ASUS Z87 Maximus VI Formula Review

Conclusion

Let’s start with the looks. To some degree it’s the typical black and red you would expect to see from ASUS, and particularly their Republic of Gamers arm. However, the inclusion of the vanity cover that we first saw back on the P67 Sabertooth, and the metal riser on the reverse, means that this is one of the most gorgeous motherboards it’s been our pleasure to review. It’s extremely good looking.

Looks without anything to back it up though would move the Formula in to art territory, and as we’re not an art critic then the performance must be looked at. Indeed the performance of the Maximus VI Formula is so striking that you can’t help but look at it. In a world where Intel have honed the Z87 chipset to within an inch of its life, finding any performance differential is a challenge, but the Formula is relentlessly good. No matter whether we were testing synthetic bandwidth, actual use, or just gaming potential, the Maximus VI Formula at stock lit up our graphs with tremendous performance. Overclocking was a breeze too and in no time at all we’d managed a rock solid 4.9GHz from our i7-4770K. This wasn’t all show and no go though, as nearly every benchmark saw a new OC3D Z87 record taken by the Maximus VI Formula. It is a stunning piece of kit.

If we had to find a negative, and we do else we’d be in advertising, the Maximus VI Formula is, perhaps, a tiny bit expensive when compared to some of the other motherboards if you don’t require the many features it has to offer. But really, you’re getting so much for your money that it’s actually good value. We haven’t even mentioned the outstanding sound quality thanks to the Texus Instruments headphone amplifier. Or the hybrid heatsinks that mean you don’t have to buy a separate waterblock. Or the dual-band WiFi, or RAMDisk or. Well we could go on.

In short the ASUS Maximus VI Formula is outstanding, and could easily pass for the Extreme version such is the high level of performance and array of features. It looks amazing and goes like a scalded rat. We unhesitatingly award it our OC3D Gold Award. Welcome back, ROG.

    

Thanks to ASUS for supplying the Maximus VI Formula for review. Discuss your thoughts in the OC3D forums.