ASUS Maximus III Formula....benches and more

[Brian y.]

Asus was kind enough to send me their Maximus III Formula motherboard which is the first in the ROG line based on the P55 chipset and is aimed at gamers 7 enthusiast alike.











A few of the key features that the MIIIF offers are:


Game First

It gives the user the ability to prioritize game traffic over the network connection which in turn helps improve ping times and lowers network latency.


ROG Connect

Using the included software and USB cable ROG connect allows you to gain direct access from the BIOS settings, see real time Post codes for debugging purposes and other hardware status indicators such as voltages, temps & fan speeds. You can save up to 5 custom profiles and can be accessed without having to enter the BIOS. Adjust all voltages on the fly as well as scaling bclk in your OS environment all from your laptop.


MemPerfect

This feature assist in maximizing the performance potential of your memory whether you OC your system or leave it at stock. Picking up on settings in the BIOS MemPerfect offers a drop down menu that gives options of speeds then test your memory to insure memory is stable resulting in a much more stable system.

Go Button

This triggers MemOK! This helps if you are having booting issues in relation to the memory being used. It also allows you to take advantage of preset Go Button profiles that you setup in your BIOS which can be done at any time including when your rig is fully booted and running in an OS environment. Great for when you want to turn it up a notch when gaming. No need to reboot the system!

other features included

* Voltimeter LED
* Dual Channel DDR3 2133(OC) MHz
* Speeding HDD
* CPU Level Up
* Extreme Tweaker
* ProbeIt
* Loadline Calibration
* SupremeFX X-Fi Soundcard
* Component Overheat Protection EX
* ASUS EZ Flash 2
* ASUS EPU
* ASUS CPR
* Noise filter
* SLI/Crossfire
* Onboard switches
* Q-Fan Plus
* ASUS EZ DIY
* ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3
* ASUS Q-Shield
* ASUS Q-Connector

The accessory list that comes packaged...



User's manual
1 x I/O Shield
1 x ROG Connect Cable
1 x SLI Cable
1 x SupremeFX X-Fi Audio Card
1 x 2-in-1 ASUS Q-Connector Kit
3 x 2-in-1 SATA signal cables
1 x 2-port USB2.0 + ESATA module
1 x Cable Ties
1 x ROG theme label
1 x 12-in-1 ROG Cable Label


Now on to the good stuff….

Some initial bench results

Setup


ASUS Maximus III Formula
Intel i7 870 ES
Kingston HyperX 2x2GB PC16000 kit
ATi Raedon 4890x2
OCZ GameStream 800w PSU
SingleStage idle -50 /load-35~-40

First off before I go any farther I have to say that unfortunately after some brief testing it was realized that there were two very weak cores with this CPU and it reared its ugly head in Vantage/wprime. I have since purchased a retail 860 and will be adding more bench results and more importantly ones on air to give a realistic idea of what can be expected in normal use. I will continue to update results and findings as I dig deeper into the plethora of features that this board has to offer.

First runs were done at 4GHz in order to give an a base and go from there. I stuck with high memory mhz @ Cas8 instead of running tighter latencies at lower mhz for 3D benches for now.

05


06


Vantage


Now time to see what this CPU was capable of...

05


06


could not leave out a 01 run for massman's sake.....

01

much more testing to regarding 01 as this was an initial run but that will be for later after I finish up with this motherboard.

A untweaked 32M run...



max bclk so far..


http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=715942

more to come...

[The Nemesis]

Nice Review/results. I'm waiting on the arrival of a 4GB Kit of G.SKILL Perfect Storm DDR3 2200 memory I ordered from newegg. Then I'll have some fun too.

[hiwa]

nice mmeory OC there
Thanks for sharing brian

[sofos1990]

Nice one
Waiting for more results with LN2
memory o/c rocks

[Brian y.]

nice memory OC there
Thanks for sharing brian

Thanks man
this board just seems to love some serious bandwidth. It was great that it only took 1.74v and 1.51 on the IMC to make it happen.

Nice one
Waiting for more results with LN2
memory o/c rocks

I have been testing this retail 860 all day today on SS with loads hovering around -15 and it has had much better results in the multi threaded benchmarks. Will be receiving a LN2 delivery Friday so we will see soon enough if what this CPU is made of

I have also been playing around with the ASUS OC Station today



It is actually smoother than the TurboV OCing software and I have found that it allows the CPU to scale farther. The best thing that I can say I liked about it is that in benches like 06 I was able to adjust the bclk on the fly during the bench so I could bench higher in the graphic test.

Going to put it to work with my REII and w3570 and see what I can do as soon as I am done testing this 860 under cold.

[madmax999]

Yeah, sick memory OC and nice OC scores

It's really funny to see that ROG series of motherboards are "for gamers" because 95% of gamers don't even know how to overclock a CPU or anything else

[marmott]

really nice review

[KURTZ]

@Brian: i'm really glad to see 246 for the max bclock just a Q: what's your cooling?

[Oliver]

hey man, looks tasty

Not bad results, eventought they are initial

cant wait to see some 860 action kicking from you

stellar mem kit you got hands on not to mention

keep pushing it

[Brian y.]

Yeah, sick memory OC and nice OC scores

It's really funny to see that ROG series of motherboards are "for gamers" because 95% of gamers don't even know how to overclock a CPU or anything else

While that can be the case this board is pretty straight forward and while auto tuning is available in the BIOS including memperfect that takes away the brunt of memory testing for you it is always better to take the time to understand your BIOS/hardware in order to get the most out of it performance wise.

@Brian: i'm really glad to see 246 for the max bclock just a Q: what's your cooling?

The CPu was good up to 4GHz on air 24/7 stable and 4200 max bench stable. The rest was done under single stage.

hey man, looks tasty

Not bad results, even though they are initial

cant wait to see some 860 action kicking from you

stellar mem kit you got hands on not to mention

keep pushing it

Thanks Oliver
Yeah these Kingstons really show their true colors with this board. I have also been recently testing some budget Mushkins that have really blossomed on this board.

I will have some 5870 crossfire action coming later this week.

stay tuned