ASUS Maximus VIII Hero ATX Motherboard - Grey/Red/Black

Product Information

With the Z170 lineup, ASUS is launching a few ROG series Z170 motherboards, with the Hero being in the middle of the ROG lineup between the Gene and the Extreme. SupremeFX 2015 also features intuitive Sonic Studio II, so you'll apply and enjoy different audio effects for entertainment — plus Voice noise-cancellation technology for team conversations with total clarity. The back panel digs deeper into the board specs and unique features, including Lighting control and ASUS' own Supreme FX 2015 onboard sound solution.

SATA 3 has a native transfer rate of 6 Gbit/s, which is twice as fast as SATA 2, the previous revision. With ROG's Aura RGB Strip header, it's quick and easy to cast brilliant colors across your rig and room: Just slide standard 12V RGB strips onto the 4-pin Aura RGB-strip headers, then weave your lighting any way you like. There are still 6 x SATA3 ports to play with and these support RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10 storage configurations.Fans can also be connected straight to the power supply, but when connected to the motherboard you gain much finer control over them through software. The TurboV Processing Unit (TPU) offers precise voltage control and advanced monitoring for the CPU and the graphics card, enabling great freedom to adjust CPU frequencies and ratios for optimized performance and to exploit the potential out of your graphics card*.

ASUS also paid attention to the smallest details of the audio on the Maximus VIII Hero; they added a dedicated oscillator for the DAC, and they used a relatively quiet relay for the de-pop circuit. ROG's revered digital-power controller now delivers even-finer power, with dual PWM controllers, Infineon OptiMOS MOSFETs, MicroFine alloy chokes and 10 K black-metallic capacitors — ensuring Extreme Engine Digi+ always delivers the precise and smoothest core voltages. Around the LGA 1151 socket is a heat pipe-interconnected heat sink that is stylish and is tasked with managing the heat load from the VRM circuit. Of course, you could probably achieve some better overclocks by adapting settings yourself but it is great to have a rough guideline. header, a Fan Xpert III controlled 4-pin fan header, and finally the system front panel connection that can be used with the included Q-Connector.

The Maximus VIII Hero is one of ASUS’s top of the line gaming motherboards running off the Z170 chipset. The manual and software disc are standards in an accessory bundle, but that's about where the similarity between other brands ends.