ASUS Republic of Gamers Maximus V Formula (Z77) Motherboard Review

In recent times ASUS have built themselves quite a brand when it comes to mobile parts. Whether it be their impressive UltraBooks which stand out in a market which is full of stylish high quality machines, or their Transformer range. Looking specifically at the Transformer range it has probably introduced more new consumers to the brand than any other set of products in quite some time. The world is going mobile and ASUS having the best, most unique tablets out there has paid off, especially now that Google's Nexus tablet will land in consumers hands with Asus branding on the back.

While building an impressive mobile brand ASUS have also been busy keeping their PC component business at the cutting edge with new items such as the Xonar Phoebus we reviewed a couple of weeks ago. A hugely impressive sound card it was part of the Republic of Gamers brand, just like the focus of today's review.

On our test bench today is the latest product from the ASUS RoG brand, their Maximus V Formula motherboard. We will be comparing it to another Z77 board in a selection of real world and synthetic tests to find out how ASUS look to improve on the base design and how far they have pushed the enthusiast feature set... watercooled heatsinks anyone?

Packaging and Bundle


ASUS use a familiar looking box for the Maximus V Formula, red like other items in the Republic of Gamers family of products. Inside we find a thorough bundle which includes plenty of drive cables, SLI bridge, padded IO shield, software disc, wiring stickers, USB cable, Wi-Fi antenna, door hanger and product documentation.


The bundle doesn't stop there though as the Maximus V Formula like the Gene version also includes a mini-PCIe riser card, adding the option to install wireless or mSATA mini-cards inside our system... with an added bonus this time round that ASUS pre-install a wireless-N (dual band) Bluetooth 4.0 combo card on the other side.