WEBVTT 00:00:00.480 --> 00:00:06.720 This video is brought to you by Cooler Master featuring the Siden 240mm 00:00:04.640 --> 00:00:10.440 all-in-one CPU water cooling system. Check it out at www.coolermaster-usa.com. 00:00:10.719 --> 00:00:18.880 Welcome to my unboxing and first look at the cream of the cream of Z78 boards. 00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:22.880 This is the Maximus 6 Extreme from ASUS. It includes everything except the 00:00:20.720 --> 00:00:27.119 kitchen sink, but it's okay because you can probably get rid of your kitchen 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 00:00:30.240 --> 00:00:37.120 a lot of cool functionality that we're going to get into throughout this video. 00:00:35.120 --> 00:00:41.360 The motherboard comes with full versions of Kasperski and Demon Tools, which I 00:00:39.200 --> 00:00:45.600 think is a really cool value ad for enthusiasts who buy it. On the outside 00:00:43.680 --> 00:00:50.399 of the box, ASUS does a really good job of spelling out exactly what makes the 00:00:47.360 --> 00:00:53.360 board special. So, there's the OC panel, 00:00:50.399 --> 00:00:57.440 the MPCIE combo 2, as well as the Extreme Engine Dig Plus 3 technologies 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 00:00:58.879 --> 00:01:05.280 detail once we get the board out. And then on the back, they've got pretty 00:01:03.600 --> 00:01:10.320 much the same stuff. They talk about four-way SLI and Crossfire, as well as 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 00:01:12.320 --> 00:01:19.119 opened up. Now, the Extreme board is positioned more for overclockers than 00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:23.040 specifically for gamers. So, you're going to find some of the features and 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 00:01:24.880 --> 00:01:32.479 developing this board are more beneficial to those guys who are looking 00:01:28.640 --> 00:01:35.520 to push for every last megahertz of 00:01:32.479 --> 00:01:37.200 frequency on their CPU and not so much 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 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 00:01:43.759 --> 00:01:50.000 know, you don't get things like a more advanced uh separated part of the PCB 00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:54.560 for your audio solution like you do on a formula grade board with the Xreme. So, 00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:57.920 let's go ahead and open up the box of accessories, of which there are many. 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 00:02:02.079 --> 00:02:09.440 IO shield in the traditional ASUS fashion. We have the custom sleeved 00:02:07.520 --> 00:02:13.040 cable for the OC panel, which plugs directly into the board and then into 00:02:10.879 --> 00:02:16.239 the bottom of the OC panel unit. A user's guide, which you should pretty 00:02:14.560 --> 00:02:19.360 much look at online if you need it. These are cool. Labels for your SATA 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:26.239 cables so you can tell which one is which at both ends, as well as their 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 00:02:28.480 --> 00:02:34.000 want to use the OC panel, then you can actually plug into a separate computer 00:02:31.840 --> 00:02:40.000 like a laptop and control settings from there. Three-way SLI bridge, four-way 00:02:36.879 --> 00:02:42.239 SLI bridge, two-way SLI bridge, all 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:46.080 black, all matte, all gorgeous. And finally, a Crossfire bridge that is in 00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:50.800 the same style. Now, this is really nice. Check this out. Republic of Gamers 00:02:48.480 --> 00:02:55.200 decal for your case that unlike most case decals actually has some heft to it 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 00:02:57.599 --> 00:03:05.040 one-time use thing. We have the MPCIE 00:03:01.200 --> 00:03:08.000 combo port MPCIE combo 2 rather excuse 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 00:03:09.360 --> 00:03:15.519 moment. It has both uh Wi-Fi dualband AC 00:03:13.040 --> 00:03:20.480 as well as Bluetooth 4.0 know builtin eight SATA 36 Gbit per second cables 00:03:18.640 --> 00:03:24.080 which crazily oh no 10. There you go. You got enough for every single port on 00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:29.840 the board. And finally, an external magnetic antenna for the built-in AC 00:03:26.560 --> 00:03:32.159 wireless. Last but not least, we have a 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 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 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 00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:51.280 our second black box. The first thing we see inside of which is the OC panel. 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 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 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 00:04:01.519 --> 00:04:07.599 before, giving you access to things like your level up button, which turns your 00:04:05.840 --> 00:04:12.000 overclock on and off with a hardware switch here, power button, fan control, 00:04:10.319 --> 00:04:15.200 and all kinds of other cool functionality that can be enabled with 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 00:04:16.959 --> 00:04:22.880 hands-on and really play with it when we're doing our Haswell overclocking 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 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 00:04:29.280 --> 00:04:34.479 how many guys would have a multimeter or 00:04:32.720 --> 00:04:37.840 something like a temperature sensor sitting next to them while they're 00:04:35.919 --> 00:04:43.840 overclocking. Speaking of temperature sensors, this is very cool. It actually 00:04:41.040 --> 00:04:48.240 uses their subzero sense technology is what they're calling it to detect 00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:52.800 temperatures that are as low as liquid nitrogen. So this is suitable not only 00:04:50.720 --> 00:04:57.440 for making changes to your clock speeds or whatever else, but also for actually 00:04:55.440 --> 00:05:01.120 monitoring those. So it's a serious tool meant for people who are actually at the 00:04:59.840 --> 00:05:05.600 top of the field in terms of overclocking. And extreme mode has other 00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:09.600 cool stuff about it like VGA hotwire which allows you to actually directly 00:05:06.960 --> 00:05:13.039 overvolt supported ASUS graphics cards with this unit as well. And I mean 00:05:11.680 --> 00:05:16.720 there's all this cool stuff here too. Check this out. So inside here you've 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 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 00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:30.960 as well as control things like slow mode. What slow mode does is sometimes 00:05:28.560 --> 00:05:35.360 liquid nitrogen overclockers don't want the PC to boot up as fast as possible. 00:05:32.960 --> 00:05:39.280 So slow mode is there for that pretty much more than anything else. as well as 00:05:37.360 --> 00:05:43.840 some other really cool things in here, including there you go, direct voltage 00:05:41.840 --> 00:05:48.400 checkpoints that are again built into the board, but also built into the OC 00:05:46.240 --> 00:05:52.720 panel itself. Not everybody needs that functionality though. I got briefed on 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 00:05:54.639 --> 00:06:00.960 you guys know overclocking, I hope you've heard of Andre Yang. And he also 00:05:58.880 --> 00:06:05.919 spent a lot of time with it once it was done creating profiles that less 00:06:03.360 --> 00:06:09.520 advanced users can just implement. So, all you really have to do is go, okay, 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 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 00:06:18.400 --> 00:06:24.319 know, maybe what I end up doing is plugging in one of Andre Yang's profiles 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 00:06:26.080 --> 00:06:31.680 well, which leads us to the board itself. Now, the first thing I noticed 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 00:06:33.520 --> 00:06:40.400 factor this time around. no extra width which we do normally see on the extreme 00:06:37.680 --> 00:06:44.960 level boards. Next up, and I mean this is okay, overclockers are always looking 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 00:06:47.440 --> 00:06:53.120 last bit out of the CPU. So, we see something we've seen for a couple 00:06:50.479 --> 00:06:57.600 generations now, and that's dual CPU power connectors. In this case, an 8 pin 00:06:55.039 --> 00:07:02.720 and a 4 pin. And we also see a completely redesigned voltage delivery 00:07:00.720 --> 00:07:06.319 system. We've got their super premium 10K black metallic solid state 00:07:04.720 --> 00:07:10.479 capacitors that ASUS figures are good for up to five times the lifetime of 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% 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 00:07:17.440 --> 00:07:22.880 NexF MOSFETs operate at 90% efficiency, 00:07:20.880 --> 00:07:27.280 meaning very little power is lost to heat. And their Blackwing chokes, due to 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. 00:07:29.360 --> 00:07:35.039 So the idea is that while it's completely overbuilt in terms of how 00:07:32.560 --> 00:07:40.479 much power it can deliver to the CPU, it is not sacrificing any of the efficiency 00:07:38.080 --> 00:07:45.280 and cool operation that you would want from the power delivery system. Now the 00:07:42.400 --> 00:07:49.599 CPU socket itself is an LG 1150 socket supporting the latest fourth generation 00:07:47.120 --> 00:07:54.000 Intel Core series processors code named Haswell. And over here you're going to 00:07:51.599 --> 00:07:58.479 find four DDR3 dual channel memory slots. Now, something notable about 00:07:55.759 --> 00:08:03.520 Haswell is that much higher frequencies of DDR3 are supported. However, once you 00:08:01.280 --> 00:08:09.280 start to overclock the CPU, um, you know, the DDR3 2800 MHz to 3 GHz speeds 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 00:08:11.360 --> 00:08:17.440 go down to the point where once you're overclocking the CPU to the max, your 00:08:15.360 --> 00:08:22.879 RAM overclocking options are going to be somewhat more limited. Up in the top 00:08:19.599 --> 00:08:25.520 right, we've got a post LED next to this 00:08:22.879 --> 00:08:31.840 is pretty cool. So, ASUS has built a custom three pin, fourpin slash, 00:08:28.800 --> 00:08:33.839 whatever the heck this thing is, CPU fan 00:08:31.840 --> 00:08:38.080 header. So, what it does is it actually has a separate little sensor in there 00:08:35.760 --> 00:08:42.479 that tells the com the motherboard whether you're using a three pin or a 00:08:39.919 --> 00:08:46.000 four pin fan and then will adjust the way that it controls your CPU fan 00:08:44.080 --> 00:08:49.680 profile accordingly without any intervention from the user. Very, very 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 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 00:08:54.959 --> 00:09:01.360 reset switches built in on board. More voltage checkpoints for pretty much 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, 00:09:05.279 --> 00:09:12.160 guys. DIP switches for turning on and off individual PCI Express slots on the 00:09:10.399 --> 00:09:15.760 board, especially once you've got a bunch of water cooled GPUs in there. 00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:20.160 Diagnosing a problem with a graphics card can be an absolute nightmare. So, 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 00:09:23.440 --> 00:09:30.320 physically out is awesome. The memo K button uh helps you diagnose non-post 00:09:28.560 --> 00:09:34.320 situations where memory with aggressive profiles might not post correctly. And 00:09:32.399 --> 00:09:38.160 our 24 pin connectors in its ideal location along the right hand edge of 00:09:35.680 --> 00:09:42.080 the board along with a USB 3 connector in its ideal location along the right 00:09:39.839 --> 00:09:45.120 hand edge of the board. We've got two more. There they are. are Blackwing 00:09:43.760 --> 00:09:49.120 chokes. So, those are the two that are providing power to the memory. Remember 00:09:47.120 --> 00:09:53.279 guys, with memory frequencies going way the heck up, it's going to be helpful to 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 00:09:56.640 --> 00:10:02.880 six SATA 36 Gbit per second ports powered by the Intel chipset and four 00:10:01.200 --> 00:10:08.240 powered by an AS Media chipset, giving you a total of 10. And it should be 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 00:10:11.360 --> 00:10:17.920 left that one of these ports will be disabled. Now, I want to talk about that 00:10:15.760 --> 00:10:23.279 for a moment now. So, they include a module here. So, this is mini PCIe and 00:10:20.880 --> 00:10:28.320 USB 2 connectivity that's in here. So, they include a module. There you go. 00:10:25.519 --> 00:10:35.279 That gives you Bluetooth 4.0 as well as wireless 802.11 AC. However, it should 00:10:31.760 --> 00:10:36.880 be noted that it does support the M.2 00:10:35.279 --> 00:10:42.240 standard. So, you would be able to plug an SSD in there as well instead of 00:10:39.519 --> 00:10:46.640 having it plugged into a SATA port. Down here at the very bottom of the board, 00:10:43.600 --> 00:10:49.600 we've got a BIOS switch as well as our 00:10:46.640 --> 00:10:54.720 front panel connectors, two USB 2.0 connectors, the ROG external connector 00:10:52.240 --> 00:10:57.839 for the OC panel, a Thunderbolt header, meaning you can use an add-in 00:10:55.760 --> 00:11:04.160 Thunderbolt card to add Thunderbolt connectivity to this board, a direct key 00:11:00.560 --> 00:11:06.160 button, the fast boot button, as well as 00:11:04.160 --> 00:11:10.160 your audio header. Now, I mentioned before it doesn't have a similarly 00:11:08.320 --> 00:11:13.920 highgrade audio solution like what you might find on a formula board, but I 00:11:11.839 --> 00:11:17.360 think the assumption from ASUS is if you are spending this much money on a 00:11:15.680 --> 00:11:20.720 motherboard and the associated hardware that goes with it, you're probably 00:11:18.959 --> 00:11:24.800 buying something like a Feebis to put in it anyway. All right. Now, this is one 00:11:23.600 --> 00:11:29.279 of the things that really gets me geeking out about this board. We've got 00:11:26.640 --> 00:11:33.279 four PCI Express 16x slots. Okay, fine. There's another one here that's wired 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 00:11:35.279 --> 00:11:43.760 is the flexibility that they afford. Normally on a nonX79 or a non uh premium 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 00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:55.120 they even support 444. Or you'll have some kind of um splitter lane spplitting 00:11:52.880 --> 00:11:58.959 chip that will allow you to achieve higher bandwidth but at a at a latency 00:11:57.519 --> 00:12:03.120 penalty that usually doesn't really result in better performance. What ASUS 00:12:01.120 --> 00:12:12.480 has done here is they've given you the option, okay, to either run 16x 00:12:07.600 --> 00:12:14.560 8x 8x in two slots without using any any 00:12:12.480 --> 00:12:19.120 splitters or intermediary bridge chips so you can get that low latency if you 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 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 00:12:28.160 --> 00:12:34.000 running so many graphics cards, but at least This way, people who are running 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 00:12:35.600 --> 00:12:41.120 of graphics card, I would recommend using the easy plug right here. That 00:12:38.880 --> 00:12:45.360 does provide some additional power to the board so that you don't risk burning 00:12:42.800 --> 00:12:49.120 out your 24 pin, which is otherwise relied on for all the power to those 00:12:47.760 --> 00:12:52.639 components other than the plugins that go in the back of the video card. Now, 00:12:50.959 --> 00:12:55.760 while the hardware for audio might not be anything special compared to the 00:12:54.000 --> 00:12:59.360 formula grade board, the software is still right up there. So, they've got 00:12:57.120 --> 00:13:02.880 their new Supreme FX3 software, which includes what they're calling sound 00:13:00.880 --> 00:13:06.880 radar, which gives you a visual overlay of where sounds are coming from in game, 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 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 00:13:14.320 --> 00:13:21.200 positional audio like that. This BIOS switch is a hardware switch that allows 00:13:18.880 --> 00:13:24.720 you to, well, switch between the two physical BIOS chips that are integrated 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 00:13:27.040 --> 00:13:32.959 switch to a completely different profile, and you can use it to segment 00:13:30.880 --> 00:13:37.200 your experimentation profile from your daily driving profile. Finally, on the 00:13:35.600 --> 00:13:43.519 back of the board, we've got a SMOS clear button, ROG connect button, two 00:13:39.519 --> 00:13:45.200 USB 2.0 ports, six USB 3.0 ports, a 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:49.839 gigabit Ethernet port provided by an Intel chipset that's going to give you 00:13:46.959 --> 00:13:53.680 less overhead, less throughput, less overhead, and more throughput. We've 00:13:51.839 --> 00:13:58.560 also got DisplayPort and HDMI ports supporting up to 4K display outs, 00:13:56.000 --> 00:14:02.160 optical audio and 7.1 audio out. And last but not least, and I really do 00:14:00.079 --> 00:14:08.240 still like to see this, a PS2 keyboard mouse combo port. Sometimes PS2 just 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 00:14:09.920 --> 00:14:16.560 for the MOSFETs. And that is pretty much all she wrote about the Maximus 6 00:14:14.560 --> 00:14:20.320 Extreme. Guys, tune in for our overclocking guide on Haswell, which is 00:14:18.560 --> 00:14:24.800 going to feature this board and the OC panel. Do like the video, do share the 00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:27.920 video, and as always, don't forget to subscribe to Linus Tech Tips for more 00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:30.920 unboxings, reviews, and other computer videos.