ASUS Maximus III Formula LGA1156 Motherboard Review‏

Conclusion

ASUS' Republic of Gamers motherboards have built a strong reputation over the years, and although the enthusiast product market is getting more competitive by the day, everyone knows that when a new RoG model arrives it means business.

The Maximus III Formula is no exception. It is a comprehensive, well-rounded package for enthusiasts to work with. It comes with just about every option and setting imaginable to keep serious overclockers happy, and its stable and mature enough to ensure that it will never be the component that holds you back in your endeavours. Having said that, the voltage read points were clearly not designed with benchmarkers in mind. They are a great feature to have, and frankly a must-have on a RoG model, but no one wants to be forced to hold voltage leads to a tiny read points for any extended period of time. This is a step back compared to what was implemented on the ASUS Rampage II Extreme and even MSI's P55-GD80.

On the completely other end of the scale, with MemPerfect, CPU Level Up, MemOK!, Voltiminder LEDs, and COP EX, novices have the tools and safeguards to allow them to experiment with overclocking and tweaking without experiencing any show stopping disasters. And if they do experience issues, this motherboard's excellent overclocking recovery makes it very easy to get back to where you left off.

A new feature that will enthrall everyone (if only briefly) is ROG Connect. By running a USB cable from the Maximus III Formula to a notebook, you can use the RC TweakIt software to make real-time frequency and voltage adjustments remotely. World-class overclockers will this feature useful in order to make on-the-fly changes while a benchmark is actually running. Currently, many of them have been doing this manually on motherboard's like the Rampage II Extreme, that have physical controls that allow the tweaking of system settings. Basically, ROG Connect is almost like the technology that Formula One teams use to tune their cars even while they speeding around a race track.

From a physical standpoint, the Maximus III Formula is built using the same Xtreme Design concept as the P7P55D Deluxe. It has the same Xtreme Phase 16 + 3 phase power design, Stack Cool3+ PCB with two 2oz copper PCB layers, Anti-EMI & Anti-Surge Protection features, and obviously solid state capacitors throughout the board. This is to say that it's a very well-built and designed motherboard. Speaking of design, the usual Republic of Gamers black & red theme is a winner as always, but we wish the PCH cooler was a little more eye-pleasing. The overall layout is excellent, but as demonstrated in the Installation Section, you will want to be wary of CPU coolers larger than the Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme, otherwise you will encounter some issues with memory modules with tall heatspreaders.

Once you do have the motherboard installed, you will experience what we discovered is one of the fastest and best overclocking P55 motherboards that we've come across so far. It's not a great deal better than the P7P55D Deluxe in those two areas, but every little bit helps. This is especially true given the fact that the Maximus III Formula really isn't that much more expensive than other high-end P55 motherboards, especially for a Republic of Gamers model. Compared to the P7P55D Deluxe for example, the MIIIF carries a mere $20-30 price premium. That's pretty good in our eyes, especially since you are getting the SupremeFX X-Fi audio module and the intangible pride of RoG ownership.



Pros

- Solid performance.
- Republic of Gamers theme looks good (aside from the slightly bland PCH cooler).
- Excellent layout.
- Nice spacing between the PCI-E slots.
- 2-Way CrossFireX & 2-Way SLI capability.
- Superior manual overclocking capabilities.
- Good failed OC recovery.
- Auto Tuning automatic overclocking works well.
- Perfect voltage regulation & output.
- Good SATA II & USB 2.0 connectivity.
- Eight 4-pin PWM fan headers.
- SupremeFX X-Fi audo card.
- Superb, user-friendly BIOS.
- Comprehensive software suite.
- ROG Connect is like nothing we have seen before.
- Socketed BIOS chip.


Cons

- Voltage read points are too simplistic, need a way to attach voltmeter leads directly to the motherboard.
- Only one BIOS chip, no backup or fail-safe.
- Large CPU coolers + tall memory heatspreaders can cause installation annoyances.
- No IDE or Floppy connectors (a non-issue for many nowadays).
- Thermal sensor headers, but no thermal sensor cables.
- A dual-slot graphics card in the 3rd PCI-E x16 slot will overhang the motherboard (unlikely configuration).

Our thanks to ASUS for making this review possible!