1 00:00:05,600 --> 00:00:11,080 buy a qualifying Intel product and get entered in the Intel Dynamic ticket 2 00:00:09,320 --> 00:00:15,839 giveaway for a chance to win great prizes visit Intel gaming promo.com to 3 00:00:13,519 --> 00:00:23,160 learn more welcome to my unboxing of the Maximus 6 formula from ASUS this is 4 00:00:19,880 --> 00:00:25,720 probably out of all the Z87 boards the 5 00:00:23,160 --> 00:00:30,359 one that I can really look at and go yes there is a very compelling value here 6 00:00:28,359 --> 00:00:34,800 for this high-end board because it includes things that I personally 7 00:00:32,079 --> 00:00:38,879 believe in very strongly and that is a nice high-end Intel Nix solution with 8 00:00:37,120 --> 00:00:42,879 prioritization with that said that's included on a lot of the other ASUS 9 00:00:40,280 --> 00:00:48,320 boards but where it really gets real for me so to speak on their formula grade 10 00:00:44,960 --> 00:00:50,399 boards is the onboard audio solution so 11 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:54,440 here they have a bunch of stuff that may or may not mean anything to you so Ela 12 00:00:52,480 --> 00:00:58,280 premium audio capacitors audio capacitors are not necessarily the same 13 00:00:56,280 --> 00:01:02,399 as regular capacitors you can have a great capacitor that's not not 14 00:01:00,199 --> 00:01:05,560 necessarily fantastic for audio applications all right so they've also 15 00:01:04,439 --> 00:01:12,560 got what else what else do they have to say about themselves here Supreme effect shielding Emi Protection cover okay 16 00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:17,439 differential design with premium opamps premium op amps is definitely important 17 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:21,240 here wima film capacitors WEA rather 18 00:01:17,439 --> 00:01:26,880 sorry cus logic CS 4398 DAC and they 19 00:01:21,240 --> 00:01:29,000 also have a TPA 612 A2 600 ohm high-fi 20 00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:33,159 headphone amp so ASUS's whole thing with their onboard audio Solutions is that 21 00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:36,479 it's more than the sum of the parts now they do list out all the parts for you 22 00:01:34,960 --> 00:01:39,600 spec heads that really want to know what's in there but what they're trying 23 00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:45,880 to do and they're using a lot of the experience that they get from their Zonar cards is they're trying to deliver 24 00:01:43,320 --> 00:01:49,280 a balanced configuration right out of the box now there are competitors that 25 00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:54,119 are offering features such as swappable opamps on their onboard Solutions but it 26 00:01:51,479 --> 00:01:58,520 should be noted that per a thread on the audio section of the Linus Tech tips 27 00:01:55,920 --> 00:02:02,200 Forum swappable opamps isn't necessarily a good thing you shouldn't NE 28 00:01:59,880 --> 00:02:07,399 necessarily even want to swap out your op amps because the rest of the system 29 00:02:04,479 --> 00:02:12,959 was designed around the one that it was designed to run with and it's kind of 30 00:02:09,920 --> 00:02:15,800 like you could put you know a th000 31 00:02:12,959 --> 00:02:19,959 horsepower engine in a Volkswagen Beetle but you probably shouldn't because it 32 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:24,080 will likely tear the axles off if you actually tried to go anywhere in it um 33 00:02:22,599 --> 00:02:27,400 so it's it's it's that kind of thing and it's less extreme than that but I think 34 00:02:25,599 --> 00:02:32,160 you guys get my point in terms of accessories we've got a full kit not 35 00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:35,720 quite as Extreme as the Maximus 6 Extreme which makes a lot of sense 36 00:02:33,879 --> 00:02:38,640 there's a manual with some useless discs inside although you got a sweet looking 37 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:42,239 Rog sticker in there so don't throw that away while you're throwing away the disc 38 00:02:40,239 --> 00:02:47,680 an SLI Bridge with their awesome Republic of Gamers branding flexible 39 00:02:44,720 --> 00:02:54,519 black perfect SLI Bridge good job ASUS Q connectors a door hanger enter Champion 40 00:02:51,239 --> 00:02:56,200 to break and do not disturb champion in 41 00:02:54,519 --> 00:03:00,319 action I think they got a bit of a champion to break I think they meant on 42 00:02:58,440 --> 00:03:06,080 break but whatever uh we've got an antenna for the builtin wireless AC as 43 00:03:03,599 --> 00:03:11,319 well as their combo card that I personally really like so it includes 44 00:03:07,879 --> 00:03:15,360 both Wireless and an ngff slot so that 45 00:03:11,319 --> 00:03:17,760 you can install a uh mini SSD that'll 46 00:03:15,360 --> 00:03:21,879 that'll actually interface with PCI Express rather than with a SATA 47 00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:26,360 interface like you would on MSA because on a desktop let's face it what is the 48 00:03:23,480 --> 00:03:31,319 point of installing an NSA SSD it doesn't perform any better it's just you 49 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:35,360 have lots of room uh all right next up we've got the io Shield as well as eight 50 00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:39,519 serial ata3 cables four of which are right angle four of which are straight 51 00:03:36,799 --> 00:03:44,640 and those little handy Rog labels for your SATA CA so you don't lose track of 52 00:03:41,760 --> 00:03:49,959 what's going where and why and how as you guys may or may not have noticed 53 00:03:46,319 --> 00:03:51,319 this is one sexy motherboard both b-roll 54 00:03:49,959 --> 00:03:54,840 and I are in agreement that out of everything we've looked at so far this 55 00:03:53,519 --> 00:04:00,239 is got to be the best looking motherboard we've encountered they've even done a few things that I think are 56 00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:05,319 just just exceptional so so I want to point those out right off the bat so 57 00:04:01,720 --> 00:04:09,239 number one is their Rog armor so there 58 00:04:05,319 --> 00:04:10,920 is a top plate as well as a back plate 59 00:04:09,239 --> 00:04:15,439 now the back plate is actually the one I'm a little bit more interested in 60 00:04:12,360 --> 00:04:17,239 because it is metal and it has some 61 00:04:15,439 --> 00:04:21,639 definite functionality so number one is it increases the rigidity of the board 62 00:04:19,759 --> 00:04:25,440 overall so if you were to over torque any screws such as on when you're 63 00:04:23,520 --> 00:04:30,440 installing your CPU heat sink the board is less likely to Bow and flex and the 64 00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:35,360 other thing about it is that the name armor is appropriate because it is not 65 00:04:32,919 --> 00:04:40,360 that uncommon for people to accidentally install an extra um you know standoff in 66 00:04:38,639 --> 00:04:43,680 the back of their motherboard tray or anything like that that can actually 67 00:04:41,919 --> 00:04:47,240 ruin your board and cut traces on the back of your board if you don't realize 68 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:51,800 it in time this will actually prevent that from happening in most cases 69 00:04:49,320 --> 00:04:56,120 because it will just hit the armor so there you go that's really cool on the 70 00:04:53,320 --> 00:04:59,600 front it's a plastic shroud and uh ASUS themselves uh admitted to me that it's 71 00:04:57,880 --> 00:05:03,919 more for Aesthetics than anything else else with that said it does a fantastic 72 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:07,560 job of what it's trying to do which is improve the Aesthetics of the board this 73 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:11,639 one is plastic they've also said that while they have observed a slight 74 00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:15,680 temperature improvements particularly in certain areas like around the PCI 75 00:05:13,759 --> 00:05:18,080 Express slots where a lot of the time those graphics cards are going to be 76 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:22,800 kicking off more heat than the motherboard itself so it actually serves 77 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:27,240 to Shield the motherboard from the heat of other components more than help the 78 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:31,000 motherboard cool itself in that case um but other than that it it doesn't really 79 00:05:28,720 --> 00:05:35,600 do too much in terms of cooling on this particular motherboard's implementation 80 00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:39,840 next up is their cross chill now I really like the way that they've used 81 00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:42,919 these stylized rubber plugs here as opposed to just having the Barb stick 82 00:05:41,479 --> 00:05:47,759 out on the last generation board and then having little rubber plugs that are easy to get lost so this allows you to 83 00:05:46,160 --> 00:05:51,319 run the board either completely passively with u you know supplemental 84 00:05:50,199 --> 00:05:56,080 air cooling with something like an antech spot cool or by putting your own 85 00:05:54,400 --> 00:06:00,720 G1 quarter fittings on here and integrating it into your custom loop 86 00:05:58,319 --> 00:06:05,160 with that said um unless you're running an anti-corrosive additive such as 87 00:06:02,600 --> 00:06:09,479 ethylene glycol I probably wouldn't recommend running this particular thing 88 00:06:07,639 --> 00:06:14,639 in your Loop because it does have aluminum internals as opposed to Copper 89 00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:18,919 internals and depending on who you ask of course aluminum can be fine in this 90 00:06:16,479 --> 00:06:23,880 or that case and it's probably going to be okay and it probably will but I've 91 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:27,240 seen enough problems with corrosion eating away at aluminum components 92 00:06:25,560 --> 00:06:31,360 inside water cooling Loops that it is not something that I would personally 93 00:06:28,639 --> 00:06:35,520 feel comfortable using unless I had a good anti-corrosive additive so if you 94 00:06:33,639 --> 00:06:38,720 use something like swifttech hydrix then you're going to be golden now let's 95 00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:44,599 start with the overall tour of the board up here in the top we find that ngff 96 00:06:41,759 --> 00:06:50,560 mpcie combo 2 Port where we can put our wireless module as well as an ngff or M2 97 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:52,720 SSD we've got a fan header a four pin 98 00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:57,160 and 8 Pin power connector so while it's not the Maximus 6 Extreme which includes 99 00:06:54,759 --> 00:07:01,319 their OC panel it's OC panel compatible and it's certainly extreme overclocking 100 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:06,000 compatible I mean not again not necessarily quite to the same extent as 101 00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:09,840 the Maximus 6 Extreme although it does support some cool stuff including their 102 00:07:07,879 --> 00:07:14,000 GPU hot wire which allows you to overvolt ASUS gpus that support the 103 00:07:11,879 --> 00:07:18,120 feature on this particular board it has their M button which allows you to 104 00:07:16,440 --> 00:07:22,919 diagnose post errors that are caused by memory not really working correctly V 105 00:07:20,199 --> 00:07:27,000 checkpoints as well as an onboard post readout start and reset switches built 106 00:07:25,599 --> 00:07:30,360 in there's something I wanted to draw your attention to it's over here I was 107 00:07:28,800 --> 00:07:36,400 looking for it that's their patent pending four pin three pin and detecting 108 00:07:33,680 --> 00:07:40,759 CPU uh fan connector so it'll actually automatically configure your fan control 109 00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:45,000 which of course it has their latest fan control software which you can access 110 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:48,440 through uh fan expert fan expert 2 I believe is the iteration which you 111 00:07:46,639 --> 00:07:52,039 can access through AI Suite allowing you to have full control of every fan that 112 00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:55,720 is plugged into the board but anyway this one will detect on its own with no 113 00:07:53,479 --> 00:08:00,520 intervention from the user four dual Channel DDR3 ports as well as an LGA 114 00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:05,840 1150 socket support reporting the latest Haswell fourth generation Intel 115 00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:11,319 processors the of course as you'll find on any Rog board the vrm is as pretty 116 00:08:08,879 --> 00:08:16,680 much as highend as ASUS can build so this is their Digi plus gen 3 Extreme 117 00:08:14,280 --> 00:08:22,560 Engine so you can configure anything you'd want from within the BIOS to very 118 00:08:19,199 --> 00:08:24,560 very to a very minute degree of accuracy 119 00:08:22,560 --> 00:08:28,400 um down the right hand Edge we find the 24 pin exactly where it belongs would 120 00:08:26,560 --> 00:08:31,319 have liked to see that front USB 3 connector on our right angle that's one 121 00:08:30,080 --> 00:08:35,880 thing where I think this board could still be improved we've got six SATA 3 6 122 00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:39,760 GB per second ports running off the Intel chipset and four SATA 3 6 GB per 123 00:08:38,560 --> 00:08:43,240 second ports running off of an additional chipset this is a feature 124 00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:47,279 that's a carryover from the extreme board so it actually supports fast boot 125 00:08:45,080 --> 00:08:50,240 on or off when you're particularly under subzero temperatures you might not 126 00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:54,440 necessarily want it to boot up as quickly so you can actually turn fast 127 00:08:52,399 --> 00:08:59,160 boot off all right we've got our front panel connectors as well as our front 128 00:08:56,320 --> 00:09:02,519 panel uh USB 2 header only a single single USB 2 header on this board that's 129 00:09:01,240 --> 00:09:05,560 very interesting there's that proprietary connector for the OC panel 130 00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:09,279 the Thunderbolt header to add Thunderbolt support to the board with an 131 00:09:07,360 --> 00:09:13,200 optional accessory trusted platform module auxiliary power for multiple 132 00:09:11,920 --> 00:09:18,519 graphics cards although it should be noted that this board only supports 133 00:09:15,480 --> 00:09:20,360 two-way SLI or up to three-way Crossfire 134 00:09:18,519 --> 00:09:26,839 so that'll be running in 16x mode for a single card 8X 8X for dual cards or 8X 135 00:09:23,399 --> 00:09:29,200 4X forx for triple cards and NVIDIA 136 00:09:26,839 --> 00:09:34,120 doesn't support SLI operation on PCIe forx slots this is something that's kind 137 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:39,600 of cool check this out you guys so ASUS has actually left open-ended PCI Express 138 00:09:36,640 --> 00:09:43,800 slots on all the PCI e1x slots so if you were to remove the thermal armor which 139 00:09:41,920 --> 00:09:47,079 you can you would be able to install longer cards without any modding which I 140 00:09:45,640 --> 00:09:51,839 think is pretty handy so anyway if you wanted to install more than two graphics cards I would recommend using the easy 141 00:09:50,279 --> 00:09:54,920 plug right here we've got our front panel audio connector and it's ideal 142 00:09:53,279 --> 00:09:59,959 location on the bottom left of the board as well as that red line audio 143 00:09:57,160 --> 00:10:04,680 separation for the completely separate PCB so it's completely separate from the 144 00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:07,160 rest of the PCB it's as isolated as their old Supreme effects 145 00:10:05,959 --> 00:10:12,680 implementations where they had a separate PCIe Riser card except that 146 00:10:10,200 --> 00:10:16,760 it's built into the motherboard itself so talking to uh talking to JJ from ASUS 147 00:10:15,399 --> 00:10:22,560 he said one of the tough questions that he always gets is well what is a great 148 00:10:20,079 --> 00:10:26,880 onboard audio solution equivalent to in terms of an add-in card and he was 149 00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:31,000 saying if you go to like a a lesser board such as the Maximus 6 hero for 150 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:36,720 example uh you're getting what's probably equivalent to something like a 151 00:10:33,000 --> 00:10:38,760 Zonar DG or dgx so about a $35 audio 152 00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:42,519 solution with this you're probably getting something that's a little bit 153 00:10:39,839 --> 00:10:47,880 closer to a Zonar DX or about an $80 audio solution which from my experience 154 00:10:45,160 --> 00:10:52,079 is going to be enough for most people who don't have like a golden audio file 155 00:10:50,200 --> 00:10:56,279 ear and you're of course going to get things like their uh their onscreen 156 00:10:53,920 --> 00:10:59,600 radar uh heads up display that shows you where the audio sounds are coming from I 157 00:10:58,160 --> 00:11:05,120 actually asked JJ about this as well I was like has that been banned yet from 158 00:11:01,399 --> 00:11:06,480 tournament play he's like uh I'm sure 159 00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:12,040 that no tournament's going to allow you to use it but apparently it hasn't been formally banned yet it's meant more for 160 00:11:09,560 --> 00:11:17,920 I think the casuals playing at home than uh for for tournament play um definitely 161 00:11:15,040 --> 00:11:27,440 all right so we uh we've got eight four pin fan connectors one two three four uh 162 00:11:24,160 --> 00:11:29,440 five six s eight and actually they're 163 00:11:27,440 --> 00:11:33,240 very very well laid out so that you're going to be able to plug in kind of some 164 00:11:31,399 --> 00:11:37,480 you know top fans such as in something like a Corsair 800d you got a couple 165 00:11:35,480 --> 00:11:40,120 rear fans you got your CPU fan header and then you'll be able to plug in 166 00:11:38,639 --> 00:11:45,000 something at the front of the case and or the bottom so very thoughtful layout 167 00:11:42,399 --> 00:11:48,360 on that particular aspect of this board I think that's getting pretty close to 168 00:11:46,760 --> 00:11:52,320 the end here so let's move around to the back where we've got Rog connect ah yes 169 00:11:50,760 --> 00:11:55,440 the Rog connect button even though the cable's not included it does still 170 00:11:54,120 --> 00:12:00,639 feature that functionality so you can hook it up to an external computer or laptop to control all of your over 171 00:11:58,959 --> 00:12:04,320 overclocking settings at a hardware level so the cable you'll have to get on 172 00:12:02,560 --> 00:12:10,480 your own but the functionality is still there BIOS Flashback 4 USB 2.0 ports six 173 00:12:07,440 --> 00:12:13,600 USB 3.0 ports DisplayPort HDMI optical 174 00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:17,240 audio out gigabit land provided by Intel 175 00:12:13,600 --> 00:12:18,480 as well as 7.1 audio out oh it should be 176 00:12:17,240 --> 00:12:24,440 noted that's a 127v Intel gigabit Lan chip that is 177 00:12:22,680 --> 00:12:28,600 powering that right there thank you for checking out my unboxing and overview of 178 00:12:26,279 --> 00:12:31,440 the Maximus 6 formula from isus don't forget subscribe to L Tech tips for more 179 00:12:30,120 --> 00:12:34,880 unboxings reviews and other computer videos like this video if you liked it 180 00:12:33,199 --> 00:12:39,519 dislike it if you disliked it and leave me a comment if you'd like me to read it 181 00:12:37,079 --> 00:12:47,040 because I do genuinely read the comments except yours not 182 00:12:43,680 --> 00:12:47,040 yours N I 183 00:12:57,360 --> 00:13:00,360 do