ASUS MAXIMUS
VIII Extreme
RRP: $$499.99 | Website: www.asus.com
Test Machine
• INTEL Core i7 6700K
• CORSAIR Dominator
Platinum DDR4 3200 C16
• EVGA GTX 980Ti K|NGP|N
Edition
• SAMSUNG PX941 512GB
• CORSAIR AX1500i
• Windows 10 x64
(007 BIOS)
C
oming into this review,
one had already seen
and experienced just
how capable the ASUS Z170
range of motherboards had
been to that point. As many of
you remember, the day that
Z170 was no longer veiled by
non-disclosure agreements,
ASUS announced no fewer
than seven global top scores
in overclocking. That, to put
it simply was a showing that
no other vendor at the time
could match. In fact at present,
the Maximus VIII series of
motherboards still hold some
global hardware top spots
24 The OverClocker Issue 36 | 2015
in overclocking. Those feats
were mainly achieved with
the cheaper Gene and Hero
motherboards (and perhaps
others as well which have
not seen the light of day
outside labs). These boards
not only proved competent
but “complete” in ways other
motherboards were not.
Of course BIOS updates
would see to it that things
improved progressively,
but for the most part it
looked and still looks like
the hardware is solid. Which
of course is wonderful for
overclockers and ASUS, but
perhaps not so much for
the Maximus VIII Extreme.
Do not misunderstand,
this motherboard is as
competent as any of the other
motherboards in the series,
perhaps even more so in
many regards. However, the
challenge is convincing would
be buyers that spending nearly
$500 is worth it over the $229
the Hero commands. It is more
than double the price and thus
far, overclocking looks to be
roughly the same or at best
marginally better with the
Extreme board. Is it a $250+
worth of difference? Well that
oddly enough does not reside
in the overclocking pedigree of
the Maximus VIII Extreme, but
in its gaming features.
In as much as this is an
out and out overclocking
motherboard, it also
moonlights as one of the
most feature packed gaming
offerings on the market.
As always, the idea behind
such a product (despite what
vendors may say with similar
products) is that once you’re
done with overclocking your