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Asus X38 Formula Maximus Special Edition Review - PAGE 1
William Henning - Monday, December 17th, 2007


Asus Formula Maximus Special Edition - a board for gamers?

Some time ago, the FedEx guys dropped a shiny new box off for us from Asus:

The Asus Formula Maximus Special Edition motherboards comes in a fold out case that lists its features - and it has plenty of them. Asus built this Gamers Republic series board around Intel's X38 chipset and DDR2 memory - and by providing two PCIe 2.0 16x slots, they are clearly targeting the CrossFire gaming crowd.

The back of the box talks about how the chipset can be water cooled, the "voltminder" LED's, the included full version of STALKER, and the HD audio card included in the package.

Here is the full specification sheet, straight from the Asus site:

 

CPU
LGA775 socket for Intel® Core™2 Extreme / Core™2 Quad / Core™2 Duo / Pentium® Extreme / Pentium® D / Pentium® 4 Processors
Support Intel® next generation 45nm Multi-Core CPU
Compatible with Intel® 06/05B/05A processors
* Refer to www.asus.com for Intel CPU support list
Chipset
Intel® X38/ICH9R with Intel® Fast Memory Access Technology
Front Side Bus
1600 / 1333 / 1066 / 800 MHz
Memory
Dual channel memory architecture
4 x DIMM, support max. 8GB, DDR2-1200*/1066/800/667 MHz, ECC, non-ECC and un-buffered memory
*DDR2 1200 is O.C. speeds.
*Refer to www.asus.com or this user manual for the Memory QVL(Qualified Vendors Lidts).
Expansion Slots
2 x PCIe 2.0 x16 slot, support at full x16, x16 speed
3 x PCIe x1 ( the PCIEx1_1 (black) is compatible with audio slot)
2 x PCI 2.2
VGA
Support ATI CrossFire™ graphics cards
Storage
ICH9R Southbridge:
- 6 x SATA 3.0 Gb/s ports
- Intel Matrix Storage Technology supports RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10
JMicron® JMB368 PATA controller:
- 1 x UltraDMA 133/100/66/33 for up to 2 PATA devices
LAN
Dual Gigabit LAN controllers, both featuring AI NET2
Support Teaming Technology
Audio
SupremeFX II Audio Card:
- ADI 1988B 8-channel High Definition Audio CODEC
- Noise Filter
Coaxial, Optical S/PDIF out at back I/O
IEEE 1394
2 x 1394a ports(1 port at back I/O, 1 port onboard)
USB
Max. 12 USB 2.0 ports(6 ports at mid-board, 6 ports at back panel)
Special Features
LCD Poster
Onboard Switches: Power / Reset / Cls CMOS (at rear)
ASUS Q-Connector
ASUS Q-Fan 2
ASUS EZ Flash 2
ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3
ASUS MyLogo3
Overclocking Features
Extreme Tweaker
2-Phase DDR2
Loadline Calibration
Intelligent overclocking tools:
- CPU Level Up
- ASUS EPU (Energy Processing Unit)
- AI Gear 3™
- AI Overclocking (intelligent CPU frequency tuner)
- ASUS AI Booster Utility
- O.C Profile
Overclocking Protection:
- COP EX (Component Overheat Protection - EX)
- Voltiminder LED
- ASUS C.P.R.(CPU Parameter Recall)
Back Panel I/O Ports
1 x PS/2 Keyboard port(purple)
1 x Optical + 1 x Coaxial S/PDIF Output
2 x LAN (RJ45) port
6 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
1 x IEEE1394a port
1 x Clr CMOS switch
Internal I/O Connectors
3 x USB 2.0 connectors supports additional 6 USB 2.0 ports
1 x Floppy disk drive connector
1 x IDE connector for two devices
6 x SATA connectors
8 x Fan connectors: 1 x CPU / 1 x PWR / 3 x Chassis / 3 x Optional
3 x thermal sensor connectors
1 x IEEE1394a connector
1 x S/PDIF output connector
1 x Chassis Intrusion connector
24-pin ATX Power connector
8-pin ATX 12V Power connector
1 x En/Dis-able Clr CMOS
System panel connector
BIOS
16Mb AMI BIOS, PnP, DMI2.0, WfM2.0, SM BIOS 2.4, ACPI2.0a Multi-Language BIOS
Manageability
WOL by PME, WOR by PME, Chasis Intrusion, PXE
Accessories
LCD Poster
ASUS Optional Fan
SupremeFX II Audio Card
3 in 1 ASUS Q-Connector Kit
UltraDMA 133/100/66 cable
Floppy disk drive cable
SATA cables
SATA power cables
2-port USB2.0 + IEEE 1394a module
I/O Shield
Cable Ties
User's manual
Support CD
The hottest 3D Game: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Support DVD:
- Drivers and applications
ASUS PC Probe II
ASUS Update
ASUS AI Suite
Futuremark ® 3DMark® 06 Advanced Edition
Kaspersky® Anti-Virus
Form Factor
ATX Form Factor, 12"x 9.6" (30.5cm x 24.5cm)
next: The Board »

Article Index

1.Introduction
2.The Board
3.The BIOS
4.More BIOS
5.Test Setup & Benchmarks
6.Business Winstone & Content Creation
7.WinRAR & HDTach
8.LAME MP3, TMPGEnc & XVid
9.Call of Duty & Commanche 4
10.Doom 3 & Quake 4
11.Halo, Jedi Knight & UT4K
12.Sandra
13.RightMark Read & RightMark Write
14.RightMark Latency & Bandwidth
15.Gamer Tests
16.Overclocking & Conclusion

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