ASUS Maximus IX Code Review
Category : Z270
Published by Marc Büchel on 02.02.17
With the Maximus IX Code, ASUS has a completely new motherboard in its portfolio, which is based on Intel's latest Z270 chipset. The front as well as the backside features a cover, which we know from earlier Formula series motherboards from ASUS. Apart from that there are numerous features to have a look at and we're apparently going to run our benchmark suite on this contender.
Looking at the Z270 line-up from ASUS quite a few things have change compared to the past and one of those things is that with the "Code", there is an all new model. While it basically looks like the Maximus IX Formula there are a few features missing, like for example the VRM water cooling block.
Let’s start from the beginning at this point. The Maximus IX Code has been equipped with ASUS’ "armor", which consists of a plastic cover on the front and a sturdy metal plate on the back. Apart from that there is the AURA feature, which allows you to change the illumination of the board from within Windows. There are also three full-sized and metal-strengthened PCIe slots, which have been wired using 16/8/8 lanes - top to bottom. Between the first and the second full-sized PCIe slot there are two slots distance providing plenty of room for graphics cards to breathe even in multi-GPU configurations.
Removing the shroud we find a slightly altered feature set, compared to the Z170 models. Checking the SATA connector count there are six of them, while the previous generation high-end motherboards from ASUS featured either eight or ten of these connectors. What’s also not there anymore is the U.2 connector. Instead there are now two M.2 slots and both have been wired using four PCIe Gen 3 lanes. The positioning of those connectors is questionable. We’ve never been a huge fan of vertically mounted M.2 SSDs, since it doesn’t look nice and even if the supporting bracket is mounted it’s not too hard to break the board and the SSD. The second M.2 slot is hidden underneath a removable cover, which you really want to put back once the M.2 SSD is installed otherwise you’ll miss the nice PCH cover. Having this cover back in place will most likely lead to additional throttling issues with these drives.
Looking for additional features we find the usual bells and whistles, like for example onboard buttons and a debug display, support for USB 3.1, high-quality power design and a bunch of connectors on the I/O panel.
At a first glance this is certainly a good looking motherboard, although personally we’re starting to feel like we’ve seen enough plastic covers on motherboards. Nevertheless this will not stop us from having a detailed look at this board and send it through our benchmark parcours.
Specs and Delivery
| Chipset | Intel Z270 |
| Memory | Dual Channel DDR4, 4 x DIMM, Max. 64 GB DDR4, 4133 (O.C) / 3866 (O.C.) / 3600 (O.C) / 3466 (O.C.) / 3333 (O.C.) / 3300 (O.C.) / 3200 (O.C.) / 3000 (O.C.) / 2800 (O.C.) / 2666 (O.C.) / 2400 / 2133 Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory |
| Multi-GPU |
|
| Slots |
|
| Sound | SupremeFX Impact Audio 8-Channel High
Definition Audio
|
| Storage |
|
| Network |
|
| Internal Connectors |
|
| Extrenal Connectors |
|
| Forfactor | ATX (30.5cm x 24.4cm) |
| BIOS | Bios (128 Mb flash ROM, UEFI AMI BIOS) |
- User's manual
- I/O Shield
- 4 x SATA 6Gb/s cable(s)
- 1 x M.2 Screw Package
- 1 x CPU installation tool
- 1 x Supporting DVD
- 1 x ASUS 2T2R dual band Wi-Fi moving antennas
- 1 x SLI HB BRIDGE(2-WAY-M)
- 1 x ROG big sticker
- 1 x Q-Connector
- 1 x 10-in-1 ROG cable label
- 1 x M.2 bracket
- 1 x Extension Cable for RGB strips (80 cm)
- 1 x ROG coasters
Features
Digi+ |
ASUS has been using digital power designs for almost a decade now and with this particular board their not making an exception. A closer look reveals there is a PWM controller that has been labelled ASP1400BT, which is in charge of regulating ten phases. These phases are based on 87350D NexFETs from Texas Instruments, micro fine alloy inductors and 10K capacitors. Together they make for a high quality power design. |  |
ASUS Fan Xpert 4 |
ASUS Fan Xpert 4 provides customizable settings for fans that have been attached directly to the onboard fan headers. It allows you to tune your fans automatically or manually, easily allowing you to either configure a silent or a high-airflow system. |
 |
AURA RGB Lightning |
Aura is an ASUS software tool to control the onboard RGB lighting or RGB LED strips that have been connected to the onboard AURA headers. It allows you to select any color which is in the RGB spectrum and therefore enables users to individualize the looks of their motherboards. |  |
SupremeFX |
SupremeFX is ASUS's interpretation of high quality onboard audio. Supporting up to eight channels, the SupremeFX solution received shielding from other onboard components. Apart from that there are high quality Nichicon capacitors, gold-plated connectors, an ESS9023P digital-to-analog converter as well as a RC4580 buffer. |  |
USB 3.1 Front-Panel Connector |
Right below the ATX power connectore there is a USB 3.1 front-panel connector, which has been wired using two PCIe Gen 3 lanes and therefore offering up to 2GB/s bandwidth. Should you own or plan on buying a case with such a connector, then you'll be able to use it combination with this motherboard. |
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Layout
ASUS decided to give the Maximus IX Code a color scheme that's kept in black and grey. The PCB is matte black, the VRM aluminum heatsinks are silver-greyish the PCH cooler is black with a sheet metal cover that's received the ROG logo in silver. Apart from that there is the RGB lighting, which ASUS calls AURA. It allows you to make the board shine in your preferred color. The layout itself is well thought and since ASUS is always taking Intel's reference specifications regarding socket clearance into account, there is enough space to install large aircoolers. The fact that there are angled SATA connectors allows for an easy installation of oversized graphics cards.
The
ASUS Maximus IX Code comes with a
digital 8+2+2 phase power design. The CPU is backed up by eight phases, the iGPU can rely on two phases and the memory receives stable current supply from
two
phases as well. In general the power design on this board is more than adequate for the job at hand. It's even good for extreme overclocking. Digging a little bit deeper into the details we find a PWM controller that's been labelled ASP1400BT, which regulates the 10 CPU VRM phases. Those cosists of 87350D NexFETs from Texas Instruments, micro-fine-alloy inductors and 10K capacitors. Overall this is a high quality power design although ASUS decided to go for a doubled phase design.
This board has been equipped with a total of four DIMM-slots. Officially supported is everything up to DDR4 4133 (O.C.). There is engough space between the DIMM-slots and the CPU socket which means that you wont encounter compatibility problems with big coolers even when you choose to install RAM with big heatspreaders. Also supported are Xtreme Memory Profiles (XMP) in version 2.0.
On the
Maximus IX Code the southbridge is being cooled by a
passive cooling block. A closer look at the VRM area shows
there are two more individual passive heatsinks without heatpipe again. The overall build quality of the blocks is good, which makes for a product that feels very nice, when you're holding it in your hands.
Connectors and I/O
ASUS equipped the Maximus IX Code with six angled SATA ports. All of them offer 6Gbps bandwidth. There aren't any SATA Express ports but we find two M.2 slots which have been wired using four PCIe Gen 3.0 lanes each. As we already mentioned we do question their positioning. On of the M.2 slots is hidden underneath the plastic cover, that spans over the entire motherboard. If you want to install an M.2 SSD underneath the cover, which ASUS calls "armor", you'll first have to remove a plastic piece to then be able to access the slot. After having the M.2 drive installed you'll most likely put that plastic cover back. This might have the effect that the heat generated by your M.2 SSD gets trapped underneath the cover thus your drive starts thrtottling. We also don't agree with the placement of the second M.2 slot, which makes you install your M.2 drive vertically using a support bracket. Despite that there is still the possibility to break the drive out of the slot if you're not careful, when wiring your system. Apart from that, since there is already a support bracket they could have equipped it with a thick thermal pad so it would act as a heatspreader at the same time. That way using this slot would make a little more sense. Having a look around the board we find practical onboard power- and reset-buttons and there is also a debug LED on this board. Furthermore you get a MemOK button, which has proven useful quite a few times. ASUS decided to place a PCIe x1 slot right below the I/O panel. After that one there is a PCIe x16 Gen 3 slot. This means that it's well possible to remove a graphics card even if a large CPU heatsink has been installed.
There is a total of six fan headers on the Maximus IX Code which is more than enough, to provide a well equipped high-end or workstation with fresh air. The fan headers have been located close to the CPU as well as spread over the board. Other than that it's a good thing that all of them feature four pins, which allows for rpm regulation in BIOS as well as under Windows.
Lighting
- 2 x Aura RGB Strip Headers
Fan headers
- 1 x CPU Fan connector(s) (1 x 4 -pin)
- 1 x CPU OPT Fan connector(s) (1 x 4 -pin)
- 3 x Chassis Fan connector(s) (3 x 4 -pin)
- 1 x EXT_Fan header
- 1 x H_AMP fan connector
Watercooling connectors
- 1 x W_PUMP+ connector (1 x 4 -pin)
- 1 x AIO_PUMP connector (1 x 4 -pin)
- 1 x W_IN header
- 1 x W_OUT header
- 1 x W_FLOW header
- 1 x Thermal sensor connector
Overclocking and debugging connectors
- 1 x ROG extension (ROG_EXT) header(s)
- 1 x ReTry button
- 1 x Safe Boot button
- 1 x LN2 Mode jumper(s)
- 1 x Slow Mode switch(es)
- 1 x Start button
- 1 x Reset button(s)
- 1 x MemOK! button(s)
Additional connectors
- 1 x USB 3.1 front panel connector
- 1 x Front panel audio connector(s) (AAFP)
- 1 x System panel(s) (Q-Connector)
- 1 x TPM connector(s)
Looking at the external connectors and buttosn directly at the back-panel ASUS equipped the Maximus IX Code with one DisplayPort, one HDMI, one RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet connector, one USB 3.1 Type-A connector, one USB 3.1 Type-C connector, four USB 3.0 ports, four USB 2.0 ports, one optical audio out (S/PDIF), five audio jacks, one clear CMOS button, two WiFi anntenna ports and one USB BIOS flashback button.
BIOS
The most recent version of ASUS’s UEFI BIOS presents itself with an attractive design, and especially the new interface which called EzMode, where we can not only monitor system information, CPU and motherboard temperature, CPU voltage and DRAM status but also set system and CPU fans as well as directly change the boot priority and tune the system to different profiles, is leaving a good impression. If you wish to go back to the good old times, where you were racing through the menus hammering up and down arrows as well as the enter key ridiculously fast, you just have to press F7 and there you go. Since this motherboard features a very solid power design it is suitable for gaming and high overclocking. The BIOS features all the usual ASUS options, which allow for altering virtually anything when it comes to overclocking. Overall, there is certainly no lack of options in this BIOS.
Test setup
Hardware |
|
| Motherboard |
|
| Processor | Intel Core i7-6700K @ 4.0 GHz |
| Memory | 8 GB (2x4) G.Skill Ares DDR4-2133 CL15-15-15-2T 350 |
| Graphic card | ASUS GeForce GTX 980 |
| Driver | ForceWare 353.62 |
| Hard disk | Intel 335 Series SSD 120 GB |
| Power supply | Seasonic Platinum Fanless 520W |
| OS | Windows 10 x64 |
Preview / Gallery
3DMark
3DMark 11
3D Mark Vantage
PC Mark 08
SiSoft Sandra 1
SiSoft Sandra 2
UC Bench
Super Pi 1M - 32M
wPrime 1024M Multicore
Cinebench R15
Tomb Raider
Metro Last Light
Sleeping Dogs
Power Consumption
Performance Rating
Price comparison
| Model |
Geizhals.eu |
| ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Extreme | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Extreme Assembly | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Gene | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Hero | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Impact | |
| ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger | |
| ASUS Maximus IX Code | |
| ASUS Z170 Deluxe |
|
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming Aura | |
| ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming | |
| ASUS Z170-A |
|
| ASUS Z270E STRIX Gaming | |
| EVGA Z170 Classified K | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 | |
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Ultra Gaming | |
| Gigabyte X170-Extreme ECC | |
| MSI Z170 Gaming M7 | |
| MSI Z170A Xpower Gaming Titanium Edition | |
| MSI Z170I Gaming Pro AC | |
| Supermicro C7Z170-OCE | |
| Supermicro C7Z170-SQ |
Conclusion
| General | + | - | |
| A closer look at the motherboard lineup from ASUS reveals that the Maximus IX Code is a high-end model, regarding their gaming branded products. Therefore it comes with some really neat features, like for example ASUS's SupremeFX audio solution, Aura RGB Lightning and two M.2 slots and a great looking design. Nevertheless at a price of 327 Euro, this board is quite costly for what you get. Sure the Maximus IX Code is a good motherboard but in this price range a little more could be expected, especially since other vendors sell equally equipped boards at lower price points. Apart from that this is a basis for a Kaby Lake platform that is as costly as a Broadwell-E platform. Considering this we really find the pricing of this particular product steep. | -
Design - Layout |
- Price | |
| Layout | + | - | |
| The layout of the ASUS Maximus IX Code has been well thought - as expected. Once more practical are the angled SATA connectors as well as the power- and reset-buttons and the debug LED. Apart from that we like the placement of the PCI-Express x16 slots. There is a total of three full sized PCI Express slots and four PCIe x1 slots. Two of the three full-size PCIe slots receive metal reinforcements and these slots are two slots apart. This means that there is plenty of space for graphics card in multi GPU setups to breathe. When it comes to the M.2 slots we would like to see a different implementation as we made clear in the first paragraph on page 5 of this review. | -
Angled SATA
connectors - Space around the CPU socket - Placement of PCIe slots |
- No power/reset button and no debug LED - Vertical M.2 slot - M.2 slot underneath cover | |
| Performance | + | - | |
| Calculating the average of all 3D benchmarks results we ran, we see that this board scores 3rd. When taking the average of all 2D results, this board comes in 1st out of 24 boards tested. On another note, we had at energy efficiency where this board scores 10th. | - 2D Performance |
||
| Overclocking / BIOS | + | - | |
| The UEFI BIOS gets a black background and there are a few additional red and white design elements. Meanwhile it's almost normal that a BIOS is complete, offering countless features. If you're looking for overclocking options you'll find a great many of them and they are equally practical for novices and extreme overclockers. We always love the pre-defined profiles, which make overclocking quite a bit more efficient. Boosting our CPU to 5.2 GHz was absolutely no problem at all. | - Sheer amount of
options - Design |
||
| Recommendation | + | - | |
| The Maximus IX Code is a well equipped Z270 motherboard. This board is also quick accourding to our 2D and 3D benchmarks we're running. At the moment this is the third Intel Z270 motherboard that we have added to our charts and comparing to models based on Intel's Z170 chipset it's definitely quick. We chose to use an Intel Core i7-6700K processor to be able to compare the performance with other boards we've reviewed previously reviewed. This motherboard definitely comes with a vast feature set yet the price of 327 Euro excluding shipping costs is pretty steep. | - Price | ||
| System von MIFCOM | |||
| Should you be looking for an individually configurable system, which can be equipped with this motherboard, then we recommend you the Gaming Mini-PC Core i7-7700K from MIFCOM. | |||
| Rating | |||
| We give the ASUS Maximus IX Code excellent 4 out of 5 stars. | |||
