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New Intel Kaby Lake CPUs will work with most Z170 motherboards after a BIOS update. Resultantly, Z270 motherboards will have a hard time persuading existing Z170 owners to upgrade their motherboards. It will be owners of Z97 systems, released in 2014, or older who are the most likely to upgrade to the new Intel Z270 motherboards.
Despite the similarities between the Z270 and Z170 chipset and associated CPUs, motherboard vendors are focusing on ensuring their motherboards are as appealing as they can be. In this instance ASUS has made a significant number of improvements to the Maximus IX Formula, against the previous Maximus VIII Formula which was released only a year ago.
The new Maximus IX Formula takes up residence at the premium end of the motherboard market with an expected MSRP of £354, based on a leaked dealer price list. That price is a noticeable increase over the Maximus VIII Formula which launched at around £285 in January 2016, though that price did creep up towards the end of last year, to around £310, after the UK Pound depreciated because of Brexit.
Even with a wallet-lightening price to contend with the Maximus IX Formula has some tricks up its sleeves to get consumers excited. These include 3D Printing templates to enable advanced customisation options, a redesigned waterblock, improved watercooling features to help with flow and temperature monitoring and a sharp looking integrated rear I/O shield.
The front panel USB 3.1 header is an interesting move too, even if early adopters of this motherboard may have to wait some time to see cases trickle through to market which support it. ASUS could accelerate this process with an upgrade kit and by working with more case vendors than just Lian Li and InWin.
Many other aspects of the Maximus IX Formula deserve praise such as the intuitive and stable UEFI, excellent granular fan controls, solid all-round performance and extensive companion software, though the same praise applies to most other ASUS ROG motherboards, including those from the previous Z170 generation.
Despite all the positives of the Maximus IX Formula its high price point means prospective buyers should carefully consider whether they really need the Maximus IX Formula or if they would be better served by a Republic of Gamers motherboard lower down the ROG hierarchy.
It seems as if ASUS has already catered to this eventuality with the Maximus IX Code which is effectively the Maximus IX Formula, minus the EK waterblock for the CPU VRM and integrated I/O shield. The Maximus IX Code will cost £307, according to the same leaked dealer price list, making it a good bit cheaper for those buyers who will be using a closed-loop cooler, like a Corsair H100i v2, rather than a full-fat water cooling setup.
The ASUS ROG Maximus IX Formula is available for £349.99 at Overclockers UK.
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Pros:
- Stylish and customisable aesthetic – RGB and 3D Printing
- Extensive software suite
- Capable UEFI with sensible automatic voltages and LLC behaviour
- Novel integrated rear I/O shield
- Watercooling innovations
- Numerous onboard buttons and switches
- Excellent number of 3/4 pin fan headers with a high-level of control
- USB 3.1 front panel connection
- Improved audio system
Cons:
- No RGB strips included
- M.2 slot has no measures to prevent thermal throttling
- Significant price jump over predecessor
- Less SATA ports than predecessor and no native U.2
KitGuru says: A watercooling-tailored motherboard with an innovative feature-set, the Maximus IX Formula is another well-executed Republic of Gamers product.
Not sure how this earns the worth buying award, considering its pros and cons, price has increased for the formula series and given its performance, is it worth buying? I mean they are doing a good job on audio and power usage but at the end of the day like you’ve said, it may be rather worth spending on another grade RoG motherboard.
Worth buying with the caveat that you intend to watercool your system, if not a lower spec board is a better alternative. Also the price will come down after the launch buzz passes, it always does.
USB 2.0 should have been dropped.
The price does go down for sure, but this board is significantly more expensive over previous formula and the price is around Z170 extreme if i convert the price from pound to hrk . Prices here in Croatia stay stupidly high for a long time
No, it can still be useful. I’m using one right now for my Corsair Commander Mini and another for my two USB 2.0 ports on the front of my case. Still need them a bit.
I’m replacing my GIGABYTE Z170X Gaming GT with this board. The number one reason, the RGB LED lighting!!!! Can’t have enough! I read the review of this board over at Guru3D.com and he said that this board was close to other ASUS Z270 boards in the $200 price range per features, but this one has all the extra RGB LED lighting that was adding to the cost. That and the water block.
I do understand that some won’t care, or even like, the extra RGB LEDs, but that is the ONE reason I will buy this board!!!! Honestly, if I had my way, this board would have even more lighting. 2017 is the year of RGB LED lighting, although it may just be a fad. Now to decide if I’m keeping my 6700k or buying this with that 7700k thing? No IPC improvement, such a shame. Would there possibly be any reason a 7700k would be an advantage over the 6700k? Besides the iGPU being better. lol
Funny, go to ASUS’ site and this board is shown with 8 SATA3 ports and SATAe support. Also is shown with a U.2 port.
O… i kinda liked it, but… i feel they didnt implement the capabilities of the rgb… i mean what if they could take the strix z270, and the main piece of the board, the weird geometric shape near the lower middle right of the board, take that, put it on the next strix or something, and add rgb on all the pointy parts, if anyone has seen the motherboard then how does this seem. i think this would go rlly well, specially if the rgb was blue, across where all the geometric shapes meet… srry this comment was rushed… so may not be worded accurately.
I had a look. The U.S version is the same (https://www.asus.com/us/ROG-Republic-Of-Gamers/ROG-MAXIMUS-IX-FORMULA/) don’t get confused with the Maximus VIII Formula (last gen, incidentally this has 8 SATA ports and U.2)
OK, I see, you’re right. The other board is the Maximus VIII. My bad, thanks.
I to was also pulled in by the lighting option, sucks its $70 more for that vs the Code. So if anyone wants to save $70, the Code is basically the same board, minus the lights and EK chiller. I think Formula has a couple more minuscule options, but if you just need a nice board for gaming and dont care about the options, get the Code. I’ll be getting the Formula… maybe, im waiting for the gtx 1080 ti, launching in February.
Don’t be fooled by the new i7 7700k! its practically the same as the 6700k. IF you get a 6700k and CAN push it to 4.7, it will out perform the 7700k at 5.0 (if you get a 7700k that can go that high). the 6700k at 4.5 is pretty much the same as the 7700k at 5.0. the igpu is practically the same, just a new name. The only REAL difference is they added support for 4K media decoding inside Windows 10’s PlayReady 3.0 DRM, which makes 4K Netflix possible on PC. So unless you absolutely need that…
Besides, Coffee lake (X and S versions with 6 cores 14nm) will be coming out by the end of 2017 and will supposedly be the same socket lga 1151 as per that ive read. Cannon lake is suppose to be for laptops and tablets, lower watts. Ice lake will be out sometime in 2018, more than likely a new socket….? My advice, save your money and keep the 6700k.
review on i7 7700k Kaby lake
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/01/intel-core-i7-7700k-kaby-lake-review/
We are thinking the same way. I’ll stay with the 6700k and get the FORMULA, that will be a nice build. Add a 512GB Samsung PRO 960 M.2 SSD for Windows, and my two ASUS RX 480s, that should get me by.
Why few device’s make use of usb 3.0 speed only really AC network adapters and storage devices
Usb 2 is still more then enough especially if it reduces costs
Dont get me wrong, Im getting the 7700k, im coming from a 3570k (4yo and still rocking 4.4 at 1.22v, not too bad). Im only getting the Formula over the Code because the board i was going to get was $400 also. So the price was already included in my budget. And why the 7700k over the 6700k… why not, its the same price. Im just saying for anyone who already has the 6700k, its not worth it. The only other thing i forgot to mention about the 7700k was some new technology (optane memory support) but it wont be relevant until the end of this year or even into next year sometime. Im waiting on the gtx 1080 ti =( or possibly the Vega depending on what really comes out. I saw the dev card in action. could be better or worse when it comes out… if it stacks up against the 1080 ti in performance vs price, i’ll go Vega.
Will the 6700K support Optane memory?
You are not crazy if u having pcie issues. I believe this is a known problem with all their PCIe slots they manufactured prior to using “safeslot” pcie slots. I have a Asus Rog Maximus viii hero alpha ,I suspect that part reason pcie slots where failing is same reason mine just came off the board with graphics card(EVGA Nvidia 1080 FTWx2) attached. Because they were not attached to the board properly I want to say this because I think a lot of people who were having pcie slots could be related to the same issue. Anyone who has ROG mobo not necessarily even exact same board so long the manufacturing method to attach was same plz msg me as Asus is trying claim physical dmg. I believe this is one main reasons they upgraded to “safeslot” pcie on their strix & rampage series of mobos. Furthermore I believe the weight of the “bigger ” graphic cards such as Nvidia 1060, 1070,1080 and AMD equivalent causes this happen more quickly than say a smaller Graphic cards. In either case I believe ASUS is fully aware of the issues with their Pcie slots prior to their change to “safeslot” furthermore if that was not case why did they make such abig deal about their new and improved pcie slots. Anyone with ROG boards wth similar issues or pcie not working contact me as I will b filling class action lawsuit. I will Not let this stand and let Asus use dispicable tactics to try avoid honoring their warranty or possibly putting spotlight on a recall issue they are trying hide. I have seen many people who claim pcie slots not working and while it’s not exactly same as my issues I believe they are related and will b conducting tests. Any info on slots coming up with video cards please email me at [email protected]