ASUS Readies ROG Maximus III Extreme Motherboard

[btarunr]

ASUS is ready with yet another socket LGA-1156 motherboard, only this one you can't pass on. The Maximus III Extreme is the company's second motherboard in its coveted Republic of Gamers series of high-end motherboards suited for gamers and overclockers, and will end up as the best ASUS has to offer for this platform. Based on the P55 Express chipset, the Maximus III Extreme seems to make use of an additional PCI-Express bridge chip to provide two x16 links. External lane switching further allows there to be four slots with x8 bandwidth. A fifth x16 slot could be wired to the PCH, being electrically x4 to accommodate other PCI-E devices.

The CPU socket is powered by a 11-phase digital PWM circuit, which uses a SuperML capacitor. The four DDR3 DIMM slots are powered by a 3-phase circuit. Apart from the main 24-pin and 8-pin CPU power connectors, there is an additional 6-pin connector. We suspect this to be a PCI-Express power connector for additional electrical stability, which could help overclocking.



Apart from the plethora of overclocker-friendly features ROG series motherboards have, the Maximus III Extreme includes the ROG Connect, which allows users to control overclocking using Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones. Another new handy feature, the LN2 Mode Header, is a jumper, which when shorted, tricks the internal temperature diode of the CPU and reduces coldbug issues encountered when using liquid-nitrogen or other extreme cooling devices.

The board is left with enough room for another PCI-Express bridge chip, which provides PCI-Express 2.0 connections to the USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gb/s controllers onboard. The rest of the connectivity includes 10 channel audio (8+2 separate FP audio channels), FireWire, and gigabit Ethernet. The board maintains the black+red color-scheme for the PCB and the various slots and connectors. Information regarding price and availability is awaited, and should surface in two weeks from now.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[AlienIsGOD]

WOW with all the pci-e slots this would crunch or fold very nicely!

 

[gumpty]

Diddle me sideways, this does look attractive.

The P55's only real weakness as a gaming motherboard was it's lack of PCI-E x16 lanes. This fixes that.
Very very relevant to my interests. Although the price will probably be of more interest to the bank manager.

 

[Izliecies]

Do many high-end motherboards include the 6 pin VGA power connector? 'Cause it seems to me that overclocking HD 5970 would require some additional power than provided.

 

[LiveOrDie]

look like there trying to rip off the classified with those colors

 

[WarEagleAU]

Doubtful on that Live or Die as they've used the color scheme in the past. Looks a bit different than the other ROG Maximum 1156 board. Im guessing the bottom slot can accept 1x/4x pci-e cards? Figured this updated board included Sata 6.0 and USB 3.0. 9 SATA connectors and a few USB connectors. I am not seeing the 6pin VGA Power connector on the board though...

Edit: Nevermind I see it in the first picture. Thought that was the 8, but saw the 8 in the second.

 

[btarunr]

Do many high-end motherboards include the 6 pin VGA power connector? 'Cause it seems to me that overclocking HD 5970 would require some additional power than provided.

Typically high end video cards do not draw power from the PCI-Express slot and rely entirely on the power connectors.

 

[Izliecies]

Typically high end video cards do not draw power from the PCI-Express slot and rely entirely on the power connectors.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that foolish? PCIe is just additional power. Why is that that they draw the power only from power connectors?

 

[btarunr]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that foolish? PCIe is just additional power. Why is that that they draw the power only from power connectors?

Regardless of it being foolish or not, that's the way it is.

Now, if you ask for my opinion on it being foolish or not,

Yes, it's foolish since it's loading just the power connector.

No, it's not foolish since dedicating power draw from the power connectors ensures high-wattage graphics cards remain completely independent of the motherboard, and that spikes in power draw don't end up damaging the motherboard in any way. Voltage regulation also becomes simpler (=cheaper), since the controller is only dealing with one source of power.

Since power, be it from the motherboard+connector or just the connector, typically comes from the same source (the same system PSU), it really doesn't matter if all the power is coming from the connector(s).

 

[[H]@RD5TUFF]

This looks very nice! Perhaps it's time to build a P55 system!

 

[Polarman]

Looks expensive!

 

[fochkoph]

Diddle me sideways, this does look attractive.

The P55's only real weakness as a gaming motherboard was it's lack of PCI-E x16 lanes. This fixes that.
Very very relevant to my interests. Although the price will probably be of more interest to the bank manager.

My thoughts exactly. This P55 motherboard that is actually capable of multiple x16 lanes makes this platform much more appealing. Unfortunately as with all ROG products, the pricing will be pretty steep.

 

[DonInKansas]

I'd hit it.