I'm looking at upgrading my motherboard to an Asus Maximus V The problem is which one?? My system is as follows :- Asus P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 i7 Ivybridge 3770K Corsair H100 Cooler 16GB Corsair Vengeance 1866Mhz Palit 4GB 680 GTX Asus Xonar D2X PCIe Soundcard Crucial M4 256GB SSD + 2TB + 3TB Seagate SATA3 Hard Drives Coolermaster Storm Trooper Case I'm currently running at 4.5GHz and wouldn't mind trying a little more. What are the main differences between the boards? I don't really want the V Gene as the matx form looks a bit cramped. How good is the thunderFX? I'm guessing quality wise its not going to compare to the Xonar Is the difference between the formula / thunderfx just the sound card? Will there be a difference in overclocking the formula to the extreme? Sorry for all the questions but I'm a little stuck! If there are alternative manufacturers boards which are equivalent I'd be interesting in your views. Thanks in advance!
You're unlikely to get more TBH. I could only get mine to 4.8GHz 'stably' @ 1.4v ish... Keep what you have
You can probably push a bit higher, but it depends on how much you play with the LLC, DIGI+ VRM hardware and offset voltages. Z77/3770K will be a more natural fit. The Max Vs difference is the memory clock, due to T-Topology does 2400+. So your 1866 is easy GENE - SupremeFX III, mPCIe Combo card (no WiFi or mSATA bundled), 2xSLI/2xCF, Extreme DIGI VRM II (15k black caps etc), Intel LAN+Gamefirst. http://rog.asus.com/motherboard/gene/maximus-v-gene/ Formula - Thermo Fusion waterblock, SupremeFX IV, ThunderFX option, 2xSLI/3xCF, Extreme DIGI VRM II (15k black caps etc), mPCIe Combo with WiFi (space for mSATA SSD), Intel LAN + Gamefirst II. http://rog.asus.com/motherboard/formula/maximus-v-formulathunderfx/ Extreme - True 4xSLI/4xCF (PLX chip auto-switches on/off depending on lane use), basic sound (so can turn off to use your sound card), 1xThunderbolt, LN2 upgrades - slow mode, OC Key, SubZero sense, VGA Hotwire, E-ATX size, ProbeIt multimeter sockets, mPCIe Combo with WiFi (space for mSATA SSD), Intel LAN. http://rog.asus.com/motherboard/extreme/maximus-v-extreme/ The links give an explanation of each feature, while you can also browse our Maximus V guides/articles here: http://rog.asus.com/i/maximus-v-motherboards/ It would be, yes, as your sound card would sit right under your GPU, but it would fit. There's two minds to this; unless you absolutely need an external sound device, if you've already got a DX, stick with that: quality wise they're 'comparable', but only stereo output on the ThunderFX. ThunderFX is about 114dB SNR (no AV200 chip), D2X is ~118 iirc (+ has full AV200 Xonar chip) ThunderFX does offer slight extras like ENC, but unless you live in a loud place or LAN a lot don't worry. Both SupremeFX IV and ThunderFX include 300Ohm headphone amps which do make a diff if you use 'phones a lot - can't remember if the D2X has one. The best thing about ThunderFX though is using it with (any) laptop as no laptop will ever have this level of sound quality I 'borrowed' one for the G74 I use at work and it's night and day! Yup, that and a metal case badge/door hanger value-adds. Are you using LN2? Otherwise, under LCLC there's unlikely diff between GENE and Extreme tbh. If you only want a new board and are not considering other upgrades like 2/3/4-way SLI, then get the Formula. You don't need the extra PCIe on the Extreme, and you don't need the ThunderFX version if you already have a sound card, unless you want to sell it or use it with a laptop. You can try SupremeFX IV (~110dB SNR/Realtek) and see if you want to drop the sound card and just use that even, depending on your needs and speakers. There's also the option to include the Fusion Thermo in a full WC upgrade if you go that route? or even mod the H100 to include the Fusion Thermo in the future You don't need to though - it's designed to work with just airflow as well.
