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Automatic CPU Overclocking:
As the Maximus VI Extreme was, the Formula variant is given pre-defined overclocking profiles that adjust the base clock and a number of voltage and power parameters. Where the M6E shipped with five profiles, the M6F features one less; the low – 82MHz – base clock profile is omitted.
We tested out the pre-defined overclocking profiles which feature base clock adjustment. We didn’t manage to achieve stability with any of the base clock adjustment profiles that resulted in a CPU frequency which was above our chip’s known perfectly-stable limit of 4500MHz. This was the same outcome from our tests with the same profiles on the Maximus VI Extreme.
The one profile that we did achieve a boot with was the 195MHz base clock configuration. Using a 23x CPU ratio, the processor frequency sat below our 4500MHz limit at 4487MHz. Memory was set at 1560MHz CL9 – a value that is very low for our 2,133MHz CL11 sticks.
The 195MHz BCLK overclock validation can be found here.
Manual CPU Overclocking:
To test the Asus Maximus VI Formula motherboard’s CPU overclocking potential, we first increased the CPU VCore to 1.350V, Cache voltage to 1.300V, and CPU Input Voltage to 1.900V.
PLL over-voltage was enabled, the Cache multiplier was maintained at 39x, and load-line calibration Level 1 was used (to provide a consistent voltage).
We booted straight into our known-stable overclocking configurations of 4.5GHz CPU frequency and 3.9GHz Cache speed. As with all of the other Z87 motherboards that we have tested, the Asus Maximus VI Formula was unable to keep our processor stable at 4.6GHz. It didn't achieve stability for as long as the ASRock Z87 OC Formula motherboard, either, but neither has any other Z87 motherboard, the Maximus VI Extreme included.
Our 4.5GHz validation can be viewed here.
High-speed Memory Compatibility:
While a system’s maximum memory frequency may be heavily swayed by the CPU’s individual memory controller, the motherboard’s performance can also help to obtain higher speeds, especially when XMP settings are taken into account.
We switched to a 3000MHz set of Avexir Core Extreme Series memory to test the Asus Maximus VI Formula motherboard’s support for high DRAM frequencies. These sticks feature an XMP profile for 3000MHz and are a great challenge for any Z87 motherboard to support.
The Maximus VI Formula managed to correctly boot and configure the Avexir memory kit for its 3000MHz XMP configuration.
Our validation running at 3000MHz DRAM frequency using the XMP profile can be view here.
Memory Overclocking:
We wanted to see how potent the Maximus VI Formula motherboard was as a memory overclocker, so we applied some BIOS tweaks and checked how far we could push the 3000MHz kit. From our individual review of the Avexir Core Extreme Series 3000MHz memory kit, we know that the sticks are capable of booting at 3240MHz with the Asus Maximus VI Extreme motherboard. ASRock's Z87 OC Formula managed to take them to 3288MHz.
The tweaks applied included a 1.70V DRAM voltage, various CPU voltage increases and setting changes for BCLK overclocking stability, and loosened memory timings at 14-15-15-40-2T. The DRAM Current Capability was set to 130%.
We managed to push the memory frequency up to 3264MHz using a 136MHz BCLK. Any further and the system was very reluctant to POST, instead deciding to loop indefinitely. Both the latest public release BIOS (0714) and Asus' pre-release BIOS garnered the same results.
The highest DRAM frequency overclock of 3264MHz is 24MHz higher than what we settled for with the Maximus VI Extreme (although we also wanted stability using that board due to conducting a memory review), and 24MHz short of what ASRock's Z87 OC Formula managed (though none of the overclocks were benchmark stable).
With some tweaking and the correct cooling, Asus' Maximus VI Formula can be used to deliver strong memory overclocks.
Our 3264MHz memory overclock validation can be viewed here.
Have mine ordered, cant wait to get it. thanks for the review. ive just bought some 2,800mhz memory, hope it works!
I really dislike the thermal armor, had it on my sabertooth and took it off, makes no difference and makes getting at some buttons tricky. good board though.
Great read Luke, looks like another winner for ASUS, but I fail to see the benefits of the armor really unless you added fans to circulate air underneath it. It would isolate GPU heat from above, that is good, but the stagnant air underneath the plastic would stay close to the capacitors, right? Am I missing something?
OMG it’s here. >.< Thank you so much for the review.
If I didin't already have this at hand ( arrived yesterday), I would have been worried because of the rating, which BTW I don't understand why the low rating seeing as it didn't do that bad at all. In fact I had to read the whole review carefully to see where it all went wrong but for the life of me, I can't find the negatives that matter. I only use one card so the lane speed issue doesn't affect me and By the Gods, Extreme and Hero don't have anything on how sexy This Beast looks or just how awesomely powerful it feels in hand. I would gladly drop the extra cash just for those looks alone.
Now that I have seen no real issues where performance is concerned, I have no regrets for skipping Ivy-E this time around in favour of Has well. And it was all because of this sexy thing.
Thank you again for the review Luke, can I use you name?
“A small minority of users may miss the support for 3-way SLI, and an even lesser number will frown at the headaches caused by two Nvidia cards being simultaneously used with a PCI-E x2 or x4 expansion device.”
What about a PCI-E x1 device? I have a SoundBlaster X-Fi I would like to use along with 2 770 GTXs in SLI.
Simon,
The two graphics cards can be installed in the upper x16-length slots to use the CPU’s PCI-E 3.0 lanes (split as x8/x8 for each card).
If you install the PCI-E x1 sound card in one of the dedicated x1 slots, it will receive a PCI-E 2.0 lane from the Z87 chipset, and will not affect the bandwidth provided to your graphics cards.