ASUS Readies Two Variants of Maximus V Formula Motherboard

[btarunr]

For various reasons, ASUS confined its Z77 Express-based Republic of Gamers (ROG) lineup to just the micro-ATX Maximus V Gene, and although we've got to see its ATX sibling, the Maximus V Formula on several occasions, ASUS didn't officially launch it. According to a new report by VR-Zone, ASUS will be offering two SKUs of the Maximus V Formula. The company is known to offer these tiny sub-variants with its ROG products. Sometimes the differences between such sub-variants are as major as inclusion/exclusion of a component (eg: Crosshair V Formula/ThunderBolt), and as minor as inclusion of a game (eg: Rampage IV Extreme/Battlefield 3). In this case, it's the inclusion/exclusion of a component called ThunderFX, which makes up the two variants.

ThunderFX is a USB sound card and headphones amplifier. Backed by the C-Media CMI6631 chipset, the device could be used for headphones amplification. The CMI6631 has been implemented on several other solutions for console headset noise-cancellation. It is possible that ThunderFX does the same, using an external microphone array. That aside, the motherboard has a headphones amplifier of its own. The motherboard's onboard audio is backed by a TI 6120A2 amplifier, the same kit found on high-end sound cards such as ASUS Xonar Essence ST/STX. Find other fine details about the Maximus V Formula in our previous article.



Source: VR-Zone

[sc]

I wonder if they will launch it before or after Haswell is released

[Sp33d Junki3]

Originally Posted by sc

I wonder if they will launch it before or after Haswell is released

yeah this is slated for June release, Haswell is not til next year.

[btarunr]

Haswell won't work on LGA1155 anyway.

[sc]

... I was being sarcastic.

[michaelrw]

lol