ASUS Maximus VI HERO LGA1150 ROG Motherboard Review

Index
Introduction & Specifications
Unboxing & Layout
BIOS & Software
Multimedia, Multitasking & Gaming Benchmarks
Overclocking & Conclusion

Overclocking

ROG motherboards are very much at home when overclocked, and the Maximus Hero VI is no different. Virtually every ASUS motherboard has the same overclock process, minus a few minor variations. Yet, overclocking options can only give you a degree of headroom. How well a system overclocks is eventually down the quality of components it uses.

Overclocking the Maximus VI Hero was relatively easy compared to other boards I’ve overclocked on. I touched higher frequencies using lower valtages than I would normally use on some other motherboards, and that is a good thing. The more volts are applied, the more unstable the delicate a system becomes.

The easiest way to overclock Haswell CPUs is to set the Vcore to 1.275V for a CPU multiplier of 47x, in our case, to achieve an overclock of 4.7Ghz. The CPU cache voltage was set to 1.107V. This was our highest most stable overclock. Touching 4.8Ghz was possible, but not a viable solution to run 24/7 since we were hitting temperatures of 99 degrees Celsius during prime95 testing.

Conclusion

I was hoping the ASUS Maximus VI Hero would be a stellar motherboard the first time I opened it from its packaging, and it truly is. ASUS has really convinced me that the ROG branding is not a gimmick and that it takes it VERY seriously. With the Maximus VI Hero, ASUS has bought the reach of owning an ROG product closer.

Most ROG motherboards are priced upwards of INR 25,000, barring the Maximus VI Gene, which is a micro-ATX board. The Maximus VI Hero on the other hand, can be purchased at around INR 18,000. No doubt it is a high price, but it offers more value than other more expensive gaming boards. And with that, it offers almost the same level of finesse in build quality and overclocking performance offered by top-tier ROG boards. With the Core i7-4770K, 4.7Ghz is what most top-tier motherboards have maxed out at, and the Maximus VI Hero matched that without any issues. In comparison, the Intel DZ87KLT-75K board we tested the Hero against costs INR 20,000, and performs about 6-8% slower than the Hero.

The ASUS Maximus VI Hero fared well in our benchmark tests, and was considerably faster than the other Haswell board we tested. The common myth that motherboards don’t really affect gaming performance is false, as the Maximus VI Hero has proved. In Batman: Arkham Origins, the Maximus VI Hero was a humungous 20 average frames ahead of the Intel DZ87KLT-75K. That is a massive boost. This is a true gaming motherboard.

The ASUS Maximus VI Hero is a targeted product. It might not be for everyone, but for its own target, it is the best your money can buy. The only gripe is, you miss out on other features such as 8 USB 3.0 ports, support for running three or four GPUs and an eSATA port. These are not deal breakers though. Most mid-tier motherboards these days have 8 USB 3.0 ports in the IO panel.