UEFI Features
ASUS bundled the Maximus VIII Impact motherboard with the latest version of their ASUS UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) implementation, a customized version of the AMI baseline UEFI BIOS replacement. The UEFI offers full keyboard and mouse support while using the BIOS pages. ASUS changed the way mouse right-click functions in their UEFI implementation with right-click having no impact on the screen. By default, the user sees the EZ mode screen when entering the UEFI. The Advanced mode screens accessible via the Exit/Advanced Mode button at the upper right corner of the screen or by hitting the F7 function key. Advanced mode screens can be set for the default user interface via the UEFI Boot menu as well.
As we've stated in previous reviews, the ASUS UEFI implementation remains among the best out there. The UEFI is very responsive to both keyboard and mouse input with almost no lag or questionable click-space evident anywhere. The UEFI is designed in an intuitive manner so that both novice and advance BIOS users can quickly find what they are looking for. 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 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 UEFI-based updater (EZ Flash3) to their full UEFI profile load and save utility.
UEFI Notable Features
The Maximus VIII Impact UEFI includes feature enhancements to those introduced with their Z97 board line, as well as exposing several new features specific to the Skylake-S processor line. They revised their EZ Mode page with added utility, integrating a customizable My Favorites tab into the Advance mode menu, Shortcut screen, a graphical fan tuning interface, a graphical EZ Tuning Wizard interface, support for display in nine different languages, and a Quick Note interface introducing memo persistence across UEFI sessions.
My Favorites tab, populated
My Favorites & Shortcut setup popup
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. Note that if a menu or sub-menu is added to this page, all fields on that page will be added. 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.
EZ Mode page
The EZ Mode page presents information organized into sections in an easy-to-read manner for those users who do not want to be bothered with the labyrinth of the Advanced Mode settings.
Q-Fan Tuning page
The Q-Fan Tuning page allows for graphical configuration of fan operation based on predefined threshold levels. The interface is similar in nature to the Windows-based Fan Xpert3 fan configuration interface and is a nice touch in-lei of the text-based configuration approach. The Q-Fan Tuning page is accessed by clicking on the Manual Fan Tuning button within the EZ Mode page.
Easy Tuning Wizard – OC Page
Easy Tuning Wizard – RAID Page
The EZ Tuning Wizard can be accessed by hitting the F11 function key from within the EZ Mode page or from within the Advanced Mode interface. This wizard can be used to setup BIOS configured system performance optimization or drive RAID setup based on user selections made within the wizard interface.
EZ Mode, Search on FAQ QR-Code pop-up
ASUS provided an innovative way to drive users to their FAQ page, embedding a QR-Code link on the EZ Mode page. The QR-Code pops up when the Search on FAQ link is clicked, and takes the user to the ASUS FAQ page when scanned from a mobile device.
Advanced Mode, Tools tab, ASUS EZ Flash 3 pop-up source selection
Advanced Mode, Tools tab, ASUS EZ Flash 3 pop-up USB drive selected
The ASUS EZ Flash 3 utility was updated, allowing for BIOS update via an attached drive or through a network connection. When selecting the network update method, the utility launches a network connection wizard for getting the most up to date BIOS file from the ASUS servers.
Advanced Mode, Monitor tab, Q-Fan Configuration page
ASUS enhanced their Q-Fan control capabilities in their latest UEFI version, allowing for user configurable pauses in between when the BIOS detects a change in threshold temperature and when the BIOS increases the header fan speed. As with previous version of the UEFI, the user is able to set temperature thresholds and fan speeds (based on percentage run speed) for the board's fan headers.
Extreme Tweaker tab with Manual mode enabled
For the Z170 Express boards, ASUS opened up the CPU back clock settings with user capable settings up to 650MHz. This is because of the decoupling of the PCI and DMI bus from the base clock with the Intel Skylake processors.
Extreme Tweaker tab, Tweaker's Paradise page
Extreme Tweaker tab, Tweaker's Paradise page continued
To cater to the extreme overclockers, ASUS exposed many esoteric board settings not normally exposed to the end user and housed them in 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.
Advanced Mode, Save & Reset popup
The Save & Reset page displays to the user a scrollable list of all UEFI changes made since the last save. Listed changes are not committed to BIOS memory until saved by the user. Note that the same list displays when the user chooses any of the save settings from the Exit page or the Last Modified option with Advanced Mode active.
BIOS Walkthrough
Advanced Mode screen, Extreme Tweaker tab with XMP mode enabled
Extreme Tweaker tab with Manual mode enabled, CPU ratio settings
Extreme Tweaker tab with Manual mode enabled, Additional ratio settings
Extreme Tweaker tab with Manual mode enabled, submenu list, and cache ratio settings
Extreme Tweaker tab with Manual mode enabled, voltage settings
Extreme Tweaker tab, DRAM Timing Control page
Extreme Tweaker tab, DRAM Timing Control page, Second Timing settings
Extreme Tweaker tab, DRAM Timing Control page, Third Timing settings
Extreme Tweaker tab, DRAM Timing Control page, Third Timing settings continued
Extreme Tweaker tab, DRAM Timing Control page, Miscellaneous settings
Extreme Tweaker tab, DRAM Timing Control page, Memory Presets page
Extreme Tweaker tab, DRAM Timing Control page, Memory Presets page, Module-specific details page
Extreme Tweaker tab, DRAM Timing Control page, Skew Control page
Extreme Tweaker tab, DRAM Timing Control page, Skew Control page continued
Extreme Tweaker tab, DRAM Timing Control page, Skew Control page continued
Extreme Tweaker tab, DRAM Timing Control page, RTL IOL Control page
Extreme Tweaker tab, DRAM Timing Control page, RTL IOL Control page continued
Extreme Tweaker tab, DIGI+ Power Control page
Extreme Tweaker tab, DIGI+ Power Control page
Extreme Tweaker tab, CPU Power Management page
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…