Saturday, July 27th 2013
ASUS Introduces Maximus VI Formula Z87 Gaming Motherboard
ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) today announced Maximus VI Formula, an ATX gaming motherboard ready for the latest 4th generation Intel Core processors and packed with exclusive ROG features.
Based on the new Intel Z87 chipset, Maximus VI Formula is brimming with the kind of innovative and exclusive features that ROG fans expect. CrossChill hybrid air and water-cooling gives efficient heat dissipation for extreme overclocked performance, SupremeFX Formula onboard audio with a dedicated 600ohm headphone amplifier ensures immersive high-quality audio and a mini-PCIe Combo II card adds dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi for next-generation wireless networking. Maximus VI Formula also features Extreme Engine DIGi+ III technology and high-quality electronic components for precise power delivery with stable performance.
Incredible cooling, reliable overclocking and no-compromise components
With exclusive ROG CrossChill technology onboard, the Maximus VI Formula gaming motherboard boasts cooling performance that's great on air and even better with water. Tests show that it can achieve up to 23-degree Centigrade-lower temperatures in the critical MOSFET area for more reliable overclocking. The CrossChill internal cooling channel is lined with fins to maximize the surface area for heat transfer and, because CrossChill uses standard G¼-inch threaded fittings, it will easily accommodate existing cooling equipment.
Wraparound ROG Armor also helps Maximus VI Formula keep its cool. A tough ABS plastic top cover keeps from the graphics cards away from the motherboard, while a SECC (Steel, Electro-galvanized, Cold-rolled Coil) backplate with thermal pads both improves cooling in the MOSFET area and prevents the motherboard bending, even under the weight of heavy components.
ROG has focused on the highest quality throughout the Maximus VI Formula design. The ROG Extreme Engine DIGI+ III voltage-regulator module (VRM) ensures precise and stable power delivery by employing NexFET MOSFETs, 60A BlackWing chokes and Japanese-made 10K black metallic capacitors. Maximus VI Formula also includes an award-winning and upgraded UEFI BIOS.
Hear like you've never heard
Maximus VI Formula features built-in SupremeFX Formula audio for sound quality on a par with high-end discrete sound cards. Premium components such as ELNA audio capacitors and German-made WIMA film capacitors deliver audiophile-grade performance, while high-fidelity op-amps (operational amplifiers) and a Cirrus Logic CS4398 DAC (digital/analog converter) deliver lossless audio and a brilliant 120dB SNR (signal-to-noise ratio). A Hi-Fi-quality Texas Instruments TPA6120A2 600ohm headphone amplifier boosts every sound detail with personal listening, too.
A variety of shielding technologies also ensure sound purity, including physical isolation from the PCB (printed circuit board), grounding separation and a cover shield to protect against EMI (electromagnetic interference).
Get on top of the game
Maximus VI Formula is designed for winners and features exclusive ROG utilities to help gamers join the elite. ROG Sonic Radar is an on-screen overlay that gives a leg-up to fans of first-person shooter (FPS) games by displaying the precise location of in-game sounds such as gunshots and footsteps, making it much easier to pinpoint an enemy's position.
Ultra-fast Intel Ethernet with ROG GameFirst II technology optimizes network traffic, too, keeping latency to minimum and reducing all-important 'ping' times. Similarly, the ROG RAMDisk utility allows up to 80% of a computer's available RAM to be dedicated as a high-speed virtual drive that accelerates game loading times and extends SSD lifespan by reducing the number of write operations.
Specifications
Based on the new Intel Z87 chipset, Maximus VI Formula is brimming with the kind of innovative and exclusive features that ROG fans expect. CrossChill hybrid air and water-cooling gives efficient heat dissipation for extreme overclocked performance, SupremeFX Formula onboard audio with a dedicated 600ohm headphone amplifier ensures immersive high-quality audio and a mini-PCIe Combo II card adds dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi for next-generation wireless networking. Maximus VI Formula also features Extreme Engine DIGi+ III technology and high-quality electronic components for precise power delivery with stable performance.
With exclusive ROG CrossChill technology onboard, the Maximus VI Formula gaming motherboard boasts cooling performance that's great on air and even better with water. Tests show that it can achieve up to 23-degree Centigrade-lower temperatures in the critical MOSFET area for more reliable overclocking. The CrossChill internal cooling channel is lined with fins to maximize the surface area for heat transfer and, because CrossChill uses standard G¼-inch threaded fittings, it will easily accommodate existing cooling equipment.
Wraparound ROG Armor also helps Maximus VI Formula keep its cool. A tough ABS plastic top cover keeps from the graphics cards away from the motherboard, while a SECC (Steel, Electro-galvanized, Cold-rolled Coil) backplate with thermal pads both improves cooling in the MOSFET area and prevents the motherboard bending, even under the weight of heavy components.
ROG has focused on the highest quality throughout the Maximus VI Formula design. The ROG Extreme Engine DIGI+ III voltage-regulator module (VRM) ensures precise and stable power delivery by employing NexFET MOSFETs, 60A BlackWing chokes and Japanese-made 10K black metallic capacitors. Maximus VI Formula also includes an award-winning and upgraded UEFI BIOS.
Hear like you've never heard
Maximus VI Formula features built-in SupremeFX Formula audio for sound quality on a par with high-end discrete sound cards. Premium components such as ELNA audio capacitors and German-made WIMA film capacitors deliver audiophile-grade performance, while high-fidelity op-amps (operational amplifiers) and a Cirrus Logic CS4398 DAC (digital/analog converter) deliver lossless audio and a brilliant 120dB SNR (signal-to-noise ratio). A Hi-Fi-quality Texas Instruments TPA6120A2 600ohm headphone amplifier boosts every sound detail with personal listening, too.
A variety of shielding technologies also ensure sound purity, including physical isolation from the PCB (printed circuit board), grounding separation and a cover shield to protect against EMI (electromagnetic interference).
Get on top of the game
Maximus VI Formula is designed for winners and features exclusive ROG utilities to help gamers join the elite. ROG Sonic Radar is an on-screen overlay that gives a leg-up to fans of first-person shooter (FPS) games by displaying the precise location of in-game sounds such as gunshots and footsteps, making it much easier to pinpoint an enemy's position.
Ultra-fast Intel Ethernet with ROG GameFirst II technology optimizes network traffic, too, keeping latency to minimum and reducing all-important 'ping' times. Similarly, the ROG RAMDisk utility allows up to 80% of a computer's available RAM to be dedicated as a high-speed virtual drive that accelerates game loading times and extends SSD lifespan by reducing the number of write operations.
Specifications
- Chipset Intel Z87 Express
- Memory Dual-channel DDR3 (32 GB max), 3100 MHz (OC)
- Power delivery Extreme Engine DIGI+ III (8+2 phase) with NexFET MOSFETs, 60A BlackWing chokes, 10K black metallic solid-state capacitors
- Expansion slots 3 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 (single @ x16, dual @ x8)
Three-way CrossFireX @ x8/x4/x4 (native from CPU)
3 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 - Multi-GPU support NVIDIA SLI / AMD 3-way CrossFireX
- Video outputs DisplayPort/HDMI (up to 4K x 2K Ultra HD)
- Ports 10 x SATA 6 Gbit/s
8 x USB 3.0, 8x USB 2.0 - Networking Intel Ethernet with ROG GameFirst II technology
mPCIe Combo II with dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi & Bluetooth 4.0 - Audio SupremeFX Formula, DTS Connect
- Other Sonic Radar V, ASUS OC Panel (optional)
- Form factor ATX
27 Comments on ASUS Introduces Maximus VI Formula Z87 Gaming Motherboard
Though the mini-PCIe Combo II card is still a little flimsy - not much better than on my Gene V
That hud that shows where noises are sounds either silly bad because it does not work or op.
OT, not a great fan of this armour myself, dust trap, but i do see it from the modder's point of view
Asus Maximus VI Formula Preview 1150 Haswell Z87 -...
don't get the hate its getting though....
Yes, perhaps you can find cheaper boards with the same feature set and with the same quality, but even if you do, I bet that only a very few is out there, if not only one or two.
why dont they design it better, it just like cheap plastic
That is a major flaw for a gaming motherboard...
USB2 (or above) is fully capable of NKRO keyboard handling (well it might fall back to 6 keys during boot if you switch it to legacy mode, but why would anyone do that?), and more to that, modern motherboards are using a special super-i/o controller chip to offer ps/2 functionality, which are much "further" down in the "priority-chain" than the integrated southbridge which handles usb, so it's that super-i/o controller what gets interrupted by the keyboard now.
The main problem here is that most of the keyboard manufacturers are lazy to make their usb keyboards capable of more than 6KRO, but that's only because they do not care and not because of a limitation in the usb standards.