Maximus VIII Formula LGA 1151 Motherboard Review @ [H]

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FrgMstr

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Maximus VIII Formula LGA 1151 Motherboard Review - ASUS' Maximus VIII Formula is quite possibly one of the most amazing enthusiast motherboards we've ever reviewed; on paper at least. Where the rubber meets the road things are often quite different. At a price of nearly $400, ASUS can't afford any mistakes. We take the Maximus VIII Formula for a test drive and it was a hell of a ride.
 
Put a 950 Pro in that M.2 slot and watch it bake....mine in a Asus Hyper card would hit 75C in my 650D case with that 200mm fan blowing on it just running CystalMark, can't image what it would be in that covered M.2 slot?
 
Top end board has everything, doesn't screw it up. That's basically the minimum ASUS can get away with on this one isn't it? I suppose only having 1 m.2 slot is a complaint you could make...
 
fvbounty said:
Put a 950 Pro in that M.2 slot and watch it bake....mine in a Asus Hyper card would hit 75C in my 650D case with that 200mm fan blowing on it just running CystalMark, can't image what it would be in that covered M.2 slot?
Click to expand...

That was a concern I raised in the actual article. This motherboard runs within a couple degrees of the Sabertooth Z170 Mark 1. Unfortunately it lacks that motherboard's active cooling due to space constraints. So there is no real way without doing something ghetto, or something that would interfere with the expansion slot area to correct for that. Leaving the cover off the M.2 slot is probably your best option if heat really became an issue. Although, that definitely hurts the motherboard's aesthetics. .

Quix said:
Top end board has everything, doesn't screw it up. That's basically the minimum ASUS can get away with on this one isn't it? I suppose only having 1 m.2 slot is a complaint you could make...
Click to expand...

Most motherboards only have a single M.2 slot if any. With the exception of the X99 Deluxe, most if not all ASUS motherboards have a single M.2 slot. If you wish to run an M.2 RAID array then you can still do so with the ASUS Hyper Kit PCIe x4 adapters. There is even a BIOS setting for using one of these in a RAID setup. Because of this, I do not consider the lack of a secondary M.2 slot on the PCB to be an issue. The only complaint here that I can see is that placing one drive on an adapter may not be desirable in terms of aesthetics. If that's the case, there are other options on the market which might be more suitable.

I don't think there are a lot of people running dual M.2 RAID arrays as this has functionally only been possible since X99 and Z170 came out. Few people have a higher performance M.2 / NVMe drive in their systems, much less two of them in a RAID configuration. Furthermore, with the integration on the PCB, there isn't much real estate left over for a second M.2 slot. ASUS also likes to support 22110 type devices, and that makes the space requirements for a second slot more difficult. I'm not saying it's impossible, as some motherboards like the Z170X SOC Force have done it. (Albeit only with 2280 type device support.) However, comparing the two in that way isn't exactly apples to apples given that the SOC Force lacks the same amount of integrated features the Maximus VIII Formula does.
 
I have an older Formula board and it truly is a board you can't find a thing wrong with.

The only thing you have to watch out for on these boards is clearance at the top margin.

The coolers on the formula are pretty beefy and I had to modify my radiator placement on the top of the case I used to get everything to fit.

I use a mid tower (600T) and I'm sure with a full tower this wouldn't be an issue. YMMV.

Nice review.
 
I'm a bit confused in the paragraph about the auto-overlocking software. You write, "Curiously, the Republic of Gamer's motherboards lacked automatic overclocking and some of the more advanced fan controls", yet the automated overclocking features of AI Suite do appear to function on this board. Am I reading something wrong?
 
dewbak75 said:
I'm a bit confused in the paragraph about the auto-overlocking software. You write, "Curiously, the Republic of Gamer's motherboards lacked automatic overclocking and some of the more advanced fan controls", yet the automated overclocking features of AI Suite do appear to function on this board. Am I reading something wrong?
Click to expand...

I may not have worded that the best way possible. Essentially, in the past the automatic overclocking portion of the AI Suite III software didn't work on ROG motherboards. Now it does.
 
Dan_D said:
I may not have worded that the best way possible. Essentially, in the past the automatic overclocking portion of the AI Suite III software didn't work on ROG motherboards. Now it does.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the clarification. So the auto-overclocking is now available on the ROG boards and the "standard" boards like the -A models, but still not the TUF series, yes?
 
dewbak75 said:
Thanks for the clarification. So the auto-overclocking is now available on the ROG boards and the "standard" boards like the -A models, but still not the TUF series, yes?
Click to expand...
Yep...
 
fvbounty said:
Put a 950 Pro in that M.2 slot and watch it bake....mine in a Asus Hyper card would hit 75C in my 650D case with that 200mm fan blowing on it just running CystalMark, can't image what it would be in that covered M.2 slot?
Click to expand...

Have this board and a 950 pro. When I had it in the M.2 slot it would hit 66c under load, so there is some heat dissipation going on, not enough though. Moved it to an Anglebird Wings PX1 adapter and dropped the temp 10c. I noticed that the heatsink was not making full contact with the ssd so I modified it and now only hit 50c under full load. I have a Corsair 760t case which has very good air flow.
 
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Lothar said:
Have this board and a 950 pro. When I had it in the M.2 slot it would hit 66c under load, so there is some heat dissipation going on, not enough though. Moved it to an Anglebird Wings PX1 adapter and dropped the temp 10c. I noticed that the heatsink was not making full contact with the ssd so I modified it and now only hit 50c under full load. I have a Corsair 760t case which has very good air flow.
Click to expand...

Thats what I did too the PX1 is a very nice option, I added a Fractal Design 80mm fan blowing up on the PX1 and now running Cystalmark I only hit 35C, in fact thats the highest I've ever seen, using Hard Disk Sential to monitor my drives...
 
Meeho said:
The MBO cover looks like a dust and heat trap.
Click to expand...

It really isn't though. If anything it keeps dust off the motherboard for the most part. Normally they do increase the temperatures in some areas by a couple of degrees without an active fan. This one runs cool without an active fan.
 
Thanks a lot for the review. An excellent way of getting to know the board.
My P6T Deluxe V2 / X58 [2009] will not die but i finally sidegraded to the Z170 platform.

Some settings: Geil memory set to manual using values given in menu and set to 2933MHz, 1.35V.
The XMP read 16-16-16-36 but values in BIOS readout are 15-15-15-36. When set to XMP it sets them to auto and uses XMP values. Very strange to see those readouts.
CPU X46 on all cores. Set adaptive 1.305 offset +0.01.
Haven't found what extreme option means given BIOS explanation "might help benchmarking". But i set that to off.
Using CPU-Z under load reading voltage varies from 1.315 to 1.37 but never exceeds that unlike when using auto which could make it spike to 1.44.

So far it's a great (looking) system and I gave it the PSU and cooler my X58/P6T Deluxe deserved. It doesn't have the wow factor the X58/920 had even tho it looks better.
Supreme Commander Forged Aliance leaves the GFX with fans off and stresses the CPU. Thousands of units it can't handle. Just like my K6-200 with Total Annihilation the horsepower is lacking. That took a Coppermine Celeron 566@850MHz. And even now threading is bad in games. Ashes of the Singularity awaits.
 

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Lothar said:
Have this board and a 950 pro. When I had it in the M.2 slot it would hit 66c under load, so there is some heat dissipation going on, not enough though. Moved it to an Anglebird Wings PX1 adapter and dropped the temp 10c. I noticed that the heatsink was not making full contact with the ssd so I modified it and now only hit 50c under full load. I have a Corsair 760t case which has very good air flow.
Click to expand...

My 950 Pro installed into the M.2 on the M-VIII-F. SMART data (AIDA64) says it peaks at 76C under full SSD benchmark loads like ATTO, AS SSD, Crystal. Idle temp hovers around 50C. It's all installed in a well ventilated 900D but that doesnt make any difference with the M.2 location.
 
fvbounty said:
Put a 950 Pro in that M.2 slot and watch it bake....mine in a Asus Hyper card would hit 75C in my 650D case with that 200mm fan blowing on it just running CystalMark, can't image what it would be in that covered M.2 slot?
Click to expand...
76 Celsius. It cannot reach peak speeds trough benchmarks as the firmware seems to throttle it down. I just ordered copper 15x15x1mm heatsinks with Arctic thermal pads as seen in an article recently. In the hopes that alleviates its pains. That way i can augment it with an pci-e card adapted one in the future although there is no point in making striping raid with these monsters.
 
I have used Arctic Silver Thermal Adhesive to attach copper shims to the controller and storage chips. These are 1mm thick and under continues load they now reach 74C so only 2C lower. The placing on the Formula board just isn't providing airflow. Performance has improved in that it takes longer for the ssd to heat up and it cools down faster. Next i might bridge the heatsinks with something.

This article inspired me:
Samsung 950 Pro Review: Thermal Throttling Solved!

In my case i cannot use the thermal padding cuz it would touch the plastic cover and do nothing. A 4mm thick bridge would fit but I haven't found anything like that yet.
 

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So I'm building a new system and was looking at this or the GIGABYTE Z170X Gaming G1
Will be getting a 950 Pro. Is there a heat issue with the ssd and the ASUS board?

What do people recommend between the Maximus VIII Formula or the GIGABYTE Z170X Gaming G1 using a 950 Pro?
 
rogue9 said:
Issue is I have a couple of cards that need those pci slots. So using a pci card for the 950 is gonna be a problem. I'd rather stick to the m.2 port on the motherboard.
Click to expand...

If you can get any airflow over the 950 at all will help with keeping the temps down....
 
rogue9 said:
So I'm building a new system and was looking at this or the GIGABYTE Z170X Gaming G1
Will be getting a 950 Pro. Is there a heat issue with the ssd and the ASUS board?

What do people recommend between the Maximus VIII Formula or the GIGABYTE Z170X Gaming G1 using a 950 Pro?
Click to expand...

It won't affect every day performance sticking it on the Formula board m.2 slot. It idles around 45C depending on good airflow. But unless you mod it better then I did you won't get good benchmarks as it throttles down above 75C. See my post #18.
 
Some experiences with my Maximus VIII Formula. For my setup check my signature. Maybe i help some (perspective) owners.

I applied 19x19x5mm black aluminum heatspreaders to the controller and storage chips on the 950 Pro with use of Arctic thermal padding (also available as an adhesive). It does not fit perfectly under the plastic shrowd of the board due to the placement of the two strorage chips and the limited space but only the storage controller needs extra heat transferred so it can be done with a good finish without making it an ugly mod.

The results are good. With Atto benchmark running it maxes out at 64C (idle 43C, ambient 22C). Before it was 76C (idle 49C) so a good improvement as there is no more speed throttling by the controller.

All this can be done at 10 Euro cost. The padding and chip heat spreader.

Via eBay I found an Asus Fan Extension that does come with Deluxe X99 boards and Extreme boards. They sell the Maximus VIII Formula with optionally the Extension card available separately, however I have asked Asus and my supplier and they do not seem to know when the accessory is available.
The controller card does work but it does not support turning fans off like the headers directly on the board do. Neither does the Corsair Commander Mini which I also installed as i have 12 fans in the 900D casing now.

When i use headphones with the onboard "SupremeFX" i can hear electrical noise varying in intensity. It might have any number of causes but no such issues with a discrete soundcard. Neihter with the onboard ADI chip on my X58 P6T Deluxe board or the nVidia/Realtek solution on my DFI Lanparty UT Expert (s939).

Turning off the Asmedia SATA controller with no devices attached freezes Windows 10 at startup. Deinstalling the controller in Windows had no effect. I can't turn off the Asmedia function without reinstalling windows. Safe boot had no effect either.

When using fan tuning in the bios it freezes when you accept the changes. With or without the extension card attached. I have reloaded the bios from a USB stick but that didn't help either.

07-05-16 some additional benchmarking shows 67C with higher ambient temp. Still it does not throttle back so the mod works.
 

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Hi, i have the ASUS 170-AR and it says it's "recommended" to put the VGA card in PCIx slot 1 for single cart setups. I have it in slot 2 due to the fact I have an old PCI card that blocks the fans if i have the car in slot 1.

Why do they recommend slot 1? any downside to using slot 2? they are both x8 right so why matter?
 
BottomsUp said:
Hi, i have the ASUS 170-AR and it says it's "recommended" to put the VGA card in PCIx slot 1 for single cart setups. I have it in slot 2 due to the fact I have an old PCI card that blocks the fans if i have the car in slot 1.

Why do they recommend slot 1? any downside to using slot 2? they are both x8 right so why matter?
Click to expand...

A single GPU in slot 1 should run at x16 speeds. A single GPU in the second will operate on x8 lanes.
 
thesmokingman said:
Nice, you got a zxr. With two gpus, I couldn't fit my zxr because or the sparkos opamps. Still I did hookup the ACM, which is nice at least.
Click to expand...
Just above my GFX card is a x1 pci-e slot available, it would not be astheatic but i think the ZxR could move there in case i ever use another GFX card. This one uses up 3 slots but the cooling is very good. Not in 20+ years have i ever had a dual gfx card setup. The only time I wanted that was with a Voodoo2 because the higher resolution supported.
 
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