First Look: Asus P5Q3 & Maximus II Formula - bit-tech.net Forums

Tim S · 16th May 2008, 08:09

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...s-ii-formula/1

We take a quick first look at the new Asus P45-based Republic of Gamer motherboard: the Maximus II Formula. We also have a look at the company's new feature packed P5Q3 Deluxe WiFi-AP @n to see what's hot, what's green and if it's potentially worth the upgrade.

Naberius · 16th May 2008, 08:17

Damn the Maximus II Formula is one hell of a handsome brute of a board.

The boy 4rm oz · 16th May 2008, 08:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Naberius

Damn the Maximus II Formula is one hell of a handsome brute of a board.

I agree, they look awesome and to the ASUS standard they are way too expensive. DFI all the way.

oasked · 16th May 2008, 08:37

Those boards look really nice, but I'm sure that they're going to cost an arm and a leg...

Xtrafresh · 16th May 2008, 09:10

that is one mint looking piece of kit!

There's two voices argueing in my head right now... a female voice is just.. well.. talking a lot, and the male voice demands to know where the female has hidden the wallet.

mrb_no1 · 16th May 2008, 09:56

well the P5Q3 is to be pre-ordered from oc's for £160 which is fair for a new high range board, but no sign of the maximus formula 2, but i reckon it'll see the £250 mark.

it looks sexy....one thing i probably thought i'd never say about a mobo.

peace

fatman

Cupboard · 16th May 2008, 10:44

I have to agree, that does look awesome!
I would love to know what this little wire is though:
http://images.bit-tech.net/content_i...ula/max2-8.jpg (bottom left)
It seems a bit out of place and seems to suggest there is a fan under there

edit:unless that just lights up I suppose

Jipa · 16th May 2008, 10:51

Annnd whaddayaknow, the memory slots are again so close to the PCI-e slot the memories can't be changed w/o removing the card.

But that's a small problem, it's still one hell of a beauty

And most likely will perform accordingly..

Bindibadgi · 16th May 2008, 11:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cupboard

I have to agree, that does look awesome!
I would love to know what this little wire is though:
http://images.bit-tech.net/content_i...ula/max2-8.jpg (bottom left)
It seems a bit out of place and seems to suggest there is a fan under there

edit:unless that just lights up I suppose

Yea, it's backlit.

Jipa - they should come out, just pop one end and half on the other. It's because all these boards are trying to force 2 or 3 phase power regs in a small space.

Krikkit · 16th May 2008, 11:31

That looks absolutely fantastic. Very tempting indeed.

naokaji · 16th May 2008, 11:47

I just hope the Maximus formula 2 will be less than 200£...

Asus should really get the memory slots further away from the pci-e x16 slot though.

Mother-Goose · 16th May 2008, 12:54

That maximus formula 2 is something I want. I'd get rid of my striker in a heart beat.....but can't be bothered. It's a step in a good direction though, very impressed.

wuyanxu · 16th May 2008, 14:18

wow, now that Maximus2 is what motherboards should look like!

only problem though, is that how's Asus RoG board's fan controllers? i have now degraded to relay heavily on the Abit's uGuru fan controller, and i found my friend's P5K series fan controlling BIOS are basically no existence.

Bindibadgi · 16th May 2008, 14:44

The new fan controllers from the Asus EPU 6-engine are excellent - there's tons of options to play with.

Rocket733 · 16th May 2008, 16:42

Quote:

And yes, Asus is starting a public beta BIOS program as well!

Beta bios is useful, but only if you can download them from Asus's website in less than a month.

MrWizard · 16th May 2008, 17:33

Both of these boards look amazing. ASUS gets an A+ for aesthetics as usual. The feature set seems to be pretty damn nice as well. I can't help but sense an upgrade in my future...

Max Spain · 16th May 2008, 18:01

Unfortunately the ICH10R southbridge comes with a TPM built in so buyers beware.

Journeyer · 16th May 2008, 18:38

Love those little "start" and "reset" buttons.

ChaosDefinesOrder · 16th May 2008, 19:08

That maximus is definitely beautiful! Seems odd to have such a great colour scheme for the heatsinks, then still use blue and white for the sockets. Would have looked better if the mem sockets were red and black and the PCI sockets were black and grey! The blue and white looks out of place...

Am I right in thinking that all P45 boards have their 16x slots as 16+1 or 8+8 only? Seems a waste of 16x slots but hey, chipset limitations...

Hopefully that heatsink style will be carried over to other boards with 2 PCIe at 16x phys, 16x elec!

SubtleOne · 16th May 2008, 20:43

There article at Toms Hardware in which Gigabyte said that ASUS's MoBo power consumption claims, among others, were blatant lies.

16th May 2008, 08:09	#1
Tim S Pewlius Caesar bit-tech Staff Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Ascot, Berks Posts: 18,021	First Look: Asus P5Q3 & Maximus II Formula http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...s-ii-formula/1 We take a quick first look at the new Asus P45-based Republic of Gamer motherboard: the Maximus II Formula. We also have a look at the company's new feature packed P5Q3 Deluxe WiFi-AP @n to see what's hot, what's green and if it's potentially worth the upgrade. __________________ Tim on Twitter \| Tim's Blog \| Tim's Flickr The bit-tech Blog \| bit-tech on Twitter \| Join the bit-tech & Custom PC folding team (#35947)

16th May 2008, 08:37	#4
oasked Stuck in the Mud Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Bromley, Kent Posts: 2,552	Those boards look really nice, but I'm sure that they're going to cost an arm and a leg... __________________ Intel i7 920 @ Stock \| 6GB Corsair DDR3\| Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 WD640 AALS \| POV 8800GT \| Lian-Li PC65 \| Enermax 600W SLI \| Dell 2408WFP

16th May 2008, 09:10	#5
Xtrafresh Blame it on the Boogie Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Nijmegen, Holland Posts: 1,915	that is one mint looking piece of kit! There's two voices argueing in my head right now... a female voice is just.. well.. talking a lot, and the male voice demands to know where the female has hidden the wallet. __________________ AXGS Blog: A fresh look at P55. Fresh Fusion: Unfinished \| FFF: Name change and text update 19-11

16th May 2008, 09:56	#6
mrb_no1 Pie Eater Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Pyrford, England Posts: 365	well the P5Q3 is to be pre-ordered from oc's for £160 which is fair for a new high range board, but no sign of the maximus formula 2, but i reckon it'll see the £250 mark. it looks sexy....one thing i probably thought i'd never say about a mobo. peace fatman __________________ Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 3600Mhz ¦ Asus Maximus II Formula ¦ ATI Radeon 4890 (1000Mhz Core + 1200Mhz Mem OC) ¦ 2x2G Corsair Dom. PC 8500 @ 1080Mhz ¦ Aquacomputer WC ¦ Creative X-Fi Fatal1ty ¦ 150G Raptor, 2x1500 + 1x750 + 2x500 Seagate (SATA2) ¦ Pioneer DVD burner ¦ Lian Li - PC 73SL Aluminium Silent Server Case ¦ Dell 2007WFP 20" Widescreen ¦ Logitech Z-5500 5.1 Speakers ¦ Sennheiser HD270

16th May 2008, 10:44	#7
Cupboard I'm not a modder. Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Bury St Edmunds/Durham Uni Posts: 1,845	I have to agree, that does look awesome! I would love to know what this little wire is though: http://images.bit-tech.net/content_i...ula/max2-8.jpg (bottom left) It seems a bit out of place and seems to suggest there is a fan under there edit:unless that just lights up I suppose __________________ i7 920, 8800GTS 512, 6GB Corsair all in an Intel DX58SO; 3*320GB RAID5; CM Stacker Samsung Q45.

16th May 2008, 08:17	#2
Naberius Multimodder Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Posts: 193	Damn the Maximus II Formula is one hell of a handsome brute of a board.

16th May 2008, 10:51	#8
Jipa Licenced idiot. Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Tampere, Finland Posts: 3,064	Annnd whaddayaknow, the memory slots are again so close to the PCI-e slot the memories can't be changed w/o removing the card. But that's a small problem, it's still one hell of a beauty And most likely will perform accordingly.. __________________ Abit IP35 - E6750 - 8800GT 1024 MB - 2 GB 800 MHz - enough HDDs - 750 W Silverstone - CM Storm Sniper Asus P5Q-VM - Q9450 - 4 GB - 400 W Silverstone - Fortress FT01 AllTheMods - MetkuMods - LedCalc

16th May 2008, 11:31	#10
Krikkit Don't panic! Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Lancs, UK Posts: 15,199	That looks absolutely fantastic. Very tempting indeed. __________________ \|E8400 @ 4.4GHz\|WC: 2*120.1 GT's, MCP350, Storm G5\|4GB Dominators\|DFI LT X48-T2R\|8800GT\|74GB Raptor\|Chieftec BA01\|OCZ ModXStream 600W\|Dell 2208WFP\| The Good, The Bad, The Ugly, The LOL!!1!!1!, The Zlad!, The Kempness, The Braaaaaains...

16th May 2008, 12:54	#12
Mother-Goose Tories ftw! Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: England - Surrey Posts: 3,750	That maximus formula 2 is something I want. I'd get rid of my striker in a heart beat.....but can't be bothered. It's a step in a good direction though, very impressed. __________________ Goose Q6600, Striker Extreme, 4GB 6400C4 Dominator DHX, Raptor X, 2x400GB spinpoints, BFG 8800GTX OC, Stacker 830 Evo, HX620, Nova T 500, Freezer 7 Pro

16th May 2008, 14:18	#13
wuyanxu quad fuelled, GTX200 powered Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: in a room near Soton Uni. UK Posts: 3,943	wow, now that Maximus2 is what motherboards should look like! only problem though, is that how's Asus RoG board's fan controllers? i have now degraded to relay heavily on the Abit's uGuru fan controller, and i found my friend's P5K series fan controlling BIOS are basically no existence. __________________ Death to consolification !!!Core i7 860 @ 4Ghz Cooled by Corsair H50 // Asus P7P55D Deluxe // 8GB of Corsair Dominators @ 1528Mhz 8-8-8-24 // BFG gtx260+ OC2 MaxCore 216SP 896MB // Samsung 64GB SSD // WD Raptor 74GB + Black 1TB + Green 1TB // Corsair Hx620w // Antec p182 // Samsung 24" T240

16th May 2008, 14:44	#14
Bindibadgi Richard Swinburne bit-tech Staff Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Omnipwntent Posts: 28,275	The new fan controllers from the Asus EPU 6-engine are excellent - there's tons of options to play with. __________________ Made you look, made you stare, made you clicked this in your underwear! Den of Geek!

16th May 2008, 17:33	#16
MrWizard Still Wrenching Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Salinas, CA Posts: 318	Both of these boards look amazing. ASUS gets an A+ for aesthetics as usual. The feature set seems to be pretty damn nice as well. I can't help but sense an upgrade in my future... __________________ Gigabyte P35-DS3L \| Intel E2220 @ 3.0GHz \| AC Freezer 7 Pro \| eVGA 8800GT 512MB \| 2GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2-800 \| 1 x Seagate 250GB SATA \| 1 x WD Raptor 74GB SATA \| X-Fi Extreme Gamer \| Silverstone Strider 600 Modular \| Modded Antec Nine Hundred

16th May 2008, 18:01	#17
Max Spain Minimodder Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 43	Unfortunately the ICH10R southbridge comes with a TPM built in so buyers beware.

16th May 2008, 18:38	#18
Journeyer Ultramodder Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Norway Posts: 1,106	Love those little "start" and "reset" buttons. __________________ When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. MSI 790FX-GD70 \|\| PhenomII X4 955 \|\| 8Gb Crucial DDR3 1333Mhz \|\| Gigabyte GTX285\|\| OCZ EliteXstream 1KW

16th May 2008, 19:08	#19
ChaosDefinesOrder Vapourmodder Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Cambridge, UK Posts: 369	That maximus is definitely beautiful! Seems odd to have such a great colour scheme for the heatsinks, then still use blue and white for the sockets. Would have looked better if the mem sockets were red and black and the PCI sockets were black and grey! The blue and white looks out of place... Am I right in thinking that all P45 boards have their 16x slots as 16+1 or 8+8 only? Seems a waste of 16x slots but hey, chipset limitations... Hopefully that heatsink style will be carried over to other boards with 2 PCIe at 16x phys, 16x elec! __________________ Current setup: Hiper Osiris \| Core i7 920 (Cooled by Noctua NH-U12P) \| Foxconn Renaissance \| 2x GTX280 \| Cooler Master UCP \| Corsair Dominator 3GB (soon to be 9GB) \| Creative X-Fi Titanium \| Vista Home Premium x64 \| OS Drive: WD Velociraptor 300GB. Storage: 1x 160GB, 1x 250GB, 1x 300GB, 1x500GB (incremental additions over the years! All Maxtor) \| Monitor: Dell 2709W

16th May 2008, 20:43	#20
SubtleOne Minimodder Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 27	There article at Toms Hardware in which Gigabyte said that ASUS's MoBo power consumption claims, among others, were blatant lies.