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Hardware Asus Maximus VI Impact Review

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Meanmotion, 20 Nov 2013.

  1. Meanmotion

    Meanmotion bleh Moderator

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  2. Cei

    Cei pew pew pew

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    Very glad I dropped the £200 for one of these for my ITX build - an awesome board that doesn't compromise despite its size. The audio card is a really good touch, and I think ASUS's attention to audio recently is a very good thing.
     
  3. SchizoFrog

    SchizoFrog What's a Dremel?

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    That is the only real thing annoying me about this review, but I think it is a massive omission. Bit-Tech, you mention the included soundcard but then do nothing to review this part of the board.
     
  4. jrs77

    jrs77 Modder

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    Allthough I really like this board for it's features (especially the soundcard), it has one big flaw for me persoanlly... the powerboard.
    It makes aircooling impossible, as the heat from a topdown-blower get's trapped inbetween the powerboarda, the soundcard and the GPU leading to high temperatures for all components.

    And as Schizo said... why's there no more detailed look at the soundcard?
     
  5. SchizoFrog

    SchizoFrog What's a Dremel?

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    jrs77:

    That is an interesting point. Do you have any evidence to base it on though or are you just musing your guessed opinions?
     
  6. Cei

    Cei pew pew pew

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    jrs77, air cooling is not impossible, you just don't use a top-down blower. Conventional tower coolers are absolutely fine - I'm using a Noctau NH-U9B SE2.
     
  7. RedFlames

    RedFlames ...is not a Belgian football team

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    Not all ITX cases have the space for a tower cooler... and it could make fitting certain tower coolers a bit of a pain... Not only do you have to worry about it potentially encroaching on the ram slots, you have the two daughterboards to work around too...

    Not saying it's impossible to air cool, but you would have to choose your cooler carefully...
     
  8. SchizoFrog

    SchizoFrog What's a Dremel?

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    Personally in a very small Mini-ITX case I would go for an AIO cooler as that would solves all the issues that seem to arise.
     
  9. littlepuppi

    littlepuppi Currently playing MWO and loving it

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    I have put one of these in my water build and love it, cracker of a board.
     
  10. Combatus

    Combatus Bit-tech Modding + hardware reviews Lover of bit-tech Super Moderator

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    On-board sound cards are notoriously difficult to test objectively and even software tests for noise very often throw up odd results, which is why the vast majority of review sites don't test them. If anyone has any suggestions other than a subjective 'it sounds better' test we're all ears!
     
  11. Asouter

    Asouter --------

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    I see what you done there, very good :)

    I have this fine motherboard and have no complaints at all, a good layout and will soon install an M.2 ssd
     
  12. ZERO <ibis>

    ZERO <ibis> Minimodder

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    No onboard sound card will ever compare to a dedicated external DAC. They should ditch the internal one and give us a second net port.
     
  13. Combatus

    Combatus Bit-tech Modding + hardware reviews Lover of bit-tech Super Moderator

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    I'd also argue that if you're buying a £170 motherboard, it would also make sense to to at least use a tower cooler, if not an all-in-one liquid cooler. Something like the Phanteks PH-TC90LS would go well with a cheaper board such as the MSI Z87I for example.
     
  14. jrs77

    jrs77 Modder

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    I despise watercooling these days, but that's just me, and I've had too many issues with AIO-watercoolers.

    Back in the days it was fun to watercool your Celeron 400A overclocking it to some 600MHz tho, bet we needed to build our own watercooling-equipment :p

    I've come along way, but these days I'm simply getting old and more rational :lol:
     
  15. Guest-16

    Guest-16 Guest

    No more than most mini-ITX cases with the case sides right up against the side of the board. If you're using a top-down blower you're limited to low profile, which means you're TDP limited anyway so it won't be generating much heat and/or you won't be OCing. The Impact is designed to OC like an ATX board (memory OC is better in fact), which means most are using tower or LCLC coolers, so it's not an issue.
    Generally speaking as long as you have an exhaust creating a vacuum to draw out the air you'll be fine.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: 21 Nov 2013
  16. Guest-16

    Guest-16 Guest

  17. Vallachia

    Vallachia What's a Dremel?

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    Most top-down coolers allow for the fan to be reversed. Mount it so that it pushes the hot air upwards and away from the board. This often gets better results in small cases anyway, as you are no longer fighting natural convection.
     
  18. (RFFN)-SqUeD

    (RFFN)-SqUeD I eat dremels for breakfast

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    Nice review guys, but I have to say i'm very pleased with my MSI Z87I !!
    Made my decision on the color scheme... I love all Black :)
     
  19. SchizoFrog

    SchizoFrog What's a Dremel?

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    I don't understand the argument against commenting on the soundcard portion of the board. I am not 'having a go' I merely don't understand it. You review dedicated soundcards and also compare/comment about them in regards to the standard Realtek audio, so I am not understanding why similar tests can't be performed on this. I also hate the response given 'notoriously difficult' as it just comes across as 'notoriously difficult so we can't be bothered to do it properly'.
    A full review should test and review every aspect of the product for comparison and the reviewers should strive to find a solution to the difficult parts so they can provide the required information.
     
  20. Cei

    Cei pew pew pew

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    ITX always means picking components carefully. I had to measure my EVGA Hadron Air to work out which tower cooler would fit, but I had several options. RAM slots are always a problem for tower coolers, ITX or not, mandating the use of low profile RAM in most cases.
     
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