ASUS ROG Maximus V Extreme Intel LGA1155

[cadaveca]

ASUS's monsterous ROG flagship is here! The ASUS Maximus V Extreme is built for the hardcore overclocker, with its sights firmly set at knocking the competition off of the top overclocking global records. Packed full of overclocking features and options, I get to see if I can make this lion purr. Turns out, it's easier than I had hoped.

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[brandonwh64]

Great review dave! Looks like a monster of a board

 

[FireKillerGR]

Good job

 

[Deleted member 6693]

Jesus .... this is the Burj Khalifa of motherboards.....great review

 

[drdeathx]

Great review Dave. Not bad for a Canuck

 

[Darkleoco]

Do want.The board is gorgeous and performs like a champ.

 

[Delta6326]

Awesome review! You are the W1zzard of Motherboard reviews... (Please no ban)

This board rocks! I just wish they would make a ROG ITX MB!


I must say though if your like me and don't go for crazy OC'ing then the V Formula looks like a really good board too, it's always right next to the V Extreme.

 

[Hayder_Master]

awesome review dave, but i think "high price" add to CONS list ?

 

[TheMailMan78]

So the OS now has more capability to corrupt the bios? Is this due to secure boot or how Windows 8 kernel is more hardware specific now?

 

[Sasqui]

Dave, it's about time you did this one! Nice review and about BIOS complexity it's similiar to lots of general comments I've read. Too bad about the manual, WIP perhaps?

So the OS now has more capability to corrupt the bios? Is this due to secure boot or how Windows 8 kernel is more hardware specific now?

UEFI implementation? He tested in Win7

 

[TheMailMan78]

Dave, it's about time you did this one! Nice review and about BIOS complexity it's similiar to lots of general comments I've read. Too bad about the manual, WIP perhaps?




UEFI implementation? He tested in Win7

Windows 7 wouldn't corrupt a bios AFAIK.

 

[Athlon2K15]

Page 2 -

The Ivy Bridge CPUs are made using a new 28nm process technology that lowers power consumption and gives a bit more performance-per-clock over previous Intel 2nd Generation Core i5/i7 products. Also changed is the onboard GPU that's part of the Ivy Bridge silicon, now taking up more of that slice of silicon that sits under the integrated heatspreader.


You know better than that dave. Great review

 

[drdeathx]

awesome review dave, but i think "high price" add to CONS list ?

suck it up, it is a high end board...

 

[cadaveca]

awesome review dave, but i think "high price" add to CONS list ?

Considering what the board is, the high price is easily justified. If the price was outside of what was acceptable for the features offered, then I WOULD list that as a con, but frankly, I think the price is better than some other options on the market.

So the OS now has more capability to corrupt the bios? Is this due to secure boot or how Windows 8 kernel is more hardware specific now?

Honestly, the real cause I am unsure of. All I can say is that under specific conditions that include certain elements, I can corrupt board BIOS with a VGA crash. This can happen even when the board it at stock.

However, in the end, ASUS is not the only board maker with BIOSes susceptible to this, so there is something common between all these boards that makes this an issue in Windows8.

I can make this happen with any of the many VGAs I have here, not just the AMD 7-series that I use for these reviews, so what is happening is truly beyond what I am capable of. I have no choice but to hope that all the companies involved somehow get this fixed.

Dave, it's about time you did this one! Nice review and about BIOS complexity it's similiar to lots of general comments I've read. Too bad about the manual, WIP perhaps?
UEFI implementation? He tested in Win7

I test in Windows7 and Windows8, but do not publish Windows8 results, since not all benchmarks are functioning properly yet. When everything works properly, then I'll make changes to how I publish results.

Windows 7 wouldn't corrupt a bios AFAIK.

Seemingly not under the same conditions, but I'm sure it's possible.

 

[HammerON]

Another great review Dave

 

[TheMailMan78]

Considering what the board is, the high price is easily justified. If the price was outside of what was acceptable for the features offered, then I WOULD list that as a con, but frankly, I think the price is better than some other options on the market.



Honestly, the real cause I am unsure of. All I can say is that under specific conditions that include certain elements, I can corrupt board BIOS with a VGA crash. This can happen even when the board it at stock.

However, in the end, ASUS is not the only board maker with BIOSes susceptible to this, so there is something common between all these boards that makes this an issue in Windows8.

I can make this happen with any of the many VGAs I have here, not just the AMD 7-series that I use for these reviews, so what is happening is truly beyond what I am capable of. I have no choice but to hope that all the companies involved somehow get this fixed.


I test in Windows7 and Windows8, but do not publish Windows8 results, since not all benchmarks are functioning properly yet. When everything works properly, then I'll make changes to how I publish results.



Seemingly not under the same conditions, but I'm sure it's possible.

Man these new BIOs with Windows 8 have me really worried for future security. From what I have been reading this could be a new introduction to an old practice of hacking at a hardware level. Being able to corrupt a BIOs from a bad OC in an OS is scary stuff IMO.


Oh and awesome review as always.

 

[1ceTr0n]

At times, I wish I had an ATX board vs my mATX Gene-Z but it works flawlessly so it would be a waste of money just to swap it out

 

[jihadjoe]

The OC results page says you have everything running at 4.6GHz... A chart showing max OC for each board would be somewhat informative.

Does the new Maximus V actually OC any higher than the previous boards you've tested?

 

[cadaveca]

Does the new Maximus V actually OC any higher than the previous boards you've tested?

Memory, yes.

CPU, cannot be decided except under LN2. IF you want to donate funds for such testing, I might be interested.

 

[erixx]

Way too short review! But loved it! ++++8)

 

[blibba]

Does anyone have a proper PCI-E lane diagram for this board?

 

[Raw]

Pollscrewerupper

Man these new BIOs with Windows 8 have me really worried for future security. From what I have been reading this could be a new introduction to an old practice of hacking at a hardware level. Being able to corrupt a BIOs from a bad OC in an OS is scary stuff IMO.

You wouldn't be thinking of going back to 7 now would you because of this?

 

[cadaveca]

Does anyone have a proper PCI-E lane diagram for this board?

It's in the review...

Top red slot is x16 or x8 to CPU.

secondary x8 from CPU goes to black x16 slot, or to PLX PEX8747.

PLX PEX 8747 give x16 to second red slot, and x8 to lower two red slots. x4 slot is connected to PCH. On that card diagram, red links are direct to CPU.

 

[blibba]

It's in the review...


http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/Maximus_V_Extreme/images/pcie_guide.jpg


Top red slot is x16 or x8 to CPU.

secondary x8 from CPU goes to black x16 slot, or to PLX PEX8747.

PLX PEX 8747 give x16 to second red slot, and x8 to lower two red slots. x4 slot is connected to PCH. On that card diagram, red links are direct to CPU.

Then slot 2A is never truly x16, which is what confused me. Btw, that is nothing like a proper lane diagram. That would look like this (which is for another board):

 

[cadaveca]

Then slot 2A is never truly x16, which is what confused me.

I understand. It's pretty clear there though, and yes, you are right, 2A is never really x16, and if you use three or four card, you'll have PCIe x8 3.0 to all three card only, really.


ASUS says x8/x8 from CPU is better than x16/x16 from PLX PEX8747, but that's not what I found in my own testing on other boards.

About 2A though, although it shares that link, it does have x16 physical to PLX, which can be used to inter-card traffic, just not CPU-GPU traffic. I'd love to have 4 cards and bench this board full against the Gigabyte Z77X-UP7 full. I only have 2x 7950, and a triple-slot 7970, which makes that impossible.