Connectors and I/O

ASUS equipped the Maximus VIII Impact with four straight SATA ports. All ports offer 6Gbps bandwidth and they are natively wired to the Z170 PCH. If you're looking for an M.2 slot, there is none, but instead ASUS equipped this board with a U.2 connector which allows you to attach NVMe SSDs. You'll also find practical onboard power- and reset-buttons on this motherbboard as well as a a debug display, which has been moved to the I/O panel, since there is simply not enough space on the actual motherboard. ASUS also equipped this board with their SupremeFX Impact III audio solution. In this case the manufacturer put all the sound related components on yet another daughter board, which is electrically isolated from the rest of the board. There are high-quality components used for the audio implementation such as ELNA capacitors, an ESS9023P DAC, Nichicon gold caps, two headphone amps and a De-Pop relay.



In total, there are two fan headers on the Maximus VIII Impact's PCB. Another four come with the fan extension card, which is included in the delivery. This is definitely enough, to provide a well equipped mini-ITX system with fresh air.



Looking at the external connectors directly at the back-panel ASUS equipped the Maximus VIII Impact with four USB 3.0/2.0 ports, two USB 3.1 ports (1 x Type-A and 1 x Type-C), one gigabit ethernet port, an HDMI connector as well as an optical out and an analogue audio panel. Furtheremore you'll find also a clear CMOS button, a debug LED and a power and a reset button. Furthermore there is a WiFi 802.11ac/Bluetooth 4.0 module present, where external antennas can be connected.

Page 1 - Introduction	Page 4 - Layout
Page 2 - Specs and Delivery	Page 5 - Connectors and I/O
Page 3 - Features	Page 6 - Conclusion