ASUS Introduces Z87 Motherboard Lineup

[NEOAethyr]

I noticed they gimped out on the extreme board's cpu power, 8+4 pin instead of 8+8.

I prefer the power and reset buttons that are on the ws board.
I don't like the goofy looking ones they put on the other board.

Also, I really wish they would design the heatsinks baised on functionality, and not just looks.
They don't even look that good, they just need to cut more slots into it, making a pin layout or fin layout, either one would be better.
I mean look at the south bridge heatsink, I'm almost better off buying silver coin and using that as a heatsink lol (without melting it down into shape).

I also noticed one more thing, all the boards except the extreme have old style caps on the the audio.
I would hope they put a audio shield on the extreme too.

And what was wrong before with going with e-atx on the extreme and keeping atx for the hero/formula?

Still whatever you know, it's nice to see the boards.
If msi had a better team of bios and hardware engineers, I would go with them.
Only choice though is asus if you want the best.

I love the dual lan thing though, I've been missing that for so long.

Edit:
Pcie config is 2x16, or 4x8.
That's all I know.

[Ket]

I can't say any of these Asus designs (layouts) are really that good. In terms of aesthetic design for the Deluxe its ugly as all hell and the design for the Hero, Sabertooth etc are hardly anything different from what Asus have used on slightly older boards. In a nutshell, boring, over-bling instead of functionality.

[aussie-revhead]

Getting a Gene @ launch.

-PB

Me too mate, race you to get running first ....

[solofly]

Well for me it's either Maximus VI Extreme or Z87-Deluxe...(or maybe even WS)

[hersounds]

Maximus VI Hero





Maximus VI Gene



Maximus VI Extreme



OC Panel Connections



Sabertooth Z87





Gryphon Z87 ( mini atx sabertooth like VGene on ROG line )



Gryphon Armor kit

[NEOAethyr]

I wouldn't wanna pay extra for front panel coming with a board, I only got 4 bays I don't have room for it, it would stay in the box.
Hopefully it's extra.

[hokiealumnus]

I can't say much about it really, but I'll say it is an extremely valuable tool for extreme overclockers when not in the drive bay.

[NEOAethyr]

Yeah I'm not gonna put it down.
Just saying, what I got is 4 bays, a 120mm fan an a bdr burner occupies them all.

I just realized though, I JUST looked it up, the 4770k supposedly doesn't have vt-d, but yet "supposedly" the 4930k will.
Even if I wanted the 4770k, I couldn't go that route.
I'll just try stay out of your guys way on these cpu's and board's lol .

I'm still interested on how they clock mem though .

[STaRGaZeR]

Wait, no eSATA on the Gene??

[Olivon]

I hesitate between Maximus VI Gene and ASRock Z87M OC Formula.
Waiting for prices and reviews

[paulbagz]

Me too mate, race you to get running first ....

lol my computer is being built in a desk so you will definitely beat me to it haha

-PB

[BababooeyHTJ]

That sucks, no tri-sli on the Hero.

[Ice009]

That sucks, no tri-sli on the Hero.

That is a total screw up IMO. They should have had Tri-SLI on that board (even if it dropped the speed to x16 x8 x8).

[hokiealumnus]

You would have to add a PLX chip to the Hero to make it a tri-SLI board. It's priced to come in under the GENE, so it's the entry-level Maximums VI board. How many entry-level boards do you know with the added BOM & engineering costs of a PLX chip can keep their price competitive?

[Chrono Detector]

ROG boards look great but the others look quite dull and has a strange colour scheme.

[Ice009]

You would have to add a PLX chip to the Hero to make it a tri-SLI board. It's priced to come in under the GENE, so it's the entry-level Maximums VI board. How many entry-level boards do you know with the added BOM & engineering costs of a PLX chip can keep their price competitive?

Can you still run Tri-SLI like you could on the M5F? Even at x8 x4 x4 PCI-e 3.0 speeds, that would at least give people the option.

Also, how much are those PLX chips? I don't think they are as expensive as you are making them out to be.

[hokiealumnus]

It's not that they're necessarily expensive per se, but they do add to the board's cost and R&D to produce a tri-SLI/CFX board. This isn't the Formula, it's going to be a lower price point than the Gene (the Formula is traditionally higher), so it's the entry level Maximus VI board. You have to make sacrifices to bring boards in at certain price points. To get to the entry level....level (heh), there have to be sacrifices. It doesn't have to be extraordinarily expensive to price a board out of the target range.

Consider the Maximus V GENE. It came in at roughly $200, depending on retailer. I don't know what price the Hero is expected to be, but let's call it $170 (just a guess). The PLX chip can easily be $30 worth of hardware and R&D per board and is probably a bit more. That would price them right out of where they're aiming.

[bobsrig]

Yeah I'm not gonna put it down.
Just saying, what I got is 4 bays, a 120mm fan an a bdr burner occupies them all.

I just realized though, I JUST looked it up, the 4770k supposedly doesn't have vt-d, but yet "supposedly" the 4930k will.
Even if I wanted the 4770k, I couldn't go that route.
I'll just try stay out of your guys way on these cpu's and board's lol .

I'm still interested on how they clock mem though .

SO your on an extreme systems forum and complain about not wanting to add a drive bay or construct some diy way of holding this device. Wrong forum try Toms Hardware.

[sin0822]

WAIT WIAT!!!!!! You forgot my favorite slide!!!!!



Anyways while ASUS did get it right about the Armour, their Maximus 6 Extreme looks really nice. I like these ROG heatsinks more than the previous generation, especially X79.

[hokiealumnus]

Agreed, the new heatsinks are sweet looking. Wish I could share my own photos; I've got a cool one of the M6E's heatsink looking strikingly like a baseball stadium watching the CPU play a game. :p

[hokiealumnus]

Our M6E review is live.

We teased you a bit with a few results and several pictures of the ASUS Maximus VI Extreme (aka M6E occasionally because that's immensely easier) in our initial Haswell review. Sorry this took so long, but this motherboard has more features than you can even imagine, so let's jump right in and we'll show you what ASUS' flagship is made of.

... Return to article to continue reading.

Longest. Review. Ever. (Not really, but my longest review ever. )