Conclusion

Allgemein		+	-
The first impression the Maximus VII Hero from ASUS leaves is definitely a good one. Once again we like the ROG design, which meanwhile belongs to the evergreens in the industry. It's always remarkable to see that with every single generation ASUS manages to improve the looks of their ROG series motherboards. Basically this board offers everything to set up an decent overclocking rig since there is a capable power design featuting only high-quality components, such as for instance black-metallic caps. Apart from that there is the ROG BIOS with a plethora of seetings related to overclocking, but still, the BIOS is well organized and you'll find the settings needed reasonably fast.		- Design - Layout - Features
Layout		+	-
Basically the ASUS Maximus VII Hero's Layout has been very well thought. Once more practical are the angled SATA connectors as well as the power- and reset-buttons. There is also a debug display which is very useful in case you should have issues with a component in your system or the board itself. Even the placement of the PCI-Express x16 is very well chosen. Between the first and the second PCI Express x16 slot there are two free slots which means that the first card in a SLI/CrossFire setup gets plenty of fresh air. Apart from that there is generally a lot of space on this board since, it hasn't been squeezed to the rim with features. Basically this is another advantage of a "not so pricy" board. Should you use this board for extreme overclocking, then you'll find it easy to isolate. Are you a gamer and you want to install a big CPU cooler, then there is plenty of space to even install todays bigges air coolers. Regarding the onboard audio we like the fact, that it has been shielded from the other onboard components. Furthermore there are high-quality ELNA capacitors and we have to say, the result is overall pleasing.		- Angled SATA connectors - Power/Reset-Button onboard - Debug display - Space around the CPU socket - Audio Solution

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

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Author: m.buechel@ocaholic.ch Luca Rocchi l.rocchi@ocaholic.ch