ASUS Maximus Extreme - the Extreme Benchmarker's Choice?
by Rajinder Gill on December 10, 2007 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Synthetic Graphics Performance
The 3DMark series of benchmarks developed and provided by Futuremark are among the most widely used tools for benchmark reporting and comparisons. Although the benchmarks are very useful for providing apples-to-apples comparisons across a broad array of GPU and CPU configurations, they are not a substitute for actual application and gaming benchmarks.
In our 3DMark06 test, the ASUS Maximus Extreme board did not exhibit any issues during repeated testing in this CPU/GPU intensive test. In the more memory and CPU sensitive 3DMark01 benchmark, we were surprised to see our Maximus Extreme board scoring near the top considering the latency penalties of running DDR3 at 1066. The overall differences in performance are not noticeable in either 3DMark unless you are looking to reach the top of the ORB. That of course requires some serious overclocking, which this board is capable of doing.
General System Performance
The PCMark05 benchmark by Futuremark is useful for determining overall system performance for the typical home computing user. This tool provides both system and component level benchmarking results utilizing subsets of real world applications or programs. We consider the PCMark05 benchmark to be both synthetic and real world in nature, and it provides for consistency in our benchmark results.
Our PCMark05 scores mimic the results from our 3DMark benchmarks with differences between the boards not exceeding 2%. The ASUS Maximus Extreme board finishes in the middle of the pack with the memory test scores handicapping the board. While based on actual application usage, we will see if these PCMark05 results mirror our own application testing.
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markglh - Sunday, January 13, 2008 - link
Does the Thermalright Ultra-120 Extremem fit ok on this motherboard in a position so that it blows air out of the case? I was worried that the fusion waterblock and the heatsink at the top of the board might be too tall.thanks.
astronaute - Wednesday, December 26, 2007 - link
Can someone explain please why in BIOS screenshots we can see FSB 400 and QX6600 FSB is more then 1000 ?Sorry if my question is stupid :)
Rajinder Gill - Sunday, December 30, 2007 - link
The BIOS screenshots shown are provided only to illustrate which BIOS functions are available for the user. They have no direct correlation whatsoever with a Q6600 or it's FSB.regards
Raja
qquizz - Thursday, December 13, 2007 - link
With a name like Maximus Extreme the board better be one bad mofo, err... i mean mobo.Zak - Monday, December 10, 2007 - link
Something's not right, C2D Extreme and 8800Ultra??? I get over 12000 in 3D Mark 2006 with a $99 Gigabyte mobo, 3GHz C2D @3.8Ghz with Tuniq Tower, 800MHz DDR2 and 8800GTX slightly overclocked.Z.
Azured - Monday, December 10, 2007 - link
No that seems allright. The test is run with a Q6600 (actually a QX6850 with a lower multiplier to simulate the Q6600) at stock 2.4GHz. considerably slower than your C2D at 3.8GHz.Zak - Monday, December 10, 2007 - link
Oh, I must have misread something then, thanks:)Z.
takumsawsherman - Monday, December 10, 2007 - link
Now this blows me away. $350 and still no Firewire800! How much money should you have to pay before you get a feature that was commercially introduced 4 years ago. Instead, you get the slower variant that first saw real action 8 years ago. What's next, USB 1.1?Maybe I didn't read the Newegg price tag correctly, but if I did, this is a travesty. And of course, no room for a PS/2 mouse port. I mean, a single PS/2 port, in a non-standard position. At first, it may seem to be no big deal, but why make it different that almost every other config? So when muscle-memory leads you blindy around the back of the case when you install a keyboard, you have to hunt around more. Not to mention that most PS/2 devices are pretty static in that people aren't switching them all the time. USB, on the other hand, is more frequently connected and disconnected. Having the PS/2 keyboard plugged in gives you limited room to change USB stuff, especially if you have another USB device plugged in. If the PS/2 port was on the bottom, you can stack a USB connector on top and still have finger room to add or remove another, without risking disconnection of another cable (PS/2 for example).
A ridiculous board, at a ridiculous price.
retrospooty - Monday, December 10, 2007 - link
not to burst your bubble but, Firewire 800 is never going to take off. Before it got started it was surpassed and totally obsoleted by eSATA. You wont ever see it as a standard feature on even high end motherboards. If you have use for it, you need to by an adaptor card for it.Etern205 - Monday, December 10, 2007 - link
Yes, eSATA is faster than Firewire 800 which is why eSATA is gaining popularity than Fire800. As for only 1 PS/2 port, if those articles or rumors are correct, then by the time ICH10 comes out we'll not see anymore PS/2 ports or PCI slots.In a question unrelated to this article, for those of you that have a usb wireless mouse or keyboard are you able to switch between the OSes if you guy have a dual or mult-boot system?
Thanks!