ASUS Maximus VI Extreme Review

Introduction and Technical Specifications

| Source: ASUS Price: £330 Author: Bryan Waters

Introduction

So far we've looked at some affordable Z87 motherboards that all provide excellent, and in some cases amazing, performance. The quality and uniformity of the Intel Chipsets has reached a point wherein it's extremely difficult for a manufacturer to make a significant performance difference solely by the design of their motherboard.

One of the consistently high performance motherboards is the Maximus range from ASUS. The Maximus has always been a serious proposition for anybody who wanted to get the very most from their CPU. Although the Maximus IV was brilliant, with the Maximus V we started to see that although it was still great, everyone else had caught up and it no longer provided value for money.

Today sees us reviewing the Maximus VI Extreme and the question on everyone's lips is, is the M6E still the king of performance motherboards or has the chasing pack finally caught up?

Technical Specifications

According to the ASUS website the Maximus VI has five PCIe 3.0 slots, which obviously isn't the case. Someone needs to proof read. That aside, the Maximus VI Extreme has everything you could hope to find on a motherboard. WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, ten SATA 6Gbps ports (yes 10), eight USB ports on the rear with a further eight available internally. As well as the regular ROG features the Maximus VI Extreme comes with an OC panel, for instant control. So let's take a look at the board itself.

CPU Intel® Socket 1150 for 4th Generation Core™ i7/Core™ i5/Core™ i3/Pentium®/Celeron® Processors

Supports Intel® 22 nm CPU

Supports Intel® Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 Chipset Intel Z87 Memory 4 x DIMM, Max. 32GB, DDR3 3000(O.C.)/2933(O.C.)/2800(O.C.)/2666(O.C.)/2600(O.C.)/2500(O.C.)/2400(O.C.) /2200(O.C.)/2133(O.C.)/2000(O.C.)/1866(O.C.)/1800(O.C.)/1600/1333 MHz Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory

Dual Channel Memory Architecture

Supports Intel® Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) Graphics Integrated Graphics Processor

Multi-VGA output support : HDMI/DisplayPort ports

- Supports HDMI with max. resolution 4096 x 2160 @ 24 Hz / 2560 x 1600 @ 60 Hz

- Supports DisplayPort with max. resolution 4096 x 2160 @ 24 Hz / 3840 x 2160 @ 60 Hz

Supports Intel® InTru™ 3D, Quick Sync Video, Clear Video HD Technology, Insider™

Supports NVIDIA® 4-Way SLI™ Technology

Supports AMD CrossFireX™ Technology Expansion Slots 4 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (x16 or dual x8 or x8/x16/x8 or x8/x16/x8/x8)

1 x PCIe 2.0 x4

1 x mini-PCIe 2.0 x1 Storage Intel® Z87 chipset :

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

Support Raid 0, 1, 5, 10

Supports Intel® Smart Response Technology, Intel® Rapid Start Technology, Intel® Smart Connect Technology

Intel® Z87 chipset :

1 x M.2 (NGFF) Socket 2 on mPCIe Combo II expansion card(s), black

Support M.2 (NGFF) Type 2242 SSD card (22mm x 42mm), Support PCI express 2.0 x1 and SATA 6Gb/s standards

ASMedia® ASM1061 controller :

4 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s), red Network Intel® I217V, 1 x Gigabit LAN Controller

Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac

Supports dual band frequency 2.4/5 GHz

Bluetooth V4.0

Bluetooth V3.0+HS Audio Realtek® ALC1150 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC

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

Audio Feature :

- Blu-ray audio layer Content Protection

- Optical S/PDIF out port(s) at back panel USB Ports Intel® Z87 chipset :

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

Intel® Z87 chipset :

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

ASMedia® USB 3.0 controller :

4 x USB 3.0 port(s) (4 at back panel, blue) OC Panel 2.6 " LCM display

EXTREME/NORMAL mode switch

EXTREME Mode for subzero OC benching:

- VGA Hotwire

- Subzero Sense

- Slow Mode

- Pause Switch

- VGA SMB header

- ProbeIt

- 4 x 4-pin extra fan connectors

NORMAL Mode for in-chassis usage:*8

- CPU Level Up OC button

- FanSpeed control button

- LCM backlight on/off button

I/O Ports:

- POWERï¼š1 x SATA power connector

- ROG_EXT portï¼š1 x 18-1 pin data connection port ROG Exclusive Features mPCIe Combo™ II (mPCIe/M.2 combo card)

ROG Connect :

- RC TweakIt

- RC Diagram

- RC Remote

- RC Poster

Extreme Engine Digi+ III :

- 8 + 2 phase power design

- NexFET™ Power Block MOSFET

- 60A BlackWing Chokes

- 10K Black Metallic Capacitors

ROG Extreme OC kit :

- Slow Mode

- LN2 Mode

- PCIe x16 Lane Switch

- EZ Plug

ProbeIt

UEFI BIOS features :

- ROG BIOS Print

- GPU.DIMM Post

- Tweakers' Paradise

- ROG SSD Secure Erase

ROG RAMDisk

Extreme Tweaker Back I/O Ports 1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse combo port

1 x DisplayPort

1 x HDMI

1 x LAN (RJ45) port

6 x USB 3.0 (blue)

2 x USB 2.0 (one port can be switched to ROG Connect)

1 x Optical S/PDIF out

6 x Audio jack(s)

1 x Clear CMOS button(s)

1 x ROG Connect On/ Off switch 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)

10 x SATA 6Gb/s connector(s)

1 x CPU Fan connector

1 x CPU OPT Fan connector

3 x Chassis Fan connector(s)

3 x Optional Fan connector(s)

1 x S/PDIF out header

1 x 24-pin EATX Power connector

1 x 8-pin ATX 12V Power connector

1 x 4-pin ATX 12V Power connector

1 x 6-pin EZ_PLUG Power connector

1 x 4-pin EZ_PLUG Power connector

1 x Front panel audio connector (AAFP)

1 x System panel

1 x DirectKey Button

1 x DRCT header

1 x MemOK! button

1 x Slow Mode switch

10 x ProbeIt Measurement Points

3 x Thermal sensor connector(s)

1 x LN2 Mode header

1 x Power-on button

1 x Reset button

1 x BIOS Switch button

1 x FastBoot switch

1 x ROG extension (ROG_EXT) header

1 x mPCIe Combo II connector Accessories User's manual

I/O Shield

10 x SATA 6Gb/s cable(s)

1 x ASUS 2T2R dual band Wi-Fi moving antennas (Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac compliant)

1 x 3-Way SLI bridge(s)

1 x 4-Way SLI bridge(s)

1 x SLI bridge(s)

1 x CrossFire cable(s)

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

1 x ROG Connect cable(s)

1 x 12 in 1 ROG Cable Label(s)

1 x mPCIe Combo II card(s) with dual-band WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac + Bluetooth v4.0/3.0+HS module

1 x ROG Magnet

OC Panel Kit:

- 1 x OC Panel(s)

- 1 x OC Panel 5.25-inch bay metal case

- 1 x OC Panel Cable(s) Manageability WfM2.0, DMI2.0, WOL by PME, PXE Form Factor ATX Form Factor 12 inch x 9.6 inch ( 30.5 cm x 24.4 cm )

1 - Introduction and Technical Specifications 2 - Up Close 3 - BIOS 4 - More BIOS 5 - Test Setup, Overclocking and Power Draw 6 - AIDA64 7 - SiSoft Sandra 8 - PC Mark 9 - wPrime95 and x264 10 - CatZilla and CineBench 11 - Unigine Heaven 12 - Unigine Valley and Resident Evil 6 13 - 3D Mark Vantage 14 - 3D Mark 11 15 - 3D Mark 16 - Conclusion «Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Next»

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