ASUS Z170 ROG Maximus VIII Hero review -
Product Showcase
Product Showcase
The ASUS Z170 ROG Maximus VIII Hero follows a standard form factor (30.5x24.4cm). The motherboard is located in the ROG range and is a semi-enthusaist to high-end product within this new Skylake Z170 series motherboards.
Included with the motherboard are the regulars including; manuals, driver CDs, SATA cables and a rear IO plate. This motherboard lacks embedded AC WIFI yet comes with one Gigabit Ethernet jack from Intel. New for the ROG is the actual design, more shielding and a move from black-red to to black grey with red accents. It is good to see the change.
- CPU support: Skylake-S class Intel Core processors
- Chipset: Intel Z170 Chipset
- 1x Gigabit Ethernet (Intel)
- Storage:
- 6x SATA 6Gb/s Intel
- 2x Sata 6Gb/s ASMedia ASM1061
- 1x M.2, PCIe 32 Gb/s and shared SATA Express ports x2
- 1x Sata Express
- Connectivity:
- 3x PCI-E 3.0 x16 (single at x16 / dual at x8 / tripple at x8 - x8 - x4)
- 3x PCI-E 3.0 x1
- USB 3.0 / 3.1
- 8-channel ROG SupremeFX audio based on a ES9023P Hi-Def CODEC.
Included in the bundle is one nice looking motherboard and gear like SATA cables, SLI connectors and so on. The bundle is a little scarce, but the hero series are meant ot be a little more cost effective for your wallet.
The I/O back panel reveals 3.1/3.0/2.0 ports and then a Type-C, the red USB 3.0 is to be used for USB flashback etc. The audio unit has special noise reducing capacitors and EMI shielding. You will spot one 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet jack (Intel). Included is a single PS/2 combo port for either a keyboard or a mouse, optical SPDIF out port and six audio jacks. If you plan to use the integrated IGP of the processor, you can make use of a DP or HDMI connector. There's room left for more, we would have liked to see WIFI or an extra Ethernet jack.
The boards has 3 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slots which can be arranged in these slot configurations with graphics cards:
- 1-way mode - x16 / x0 / x0
- 2-way mode - x8 / x8 / x0
- 3-way mode - x8 / x8 / x4
As you can see these are PCI Express Gen 3.0 configurations, that's plenty for regular graphics card setups up-to 2-way SLI/Crossfire.
The motherboard comes with an 8 power connectors. You'll get four DIMM slots that can be used for up-to 64GB of dual-channel memory. We received the new 3200 MHz Ripjaws kit from G.skill which we'll feature in detail in this review.
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