Asus maximus viii formula review

The Asus Maximus VIII Formula is one of the most interesting motherboards for its components, design, cooling and for the excellent overclocking it offers. It is the second best motherboard " ROG " (Republic Of Gamer) for socket 1151 with Z170 chipset. Want to know more about her? Read on for our review.

We thank Asus for trusting the product for its analysis:

Asus Maximus VIII Formula technical characteristics

Asus Maximus VIII Formula

The packaging of the Asus Maximus VIII Formula is quite strong and looks the same as the previous ROG motherboards we have reviewed. It uses corporate colors: red and black for all coverage. Already in the rear area we have all the most important technical characteristics .

Once we open the box we find the following complete bundle:

Asus Maximus VIII Formula motherboard. Back plate. Instruction manual and quick guide. CD with drivers. SLI cable. Nut for M.2 disk installation. SATA cable kit. Connection cable for LED strip. Processor installation kit.ROG stickers and kit for devices and peripherals. Poster do not disturb.

The Asus Maximus VIII Formula is a Z170 chipset motherboard. Its format meets ATX standards: 30.5cm x 24.4 cm that will allow us to install it in any tower on the market.

As we can see its design is quite attractive, where black, gray and red predominate. It incorporates an armature that improves aesthetics and better supports heavy components.

Cooling is one of its strongest points by including two large heatsinks.The CrossChill EK is the heatsink that is located in the supply phases and allows the option of using it both by air and by liquid cooling. The great performance leap is due to the fact that EK WB has taken care of its design and its adaptation to 1/2 ″, 3/8 ″ and 1/4 'fittings… we will no longer have to worry when looking for a block. We also have a heatsink on the chipset that carries the RGB backlight with a customization of 16.8 million colors .

It incorporates 5 Way Optimization technology that increases the performance of our processor, greater energy efficiency, a much cooler design, precision digital power and an improved gaming experience. For those who are interested in overclocking, it has 10 Digi + power phases and 10K Black Metallic capacitors that will allow us to maximize our processor.

It features 4 64 GB compatible DDR4 RAM memory sockets and speeds of up to 3733 Mhz and XMP 2.0 profile. The board has a double USB 3.0 connection . allowing us to have several ports in our maximum speed tower.

Among its expansion connections we find 3 x16 slots with PCI Express 3.0 bus and compatible with Nvidia's 4 Way SLI technology and AMD's 3 way CrossFireX. It is also complemented by three PCI Express x1 connections. The layout distribution is as follows:

2 x PCIe 3.0 / 2.0 x16 (x16 or dual x8, gray) 1 x PCIe 3.0 / 2.0 x16 (x4 mode, black) 3 x 2.0 PCIe x1 (black)

As expected, it allows us to install a disk with the M.2 connection. This interface will allow us to get the most out of any SSD of category thanks to its bandwidth of 32 GB / s.

We find a SupremeFX that incorporates an analog ESS ES9023P converter (DAC) with HyperStream technology, Nichicon capacitors, 2Vrms headphone amplifier, and Sonic SenseAmp that automatically detects and optimizes any headphone in the range of 32 to 600 ohms to offer quality purer sound.

It incorporates only eight 6 GB / s SATA III connections that are shared with 4 SATA Express connections. The customization possibilities are maximum since it allows us to perform RAID 0.1 and 5 with multiple hard drives and ssd.

Finally I detail the complete rear connections of the fantastic Asus Maximus VIII Formula:

BIOS flashback button BIOS erase button Wifi 802.11 AC connection for two antennas DisplayPort.HDMI6 USB 3.0.1 x USB 3.1 type-A.1 x USB 3.1 type-C.1 x network card.PS/2. 7.1 digital audio output.

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Test bench and tests

TESTING BENCH
Processor:	Intel i5-6700k.
Base plate:	Asus Maximus VIII Formula
Memory:	2 × 8 16GB DDR4 @ 3000 MHZ Kingston Savage
Heatsink	Corsair H100i GTX.
HDD	Samsung 840 EVO 250GB.
Graphic card	Nvidia GTX 780.
Power supply	EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G2

To check the stability of the processor and motherboard we have stressed with Prime 95 Custom and air cooling. The graphics we have used is an Nvidia GTX780, without further delay, let's see the results obtained in our tests with a 1920 × 1080 monitor.

BIOS

The BIOS is identical to the rest of the ROG Z170 range. It allows us to adjust any parameters and its BIOS are very solid when overclocking both multiplier and BLCK. Also the program kit that Asus incorporate allows us to apply hot overclock and customize the LED system of the motherboard.

Final words and conclusion

Asus has done a great job with the new Asus Maximus VIII Formula for its design that falls in love at first sight and some top-notch components. The possibility of installing liquid cooling with different fittings is a plus that not a few motherboards currently offer.

In our test bench it has given an excellent result with our i5-6600k at 4600 MHz and our 3GB GTX 780. In games it offers us an excellent experience with its improved network card and its SupremeFX sound.

Its price understands ranges from 370 to 400 euros… A somewhat high price and that having the Asus Maximus VIII hero on the market… it is difficult to think about its acquisition without going directly to the Asus Maximus VII Extreme for a few euros more.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ DESIGN WITH ARMOR.	- THE PRICE.
+ DIGI + COMPONENTS AND 5 WAY OPTIMIZATION.
+ ENHANCED NETWORK CARD AND SOUND.
+ ALLOWS 4 WAY SLI.
+ OVERCLOCK POTENTIAL.