ASUS Maximus VI Formula Motherboard Review

CPU Cooler Fit and Included Accessories

CPU Cooler Fit

To test the amount of space surrounding the CPU socket, we mounted the Noctua NH-D14 cooler to the CPU socket. This behemoth CPU air cooler sports a dual fan construction and two huge vertical cooling towers.

When running the unit blowing air towards the rear panel, there is more than enough room along the front, back, and left sides to accommodate the cooler and any installed peripherals. With such a large cooler, there may be some space concerns when attempting to use a card in the primary PCI-Express x1 slot, but you will have no conflicts with a video card seated in the primary PCI-Express x16 slot.

Even with the additional space taken up by the CrossChill VRM cooler, there is more than enough room to accommodate even larger coolers in the space surrounding the CPU socket and memory area. The only area of concern would be in using the liquid port at the top left of the CrossChill cooler. However, you can easily alleviate space constraints by using a 45 or 90 degree barb in that top left G1/4 port.

The Noctua hold down mechanism is large enough to quickly determine exactly how much space you have around the CPU socket. While the wrap-around VRM cooler comes close on the left and right sides of the socket, there is enough room provided to accommodate the mount.

The only area of concern with using a mounted backplate are the components to the upper right of the socket back plate. There is a possibilty of contact with or crushing those chips when using back plates that sit around the socket back plate rather than directly on top of it.

Included Accessories

ASUS includes everything you need to get the board going, along with some added nice to haves.

The manual included with the Maximus VI Formula does not disappoint with the features and quality we've come to expect from ASUS. The includes DVD comes shock full of drivers, applications, and utilities as well.

The rear panel shield is a flat black color with all port holes labeled in white lettering for easy identification and a ROG logo integrated to show right side up when installed in a tower case.

ECS includes eight 6Gb/s rated SATA cables for use with the integrated ports. The cables have integrated port locks with a mix of straight and angled connectors.

For multi-GPU use, ASUS includes a ROG-branded two-way NVIDIA SLI cable.

For use with the on-board front panel headers, ASUS included their Q-Connector header plugs. You simply plug the front panel and USB 2.0 plugs into the Q-Connector, then plug the Q-Connector into the appropriate board header. It makes the installation of the front panel and USB plugs much easier.

For attaching to wireless and Bluetooth-based networks, ASUS includes their redesigned dual-plug antennae with gold-plated screw-in connectors. The antennae can be used in a flat or upright orientation with its flat surface optimized for broadcast and reception of 802.11ac type signals.

The included mPCIe Combo II device plugs into the mPCIe slot adjacent to the rear panel, adding Intel-based 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities to the board. Additionally, the card supports use of an M.2 form factor SSD card through the NGFF port on the left side of the card. If an M.2 SSD card is used with the mPCIe Combo II device, the SATA 5 slot tied to the Intel controller is automatically disabled.

As an added bonus, ASUS includes SATA- cable labels and ROG-branded swag in the form of a metallic case badge and a door hanger.