Overclocking

To give a feel for the overclocking performance potential of the Maximus VIII Extreme motherboard, we attempted to push it to known CPU-supported performance parameters with minimal tweaking. The board was able to hit a maximum base clock speed of 267MHz with a CPU speed of 4.5GHz, a matching 4.5GHz ring bus speed, and a 2490MHz memory speed. With the base clock rolled back to 167MHz, we were able to push the CPU to 4.67GHz with a 4.5GHz ring bus and 2672Mhz memory speeds. With the base clock rolled back to its stock 100Mhz speed, we pushed the CPU to 4.6GHz with a 4.5GHz ring bus and 3466MHz memory speeds. All overclocking sessions remained stable for over 4hrs. System stability was tested running the AIDA64 stability test in conjunction with EVGA's OC Scanner X graphical benchmark running at 1280x1024 resolution and 8x MSAA in stress test mode. Note that 16GB (2 x 8GB) of Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-2666 and 16GB (4 x 4GB) of Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3200 memory modules were used for the overclocking tests.

267MHz Base Clock Stats

167MHz Base Clock Stats

100MHz Base Clock Stats with 3466MHz Memory

Note that this is is meant only as a quick preview of the board's performance potential. With more time to tweak the settings to a greater extent, pushing to a higher base clock and ring bus speed may have been achievable, in addition to an overnight stability run without issue.

Performance

The Maximus VIII Extreme motherboard lives up to its extreme moniker, performing up to expectations under both stock and overclocked conditions. Its peripherals and subsystems all performed flawlessly as well, owing to the boards over-engineered design and build quality.

Pricing

As of July 22, the ASUS Maximus VIII Extreme motherboard was available at Amazon.com for $479.70 with Prime shipping. The board was also available from Newegg.com for $484.99 and from B&H for $479.70.

Conclusion

ASUS has another beast on their hands with the Maximus VIII Extreme motherboard. Holding the "Flagship" moniker for the ASUS ROG Z170 board line, the board is chock full of features and accessories including the latest edition of their OC Panel device. The Maximus VII Extreme was as pretty to look at as it was over-engineered (which also ups the aesthetic factor for me). ASUS designed the beast with a full 13 dedicated power phases for the CPU alone, meaning that the board was made to put up with anything you could throw at it and engineered for world record performance. With the exception of the CMOS battery placement, the integrated component layout was well thought out and implement with more than adequate space to use the board's numerous features.

Strengths

• Stock performance
• Overclocking performance
• Board aesthetics, layout, and design
• Motherboard manual details and quality
• UEFI BIOS design and usability
• Intel GigE network controller performance
• CMOS battery placement
• M.2 port placement
• OC Panel II device inclusion
• Design and spacing for the VRM and PLX heat pipe cooling loop
• Configurable chipset LED

Weaknesses

• Price
• CMOS battery placement