The Board - Layout

The ASUS MAXIMUS VI HERO is a completely new SKU for ASUS, but the slot layout will be quite familiar to many. ASUS polled ROG users and found that many who bought the ASUS MAXIMUS GENE boards, mATX ROG products, did so because of cost and features, even though many of those really wanted a full ATX board instead. So here we have the HERO come to save the day for all those users. Since it targets GENE users in the way it does, the ASUS MAXIMUS VI HERO is very much just a stretched-out ASUS MAXIMUS VI GENE, making for a board that isn't too busy on both the front and rear, but one that is fully featured.


The front and rear of the socket are relatively clear of things that could get in the way of insulating against condensation because many users that buy ROG products also do some advanced overclocking.


The ASUS MAXIMUS VI HERO just has six expansion slots: three PCIe x1 slots and three PCIe x16 slots. The red slots connect to the CPU, while the black slots are connected to the Z87 chipset, making deciphering which is connected to what pretty easy. The DIMM slots, also black and red, can support DIMMs of up to 8 GB in density. These can also carry DIMMS of up to 2800 MHz in speed, or perhaps more with some overclocking.


The pins on the board's lower edge are fairly basic. Both the front panel and USB 2.0 headers are on the right edge, while the left part has a header for ASUS's new OC Panel, a TPM header, and a front panel audio header. There are five fan headers on the ASUS MAXIMUS VI HERO. All of these are 4-pin PWN-based and can each be controlled from within the BIOS.


The back I/O panel on the ASUS MAXIMUS VI HERO is actually quite simple, carrying four USB 2.0- and 3.0 ports each, HDMI, the audio ports, and a LAN port. There is also a CLEAR CMOS button here. There are eight internal SATA ports. Six are driven by the Intel Z87 PCH, and the other two are provided by an ASMedia ASM1061 controller under the PCH cooler behind the ports.