The ASUS ROG series are a crossover between what the gamer community needs and the desires for the die-hard overclocking community; consider the ROG range as the best of two worlds. The box art remains similar to previous releases of the Republic Of Gamers offerings. Why change a winning formula ?

 

 

 

When we first saw the Maximus VI Formula board at Computex 2013, we were far from impressed. It seemed to be a hybrid between the ROG boards and the Sabertooth series. Nevertheless when we unboxed the Formula board it has to be said this is one of the most sexy boards ever to arrive at the Shrimps lab. Looks are important, especially for the gaming community, where some end users just pick a board, based purely on how it will look in their case.

 

 

 

 

 

The Sabertooth's Thermal Armor influences are clearly visible. The main idea behind this concept is however not purely aesthetic. It should limit the heat dissipation from the graphic cards versus the underneath components. The VRM Mosfet cooling is named Crosschill cooling, claiming to be up to 23°C cooler then a regular air cooled VRM heatsink setup. Impressive on paper, however it's not like these air cooled versions will lead to instability or will seriously reduce the lifespan of your gaming setup. The Armor on the rear of the PCB, reinforces the motherboard and ducts heat away from vital components.

 

 

The ASUS Maximus VI Formula sports an 8-phase black wing choke power design, more then plenty for Intel's Haswell generation as they each can deliver up to 60A per choke. The insane phase amounts of some other boards are more a marketing gimmick, than anything else. The board's premium power components delivers more than plenty of amps and stable voltages, no matter if you are running your CPU overclocked with a beefy air cooler or under extreme cooling conditions.

 

 

 

 

In the CPU socket we find a small hole that allows die-hard overclockers to install a temp probe. A dual CPU power plug at the top of the PCB, consisting of an 8 pin and an extra 4 pin version for extra stability under extreme loads. A high end motherboard ready for some serious pounding requires a LED debug LED and voltage measurement points.

 

   

  

 

The 4 DIMM dual channel slots are 3000MHz+ OC certified and powered by a dual phase design. A whopping total of 32GB is supported, more than plenty don't you think ? The Q-LED feature next to the 24 pin Power connector also allows easy debugging. This in combination with the Post Code LED, makes finding the culprit of a non boot pretty easily detectable.

 

 

 

The PCIe slot layout is well defined, with two nicely spaced upper PCIe 3.0 X16 slots. SLI is supported or a triple card Crossfire. If one GPU is used it will run at x16 speeds, two cards will run at x8/x8 and in case of using AMD cards the first two will be set at x8 and the 3rd card at x4 speeds. Three PCIe 2.0 x1 slots foreseen for other add on cards. A 4 pin Molex plus allows more stable voltages, whenever using a power hungry graphic card setup.

 

 

 

Audio wise ASUS has opted again to include their SupremeFX audio, underneath the EMI shield. Bundled with high quality ELNA audio and WIMA film capacitors it should bring your sound experience to a new level. The AUDIO part is well isolated on the PCB for maximum electronical interference reduction.

 

   

 

Up to eight four pin fan headers and three temperature probe headers can be found in the Maximus VI Formula Allowing maximum ventilation and versatility in combination with the new AI Suite software, thus achieving optimal cooling conditions per specific user demands. The DirectKey allows direct access to the Bios without having to hammer the DEL key.

Storage wise the provision of ten SATA 6GB/s fulfills most needs of any storage enthusiast. Six of them are handled by the Intel Z87 chipset, the four remaining ones are controlled by the ASMedia AMS1061 controller. RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10 are supported.

 

 

     

 

 

The new ASUS bios is overwhelming with settings. Shamino's influence is clearly present. Normally we only have one page of vital Bios screens, now we are at two pages and take note we left out about 12 tabs so 3 pages could be easily stuffed with BIOS screens. While Tweakers and Overclockers love to fiddle with settings on voltages, BCLK, mem settings, for gamers this is all too much too handle. It might be a better option to have a specific aka basic gaming focused mode bios layout at first boot and the option to go into Advanced Mode, thus allowing for finer adjustment of all the BIOS features. Even for an avid ASUS user as myself this new BIOS was a bit too time consuming to navigate through.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well hello Memory presets! The ASUS team went absolutely bonkers and has got a preset for most memory kits out there. Take note that these are a starting point and might not necesarily mean the setup will boot or be stable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bios options are endless, however is more better or is less more ?

Especially since the release of Sandy Bridge, Intel's first socket 1155, most hardware vendors are no longer respecting the Intel specifications regarding the Turbo policy. Most were imposing the same Turbo ratio to all the cores instead. This makes the lives of us the reviewers even harder as we needed to adapt our reviewing method. With Haswell nothing has really changed, however finding it very weird that some other hardware websites list they are using out of the box boards with no Bios alterations whatsoever besides loading the usual XMP profile. There are big differences between some brands dear reviewers.

For our stock tests we go out of the box and just go into the Bios and load the XMP profile for our 16GB Dual channel CORSAIR Vengeance Pro kit. Audio and LAN ports are disabled too.

The hardware setup comprises out of:

• Intel i7-4770K cooled by Scythe Mugen 4
• Intel DZ87KLT Mainboard
• ASRock OC Formula ( 1.51 bios )
• ASUS Z87 MAXIMUS VI Formula ( 0039 bios )
• Gigabyte Z87X-OC ( F5v bios)
• MSI Z87 XPOWER ( 1.19 bios )
• 16GB CORSAIR Vengeance Pro 2400C10 Dual Channel kit
• ATI HD7970 GPU
• CORSAIR AX1200 PSU
• Western Digital Green Caviar 1TB HDD

 

 

 

 

The out of the box benchmarks, always start off with the single threaded SuperPi and the core crushing Wprime benchmark. SuperPi reveals already a lot about how the Bios engineers dialed in the board. The MSI G45 Gaming and the Gigabyte Z87X-OC Bioses got very tight DRAM timings and thus it is no surprise to see these boards leading the hordes. The ROG Z87 Formula's performance is situated somewhere in the middle of the pack. Wprime tells the tale, the Intel Turbo is running in an enhanced state, keeping the cores in sync at the maximum Turbo multiplier.

 

 

 

By using the AIDA64 bandwidth test, discrepancies in timings will become clearly visible. The ASUS Bios team, heralded as one of the best in the world in the world doesn't dissapoint. Top spots for the Maximus VI Formula in the CPU Queen and PhotoworXX tests.

 

 

 

Without any surprise the ROG MAximus VI Formula board keeps on slashing through the benchmarks we threw at it. Time after time remaining a serious contender for the top spot. Who ever said that feature packed boards can't be efficient in performance ?

 

 

 

Performance checked and approved in the 2D department. Time to pop in the AMD HD7970 graphics card and see how it performs in the [M] Test suite. In Futuremark's 3DMark11 benchmark, which is heavily GPU and DRAM dependant, the ASUS Z87 Formula board snatches the lead from the MSI G45 Gaming board. The Resident Evil 6 benchmark outcome is similar, with the ASUS board just topping its competition.

 

 

Alike the outcome of the 2D tests, this is one great all round performing motherboard, well dialed in ASUS !

 

 

 

Time to give these boards a run for their money on air. Instead of bumping up the CPU multiplier to 45X, we set the Rams at 2800MHz C11-13-13-31 2T  and tighten the secondary and tertiary timings to put some extra stress on the IMC too.

 

 

SuperPI 32M shows the performance and efficiency of the ASUS board as it grabs the lead over the rest. The differences aren't big between the top 2, the XPower still lacks efficiency at high frequencies. We included the results of the latest XPOWER beta bios. The latert TCH bios is not included, as it hardly shows any improvement in compatibility for my hardware.

The AIDA Bandwidth results again show the Formula board just outperforming the rest, again the difference is not huge.

 

 

 

 

And the story continues, the ASUS boards are renown for there well dialed in BIOSes. This however does not imply that they are always very user friendly, as sometimes one wrong settting can be the difference between efficient or not. The abundancy of settings is overwhelming and in this case more isn't always better. At a certain moment too much is too much...

 

 

In our overclocked 3D tests the ASUS MAximus VI Formula has no issues to continue the pace it already set in the 2D tests. If it aint the fastest, it's performance is pretty near the highest scoring board.

 

 

 

 

 

The ASUS board achieved two stable settings with our dud Haswell i7-4770K CPU. 4221MHz and 4423MHz. 4600MHz posted perfectly into Windows7. Nevertheless our CPU is hardly stable then, due to the high temperatures. Hence why it couldn't complete the test suite.

 

• 4221MHz at 1.15Vcore: Stable  RAM at 2400MHz

• 4423MHz at 1.25Vcore: Stable  RAM at 2400MHz

 

BClocking is essential for overclocking, allowing to maximize your CPU/RAM frequency regarding the benchmark run. We tested the ASUS Maximus VI Formula versus the 3 other OC mainboards. However keep in mind this is done on air cooling and without going out of bounce on any of the voltages. The CPU was kept around stock speed by lowering the CPU multiplier. Three gear ratios were checked: 1.00x, 1.25x and 1.66x. Note these are straight boot results from the Bios, no upping or whatsoever in the Windows operating system. Bclock stability was checked via a 1024 WPrime run.

 

 

 

 

 

Memory Compatibility

Last test comprised to utilize the Formula board under extreme conditions. With our not so spectacular i7-4770K the Maximus VI Formula board had no issues to quickly explore the limits of this particular Hasfail processor. Depending on the number of cores run, the 4770K's speed varied between 5700 and 5500MHz. Just a 700MHz short of what we would like to have gotten out of this processor lol. Nothing the board can do about it. Not even the most brilliant board will unleash extra potential of a dud CPU.

 

 

Only thing we encountered a lot with this board is the dreaded 00/55 post code on the Debug LED. Really puzzling as if you boot with one DIMM, let the board retrain, then pop in the 2nd dimm it usually worked perfect. Nevertheless this was not the case when trying to boot from a two DIMM configuration. Really annoying if you are working on the edge. To be honest a surprise as usual ASUS boards were the most easy going boards. Things seem to change...

 

 

ASUS has added another great board to their Z87 Republic of Gamers lineup. This time not limiting themselves to the regular three boards being the mATX Gene, the Formula and the Extreme version. The addition of the mITX Maximus VI Impact and the affordable Hero board were applauded in the gamer community.

The Maximus VI Formula board is the ultimate mix for either the high demanding gamer or case modder. Being an ideal platform to serve as a foundation for that ultimate high end gaming setup. While some may think the addition of the ROG Armor vest is pure overkill, others will adore it for the looks and rigid feel. The enhanced Supreme FX audio will fulfill the needs for most gamers, The Storage connectivity with a whopping total of 10 SATA 6GB/s ports and the USB peripheral support is second to none. The bundled software is also up to the highest standards. This ASUS Z87 MAXIMUS VI Formula board is so packed with features that it appeals to a very wide segment of buyers.

 

 

Secondly it's a rock stable benching platform, with well chosen components  seem to build to last; that it performs up to typical ASUS level is without a doubt. Just the BIOS could make even the most die hard overclocker scratch their head, just trying to figure out which setting, does exactly what. More is not always better... ASUS has always been one of the most flexible bios versions for RAM tuning or quick dial in of a stable high frequency OC. The BIOS options are far too numerous and too time consuming to properly dial in especially for a first time user.

The ASUS Maximus VI Formula is a great, feature packed board that will easily satisfy the needs of the most demaning user out there. ASUS didn't take any chances and truly loaded the Formula board with a massive amount of features. Thus leaving close to no option open, this board is 200% ready to fullfill the needs of the most demanding gamers, watercooling purists and die-hard overclockers.

 

 

PROS:

• Ultimate mix of a gaming and Extreme OCer board
• High efficiency out of the box
• High end hardware components
• Included Software bundle

 

 

CONS:

• Far too complex bios
• Annoying 00/55 bug

 

 

 

We wish to thank Sven from ASUS for the Z87 Maximus VI Formula sample

Harry and Rick from CORSAIR for the Vengeance 2400C10 RAM kit

 

The TONES crew for the years of support