1 00:00:00,480 --> 00:00:06,720 This video is brought to you by Cooler Master featuring the Siden 240mm 2 00:00:04,640 --> 00:00:10,440 all-in-one CPU water cooling system. Check it out at www.coolermaster-usa.com. 3 00:00:10,719 --> 00:00:18,880 Welcome to my unboxing and first look at the cream of the cream of Z78 boards. 4 00:00:16,320 --> 00:00:22,880 This is the Maximus 6 Extreme from ASUS. It includes everything except the 5 00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:27,119 kitchen sink, but it's okay because you can probably get rid of your kitchen 6 00:00:24,160 --> 00:00:31,840 sink and swap it out with one of these guys. This is the OC panel and it's got 7 00:00:30,240 --> 00:00:37,120 a lot of cool functionality that we're going to get into throughout this video. 8 00:00:35,120 --> 00:00:41,360 The motherboard comes with full versions of Kasperski and Demon Tools, which I 9 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:45,600 think is a really cool value ad for enthusiasts who buy it. On the outside 10 00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:50,399 of the box, ASUS does a really good job of spelling out exactly what makes the 11 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:53,360 board special. So, there's the OC panel, 12 00:00:50,399 --> 00:00:57,440 the MPCIE combo 2, as well as the Extreme Engine Dig Plus 3 technologies 13 00:00:55,440 --> 00:01:00,640 covered on the inside of the front of the box, which we'll cover in much more 14 00:00:58,879 --> 00:01:05,280 detail once we get the board out. And then on the back, they've got pretty 15 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:10,320 much the same stuff. They talk about four-way SLI and Crossfire, as well as 16 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:14,320 some of the connectivity on the board. So, let's go ahead and get this bad boy 17 00:01:12,320 --> 00:01:19,119 opened up. Now, the Extreme board is positioned more for overclockers than 18 00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:23,040 specifically for gamers. So, you're going to find some of the features and 19 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:26,960 some of the places where ASUS has spent a lot of time and a lot of money 20 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:32,479 developing this board are more beneficial to those guys who are looking 21 00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:35,520 to push for every last megahertz of 22 00:01:32,479 --> 00:01:37,200 frequency on their CPU and not so much 23 00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:41,520 towards guys who are just going to kind of dial it into a safe setting and leave 24 00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:45,439 it there. which isn't to say that it won't have safe profiles. It's just, you 25 00:01:43,759 --> 00:01:50,000 know, you don't get things like a more advanced uh separated part of the PCB 26 00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:54,560 for your audio solution like you do on a formula grade board with the Xreme. So, 27 00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:57,920 let's go ahead and open up the box of accessories, of which there are many. 28 00:01:56,399 --> 00:02:03,920 We'll start with the Q connector, which allows you to more easily plug in your front panel connectors. A padded labeled 29 00:02:02,079 --> 00:02:09,440 IO shield in the traditional ASUS fashion. We have the custom sleeved 30 00:02:07,520 --> 00:02:13,040 cable for the OC panel, which plugs directly into the board and then into 31 00:02:10,879 --> 00:02:16,239 the bottom of the OC panel unit. A user's guide, which you should pretty 32 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:19,360 much look at online if you need it. These are cool. Labels for your SATA 33 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:26,239 cables so you can tell which one is which at both ends, as well as their 34 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:30,400 There we go. For ROG Connect, they've got a USB A to A cable. So, if you don't 35 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:34,000 want to use the OC panel, then you can actually plug into a separate computer 36 00:02:31,840 --> 00:02:40,000 like a laptop and control settings from there. Three-way SLI bridge, four-way 37 00:02:36,879 --> 00:02:42,239 SLI bridge, two-way SLI bridge, all 38 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:46,080 black, all matte, all gorgeous. And finally, a Crossfire bridge that is in 39 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:50,800 the same style. Now, this is really nice. Check this out. Republic of Gamers 40 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:55,200 decal for your case that unlike most case decals actually has some heft to it 41 00:02:53,280 --> 00:03:01,200 and feels solid and attaches with a magnet so that it doesn't it's not a 42 00:02:57,599 --> 00:03:05,040 one-time use thing. We have the MPCIE 43 00:03:01,200 --> 00:03:08,000 combo port MPCIE combo 2 rather excuse 44 00:03:05,040 --> 00:03:13,040 me module that sits on the MPCIE port at the top of the board. More on that in a 45 00:03:09,360 --> 00:03:15,519 moment. It has both uh Wi-Fi dualband AC 46 00:03:13,040 --> 00:03:20,480 as well as Bluetooth 4.0 know builtin eight SATA 36 Gbit per second cables 47 00:03:18,640 --> 00:03:24,080 which crazily oh no 10. There you go. You got enough for every single port on 48 00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:29,840 the board. And finally, an external magnetic antenna for the built-in AC 49 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:32,159 wireless. Last but not least, we have a 50 00:03:29,840 --> 00:03:36,080 5 and a/4 in bay adapter for the OC panel itself. So you can put the LCD in 51 00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:40,319 the front of your case if you don't want to have a little separate thing sitting 52 00:03:38,319 --> 00:03:46,080 next to you or you're not operating on an open test bench. which leads us to 53 00:03:43,120 --> 00:03:51,280 our second black box. The first thing we see inside of which is the OC panel. 54 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:54,879 Now, the OC panel can work in a number of different ways. And I'll start with 55 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:59,760 one of the most basic things in that is the fact that this LCD can tilt up so 56 00:03:58,239 --> 00:04:03,840 that it can be mounted in that five and a quarter inch adapter that I showed you 57 00:04:01,519 --> 00:04:07,599 before, giving you access to things like your level up button, which turns your 58 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:12,000 overclock on and off with a hardware switch here, power button, fan control, 59 00:04:10,319 --> 00:04:15,200 and all kinds of other cool functionality that can be enabled with 60 00:04:13,519 --> 00:04:18,880 this device. We'll get into more depth with it once we've had a chance to be 61 00:04:16,959 --> 00:04:22,880 hands-on and really play with it when we're doing our Haswell overclocking 62 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:27,280 guide. So stay tuned for that guys. It's going to be awesome. The other way to 63 00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:32,720 use it is sitting on your desk popped out like this where it looks a lot like 64 00:04:29,280 --> 00:04:34,479 how many guys would have a multimeter or 65 00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:37,840 something like a temperature sensor sitting next to them while they're 66 00:04:35,919 --> 00:04:43,840 overclocking. Speaking of temperature sensors, this is very cool. It actually 67 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:48,240 uses their subzero sense technology is what they're calling it to detect 68 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:52,800 temperatures that are as low as liquid nitrogen. So this is suitable not only 69 00:04:50,720 --> 00:04:57,440 for making changes to your clock speeds or whatever else, but also for actually 70 00:04:55,440 --> 00:05:01,120 monitoring those. So it's a serious tool meant for people who are actually at the 71 00:04:59,840 --> 00:05:05,600 top of the field in terms of overclocking. And extreme mode has other 72 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:09,600 cool stuff about it like VGA hotwire which allows you to actually directly 73 00:05:06,960 --> 00:05:13,039 overvolt supported ASUS graphics cards with this unit as well. And I mean 74 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:16,720 there's all this cool stuff here too. Check this out. So inside here you've 75 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:21,520 got see you've also got a SATA power in in addition to the data which allows you 76 00:05:18,639 --> 00:05:26,080 to hook up some uh four pin PWM fans that you can run off the OC panel itself 77 00:05:24,240 --> 00:05:30,960 as well as control things like slow mode. What slow mode does is sometimes 78 00:05:28,560 --> 00:05:35,360 liquid nitrogen overclockers don't want the PC to boot up as fast as possible. 79 00:05:32,960 --> 00:05:39,280 So slow mode is there for that pretty much more than anything else. as well as 80 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:43,840 some other really cool things in here, including there you go, direct voltage 81 00:05:41,840 --> 00:05:48,400 checkpoints that are again built into the board, but also built into the OC 82 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:52,720 panel itself. Not everybody needs that functionality though. I got briefed on 83 00:05:50,240 --> 00:05:56,400 this thing by Andre Yang himself. And so what he did is he helped design it. If 84 00:05:54,639 --> 00:06:00,960 you guys know overclocking, I hope you've heard of Andre Yang. And he also 85 00:05:58,880 --> 00:06:05,919 spent a lot of time with it once it was done creating profiles that less 86 00:06:03,360 --> 00:06:09,520 advanced users can just implement. So, all you really have to do is go, okay, 87 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:14,800 well, I want to be able to, you know, monitor my fans and monitor my temperatures and make small tuning 88 00:06:13,199 --> 00:06:20,000 adjustments by pressing the buttons on it, and that's all fine and good and cool, but at the end of the day, you 89 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:24,319 know, maybe what I end up doing is plugging in one of Andre Yang's profiles 90 00:06:22,080 --> 00:06:28,639 and going at it from there. So, it has a more basic mode available to you as 91 00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:31,680 well, which leads us to the board itself. Now, the first thing I noticed 92 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:35,759 about it might seem weird to you, but that's that it's in a standard ATX form 93 00:06:33,520 --> 00:06:40,400 factor this time around. no extra width which we do normally see on the extreme 94 00:06:37,680 --> 00:06:44,960 level boards. Next up, and I mean this is okay, overclockers are always looking 95 00:06:42,400 --> 00:06:49,360 at what has ASUS done in terms of power delivery to make it so you can eek every 96 00:06:47,440 --> 00:06:53,120 last bit out of the CPU. So, we see something we've seen for a couple 97 00:06:50,479 --> 00:06:57,600 generations now, and that's dual CPU power connectors. In this case, an 8 pin 98 00:06:55,039 --> 00:07:02,720 and a 4 pin. And we also see a completely redesigned voltage delivery 99 00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:06,319 system. We've got their super premium 10K black metallic solid state 100 00:07:04,720 --> 00:07:10,479 capacitors that ASUS figures are good for up to five times the lifetime of 101 00:07:07,919 --> 00:07:14,639 what you'd see from a typical cap and are capable of operating at up to 20% 102 00:07:12,720 --> 00:07:20,880 higher temperature tolerances. But that's not the only thing that's optimized temperature- wise here. The 103 00:07:17,440 --> 00:07:22,880 NexF MOSFETs operate at 90% efficiency, 104 00:07:20,880 --> 00:07:27,280 meaning very little power is lost to heat. And their Blackwing chokes, due to 105 00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:31,039 the design of the wing on them, are able to operate up to 3 to 5 degrees cooler. 106 00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:35,039 So the idea is that while it's completely overbuilt in terms of how 107 00:07:32,560 --> 00:07:40,479 much power it can deliver to the CPU, it is not sacrificing any of the efficiency 108 00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:45,280 and cool operation that you would want from the power delivery system. Now the 109 00:07:42,400 --> 00:07:49,599 CPU socket itself is an LG 1150 socket supporting the latest fourth generation 110 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:54,000 Intel Core series processors code named Haswell. And over here you're going to 111 00:07:51,599 --> 00:07:58,479 find four DDR3 dual channel memory slots. Now, something notable about 112 00:07:55,759 --> 00:08:03,520 Haswell is that much higher frequencies of DDR3 are supported. However, once you 113 00:08:01,280 --> 00:08:09,280 start to overclock the CPU, um, you know, the DDR3 2800 MHz to 3 GHz speeds 114 00:08:07,520 --> 00:08:13,440 that you'll typically get on a H on a good Haswell chip are going to start to 115 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:17,440 go down to the point where once you're overclocking the CPU to the max, your 116 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:22,879 RAM overclocking options are going to be somewhat more limited. Up in the top 117 00:08:19,599 --> 00:08:25,520 right, we've got a post LED next to this 118 00:08:22,879 --> 00:08:31,840 is pretty cool. So, ASUS has built a custom three pin, fourpin slash, 119 00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:33,839 whatever the heck this thing is, CPU fan 120 00:08:31,840 --> 00:08:38,080 header. So, what it does is it actually has a separate little sensor in there 121 00:08:35,760 --> 00:08:42,479 that tells the com the motherboard whether you're using a three pin or a 122 00:08:39,919 --> 00:08:46,000 four pin fan and then will adjust the way that it controls your CPU fan 123 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:49,680 profile accordingly without any intervention from the user. Very, very 124 00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:52,720 cool. Also up here at the top right, we've got one of those slow mode buttons 125 00:08:51,279 --> 00:08:57,920 that's built directly into the board if you're not using the OC panel. Start and 126 00:08:54,959 --> 00:09:01,360 reset switches built in on board. More voltage checkpoints for pretty much 127 00:08:59,920 --> 00:09:07,760 everything you could imagine. So you can use your high-end multimeter to check all that stuff. I love this feature, 128 00:09:05,279 --> 00:09:12,160 guys. DIP switches for turning on and off individual PCI Express slots on the 129 00:09:10,399 --> 00:09:15,760 board, especially once you've got a bunch of water cooled GPUs in there. 130 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:20,160 Diagnosing a problem with a graphics card can be an absolute nightmare. So, 131 00:09:18,560 --> 00:09:26,000 being able to turn them off one at a time to figure out which one's causing the issue without taking the cards 132 00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:30,320 physically out is awesome. The memo K button uh helps you diagnose non-post 133 00:09:28,560 --> 00:09:34,320 situations where memory with aggressive profiles might not post correctly. And 134 00:09:32,399 --> 00:09:38,160 our 24 pin connectors in its ideal location along the right hand edge of 135 00:09:35,680 --> 00:09:42,080 the board along with a USB 3 connector in its ideal location along the right 136 00:09:39,839 --> 00:09:45,120 hand edge of the board. We've got two more. There they are. are Blackwing 137 00:09:43,760 --> 00:09:49,120 chokes. So, those are the two that are providing power to the memory. Remember 138 00:09:47,120 --> 00:09:53,279 guys, with memory frequencies going way the heck up, it's going to be helpful to 139 00:09:51,200 --> 00:09:59,200 be able to deliver as clean power to it as you possibly can. Over here, we have 140 00:09:56,640 --> 00:10:02,880 six SATA 36 Gbit per second ports powered by the Intel chipset and four 141 00:10:01,200 --> 00:10:08,240 powered by an AS Media chipset, giving you a total of 10. And it should be 142 00:10:05,680 --> 00:10:13,839 noted that if you use the MPCIE combo NGF slot or M.2 two slot up in the top 143 00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:17,920 left that one of these ports will be disabled. Now, I want to talk about that 144 00:10:15,760 --> 00:10:23,279 for a moment now. So, they include a module here. So, this is mini PCIe and 145 00:10:20,880 --> 00:10:28,320 USB 2 connectivity that's in here. So, they include a module. There you go. 146 00:10:25,519 --> 00:10:35,279 That gives you Bluetooth 4.0 as well as wireless 802.11 AC. However, it should 147 00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:36,880 be noted that it does support the M.2 148 00:10:35,279 --> 00:10:42,240 standard. So, you would be able to plug an SSD in there as well instead of 149 00:10:39,519 --> 00:10:46,640 having it plugged into a SATA port. Down here at the very bottom of the board, 150 00:10:43,600 --> 00:10:49,600 we've got a BIOS switch as well as our 151 00:10:46,640 --> 00:10:54,720 front panel connectors, two USB 2.0 connectors, the ROG external connector 152 00:10:52,240 --> 00:10:57,839 for the OC panel, a Thunderbolt header, meaning you can use an add-in 153 00:10:55,760 --> 00:11:04,160 Thunderbolt card to add Thunderbolt connectivity to this board, a direct key 154 00:11:00,560 --> 00:11:06,160 button, the fast boot button, as well as 155 00:11:04,160 --> 00:11:10,160 your audio header. Now, I mentioned before it doesn't have a similarly 156 00:11:08,320 --> 00:11:13,920 highgrade audio solution like what you might find on a formula board, but I 157 00:11:11,839 --> 00:11:17,360 think the assumption from ASUS is if you are spending this much money on a 158 00:11:15,680 --> 00:11:20,720 motherboard and the associated hardware that goes with it, you're probably 159 00:11:18,959 --> 00:11:24,800 buying something like a Feebis to put in it anyway. All right. Now, this is one 160 00:11:23,600 --> 00:11:29,279 of the things that really gets me geeking out about this board. We've got 161 00:11:26,640 --> 00:11:33,279 four PCI Express 16x slots. Okay, fine. There's another one here that's wired 162 00:11:30,800 --> 00:11:37,680 for 8X. And then we've got a PCI Express 4X slot. But what's unique about these 163 00:11:35,279 --> 00:11:43,760 is the flexibility that they afford. Normally on a nonX79 or a non uh premium 164 00:11:41,839 --> 00:11:50,000 tier platform from Intel, you've either got 16x or 8x8x or 44. I I don't think 165 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:55,120 they even support 444. Or you'll have some kind of um splitter lane spplitting 166 00:11:52,880 --> 00:11:58,959 chip that will allow you to achieve higher bandwidth but at a at a latency 167 00:11:57,519 --> 00:12:03,120 penalty that usually doesn't really result in better performance. What ASUS 168 00:12:01,120 --> 00:12:12,480 has done here is they've given you the option, okay, to either run 16x 169 00:12:07,600 --> 00:12:14,560 8x 8x in two slots without using any any 170 00:12:12,480 --> 00:12:19,120 splitters or intermediary bridge chips so you can get that low latency if you 171 00:12:16,240 --> 00:12:26,639 don't need the extra bandwidth or 8x 8x 16x 8x using a PLX chip so that you can 172 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:29,839 achieve four-way SLI on the board and you'll have to take that latency hit for 173 00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:34,000 running so many graphics cards, but at least This way, people who are running 174 00:12:31,279 --> 00:12:36,959 one or two don't have to deal with that. Love that. And if you're running a ton 175 00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:41,120 of graphics card, I would recommend using the easy plug right here. That 176 00:12:38,880 --> 00:12:45,360 does provide some additional power to the board so that you don't risk burning 177 00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:49,120 out your 24 pin, which is otherwise relied on for all the power to those 178 00:12:47,760 --> 00:12:52,639 components other than the plugins that go in the back of the video card. Now, 179 00:12:50,959 --> 00:12:55,760 while the hardware for audio might not be anything special compared to the 180 00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:59,360 formula grade board, the software is still right up there. So, they've got 181 00:12:57,120 --> 00:13:02,880 their new Supreme FX3 software, which includes what they're calling sound 182 00:13:00,880 --> 00:13:06,880 radar, which gives you a visual overlay of where sounds are coming from in game, 183 00:13:05,600 --> 00:13:11,279 uh, without actually even relying on your ears at all, which would be, I mean, the, uh, the implications are very 184 00:13:09,760 --> 00:13:16,800 cool, particularly for people who don't hear well or have hearing loss in one ear, being able to take advantage of 185 00:13:14,320 --> 00:13:21,200 positional audio like that. This BIOS switch is a hardware switch that allows 186 00:13:18,880 --> 00:13:24,720 you to, well, switch between the two physical BIOS chips that are integrated 187 00:13:23,040 --> 00:13:28,320 on the board. So, even in the event of a bad flash, you can quickly and easily 188 00:13:27,040 --> 00:13:32,959 switch to a completely different profile, and you can use it to segment 189 00:13:30,880 --> 00:13:37,200 your experimentation profile from your daily driving profile. Finally, on the 190 00:13:35,600 --> 00:13:43,519 back of the board, we've got a SMOS clear button, ROG connect button, two 191 00:13:39,519 --> 00:13:45,200 USB 2.0 ports, six USB 3.0 ports, a 192 00:13:43,519 --> 00:13:49,839 gigabit Ethernet port provided by an Intel chipset that's going to give you 193 00:13:46,959 --> 00:13:53,680 less overhead, less throughput, less overhead, and more throughput. We've 194 00:13:51,839 --> 00:13:58,560 also got DisplayPort and HDMI ports supporting up to 4K display outs, 195 00:13:56,000 --> 00:14:02,160 optical audio and 7.1 audio out. And last but not least, and I really do 196 00:14:00,079 --> 00:14:08,240 still like to see this, a PS2 keyboard mouse combo port. Sometimes PS2 just 197 00:14:05,600 --> 00:14:12,560 does work the best. On the back of the board, we've got a couple more coolers 198 00:14:09,920 --> 00:14:16,560 for the MOSFETs. And that is pretty much all she wrote about the Maximus 6 199 00:14:14,560 --> 00:14:20,320 Extreme. Guys, tune in for our overclocking guide on Haswell, which is 200 00:14:18,560 --> 00:14:24,800 going to feature this board and the OC panel. Do like the video, do share the 201 00:14:23,120 --> 00:14:27,920 video, and as always, don't forget to subscribe to Linus Tech Tips for more 202 00:14:26,320 --> 00:14:30,920 unboxings, reviews, and other computer videos.