Asus Maximus Extreme

The Maximum Extreme comes in a huge box that covers many of the products specifications. There are a number of logos on the packaging which identify the major features such as support of 45nm processors and the front flips open to reveal information on some Asus specific software and hardware.

Inside the box we find quite simply the most thorough bundle we have seen to date. Firstly there is the SupremeFX II PCI-Express audio card which uses the ADI 1988B 8-channel chipset (Coaxial/ Optical S/PDIF out). The next item is the LCD poster which provides a description of the current motherboard state. When things are going well it can display the time but on occasions when the system fails to boot (for example when overclocked out with the capability of a component) the LCD poster will display an error message which assists in diagnosing the fault. This is a step up from the two character LED displays or bios beep codes we are so used to seeing on the majority of products.

Next we have the bundled cables and components which include standard items such as IDE and SATA cables, I/O shield and extra USB ports, however Asus do not stop there. Included with the Maximus Extreme is a heatsink cooling fan, temperature diodes, water-cooling clips and Q-Connectors. We have seen Q-Connectors on other Asus boards and they are a nice addition to any board as case wiring becomes much easier, but it is the inclusion of clips and diodes which is most interesting. The clips are used to hold water cooling hoses on the Northbridge cooler which has an inlet and outlet. From there water is passed through the various heatsink sections. Also bundled is a decent selection of software, the full version of S.T.A.L.K.E.R is present as is 3DMark 06 Advanced Edition and finally Kaspersky Anti-Virus.

The Maximus Formula is big, at 30.5cm by 26.9cm it is over two centimetres wider than most ATX boards. The X38/ICH9R chipset supports older Pentium 4 processors (FSB800/1066), as well as the newer Core 2, which really should be used (FSB 1066-1600). Crossfire is fully supported on this model and internal drive connectivity is excellent, two IDE devices and a floppy drive can be used in conjunction with six SATA drives (RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10). As with all well designed motherboards the SATA connectors on the Maximus Extreme point to the side of the board, meaning that large graphics cards can be installed in the system without losing the use of some connectors. There are also headers for six additional USB ports and a single firewire port on the motherboard as well as three connectors for the bundled temperature sensors.

The slots on the motherboard are two PCI 2.2, two PCIe 1x (black is used for audio) and three PCI-Express 16x slots which can be configured to run as:

Dual PCIe 2.0 16x
or
1x PCIe 2.0 x16x with dual 8x PCIe

External connectivity: PS/2 Keyboard, 6x USB 2.0, dual GB LAN, 2x eSATA and digital audio out. There is nothing missing but it would have been nice to see Asus attach a wireless network card as they have in the past. There is also a small button located beside the firewire port which can be used to clear the CMOS without opening the case. This is something we first saw Abit providing and it is great that Asus have taken this feature onboard. Memory support is top notch with DDR3-1066 up to DDR3-1800 and both ECC and Non-ECC are supported. There are four memory slots each supporting two gigabyte sticks for a total memory installation of eight gigabytes.

Case modders and enthusiasts like to see the inclusion of extra lighting, onboard buttons and plenty of fan connectors and this particular product does not disappoint. The top of the soundcard, part of the heatsink as well as the onboard power and reset buttons light up. In addition, the back I/O shield has lighting which illuminates the back panel connections for easy changing of cables in low light conditions. There are also plenty of fan connectors  on the board with one for CPU , another for PSU and seven additional case fan headers.