ASUS MAXIMUS VIII EXTREME (Intel LGA-1151)

[cadaveca]

When it comes to overclocking, ASUS's ROG series has a long-held reputation everyone else strives to achieve. The ASUS MAXIMUS VIII EXTREME stands out as the product to uphold that tradition for Skylake; a tradition of huge capabilities and amazing BIOSes along with a nearly bullet-proof design that is truly deserving of the "EXTREME" moniker.

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[FreedomEclipse]

Too bad tales of Asus poor RMA service will keep a fair few people on these forums from buying their products ever again.

 

[ShockG]

This is a fantastic board and easily the best in the entire Z170 lineup from all vendors, feature for feature.
As for the BIOS having too many options, you don't have to use the advanced menu at all, and there are presets for easy overclocking. Despite it's ROG gamer friendly branding, this board is 60% concerned with Extreme overclocking and only 40% gaming. Something like the Maximus VIII Formula or the Hero Alpha boards are more gaming orientated.
Almost $500 is a lot to spend on a board, but I'd definitely consider this one for an all powerful Z170 platform, that I could LN2 once in a while.

 

[EarthDog]

Nice review, love mine and kept it as the base of my review platform.

So, you have the board for 6 months, put tons of memory through it in many configurations... did I miss the results you achieved? What about BCLK? Overclocking? I feel like you took the Ferrari around the school zone and didn't show us how she performs on the freeway...where it's supposed to be!

Too bad tales of Asus poor RMA service will keep a fair few people on these forums from buying their products ever again.

ROG line products seem to have less horror stories.

 

[H82LUZ73]

Did you ever install a M2 ssd ? Does it take away the pcie x1 or x4 near the bottom of board ? I have read many boards take away the dual or tri sli/crossfire was wondering if this did?If it don`t then i might have found me a Intel board.As always Dave awesome in depth review,Sounds like you are still having fun with this.

 

[EarthDog]

I believe the m.2 is fed by the PCH...

 

[cadaveca]

Did you ever install a M2 ssd ? Does it take away the pcie x1 or x4 near the bottom of board ? I have read many boards take away the dual or tri sli/crossfire was wondering if this did?If it don`t then i might have found me a Intel board.As always Dave awesome in depth review,Sounds like you are still having fun with this.

Yeah, the bottom slot is x4 only anyway, so I dunno why you'd want to stick a VGA in there for 24/7 use. Bottom slot is not linked with the M.2 slot, but it is linked with the SATA 5/6 ports. That's why Imentioned using the board for 3 cards and not 4 (SLI is limited to two physical cards but is ready for QuadGPU SLI, as stated in the review)

However, the M.2 slot is tied with the U.2 and the SATAEXPRESS1 port.
The manual is pretty explicit in showing what slots/devices are linked with what, so for exact info, just download the manual off the ASUS website!

And yes, I am still enjoying it for sure!!!

Too bad tales of Asus poor RMA service will keep a fair few people on these forums from buying their products ever again.

ASUS RMA service is very much tied to regional areas. Some areas do have a fair number of complaints, but some report no problems at all. ASUS is very strict on sticking to policy when it comes to RMAs, and given that they hold nearly half the board market (if not more), it is only natural we'd hear more about problems... more people buy their products than any other brand.

This is a fantastic board and easily the best in the entire Z170 lineup from all vendors, feature for feature.
As for the BIOS having too many options, you don't have to use the advanced menu at all, and there are presets for easy overclocking. Despite it's ROG gamer friendly branding, this board is 60% concerned with Extreme overclocking and only 40% gaming. Something like the Maximus VIII Formula or the Hero Alpha boards are more gaming orientated.
Almost $500 is a lot to spend on a board, but I'd definitely consider this one for an all powerful Z170 platform, that I could LN2 once in a while.

The BIOS being huge isn't a real complaint, but at the same time, it does need to be mentioned that most options are not needed by most users. I did say in the review that the BIOS is intelligent enough to set what's needed for most users based on what "common" options are changed, too. Given the score this board got, I have very few gripes with it.

 

[zedn]

For AIDA64 memory copy and HDTune USB3.0, some results are not in order. Just mistake or did I miss any special reason for that?

 

[cadaveca]

Thanks, fixed.

 

[HammerON]

Nice review Dave
Thanks for sharing!!!

 

[avatar_raq]

Nice review, Dave. You got me drooling for an upgrade, but as said before, $500 is too much for a motherboard.

 

[proxuser]

i bought hero 2 days ago. and happy with it. getting 4.5ghz at 1.280v and i think if you want oc 4.5ghz you dont need such high end motherboard. instead you can buy 200$ board and 300$ for watercooling (ek predator 360). but still extreme editions are awesome

 

[EarthDog]

You can overclock to 4.5Ghz+ with much cheaper boards than $200 and live a happy life(span).


The ASUS Z170-E and Z170-A come to mind at ~$135.

 

[GC_PaNzerFIN]

These ASUS Extreme boards may cost arm and leg but over the years I have grown to appreciate how well polished quality boards these are. Everything has always worked great, BIOS is feature packed up to and including the kitchen sink and whatever mad overclocking I might have in mind that day it does without a sweat. When I look for a new boards for potentially many years I don't mind paying the extra because I know I am getting a board I will absolutely love using day to day basis. It is about the whole user experience. I just put all the silly accessory toys back in the box and never look back. I believe the assembly edition of this board at least comes with a bit more useful extra gear.
I was using a free sample Rampage V Extreme on my rig for a year and when I had to send it back (very sad day indeed!) I bought the same board again. That is how much I like it.

 

[Ferrum Master]

Did you do loopback to the same IC in RMAA?

 

[cadaveca]

Did you do loopback to the same IC in RMAA?

Yes. This way both output and line-in are tested. I do not use ASUS's quide for how to test, however, I set up RMAA my own way.

If I notice abnormally, I will link to external system, but have found that usually when I do, the problem is on the line-in of the board being tested, like 9/10 times.

 

[Ferrum Master]

Yes. This way both output and line-in are tested. I do not use ASUS's quide for how to test, however, I set up RMAA my own way.

If I notice abnormally, I will link to external system, but have found that usually when I do, the problem is on the line-in of the board being tested, like 9/10 times.

Actually under WIN10 had have really pain to set up proper RMAA measuring between two devices... a bit screwed results... I burned my old X-Fi Elite Pro... it actually had the best ADC implementation so far giving trusty results even to 122dB range...

 

[cadaveca]

I'm using a very old version of the software(606), since I know how it reacts. I haven't had any problems like that yet, but I also don't use creative products. That's a great tidbit of info, thanks for that!

For external system, I'll use onboard on another PC that I know behaves well; I don't do the real audio testing here at TPU, that's Frederik_S' job, so I don't have a lot of fancy gear for audio testing, just my home studio (mostly maudio products)

 

[Ferrum Master]

For external system, I'll use onboard on another PC that I know behaves well; I don't do the real audio testing here at TPU, that's Frederik_S' job, so I don't have a lot of fancy gear for audio testing, just my home studio (mostly maudio products)

There are usually only two top grade ADC's the PCM4220 and AKM5394AVS.... actually I like the AKM better... it doesn't matter much if it resides in the outer prosumer audio box or in a sound card for this purpose. Usually only those are used inside... I don't take seriously the cheaper Wolfson ones. I am just thinking putting together a independent Pentium 3 vintage PC with the X-Fi and how older XP drivers perform( in a humble shoe box of of course). The audio stack is really weird in NT6. Sometimes it toggles modes and settings, then it hangs, and actually works in shared mode and thus different bitrate frequency range... just a headache... ASIO still gives the best results.

I often measure mobile phones for fun and my own made creations, RMAA gives needed data where the problems reside... without spending a gazillion of money on professional spectrum analyzer gear.

 

[FlanK3r]

Did you tested HyStream? I wnated test it with Vivostick PC and dont worked it...The PC device did not found my phone.

 

[EarthDog]

Dave,

I am curious how far you managed to push the memory on this board as well as BCLK...

 

[FlanK3r]

I could not get 4000 MHz...I was close to 4000 MHz, 3866 was OK, around 39xx OK also, but 4000 MHz frozed in OS in few seconds

 

[cadaveca]

Dave,

I am curious how far you managed to push the memory on this board as well as BCLK...

403 BCLK and 3972 (using G.SKill 3866 2x4). But these seemed to be CPU limitations, since I could not get my others chips even close (my best chip is 1.21V stock).

I did not share OC results in review because my board came with this note, making me feel that my results aren't representative of retail sample:

I did not get IMPACT, so cannot compare there (only got Z170 DELUXE (w/ added pins in socket) and MAXIMUS VIII EXTREME), but maybe when I get ASRock Z170M FORMULA I can push more? time will tell.

Did you tested HyStream? I wnated test it with Vivostick PC and dont worked it...The PC device did not found my phone.

Maybe which version phone you have and what IOS software is the problem. I do not own any cell phone. I did get it to work with Z170 DELUXE and iPhone 5s.

 

[EarthDog]

The BOARD was a top 20 sample? Nice!

Yeah, the Z170M Formula will be the one to tell you... looking forward to seeing that and you getting caught up with reviews. Its been a while

 

[FlanK3r]

I tried it with Zenfone 2, so Asus phone