VR-Zone.com — Asus Maximus Extreme X38 Review
| Filed Under: | Archives, Motherboard, Reviews |
| Posted By: | VRArchiver |
| Date Posted: | Thu November 29 2007 8:39 am |
Republic of Gamers
Asus started the Republic of Gamers (R.o.G.) series with the introduction of the Crosshair motherboard just 16 months ago and has since made many additions such as the Commando and Striker mainboards. Targetted at the hardcore gaming crowd, the hallmark of the R.o.G motherboards are the sheer amount of features not commonly found on other mainboards. Most prominent amongst these features are the LCD panels used to display boot information, dual gigabit ethernet capabilities and the extensive BIOS tweaking capabilities for overclocking so that users can squeeze every last drop of performance out of their computers. The latest addition to the series that we have in our labs today is no exception to this.
Features
Based on Intel's X38 Express chipset, the Asus Maximus Extreme supports DDR3 memory up to 1800MHz for greater performance and also supports PCIe 2.0 on its 3 PCIe x16 slots.
That is, three PCIe x16 slots which can operate in either of two modes; either two slots at PCIe 2.0 x16 or one slot at PCIe 2.0 x16 and two slots at x8. It is able to achieve this through the use of IDT's 24-lane PCIe switch that Asus prefers to term "Crosslinx technology". This would come in useful for gamers as the board supports CrossFireX as well and would be able to run up to three ATI Radeons in CrossFire once the drivers for CrossFireX are released.
Real gamers place their stakes on wired networking rather than Wi-Fi and so Asus has used a pair of Marvell Gigabit Ethernet controllers capable of Teaming rather than to place the Wi-fi AP commonly found on their other mainboards.
Using systems at stock are for normal users as far as hardcore enthusiasts and gamers are concerned and Asus knows this; several interesting features catering to the overclocking crowd are therefore, also included in the Maximus Extreme board. Amongst these features are the LCD read-out panel to help troubleshoot issues when overclocking and the use of high quality Solid Polymer capacitors throughtout the board to provide the superior reliability that can be expected of the Asus R.o.G. series.
More Features
In the case where overclocking fails and the CMOS settings need to be cleared, a Clear CMOS button is conveniently located on the rear I/O panel. For those who run an open configuration, a seperate slider switch is located beside the CMOS battery can also be used to clear the CMOS. Either way, jumpers are a way of the past. Note also, the pair of e-Sata connectors for interfacing with external storage devices without the bottlenecks of USB.
For those running caseless setups, the board also features Power and Reset switches for ease of use. No more fiddling with the screwdriver, trying to short the pins!
An array of fan headers cater for a whopping 7 system fans to be monitored in addition to 2 connectors for thermal probe sensors (included in the package) so that overclockers can monitor their system temperatures at yet more locations than the norm.
As if that isn't enough, there are led indicators on the motherboard indicating the operating frequencies and voltage levels of the components so that overclockers no longer need to enter the BIOS to check on them! They come in different colours for those who like bling-blings. These also can be configured from the BIOS to switch the indication between Termination, PLL, CPU Voltage etc. or simply to turn them off.
More bling!
More Stuff!
The memory frequencies are categorized into Normal, High and Crazy!
2-phase power with a pair of high quality inductors for the DIMM slots.
Cooling
As heat is the enemy of stability and reliability, an elaborate heatsink design comprising of heatpipes, pin-fin array heatsinks as well as Asus' Fusion block is employed for better cooling.
The Asus Fusion block is a combination of a heatpipe heatsink and a water block that allows for extreme gamers who water cool their systems to include northbridge cooling without having to shell out extra dough for a chipset block. We can see that Asus has certainly given a lot of thought into providing gamers with the ultimate platform to base their gaming systems on!
EPU and Freebies
EPU
The Energy Processing Unit is a chip designed by ASUS to digitally monitor and calibrate the power supply to the CPU with improved voltage regulation in response to varying load levels. The EPU also automatically provides power on-demand for higher performance and improve power efficiency by 7% when the PC is running low intensity applications. It looks to help attain the best possible power efficiency and energy savings of up to 58.6%!
Packaged Items
We can see the LCD unit for diagnosing problems, the thermal probes for use with the onboard connectors and a bag of cable ties for cable management. A nice touch by Asus indeed. Also, there are a few sets of inline adaptors to assist the integration of the Asus Fusion block into any water cooling setup. The stick-on feet are meant to be stuck on the rear of the motherboard; coupled with the onboard switches, Asus has provided for ease of running caseless setups.
Cables included in the box:
A USB and Firewire combo bracket and blower unit for additional cooling are thrown in as well.
Specifications and Benchmark Setup
Specifications
|
Benchmarking Setup
Single Card Benchmarking
- Intel Core 2 Quad Extreme QX9650 (3GHz, 333MHzx9)
- ASUS P5E3 Deluxe WiFi-AP/N - Intel X38 Chipset
- ASUS Maximus Extreme - Intel X38 Chipset
- Corsair Dominator PC3-1800C7D 2GB Kit (1333Mhz, 7-7-7-20)
- Sapphire Radeon HD3870 ( 775MHz/ 1225MHz)
- Enermax Galaxy 1kW reV2.0
- Seagate 7200.7 80GB x 2
- Dell 3007WFP
- Windows Vista SP1 Beta (Build 2175)
- Nvidia Forceware 169.09 Beta
CrossFireX Benchmarking
- Sapphire Radeon HD3850 256MB (670/ 833MHz)
- Sapphire Radeon HD3870 512MB (775MHz/ 1225MHz)
- ATI Radeon Display 8.43
Note: AI Overclocking features are disabled in the boards to remove any discrepancies with relation to clockspeeds.
FutureMark Benchmarks - 3DMark 01, 06 & PCMark 05
To start off the series of benchmarks, we have the very popular synthetic benchmarks from FutureMark, 3DMark 01, 06 and PCMark 05.
We see the Maximus Extreme take a 188 point lead over the P5E3 Deluxe in 3DMark 01.
The story repeats in 3DMark 06 with the Maximus leading by 190 points.
Something interesting happens in PCMark05 where the P5E3 Deluxe actually edges the Maximus Extreme by 92 points.
LightsMark 07 and WinRAR Benching.
A newcomer to the benchmarking scene, LightsMark 2007 uses realtime global ilumination to stress the computer platform. Global illumination is normal processed only in heavily optimized small scenes in games as most platforms had been unable to handle the rendering in realtime. As a large portion of the rendering is processed by the CPU, the sub-system supporting it must also rise to the task to allow the lighting to be rendered in realtime. So LightsMark is a test of whether the platform is capable of supporting the next big thing in games.
The boards show a minimal difference in LightsMark 2007.
The Maximus Extreme takes a 48kb/s lead in the popular compression program, WinRar.
Sisoft Sandra 2005 Benchmarks
Sisoft Sandra 2005 tests both the CPU and the system platform through its plethora of benchmark tests.
CPU Performance
Both boards fight tooth to tooth in the Sisoft CPU tests.
Memory Performance
The Maximus Extreme gives approximately 78MB/s memory bandwidth advantage over the P5E3 Deluxe in the integer test but loses by 3MB/s in the floating point test.
Games Benchmarks
Lets take a look at the performance of the boards in games.
We had the games run in 1024 x 768 at Low/ Medium settings and without AA/ AF to remove the graphics card as a bottleneck. Benchmarks are run 3 times and the average taken to minimise errors.
Crysis CPU and GPU Benchmarks
There is practically no difference in the Crysis Tests.
World in Conflict
The Maximus Extreme barely edges out the P5E3 Deluxe by 0.5FPS.
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
Again, in Quake Wars, the Maximus shows a slight 0.8FPS lead.
Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts
In CoH, the Maximus takes a more appreciable lead of 2.4FPS; that's close to a 5% difference.
Unreal Tournament 3
The boards' roles reverse in Unreal Tournament 3 where the P5E3 manages to edge out the Maximus Extreme by 0.95%.
CrossFireX Testing
We are sure that viewers are interested to see how the boards fare in CrossFireX performance. After all, hardcore gamers would be using more than one graphics card. As the drivers are not available for tri-card CrossFireX as yet, we are unable to push the boards to their limits and put their PCIe slots to the limit as yet. We will, however, look at how the boards fare with a Radeon HD3870 and a HD3850 running in CrossFireX.
First up, we will look at the improvements in FutureMark's 3DMark 06.
The Asus Maximus Extreme takes a small lead with 93 points in 3DMark 06.
Next up, we have 2 popular games, World in Conflict and Crysis.
This is shocking! We see the P5E3 actually edge out the Maximus with a 5 FPS lead on the average. We re-ran the benchmarks to confirm the results and they remained the same.
The Maximus Extreme takes the fight to the P5E3 in Crysis and emerges a winner by 16.9%.
Overclocking & Conclusion
Overclocking
FIrst, a quick look at the voltage options available in BIOS.
| Option | Values |
| CPU Voltage |
1.1V - 2.4V (In steps of 0.00625V) |
| CPU PLL Voltage | 1.5V - 3.0V (In steps of 0.02V) |
| FSB Termination Voltage | 1.2V - 2.0V (In Steps of 0.02V) |
| DRAM Voltage | 1.5V - 3.04V (In Steps of 0.02V) |
| NB Voltage | 1.25V - 2.05V (In Steps of 0.02V) |
| SB Voltage | 1.05V - 1.225V (in steps of 0.25V) |
| CPU GTL Voltage Ref | 0.57x 0.59x 0.61x 0.63x |
| NB GTL Voltage Ref | 0.49x 0.51x 0.53 0.56x 0.57x 0.60x 0.63x 0.67x |
We managed to overclock the Intel QX9650 to 4444MHz, which is about the limit of the chip on air cooling. Lets take a look at the benchmark results.
In SuperPi 8M, we see an improvement of 54 seconds improvement in timing.
In 3DMark 06, the CPU score increases by a whopping 42%!
In this review, we have pitted two largely similar boards based on the Intel X38 chipset. Bearing in mind that auto overclocking features were disabled to remove clockspeed advantages, the differences in performance between the two boards would be minimal. As the boards are targetted at different segments of the market, we'll find that the features of the board vary vastly. On the Asus P5E3 Deluxe Wifi-AP N, we have an integrated Wireless Draft-N controller that caters to the consumer that connects to the home network via wireless whilst the Maximus Extreme boasts dual-gigabit network controllers from Marvell with teaming to offer a massive bandwidth advantage for gamers and enthusiasts alike.
The features on the Maximus Extreme clearly mark it as a board for extreme gamers and enthusiasts with the amount of bling-blings offered by the FSB and voltage indication LED's, the LCD Poster unit and the glowing R.o.G logo that gamers can be proud. Hosting a myriad of overclocking friendly features with its advance AI overclocking capabilities, the Maximus Extreme empowers gamers to push their systems to the limit even if they have limited knowledge on overclocking. Furthermore, the board comes with a truely Extreme cooling solution that offers ready integration into water-cooling setups as well as voltage calibration features and two-phase power for memory that sets it apart from the usual offerings in the market. Enthusiasts would also appreciate the removable SupremeFX module when they are overclocking and gamers as well when they wish to use their own gaming soundcards. Nonetheless, we are glad to note that Asus has taken gamers in mind by implementing the feature so that they may continue to go on to run CrossFireX with 3 cards without the performance penalty of an x4 slot.
