ASUS ROG Maximus IX Apex Leads the Pack

[btarunr]

Here are some of the first pictures of ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) Maximus IX Apex, the company's flagship motherboard based on the Intel Z270 Express chipset. The board has many first-in-segment features. To begin with, it features a non-rectangular PCB, which probably lets you quickly pull the board out of bench-tables. Designed for extreme overclocking, the Maximus IX Apex draws power from a 24-pin ATX, two 8-pin EPS, and one 4-pin Molex. The CPU is wired to three memory slots, two of these are DDR4, and make up the dual-channel DDR4 interface. The third slot is DDR3, and can be enabled at the flick of a switch, for troubleshooting the DDR4 memory OC.

The Maximus IX Apex features four PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots, from which two are wired to the CPU (topmost slot and third slot), and run at x8/x8 when both are populated. The second and fourth x16 slots are electrical x4 and wired to the Z270 PCH. Although not visible, it's likely that this board features one or two M.2 slots, at the reverse side of the PCB. 8-channel HD audio, Intel gigabit Ethernet, four USB 3.1 ports (including type-C), and display outputs that include DisplayPort and HDMI, make for the rest of the connectivity. The board appears to feature a great deal of onboard OC buttons and switches. ASUS will reveal these features when it launches the motherboard a little later this month.



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[Shou Miko]

The board looks awesome, I was a little when I saw the pics 3 ram slots wth

But nice to see a both that has both DDR3 and DDR4 can't wait to see more Z270 board

 

[TheLostSwede]

Judging by the screw mounts for M.2 cards, it appears the board has two M.2 connectors hidden under the chipset heatsink, one 2242 and one 2280. There might be another slot on the rear of the board, as there's another screw mount near the overclocking buttons.

 

[Nokiron]

That's a dedicated overclocking motherboard right there.

 

[btarunr]

Correction: There's no PEX8747. 1st and 3rd slots are CPU-wired, 2nd and 4th are PCH-wired x4.

 

[natr0n]

This is gonna be the latest fad...boards with cutouts.

 

[neko77025]

This board will only truly be used for what it was meant for by like 10 people ... the rest are just wasting A freak ton of money.

 

[Darksword]

This is gonna be the latest fad...boards with cutouts.

Better than the current fad of boards with LEDs.

 

[erixx]

Windowed cases are guilty for all of this murder of catties.....

 

[RejZoR]

Judging by the screw mounts for M.2 cards, it appears the board has two M.2 connectors hidden under the chipset heatsink, one 2242 and one 2280. There might be another slot on the rear of the board, as there's another screw mount near the overclocking buttons.

The mounting points at PCIe slots don't compute for me. If you look at the mounting pins, they aren't aligned in straight line and there isn't enough space between both to place two M.2's in parallel. That's a weird design or that's something else...

 

[bogami]

ASUS ROG MAXIMUS IX is even more fall offered in the package as a precursor.
This would without hesitation best quality ASUS ROG board put the middle class at 200€ . ASUS B250S has more to offer! It can NL or H, OC and that is all. No addition of the measuring instrument as it was on the my ASUS MAXIMUS V EXTIME (77ch.). Minimal Audio, only 4 SATA, no PLX chip, less RAM that .there are novelties. (USB-3.1) , Thunderbolt is forgotten (essentially replaced by M2)!
One more M2 plug will not cover all those minuses. It looks very nice and that is all.

 

[AsRock]

This board will only truly be used for what it was meant for by like 10 people ... the rest are just wasting A freak ton of money.

Be a total waste for me as i could not even plug all my SATA drives in lol. Had a Maximus mobo back X38 days was a good mobo but it was totally shit running idle.

Were most systems were running 100w or even less that one was 190w idle.

I gave in buying expensive mobo's a long time ago and find it much better to buy 2 cheap ones then you even have a backup ;P. And still be saving money.

 

[buildzoid]

Well I know what Z270 board I'm getting.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Looks like Asus has some extra features coming for this board and some of its other models.
The third DIMM slot is apparently for an SSD, not DDR3...

 

[zedn]

It better beats the ASRock OC Formula in terms of overclocking. Otherwise there's no market for this board whatsoever. Maybe only some crazy kids would buy it just because it looks different.

 

[AsRock]

Probably cost a lot more than the it too. i would buy the ASRock OC Formula before this thing at least i be able to plug more drive's in.

Granted though this one looks better color wise.

 

[IceScreamer]

Apart from the cutout design I dig the looks.Spec wise I personally would never have any use for it but hey, someone will I guess.

 

[X828]

I don't see what makes these overpriced boards so different from others half the cost. Features don't justify a price hike...
I bought an MSI Z87 G-45 Gaming for 130.00 when I built my Haswell system and its worked fine with a modest overclock @ 4.3Ghz.
It's been rock solid for years.

 

[AsRock]

Looks like Asus has some extra features coming for this board and some of its other models.
The third DIMM slot is apparently for an SSD, not DDR3...

I guess that would explain the lack off SSD ports.

 

[erixx]

Great!... tiny fans are back to the motherboards! Indeed Time is cyclic....

 

[semantics]

Great!... tiny fans are back to the motherboards! Indeed Time is cyclic....

sweet just waiting for tip magnetic driven fans that rattle like a mofo.

 

[Manufr]

The third ram slot is not for an additional DDR3 ram module but for an add in card supporting two M.2 slots which is wired to the pch. You can't slot a ddr3 ram module on this slot, it is Keyed differently to prevent installing it. The screw mounts you see on the board are not for M.2 slots hidden in the back but for holding an additional piece of pcb where you can show off a logo or whatever on it.
For more details watch this review by Der8auer:

 

[Hood]

This has the same bad documentation as most Asus boards - nothing in specs about M.2 slots (are the 2 slots in the DIMM 2 riser card PCIe 3.0, how many lanes, and do they also support SATA drives?). Like my Z-97 Deluxe, which has a mostly useless M.2 slot (PCIe 2.0 x 2 lanes, connected to the chipset), but it isn't specified in the specs, only that you lose 2 Intel SATA ports when the M.2 is in use. I assume that the new Z270 boards are all PCIe 3.0 x 4 M.2 slots, but you never know - it's safer to read a comprehensive review before purchasing.