![[H]ardOCP](/images/blank.gif){kind=small}
- Date:
- Tuesday , January 15, 2008
- Author:
- Daniel Dobrowolski
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Google +1
ASUS Maximus Extreme
ASUS brings us Intel’s latest and greatest X38 chipset in the form of the Maximus Extreme. In the past the DDR3 offerings have fallen a little short when it comes to their overclocking prowess. Does the Maximus Extreme have what it takes to catch enthusiasts’ attention?
ASUS Utilities
Once again ASUS has included their standard suite of utilities with the Maximus Extreme. ASUS includes their AI Suite which includes AI Gear, AI Booster, AI NAP, Q-Fan, and AI NOS. Also included are the PC Probe II and My Logo applications. Version 1.03.09 of AI Suite was included with the board. The AI Suite application functions as a launcher. Within the ASUS Utilities launcher, you choose the application you want to use, and it will launch in a separate window alongside the main ASUS Utilities launcher window.
AI NOS is ASUS’ application for overclocking within Windows. The overclocking adjustments can be defined via profiles or can be set for automatic overclocking. The system can adjust board settings based on the load experienced by the system in any particular time. Once the overclocking mode is set, the utility will dynamically adjust the system settings according to predefined values that correspond to Auto, Standard, Sensitive and Heavy Load settings within the utility as selected by the user. Unfortunately software like this is often very conservative and high overclocks should not be selected. It is a nice application for people new to overclocking to get a feel for overclocking and for more performance, but otherwise software like this is largely useless to the hardcore. The ASUS Q-Fan utility allows fan speeds to be controlled from within Windows. To control fan speed, the fan in question to be controlled needs to be selected, and via a drop down menu, three modes of operation are available for selection. You may choose from Optimal, Silent, and Performance. These alter the speed of your fans based on your cooling needs at the time.
AI Booster is ASUS’ included software for manual overclocking inside the Windows OS. There are several buttons in the AI Booster menu. Written from left to right they are: Default, Performance, Advanced, User Profile, and Save. The first button has two options, Auto or Standard. The Performance button has but one option and that is Auto. The advanced button actually gives quite a few options. Once clicked, three tabs appear in a new menu. The first is CPU frequency which is used for overclocking your front side bus. You can choose a new frequency from the drop down. Unfortunately, you cannot input your desired values. Below the CPU frequency lays the CPU ratio, and of course there is the memory tab where you can set DRAM voltages and frequencies. The final tab in this window is the PCI-E tab. On the PCIe tab you can adjust your PCIe bus frequency.
The ASUS PC Probe II utility allows the user to monitor overall system health. Voltages and temperatures for various system components are monitored in via this utility. The voltages and thermal readings are displayed in rectangular boxes that resemble LCD readouts. They have small magnet icons in the corners of each readout that when clicked allow you to rearrange and move the small single readout wherever you desire.
The main part of the PC Probe application is found in the form of a hexagonal window. When the large arrow tab is clicked, the hexagon can be expanded or contracted to allow the configuration of the utility itself. Just to the right of that is where all the DMI, WMI, and PCI information can be found. The usage information is displayed in the form of pie charts that are almost exactly like the Windows drive space usage pie charts. Under the ASUS logo you will find a reporting tool. This tool shows detailed system information for the purpose of assisting ASUS tech support should they need more information concerning your systems configuration. There is also log reporting as well as alerts that show any kind of errors reported by the motherboard such as abnormal thermal and fan control readings.
ASUS Update is a software application designed for updating the system BIOS from within the Windows operating system. You can browse to previously downloaded BIOS files or use the online update utility to download and flash the BIOS via ASUS’ FTP site. Almost any time I’ve ever tried to use this utility two things have happened. The first is that the ASUS Update software requires an update of it’s own in order to complete the BIOS upgrade process. This part usually goes off without a hitch and takes only a short time to complete. The second thing is failure to update the BIOS due to an FTP server being unresponsive or simply full. In many cases the software fails to establish a connection at all. We’ve been complaining about this problem for almost a year now at the [H] and ASUS still has not improved this software or the infrastructure to support it at the time of this writing.
ASUS My Logo provides end users and OEM’s a simple method for customizing the BIOS. To use it you must download a copy of the BIOS you would like to use in advance in order to use this utility to edit that BIOS file and output usable BIOS that you can flash your board with that contains the logo you have added. You can also use the My Logo utility itself to save a copy of the existing system BIOS in order to use that as the basis for your custom BIOS. When the BIOS is altered and a bitmap of the OEM or end user’s choice is used, the motherboards boot flash screen will be replaced with any bitmap they choose, provided the images are formatted correctly.