• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

ASUS Intros Maximus VIII Hero Alpha, Featuring Native RGB LED Headers

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 9, 2007
Messages
47,182 (7.56/day)
Location
Hyderabad, India
System Name RBMK-1000
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
Motherboard ASUS ROG Strix B450-E Gaming
Cooling DeepCool Gammax L240 V2
Memory 2x 8GB G.Skill Sniper X
Video Card(s) Palit GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER GameRock
Storage Western Digital Black NVMe 512GB
Display(s) BenQ 1440p 60 Hz 27-inch
Case Corsair Carbide 100R
Audio Device(s) ASUS SupremeFX S1220A
Power Supply Cooler Master MWE Gold 650W
Mouse ASUS ROG Strix Impact
Keyboard Gamdias Hermes E2
Software Windows 11 Pro
ASUS announced the Republic of Gamers (ROG) Maximus VIII Hero Alpha. This socket LGA1151 motherboard, based on Intel Z170 Express chipset, is what the company claims to be the first with native support for multi-color RGB LED headers. The board features an RGB LED controller with a Windows app that lets you set RGB color lighting across two independent 4-pin headers (typically connected to RGB LED strips). The ROG "eye" logo on the PCH heatsink features an RGB LED, too, and the app lets you set even that. ASUS' reference LED strip for this board, named AURA, can be purchased separately.

The rest of the board's feature-set is similar to the original Maximus VIII Hero. You get a powerful 10-phase CPU VRM, four DDR4 DIMM slots, and two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots feeding in and out of the CPU socket. The storage connectivity does away with bulky SATA-Express connectors, replacing them with two U.2 16 Gb/s connectors, sitting next to six SATA 6 Gb/s ports. USB 3.1 10 Gb/s ports, including type-C and type-A ports, sitting next to 802.11 ac WLAN, are a highlight in the feature-set. Expect the board to be priced slightly higher than the original Maximus VIII Hero.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site
 
Joined
Feb 18, 2005
Messages
5,776 (0.80/day)
Location
Ikenai borderline!
System Name Firelance.
Processor Threadripper 3960X
Motherboard ROG Strix TRX40-E Gaming
Cooling IceGem 360 + 6x Arctic Cooling P12
Memory 8x 16GB Patriot Viper DDR4-3200 CL16
Video Card(s) MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Ti Ventus 2X OC
Storage 2TB WD SN850X (boot), 4TB Crucial P3 (data)
Display(s) 3x AOC Q32E2N (32" 2560x1440 75Hz)
Case Enthoo Pro II Server Edition (Closed Panel) + 6 fans
Power Supply Fractal Design Ion+ 2 Platinum 760W
Mouse Logitech G602
Keyboard Razer Pro Type Ultra
Software Windows 10 Professional x64
No more SATA Express? YES!
 
Joined
Mar 26, 2010
Messages
9,901 (1.85/day)
Location
Jakarta, Indonesia
System Name micropage7
Processor Intel Xeon X3470
Motherboard Gigabyte Technology Co. Ltd. P55A-UD3R (Socket 1156)
Cooling Enermax ETS-T40F
Memory Samsung 8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3
Video Card(s) NVIDIA Quadro FX 1800
Storage V-GEN03AS18EU120GB, Seagate 2 x 1TB and Seagate 4TB
Display(s) Samsung 21 inch LCD Wide Screen
Case Icute Super 18
Audio Device(s) Auzentech X-Fi Forte
Power Supply Silverstone 600 Watt
Mouse Logitech G502
Keyboard Sades Excalibur + Taihao keycaps
Software Win 7 64-bit
Benchmark Scores Classified
personally i prefer if they focus on the simplicity, features and performance not the bling bling
 
Joined
Jan 27, 2015
Messages
454 (0.13/day)
System Name Marmo / Kanon
Processor Intel Core i7 9700K / AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
Motherboard Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Pro WiFi / X570S Aorus Pro AX
Cooling Noctua NH-U12S x 2
Memory Corsair Vengeance 32GB 2666-C16 / 32GB 3200-C16
Video Card(s) KFA2 RTX3070 Ti / Asus TUF RX 6800XT OC
Storage Samsung 970 EVO+ 1TB, 860 EVO 1TB / Samsung 970 Pro 1TB, 970 EVO+ 1TB
Display(s) Dell AW2521HFA / U2715H
Case Fractal Design Focus G / Pop Air RGB
Audio Device(s) Onboard / Creative SB ZxR
Power Supply SeaSonic Focus GX 650W / PX 750W
Mouse Logitech MX310 / G1
Keyboard Logitech G413 / G513
Software Win 11 Ent
The U.2 ports are a welcomed addition. Although there is only one U.2 device the Intel 750 AFAIK, there will be more and possibly replacing SATA in the future.
 
Joined
Apr 10, 2013
Messages
302 (0.07/day)
Location
Michigan, USA
Processor AMD 1700X
Motherboard Crosshair VI Hero
Memory F4-3200C14D-16GFX
Video Card(s) GTX 1070
Storage 960 Pro
Display(s) PG279Q
Case HAF X
Power Supply Silencer MK III 850
Mouse Logitech G700s
Keyboard Logitech G105
Software Windows 10
ASUS looks to have tossed a gut punch to early adopters of the original M8H here. It smells to me like ASUS was a bit behind in development and hurried out that cut down original Hero. Why would anyone want that clunky old SATA Express connector over the newer simpler and more capable U.2? The original used ASMedia USB 3.1 chip where the Alpha uses an actual Intel controller. ASUS uses a totally new driver set for the Alpha but won't even go back and update the older drivers available for the Hero.

(M8H) --> (M8HAlpha)

ASMedia USB 3.1 --> Intel USB 3.1
SATA Express --> newer U.2 revision
No wifi or BT --> wifi and BT
old driver set --> latest driver set

I am looking to build a Z170 system and am deciding between this one and the Z170-Premium. Z170-Premium still isn't out so this Alpha might be the one.
 

Fx

Joined
Oct 31, 2008
Messages
1,332 (0.23/day)
Location
Portland, OR
Processor Ryzen 2600x
Motherboard ASUS ROG Strix X470-F Gaming
Cooling Noctua
Memory G.SKILL Flare X Series 16GB DDR4 3466
Video Card(s) EVGA 980ti FTW
Storage (OS)Samsung 950 Pro (512GB), (Data) WD Reds
Display(s) 24" Dell UltraSharp U2412M
Case Fractal Design Define R5
Audio Device(s) Sennheiser GAME ONE
Power Supply EVGA SuperNOVA 650 P2
Mouse Mionix Castor
Keyboard Deck Hassium Pro
Software Windows 10 Pro x64
I'm digging the addition of the U.2 connectivity.
 

idx

Joined
Apr 2, 2009
Messages
98 (0.02/day)
No more SATA Express? YES!

SATA Express is DOA. Thats a fact, I honestly have no idea what they were thinking when they came up with SATA Express.
U.2 is the way to go! Really nice motherboard ASUS ! , I love the layout and the placement of the U.2 connectors.
 

WhoMe

New Member
Joined
Dec 10, 2015
Messages
2 (0.00/day)
Seems like this board has been announced so many times, starting from 23 Nov, it must be available RSN. It's really close to what I'm looking for, but one thing I don't like is that if you use both U.2 ports, you lose all 4 Intel SATA 6Gb/s ports. That leaves only 2 ASMedia SATA ports, which are for HD use only (no optical media -- unless they mean no ATAPI, but a SATA optical drive is ok). I also don't trust ASMedia ports as much as Intel's, but maybe that's just me.
 
Joined
Sep 15, 2011
Messages
6,690 (1.39/day)
Processor Intel® Core™ i7-13700K
Motherboard Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX
Cooling Noctua NH-D15
Memory 32GB(2x16) DDR5@6600MHz G-Skill Trident Z5
Video Card(s) ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 3080 AMP Holo
Storage 2TB SK Platinum P41 SSD + 4TB SanDisk Ultra SSD + 500GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD
Display(s) Acer Predator X34 3440x1440@100Hz G-Sync
Case NZXT PHANTOM410-BK
Audio Device(s) Creative X-Fi Titanium PCIe
Power Supply Corsair 850W
Mouse Logitech Hero G502 SE
Software Windows 11 Pro - 64bit
Benchmark Scores 30FPS in NFS:Rivals
SATA express is one of those things that should have never been invented. Useless.
 
Joined
Apr 10, 2013
Messages
302 (0.07/day)
Location
Michigan, USA
Processor AMD 1700X
Motherboard Crosshair VI Hero
Memory F4-3200C14D-16GFX
Video Card(s) GTX 1070
Storage 960 Pro
Display(s) PG279Q
Case HAF X
Power Supply Silencer MK III 850
Mouse Logitech G700s
Keyboard Logitech G105
Software Windows 10
That leaves only 2 ASMedia SATA ports, which are for HD use only (no optical media -- unless they mean no ATAPI, but a SATA optical drive is ok).

It is a protocol thing. If your optical drive uses ATAPI interface it won't work. If it uses SATA host interface, it will. I have an ASUS board that has the exact same note disclaimer and it works with my 5 year old LG Blu-ray drive just fine on the ASMedia ports. Also those ASMedia ports are not bootable though... if you are trying to boot a DVD or something it won't. IMO pretend this is a one U.2 port board and be happy with the 3000+ MB/s and million IOPS you can get on it.
 

WhoMe

New Member
Joined
Dec 10, 2015
Messages
2 (0.00/day)
It is a protocol thing. Also those ASMedia ports are not bootable though... if you are trying to boot a DVD or something it won't. IMO pretend this is a one U.2 port board and be happy with the 3000+ MB/s and million IOPS you can get on it.
Great info; thank you. My BD-RW drive is SATA, but eventually the not being able to boot from it would've bitten me you know where. I think you're right about considering it as a one U.2 port board (plus an M.2 port). Looks like it'll be a good one, but where is it already?!
 
Joined
Jul 29, 2014
Messages
484 (0.13/day)
Location
Fort Sill, OK
Processor Intel 7700K 5.1Ghz (Intel advised me not to OC this CPU)
Motherboard Asus Maximus IX Code
Cooling Corsair Hydro H115i Platinum
Memory 48GB G.Skill TridentZ DDR4 3200 Dual Channel (2x16 & 2x8)
Video Card(s) nVIDIA Titan XP (Overclocks like a champ but stock performance is enough)
Storage Intel 760p 2280 2TB
Display(s) MSI Optix MPG27CQ Black 27" 1ms 144hz
Case Thermaltake View 71
Power Supply EVGA SuperNova 1000 Platinum2
Mouse Corsair M65 Pro (not recommded, I am on my second mouse with same defect)
Software Windows 10 Enterprise 1803
Benchmark Scores Yes I am Intel fanboy that is my benchmark score.
They should have implemented these features when they originally launched VIII HERO. If I was still VIII Hero + 6700K owner, I would've felt kind of left behind by ASUS. Sold mine not too long ago to get into X99 setup instead.
 
Joined
Oct 2, 2004
Messages
13,791 (1.88/day)
I don't see much purpose in this board. U.2 seems just as useless as SATA Express. It's smaller, but I can count devices that use it on a hand of a very clumsy carpenter. Same as SATA Express. That RGB whatever thingie, if you prefer sleeper systems, it's pointless.

Frankly, more M.2 slots instead of U.2 ports would be more useful. Even if you want stupendously fast system, the largest M.2 I could find was 512GB Samsung 950 Pro. So, if you want 1TB of uber fast SSD, you just can't have it. Or if board has 2, you could one day pretty soon create a 2TB raid.
 

pky

Joined
May 24, 2014
Messages
41 (0.01/day)
ASUS: "Here's a mobo with RGB lighting. You can choose whatever color you want, as long as it's red. 'Cuz we put red accents on the mobo."
Genius.
 
Joined
Dec 15, 2006
Messages
1,703 (0.26/day)
Location
Oshkosh, WI
System Name ChoreBoy
Processor 8700k Delided
Motherboard Gigabyte Z390 Master
Cooling 420mm Custom Loop
Memory CMK16GX4M2B3000C15 2x8GB @ 3000Mhz
Video Card(s) EVGA 1080 SC
Storage 1TB SX8200, 250GB 850 EVO, 250GB Barracuda
Display(s) Pixio PX329 and Dell E228WFP
Case Fractal R6
Audio Device(s) On-Board
Power Supply 1000w Corsair
Software Win 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores A million on everything....
ASUS: "Here's a mobo with RGB lighting. You can choose whatever color you want, as long as it's red. 'Cuz we put red accents on the mobo."
Genius.

Yeah, I was kinda thinking the same thing... Why not all black, or maybe chrome? Hell, I'm not gonna buy it, so why do I even care, lol!
 
Joined
Oct 17, 2011
Messages
857 (0.18/day)
Location
Oregon
System Name Red 101
Processor 9th Gen Intel Core i9-9900k
Motherboard EVGA Z370 Classified
Cooling Custom Primochill and Heatkiller water cooling loop
Memory 16GB of Gskill 3200Mhz CL14
Video Card(s) EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 FTW2 with Heatkiller block @2114Mhz
Storage 4- Samsung Evo 250GB, 1- Pro 512GB and 1-512GB M.2
Display(s) LG 38" UW
Case In Win 101 customized a lot and painted red
Audio Device(s) Razer Kraken 7.1 Chroma
Power Supply EVGA 850w G2
Mouse Razer DeathAdderv2
Keyboard Razer Ornata Chroma
Software Win10Pro and games
Benchmark Scores NA
I want this board... has nothing to do with the RGB LED headers either LOL
 
Top