ASUS Maximus VII Hero Preview
Category : Z97
Published by Marc Büchel on 28.04.14
ASUS has decided to equip their Hero motherboard with the new Z97 Express chipset from Intel. Other than that ASUS also decided to reposition the Maximus VII Hero on the market and today the Hero doesn't mark the entry into ASUS' ROG class. The Hero comes with a bunch of interesting features and it could be one of these products that perfectly match a sweet spot in case of price/performance.
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The Maximus VII Hero from ASUS targeting the sweet-spot, when it comes to Intels latest Z97 chipset. With an appealing feature mix as well as an attractive price, ASUS is trying to conquer gamers as well as overclockers hearts.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
Specs and Delivery
| Chipset | Intel Z97 |
| Memory | Dual Channel DDR3, 4 x DIMM, Max. 32 GB DDR3, 3200(O.C.) / 3100(O.C.) / 3000(O.C.) / 2933(O.C.) / 2800(O.C.) / 2666(O.C.) / 2600(O.C.) / 2500(O.C.) / 2400(O.C.) / 2200(O.C.) / 2133(O.C.) / 2000(O.C.) / 1866(O.C.) / 1800(O.C.) / 1600 / 1333 MHz Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory |
| Multi-GPU |
|
| Slots |
|
| Sound | ROG SupremeFX Audio 8-Channel High
Definition Audio
|
| Storage | Intel Z97 chipset
|
| Network |
|
| Internal Connectors |
|
| Extrenal Connectors |
|
| Forfactor | ATX (30.5cm x 24.4cm) |
| BIOS | Bios (64 Mb flash ROM, UEFI AMI BIOS) |
- 2 x 2-in-1 SATA 6Gbps cables
- 1 x SLI bridge
- 1 x I/O Shield
- 1 x 12-in-1 ROG cable label
- 1 x 2-in-1 Q-Connector kit
- 1 x ROG Door Hanger
- ROG motherbaord support DVD
- User guide
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
Features
Extreme Engine Digi+ III |
Since quite some time ASUS has been equipping its boards with digital power designs. Using the right software it is not only possible to adjust voltages while being in Windows on can now also control impedances. Furthermore this board features high quality 10K black metallic capacitor which guarantee a long lifespan. |
 |
ASUS Fan Xpert 2 |
ASUS Fan Xpert 2 provides customizable settings for fans that have been attached directly to the onboard fan headers. With the Fan Auto Tuning feature, ASUS Fan Xpert 2 automatically detects and tweaks all fan speeds and in the end reduces unwanted noise. |  |
M.2 Support |
Featuring an M.2 slot this board can be euqipped with SSDs in M.2 format. M.2 is wired directly to the Z97 PCH via two PCI Express lanes, therefore offering x2 bandwidth. In other words up to 10 Gbps can be pushed over the bus through this slot, almost doubling performance of SATA-III. |  |
SupremeFX |
In case of SupremeFX you get ASUS' interpretation of onboards sound for gamers. Supporting up to eight channels the SupremeFX solution recieved shielding from other onboard components. Apart from that there are high quality ELNA capacitors offering as clear as possible audio. Furthermore ASUS provided the solution with the ROG color scheme. |  |
| ROG RAM Disk | RAMDisk reserves part of system memory and turns it into actual storage space, so you can place favorite app and game cache files in it to enjoy high-speed RAM performance while accessing them. | |
GameFirst III |
GameFirst is a networt management software, that lets you choose from four pre-defined traffic shaping methods: Optimization, Game, media Streaming and File Sharing. The software has been designed with the goal to make network optimizations as simple as possible. | |
KeyBot |
KeyBot allows you to assign macro to specific keys without the need of a special keyboard, that comes with its own proprietary software. With KeyBot you can for example wake up your PC from sleep mode, you can overclock your machine by the simple press of a key or you can load XMP profiles via the keyboard. |  |
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
Layout
At a first glance the ASUS Maximus VII Hero looks very good with its harmonic design. Once again the ROG-colors - red, black and white - suite nicely and together with the black PCB it becomes a beautiful product. The layout itself is well thought and there is for example plenty of space around the CPU socket to install even todays largest CPU coolers. The fact that there are SATA connector which have been angled by 90 degrees allow an easy installation of oversized graphics cards.
The ASUS Maximus VII Hero comes with a digital 8+2 phase power design. The CPU gets eight phases and the memory gets a stable current supply from two individual phases. Furthermore ASUS equips this board with their so called "Black Metallic Chokes". Furthermore those chokes can cope with up to 60A per phase. These can resist temperatures ranging from -70°C to +125°C. This makes the power desing even better for extreme overclocking where extremely low temperatures around the CPU socket can be reached.
Totally you'll find four DIMM-slots on the Maximus VII Hero. Officially supported are DDR3 3200(O.C.) / 3100(O.C.) / 3000(O.C.) / 2933(O.C.) / 2800(O.C.) / 2666(O.C.) / 2600(O.C.) / 2500(O.C.) / 2400(O.C.) / 2200(O.C.) / 2133(O.C.) / 2000(O.C.) / 1866(O.C.) / 1800(O.C.) / 1600 / 1333 MHz. There is enough space between the DIMM-slots and the CPU socket which means that you wont encounter compatibility problems with big coolers even when you choose to install RAM with big heatspreaders. Also supported are Xtreme Memory Profiles (XMP) in version 1.3.
On the Maximus VII Hero the southbridge is being cooled by a passive cooling block. A closer look at the area where the power VRMs are shows that there are two additional heatsinks, which have been connected with a heatpipe. If you know the more expensive overclocking boards from ASUS you quite often find PLX bridge chips. In order to achieve a lower price point ASUS did not equip this board with such a chip.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
Connectors and I/O
Totally ASUS equipped the Maximus VII Hero with eight angled SATA ports. All ports offer 6Gbps bandwidth and six out of eight SATA III ports are natively wired to the Z97 PCH. The two additional SATA 6Gbps ports are wired to an ASMedia ASM1061 chip. You'll also find practical onboard power- and reset-buttons in the top right corner of the board. There is also a debug display. What you don't get with this overclocking board are voltage read-out points. This was another measure to further push the price of this board down.
Totally you'll find six fan header on the Maximus VII Hero which is enough, to provide a well equipped high-end or overclocking-system with fresh air. The fan headers are located around the CPU socket as spread over the motherboard.
Looking at the external connectors directly at the back-panel ASUS
equipped the Maximus VII Hero with one PS2 mouse/keyboard connector, four USB 3.0/2.0 ports,
two USB 2.0/1.1 ports, one gigabit ethernet port, an HDMI connector, a VGA out, a DVI port and an optical out as well as an
analogue audio panel. Furtheremore you'll also find a clear CMOS button.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
Conclusion
| Allgemein | + | - | |
| The first impression the Maximus VII Hero from ASUS leaves is definitely a good one. Once again we like the ROG design, which meanwhile belongs to the evergreens in the industry. It's always remarkable to see that with every single generation ASUS manages to improve the looks of their ROG series motherboards. Basically this board offers everything to set up an decent overclocking rig since there is a capable power design featuting only high-quality components, such as for instance black-metallic caps. Apart from that there is the ROG BIOS with a plethora of seetings related to overclocking, but still, the BIOS is well organized and you'll find the settings needed reasonably fast. | -
Design - Layout - Features |
||
| Layout | + | - | |
| Basically the ASUS Maximus VII Hero's Layout has been very well thought. Once more practical are the angled SATA connectors as well as the power- and reset-buttons. There is also a debug display which is very useful in case you should have issues with a component in your system or the board itself. Even the placement of the PCI-Express x16 is very well chosen. Between the first and the second PCI Express x16 slot there are two free slots which means that the first card in a SLI/CrossFire setup gets plenty of fresh air. Apart from that there is generally a lot of space on this board since, it hasn't been squeezed to the rim with features. Basically this is another advantage of a "not so pricy" board. Should you use this board for extreme overclocking, then you'll find it easy to isolate. Are you a gamer and you want to install a big CPU cooler, then there is plenty of space to even install todays bigges air coolers. Regarding the onboard audio we like the fact, that it has been shielded from the other onboard components. Furthermore there are high-quality ELNA capacitors and we have to say, the result is overall pleasing. | - Angled SATA connectors
- Power/Reset-Button onboard - Debug display - Space around the CPU socket - Audio Solution |
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Layout |
| Page 2 - Specs and Delivery | Page 5 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 3 - Features | Page 6 - Conclusion |
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Author: m.buechel@ocaholic.ch Luca Rocchi l.rocchi@ocaholic.ch