OC3D Review: ASUS Maximus II Formula P45 Motherboard

[JN]

"With more features than ever before, very cool looking heatsinks and a shiny new chipset. Does the Maximus II have what it takes to be crowned P45 King?" - By Webbo

ASUS Maximus II Formula P45 Motherboard

 

[Bungral]

Tis very very nice indeed. I really like the look of it.

That said.. With the new Rampage looking just as good, If I had the wedge and was after a new mobo, I'd plump for the Rampage.

 

[Mr. Smith]

Rich, your OC tests - is the 3.9 jiggahurtz stable or just a screenie? Also, how does that compare to other mobos you've had the chip on?

I think that is relevant...

Ta

 

[w3bbo]

Prime95 was run for overnight (8 hours) aswell as a 1hr hour OCCT run - not exactly proof of 24/7 stability but it's good enough imo. This is compared against similar results with the MSI and P5Q deluxe. I rated the Maximus higher as, along with the ridiculous amount of BIOS tweaks available with more time and a more mature BIOS it is my belief the Maximus can at least equal the P5Q, not only that but gaming wise the maximus is already ahead of the P5Q albeit not by much.

Also overclocking on air, as I'm sure you are aware, can be heavily influenced by ambient air temps which due to the recent hot weather is limiting the possibilities. Using phase change is not realy an option as it isn't indicative of the 'average' user and wouldn't give a fair representation of the possibilities of the motherboard.

Because the P45 uses PCIE 2.0 which is double the bandwidth of PCIe 1.1 the need for 16 lanes is debatable so going for an X48 (which appears not to clock as good as P45) is not a decision that should be taken lightly. I guess it comes down to if you want every last ounce of CPU or GPU power - CPU = P45, GPU=X48 imo.

 

[Luigi]

Wow, Nice review

One thing that was in the press release, but I didnt see demonstrated, was the removable part of heatpipe cooling on the NB?

Is this possible?

 

[WC Annihilus]

Edit: think I read that wrong

 

[Luigi]

Yeah, apparently just the NB part can be taking off for water cooling, so you dont have to do the whole board?

 

[WC Annihilus]

Looking at the removed assembly pic, I don't really see how that would work, but I suppose I should let webbo answer this one

 

[w3bbo]

Yes it is possible - I'll upload a pic of that for you but I didn't include it in the review due to space constraints and the fact I can't understand why anyone would want to as if you are going to apply an aftermarket solution, the whole heatpipe would be best to be removed. I thought it better to include the whole heatpipe removal than just the top of the NB.

Just for you :

As you can see, if you used an aftermarket solution you would in effect be creating a sandwhich effect and the cooling would be hampered by having to battle with two lots of TIM. Hence, best to remove the whole lot if that is your aim.

 

[Pjalchemist]

Loving my bord. Right out the box been able to hit 600FSB after latest BIOS update. It is eye catching. I can see there point in regards to the NB WC option, not much room to play though. Glad they have ditched push pins and the so called TIM. Think they lost too many bords that way! Luck has it i have an X38 IHS so when it come to going DICE on the NB i'll lid it. Nice review and nice ES bord!

 

[w3bbo]

Cheers Pete

 

[ogmw]

Hello im new to these forums and to overclocking so hello...

I have the Same MB and a Q6600 CPU and OCZ DDR2 platinum 800 RAM...

Just wanting to know the settings for the 3.6ghz OC and also is it stable?

Thanks