Together with the Z87 Classic Line as well as the Z87 TUF series ASUS today announced their upcoming Z87 Republic of Gamers motherboards. In total the manufacturer decided to create three new ROG models, which mainly target gamer and overclocker. In this case we're talking about the Maximus VI Hero, the Maximus VI Gene as well as the Maximus VI Extreme.
With the Maximus VI Hero ASUS for the first time has an ROG offer that might be ranged below the the 200 US-Dollar price point. Furthermore therer is the mATX version, the Maximus VI Gene as well as the Extreme, which offers an extra long feature list and might be the preferred option for overclockers all around the globe.
A closer look at the features shows that all the new ASUS ROG boards feature the same 12 phase power design. In case of the Hero you also get three PCIe 3.0 x16 (x16/NC/NC or x8/x8/NC or x8/x4/x4), eight SATA 6 Gbps ports, SupremeFX onboard audio, as well as connectivity options that include four USB 3.0 ports, gigabit Ethernet, and HDMI display out.
A closer look at the Maximus VI Gene shows that the new mATX offering come with two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots (x16/NC or x8/x8), a full-size PCI-Express 2.0 x4 (connected to the PCH), connectivity which is mostly identical to the Hero, but with the option of adding a mPCIe combo card, which makes it possible to get 802.11ac WiFi and Bluetooth support. Furthermore there is a total of six USB 3.0 ports.
The most advanced of all the new ROG LGA1150 boards is the Maximus VI Extreme. Thanks to a PCI-Express 3.0 x48 bridge chip this board supports 3-way as well as 4-way multi GPU setups. There are no less then 48 PCI-Express 3.0 lanes. Two can be run at x16 at the same time whereas all four can run at x8 simultaneously. Additionally there is a full-size PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slot as well as another PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slot, which has been wired with four lanes. Further connectivity inclueds two Gigabyte Ethernet ports, then SATA 6Gbps connectors, eight USB 3.0 ports and quite a few overclocking features.
Source:
ASUS