Maximus VI Formula Discussion Thread

Raja@ASUS

ASUS Community Support
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Maximus VI Formula Overview and Discussion Thread
The Maximus VI Formula should be available to purchase in a few weeks. A motherboard many have been waiting for, and for good reason. Plenty of cool features on offer, we won't go into them all, but have picked out some of the salient ones for you to check out below:

Board layout and features at a glance:



Gaming Features



SupremeFX







The Maximus VI Formula sports a specialized audio solution called SupremeFX. Based on Realtek’s latest ALC1150 chipset, the Cirrus Logic DAC and the TPA6120 headphone amplifier and an optimized PCB layout - isolating PCB layers and spacing sensitive traces away from other areas of the motherboard. Shielding is also utilized to minimize spurious noise from entering signal lines. High quality capacitors are used for power supply decoupling to minimize ripple and provide a low impedance at audio critical frequencies. The end result is a 120dB SNR, placing the Maximus VI Formula's onboard audio solution on par with the best discrete soundcards available.


On the software side, the latest addition to the package is Sonic Radar:





The Sonic Radar GUI

Sonic Radar is a HUD that is useful in FPS games. It shows a visual representation of where sounds are coming from. The location of footsteps, gunshots, explosions and anything else is shown in the 360 degree HUD while gaming:




BF3 – Sonic Radar showing direction of audio effects



The HUD can be made more transparent and its location on the screen changed. Sonic Radar very useful feature when gaming with stereo headsets, where surround effects are simulated and may not be easy to pinpoint.



On the subject of headsets, Perfect Voice has been added to improve the clarity of VOIP calls. It’s a software based filter that uses digital signal processing to remove noise pickup from your mic while making a call:






DSP helps reduce ambient noise for clearer comms


Perfect Voice works with any plug in microphone/headset to clean up voice transmission during calls.




ROG RAMDISK




With high density memory modules and kits becoming the norm, many of us have an abundance of free memory on our systems that never gets utilized. ROG RAM Disk has been coded to take advantage of that free space to help speed up the system.





ROG RAM Disk GUI


Unlike many free RAM drive tools, ROG RAM DISK has no size limitations – up to 80% of the free memory (not used by the OS) can be configured as a RAM drive.


To get you an idea of how fast a RAM drive is, check the screenshot below:




10000 MB/s sequential write speeds​


Applications stored on ROG RAM DISK are written to hard storage (HHD/SSD) when the system is prompted for shutdown.



Of course, re-installing games to the RAM DISK would be a painful experience. That's why ROG RAM DISK has a feature know as Junction Mode.







Setting a junction point to a game folder allows critical game files to be transferred to the RAM DISK without interfering with the original installation. Just point the software at the game folder and it will take care of the rest. This way, critical files such as maps can be accessed directly from the RAM DISK, speeding up load times.



Discussing features is fine, but what really matters for many users in knowing a board can overclock and run stable. How about 24 hour stability testing? Here's a few screenies from JJ, showing the Maximus VI Formula running different memory configs and CPU overclocks:



Over 24 hours AIDA64 passed at 4.7GHz DDR3-2800 16GB 4x4




Over 24 hours AIDA64 passed at 4.6GHz DDR3-2133 32GB 8X4






4.8GHz DDR3-2400 AIDA 1 Hour - right at the limits of the CPU and cooling







Video Overview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nUGXIONBD9s








Use this thread to discuss/share results when you get your boards folks. :)
 
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2 Questions before I buy (and I have been waiting).

1) Is the waterblock / heatsink Copper or Aluminum?
2) Is the Chipset Gen2 or will it be released with the USB3 bug?
 
1. Getting a pic/info for you: I'ts an alu heatsink that has an anodized coating in the water channel from what I just got told.

2. Should be C2 as far as I am aware (will get confirmation). Impact is C2, so I would have thought this will be as well. EDIT: Formula will be C1 for a while. Impact will be all C2.

-Raja
 
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That sonic radar is cool but I think it is cheating. :D
 
1. Getting a pic/info for you: I'ts an alu heatsink that has an anodized coating in the water channel from what I just got told.

2. Should be C2 as far as I am aware (will get confirmation). Impact is C2, so I would have thought this will be as well. EDIT: Formula will be C1 for a while. Impact will be all C2.

-Raja
Thanks for getting back to me.

Bummer on the heatsink design, I don't know of any watercooler who will subject his loop to aluminum, so its basically only useful as an aircooler then. Aluminum will cause all kinds of corrosion issues, and no way I would trust type II anodizing alone to stop it. Then with the armor on the board is the block even removable or replaceable? I would still consider the board if the block was replaceable.
 
@Raja

Will SupremeFX onboard sound be substantially superior than the Creative Titanium HD soundcard? On paper it seems specs are higher on the SupremeFX vs the outdated TitaniumHD.

Looking at running the Z5500 speakers via optical. Which would be the better way to go.

Cheers.
 
If the audio is so great why is graphical radar needed?




Good audio should show you where the enemy is at by hearing them not with a graphical radar. This really seems like cheating.
 
[CoF] ATOMIC;1040091411 said:
@Raja

Will SupremeFX onboard sound be substantially superior than the Creative Titanium HD soundcard? On paper it seems specs are higher on the SupremeFX vs the outdated TitaniumHD.

Looking at running the Z5500 speakers via optical. Which would be the better way to go.

Cheers.

I have never heard the Titanium HD, so cannot help you on that one.
 
If the audio is so great why is graphical radar needed?




Good audio should show you where the enemy is at by hearing them not with a graphical radar. This really seems like cheating.

You don't have to install it - it's optional, not mandatory.
 
So will the aluminum waterblock and or chipset heatsink be removable so I can put watercooling there?
 
If you don't trust the electroplating - It's probably screw mounted. Doubt you need to watercool it anyway as Haswell pulls such low current.

-Raja
 
Hi Raja,

Will this and other mobo's be labeled/marked as Rev 2 or something when they have the C2 chipset? How will we tell which stepping we are getting when ordering the board?
 
The VI Formula is finally listed on newegg!!! Just ordered mine after what seemed like years of waiting :D
 
Raja, can you give detail about the differences between the audio on the Formula and the Hero?
 
This all looks pretty great; if I was to update now I'd definitely grab another ROG board for these kind of features. Can't decide if I want to go with the Extreme, Hero, or Formula though... (I'm really glad they've announced the ROG mATX and mITX boards - hope they can offer all these for AMD platforms as well as Intel!).

I really hope all these great functions are available/compatible with Linux. For instance, I like the integrated 802.11ac + Bluetooth 4.0 miniPCIe (and antenna with long extensions!) - but what chipset does it use? Is it supported under Linux? Etc...
 
I can't tell from the newegg pictures if the aluminum water block is removable or not. Looks like you might have to remove the armor to get to it? Oh well, still waiting for C2 steppings, :(

Raja, can you give detail about the differences between the audio on the Formula and the Hero?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...S&percm=13-131-989:$$$$$$$;13-132-038:$$$$$$$

not perfect, but more SATA ports, more USB3, bluetooth, wireless AC, and a few other features like RAM disk.
 
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I was curious specifically about the audio. They both advertise SupremeFX, but the implementation appears to be improved on the Formula.
 
The Formula has an onboard cirrus logic DAC, so boasts a better SNR and has an onboard headphone amp to drive headphones up to 600 ohms. Subjectively it should sound better on most headphones and good speakers.

-Raja
 
This Formula packs a ton of quality and features for the price. Very nice. To bad it doesn't have the C2 fix though.
 
wish the M6F formula had at least one X4 PCI Express slot instead of three X1 slots.
still probably gonna get it when the C2 revision is released and prices come down.
 
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One thing that really disappoints me about the VI Formula is that the PCI-E lane allocation options that we have is a PCIe 3.0 x8/x4/x4 layout when all three are occupied. With this arrangement of lanes, fitting the final x4 with a sound/raid card drops my second video card from x8 to x4 and disables two-way SLI entirely. I just found this out while i was tearing my hair out trying to figure out why the enable sli option was missing from the nvidia control panel. Now i have to figure out how i wanna fit my ZXR in my build without having heat issues.
 
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Use one of the X1 slots for the soundcard would be my advice. There are only 16X PCIe 3.0 lanes from the CPU, so the bandwidth is shared between the slots.
 
Thank you for the reply Raja, very much appreciate your presence in these forums, i knew it was too much to hope for Asus to squeeze in Asmedia PLX 8747 splitter architecture into the Formula, that's what the Extreme is for lol.

I'll have to see if i can use my PCIe 4X sata/esata card in one of the 1X slots, should still work that way, might have to cut away some of the ROG Armor to do this; or, just get a slower 1X controller; or, use two full size slots and lose a few GPU FPS running dual 8X bandwidth.. compromises.. honestly, i just really want the SupremeFX Formula audio in an Extreme config w/2 lanes going to a X2 slot or X4 slot if possible; and, without the subzero sense/oc panel pricey addons.
Anyway, thanks again, probably time i rethink my storage/backup solution anyway.
 
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Use one of the X1 slots for the soundcard would be my advice. There are only 16X PCIe 3.0 lanes from the CPU, so the bandwidth is shared between the slots.

Since all 16X slots are shared, would i still be able to run SLI if i moved my second video card to the very bottom 16X slot to make more space for airflow in between them when using a center 1X slot? I have a SLI bridge that will fit if it comes to that.
 
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Since all 16X slots are shared, would i still be able to run SLI if i moved my second video card to the very bottom 16X slot to make more space for airflow in between them when using a center 1X slot? I have a SLI bridge that will fit if it comes to that.
When using the bottom x16 slot, regardless if anything is in the second x16 slot, the bottom slot will run at x4 speed.
 
When using the bottom x16 slot, regardless if anything is in the second x16 slot, the bottom slot will run at x4 speed.

Well that really sucks. I don't see why they couldn't make it like the Hero where the last slot is PCIe 2.0 and wouldn't affect SLI. I think i might return the board and get a different model.
 
LGA 1150 Z87 Expansion Slot Operating Modes..

ASUS MAXIMUS VI FORMULA
3 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16, 3 x PCIe 2.0 x1, 1 x mini-PCIe 2.0 x1
x16/ x0/ x0/
x8/ x8/ x0/
x8/ x4/ x4/
x8/ x0/ x4/

ASUS MAXIMUS VI HERO
1 PCIe 3.0 x16, 1 PCIe 2.0 x16, 3 PCIe x1, 1 mini-PCIe 2.0 x1
x16/ x0/
x8/ x8/

ASUS MAXIMUS VI GENE
1 PCIe 3.0, 1 PCIe 2.0 x16, 1 PCIe 2.0 x4, 1 mini-PCIe 2.0 x1
x16/ x0/
x8/ x8/


Here's a list of Z87 boards that maintain full x16 PCIe 3.0 bandwidth in 1 slot while
populating 1-2 x4-x16 cards in other fullsize slots.

ASUS MAXIMUS VI EXTREME
5 PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16, 1 PCIe 2.0 x4
x16
x8/x16/x8/x8
x8/x16/x8/x0
x8/x8 native mode

ASUS Z87-WS
4 PCIe 3.0 x16 (dual space), 2 PCIe 2.0 x1
x16/x16
x16/x8/x8
x8/x8/x8/x8

MSI Z87 XPOWER
5 PCIe 3.0 x16, 2 PCIe 2.0 x1
x16/ x0/ x0/ x16/ x0
x0/ x16/ x0/ x0/ x0
x8/ x0/ x8/ x16/ x0
x8/ x0/ x8/ x8/ x8

MSI Z87 MPOWER & MPOWER Max
3 PCIe 3.0 x16, 4 PCIe ?.0 x1
x16/x4/x4
x8/x8/x4

MSI Z87-GD65 Gaming
3 PCIe 3.0 x16, 4 PCIe ?.0 x1
x16/x4/x4
x8/x8/x4

GIGABYTE G1.Sniper 5
2 PCIe 3.0 x16, 2 PCIe 3.0 x8, 3 PCIe 2.0 x1
x16/ x16/ x0/ x0/
x16/ x8/ x0/ x8/
x8/ x16/ x8/ x0/
x8/ x8/ x8/ x8/

GIGABYTE GA-Z87X-OC Force
3 PCIe 3.0 x16, 2 PCIe ?.0 x8, 2 PCIe x1
x16* *native
x16, x16
x16, x8, x8
x8, x8, x8, x8

ASRock Z87 Extreme9/ac
5 PCIe 3.0 x16, 1 PCIe 2.0 x1, 1 mini-PCIe
x16/ x0/ x0/ x16/ x0/
x0/ x16/ x0/ x0/ x0/
x8/ x0/ x8/ x8/ x0/
x8/ x0/ x8/ x8/ x8/
 
[CoF] ATOMIC;1040116099 said:

Well, anodizing really isn't a coating, I mean it is and it isn't.
http://www.anodizing.org/Anodizing/what_is_anodizing.html

"Anodizing is an electrochemical process that converts the metal surface into a decorative, durable, corrosion-resistant, anodic oxide finish.

"The anodic oxide structure originates from the aluminum substrate and is composed entirely of aluminum oxide. This aluminum oxide is not applied to the surface like paint or plating, but is fully integrated with the underlying aluminum substrate, so it cannot chip or peel. It has a highly ordered, porous structure that allows for secondary processes such as coloring and sealing."

Quick Google on galvanid corrosion and annodizing:
http://www.thomasnet.com/about/aluminum-anodizing-1790203.html

"Anodized aluminum, although generally corrosion resistant, is nonetheless subject to galvanic corrosion. This means that contact with many other metals, including copper and steel, will cause corrosion."

Yea anodizing isn't going to do much of anyhthing for you. The watercooling solution is worthless and very disappointing, unless your going to get a dedicated aluminum rezervoir and pump, or plan on using something like a 50/50 mix of antifreeze and water which can stain your tubing and reduce efficiency of the rest of your system.

Basically a standard heatsink would have been better than this useless waterblock.

LGA 1150 Z87 Expansion Slot Operating Modes..
So the formula is no good if I want to run SLI or only no good if I want to run SLI and use a 3rd slot (thinking 780's or dual 690s even)? I still don't think I grasp exactly how shared pcie slots work.
 
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Looks like all the big name "flagship" mother board builders that have chipset water cooling block use this same poor aluminum material. Bummer because it is only going to cause water cooling problems. Terrible idea.
 
hi Justintoxicated, Formula's PCIe setup is fine running 2 cards in SLI at X8/X8 (dual x8).

GPU performance difference running X8 vs X16 less than 7% framerate if a GPU is strong enough to
stress X8 bandwidth and you're running high resolution (above 2560x1600) and/or multiple displays -
- you probably won't even notice any differences.

Link to a 3-year old comparison (but GPU cards/games are more powerful now..):
http://hardocp.com/article/2010/08/23/gtx_480_sli_pcie_bandwidth_perf_x16x16_vs_x8x8
I do not believe the Formula supports 3 NV cards; however, 3 AMD Crossfire is supported
(but why would anyone do this in a Formula).

As Raja mentioned, the Formula is designed to utilize native Intel 16 lane PCIe bus architecture.
As you know, Asus divided up the 16 lanes into 3 fullsize slots to function in these combinations:
x16/ x0/ x0/, x8/ x8/ x0/, x8/ x4/ x4/ (3rd slot locked to x4).

Going with 780/690's I'd prefer at least X16/X8 config (Formula doesn't do it).
So, looking for something with more PCIe features/futureproof.
Looking at Asus Z87-WS/M6Extreme, MSI Xpower, Gigabyte G1.Sniper5, Asrock Extreme9/ac.
These boards have an additional PLX PEX (8747) bridge which adds as many as 48 PCIe lanes (w/some latency).
Usually advertised supporting 3/4-way CrossFireX/SLI targeted at niche poweruser/enthusiast/pros.

Need a board that will maintain x16 single or x16/x16 or x16/x8 dual GPU's running 1440x2560 maxed also
running x4-x8 eSATA/SATA HBA/raid and analogIOpreamp-midi cards - so a gaming/mediadataserver/workstation.
Probably get the Asus Z87-WS soon as i find a way to confirm its got the revised C2 stepping Southbridge chipset.

About the CrossChill in the Formula, its odd they went with aluminum, in the previous ROG generation
'hybrid thermal solution' they used 100% copper heatpipe and a water cooling channel with electroplated barb fittings.
i know a single loop is preferable; but have you considered a separate all aluminum loop maybe?
How about modding a sacrificial soft-metal grounded anode in a transparent reservoir to prevent/monitor
galvanic/electrolysis corrosion! :eek:
 
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No one is going to run a seperate ALU loop for this wonky motherboard cooling, that's just stupid.

This is basically Asus dropping the ball in the worst way possible on their best 'prosumer' board. While JJ's been making the rounds at the various enthusiast sites touting the virtues of the new crosslink hybrid VRM heatsink, we find out through a random forum question that it's basically complete garbage, made out of anodized alu which will still corrode cu. This added cost to the board, yet it is totally useless for the intended market.

Why did we take a step forward on the M6F with G 1/4 ports, but go to an alu water-channel? Can we expect the same for whatever the Poseidon ends up shipping as? Is this blind ignorance in design, or are they hoping people are dumb enough to assume that since the M5F was a copper water channel, obviously the M6F would be too? The board is late to the party and still shipping with a C1 Z87, yet the impact coming soon after is already C2. Now it's really an obscure bug correction that won't affect many people, but it just adds on the impression that the M6F is a lemon that wasn't worth waiting for.
 
hi Justintoxicated, Formula's PCIe setup is fine running 2 cards in SLI at X8/X8 (dual x8).

GPU performance difference running X8 vs X16 less than 7% framerate if a GPU is strong enough to
stress X8 bandwidth and you're running high resolution (above 2560x1600) and/or multiple displays -
- you probably won't even notice any differences.

Link to a 3-year old comparison (but GPU cards/games are more powerful now..):
http://hardocp.com/article/2010/08/23/gtx_480_sli_pcie_bandwidth_perf_x16x16_vs_x8x8
I do not believe the Formula supports 3 NV cards; however, 3 AMD Crossfire is supported
(but why would anyone do this in a Formula).

As Raja mentioned, the Formula is designed to utilize native Intel 16 lane PCIe bus architecture.
As you know, Asus divided up the 16 lanes into 3 fullsize slots to function in these combinations:
x16/ x0/ x0/, x8/ x8/ x0/, x8/ x4/ x4/ (3rd slot locked to x4).

Going with 780/690's I'd prefer at least X16/X8 config (Formula doesn't do it).
So, looking for something with more PCIe features/futureproof.
Looking at Asus Z87-WS/M6Extreme, MSI Xpower, Gigabyte G1.Sniper5, Asrock Extreme9/ac.
These boards have an additional PLX PEX (8747) bridge which adds as many as 48 PCIe lanes (w/some latency).
Usually advertised supporting 3/4-way CrossFireX/SLI targeted at niche poweruser/enthusiast/pros.

Need a board that will maintain x16 single or x16/x16 or x16/x8 dual GPU's running 1440x2560 maxed also
running x4-x8 eSATA/SATA HBA/raid and analogIOpreamp-midi cards - so a gaming/mediadataserver/workstation.
Probably get the Asus Z87-WS soon as i find a way to confirm its got the revised C2 stepping Southbridge chipset.

About the CrossChill in the Formula, its odd they went with aluminum, in the previous ROG generation
'hybrid thermal solution' they used 100% copper heatpipe and a water cooling channel with electroplated barb fittings.
i know a single loop is preferable; but have you considered a separate all aluminum loop maybe?
How about modding a sacrificial soft-metal grounded anode in a transparent reservoir to prevent/monitor
galvanic/electrolysis corrosion! :eek:

Ok, then sadly I guess I understood it better than I thought. I was hoping to grab at least 2x780's or 2x690s so I guess this board is not for me, I do plan to run 3 monitors but probably not while gaming (would be nice someday, but then replacing a MB would be the cheap part of that setup.). Bummer as it has a lot of other features I liked.

Aluminum waterblock is pretty sad too. Tempted it just wait and see if they will do an x79 refresh, although that seems overkill too :(

You would think the gaming boards would be SLI ready, rather than having to buy a WS board. WTH?
 
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