Final Words & Conclusion
Final words & conclusion
Proper performance, proper features, proper tweaking functionally and well everything done proper seems to be the keyword for the new Extreme. This is a gorgeous motherboard that ticks almost all the right boxes. You hardly can nitpick here but I will though, an Aquantia 5Gb/s LAN Ethernet jack would have been nice. Hmm, well that's it really, oh and of course the price, 625 Euros / $629.99 I mean yes my man, that hurts! But the Maximus IX Extreme is a thing of beauty.
I was thinking about it for a bit and realized this; perhaps the Z270 chipset isn't the right platform for a $629.99 motherboard? Honestly, the people that are investing this amount of cash into a motherboard surely would go with 6-8 or 10 core processors that also offer more PCI-Express lanes. But despite these facts that I do find this motherboard to be GORGEOUS. But sure, I also do think it is going to be a hard sell due to the staggering price level. Obviously you'll receive all the benefits from the Z270 chipset, so let's just focus on the extras that ASUS offers as there are quite a few. Then stuff like the ability to liquid cool both the CPU and VRM area, the two niche M.2 slots and the truly properly excellent WIFI solution that ASUS offers. The motherboard is very functional, offers all tweaking options you need, offers two M.2 slots with the ability of cooling the upper one. It has it all. Despite my somewhat salted view of Kaby Lake (no real gain over Skylake) in general I do have to say that the motherboard manufacturers did a lovely job with the new ranges being released. This motherboard however does have the amazing aesthetic improvements as well as your platform will be upgraded towards full compatibility with USB 3.1 (10 Gbps) as the two M.2 slots.
The RGB trend
The board has subtle AURA RGB implementation. I love the LED lit monoblock, but also on the motherboard at the IO bracket and chipset heatsink you will see controllable LEDs. ASUS also adds two LED strip connectors so you can add. We like the ASUS Aura SYNC initiative. Previously, the software was only able to control individual computer hardware such as LED lighting on the motherboard and additional RGB LEDs within the PC case connected to the motherboard. With the new synchronization capabilities, various hardware components' RGB lighting control can be controlled via a single AURA software interface.
Performance & tweaking
The overall default baseline performance for this ASUS Maximus IX Extreme motherboard with a Core i7 6700K I'd rate as good and tweaked as 'excellent' for the results as tested. However the biggest limiting factor tweaking wise is your processor, and you'll achieve the same tweaking results with a 150 USD motherboard, hey it's true. Temps even with the monoblock remain good. Overall the monoblock should get your CPU at 50 Degrees C. We have been able to reach 4.8 GHz stable on liquid cooling and that really is as far as our CPU can go. At that level you are looking at up-to 1.35V~1.425V needed on that CPU core. Keep in mind that ALL, seriously, ALL Z270 motherboards we have tested reach exactly the same tweaking levels. Meaning the processor and cooling are the decisive factor when it comes to generic overclocking and tweaking, not your motherboard so much. You are however able to use 4133 MHz DDR4 memory on this motherboard, which is just insanely fast (and expensive).
The bottom line
With the many embargo reviews lately I had too little time with this setup, I would have loved to be able to test a little more with the platform as the Extreme deserves that, but I had to close the review time wise. So let's conclude. Hey, I'll leave the discussion of $629.99 for a motherboard for what it is. In the end you guys decide whether or not that is worth the money. The ASUS ROG Maximus IX Extreme is that, Extreme and loaded with features including 40 Gbps Thunderbolt, that amazing looking monoblock and incredible tweaking options. I do feel that a motherboard of this caliber is better suited for a platform like X99 / Core i7 6950K as so much tweaking options, features and what not for just a quad-core processors feels a little dissatisfying for such an amazing motherboard. You'll get two proper M.2 slots (one nively cooled by the monoblock), extra USB connectors, like a gazillion FAN headers and so on. ASUS offers something really special. Like it or not, the LED RGB system with AURA software work nicely, but we do wonder much people are willing to pay extra for such intricate features. The AC WIFI solution is properly fast when configured properly. We do miss 5 and/or 10 GBit Ethernet jacks and will keep saying this: it would be nice to see the industry move forward on faster Ethernet jacks. Slowly but steadily the Gigabit jack is maxing out (much like the SATA3 interface). A big YAY! for a dedicated LCS PUMP FAN header (most people these days have some sort of liquid cooling going on). Again, truly excellent is that WIFI implementation, it is properly fast and we can max out our ISP bandwidth (300 MBps). Even copying files over a gigabit NAS reaches 50 MB/sec. Very nice. In closing, this motherboard is extreme, very extreme in everything from looks to featyures. But mostly we love that waterblock on the VRM and CPU area. Now, we do realize that maybe 0.1% of end-users (or an even smaller number) are actually going to purchase a motherboard like this due to the price level. But that doesn't make this any less of a quality product. Au contraire mon ami, it is extreme, in all its ways including that price. Hey, for the true and dedicated ROG enthusiasts this is golden stuff with a copper outline. We grant it our hardly granted Best Hardware Award.
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