Overclocking and Conclusion
Overclocking
To give a feel for the overclocking performance potential of the Maximus VIII Impact 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 2840MHz 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 3340Mhz memory speeds. With the base clock rolled back to its stock 100Mhz speed, we pushed the CPU to 4.7GHz with a 4.5GHz ring bus and 3466MHz memory speeds. The memory has run faster in other boards, but wouldn't go much above 3340Mhz in this board. 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 1280×1024 resolution and 8x MSAA in stress test mode. Note that 8GB (2 x 4GB) of Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3200 memory modules were used for the overclocking tests.
267MHz Base Clock Stats with 2840MHz Memory
167MHz Base Clock Stats with 3340MHz Memory
100MHz Base Clock Stats with 3460MHz 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 performance of the Maximus VIII impact motherboard is nothing short of astounding. It handled all the benchmark tests at stock speeds with ease and even managed to pull of a very impressive overclocking run as well.
Pricing
As of December 31, the ASUS Maximus VIII Gene motherboard was available at Amazon.com for $239.99 with free shipping. The board was also available from Newegg.com for $238.61 and from B&H for $248.89.
Conclusion
ASUS did a stellar job in designing the Maximus VIII Impact board, a board that more than justifies its ROG namesake. While there are some tight areas on the board, the layout was designed as optimally as possible with ASUS using vertical space to making up for the lack of horizontal real estate. Like the other Z170 boards in the ROG line, the Maximus VIII Impact features the updated version of the ROG branding and color scheme, giving it an appealing gamer-friendly aesthetic. The board's performance was nothing short of astounding with no difference seen between it and its full sized siblings in both stock and overclocked speeds.
There were only a few exceptions with the board, but remain minor inconveniences in light of the board's otherwise stellar design and performance. The layout of the SATA ports in a vertical orientation can make for a challenging build if you choose to install memory or your video card prior to installing the drive cables. Further, the CPU power daughter board can get in the way of installing larger coolers, as seen earlier in this review with installing the Noctua NH-D15 cooler in its standard front to back orientation. However, the cooler did fit without issues installed in a side to side flow orientation. The only other oddity was the lack of an M.2 slot on the board, but this was most likely a decision made to save on space. However, they did integrate a PCIe x4 U.2 port in-lieu of the absent M.2 port.
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
- Integrated sound subsystem quality
- Inclusion of PCIe x4 U.2 port in rear panel
- Front panel header extension cable
- Inclusion of Fan Extension card for addition fan and temperature sensor headers
- CMOS battery placement on side of USB 3.0 port block in rear panel
Weaknesses
- Lack of M.2 port
- Space constraints for larger coolers with CPU power daughter board
- Placement of SATA slots can make for build challenges
I can’t understand why, in
I can’t understand why, in this day and age, when there still is available place on the back panel, they still cram 4 usb ports in that small of a place.
Doesn’t Z270 come out
Doesn’t Z270 come out tomorrow? 😛
+1
This review is a waste of
+1
This review is a waste of time. Maybe six months ago this board was interesting, but it’s replacement will be out in weeks if not days.
I don’t think motherboard
I don’t think motherboard reviews are ever completely out of date, as motherboards fail a lot more often than CPUs, so someone in the future may be looking for replacement motherboards for their still-working CPU on an older platform. Intel’s lack of progress since sandy bridge also makes staying on the absolute latest platform unnecessary – it’s not a bad idea to buy an older platform in the future if you can find a good deal on it.
You can still buy the Impact
You can still buy the Impact VII.
Your comment is a retread, though.
Any modern motherboard
Any modern motherboard without M.2 is a complete fail.
agreed…. even my Z97
agreed…. even my Z97 Maximus Formula does.
I am also pretty confident the Z170 ASUS Pro Gaming has M.2 as well.
It has m.2, which is
It has m.2, which is populated by the WiFi adapter. That can be removed, or one can get a sled for an m.2 and plug that into the u.2.
Nothing else to add your
Nothing else to add your honor.
This board was aanounced in
This board was aanounced in October 2015 so this review is far too late, unless it was a new board revision or something.
BUT! My next build should be an Maximus IX IMPACT wirh Z270 so glad this board can still show up the world ATX motherboard are so 1995. Time to at least move to microATX.
Morry,
Just an FYI that your
Morry,
Just an FYI that your OC section states you used 4 x 4gb of Corsair RAM.
Ahh, writing reviews from a
Ahh, writing reviews from a template, we see.
Thanks for pointing that out.
Thanks for pointing that out. Fixed…