We tried: ASUS Maximus 5 Extreme and Formula: killer pair
Maximus V Formula
These are sister models, so there are a lot of similarities between Extreme and Formula. The same size characterizes the two products, and the color scheme and garnish are almost completely the same. You get the same amount of memory slots, you can load the same amount and speed of memory, and of course the CPU support list is the same. What is the first striking difference, however, is the cooling. At Maximus IV Extreme, we came across the usual rib design, while at Maximus V Formula, a new concept debuts, Fusion Termo.
Fusion Thermo
More defined appearance, lower temperature, higher clock speeds: the ROG Fusion Thermo is more than just a VRM cooler: a pure copper water cooler with galvanized nozzles and integrated heat pipe, and embedded between the entire air-cooled fins. With a free choice between water and air cooling, the Fusion Thermo is one of the best extensions for even more successful overdrive. More details about the technology can be found HERE.
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So Fusion Thermo is not obligatory, it can be used as a simple air cooling, but if we are thinking about really serious tuning and we are not averse to water cooling, we can conjure a real water system around our system. Furthermore, Formula also has debug LEDs and measurement terminals as well as physical control buttons, and of course ROG Connect, Subzero Sense and OC Key. The power supply is the same, except for the 6-pin additional PCI Express connector next to the rails, as 5 full-width PCI Express sockets were placed instead of the Formula 3, with 3 short and 1 “half” on the PCB next to them. . Depending on the number of full-width rails, 3-way SLI and CrossFireX are supported. In Formula, the middle small rib is not connected to the cooling running on the Z77, although their design is very similar to the Extreme.
Formula also comes with a miniPCIe Combo Card, so we won't miss out on its features and benefits:
mPCIe combo card + dual-band Wi-Fi / Bluetooth 4.0 The unique combo expander connects to the motherboard near the rear I / O panel and includes an mSATA connector that can be used for hybrid storage acceleration with compatible mSATA SSDs that support Intel Smart Response technology. In addition, a dual-band (2,4 / 5 GHz) Wi-Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n and Bluetooth v4.0 card have been applied to the other side of the mini PCI Express 2.0 / USB 2.0 combo port. This allows additional devices to be connected to the machine without taking up valuable space on the motherboard.
In addition to Fusion Thermo, another major advantage of Formula is the SupremeFX audio subsystem, whose components are separated from the other components by red border lighting on the printed circuit board.
SupremeFX IV
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Amplification for perfect sound. Building on the strengths of its predecessors, the SupremeFX IV features a range of carefully tested audio capacitors that deliver better sound quality, as well as a new built-in 300-ohm headphone amplifier for an even more powerful, even better audio experience in games. Along with other existing SupremeFX innovations such as ‘Red Line’ physical PCB separation and EMI shielding, SupremeFX IV has once again been able to bring uniqueness to the world of motherboard sound generators.
Let’s take a look at the back cover section: There’s no Thunderbolt here (the model is also available with a version equipped with Thunderbolt), the line starts with the BIOS Flashback microswitch and then continues with the miniPCIe card. This is followed by the ROG Connect switch, along with four USB 2.0 (white to be used for ROG Connect). Then one eSATA and two USB 3.0 arrive, and in the multimedia section we once again come across digital optical audio output, a native HDMI and a DisplayPort (Lucid Virtu has MPV support).
In conclusion, the RJ45 ethernet connector with two USB 3.0 and the jack analog terminals as well as an optical audio input are shown. By now we know the essential information about both models, for the sake of order we would like to note that of course both products are Windows 8 compatible. Because they are very similar in hardware, we did not perform the measurements on both models, the Maximus V Extreme was placed on the test bench, which included an Ivy Bridge, and of course the tuning could not be missed either.
Full specification:
