These days the Crosshair V Formula is ASUS' flagship model regarding AMDs 990FX chipset. This ROG board therefore comes with a lot a features and a very attractive design. 
The Crosshair V Formula is ASUS' most recent high end motherboard regarding AMDs 990FX chipset. Therefore we're we're very curious what this thing is capable of from a layout and design perspective.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 2 - Specifications / Delivery | Page 5 - Conclusion |
| Page 3 - Layout |
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Specifications / Delivery
| CPU | AMD AM3+ FX/Phenom II/Athlon II/Sempron 100 Series Processors |
| Chipset | AMD 990FX/SB950 |
| Memory | Dual Channel DDR3, 4 x DIMM, Max. 32 GB DDR3 2133 (OC) / 2000 (OC) / 1800 (OC) / 1600 / 1333 / 1066 MHz |
| Multi-GPU | Supports NVIDIA 3-Way SLI Technology Supports AMD 3-Way CrossFireX Technology |
| Slots | 3 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (dual x16 or x16, x8, x 1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (x4 mode) 1 x PCIe 2.0 x1 1 x PCI |
| Audio | SupremeFX X-Fi2 8 Channel |
| Storage | 6 x SATA 6Gb/s port (RAID 0, 1, 5, 10) 1 x SATA 6Gb/s port 1 x eSATA 6Gb/s port |
| I/O internal / Connectors | 1 x USB 3.0 port 2 x USB 2.0 port 7 x SATA 6Gb/s connector 2 x CPU Fan connector 3 x Chassis Fan connector 3 x Optional Fan connector 1 x S/PDIF out header 1 x 24-pin EATX Power connector 1 x 8-pin ATX 12V Power connector 1 x 4-pin ATX 12V Power connector 1 x Front panel audio connector 1 x System panel 8 x ProbeIt Measurement Points 3 x Thermal sensor connector 1 x En/Dis-able Clr CMOS header 1 x EZ Plug connector 1 x Power-on button 1 x Reset button 1 x CPU Level Up button 1 x ROG Connect switch 1 x Go Button(s) |
| I/O external | 1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse combo port(s) 1 x eSATA 6Gb/s 1 x LAN (RJ45) port(s) 4 x USB 3.0 8 x USB 2.0 (white port can be switched to ROG Connect) 1 x Optical S/PDIF out 6 x Audio jack(s) 1 x Clear CMOS button(s) |
| Formfactor | ATX (30.5 cm x 24.4 cm) |
| BIOS | 64Mb Flash ROM, EFI AMI BIOS GUI |
| Warranty | 3 years |
Regarding the delivery you really find everything you need. Next to numerous manuals there is a SLI bridge, a triple SLI bridge, a CrossFire Bridge, SATA cables, a Q-connector, an I/O shield, ...
Features
| ASUS Update | Allows us to check and update the latest available BIOS directly from ASUS website. |
| ASUS FAN Xpert | FAN Xpert allows you to adjust both the CPU and chassis fan speeds according to different ambient temperatures and your PC's system loading. The various fan profiles affer flexible controls of fan speed to achieve a quiet and cool system environment. |
| ASUS MyLogo | Allow you to change the POST Logo at system startup with any pic you want. |
| ASUS TurboV EVO | Allows you to overclock the bus frequency, CPU voltage, IMC voltage and DRAM Bus voltage in Windows and takes effect in realtime without exiting and rebooting the OS. |
| ASUS DIGI+ VRM | Meanwhile ASUS also provides its boards with digital power designs. Using the the right software, in this case ASUS DIGI+ VRM Utility it is not only possible to adjust voltages whilst being in Windows on can now also control impedances. |
| ASUS TPU | As soon as one activates the TPU this chips monitors all possible voltages and clock speeds using the according software. The difference to the EPU is that TPU will provide as much performance as possible. Therefore it can increase clock speeds and voltages. |
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 2 - Specifications / Delivery | Page 5 - Conclusion |
| Page 3 - Layout |
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Layout
The Crosshair V Formula comes with the typical ROG color schema which consists of black and red. In this case the PCB comes with a black coating and also the northbridge, southbridge and capacitor cooling blocks are black. Red are the PCI-Express x16 slots, two DIMM slots as well as seven SATA ports. It seems like everything that symbolizes speed has been kept in red. Everything together ends up in a very nice and homogenous design which you might already expect from a ROG-series motherboard.
ASUS provided their latest Crosshair V Formula motherboard with a digital power design, whereas the CPU gets eight phases and the memory gets two phases. Looking at the capacitors themselves you'll find high quality caps around the CPU socket. These multilayer polymer capacitors offer advantages over other caps. Therefore super ML caps remain stable under regular as well as AC voltage, doesn't have an aging mechanism and are resilient under thermal shock.
Totally you'll find four DIMM-slots on the ASUS Crosshair V Formula. Officially supported are DDR3 2133 (OC) / 2000 (OC) / 1800 (OC) / 1600 / 1333 / 1066 MHz with up to 32 GByte capacity. There is plenty of space to install even big aircoolers and they shouldn't interfere with memory.
The current converters are being held at adequate temperatures via a passive heatpipe cooling solution. The southbridge got a passive cooling block which has not been integrated into the heatpipe loop of northbridge and VRM. The fact that the cooling blocks around the CPU socket aren't too big makes it comfortable to install a big aircooler. We also noticed the very high manufacturing quality of the cooling blocks and their weight which is quite immense.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 2 - Specifications / Delivery | Page 5 - Conclusion |
| Page 3 - Layout |
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Anschlüsse und I/O
Totally ASUS equipped the Crosshair V Formula with six angled SATA-III ports as well as one straigt SATA-III connector which should be enough for any office PC or gaming system. You also find practical onboard power- and reset-buttons but unfortunately there is no debug display which would be very useful if you should once have issues with one of the components in your system. A closer look at the last expansion slot reveals that it is a PCI-Express x4 slot. Although one could install a dual slot graphics card in this slot we would recommend to not do so and only install singl slot expansion cards.
Totally you'll find eight fan headers on the ASUS Crosshair V Formula which is more than enough, to provide a well equipped midrange or even a high-end-system with fresh air. The fanheaders are located around the CPU and their also spread over the whole board which makes them easily accessible from any position in an enclosure.
Looking at the externl connectors directly at the back-panel ASUS equipped the Crosshair V Formula with four USB 3.0/2.0 ports, eight USB 2.0 ports, one eSATA 6 Gbps port, one gigabit ethernet port, an analogue audio panel as well as an optical out and a Clear CMOS buton.
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 2 - Specifications / Delivery | Page 5 - Conclusion |
| Page 3 - Layout |
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Conclusion
| Overall discussion | + | - | |
| ASUS Crosshair V Formula is overall a very interesting and at a first glance also a very good board. The ROG color scheme belongs to the nicest the industry offers and therefore there are not many other motherboards that play in this league. Furthermore the positioning of the different parts has been well done too. We also like that ASUS equipped this board with a SupremeFX Audio-Chip. In this case you get nice an clear sound from the back panel audio plugs. | - Design - Audio-Chips |
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| Layout | + | - | |
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Generally the ASUS Crosshair V Formulas layout is well thought. Once more very practical are the angled SATA connectors. There also are practical power/reset buttons onboard but what you wont find is a debug display. The last expansion slots is a PCI-Express x4 slot which which comes in full length. If you should choose to install a dual slot graphics card at this place you're going to cover the connectors at the bottom edge of the board. |
- Angled SATA connectors | - No Debug display | |
| Page 1 - Introduction | Page 4 - Connectors and I/O |
| Page 2 - Specifications / Delivery | Page 5 - Conclusion |
| Page 3 - Layout |
Discuss this article in the forums
Author: m.buechel@ocaholic.ch