version of that board even,
rather than pegging only the
regular HERO.
Next we get to the
other key feature of the
motherboard which is the
cooling capabilities that
are courtesy of EKWB.
This of course speaks to
high quality workmanship
and performance again. A
common thread in just about
all aspects of the Maximus
VIII Formula. I’m unsure
how many individuals make
use of liquid cooling for the
PWM area, however if one is
in that position. Then you’ll
appreciate that it is from nonother but the leading cooling
outfit in the industry. Again
one would have appreciated
some RGB LED activity over
the block which would further
distinguish the Formula from
other boards. RGB lighting
has great momentum at
present and this should be
fully exploited to the benefit
of this board within reason
of course. Just a little more
along the block would have
been perfect.
Finally when speaking
to performance, which
is ultimately what ROG
components come down to
in a single world is fantastic.
There’s no difference in the
measured performance of air
or liquid cooling between the
Extreme and the Maximus VIII
Formula at all. In fact the two
UEFIs are identical so what
you’re able to extract from
the Extreme in performance
is exactly the same as on
the Formula. ASUS makes a
distinction between the two
boards stipulating that the
Formula has a sanctioned
limit of 3,733MHz (O.C) DRAM
frequency, however that is
academic at best because the
"Where RGB LEDs more
often than not result in a
garish aesthetic, on the
Formula they work with near
perfection"
20 The OverClocker Issue 37 | 2016
same memory dividers are
available on every R.O.G Z170
motherboard. The pre-baked
memory overclocking profiles
speak to this again as these
are identical and work in
exactly the same way.
For single, perhaps even
traditional two-way multi
graphics card systems,
the Formula is perfect. It
won’t allow the same 4-way
CrossfireX as the Extreme
but that’s understandable
as the board is physically
smaller. Furthermore, it is
of no material use having
anything more than two way
support on this platform,
simply because there just
isn’t enough CPU grunt to
maximize the performance
once the two GPU threshold
is exceeded. For that there’s
the Rampage V Extreme\
Black and other X99 boards.
Gaming on the Formula will