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Maximus VI Formula Discussion Thread

Raja
Level 13
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






Use this thread to discuss/share results when you get your boards folks 🙂
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1,087 REPLIES 1,087

IcezX2K
Level 7
Thx Raja, I had my finger on the trigger for the Sniper G1 so I held off just a bit longer 😉

There does not seem to be allot of information about the built in sound available. Any reviews?

Raja
Level 13
Boards should have gone out been to editors so there should be some reviews at some point (might be a few weeks i guess). What do you want to know about the audio?

well, I was wondering what would make it better than the creative labs core3D solution

Raja
Level 13
Mainly the hardware side of things - the SNR of the creative chipset is a lot lower. Shoud result in better clarity and being able to pinpoint where sounds are coming from etc.

-Raja

Shadowline_2332
Level 7
Yeah I am wondering if the on board audio that comes on this board is better than the sound card that I already have, Xonar Pheobus.
Motherboard: Asus Maximus VI Formula
CPU: Intel Core i7 4770K
GPUs: 2 EVGA GTX-780SC Reference Cooler
Sound: Asus Xonar Pheobus
SSD: Intel 520 Series Cherryville, 240gb
HDDs: 2x WD 1TB
Cooling: XSPC Raystorm Block, XSPC EX240 Multiport Radiator, Bitspower Fittings, Monsoon Series Two Premium D5/MCP655 Dual Bay Reservoir, Swiftech MCP655-PWM-DRIVE 12v Water Pump Module
Case: Cooler Master Cosmos II

Shadowline_2332 wrote:
Yeah I am wondering if the on board audio that comes on this board is better than the sound card that I already have, Xonar Phoebus.


On board solutions are always good, can be really good...but Sound Cards are better 🙂

I guess at this point, Im trying to figure out what 100$ buys me.

If I go SLI I may use two PCIe lanes.. I will never go beyond that. Third SLI lane is a bust.
Is the sound on the formula an upgrade over the Gene?

So really.. are the features of the Forumla worth 100$ instead of just buying the Gene.

Right now all I see is an extra PCIe and themral armor... maybe a few more ports here and there... is there any thing I am missing?

IcezX2K wrote:
I guess at this point, Im trying to figure out what 100$ buys me.

If I go SLI I may use two PCIe lanes.. I will never go beyond that. Third SLI lane is a bust.
Is the sound on the formula an upgrade over the Gene?

So really.. are the features of the Formula worth 100$ instead of just buying the Gene.

Right now all I see is an extra PCIe and themral armor... maybe a few more ports here and there... is there any thing I am missing?


The Formula will offer compared to the Gene

Integrated 802.11AC ( Dual Band Wireless with Bluetooth 4.0 ) The gene does not offer integrated wireless but can support it via the mCombo module

Additional SATA ports 10 vs 8

Superior Sound - The integrated discrete solution on the Formula is our most advanced design offering improved components and quality compared to that of Hero and Gene which are already quite solid. It really steps it up to a higher class offering superior tonality, warmth separation and clarity. There are WIMA audio grade capacitors and a much higher end headphone OPAMP along with a dual differential design that also incorporates a DAC for processing. These are all first for the SupremeFX audio design. If you have a nice pair of headphones or speakers the audio alone on this board is worth the cost increase.
Integrated watercooling support via CrossChill VRM cooling solution ( can run passive and under water while offering native G 1/4 thread support


Overall you get quite a bit for the cost increase. If you are only going to due single GPU though or possibly SLI then Hero or Gene are still outstanding choices and overclocking wise will give you a great result as well. Additionally the audio is still improved just not to the extent of the Formula.

Also to clarify the Formula offers 2 Way SLI support and 3 Way Crossfire.

Hope this helps.

hiusray
Level 7
I produce music and already have an audio interface which works as a sound card. I'm mostly looking forward to the surround sound solution.

IcezX2K
Level 7
I was refering to the core3d onboard solution like what gigabyte is offering. Odds are I wont be able to hear any difference with my corsair speakers any way. ( That is descrite vs built in )

Most higher end sound setups these days are digital any way. Even with my high end sound blaster a few years ago the quality did not compare to the ATI sound running through my reciever and higher quality speakers (Klipsh vs corsair speakers)

And of course your limited to what you ear can hear as well.