer writing right below the CPU Socket which is lit up once it is powered on.

ROG Cover is two toned. Main is light gray while the bottom right side sub-part of it is in a darker tone. This is the removable cover of the M.2 SSD and the chipset itself. Note that ROG eye on the Chipset cover does not light as it does not have LED underneath it. RGB LEDs are implemented on the ROG Armor itself. To remove the ROG Armor, the user would have to unscrew the large size black screws on the backside of the motherboard.

The backside of the ROG Armor shows the RGB LED controllers. One is on the back I/O ports side and the other one is on the backside of the Republic of the Gamers text. Both controllers are connected to the RGB Headers on the PCB of the motherboard.

Text for Power, Reset buttons and LEDs for CPU, DRAM, VGA, BOOT and USB 3.1 are also labelled on the ROG Armor.

Below pics show the M.2 SSD cover removed from the front and the back side. Note the metallic ROG Eye logo implemented on the upper side of the chipset cover. Unfortunately, this part of the cover does not light. To remove this section of the cover, the user would need to remove the only screw right next to the 5th PCIe slot.

Asus has provided two M.2 slots on this motherboard. One is M.2 Socket 3, with M Key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 storage devices support (both SATA & PCIE mode). This is the socket with the ROG Cover on it.The second one is M.2 Socket 3, with M Key, type 2242/2260/2280 storage devices support (PCIE mode only). This port is implanted vertically on the bottom of the board. It gives enough clearance for up to two cards setup. If you are up to running a 3 way CF of AMD cards then this slot would be rendered useless.

One immediate Con that comes to mind is the implementation of the horizontal M.2 Socket with ROG Armor cover on top of it. One would need to remove the cover to access the socket. If the user intends to remove the SSD or change it after completion of the build, the cover needs to be taken off. But for that, graphics card(s) would need to be removed as well. This can be quite a hassle.

Asus has provided supporting bracket for the second M.2 socket in a vertical orientation. SSD can be mounted on the bracket and bracket can be installed on the board. This would give safety and protection to the SSD.

Below pic shows the backside of the PCB.

Back side I/O ports include: –

1 x DisplayPort

1 x HDMI

1 x LAN (RJ45) port(s)

1 x USB 3.1 (black)Type-A

1 x USB 3.1 (red)Type-C

4 x USB 3.0 (blue)

4 x USB 2.0

1 x Optical S/PDIF out

5 x Audio jack(s)

1 x Clear CMOS button(s)

2 x Wi-Fi antenna port(s)

1 x USB BIOS Flashback Button(s)

Note that Audio jacks are gold plated.

Top left and the top sides of the motherboard have beautiful VRM heatsinks under the ROG Armor. Maximus IX is labelled on the ROG Armor on the back I/O Port. Text “Code” is labelled on the left side heat sink which kinda looks good in totality.

8-Pin power connector (EPS) is located on the top of the PCB behind the heatsink cover.

On the top left the most side, we have a Hi-Amp fan connector. It has a power rating of 3A or 12 x 3 = 36W. It can support multiple fans with more power requirement. It is a PWM fan header which can be setup in the BIOS.

Right next to these is the CPU Socket. It is well designed with clearance in mind for large CPU coolers. Foxconn LGA115X is printed on the CPU socket cover. Important instructions are printed on the top of socket cover. This cover needs to be placed somewhere safe after installing the CPU. I prefer to keep such items in the motherboard’s box for ease of access later on. As a general rule of thumb, always keep CPU socket covered. 21 capacitors are visible around the CPU Socket. Power phases will be discussed later in the review.

DIMMs are implemented on the right side of the CPU socket. Clearance is good enough between the CPU socket and the DIMM slots. Asus uses a notion of Q when it comes to implementing various features on the board. DIMM slots are also known as Q-DIMMs. The one end towards the PCIe slots on these slots is fixed while the other end is a tip/latch which gets locked once RAM is installed. To remove the RAM, simply push that latch away from the RAM and pull out the RAM.

Maximum of 4 DIMMs can be installed at a time with the maximum capacity of 64 GB. These are the DDR4 type with 288 pins. DDR4 speed is 2133MHz as per JEDEC specification. This is the confirmed supported speed by the Intel on Broadwell-E, Skylake and Kabylake architectures. Anything above is not guaranteed as it is not JEDEC standard. Hence, manufacturers tend to mention the supported speeds with OC nomenclature. Maximum supported speed on this motherboard is 4133 (OC). Other supported speeds are already mentioned in the specification section of the review. Memory type is DDR4, Non-ECC, un-buffered with Dual Channel architecture. It supports Intel® Extreme Memory Profile (XMP).

Please note that XMP is not loaded automatically but has to be loaded from the BIOS. Also, reported frequency outside of the BIOS would be like 1066MHz. Don’t panic as one would need to multiply the reported frequency with 2 to get effective speed. This example pertains to 2133MHz speed. Rest follows the same convention. This is simply due to the fact that frequency being reported is single data rate whereas we’ve DDR4 where DDR stands for double data rate. Hence the notion of multiplying with 2.

Asus has provided further protection for the DIMM slots by implementing resettable fuse that protects connection ports and DRAM against overcurrent and short-circuits damage.

Right next to DIMM slots we’ve USB 3.0 connector which is implemented in angled direction which comes handy for cable management. Next to it is USB 3.1 connector. Details of the USB 3.1 connector have already been discussed in the Key Features section. Next to the USB 3.1 connector is the 24-Pin EATX power connector which is typical vertical implementation.

Note the CPU, DRAM, VGA and BOOT text printed in front of the 24-pin EATX power connector. These are actually printed on the ROG Armor but they give the look of totality as can be seen from the pic. Very good thinking indeed by the design team. They are printed on the areas with corresponding LED beneath the ROG Armor. Moving further ahead, we have the Reset and Power buttons with black arrow indicators. They are also printed on the ROG Armor. In fact, the buttons have been implemented on the ROG Armor. These also have LEDs underneath to give a glow effect on these buttons which is very eye catching.

Above picture shows the same area with ROG Armor removed. Notice the LEDs right in front of CPU, DRAM, VGA and BOOT texts. Even these texts are printed on the PCB as well so that user may not get confused. Asus seems to be turning no stone unturned.

Two buttons are marked with BTN_LED1 and BTN_LED2. BTN_LED1 is the Power button and its corresponding LED whereas the BTN_LED2 is the Reset button with its LED. Right next to them is the Debug LED which Asus refers to as Q_Code LED. It shows two-digit codes and is very helpful in troubleshooting and identifying the problematic area. This also helps in reducing the time, effort and hassle when troubleshooting. Instead of going through all areas, the user would look up the code in the manual start troubleshooting accordingly.

Also, note that LEDs of the CPU, DRAM, VGA and BOOT are not only status indicators but they also report the problem if any. This in conjunction with Q_Code LED is very effective implementation. Let’s say if there is any error with say RAM then DRAM light will continue to light without a blink unless the problem is resolved. All four LEDs have a different color on them. These are: –

RED color for CPU LED

Yellow color for DRAM LED

White color for VGA LED

Yellow Green for BOOT LED

Here BOOT refers to booting devices.

We’ve already discussed M.2 sockets, let’s have a look at other storage connectors. We’ve 6 SATA connectors to the right side of the USB 3.0 header. These are labelled as SATA6G_1 to SATA6G_6 where 6G signifies the SATA 6 Gb/s interface. The user can create a RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10 configurations with the Intel Rapid Storage Technology. These connectors are set to AHCI mode by default. Settings can be changed from the BIOS.

Please note that when M.2 socket under the ROG Armor operates in SATA mode, SATA port 1 i.e SATA6G_1 will be disabled. Such limitations are mentioned in the manual. Make sure to read the manual before setting up the system.

We’ve Channel fan header next to the SATA connectors. This is a PWM fan header with the 1A power rating. We’ve LN2 jumper next to this header which is disabled by default. Asus has provided the built-in provision to combat the cold boot during LN2 overclocking for which this jumper needs to be set to active the LN2 mode. Next, we have a two pin T-Sensor. One can connect thermistor cable on this connector and starts monitoring the temperature of the critical areas of the motherboard.

Next, we’ve series of white color connectors which are for water cooling enthusiasts. We have a 3-pin Water Flow connector designated as W_Flow. Next, we’ve 2-pin Water In connector designated as W_IN followed by 2-pin Water Out connector designated as W_OUT. These connectors allow the user to monitor the temperature and flow rate of liquid cooling setup. Next, we’ve 5-pin Fan Extension connector. Fan Extension module can be bought separately from the Asus and up to 3 fans can be connected using this connector. As described earlier, the user would get individual control of all those 3 fans. Again, Asus design engineers have delivered.

Last, we’ve system panel connectors. We’ve 4-pin speaker connector. Speakers are no longer in use but they can still be hooked up nevertheless. Visual error reporting has superseded the audio based error beeps. That was quite a hassle in remembering the number of beeps and accordingly an error area.

Right next to it is the front panel connector. Power LED +/- and Power button cables have to be installed on the top four right most pins. HDD +/- and Reset cables have to be connected on the bottom 4 right most pins.

Let’s have a look at the I/O connectors on the bottom side of the motherboard. Starting from the right side, we’ve system panel connector followed by M.2 Socket. These two have already been discussed. Next up is a Water Pump header designated as W_PUMP+. It is a PWM header which can be setup in the BIOS as per the requirement.

Next up is an SLOW_MODE switch. It is disabled by default. It is used when the LN2 mode is on and LN2 based cooling is being employed. The system may crash due to CPU being unstable when using extreme overclocking. Enabling this button will lower the CPU frequency and helps to improve the system stability. Next up is a USB 2.0 connector followed by the ROG_EXT connector. This connector is used to connect ROG OC Panel and other devices. USB 2.0 1314 on the mid board shares pins with ROG Extension port.

Next up is the Mem OK button. This button comes handy when there is an incompatibility between the DRAM and the motherboard. If the DRAM_LED lights continuously then press and hold this button until DRAM_LED starts blinking. This will attempt to put the system in the compatible mode with the DRAM where possible and to give the user a successful boot. Please note that this is a tuning process and system will try with different failsafe settings of the DRAM which can take some time and during this process, blink speed of the DRAM_LED increases. Give the system time to fine tune itself. This button does not work under Windows.

Next up is SAFE_BOOT button. It can be pressed any time to force the system boot into the BIOS safe mode. This would help retain the previous BIOS settings and comes handy during overclocking. Next up is the ReTry button. It is also beneficial to the overclockers. If during extreme tuning, Reset button becomes useless, RETRY_BUTTON would force the system to reboot itself while retaining the settings.

Next up is a TPM connector. This connector supports Trusted Platform Module system. This system stores keys, digital certificates, passwords and data. TPM module can be bought separately.

Next up is a 4-pin PWM Channel Fan header. Next up is the AURA RGB Header. There are total two connectors on this board. Another one is located on the CPU Socket area above the CPU_OPT_FAN header. These are 4-pin headers. It is used to connect RGB LED Strip with the motherboard. I’ve already discussed these earlier in Key Features section. Next up is the Front Panel HD Audio connector.

Let’s have a look at PCIe slots. This board has total 6 PCIe slots. Slots no 1, 3 and 5 from the top are PCIe Gen 3.0/2.0 x1. The second slot is PCIe Gen 3.0/2.0 x16. This slot is electrically x16 implemented and connected with the CPU. This is an only slot with x16 speed on the board. The fourth slot is PCIe Gen 3.0/2.0 x8. The sixth slot is PCIe Gen 3.0/2.0 x4 and is taking PCIe lanes from the chipset. This slot is taking PCIe lanes from the CPU.

Please note that in the case of two SLI or CF, slot no 2 and 4 will operate at x8/x8 speeds. In case, a graphics card is installed in the 4th slot, slot no 2 will automatically operate at x8. This is because CPUs under LGA-1151 have 16 PCIe lanes on them which have to be shared between 2nd and 4th slots. In case a graphics card is installed on 2nd slot, that slot will operate at full x16 speed. As PCIe Gen 3.0/2.0 x16 is implemented one slot down from the CPU socket, this would give more clearance to the large size CPU coolers.

These slots have been designated as: –

Slot No Description 1 PCIEX1_1 2 PCIEX16/x8_1 3 PCIEX1_2 4 PCIEX8_2 5 PCIEX1_3 6 PCIEX4_3

Digi+

Asus has been using Digi+ technology for quite some time. I did not include this feature in Key Features section deliberately as I intended to cover this feature along with VRM/MOSFET for the power delivery system of the board in the Design section. ROG Maximus IX Code is equipped with ASUS Digi+ Power Control for maxed-out overclocking potential, enhanced system stability and superb power efficiency. Digi+ Power Control is the industry’s leading digital power controller (ASP1257 NSG7 N410P) and it’s fully compliant with Intel’s IMVP8 specifications, for smoother, safer power. We have a PWM controller (ASP1400BT), handling 10 power phases. These phases are implemented using 87350D NexFETs from Texas Instruments, micro fine alloy inductors and 10K capacitors. There are 8+2 Power phases on the Asus Maximus IX Code. 8 phases are dedicated for the CPU. 2 phases are for the iGPU. 2 phases are dedicated to the Memory. We’ve more than adequate phases for stable power delivery to the motherboard and various components. This also helps in stable overclocking.

For our readers who may not know the power phases, here is the brief on that. Power Supply Unit of the PC provides 12V power to the motherboard. This power needs to be converted into the Voltage required by the CPU ranging from 0.5 to 1.5 or so depending upon the architecture and the platform. This stepping is done using the VRMs (Voltage Regulatory Module) on the motherboard. These VRMs are responsible for converting 12V into the Voltages required by the CPU. This conversion results in excessive heat. Hence, the requirement for effective cooling makes sense. Heat sinks on the VRM provide passive cooling. More power phases are a good thing to have. For example, if there are two power phases then each of the power phases would be converting 50% of the voltage. Add two more power phases and each phase would be doing 25% of the load. This not only ensures the fewer loads on each phase but also, less heat generation across phases and consistent power supply to the components. For more details, there are many guides available on the Internet which can be used to understand the concept.

A dedicated base clock generator designed for 7th Generation Intel® processors allows overclocked base clock frequencies up to or beyond 425MHz. This custom solution works in tandem with the ASUS TurboV Processing Unit (TPU) to enhance voltage and base clock overclocking control.

ASUS-exclusive T-Topology circuit design plus OC Socket provides the superb memory overclocking capability to unleash the full power of DDR4 by minimizing coupling noise and signal reflection.

The Energy Processing Unit (EPU) automatically detects and adjusts power consumption according to the rig’s needs. EPU will also reduce CPU wattage to a set level and deliver more savings with the Away mode, creating an extreme energy-saving scenario that shuts down unused I/O controllers and reduces the power consumption of the graphics card.