Posted on Tuesday, October 09 2018 @ 12:27 CEST by Thomas De MaesschalckBelow is the ASUS ROG Maximus XI Extreme, this flagship motherboard will retail for a whopping $499.99.
The Maximus XI Extreme is indulgent without being frivolous. As the flagship, it walks the line between achieving peak performance and providing the extra features that make showcase builds stand out.
Subtle upgrades for hardcore overclocking are found throughout the board. Dual 8-pin power connectors are capable of delivering more 12V power directly to the CPU, and we’ve adjusted the phase configuration to better distribute the heavier load presented by eight overclocked cores. Serious overclockers can monitor voltages directly with a multimeter using ProbeIt points on the PCB, and there’s a special LN2 mode for sub-zero record attempts.
If you’re building an actual rig, custom liquid loops are basically a requirement at this end of the spectrum, so the Extreme has a special connector just for water blocks. With a single cable, block makers can let the motherboard track flow rates, coolant temperatures, and leak-detection circuits. This augments the separate flow and temperature headers, allowing monitoring at multiple points or for an entirely separate loop.
With 16 pump and fan headers, the Extreme is equipped to manage even the most elaborate system cooling with a single powerful interface. There are two onboard pump headers, 12 for fans, and four more via the Fan Extension card included in the box. The headers are also carefully grouped and organized. The liquid zone in the bottom right corner matches typical reservoir locations; two clusters of four fan headers are positioned within reach of beefy radiators at the top, front, and bottom of the chassis; and the rest distributed near typical system fan locations.
While the Extreme arguably looks most striking in stealth mode, where its Vader aesthetic takes center stage, you can still light it up with a fistful of RGB strips. The LiveDash OLED embedded in the I/O cover adds a subtle display for keeping tabs on system vitals or displaying simple text, images, and animations that enable even more customization.
Between the two-slot DIMM.2 module connected directly to the CPU and the pair of M.2 slots hanging off the chipset, the Maximus XI Extreme can cleanly run up to four NVMe SSDs without any wires or drive bays. The spec sheet is stacked with standouts, including wicked-fast 5G wired networking and gigabit-class Intel WiFi. We also added an auxiliary controller to provide even more USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports.
