Review: asus maximus vii formula

Asus a leader in high-end motherboard manufacturing, this time it has shipped us one of this year's most anticipated motherboards. This is the Asus Maximus VII Formula designed for gaming and includes the Z97 chipset.

With an ATX format from the ROG series it includes the exclusive exclusive cooling, an Armor Kit and an excellent SupremeFX Formula 2014 sound card. Want to know more about it? Read on for our review.

Product ceded by:

Main improvements of the Z97 chipset to its predecessor Z87

There are hardly any differences between the Z87 and Z97 chipset on paper. We have few such as the incorporation of the SATA Express block with 10 Gb / s of bandwidth (40% faster) compared to the 6Gb / s of the classic SATA 3. How is there so much improvement? It is because they have taken one or two of the PCI Express lanes, so be careful when doing dual configurations or with multiple graphics cards. One of the most important improvements is the incorporation of the M.2 connection with NGFF support natively, thus replacing the well-received mSATA ports. This technology is the future of computing, since it will allow us to connect large, fast storage devices without occupying places in our box. During this year and 2015 we will see the increase in sales of this connection. Finally, we see the possibility of overclocking RAM memories up to 3300 mh. Well, this reaches the limit of mhz that we can reach with DDR3 memories.

Frequently asked questions to consider

- My heatsink is compatible with socket 1155 and 1556. Is it compatible with socket 1150? Yes, we have tested different motherboards and they all have the same holes as in socket 1155 and 1156. - Is my power supply compatible with Intel Haswell or Intel Devil Canyon / Haswell Refresh ? There are no Haswell certified power supplies. Most of the manufacturers have already released the list of compatible sources: Antec, Corsair, Enermax, Nox, Aerocool / Tacens and Thermaltake. Giving 98% absolute compatibility.

Technical characteristics

ASUS MAXIMUS VII FORMULA FEATURES
CPU	Intel® 1150 Processors
Chipset	Intel® Z97
Memory	Memory Dual-channel memory architecture, 4 DIMMs, up to a maximum of 32 GB, DDR3 3300+ (OC) Intel Extreme Memory Profile (XMP)
Multi-GPU Compatible	Expansion slots 2 PCIe 3.0 x16 slots (single to x16, dual x8 / x8 mode) 1 PCIe 2.0 x16 slot (maximum in x4 mode) 3 PCIe 2.0 x1 slots 1 mini-PCIe 2.0 x1 slot on mPCIe Combo III card Graphics (VGA) Intel® HD Graphics Processor DisplayPort 1.2 with a maximum resolution of 4096 × 2160 (4K × 2K) at 24 Hz and 3840 × 2160 at 60 Hz HDMI with a maximum resolution of 4096 × 2160 (4K × 2K) at 24 Hz / 2560 × 1600 at 60 Hz Intel® InTru ™ 3D / Quick Sync Video / Clear Video HD Technology / Insider ™ MultiGPU Quad-GPU NVIDIA® SLI ™ and AMD 3-way / Quad-GPU CrossFireX ™ Technologies
Storage	Storage 10 SATA 6.0 Gbit / s (4 shared with SATA Express) 2 SATA Express 1 x M.2 3 socket compatible with storage devices with M key, type 2260 (on mPCIe Combo III card)
USB	USB 8 USB 3.0 ports (6 on the back panel, 2 in the center of the board) 6 USB 2.0 ports (2 on the back panel, 4 in the center of the board)
Net	Intel® I218-V Gigabit Network / LANLAN with GameFirst III and ASUS LANGuard
Bluetooth	Do not.
Audio	Audio High Definition Audio with 8 channels ROG SupremeFX Formula 2014 - SupremeFX armor technology - Cirrus Logic® CS4398 DAC (SNR: 120 dB) - WIMA® Film Capacitors - Texas Instruments® LM4562 Hi-Fi Audio Operational Amplifier - High quality ELNA® audio capacitors Sonic SoundStage / Sonic SenseAmp / Sonic Studio / Sonic Radar II DTS Connect, optical S / PDIF out port on rear panel
WiFi connection	Do not.
Format.	ATX, 12 ″ × 9.6 ″ (30.5 cm × 24.4 cm)
BIOS	64 Mb Flash ROM, UEFI AMI BIOS, PnP, DMI2.7, WfM2.0, SM BIOS 2.7, ACPI 5.0, Multilingual BIOS, ASUS EZ Flash 2, ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3, My Favorites, Quick Note, Last Modified log, F12 PrintScreen, F3 Shortcut functions and memory information ASUS DRAM SPD (Serial Presence Detect)

Asus Maximus VII Formula

Asus after many " Republic Of Gamer " series motherboards changes the main packaging design. On this occasion, he introduces on the cover the game of the year Watch Dogs, which includes inside as a gift. The box is divided into two areas, one where the motherboard is located and the second where all the accessories are.

Asus Maximus VII Formula box

Includes Watch Dogs game

Two compartments

Spectacular presentation of the Asus Maximus VII Formula

The bundle is made up of:

• Asus Maximus VII Formula motherboard. SLI and CrossfireX bridges. Manuals. Quick guide. Wifis antennas. PCIE combo. Backplate. SATA 6Gbp / s cable sets. SATA hard drive labels. Asus Q-Connection. Stickers. bother.

The Asus Maximus VII Formula has a very pleasing design to the eye and maintains its dominant colors: red and black. We hardly found any differences to its younger sister, except for the chipset and the new more streamlined design of the included Armor Kit.

Rear view of the motherboard. Very well protected and hardened by armor.

It is an ATX format motherboard (Measures 30.5 cm × 24.4 cm) compatible with up to 32 GB DDR3 memory up to 3300 mhz distributed in up to 4 sockets. It incorporates the Z97 chipset and is compatible with fourth and fifth generation Intel Haswell processors (LGA 1150.)

The cooling system is very complete by including CrossChill Copper technology . This allows us to choose between an air or water system.

Meanwhile, the power integrates a 24-pin ATX connection and another 8-pin EPS + 2 connection, excellent for performing the best possible overclocking.

It has 8 power phases + 2 phases for RAM memory. The components used are of exquisite quality: Japanese 10K Black Metallic capacitors, 90% more efficient MOSFETs, Rectifier IR353M and Chokes BlackWing.

The CrossChill Copper system is designed with a copper block that is capable of removing heat in a very efficient way and is compatible with G1 / 4, 1/2 ″ and 3/8 ″ threads. If we choose to install the water cooling system, it will lower the VRM area to 23ºC. Excellent system!

Here we install a 19/13 ″ fitting in 100% compatible black color.

It incorporates 3 ports PCI Express 3.0 to x16 and another 3 PCI Express to x1. It allows us to install up to 3 synchronized graphics cards simultaneously thanks to ATI's NVIDIA SLI and CrossFireX technology in the following configurations:

• 1 x16 graphics card. 2 x8 graphics cards - x8. 3 x8 graphics cards - x8 - x4.

The external control panel has a Debug LED that will “tell us” about any fault, voltage reading point, on / off button, reset and two buttons to clear the BIOS and USB Flashback.

Regarding the sound card, the Asus Maximus VII Formula uses its famous 2014 SupremeFX with a Cirrus Logic CS4398 chip with a DAC of up to 120DB SNR, quality components, WIMA capacitors and high-fidelity Preimum ELNA OP-AMP capacitors. It supports the following features:

• DTS ConnectOptical S / PDIF on rear panel.Sonic SoundStageSonic SenseAmpSonic StudioSonic Radar II

We have 10 SATA 6.0 Gbp / s connections shared with 4 SATA Express 10 Gbp / s. At the moment there are no solid state drives available on the market. As a curious fact, the first 8 are directed by the Z97 chipset controller while the other two by the second on board: Asmedia ASM1061.

In the input and output (I / O) connections we find: PS2 port, USB 2.0 connections, USB 3.0 connections, Displayport, HDMI, network card and 7.1 sound card.

WE RECOMMEND YOU MediaTek MT6735: 4G LTE for the input range

A very complete BIOS

Asus conquers us the best BIOS of the moment. Intuitive, simple interface with many options. Simply spectacular… Among which we can highlight is its capacity as a fan controller, monitoring all critical areas, saving our favorites and profiles automatically. It has two modes: basic and advanced within the reach of any user.

Test bench and tests

TESTING BENCH
Processor:	Intel i7 4790k
Base plate:	Asus Maximus VII Formula
Memory:	G.Skills Trident X 2400mhz.
Heatsink	Noctua NH-D15
HDD	Samsumg EVO 250GB
Graphic card	Nvidia GTX 780
Power supply	Antec HCP 850

To check the stability of the processor and motherboard, we have overclocked up to 4600mhz with Prime 95 Custom and air cooling. The graphic that we have used is an Asus GTX780, without further distractions let us see the results obtained in our tests with a 1920 × 1080 monitor:

TESTS
3dMark Vantage:	P49550
3dMark11	P14722 PTS
Crysis 3	56 FPS
CineBench 11.5	12.3 fps.
Resident Evil 6 Lost planet tomb Raider Meter	1341 PTS. 155 FPS. 66 FPS 67 FPS

conclusion

The Asus Maximus VII Formula is the latest Republic of Gamer (ROG) motherboard that Asus has released to the market for the Z97 chipset and is compatible with Haswell and Haswell Refresh for the LGA 1150 socket. It has an ATX size: 30.5 cm × 24, 4 cm, maintains its red design and black PCB and 8 + 2 power phases.

We have a total of 6 PCI Express 3.0 connections. Three of them are PCI Express x16 and the other three work at x1. Designed to work with 3 Way SLI and CrossFireX technology.

Regarding storage, it has 10 SATA 6.0 Gbp / s connections and a Dual SATA Express connection. Cooling is very well maintained with the CrossChill Copper hybrid system for passive air or liquid cooling.

In our test bench we have put the i7-4790k up to 4700 mhz by air with a fairly low voltage of 1.37v. On other boards we must go up to 1.41v to get the most out of the processors. We have accompanied with a high-end graphics GTX780 and the results in the gaming experience have been incredible with more than 75 FPS in Battlefield 4 in FULL HD resolution.

I especially like two features:

• LanGuard GameFirst III: This technology allows us to get more performance out of our network, using the processor on a smaller scale. In other words, the RJ45 connector is re-designed and is capable of deducing which packets are gaming, giving priority and extra performance to TCP and UDP. mPCI Combo III: We have already seen it in previous ROG motherboards but this time it includes in a single connection a Wifi 802.11 AC adapter plus Bluetooth 4.0 and a 10Gbit / s M.2 connection.

Finally, I would like to highlight its renewed BIOS that allows us to control fans by scale, to have a notepad with our comments, to lead to an extreme overclock to our team.

In short, if you want to assemble a new equipment and your budget (€ 300 approx.) Enter the Asus Maximus VII Formula you will have a motherboard for many years: robust, efficient, quality components and stability that very few motherboards can boast.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ AESTHETICS.	- HIGH PRICE.
+ ARMOR KIT.	- COULD BE COMPATIBLE WITH 4 WAY.
+ 10 SATA, DUAL SATA EXPRESS AND M.2 CONNECTIONS.
+ VERY GOOD OVERCLOCK CAPACITY.
+ BIOS VERY IMPROVED.
+ EXTRAS LIKE mPCI COMBO III AND LANGUARD GAMEFIRST.

The Professional Review team rewards him with his maximum PLATINUM medal:

Asus Maximus VII Formula

Component quality

Overlcok Capacity

MultiGPU system

BIOS

Additional features

Price

9.5 / 10

One of the most beautiful and powerful motherboards on the market.