ASUS Maximus VIII Hero ATX Motherboard - Grey/Red/Black

Product Information

It also provides greater data security as if one drive fails, the data will still be accessible from another. It's International Rectifier's (now part of Infineon) latest and great digital PWM, and IR is well known for making some of the best PWMs for overclocking. Overall, the Maximus VIII Hero impressed me with its looks, features, and performance, but on top of all that, it is a solid overclocking motherboard. The number after the 'x' represents the number of lanes, with more lanes supporting higher data transfer rates. Intel's LAN has the serious double advantage of reducing CPU overhead and offering exceptionally high TCP and UDP throughput, so there's more power for your game and your gameplay.

I think ASUS is using the IR35201 which can support either 8+0 phase mode or 6+2 phase mode as it is doing on this board. While the ROG symbol on the PCH looks like its solid silver, there are actually RGB LEDs behind it that allow it to glow any color you want. Fans can also be connected straight to the power supply, but when connected to the motherboard you gain much finer control over them through software. This isn't the first time I have seen a relay used on a motherboard to avoid popping, but ASUS's implementation is better since they used a much quieter relay.

The topmost 1x slot is directly routed to the PCH, but the last 16x slot (4x electrical) and the other two PCI-E 1x slots share 4x of bandwidth. Maximus VIII Hero Alpha includes the amazing Aura lighting-control utility to cast stunning multi-color glows across your gaming rig, via the motherboard's powerful built-in RGB LEDs or attached RGB strips, or both — and in perfect synchronization! ROG's uniquely-intelligent technology effectively caches an entire storage device so that favorite games and apps launch at breakneck speeds, getting to work the moment it's activated.

Ideal for partnering with one of Intel’s high-end Skylake K CPUs, it packs in plenty of overclocking potential and extra features, without costing the earth. This Maximus VIII is from Asus' Hero line, which is a motherboard that has been optimised and honed for perfectly-balanced enthusiast-grade, gaming desktops.A good skylake build deserves a good motherboard and I have no doubts that the Hero VIII is certainly one of them. Perhaps equally as important as looking badass, a good motherboard needs a good layout for ease of access and all-around excellence. There are two other ROG labeled ICs, and they probably are extra ICs for USB BIOS Flashback and overclocking. A dedicated base-clock (BCLK) generator designed for 6th-generation Intel processors that allows overclocked base clock frequencies up to 400MHz*. I never had to struggle with individual cables or put effort into something to make the cabling work with the board.

As a gamer you demand stability and durability, so ROG integrates long-lasting, premium components, plus exclusive smart DIY designs across the board — ensuring the best gaming experiences. That said, the likelihood you'd need to remove the SSD after your system is up and running is fairly remote, while people that want to RAID two M. Not only has ASUS made all of the ports both PWM mode and DC mode (voltage mode) capable, but they added more controls such as spin up time to further enhance a user's ability to control the fans in great detail. Featuring a customised trace layout for reduced crosstalk and coupling noise, the ASUS 2nd generation T-Topology ensures time-aligned signal transfer for improved memory stability and compatibility. It's an interesting step for Asus as it tries to allow the board to be customisable to your own system's colour scheme, although there is room for improvement.ASUS does an excellent job providing all the features an overclocker's heart could desire, many of which you should consult ASUS's guide to use. As we saw with the Gene, the new ROG boards sport a slightly different colour scheme to their Z97 counterparts, with a grey and black theme with splashes of red. Built around the Intel Z170 chipset and featuring the LGA 1151 processor socket, the mainboard works with certain Intel CPUs such as Celeron, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, and Pentium. Sure, you will get a more robust cooling solution and more robust power circuit, but in the end you still get consistent performance from one board to the next.

Forming the aforementioned set of features are Asus' enhanced – SupremeFX – audio solution, an Intel NIC with network prioritisation software, a diverse range of gaming-centric software applications, and a customisable lighting scheme for the chipset heatsink LED.There are 10x IR3535 on the backside of the VRM and 8 of these are used for the CPU phases and 2 for the graphics two phases. Behind each of the ports on the I/O panel are diodes that help limit your exposure to an electrostatic discharge. Power is supplied by way of an ATX 24-pin connector tied in with an auxilliary 8-pin connection on the top edge of the PCB. SupremeFX Audio: I think ASUS did a very nice job upgrading their audio with the dedicated DAC and other enhancements to the standard Realtek Codec.