ASUS Maximus V Formula Motherboard Review

For as long as I can remember ASUS have had a reputation for creating some of the finest high end motherboards aimed at the discerning enthusiast user. The Maximus V Formula is another stunning board from the company which exhibits class leading stability when overclocked to the limits. We used the latest bios, which has introduced noticeable improvements to the product. We waited a couple of weeks to finish our review as we experienced some issues with earlier revisions of the bios.

As we mentioned in our previous review of the Corsair Dominator Platinum 2,666mhz memory kit, we experienced problems setting this memory up when using a variety of motherboards. The ASUS Maximus V Formula managed to not only run at 2,666mhz, but to overclock the memory to 2,850mhz. While we didn't focus on that today, you can read our findings over here. If the memory is good enough, there are bios settings to push to 3,200mhz and beyond.

We did notice that there is a glitch with the XMP memory profile settings, as the board seems to automatically loosen the timings, degrading performance. It is best to manually set the parameters yourself. We noted this in depth with our Corsair Platinum 2,666mhz review earlier this week.

There is no doubt in my mind that ASUS still lead the way when it comes to creating intelligently laid out bios configurations. The Bios on the Maximus V Formula verifies my views as all the necessary options are simply accessible from a single, scrollable panel. Many competitor products move memory, timings and voltage settings into different areas of the bios which can make navigation a complete chore, especially after a more serious failure which requires a complete reset.

Our particular Core i7 3770k sample is pretty much limited to 4.8ghz unless we apply almost 1.4 core voltage, which is not ideal for the chip long term. The Maximus V Formula handled the 4.8ghz overclock without the need to change multiple power tuning options in the advanced panels. We simply increased the core ratio to '48' and voltage settings to ‘1.32' and the system was prime stable. It doesn't get much more painfree than this, especially for an inexperienced user.

At 4.8ghz, the performance from our system today was exemplary – although for a gamer it is somewhat overkill. The overclocked quad core processor is perfectly suited as the foundation of a platform for full time 3D rendering duties, or video editing demands.

We have no hesitation recommending this motherboard, but it is expensive and there are plenty of excellent options on the market today. If you don't need some of the ‘bells and whistles' then you could save yourself some money.

You can buy the motherboard from ARIA for £242.06 inc vat.

Pros:

• BIOS configurations are class leading.
• easy to overclock
• plenty of potential to push the components to the limits.
• Add on mSATA card is a nice idea.
• great design.

Cons:

• expensive.
• XMP profiles sometimes ‘loosened' by the bios, requiring manual tweaks.

Kitguru says: Another great motherboard release by ASUS – targeting the high end Z77 enthusiast audience.

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