ASUS Maximus VII Impact Review: Premium Gaming Z97 in mini-ITX
by Ian Cutress on December 9, 2014 10:00 AM ESTASUS Maximus VII Impact Conclusion
At the beginning of this review, we mentioned that the Maximus VI Impact, the version from Z87, would be a tough act to follow. Both products cater for Haswell and Broadwell processors, so the major benefit from the hardware point of view is the Z97 additions. On the Maximus VII Impact this means M.2 x4 support, but Asus has in turn upgraded the package overall.
The most obvious upgrade on the hardware side is the addition of the new fan header PCB that allows more fans (particularly those located at the rear of the board) to be used and controlled. This has been added in response to enthusiasts who want more fan header control - a typical mini-ITX motherboard might have two or three headers, and the Impact with the CoolHub card ups the total to four. We also get SoundStage as a hardware solution for optimized audio in different scenarios.
The BIOS and software are both upgraded to their Z97 versions. For the BIOS this means complete fan control, XMP enabling in EZ mode, a full range of overclocking functions, the auto overclocking wizard and configured overclock modes specifically for the motherboard. On the software side of the equation we have upgraded versions of AI Suite 3 including 5-Way Optimization, Turbo App, Sonic Radar 2, GameFirst 3 and also new software such as KeyBot. The auto overclocking rules here have also been upgraded to allow users to specify peak voltages and temperatures for the test along with longer stress tests and AVX/memory testing.
Performance for the Maximus VII Impact is good all around, especially with DPC Latency coming top out of any other motherboard we tested, tying with the TUF Z97 Mark S. Multicore turbo is enabled, ensuring that stock performance is also near the top if our benchmark list. The only odd mark was with the audio tests, with our sample had a low sub-100 Hz response. After speaking with Asus, it would seem that my review sample is suspect. However due to the detachable audio card, replacing it doesn't require a completely new motherboard.
Expensive motherboards often find respite in being some of the best in the business. The Maximus VII Impact is the most expensive mini-ITX motherboard available, but it still ends up in that mid-to-high $200-$250 bracket in terms of overall Z97 pricing. The Maximus VII Impact also has to compete with the cheaper mini-ITX boards around $130, such as those in our $140 mini-ITX roundup that might perform similarly at stock. What the Maximus VII Impact does differently in exchange for the extra is component quality, enhanced engineering and more options, giving a system builder an opportunity to do more. That is the ultimate strength in the ROG Impact line.
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leetruski - Thursday, December 11, 2014 - link
Mind telling me where you found a bundle? I'm actually looking for one myself. Thanks.krazy_olie - Friday, December 12, 2014 - link
ah, it was an overclockers.co.uk bundle on Cyber Monday. I'm in UKmapesdhs - Thursday, December 11, 2014 - link
Interesting to compare to the Z97I-Plus, which is also a very good board. I built an HTPCwith this model, just a G3258 to begin with, 750 Ti, works very nicely indeed. It's also almost
$100 cheaper, money that could be spent on a better GPU, CPU, SSD, etc.
Ian.
krazy_olie - Thursday, December 11, 2014 - link
Most people would be better served by the plus but these types of boards are often in bundles so it was at no extra cost to me. The overclocking features are a bit overwhelming. I've just activated the 2133 xmp profile on my memory and left it as it is for now. From what I can tell is that by default if I do this it activates the "free" 4x4400Mhz boost. I may attempt to do some sort of undervolting at some point.Was able to try out the headphone output and was pleasantly surprised. Bizarrely plugging in to the rear it detects something, gives the option of headphones then sets to speakers but on the front panel it works. Not really an issue but weird, it detected my sennheiser hd598 as needing the middle amplification, >64 Ohm, setting but I switched it down to "performance" as it was loud enough for my tastes.
Subjectively it sounds better than my late fiio e17, excellent soundstage and separation. I can certainly hold off buying a replacement headphone amp for quite some time so I've made my money back there already.
Had a play with the sound add ons and they are potentially useful, but for general use best to turn it all off. The audio visualiser is a curious thing... arguably it's a form a cheating if you can see where the sounds are coming from! I suspect I will have fun trying to get it to play nice with games. 3d sounds is so awkward since direct 3d sound was deprecated
Just hoping that I will have more luck controlling the 3 pin fan with cha_fan1 vs the coolhub, otherwise I will need to resort to resistor cables or a new fan. Will report later on...
krazy_olie - Friday, December 12, 2014 - link
Chassis fan header 1 (CHA_FAN1) can control SC fans, seems like either an undocumented restriction on the coolhub or possibly a bug of sorts.Ronald Hummelink - Sunday, December 14, 2014 - link
I bought the same bundle from OCUK, and seems I can control both CHA1 and CHA2(Coolhub) fans fine. I just use custom fan profiles in BIOS, and both fans (and the cpu fan) follow CPU temperature fine.rakesh_hocrox - Friday, December 12, 2014 - link
Check out the latest tech news about Google here: http://bit.ly/1yGNZCWSuperVeloce - Friday, December 12, 2014 - link
Why are usb3 copy times that much slower on newer z97 chipsets?MajorDizaster - Saturday, March 14, 2015 - link
So, are you supposed to replace the screws on the CPU Power Daughter card heat sinks with longer screws to mount it to a case? Or do you only need to use the two free mounting holes?iLloydski - Monday, June 22, 2015 - link
i find it odd that nobody has talked about the fact that M.2 shares bandwidth with PCIe 3.0/2.0 X16 slot. Bandwidth on the PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 slot becomes x8 when M.2 device is inserted.i'd like to know the impact of this with the graphics card if decide to use M.2 SSD. Thanks, appreciate the feedback.