First Looks: ASUS Maximus VI Extreme Motherboard
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First Looks: ASUS Maximus VI Extreme Motherboard
First Looks: ASUS Maximus VI Extreme Motherboard
The ASUS Maximus VI Extreme is the flagship Intel Z87 ATX motherboard from its Intel 8-series offerings that we've initially witnessed from the company's technical seminar that we attended a couple of months back. It comes packed with features that will make its target audience of overclockers and power users a really happy bunch. The board sports the familiar red-and-black color scheme of the Republic of Gamers (ROG) series. Featuring the Intel Z87 chipset together with its LGA1150 CPU socket, the board supports the new 4th generation of Intel Core i3/i5/i7 processors. Owners of the previous generation 'Ivy Bridge' CPUs need not apply.
One of its defining features is its exclusive bundled OC Panel. It is a highly evolved version of the OC Key that was first unveiled with the ASUS Rampage IV Extreme Intel X79-based motherboard. The OC Key is a piece of equipment that sits in-between your graphics card and display monitor. Using on-screen display (OSD) technology to control and monitor overclocking and basic BIOS matters, the OC Key attaches a transparent, graphical overlay on the original screen output and provides an informative menu to enable OSD TweakIt and OSD Monitor.
The new OC Panel is a complete revamp of the former, and packages real-time monitoring and overclocking capabilities into a sleek, transformable console. The OC Panel can be likened to a customized Fluke digital multimeter, except that this is a gear that's made to handle overclocking and monitoring status. It has two modes of operation. In normal mode, the OC Panel can be installed, with an additional bracket attachment, into a spare 5.25-inch drive bay. According to ASUS, it is excellent for normal overclocking to get that additional performance boost during gaming.
On the other hand, while in its Extreme Mode, the same overclocking panel will allow for overclocking with more finesse. Its features include the following:
- VGA SMB
- VGA Hotwire
- Four 4-pin fan headers
- Slow Mode (more on this below)
- Pause Switch
- Multiple Parameter Tuning
According to ASUS, the settings are adjustable in real-time, through the buttons located above the Extreme Mode panel.
Crucial to stable overclocking efforts is the board's power delivery system where the ASUS Maximus VI Extreme board features NexFET MOSFETs, BlackWing chokes, and 10K black metallic capacitors that make up its digital Voltage Regulator Module (VRM). The VRM delivers an 8-phase power supply to the CPU; while the memory modules are fed a 2-phase one.
In terms of memory support, the board supports up to four DDR3 memory modules that have been rated to operate at the frequency of 2800MHz while the maximum supported installed capacity is 32GB.
Near the vicinity of the memory DIMM slots, you will find that ASUS has squeezed in a number onboard features and they consist of the following:-
- Start and Reset buttons
- PCIe x16 DIP switch
This switch allows the user to disable and enable the corresponding PCIe x16 slots. - MemOK! button
This button is useful for overcoming memory module compatibility issues. - Slow Mode switch
This is used when the system is cooled with a liquid nitrogen system. At such low temperatures, the system is switched to slow mode to prevent crashing.
- ROG ProbeIt
Like most other recent ROG boards, this board also features a set of detection points that allow for multimeter voltage measurements for various parameters.
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