ASUS Z170 ROG Maximus VIII Hero Review
ASUS Z170 ROG Maximus VIII Hero
Yes -- we can be heroes
In this review we test the ASUS Z170 ROG Maximus VIII Hero. If you fire it up with that new 14nm Skylake based Core i7 6700K processor this product will bring a smile to your face. The Maximus VIII Hero comes with a ROG black & grey design with red accents. Add to that the hippest features of 2015 and you are sure you'll have the right infrastructure for a gaming d-e-li-cious PC. These motherboards can (well must) be paired with new Skylake series processors. We'll quickly dive into the two most import ones. Skylake Core i5-6600K and Core i7-6700K processors for the desktop platform have been released. We test both processors, yet have separate reviews on each of these processors. A new chip, a new package meaning both of them are Socket 1151. The new series Skylake processors are energy efficient, quite powerful and this need to be paired with a new motherboards series. For you guys that means the Z170 and H170 range. In this review we test the Core i7-6700K. An unlocked Skylake processor that has four cores and slim a 92 Watt TDP, that is lower compared to Haswell with its 95 W TDP, thanks to the new and smaller 14 nm fabrication process. The quad core CPU has 8 MB L3 cache, and an integrated memory controller that supports both DDR4 and DDR3 memory. The Z170 and H170 series motherboards will all be offered with DDR4 though. For the gaming community two processors are the most important.
Core i7-6700K
Four CPU cores with Hyper-Threading, 4.0 GHz frequency, 4.20 GHz maximum Turbo Boost frequency, 8 MB last-level cache, dual-channel DDR3/DDR4 memory controller with 1600 MHz or 2133 MHz support, Intel HD Graphics 530-series integrated graphics core, LGA1151 packaging
Core i5-6600K
Four cores, 3.50 GHz frequency, 3.90 GHz maximum Turbo Boost frequency, 6 MB last-level cache, dual-channel DDR3/DDR4 memory controller with 1600 MHz or 2133 MHz support, Intel HD Graphics 530-series integrated graphics core, LGA1151 packaging;
Skylake is the code-name used by Intel for the 14 nm processor micro-architecture under development and is the successor to the Broadwell architecture. That cool looking ASUS Z170 ROG Maximus VIII Hero then. The HERO is the somewhat cheaper version og the Maximus VIII Extreme. The product comes with an 8-Pin power connector for the CPu which is tied to a 10 Phase DIGI+ VRM. Much like all other Z170 board, you will spot four DDR4 DIMMs which can seat a maximum combined 64 GB DDR4 memory. The expansion slots for all you graphics lovin' include three PCI-e 3.0 x16 slots as well as three PCI-e 3.0 x1. Storage options are 8 SATA III 6 GB/s ports and two SATA Express (SATAe) ports rated. There's one M.2. slot, but it is linked as x4 thus offers 32 Gbps of bandwidth. You will spot a multitude of features like Supreme FX audio, USB 3.1 Type-C ports, USB 3.0 ports, USB 2.0 ports, HDMI, Display port and a Gigabit Ethernet jack.
Have a peek at the ASUS Z170 ROG Maximus VIII Hero and then head on-wards into the review.
