ASUS ROG Maximus IX Extreme – The Freshest Review of the Extreme Motherboard

Introduction

 
ASUS being the largest manufacturer of PCs, components and other electronics, does not stop pleasing its fans. Every year, and even more often, we see new, sometimes revolutionary products that other companies can not even repeat. The second quarter of 2017 was not an exception, the range of ASUS was replenished with a large number of new components. And this time ASUS introduced the motherboard under the familiar name, but completely new in terms of performance and configuration. The novelty is called ASUS ROG Maximus IX Extreme. The high-end motherboard with the widest possibilities, moreover with a water block in the complete set!
Yes, it’s true, a motherboard completed by a water block. And it is not from some little known company, but a time-tested and world-famous manufacturer - the company Bitspower. So fans of custom water cooling systems will definitely be satisfied!
The water block is cool, but it's not all surprises for you that ASUS ROG Maximus IX Extreme brings, we'll tell about it later, in the course of the review.
 

Main specifications

 
Manufacturer - ASUS
Model - ROG Maximus IX Extreme
System Logic - Intel Z270
Socket - LGA1151
Supported processors - Intel 7- / 6-generation Core i7 / Core i5 / Core i3 / Pentium / Celeron
Supported memory - 4 x DDR4, max 64 GB;
4133 (OC) / 4000 (OC) / 3866 (OC) / 3800 (OC) / 3733 (OC) / 3600 (OC) / 3500 (OC) / 3466 (OC) / 3400 (OC) / 2666 (OC) / 2400 (OC) MHz.
Expansion slots - 2 x PCIe 3.0 / 2.0 x16 (x16 or x8 / x8);
1 x PCIe 3.0 / 2.0 x16;
1 x PCIe 3.0 x4.
Disk subsystem - 8 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s;
2 x M.2 (Key M).
LAN 1 x Intel I219V GbE LAN (10/100/1000 Mbit).
Audio system - ROG SupremeFX 8-channel HD audio codec S1220
Form factor, dimensions (mm) E-ATX, 305 x 272 mm.
 

Packaging
 

The motherboard ASUS ROG Maximus IX Extreme comes in a large, heavy cardboard box. Its design, with a red-black color scheme, is already familiar to the users of other ASUS devices. Thanks to the water block, this case is pretty heavy.
 
The set of supplies clearly indicates that this is a top, expensive solution. In addition to the card itself, the user will find a manual (in English only), a flash drive with software and drivers, eight SATA cables (all snap-in connectors, three cables have a corner connector on one side), a SLI bridge to two video cards, a cable RGB Header (80 cm), three temperature sensors, a special mounting frame to facilitate the installation of the processor in the connector.


The module with illumination is located in a small recess of the processor radiator.
 
Itself it closes the chipset Intel Z270.
 
Between the crystal chipset and the radiator for the improvement of heat transfer is responsible for the gray thermal padding.
 
Now, I would like to pay special attention to the power system and its connection.
 
The connector 24pin is tilted at 90 degrees, the solution is very interesting, before it was not used by ASUS. This is quite convenient.
 
The processor is powered by 8pin and 4pin connectors, which is the standard for ROG motherboards. Perhaps, only APEX has a pair of 8pin connectors.
The power supply system is executed under the scheme "10 + 2" under the control of digital controller DIGI + VRM ASP1405I.
It uses solid-state Japanese capacitors and MicroFine chokes, IR3535M drivers and NexFET TI 87350D transistors.
 
The processor socket for LGA 1151 processors is supported by the 7th and 6th generation models (Core i7, Core i5, Core i3, Pentium / Celeron).
 
Four slots for DDR4 SODIMM memory allow total supply of 64GB of RAM operating in two-channel mode. There is support for Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) and operating modes 4133 (OC), 4000 (OC), 3866 (OC), 3800 (OC), 3733 (OC), 3600 (OC), 3500 (OC), 3466 (OC) , 3400 (OC), 2666 (OC), 2400 (OC) MHz.
 
The memory slots are equipped with a metal separator SafeDIMM, which, according to the manufacturer, is more durable than traditional DIMM slots.
 
After a detailed analysis of the main elements, we will go through the small details, starting from the upper right corner.
 
There are four 4pin connectors for fans with PWM (RAD_FAN A / B / C / D), an on/off button that are useful for open stands and fashionable open cases. There is also a post-code indicator nearby, very useful in overclocking the MEM_OK button \ SAFE_BOOT \ RETRY_BOTTON, switches RSVD / SLOW_MOD / LN2.
 
ROG Monoblock is developed by ASUS in cooperation with Bitspower and consists of a copper nickel-plated base and an upper coverage made of acrylic. The nickel-plated base covers not only the processor, but also the processor power system. ROG Monoblock not only cools the components of the motherboard and the processor, but is also equipped with a whole arsenal of additional functions that you can not find in the assortment of manufacturers of CBOs.
- Firstly, it is equipped with a proprietary LED backlighting Aura Sync RGB, which can be synchronized with other ASUS components and gets a steep illumination of PC internals at the output.
- Secondly, the water block can determine the speed of water flow in the circuit and control the water temperature at the inlet and outlet, for this ROG Monoblock has special temperature sensors and firmware FAN Expert 4.
 
Does this model have cons? Perhaps the cost, but here we must understand what we give money for.