Asus Maximus V Extreme Review and Benchmarks

Asus ROG series is always a force to be reckoned with now more than ever. As many boards have turned to UEFI implementations we have seen many different BIOS and I can say that to date ASUS has the best by far as the sheer tenability cannot be overlooked. Also the compatibility with memory, profiles, presets and adjustments are far above any we have come across to date.

Recently I tested the Maximus V Extreme and it was an excellent gaming board with some definite overclocking prowess. Now comes the top dog of the ASUS Z77 lineup by way of the Maximus V Extreme. This board is the leading edge in performance and enthusiasts overclocking. The Maximus V Extreme has such extreme only features like VGA Hotwire connectivity, Subzero Sense ports, OCKey and more.

ASUS has 3 model offerings for the ROG line of Z77, The Extreme model being the highest performing of these offerings. Each model has its own segmentation even within the enthusiasts high end market as the Gene was designed for gaming and the smaller builds that you see with lanboxes and the like. Then you have the Formula which is for the hardcore or extreme gamer with very special and targeted features made for the most extreme gamers in the enthusiasts segment. Lastly we have the Extreme model which is a benchmarker’s dream with special features galore just made to be placed on a test bench and chasing records while feeling the chill of some extreme cooling.

The Extreme which we have today has multiple features that cater to gamers to an extent but largely to the extreme benchmarkers. Starting with just a look at the board you can clearly see the strange block near the SATA ports which we have seen before when we covered the Rampage IV Extreme as it is the Subzero sense connectors which allow for active sensing of subzero benching temperatures. The VGA Hotwire which allow simple volt modding to cards removing a lot of guesswork. Lets not forget the OCKey, which also debuted on the Rampage IV Extreme board for an overlay OSD to help achieve onscreen tuning while still monitoring benchmarks. This board has many features and an amazing amount of capability all at a present street price of $379.00 found directly from Newegg at the time of writing.

Maximus V Extreme Basic Features

The Extreme board is an Extended ATX form factor much like the Formula we looked at before. This means it is standard ATX length but slightly wider from the IO to the DIMM slot edge. This extra PCB space is used to ensure fitment of all of the extra components needed to make the Extreme board what it is.

The layout for the Extreme is pretty much similar to the Formula in terms of components and location, but that is something we see a lot in ASUS is continuity in design. This makes it much easier to go from one board to another. The components and connectors being at boards edge helps a lot with cable management and routing. This helps ensure that minimal cable clutter is visible pot installation.

There is one area that I have issue with is the 6 pin PCIe connector which provides extra power to the PCIe slots is located at the left hand corner of the board slightly below the vreg cooler. This means that in order to connect this power it will require running a cable across the board surface to that connection and this simply is not ideal for cable management and maintaining a mess free installation. For this I would like to see such connections at the lower edge of the board where it could have wiring tucked away and out of sight. I know this board is primarily going to be used for test bench and overclocking activities but the fact cannot be denied that with its many features including 4 Way SLI support it will find its way into many gaming systems.

Upon opening the box we are greeted by of course the board and also a box full of accessories. There is a lot here and some may not be used as they are very pointed devices such as the OCKey device. The accessory bundle is more than enough to make board installation possible, and with that there are many options that offer multiple ways to configure the board whether were talking the WiFi module that enables wireless connectivity or the mSATA connectivity which enables installation without even a drive connected to the onboard SATA ports.

This is the OCKey device which allows real time tweaking and monitoring via an onscreen overlay which means that even on a single screen configuration tuning and tweaking can be done one real time without the need for a separate live system. We will cover this devices function further in the advanced features section of the review.

The Maximus V Extreme follows suit when it comes to DIMMS as it has 4 total slots running to the dual channel interface. The spec speed is listed up to 2800MHz OC but we know this board can do far more than that pending you have a capable IMC and DIMMS. The slots support up to 32GB for an either very high speed system or a massive amount of high memory potential depending upon its purpose. Most gamers will likely use 8-16GB though but when benchmarking it may even be as low as a few GB when benching at extreme speeds or extremely low latencies.

One thing of note is that among many benching sessions PSC and BBSE based modules have shown a very strong ability of pulling off very high speeds with quite low timings when paired with an Ivy Bridge processor. Under extreme overclocking conditions I have even seen some of the best modules do speeds in excess of 2600MHz at a CAS rating of 5-6 which is unheard of.

PCIe slots are plentiful as you can imagine on the Maximus V Extreme. The board supports up to 4 Way SLI or Crossfire configurations. The board has 4 slots fed by a PLX Gen 3 Chip capable of multiplexing the CPU’s 16 lanes up to make 4 slots run at x8 bandwidth running PCIe Gen 3 spec. If only running 2 cards then the primary 1^st slot would be used with the second card being placed into the black slot to give dual slots at x8 as performance from dual cards at x8 native tends to provide better performance than x16 coming from the PLX chip.

There is also a shorter 4x PCIe slot below the 3^rd red slot which is a perfect match for aftermarket raid cards of other lower bandwidth devices.

The Maximus V Extreme’s 4 Way GPU capability allows for some immense power draw. In order to avoid putting too much load on the 24Pin power connector and ensuring the cards get the power they need. ASUS has placed a 6Pin PCIe connector directly above the slots so that supplemental power is available to the cards/slots as needed especially as highly clocked cards can pull much more from the system/slots when under benching loads.

Here we have the Maximus V Extreme’s CPU section. This is where as you can see all of the action will happen and also a key area to look over since the board will definitely require some insulation in this section if going under cold or LN2. The VRM design is a Digi + Extreme Engine II design which employs all of the top shelf components we have seen before. The Digi + controllers designed to increase efficiency by allowing active phase switching to transition load back and forth between components to allow cooler components and more efficient operation. The MOSFET components are specially picked for their high current capability capable of the most extreme loads or under normal usage very efficient and cool running operation.

The storage connectivity is very similar to what I saw on the Maximus V Formula previously. The PCH feeds 4 ports on the SATA connections two of which are Black in color and are SATA 3G Capable. The Connectors directly next to the black ports are red in color and are 6G capable as well. The other four red ports are fed by an ASMedia chipset and are for DATA drives only so no booting or OS on these drives. The other SATA 3G capable ports are not routed here but one is routed to the pin header for the mSATA/mPCIe card. This can be used for an mSATA card to install a fully functioning mSATA SSD.

Looking at the top edge of the board the VRM is fed by a 8 Pin and 4 Pin connector which ensures if somehow you can find a way to exceed the 8 pin amperage to the processor you have the 4 to back it up. But even under LN2 loading at over 6.6GHz on the Gene, which only has an 8 Pin CPU power connector, I could not reach a point where it was taxed. So even if your PSU only has an 8 Pin you should be perfectly fine.

The rear IO panel offers a very robust set of connectivity options including.

• Thunderbolt Port
• Pin Header for mPCIE/mSATA combo card
• ROG connect button
• Clear CMOS Button
• 1x ROG Connect USB port
• 3x USB 2.0 ports
• 4x USB 3.0 ports
• Intel 10/100/1000 Network port
• Optical SPDIF
• HDMI/DisplayPort connections
• PS2 combo Keyboard/Mouse connector
• Audio ports including Optical SPDIF

There are many options here for connectivity and one of the most interesting being the inclusion of the mSATA/mPCIe combo card header which we will discuss shortly. Also included is a Thunderbolt port which enables some major high speed transfers and daisy chaining for up to 6 devices. Also we notice that with Z77 there is now support for native USB 3.0 via the Intel PCH and knowing ASUS and their USB boost feature they did find a way to even improve that. Asus utilizes their USB 3.0 Boost technology to ensure that you will get the very best speeds possible for your USB 3.0 or even USB 2.0 Devices when plugged into a USB 3.0 port.  One thing to note is that while Intel USB 3.0 only will support the Turbo mode for USB 3.0 boost ASUS still includes a proven performer in the ASMedia controller so that UASP supported devices can give near Thunderbolt or even exceeding Thunderbolt speeds when utilizing the correct solution such as the ASUS supplied Thermaltake BlacX 5G Dock and Corsair Force GT SSD that we received to showcase the UASP function. More info can be found on this technology here.

Here is an example of the stock speed or “Normal” performance of the ASMedia USB 3.0 controller with a high performance Runcore SSD Drive. We see about 258MB/s write and 241MB/s read for that drive which is pretty fast for an external docking solution but lets see what we can get with the ASUS USB 3.0 Boost technology.

When Switching to the UASP mode supported by the ASMedia controller we see the speed jump to a write speed of 376MB/s and reads in excess of 336MB/s which exceeds 100 MB/s by a simple software setting within the AISUITE utility.  While that seems simple it definitely is something we know there is far more than meets the eye when it comes to what is done to make this work. Now lets see how the Intel USB 3.0 ports function.

Intel at default shows the same drive running a write of 278MB/s and reads of 270MB/s which tells us we have some serious performance potential here, but well stock is stock and we never leave anything alone so lets see what we can get with the Turbo mode enabled.

 

Here we see that the speeds jump up quite a bit here to writes of 357MB/s and reads in excess of 444MB/s which is a huge jump and we saw something even more interesting when tweaking memory speeds.

Something interesting  we did see that by simply increasing memory speed from default to 2400MHz we found that the Intel controller jumped in performance to writes of up to 410MB/s and reads of 446MB/s  so we have to assume that the Intel controller is caching some of its write process to the memory in some way so when it comes to performance memory we can now say that there are advantages to having that new 2000MHz+ memory kit whereas before gains from such kits would be marginal we are now at a point to where we can see real world benefits from these super high speed DIMMS.

Here we see the GPU/DIMM post feature which enables users to see in the BIOS all detected GPUs and memory modules installed. This is a great tool for seeing what the board is recognizing during post which could let us know if there is a card issue or even a memory DIMM issue as it will either not show up or possibly even show an “Abnormal” state which signifies its detecting a problem with the installed component. This can especially be quite helpful when pushing memory and running into stability problems or blue screens as it can show if a module is possibly problematic.

Maximus V Extreme Advanced Features

Advanced Features for the Maximus V Extreme is plentiful, and so we will jump right in to see what kind of goodies this board has to offer. ROG Connect allows remote monitoring and management of the host system via a USB attached client system used to not only monitor but even real time overclock the benchmarking system which can be a life saver if running a benchmark at the ragged edge and having the need to adjust the clock down slightly during a more stressful part of a benchmark. The ROG Connect feature also allows overclocking of the Graphics card as well so it really is an all in one solution for the most part for the ROG board and user.

Here is the previously mentioned mSATA/mPCIe combo card. It comes preinstalled with a WiFi/BT 4.0 card which allows pretty much wireless connectivity to the board. Not just wireless Internet but also wireless connectivity via Bluetooth. This allows for much less wiring required to hook up your system. The mSATA port on the card is directly fed by the PCH at SATA3G spec and supports pretty much any capacity mSATA SSD up to 256GB from what I could find with a quick sweep of Newegg. With this a full system could be loaded strictly on the mSATA drive allowing for no wired drives to need to be installed onto the onboard SATA ports.

Here we have the OC/Bench area as when putting this on the test bench this area will be very busy due to the connectivity found here. In this small area there are all kinds of neat little tools you can use for overclocking and tuning. There are ProbeIT connectors which allow for direct connection via included leads to a volt meter to accurately gauge voltages during bench sessions or even diagnosis. There are also the Power/Reset switches along with the GO Button. The GO Button will load a preset safe profile you can custom configure in the BIOS for a quick start especially in the case that a hard CMOS clear was necessary. The RED/BLK pin headers are for VGA Hotwire which allows for easy volt modding of the graphics cards for absolute and precise control and monitoring of the voltage on the installed graphics cards. Another thing worth noting here would be the LN2 mode jumper which allows enabling of LN2 mode on the motherboard which enables extended voltage capability and key protection modifications that are needed when running extremely cold. The switch next to the jumper is called the “Slow Mode” switch which allows for a quick knock down of the multiplier to 16X which in some cases could avoid a system crash when trying to get a validation image.

Here is the OCKey which plugs directly into the graphics card to allow real time overclocking and monitoring of the system via a graphical overlay of the main screen.

Here is a good showing of the OSD or on screen display via the OCKey and how it functions in real time.

Here we see the tweaking capability of the OCKey device and many of the adjustments available when tuning via this method.

OSD Monitor is how you keep an eye on your vitals via the overlay and it even has different modes depending upon what you are doing.  There is a standard setting for everyday usability but for bench top usage or extreme overclocking there is the extreme mode which exchanges many of the standard voltages for GPU voltages and Subzero Sense temperatures.

Lastly for the OCKey we see that there are multiple opacity levels for the overlay of the device. Also the Firmware on the OCKey is upgradable which means new features or better functionality can be implemented at any time by simply flashing the OCKey.

Subzero sense is ASUS’ offering as a way to monitor temperatures while benching under extreme thermal conditions such as under LN2. Many times when benching in these conditions a special K type thermometer is needed to see the temperatures your CPU or GPU is running at.

Here is a comparison to show the normal price of a good Thermometer which can run several hundred dollars and with the Subzero Sense this is not as necessary. Just to verify I tested the Subzero Sense vs my Fluke thermometer and to my surprise the subzero sense was exactly on to within .5 C  at -170C temperatures which means you really can save quite a lot with this solution as it keeps you from having the expense of the extra thermometer.

This shows that the subzero sense connectors can save you a lot in comparison to buying 2 thermometers or a dual input thermometer. Also it shows that the subzero sense temperatures can be monitored in both the OCKey OSD and the AI Suite II software.

ASUS implemented a Thunderbolt port on the Maximus V Extreme so that there is no limit to the connectivity or speed available no matter what your doing on the board.

Here we see the Thunderbolt port capabilities, including the fact that it can read speeds up to 900MB/s read. All the while it can also pass a DisplayPort signal for a monitor connection should the need be found. The Thunderbolt port does share PCIe bandwidth with the small 4x black slot we saw earlier so if that slot is populated the data transfer capability of the Thunderbolt port will be disabled so keep that in mind when configuring your system.

VGA Hotwire is another one of those technologies which was first seen on the Rampage IV Extreme I had covered before and it makes for a much easier experience gaining full hardware level control over your graphics cards.

The VGA Hotwire function replaces the old method of using variable resistors or trimmers to adjust the signal going to components in order to force the graphics card into supplying more power than it normally would. Previous methods if done incorrectly or even worse in mist of LN2 could be hard to see or even adjust as the trimmers wee usually very small so a slip of the screwdriver could spell disaster for your GPU.

ASUS has implemented VGA Hotwire solder points to many of its higher end graphics cards and even a simple plug and play on its soon to come Matrix 7970 which will plug in on both ends which will be a huge advantage to those benchmarkers who do not feel comfortable soldering.

Digi+ is the label for the power components and the VRM itself. The Digi+ VRM components are made of specially selected components such as the Digi+ controller, which allows voltage control of a very finite measure and with excellent accuracy. The controller also allows for some very extreme overclocking voltages to get the best performance when pushing the limits. The Digi+ design allows for optimum efficiency via its ability to actively throttle components and load balance between components so that they run with minimum heat which in turn allows the components to run more efficiently.

Maximus V Extreme Overclocking

Overclocking the Maximus V Extreme was just as easy as we expected as there are many profiles built into the UEFI just waiting to make tweaking and tuning easier.  The overclocking under standard air or liquid cooling you can expect around 5GHz approximately depending on cooler efficiency and chip quality. Most of the samples I have tested will do 5GHz between 1.28Vcore on my best one to 1.41V on my worst one. This means that while the chip requiring 1.41V likely would not be a good candidate for air, with a good air cooler my chip that does 5GHz at 1.28V definitely can run on good air cooling. Running liquid cooling definitely could increase that headroom a bit to give you a little more flexibility on available chips and overclocking choices.

As you can see Ivy Bridge can really takeoff when given the proper cooling. This was not my best chip and was some pretesting at -170C at 1.85V on LN2. This obviously is not something your going to get close to on stock cooling but a nice result nonetheless when you consider it took all of 10 minutes to get there.

Maximus V Extreme BIOS Features

The BIOS of the Maximus V Extreme is about as infinitely complex as it comes.  Being an ROG board we are not surprised to see level of detail and tweakability in the BIOS.  The Maximus BIOS has a standard Gamers preset in the BIOS but once the LN2 mode jumper is enabled 2 more presets magically appear. These presets give you a good jumpstart as the top LN2 preset gets you just about to 6GHz at a speed well above 5.9GHz respectively. This gives you a good starting point on where you can start tweaking to get more from your chip.

Note that enabling the LN2 mode jumper modifies certain settings and protections which cold cause irreversible damage to your hardware so you want to make sure you’re at good subzero temps before you enable this feature. When the LN2 mode is enabled the voltage limits are raised dramatically so that voltages such as vCore can be set at levels over 2V which is what will be needed to hit the 7.1GHz + which is the current world record area. Not many motherboards offer this type of overclocking features much less the ergonomic ease in which you can use LN2 for extreme situations like hardcore overclocking events and world record-breaking adventures in electricity.

Maximus V Extreme Test Setup

Maximus V Extreme Performance Results

Maximus V Extreme Final Thoughts

The Maximus V Extreme was setup for the extreme of extreme and it has not failed to impress. It holds some serious amounts of power and capability within its complex structure. Design of this board was to meet and exceed the needs of the most extreme enthusiasts and that it has done or at least I think so. This product was designed with a lot of different features and extensive high-end parts were used from top to bottom to insure that not only does the board run stable; it will last for a long time as well due to its power efficiency.

With the inclusion of such features as the OCKey, VGA Hotwire, Subzero Sense and 4 Way SLI this board can do pretty much anything you task it to do and probably more but the simple way of it is that its overbuilt for anything a gaming rig could be used for. But I can guarantee there will be some who will task it as a gaming board. While I am sure it will fit the need, using this board to play games is much like taking a Ferrari to pick up the groceries. Anyone looking for a board that can run a 4 way SLI gaming setup and also run on LN2 when you get the itch for some benching action, I really cannot thing of a better board to fit that need at this point. Built for any user type the Maximus V Extreme has a feature set that can be appreciated by the gamer, the power user, or the hard core overclocker who wants to cool the system with LN2 making this a very versatile motherboard for a broad spectrum of user groups.