BIOS Features

ASUS designed the Maximus VI Extreme's BIOS using their newest UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) implementation, a customized version of the AMI baseline UEFI style BIOS. The UEFI BIOS offers full keyboard and mouse support while using the BIOS pages. ASUS changed the way mouse right clicking works in the BIOS with right clicking triggering the Add to Shortcut or Add to Favorites popup window. With this new implementation, you can add menus to a shortcut page, accessed by clicking the F3 function key. You can also add individual settings to the Favorites tab through the same right click menu. By default, the user sees the EZ mode screen when entering the BIOS with the Advanced mode screens accessible via the Exit/Advanced Mode button at the upper right corner of the screen. Advanced mode screens can be set for the default user interface via the BIOS Boot menu as well.

There’s really nothing at all not to like about ASUS’ UEFI BIOS implementation. They have one of the best implementations of UEFI on the market currently. The BIOS is very responsive to both keyboard and mouse input with almost no lag or questionable click-space evident anywhere. The only exception to this rule was clicking on the pagination section just below the Save button in the upper right corner of the screen. I found it difficult to switch to the Tools menu on the second BIOS page using this interface. With that said, the UEFI BIOS is designed in an intuitive manner so that both novice and advance BIOS users can easily find what they are looking for quickly. The EZ Mode screen lays out everything in a highly readable format, while the Advanced Mode tabbed layout displays as you would expect from a traditional (read old-school) BIOS. ASUS also gives you the ability to taken screen captures from within the BIOS by pressing the F12 key with those screen-caps saved in a 1024×768 bitmap format to an attached USB device. From the Tools menu, ASUS houses their collection of of BIOS-related tools and applets, ranging from an in-BIOS updater (EZ Flash2) to their full BIOS profile load and save utility.

UPDATE: Ryan got to spend some time with JJ from ASUS, going over all kinds of features and options on the ASUS Z87 motherboard lineup.  One segment focused on overclocking via the UEFI and it is definitely worth watching.  Enjoy!

BIOS Notable Features

By itself, the ASUS UEFI BIOS has always been top-notch. ASUS decided to up the ante with the UEFI version included with the Z87 line, exposing everything new with the ROG Maximus VI Extreme board. They integrated a customizable shortcut menu into both screen modes, a customizable My Favorites tab into the Advance mode menu, a CPU strap setting supporting enhanced ring bus speeds, the Tweaker's Paradise menu devoted to the most dedicated overclockers, and the ability to configure profile settings tied to the OC Panel device's H button.

EZ Mode main screen, Shortcut popup

The Shortcut popup menu shown is available from both the Easy Mode and Advanced Mode interfaces. To access, click the Shortcuts button in the EZ Mode interface or hit the F3 function key from within the Advanced Mode interface. The Shortcut popup displays shortcuts to menus and submenus added via the Advanced Mode interface. If you right click a menu or submenu or hit the F4 function key with the same highlighted, the Add to popup displays with the option for Adding to Shortcut menu. Note that you cannot add individual settings to this popup window, only menus and submenus. This functionality allows you to put commonly accessed menus and submenus at you fingertips with a single button or mouse click.

My Favorites tab

The My Favorites tab houses user selected settings for access to these from a centralized location. To access, select the My Favorites tab from within the Advanced Mode interface. If you right click any selectable setting from within any Advanced Mode page and right click or hit the F4 function key with the it highlighted, the Add to popup displays with the option for adding to My Favorites menu. Note that you cannot add menus or submenus to this tab, only individual settings. The real strength in this My Favorites tab implementation comes with the ability to mix and match commonly used options in a central location, rather than having to hunt them down through multiple sub-levels of menus. Combined with the utility of the Shortcut popup window, ASUS has a very user friendly interface for a normally arcane entity.

Extreme Tweaker tab with Manual mode enabled

The 4th generation Intel Core series of CPUs, also known as Haswell, support the ability to use preset bus speed levels for the ring bus, which Intel refers to as CPU Strap. ASUS decided to take the CPU Strap setting to the next level and includes the following preset levels by default: 100MHz, 125MHz, 166Mhz, and 250MHz. This setting affects the CPU base clock, PCI-Express bus, and memory bus speeds. The PCI-Express bus speed is auto-adjusted to remain as close to 100MHz as possible, while the CPU and memory bus speeds adjust 1:1 with the setting. ASUS has made tweaks to the board to allow access and stability at these higher CPU Strap settings, but inside sources say that you need a really good (read that as "cherry picked") CPU to use a strap setting above 166MHz.

Extreme Tweaker tab, Tweaker's Paradise page

Extreme Tweaker tab, Tweaker's Paradise page, PCIe Tuning settings

To cater to the extreme overclockers, ASUS exposed many esoteric board settings not normally configurable and placed them into the Tweaker's Paradise menu. This menu contains voltage, timing, and bus settings for those of you trying to squeeze every last ounce of speed and stability out of you overclocked board. It contains settings for tweaking everything from CPU internal settings to PCI-Express bus related settings. Enjoy your time in the Tweaker's Paradise.

Tools tab, ROG OC Panel H-Key Configure page

ASUS's ultimate UEFI BIOS would not be complete without the ability to create a custom profile controllable through their OC Panel device. They did just that in the ROG OC Panel H-Key Configure submeu, accessible from within the Tool tab. Using this page, you can configure a custom profile for your CPU voltage, base clock speed, and CPU ratio that is enacted upon pressing the H-key on your OC Panel device (as long as it is connected to the board – sorry, no wireless … yet). This is another great feature to push this board into the Extreme Zone.

BIOS Walkthrough

EZ Mode main screen

EZ Mode main screen, Shortcut popup

EZ Mode screen, SATA Information popup

Advanced Mode screen, Extreme Tweaker tab with XMP mode enabled

Extreme Tweaker tab with Manual mode enabled

Extreme Tweaker tab with Manual mode enabled, core and frequency settings

Extreme Tweaker tab with Manual mode enabled, voltage settings

Extreme Tweaker tab with Manual mode enabled, voltage settings continued

Extreme Tweaker tab, Overclocking Presets page

Extreme Tweaker tab, DRAM Timing Control page

Extreme Tweaker tab, DRAM Timing Control page, Secondary and Tertiary timing settings

Extreme Tweaker tab, DRAM Timing Control page, Miscellaneous settings

Extreme Tweaker tab, DRAM Timing Control page, Miscellaneous settings continued

Extreme Tweaker tab, DRAM Timing Control page, Memory Presets page

Extreme Tweaker tab, GPU.DIMM Post page

Extreme Tweaker tab, DIGI+ Power Control page

Extreme Tweaker tab, Tweaker's Paradise page

Extreme Tweaker tab, Tweaker's Paradise page, PCIe Tuning settings

Extreme Tweaker tab, CPU Power Management page

Extreme Tweaker tab, CPU Power Management page continued

Extreme Tweaker tab, CPU Level Up popup

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