Is the ASUS Maximus Extreme their top-of-the-line motherboard?

no, some of the deluxe options and workstations options are higher end.
 
As far as chipsets go...the maximus extreme is top of the line.
 
ASUS has many top end lines. The x38 chipset is the second best (x48 being the best but not really out yet).

At any chipset asus turns out their deluxe (all frills, best options, top end), ROG (tuned for gamers top end), and workstation (self explanitory top end)... what you want is up to you based on the options and the like, but the ROG isn't the best of the best. And on all prior chipsets, the ROG tends to take second place behind the deluxe (workstation is it's own monster).

And unless you are strictly gaming, that deluxe is the higher end part.

If it's for work, that PCIX makes said board a hell of a lot more high end then the ROG or deluxe line.

If you have to ask the options, the ROG is for you.
 
The Maximus Extreme is their top of the line mobo for the X38 chipset. The P5K3 Deluxe is the top of the line for the P35 chipset. The Striker Extreme is the top of the line for the 680i chipset (debatable). In a month or so, they will release the Striker II Extreme and the Striker II Formula and the one with the more features will be the top of the line for the 780i (790i?) chipset. You can't really pick one top of the line because there are different chipsets with different features.
 
I like sticking to Intel chipset motherboards.

The system would mainly be used for video editing with Sony Vegas and maybe animation with 3DStudioMax and Maya.
 
Praetorius said:
The system would mainly be used for video editing with Sony Vegas and maybe animation with 3DStudioMax and Maya.
Click to expand...

Then what is probably most important to you will be a high-end quad-core processor and a Quadro, FireGL, or other professional-grade graphics card. I doubt the chipset or other features will have that much effect on it, other than the stability, hence sticking with an Intel chipset is probably wise.

A simple P5K/DS3L/IP35-E with a quality graphics card and a QX9650 processor would probably be plenty good, unless you want/need/will use any of the features of the more expensive motherboards, such as more USB ports, Firewire, a better sound chip, more SATA ports, eSATA, Wifi, two Ethernet ports, etc... There really is no other advantage to higher-end boards, except maybe slightly better overclockability.
 
The thing that I noticed that sets the P5E3 Deluxe apart from the rest of the motherboards is that it supports DDR3 1800 MHz memory AND a 1600 FSB speed bus.

Aren't these two specs together pretty significant?
 
Only if you're planning to extreme overclock or something. Except in benchmarks, there's really very little advantage to DDR3 right now, no matter the speed. The Core 2 is not particularly bandwidth starved. Any P35/X38 motherboard worth its salt will overclock the FSB to well beyond 1600 FSB anyway.
 
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