The ASUS Maximus VIII Extreme Review: The Other $500 Option
by Ian Cutress on April 7, 2016 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- Gaming
- Asus
- ROG
- Skylake
- Z170
- Thunderbolt 3
Board Features
Having gone through and generated the following table for the M8E, I find it mildly amusing, especially as I’ve just put a $120 motherboard on the test bed here. By comparison, instead of most of the sections saying none/blank, when dealing with a $500 motherboard everything is filled up. More SATA ports, more features and more room to add things means that a halo motherboard has to be the Rambo of a PC build.
ASUS Maximus VIII Extreme | |
Warranty Period | 3 Years |
Product Page | Link |
Price | Amazon US |
Size | E-ATX |
CPU Interface | LGA1151 |
Chipset | Intel Z170 |
Memory Slots (DDR4) | Four DDR4 Supporting 64GB Dual Channel Up to 3866 MHz |
Memory Slots (DDR3L) | None |
Video Outputs | HDMI to 4096x2160 @ 24 Hz DisplayPort at 4096x2304 @ 60 Hz |
Network Connectivity | Intel I219-V 3T3R 802.11ac Wi-Fi Go! Module |
Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC1150 with ESS ES9023P DAC bypass |
PCIe Slots for Graphics (from CPU) | 3 x PCIe 3.0 (x16, x8/x8, x8/x4/x4) |
PCIe Slots for Other (from PCH) | 1 x PCIe 3.0 x4 2 x PCIe 3.0 x1 |
Onboard SATA | Six, RAID 0/1/5/10 Two from ASMedia ASM1061 |
Onboard SATA Express | Two, RAID |
Onboard M.2 | 1 x PCIe 3.0 x4 or SATA, RAID 0/1, NVMe |
Onboard U.2 | 1 x PCIe 3.0 x4 (switched with M.2) |
Thunderbolt | TB3 via Type-C |
USB 3.1 | 2 x Type-A from ASMedia ASM1142 Controller 1 x Type-A and 1 x Type-C from Intel Alpine Ridge |
USB 3.0 | 4 x Rear Panel 4 via headers |
USB 2.0 | 6 via headers |
Power Connectors | 1 x 24-pin ATX 1 x 8-pin CPU 1 x 4-pin CPU |
Fan Headers | 1 x CPU (4-pin) 1 x CPU_OPT (4-pin) 4 x CHA/SYS (4-pin) |
IO Panel | 1 x Combination PS/2 4 x USB 3.0 3 x USB 3.1 Type-A 1 x USB 3.1 Type-C 1 x Network RJ-45 (Intel I219-V) HDMI DisplayPort Clear CMOS Button USB BIOS Flashback Button 3T3R 802.11ac Wi-Fi Go! Module Audio Jacks |
Other Features | OC Panel Header Thunderbolt Header 4-pin EZ-PLUG Header Front Panel Header 5-pin Fan Extension Header MemOK! Button Slow Mode Switch 9 x Voltage measurement points 3 x Thermal Sensor Headers 1 x DRAM Channel Jumper Power/Reset Buttons BIOS Switch Button SLI/CFX Switch LN2 Mode Jumper Safe Boot Button ReTry Button |
The big active features for ASUS come in at the 3T3R tri-stream WiFi, an ESS DAC, Thunderbolt 3 support via Intel’s Alpine Ridge controller, a total of four USB 3.1 ports split between the Alpine Ridge and ASMedia’s ASM1142 controller and then the sheer amount of switches and buttons onboard for power users to configure their experience. The OC Panel header for both power users and extreme overclockers comes in handy with the bundled OC Panel.
Using the chipset diagram, it shows a slightly more complex picture. Everything on the left side is what we would expect, including the complex way that x8/x4/x4 is implemented on the PCIe side, although it is worth noting that the HDMI 1.4b port is provided through the Alpine Ridge controller rather than the CPU. I would assume this is actually just a bypass to help with routing though it may suggest that the TB3 controller cannot use HDMI when the DisplayPort functionality is in use. I’ll be synchronizing with ASUS on this.
On the right hand side we see that two of the SATA ports (4/5) share bandwidth with the PCIe x4 slot at the bottom of the board. When SATA devices are connected, the PCIe slot will reduce to x2 bandwidth. Also on the right hand side is an ASM1187 controller, which looks like a 6-port PCIe switch. Taking one PCIe lane in, it gives an output to five ports which include the two ASMedia SATA ports, two of the rear USB 3.0 ports, the Wi-Fi module and the two PCIe x1 slots. However, unless one of the PCIe x1 slots is using full bandwidth, I doubt it is much of an issue, and if anything it would be a latency issue. But it might also explain why we could not get proper USB 3.0 speed results through the ASMedia controller.
In The Box
We get the following:
User Manual
Driver DVD
Rear IO Shield
OC Panel plus 5.25-inch Bay
Fan Extension Board
Wi-Fi Antenna
Thermal Probes
CPU Installation tool
Eight SATA Cables
Q-Connectors
ASUS ROG Stickers
ASUS ROG Door Handle Sign
Flexi-CrossFire Connector
Flexi-SLI Connector
At $500 and being part of the ROG brand it means the in-box goodies should be plentiful. The star of the pack is the OC Panel, used by extreme overclockers to make adjustments on the fly or system builders to monitor fan speeds/temperatures with one-button overclocks.
We’ve discussed the OC Panel at length before, and this is the third generation with the same model, featuring more fan headers, VGA Hotplug and extra switches for system control.
Also in the box are a set of thermal probes to use on the extra thermal probe headers on the motherboard, giving the ASUS software extra read points for temperature if the user wants to monitor specific zones in their build. The CPU installation tool is there to help new build users put the processor in the motherboard, although I didn’t find much use for it (I’ve never dropped a CPU in a socket yet…). It is interesting to see so many SATA cables in the box though, however these are mostly likely bought in bulk and minimal cost to a board like this.
ASUS also sells the Maximus VIII Extreme/Assembly, which comes with a custom audio output dock as well as a Tahuti Networks based 10 gigabit Ethernet card using RJ-45.
70 Comments
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HollyDOL - Friday, April 8, 2016 - link
agreed, SATAe is useless...So far the only board with 2xU.2 I found is Asus's Maximus VIII Hero Alpha... but then there are lots of features on it I could live without without giving me a wrinkle :-)
shineproductions - Saturday, April 9, 2016 - link
ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ is an excellent board.pseudoid - Friday, April 8, 2016 - link
I had an older Maximus Formula and was way overdue for an update to my rig. I opted for the Asus Z170 Deluxe with dual-LANs.I am not a gamer and wanted a current tip of the technology top-dog with the hopes that it will last me as long as my previous ROG rig lasted, once setup. Massive learning curve prior to build. Everything worked fine but my only regret is the fact that these high-end MoBo types require much maintenance.
I don't know >> seems like there at least 10 Asus applications that are installed in Win10, and one that is called "EZUpdate" but even if it worked properly to tell me the available updates, it still takes a lot of time to maintain the beast.
You have been warned!
Oxford Guy - Tuesday, April 12, 2016 - link
"Option"Oxford Guy - Tuesday, April 12, 2016 - link
Yes, medical tech actually has to work reliably.olePigeon - Thursday, April 14, 2016 - link
Is there any reason why they don't use tantalum capacitors? They'd be much lower profile and, in my opinion, would look nicer.vacavalier - Sunday, April 24, 2016 - link
Your choice of GPU's is baffling, to say the least... Why not, test using more common-place/popularly used GPU's for more realistic testing.I am not saying or advocating that this will shame the Maximus Extreme, but at least use up-to-date GPU's, as you are running the latest CPU/RAM/Motherboard layout(s) for this...
Just saying...
jp209087 - Monday, September 5, 2016 - link
No doubt this is one of the best gaming system to buy, but its also costly too. Also consider review this <a href="http://www.ezydeal.net/Category/DESKTOP-and-MONITO...Gastec - Thursday, September 22, 2016 - link
Asus pricing this motherboard so high is just a move to raise the prices of the their more mainstream motherboards in the future. Nvidia does it too and soon everybody will do it. You were used to upgrade a certain PC component with n amount of money in the past years? Well, how about you try this next-gen pricing: TWICE what you used to pay :)north0019 - Thursday, October 6, 2016 - link
I bought one of these boards back in June because I'm building a No Compromise RIGOnly problem is that the board has been back to Asus 3 times now with failure to post.
Customer service at ASUS is the worst with phone support not talking with tech support and complete lack of follow thru or ability to communicate what work if any has been done.