Asus ROG Maximus VII Impact

[Motaa]

It's now listed on Amazon, but only 3rd party sellers actually have it in stock. I'd image it'll be like most "Temporarily out of stock" or "2-4 weeks" Amazon things and actually ship much faster once you place your order.

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Motherboard-MAXIMUS-VII-IMPACT/dp/B00NAWCUS0/

I, for one, will be waiting until Microcenter gets it so I can get the $280 4790k + $40 off motherboard bundle. I love living near a Microcenter. Now if we could just get a Fry's...

You DO NOT want a Fry's...

 

[vipz]

I really miss having a Microcenter in the SF bay area. Fry's does not come close at all.

 

[WiSK]

 

[JaccoW]

P.s. WiSK, that G3258 is a temporary CPU right? Looks like a fun one though.

 

[luggedsteal]

Finally seen in the wild! Not gunna lie, super jealous.

 

[Moogoos]

I really miss having a Microcenter in the SF bay area. Fry's does not come close at all.

+pi

 

[WiSK]

P.s. WiSK, that G3258 is a temporary CPU right? Looks like a fun one though.

Yes, I will put in an i7-5770K when Broadwell is released.

 

[Phuncz]

Argh, mine is in the country, but I highly doubt it will be delivered today

 

[Motaa]

Ordered from a place in stock. FINALLY.

FINALLY.

 

[WiSK]

Argh, mine is in the country, but I highly doubt it will be delivered today

You probably will still be able to plug it in before me. I have to attend a birthday party tonight, dinner with an old friend on Saturday, visit the parents on Sunday. Maybe I have to take a day off work next week to get some time with my new shiny things.

 

[Phuncz]

With some luck, it might be arriving today, but I don't want to jinx it. It is out for delivery but it could still be monday or tuesday in my experience. DPD aren't really committed to deliver ASAP, but they might surprise me this time. I'll be making plenty of photos with macro shots, a good flash for the overview shots and the build into the Ncase.

If anyone needs something very specific photographed, let me know.

 

[Phuncz]

Good news for me, DPD was faster than ever !

Bad news: I forgot someone borrowed my camera, I'll have it back on Sunday. Phone pics are crap... But overall: HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY !!

 

[WiSK]

HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY !!

Woo! Yay!

 

[Phuncz]

I'll be waiting with installing this until I get my camera back. So probably monday I'll install it. In the meanwhile I can stare at the box...

 

[WiSK]

I'll be waiting with installing this until I get my camera back. So probably monday I'll install it. In the meanwhile I can stare at the box...

There are some fun things inside the box too! You can take them out and look, and then sneak them back in before you take the "unboxing" photos

 

[Phuncz]

Yeah a lot of daughterboards are included

I'm probably going to dismantle my Ncase M1 this weekend and have the hardware on piece of cardboard. It gives me a chance to clean the case too. Maybe I'll also flip the rad over and drill a hole in the fan bracket like someone else did to reach the fill port easily.

 

[Polter]

Hi! I just got mine today. It just arrived from Germany (I live in Greece). An Intel Core i7 4790K will keep it company along with 8 Gigs of ram. I can't wait to get started..

 

[WiSK]

Fun fun fun

 

[WiSK]

Aaargh! Wanted to test the system quickly this morning, but my test monitor seems to be broken. Using my daughter's now while she's out playing.

Good excuse to buy a 4K?

 

[Phuncz]

It is itching here too...
But I want to make plenty of pics BEFORE I install it, so patience is going to be needed, with the truckloads.

I cleaned out my Ncase and drilled a hole in the fan bracket for the fillport, swapped the crappy Broadcom card on the ASRock Z87E-ITX for an Intel 7260-AC.

I like it that the Asus ROG Impact has 4 fan-headers, no need for a splitter anymore.

 

[AFD]

..swapped the crappy Broadcom card on the ASRock Z87E-ITX for an Intel 7260-AC.

Hope your 7260 works good. Mine was working near-perfectly for weeks.. until I unplugged the system last night. I've been getting random drop-outs and connectivity issues ever since (still better than the Broadcom AC issues, and works *most* of the time.. but wow, incredibly aggravating). Good luck!

 

[Phuncz]

I am getting the idea the 802.11ac cards are generally iffy and unreliable. I'm curious why this is, because it's not an isolated incident anymore.

 

[AFD]

I'm blaming the incoming CME for my AC disruptions last night, since there's no way a "standard" should be less reliable than the draft-N we had for years

(btw, been testing these AC cards only a foot away from the same router that's been feeding my N devices rock solid on a another floor. Would just go back to wired, but was planning on moving my M1 across the room.)

 

[Cecom]

i build my system. i only want to mention, if not already known, you can boot from the m.2. i used the plextor 512GB one.

 

[Phuncz]

Good of you to confirm !
In the meanwhile I've read the manual. I'm hoping I can boot my Windows 7 install with it, coming from an ASRock Z87E-ITX. I guess it would be best to boot into safe mode, install drivers or should I force detection through OOBE ? I'm going to make a system image before just to be safe.

 

[Phuncz]

Info on the WiFi + BT card:
I have MAC address filtering enabled on my network and while inputting the MAC address for the WiFi of the M7I, I noticed that the first 4 characters (manufacturer ID) are different from Intel. I noticed the EMI shielding was also different with Intel Wireless-AC 7260 I recently got to upgrade/fix the crappy Broadcom card on my ASRock Z87E-ITX.

Now that I compare that erratic and probably defective card from my ASRock motherboard, it looks a lot like the one on the ASUS M7I board. The same Manufacturer ID is present in it's MAC address, so it's probably the same Broadcom chip. So I'm going to swap that one out during install but it is a bummer, considering the annoyances I've had with the Broadcom solution on my ASRock board (erratic BT functionality).

 

[Phuncz]

I just got everything installed, had to use one longer piece of tubing for the watercooling because the CPU block/pump needed to oriented differently. I made a lot of pics but I can't upload them, since Windows doesn't want to detect USB so I can't log in. The problem is I also don't have network for Windows Update to kick in, since I'm using MAC address filtering and I have yet to add it.

There are some install issues and considerations with this board, which I'll elaborate hopefully within 12 hours so others know these before something gets destroyed.

 

[WiSK]

That reminds me I need to do Windows update too. Looking forward to seeing your photos

Edit: 156 important updates lol

 

[Phuncz]

Yeah STRONGLY advised to install drivers before-hand, IF possible. Many drivers have setups that check for the hardware first before installing. Eurgh...

I finally got into my PC, now some maintenance is going on in the background and I need to go out to buy groceries first, but I'll let you know what happened why I couldn't log in:

1st problem: USB is not recognized. Not even the 2.0 ports worked. So no keyboard, no mouse, no USB stick, nothing. I have no PS/2 keyboard in-house so that might have solved some problems. I eventually resolved this by going to the BIOS and disabling xHCI. I couldn't get a driver installed, because Intel's chipset drivers are not available seperately and the USB 3.0 driver doesn't work in Windows Recovery Environment.

2nd problem: no network. I have my router's security down very well with MAC address filtering, limited DHCP range with just the allowed MAC addresses, so I needed to add the MAC address to the router first. You can find it in the BIOS so that wasn't a problem. But the NIC was also not recognized. I came from an ASRock Z87E-ITX which had an Intel i217-V and the Impact has an Intel i218-V. It didn't find the driver. Remember the USB issue above ? That doesn't help. You want to use the CD to look for drivers ? It's an installer. No network, no Windows Update connection for drivers...

To avoid the problems I had, I recommend disabling xHCI ASAP, that way you can atleast log in and install drivers. If you have no ODD, I recommend getting the drivers from the website and put them on a USB stick.

Photos and more stuff will follow soon !!

 

[Phuncz]

1. USB 3.0 still doesn't work properly, my stick capable of over 200MB/sec stays below USB 2.0 spec at 35MB/sec. Probably related to the fact that I can't install the xHCI drivers but I can't use my PC when I enable xHCI in the BIOS.
2. Only the CPU fan header has PWM support (that Asus-rep lied).
3. If you have an "Unknown Device" in Windows Device Manager after installing all drivers, it's the Asus Probe driver.
4. You need the Realtek Asus drivers for the soundcard to be able to map the channels to the correct output for more than stereo speaker setups.

 

[JaccoW]

1. USB 3.0 still doesn't work properly, my stick capable of over 200MB/sec stays below USB 2.0 spec at 35MB/sec. Probably related to the fact that I can't install the xHCI drivers but I can't use my PC when I enable xHCI in the BIOS.
2. Only the CPU fan header has PWM support (that Asus-rep lied).
3. If you have an "Unknown Device" in Windows Device Manager after installing all drivers, it's the Asus Probe driver.
4. You need the Realtek Asus drivers for the soundcard to be able to map the channels to the correct output for more than stereo speaker setups.

Sounds like you are having fun.

You are from The Netherlands right Phuncz?
If you want I have a spare ps/2 keyboard you can have or a really nice one you could borrow.

Keep us updated

 

[Phuncz]

Thx JaccoW, but I'm from Belgium, It would be cheaper (fuel-wise) to just get a really cheap PS/2 keyboard if needed for this one time thing. But I think there is something I'm missing, it shouldn't be this hard since my ASRock Z87E-ITX supported USB 3.0 without disabling the controller...

 

[WiSK]

I didn't even try USB3 yet. I had the odd thing that the mouse did not work in the port directly under the PS/2 socket, but it did in all the other USB2 sockets. I downloaded all drivers on to a memory stick and installed before letting the thing connect to internet itself.

I also received pump, EK-M6I and some acrylic tubing and HDC fittings. So will be getting out the heat gun this week. Might steal Irek's idea of radiator on the bottom and GPU on a riser.

 

[Cecom]

hm, my installation was pretty forward. i didn't had to disable something and my usb worked from beginning. i only had a issue with my SSD's. i have 3 installed and the boot order was strange. so i had to disable 2 from the boot order. now its running like a charm and waiting for the silverstone power supply to close the ncase.

 

[AFD]

1. USB 3.0 still doesn't work properly, my stick capable of over 200MB/sec stays below USB 2.0 spec at 35MB/sec. Probably related to the fact that I can't install the xHCI drivers but I can't use my PC when I enable xHCI in the BIOS.
2. Only the CPU fan header has PWM support (that Asus-rep lied).

So there's just Intel USB 3.0 drivers for the Impact VII? My Z87i installed both Intel USB 3.0 controller driver and Asmedia USB 3.0 drivers (and required AiSuite if I wanted to use the "fast-charging" feature).

#2.. that's such bullshit. Thanks for letting us know, though!

 

[Phuncz]

I believe the Z97 chipset has more native USB 3.0 ports, 6 native I believe, which this board also has (4 in the I/O, 2 with the header).

hm, my installation was pretty forward. i didn't had to disable something and my usb worked from beginning.

Do you have Windows 8 ? I'm using Windows 7. I've seen someone else online also complaining about being unable to use any USB device when xHCI is enabled.

 

[Phuncz]

Yes finally I was able to fix the USB issue ! It seems that Windows was using a bad driver for it (even though Z87 and Z97 use the same one).

I was able to fix it by enabling xHCI (setting it to Auto Smart) in the BIOS and then by FORCING it through Update driver -> Manually select... --> Have disk --> go to "Intel USB 3.0 installer dir"\Drivers\xHCI\Win7\x64\ and ignoring the "your PC will explode blabla" warning. It then found another device (PCI yadda yadda) which I needed to force the same way but with the "HCSwitch" subdir instead of "xHCI" and then it suddenly found all my USB devices.

BUT to even be able to login and click, I had to first enable Remote Desktop access (with xHCI disabled so in USB 2.0 mode) and then I was able to log in through Microsoft Remote Connection on my iPad on my PC. Oh boy...

But it works ! As the image shows my 64GB SanDisk Extreme's sequential speeds.

Pictures are next and then I'll be seeing why my CPU and GPU temps are all 15-20°C lower than before.

 

[WiSK]

Lol wow Phuncz!

 

[rontruong]

I just got everything installed, had to use one longer piece of tubing for the watercooling because the CPU block/pump needed to oriented differently. I made a lot of pics but I can't upload them, since Windows doesn't want to detect USB so I can't log in. The problem is I also don't have network for Windows Update to kick in, since I'm using MAC address filtering and I have yet to add it.

There are some install issues and considerations with this board, which I'll elaborate hopefully within 12 hours so others know these before something gets destroyed.

How is the fitment with the h220? Is it similar to the VI Impact? I'm not sure if you had the last VI impact... just guessing haha

 

[Phuncz]

Picture time !

A rare view online, it's the back of the power daughterboard. You can also see the CPU fan header to the right.

The mPCIe Combo card, featuring the 802.11ac WiFi and BT4.0. I was under the impression it was Intel. I already removed the screws from the protective shroud on this picture. The black screw is needed to mount it onto the motherboard. No idea why the screw hole on the left is for.

The back of the same card, also with the screw removed. Here you can see the M.2 Socket "3" as it is called for PCIe x4 support. Note the label, with "Model: BCM..." and "Contains AW-...", Broadcom and AzureWave ?

Yep that's a Broadcom solution on an AzureWave chip. The same as the ASRock Z87E-ITX (and I guess the Z97E-ITX/ac too) which I so dreaded because of iffy behavior.

Here you can see the Combo card mounted on the motherboard. And I already installed an Intel Wireless-AC 7260 under there.

This little fella is the CoolHub or they might have called it a fan-hub.

As you can see, it doesn't offer much more than two seemingly PWM fan headers (CHA_FAN2 & 3) and the LN2 mode switch which maybe 0.1% of us might ever use.

That card slots in between the four USB ports and the video + S/PDIF ports on the I/O panel. If you would ever use a TPM module, mind the limited space.

Very limited space... Notice that the PCB doesn't extend above the highest I/O panel connector housing.

Yeah this is one of the more sexy parts of the motherboard ! Mind those screws though !! Mine were wound so tightly that unscrewing meant applying so much force that it would bend the metal brackets it was screwed in !! I choose to remove the screws from the back of the PCB, so I could use needle-nose pliers on the small brackets without bending them too much. Before you screw this daughterboard on the motherboard, I recommend you attach the mPCIe Combo card first and route the antenna cables under the sound-card daughterboard. Otherwise you'll need to route it over the card.

Those screws attach the PCB to the metal brackets I mentioned above. Is the PCB dirty or greasy ? No, it has a matte coating and it's hard to photograph with just my compact camera and without a proper lighting setup.

The Q-Cable, as Asus calls this. This could have been done a lot better, it's just a useful accessory if you change motherboards a lot, otherwise it makes no sense and I could have done a better job sleeving it myself.

Overall picture of the back. Not much of interest here.

Note the black screw on the bottom left which secures the mPCIe IV Combo card and the two screws in the middle which holds the SupremeFX card in place. You can also see the matte coating better. It is still black or atleast some very dark gray because of light diffusion.

WTF is this ? This is a screwhole to secure the motherboard into a case and it has a nut with a screw in it ?! It is ofcourse for the power daughterboard and heatsink, but the manual doesn't mention this or I completely missed it. Ofcourse remove it before installing it into the case.

The same on the other side. Don't worry, the power daughterboard or heatsink won't fall off when these are removed but I wouldn't recommend holding the motherboard with just that daughterboard as they seem to just be glued and soldered after removing the screws.

CPU and RAM has been installed, along with all the daughterboards. The manual warns specifically to not remove the plastic socket protector "manually", but opening the socket clamp, seating the CPU, closing the clamp and the protector should pop out. I have no clue why that would be better than just taking it out manually before seating the CPU but I tried it like the manual says and it indeed works.

BOOM ! Inside the Ncase M1. As you can see, I noticed it too late (for my laziness) to route the WiFi+BT antenna cables under the sound-card daughterboard, so I fixed it to the side of the case with two tiny zip-ties. I had to force the I/O cover holes open with a screwdriver, they weren't going to come loose without a fight.

GPU mounted, CPU-block mounted (mind the orientation), changed one of the tubing pieces.