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.