All results were obtained at 4600MHz on an un-optimized Windows7 64-bit. These are our figures, yours may vary so only use these as a guideline for a similarly configured system.
INTEL DZ87KLT-75K
Cinebench 11.5
3DMark11
Super Pi 8M
Aida 64 Copy
Aida 64 Latency
10,05
12793
1.26.206
32753
32
1.24.942
32112
32
Physics: 12724
ASUS Maximus VI Extreme
10,17
13258 Physics: 12476
and precise description of options in how they affect the system is something we’ve always lauded and it’s even better now on the M6E. Keep in mind that when you first use this motherboard, there’ll be a learning curve, a steeper one perhaps than there would be with other boards. This is purely because of the sheer vast array of options that are made available to you. To jump right in and attempt any kind of overclocking, without some basic run through of the options would only lead to less than stellar results. Out the box the it’s fast, but that’s a given. What makes this one special is just how much faster it can be when tuned correctly. We tested with the latest available BIOS and we simply had no issue regardless of what it was we were doing. Memory overclocking for example is probably the most impressive aspect of Haswell. The Maximus board comes to the table with a full arsenal of memory tweaking options and explanations. Needless to say that out of all the Z87 boards we have tested thus far, this one not only performs better than them all but out clocks them by some margin as well. Perhaps it’s not the frequency as such which one
should consider impressive but the ease with which it is reached. If you’re not making the memory speed on the Maximus, you’re unlikely to be able to achieve it on another board. One may think that memory overclocking is as much determined by the CPU as it is by the memory ICs and motherboard, but the fact is with HASWELL, pretty much all CPUs have good IMCs. So it then comes down to the memory and the motherboard. With the right combination just about any motherboard, CPU and memory can claim a world record. That isn’t really meaningful. The true measure of a motherboard’s proficiency is in just how easy it is for virtually all CPUs and memory combinations to reach very high speeds. This is what makes the Maximus 6 Extreme special as it allows you to extract the best out of the particular set of components you have. As stated before, there’s just too much to run through with this board in this limited space we have here. Suffice to say, this is our choice motherboard for the Z87 platform. There may be better boards in the future from any number of vendors or even ASUS themselves, but we’d think that
the odds of that happening are next to zero. There’s just too much that the Maximus does right to realistically imagine a better implantation of the Z87 chipset. As such this board receives our highest praise. It’s near flawless. [ TheOverclocker ]
Summary The ASUS ROG team has done it again. Produced one of the finest motherboards we have ever seen. If there was ever a motherboard made purely for overclocking, this would have to be the one. Whatever motherboard you may have you eye on is probably great, but we’d bet our bottom dollar that for overclocking, it isn’t better than the Maximus 6 Extreme. This is simply because this board is the standard itself.
Would you buy it? Without a moment’s hesitation.
The Score
Issue 25 | 2013 The OverClocker 33