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ASUS Z87 Maximus VI Hero Motherboard Review

Eldonko

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BIOS Rundown p.1

BIOS Rundown

Since the release of the UEFI BIOS, ASUS has been at the forefront of BIOS development. The Z87 generation is no exception and the new ASUS BIOS adds over 15 new features and improvements over previous generation. From a usability standpoint, the Hero's BIOS is clearly labeled and nearly every function has a short but precise explanation attached to it. Novices may find it daunting but there is always the EZ mode to get you started.

Besides the screenshot below, the BIOS pictures in this section show the Advanced section which naturally provides more advanced options for experienced users. Since this is a, ROG product, the Advanced Mode actually loads by default but users can easily switch to EZ Mode if desired.


EZ Mode in the UEFI BIOS is designed for beginners that may be intimidated by Advanced Mode and are just looking for basic settings. EZ Mode is only one page that has most of the key information a user will need such as system information, XMP for memory, CPU temperature and voltage, fan speeds and profiles, SATA information, boot priority, and three levels of system performance presets (Power Saving, Normal, ASUS Optimal). Advanced mode can be accessed by pressing F7 or selecting at the bottom of the screen.

Under the Main tab we have system information on the BIOS version, CPU and memory as well as the system time and date.


If you plan on overclocking the system at all, the page that you will spend the majority of time on is the Extreme Tweaker section. Its items allow you to configure overclocking-related settings such as clock speeds, voltages, and strap. The top of the page shows target CPU, memory, cache, DMI/PEG, and iGPU speeds in yellow and setting Ai Overclock Tuner to Manual will reveal additional settings. Below that are some of the most-used items such as BCLK Frequency, CPU Core Ratio, CPU Cache Ratio, and DRAM Frequency.

CPU Level up has three levels of auto overclocking: 4.2Ghz, 4.4Ghz, and 4.6Ghz. We will go over these in detail in the overclocking section. Manual Mode can be enabled for voltages to reveal voltage settings for the CPU Core and CPU Cache. Alternatively you can use Offset and Adaptive voltage modes for voltage adjustments. Useful voltages for overclocking are CPU Core, CPU Cache, System Agent (helps with memory), I/O voltages (can help stabilize IMC at high CPU clocks), and DRAM.

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Subpages for DRAM Timings, GPU.DIMM POST, DIGI+ Power Control, Tweaker’s Paradise, and CPU Power Management are all found within the first half of Extreme Tweaker. Starting with DRAM Timings, there are three groups of memory timings over three pages (Primary, Secondary, Third) and a “Misc” section at the bottom which contains MRC Fast Boot, DRAM CLK Period, SKEW Control, and other DIMM controls. Memory enthusiasts can’t much for more in terms of memory tweakability.

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DIGI+ Power Control contains a mix of voltage tweaks and every overclocker will spend some time in this section. Voltage Frequency, Power Phase Control, Power Duty Control, Current Capability, and Power Thermal Control settings are available for CPU and DRAM. Load Line Calibration is found here as well but ut can be left on auto since the VRM is on die and LLC doesn’t make much of a difference.

The Tweakers’ Paradise section has BIOS options you won’t find in mainstream ASUS boards such as VCCIN Shadow Voltage, and Termination / Clock Crossing voltages. It really is a dream come true for overclockers.

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The CPU Power Management section contains Intel’s EIST (Speedstep), Turbo Mode, Turbo Mode Parameters, and some other power-related settings such as CPU Internal Power Switching Frequency, Fault Control, and Configuration.

The GPU.DIMM POST screen displays the video card(s) and memory you had installed at POST and the speed each was running.
 
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Eldonko

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BIOS Rundown p.2

BIOS Rundown

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Moving over a tab to the Advanced section, there are a number of configuration subscreens for CPU, PCH, SATA, System Agent, USB, Platform Misc., Onboard Devices, APM, Network Stack, and ROG Effects.

The CPU Configuration page contains detailed information on the CPU installed as well as settings for hyper-threading and active cores. At the bottom of CPU Configuration, there is a subpage titled CPU Power Management Configuration where settings for Speedstep, Turbo, and C-State are found.

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The next two subpages in the Advanced section are PCH Configuration and SATA Configuration. Key items under PCH Configuration are PCI-E Configuration, Intel Rapid Start Technology (RST), and Smart Connect Technology (SCT). The SATA page has storage drive information and settings and a new feature in the Z87 series BIOS is the ability to rename hard drives under the SATA Configuration page. This helps to keep your drives organized so you don’t have to guess which is which.

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Another subsection of the Advanced tab worth mentioning is the System Agent Configuration page. Under System Agent there is a Graphics Configuration page on which settings for the onboard graphics processor are found. The iGPU will be disabled by default so to use it iGPU Multi Monitor must be enabled. To set the iGPU as the primary display set Primary Display to iGPU and remember to connect your monitor to one of the motherboard’s three video out ports before you reboot. Under NB PCI-E Configuration, link speeds are selectable, up to Gen 3.

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Unique to the Hero and some other ROG boards is a section titled ROG Effects. Here you enable or disable the LED lighting effects of the Hero based on your preference.

Moving over one tab to the Monitor section, we have the Voltage, Temperature, and Fan Speed Monitor pages and a Fan Speed Control Section. Fan speeds are individually customizable based on a number of settings, bringing a whole new level of control with Fan Xpert 2.

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The Boot section contains boot priority options and POST options. Here you can also enable Hardware Fast Boot, Boot Logo Display, and DirectKey which will boot the system to BIOS when the DirectKey button is pressed.

Under the Tools menu are five subsections: ASUS EZ Flash 2 Utility, ROG SSD Secure Erase, ASUS Overclocking profile, ASUS SPD Information, and ROG OC Panel H-Key Configure.

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The EZ Flash 2 utility is used for flashing the board’s BIOS from a in a safe and easy manner from a USB stick. This utility requires a .ROM file not a .CAP file as you may get as a BIOS file so you put a file conversion .ROM (available on ASUS’ website) in the same folder to flash a .CAP BIOS file.

ROG Secure Erase SSD is integrated into UEFI BIOS for better compatibility and easier use, offering the best removal method to completely delete all data on an SSD to recover lost performance and restore factory speeds.

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The DRAM SPD Information section shows all installed memory with subsections showing SPD. Next under Tools is ASUS Overclocking Profiles which allow for saving eight customized OC Profiles suited for different situations. This is a very handy overclocking tool that is now expected to be in modern enthusiast motherboards.

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To finish off we have some brand new UEFI features that ASUS has come up with for the Z87 generation of motherboards. First we have the My Favorites page which allows you to add customized BIOS items to a start page to save navigation time. We set up some of our most-used settings for overclocking and it saves us from navigating to each in their respective sections. Definitely a time saver!

On the right hand side of each BIOS page are two buttons marked Quick Note and Last Modified. Quick Note allows you to enter notes on settings you have tried instead of using the classic paper and pen method. The Last Modified feature shows the last saved BIOS settings in case you would like to refer back to a previous setting. An export of these prior settings can also be saved to USB for future use. Also similar to Last Modified, when you save the BIOS and exit a BIOS Settings Change screen pops up to remind you of changes made so you can have one last scan of the changes before saving and exiting the BIOS.

Overall we thought the Hero BIOS worked great and we loved the new features ASUS brought to the table.
 
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Eldonko

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Test Setup and Testing Methodology

Test Setup and Testing Methodology

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Our test setup consists of a retail Intel Haswell 4770K, ASUS Maximus VI Hero motherboard, a Gigabyte GTX 670s, 8GB of G.Skill TridentX DDR3-2800 12-14-14-35 memory, 8GB of G.Skill TridentX DDR3-2666 11-13-13-35 memory ,a SanDisk Extreme 120GB SSD, and a WD Black 1TB. All this is powered by an Antec Signature Series 850W PSU. Here are a few shots of the setup and hardware:


As you can see above we used watercooling (Apogee XT) for the CPU along with two heatercores in a Dimastech test bench.


We were also lucky enough to get our hands on a brand new kit of G.Skill TridentX DDR3-2800 12-14-14-35 memory designed specifically for Haswell and we paired that with last year’s kit of G.Skill TridentX DDR3-2666 11-13-13-35.


Overclocking Methodology

The Maximus VI Hero has two methods of auto overclocking, CPU Level Up and 4-Way Optimization. Both methods have three overclock presets: 4.2Ghz, 4.4Ghz, and 4.6Ghz and essentially get you the same overclocks using two different methods. We tested each auto overclocking option separately and then went for a manual overclock to see how we could improve over the auto options.

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We chose a benchmark suite that included 2D benchmarks, 3D benchmarks, and games; and then tested each overclocking method individually to see how the performance would compare. The different configurations we ran are as follows:

  • Turbo Mode - To represent a 4770K at stock with turbo enabled.
  • CPU Level Up 4.2Ghz - To represent a 4770K at stock with turbo enabled.
  • CPU Level Up 4.4Ghz – To represent a 4770K at level 1 of auto overclocking.
  • CPU Level Up 4.6Ghz – To represent a 4770K at level 2 of auto overclocking.
  • Manual OC –To represent an experienced overclocker that is looking for the optimal 24/7 overclock to maximize system performance while keeping voltage and temperatures in check.

Both Intel and ASUS recommended the use of that AIDA64 for stability testing because it is optimized for the platform; so instead of LinX or P95, the main stability test used was the AIDA64 stability test. After the AIDA64 stability test was stable, we ran 2 runs of HyperPI and 2 runs of 3DMark to test memory and 3D stability. Once an overclock passed these tests, we ran the full benchmark suite and then this is the point deemed as “stable” for the purposes of this review.

The CPU used is a retail chip with a C0 stepping and a batch of L310B562. We understand that retail chips are not going to hit the speeds that our ES chips did but we were curious to see how a retail would perform nonetheless.

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Windows 7 Service Pack 1 was installed to take advantage of the Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) with Haswell. Intel AVX is a 256-bit SIMD floating point vector extension of Intel architecture. The BIOS used for overclocking and benchmarking was version 0711 and the Nvidia drivers used were version 320.49.
 
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Eldonko

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Feature Tests: CPU Level Up & 4-Way Optimization

Feature Tests: CPU Level Up and 4-Way Optimization

When we tested the Z87 Deluxe, we were absolutely amazed with the auto overclocking options it came equipped with. There was a TPU switch that had two levels, OC Tuner in the BIOS had both BLCK and Ratio modes, and then there was 4-Way Optimization. We were a little surprised to see that the Hero has a totally different system which incorporated CPU Level Up instead of OC Tuner. Additionally, 4-Way Optimization did the exact same thing as the three levels of CPU Level Up instead of customizing the auto overclock for the cooling and CPU quality like we saw with the Deluxe.

Once we determined exactly how the auto overclocking options worked we decided to test with the three levels of 4-Way Optimization because each time the system would run a stability test.


4-Way Optimization

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4-Way Optimization is a complete system tuning utility that offers automated overclocking, fan profiling and tuning, power optimization and full VRM power management. Basically all you have to do is select 4.2Ghz, 4.4Ghz, and 4.6Ghz and the utility does the rest, provided the CPU is capable of these clock speeds.

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The utility only takes a minute or so to determine optimal frequencies through we did notice a slightly longer delay when more fans were installed. The system reboots and a short stability test runs while optimizing fan speeds for optimal results.

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You also get a report for each fan that shows the RPMs for the corresponding power levels. This is particularly important if acoustical levels are a priority.


Level 1: 4.2Ghz

The first level of 4-Way Optimization is 4.2Ghz, an overclock that most CPUs will be able to achieve. Hitting the 4-Way Optimization 4.2Ghz setting allowed our system to go from stock to 4207Mhz (41 x 100.17) on the CPU, 2404Mhz at 12-14-14-35 2T on the memory, and 3906Mhz for uncore. Adaptive voltage of 1.20v with no opffset was used and all cores used the 42x ratio.

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Stability tests finished without issue, and we were able to complete every test in the benchmark suite.


Level 2: 4.4Ghz

The next test on our 4770K and Maximus VI Hero was using the 4.4Ghz setting. 4-Way Optimization 4.4Ghz brought our system to 4407Mhz (44 x 100.17) on the CPU, 2402Mhz at 12-14-14-35 2T on the memory, and 3907Mhz for uncore. Ratio limits were set to 44 for all cores.

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Once again, stability tests finished without any problems and we were able to complete every test in the benchmark suite. Voltage set in the BIOS was adaptive at 1.250v with no offset.


Level 3: 4.6Ghz

Moving up to the maximum auto overclock the Hero offers we come to 4.6ghz (46 x 100.00) on the CPU, 2400Mhz at 12-14-14-35 2T on the memory, and 3900Mhz for uncore. Ratio limits were set to 46 for all cores.

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One final time, 4-Way optimization proved its worth as stability remained intact. Voltage set in the BIOS was adaptive at 1.275v with no offset. Although this auto overclock was stable, 1.275v adaptive gave 1.403v under AIDA64 load and temperatures in the 90s. Not all CPUs and cooling setups will be able run 4.6Ghz so keep that in mind when trying your luck.

So in the end, 4-Way Optimization worked great, and all levels were stable which is a great accomplishment considering Haswell's notorious overclocking issues.
 
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Eldonko

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Manual Overclocking

Manual Overclocking

As we saw in the Intel Haswell i7-4770K & i5-4670K Review Haswell brings some new overclocking methods and challenges to the table. Overclockers have to find a balance between maximum CPU clocks, memory clocks, and uncore. You can no longer expect to easily max out CPU and memory clocks as you will likely have to sacrifice one or the other for any degree of stability.

Additionally, with the VRM on die, Haswell temperatures exceed even those we saw with Ivy Bridge, so stock Intel coolers no longer cut it when pushing frequencies. Many users are moving to high end water cooling setups to manage the heat produced by Haswell chips. In this section, we will bring you through the process of manually overclocking a retail 4770K on the Maximus VI Hero and hopefully you can learn a few tips and tricks to help with your own Haswell overclocking.

Before getting into manual overclocking results we did want to put a caveat on these results. We are using a high end water cooling system with a powerful pump and two double heatercores equipped with four 120mm fans to dissipate heat. Also, we are now using a RETAIL CPU.

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Starting with the CPU overclock and leaving the RAM below spec and uncore at stock we started at the 4.6GHz achieved with 4-Way Optimization and slowly went up from there while keeping a close eye on temperatures.

Since voltages and temperatures were already high we weren’t sure how much further we could push the CPU overclock but we managed to make it to 4.7GHz at 1.365v (manual voltage) but at that point temperatures were starting to throttle a bit under AIDA64 load so we felt it would be safest to stop there.

When your load temperatures approach 90C it is safe to say that the chip is more than making out a given cooling solution. We were pleased however to be able to gain 100Mhz over 4-Way Optimization with less voltage than was set for 4.6GHz (1.365v vs. 1.400v).

With a stable overclock of 4.7Ghz, the next step was to focus on memory clocks. Our G.Skill Trident kit is rated for 2800Mhz so with a first attempt we tried for 2800Mhz on the RAM at stock timings of 12-14-14 2T. That was stable there so we tried for 2933Mhz which wasn't possible. The issue is the L3 cache which is tied at the hip to the memory controller frequency so when CPU clocks are maxed out, the CPU will be running out of headroom for I/O which can lead to a number of stability issues.

With 2933 a no go, we managed to stabilize 2800Mhz at 11-13-12 1T at 1.65v, which is a nice improvement over the 2400Mhz at 12-14-14 that we had with 4-Way Optimization!

The next step is to move up uncore until stability starts to wane. Uncore frequency clocks similar to the CPU frequency and it has its own voltage called CPU Cache Voltage. Ideally you want uncore to be 200-300Mhz below your CPU clocks and after some tweaking we managed to stabilize uncore at 4400Mhz. SuperPI and Cinebench are very handy for testing exactly which combination of CPU speed, memory speed, memory timings, and uncore frequency will yield the best results. Highest is not always best so take your time and run some benchmarks so you know you have the best overclock for your system.

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Click for full screenshot

After all was said and done, we found the optimal configuration for our setup was 4700Mhz (47 x 100) on the CPU, 2800Mhz on the memory tightened to 11-13-13 1T, and 4400Mhz on the uncore. For voltage we preferred the manual mode because you know exactly what you will get under load. With the VRM on die vdroop is basically non-existent so there is no need to compensate for that.

Here are a few tips to help with stability:
  • Run uncore at 100-300Mhz below CPU speed to help with stability. Running uncore at 1:1 with CPU is difficult and the performance lost by dropping it a bit is negligible.
  • Tweak your System Agent and I/O voltages for memory stability until you find the sweet spot (typically 1.1v to 1.25v for VCCSA, 1.10v to 1.20v for I/O with digital I/O 50mv higher than analog.
  • Watch your trfc as it will need to be high at high memory speeds
  • If you are having difficulty stabilizing high memory clocks try the 125 strap
  • There is only about a 5-10% range possible for the PCI-E/DMI controller when adjusting BCLK so keep BCLK within that 5-10% range of the CPU strap.
  • Don’t bother trying the 3000 memory divider, it does not work!


Memory Overclocking

After finding that optimal point for our manual overclock, of course we wanted to play with our memory and see what kind of overclocks we could get on the new Haswell platform.

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Click for full screenshot

First we tried out the 2800Mhz 12-14-14 kit of Trident to see what kind of headroom it had left in it. Using an ES CPU in the Deluxe review we were able to push the Trident to 3000Mhz but our retail chip wasn’t quite as strong on the IMC front and the memory ended up at 2970Mhz.

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Click for full screenshot

Much to our surprise, we were actually able to push the four modules (totaling 16GB) further than either kit would clock independently. ASUS T-Topology for memory likely has something to do with that. In the end we got so close to the 3000Mhz holy grail but no matter the voltage or timings we could not complete a 32M at 3k. We ended up with a 16GB overclock of 2996Mhz at 12-14-12 2T which is quite impressive.


BCLK Overclocking

BCLK overclocking on the Haswell platform is linked to the CPU straps and you can typically scale 3 to 5 BCLK from the strap before running into stability issues. The straps available are 100, 125, 167, and 250; however it is pointless to even have the 250 strap in the UEFI because it is not useable. ASUS also added “secret sauce” to the flagship boards the Deluxe and the Maximus VI Extreme to run the 200 strap on some CPUs however the Hero doesn’t have it.

That said, the natural place to start was with the 167 strap. Problem was no matter what we tried, as soon as the BIOS settings saved the board would turn off and we would have to clear CMOS to recover. It is likely CPU related though, because the retail Haswell chips simply don’t overclock like the ES chips do. In the end our max BCLK was in the low 130s.
 
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Eldonko

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System Benchmarks

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In the System Benchmarks section we will show a number benchmark comparisons of the 4770K and Maximus VI Hero using the stock speed (turbo enabled), CPU Level Up 4.2Ghz, 4.4Ghz, 4.6Ghz, and our manual overclock. This will illustrate how much performance can be gained by the various overclocking options the Maximus VI Hero has to offer. For full comparisons of a 4770K vs. a number of different CPUs have a look at the Intel Haswell i7-4770K & i5-4670K Review.

For reference the CPU speeds, memory speeds, memory timings, and uncore speeds used for these tests are as follows:

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SuperPI Benchmark

SuperPi calculates the number of digits of PI in a pure 2D benchmark. For the purposes of this review, calculation to 32 million places will be used. RAM speed, RAM timings, CPU speed, L2 cache, and Operating System tweaks all effect the speed of the calculation, and this has been one of the most popular benchmarks among enthusiasts for several years.

SuperPi was originally written by Yasumasa Kanada in 1995 and was updated later by snq to support millisecond timing, cheat protection and checksum. The version used in these benchmarks, 1.5 is the official version supported by hwbot.


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Results: A 19% improvement in SuperPI 32M calculation time is noted going from stock speed of 3900Mhz (optimized defaults) to the manual overclock speed of 4700Mhz.


CINEBENCH R11.5

CINEBENCH is a real-world cross platform test suite that evaluates your computer's performance capabilities. CINEBENCH is based on MAXON's award-winning animation software CINEMA 4D, which is used extensively by studios and production houses worldwide for 3D content creation.

In this system benchmark section we will use the x64 Main Processor Performance (CPU) test scenario. The Main Processor Performance (CPU) test scenario uses all of the system's processing power to render a photorealistic 3D scene (from the viral "No Keyframes" animation by AixSponza). This scene makes use of various algorithms to stress all available processor cores. The test scene contains approximately 2,000 objects which in turn contain more than 300,000 polygons in total, and uses sharp and blurred reflections, area lights, shadows, procedural shaders, antialiasing, and much more. The result is displayed in points (pts). The higher the number, the faster your processor.


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Results: The CINEBENCH R11.5 results show an impressive increase in performance in rendering moving from a stock system to an overclocked system. For CPU rendering, a 21% (single thread) and 20% (multi thread) improvement (in points) is noted when moving to manual OC speeds.


Sandra Processor Arithmetic Benchmark

SiSoftware Sandra (the System ANalyser, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant) is an information & diagnostic utility. The software suite provides most of the information (including undocumented) users like to know about hardware, software, and other devices whether hardware or software. The name “Sandra” is a (girl) name of Greek origin that means "defender", "helper of mankind".

The software version used for these tests is SiSoftware Sandra 2013 SP3. In the 2013 version of Sandra, SiSoft has updated operating system support, added support for Haswell CPUs, as well as added some new benchmarks to the testing suite. The benchmark used below is the Processor Arithmetic benchmark which shows how the processor handles arithmetic and floating point instructions. This test illustrates an important area of a computer’s speed.


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Results: Sandra’s processor arithmetic benchmark also show impressive improvements on an overclocked system, with up to 22% gains in Dhrystone ALU iSSE4.2 (GIPS) and Whetstone FPU iSSE3 (GFLOPS) performance for the manual overclock.


PCMark 8 Benchmark

Developed in partnership with Benchmark Development Program members Acer, AMD, Condusiv Technologies, Dell, HGST, HP, Intel, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Samsung, SanDisk, Seagate and Western Digital, PCMark 8 is the latest version in FutureMark’s popular series of PC benchmarking tools. Improving on previous releases, PCMark 8 includes new tests using popular applications from Adobe and Microsoft.

The test used in below is the PCMark 8 Home benchmark. This testing suite includes workloads that reflect common tasks for a typical home user such as for web browsing, writing, gaming, photo editing, and video chat. The results are combined to give a PCMark 8 Home score for the system.


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Results: Since PCMark 8 includes a bit of everything, including 3D, the gains are not as dramatic as some of the pure 2D benchmarks. Moving from stock speed to the manual overclock we have an overall improvement of 10% for PCMark 8.


AIDA64 Memory Benchmarks

AIDA64 Extreme Edition is a diagnostic and benchmarking software suite for home users that provides a wide range of features to assist in overclocking, hardware error diagnosis, stress testing, and sensor monitoring. It has unique capabilities to assess the performance of the processor, system memory, and disk drives.

The benchmarks used in this review are the memory bandwidth and latency benchmarks. Memory bandwidth benchmarks (Memory Read, Memory Write, Memory Copy) measure the maximum achievable memory data transfer bandwidth. The code behind these benchmark methods are written in Assembly and they are extremely optimized for every popular AMD, Intel and VIA processor core variants by utilizing the appropriate x86/x64, x87, MMX, MMX+, 3DNow!, SSE, SSE2, SSE4.1, AVX, and AVX2 instruction set extension.

The Memory Latency benchmark measures the typical delay when the CPU reads data from system memory. Memory latency time means the penalty measured from the issuing of the read command until the data arrives to the integer registers of the CPU.


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Results: Moving from stock speed to the manual overclock on the Deluxe and from 1600Mhz to 2800Mhz on memory, we see gains up to 40% in memory read, write, and copy. The results are similar when looking at latency; it drops from 56.0ns to 40.2ns, an improvement of 28%!
 
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Eldonko

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3D and Gaming Benchmarks

3D and Gaming Benchmarks

In the 3D and Gaming Benchmarks section we will show benchmark comparisons of the 4770K and Maximus VI Hero using the stock speed (turbo enabled), CPU Level Up 4.2Ghz, 4.4Ghz, and 4.6Ghz as well as our manual overclock. The improvement won’t be as dramatic as with 2D benchmarks but it will illustrate how much 3D performance can be gained by the various overclocking options the Maximus VI Hero has to offer. The GPU is kept at stock speed for all tests for consistency. For reference the CPU speeds, memory speeds, memory timings, and uncore speeds used for these tests are as follows:

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3DMark Fire Strike Benchmark

The latest version of 3DMark from FutureMark includes everything you need to benchmark everything from smartphones and tablets, to notebooks and home PCs, to the latest high-end, multi-GPU gaming desktops. And it's not just for Windows. With 3DMark you can compare your scores with Android and iOS devices too. It's the most powerful and flexible 3DMark we've ever created.

The test we are using in this review is Fire Strike which is a DirectX 11 benchmark designed for high-performance gaming PCs. Fire Strike features real-time graphics rendered with detail and complexity far beyond what is found in other benchmarks and games today.


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Results: As a brand new purely 3D benchmark it is not surprising to see minimal gains from an increase in CPU and memory clocks. Moving from stock to our manual overclock we see a gain of 2% in Fire Strike 3D mark points.


Sleeping Dogs Gaming Benchmark

Sleeping Dogs is an open world action-adventure video game developed by United Front Games in conjunction with Square Enix London Studios and published by Square Enix, released on August 2012. Sleeping Dogs has a benchmark component to it that mimics game play and an average of three runs was taken.

The settings used in the testing below are the Extreme display settings and a resolution of 1920x1080. World density is set to extreme, high-res textures are enabled, and shadow resolution, shadow filtering, screen space ambient occlusion, and quality motion blur are all set to high.


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Results: Similar to 3DMark, moving from stock to our manual overclock we see gains of 1% in average FPS in Sleeping Dogs.


Metro: Last Light Gaming Benchmark

Metro: Last Light is a DX11 first-person shooter video game developed by Ukrainian studio 4A Games and published by Deep Silver released in May 2013. The game is set in a post-apocalyptic world and features action-oriented gameplay. The game has a benchmark component to it that mimics game play. Scene D6 was used and an average of three runs was taken.

The settings used in the testing below are Very High for quality and a resolution of 1920x1080. DirectX 11 is used, texture filtering is set to AF 4X, motion blur is normal, and tessellation is set to high.


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Results: Metro: Last Light gives a bit larger improvement moving to an overclocked system than the previous two benchmarks. MetroLL shows an improvement of 8%, not bad at all.
 

Eldonko

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Feature Test: USB 3.0 Boost

Feature Test: USB 3.0 Boost

As we saw in the software section, ASUS has developed a USB 3.0 Boost utility which can apply Turbo and UASP modes to USB 3.0 devices. Theoretically, this should increase throughput in certain cases.

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To test USB 3.0 transfer speeds and performance we use Thermaltake's BlacX 5G HDD Docking Station. This is a handy USB 3.0 device that supports HDDs and SSDs.

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For our tests we used a Crucial M4 128GB SSD in the docking station and tested Normal versus Turbo operation. Since Z87 has native USB 3.0 support, all USB 3.0 ports go direct to the chipset and there are no onboard controllers on the Hero. In our testing UASP mode was not available because Intel doesn't support UASP with Windows 7, only within Windows 8. That said, results may be slightly better with Microsoft's latest operating system. To switch the USB 3.0 mode, use the USB 3.0 Boost section of AI Suite III (shown above).

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Click to enlarge

First we tested CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 x64 performance and as you can see Turbo Mode outperforms Normal Mode with sequential read speeds exceeding 450Mb/s.

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To get an idea of performance with file transfers we used RichCopy to copy a 2GB file to and from the SSD using both Normal Mode and Turbo Mode. Each test was repeated 3 times and the average is reported above. As you can see, Turbo Mode really pushes the performance when copying to a USB 3.0 device like our Thermaltake's BlacX 5G HDD Docking Station with an SSD installed.

All in all, it does look like ASUS has succeeded in boosting USB 3.0 performance to the next level with huge increases in copy speeds and throughput.
 
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Eldonko

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Conclusion

Conclusion

With such a vast selection of Z87 motherboards already available, the ASUS Maximus VI Hero finds itself in a fight for relevance against some well-equipped competitors. However, this board is approaches its audience from a different perspective. Like its Republic of Gamers predecessors, the Hero targets enthusiasts and gamers but there’s a no-frills approach here that’s quite enticing for anyone that doesn’t need a ton of secondary features but still wants legendary stability and a broad-ranging BIOS.

The Maximus VI Hero answers a question many of us have been asking: why should we have to pay more for a so-called overclocker friendly motherboard? Simply put, now we don’t. ASUS took the formula from their higher-end Z87 boards and trimmed off a few non-essential additions in order to create a straightforward motherboard that has all the hallmarks of an overclocking monster. From a ridiculously detailed BIOS to well developed software, the Hero has everything we could possibly want. More importantly, this has been achieved without sacrificing the ROG series’ core features like RAMDisk, SupremeFX Audio and Dual Intelligent Processors 4.

Those dual intelligent processors are an essential addition for both novices and enthusiasts alike. With just the push of a button their unique 4-Way Optimization allowed for a CPU clock speed of 4.6GHz without a hint of instability. That’s quite impressive since Haswell processors really aren’t known for their overclocking headroom and we couldn’t get all that much better during manual tweaking.

Besides automatic overclocking utilities, the Hero brings some other features to the table. Fan Xpert II allows for a new level of control and optimization for system fans. Audio wise, the SupremeFX 8-Channel HD audio features an amazing audio experience. Sonic Radar gives an edge in online shooters by helping to locate opponents in games from sounds like gunshots or footsteps. There’s also Gamefirst II which keeps pings and latency low by prioritizing your bandwidth. So, while the Hero may not have an endless list of add-ons like its Formula and Extreme brethren,

For the overclocking enthusiast crowd this board has many of the features we see in the $400 flagship Maximus VI Extreme for around half the price. ASUS created the Hero for exactly this reason; ROG quality and innovation for a lower price point. It has an innovative ROG BIOS that’s equipped with a wide range of new features including SSD Secure Erase, DirectKey, and the ability to add an OC Key (not included but purchasable for around $50).

Even though Haswell is relatively new to the market, ASUS added no less than 15 new BIOS features and the Hero’s BIOS is mature, robust and well thought-out. The only thing we wish ASUS included from a BIOS standpoint is the overclocking and memory profiles that we saw in previous generations.

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Manual overclocking went very well, and even with an average-clocking retail 4770K we were able to hit 4700Mhz for 24/7 operation with the only limitation being the heat produced by the Haswell chip. The T-Topology II architecture on the Hero helped us bring 16GB of G.Skill Trident all the way to 2996Mhz at 12-14-12, and we feel the only thing holding us back from going further was a mediocre IMC on our 4770K. With a brand new platform, growing pains often exist but users will be happy to know that one of the only issues they will encounter will be the crazy heat omitted by an overclocked Haswell chip.

Reasonably priced as low as $200, the Maximus VI Hero is currently one of the best values in the Z87 motherboard market. Granted, it may be missing the more robust version of 4-Way Optimization included with the Z87 Deluxe and the overclocking profiles seen in the Rampage series but these are only minor exclusions on an otherwise top-tier board. If you always wanted to get in on the innovation and build quality the ASUS ROG team brings to the table without paying an astronomical amount, look no further.


Pros

- Industry leading UEFI BIOS full of new features
- DirectKey, so simple but so useful
- AI Suite III is full of great features
- RAMDisk and SSD Secure Erase software included
- Huge gains with USB 3.0 Boost
- SonicRadar and Gamefirst II give gamers the edge
- ROG VRM featuring NexFET Power Blocks, 60A BlackWing Chokes, and 10K Black Metallic Capacitors
- 4.6Ghz overclock instantly
- T-Topology 2 is great for overclocking 4 stick of RAM
- Amazing sound for onboard audio with SupremeFX
- Fan Xpert II is the most customizable fan solution yet


Cons

- Would like to have the overclocking and memory profiles like the M6E
- 4-Way Optimization is not as robust as with boards with a TPU chip


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