Asus ROG Maximus VIII Hero Alpha ATX DDR4 3000 LGA 1151 Motherboards

Let's be honest - this is overkill for a Z170 system. There is no solid reason you need this motherboard over the $130 version that Asus sells. I've always gone with a $150 motherboard for all my systems but for this build I wanted to blow that and buy a fancy motheboard for a change. It does look good and I like how you can keep the LED lights on or turn them off component by component in the BIOS, which is useful if you are trying to keep a color theme. I'm not using the LED strip functionality but instead using the LED strip with my Phanteks Enthoo Luxe case. It was a decision between the standard VIII HERO (M8H) and the VIII HERO Alpha (M8HA). M8H > vs > M8HA ASMedia USB 3.1 >> Intel USB 3.1 SATA Express >> newer U.2 revision No wifi or BT >> wifi and BT old driver set >> latest driver set Whether those features are worth the price tag to you is only something you can decide. In addition to those features I heard the original M8H had some bugs so I thought I would pay a bit more to get the board without the bugs. I probably won't use wifi or BT. Not sure on U.2 yet but I know I wouldn't use SATA Express so that is better. Only being able to use 1 due to sharing a lane with the Intel 6Gb ports isn't a big deal to me since if I did go with U.2 I would only use 1 anyway. I do prefer Intel USB 3.1 and the more updated driver set. I downloaded the drivers off of the Asus website and didn't use the disc or install the extra programs. Best part of building your own machine is removing the bloatware. Though I may install the ROG theme CPU-Z as I will get CPU-Z in some form anyway. Lots of options for overclocking and I honestly can't think of anything that it is missing. Once I enabled XMP it automatically recognized my overclocked by factory RAM (3000MHz). It's "EZ Overclock" feature gave me about a 22% OC before I went back to stock to complete my build. I like the Start button on the motherboard, came in handy. It was very easy and fast to update the BIOS. You have 3 methods by the way, one of which you can do with a USB drive and without it being turned on (very nice!). Not a fan of how the BIOS is laid out but once you get used to it its not bad. I haven't tried it yet so only like it in theory at the moment but I like how you can save multiple profiles in the BIOS. It automatically selected the boot order I wanted (SSD first, HDD second, blu-ray drive third) so that was one less thing to tweak. I did have to apply more force than I thought I would for the RAM and video card because at first it only read half of my RAM. I waited for the clicks the first time but reseating it with more force fixed it. Despite it being 4-pin PWM it didn't seem like the Waterblock fan header is controlled the same as the CPU Fan Header is because my H100i GTX was not spinning right away, so I plugged it into the CPU Fan Header. It's ok for the case fans to be delayed at start up but I want my heatsink fan working right away. I wish there was more dedicated USB 3.0 slots since keyboards these days almost always have 2 and gaming mice usually require USB 3.0 as well. So far onboard sound is quite good. Signal appears clean and crisp. I don't hear any audio pops or crackles nor does it have low volume like my previous motherboard had. The 6 SATA cables it came with were exactly what I was looking for but couldn't find on Amazon - black/white and not too long. Three 90 degree and 3 straight. Figured I would mention it since people like to plan for cable management. The price is very high and you can find the M8H on sale for $80 cheaper. I knew what I was getting into as far as features for price so I'm not sure I should dock a star. All of my motherboards before have had headaches and lingering bugs so in comparison this is a very nice board. The only issue I've seen so far is my keyboard wasn't recognized immediately from a cold boot (PSU turned off and unplugged) right away and future attempts required me waiting on the K70's LEDs to come on. So I'm not sure if its a motherboard bug, a K70 bug or just simply waiting for the juice to circulate through the system. I'm not going to blame the motherboard unless I see it on warm boots. It also has more features than I am used to and overclocking looks easier than ever. Most of the setup was hassle free so I say 5 stars ...but seriously Asus, too expensive! Niche priced board for sure.

This review is a little different from other motherboard reviews, in that it's from the perspective of a first-time gamer PC builder. After doing extensive research and watching many video tutorials, I decided to take the plunge and build my own PC as opposed to buying a complete unit from Digital Storm. I tried to use high end (but not stratospheric) components, with the final build running about $2,200 as opposed to $3,400 for a custom built system of the same specs. I had been looking at the Hero VIII, and as the Alpha just came out (with WiFi that I needed for this application) so I decided to go for it. The build was a dream, with everything going together in one low-stress day. The layout of fan headers, USB and SATA ports, front panel controls, etc made the going easy, plus the board looks very cool. The RGB options on this board made adding LED lighting a breeze, and everything just plain worked the first time. Bios updating and Windows 10 loading was effortless. I had heard to stay clear of the mass of software tools included on disk, only using the necessary Bluetooth and WiFi drivers, which was probably a good call. Bios setup and overclocking were easy, and the WiFi worked as soon as the drivers were installed, running much quicker download speeds than my previous PC. Overall, a very pleasant experience for this rookie. Buy one! Asus Hero VIII Alpha Skylake 6700K EVGA GTX980ti Classified 16GB Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR4 3000 Corsair H110i GTX EVGA G2 850w 1 TB 850 EVO SSD Corsair LED fans, Cablemods LED light strip & sleeved cables Corsair 450D case

The Asus ROG Maximus VIII Hero Alpha is a great motherboard for a mid-level price. The board installed very easily and not only performs great, but looks great too. I thought the RGB LED lights on the board would be brighter, but I can not complain about the ambience they add. I am also excited to try out the RGB LED controller built into the board. Great BIOS, you can even use a mouse in BIOS settings. Sturdy and pretty board. The only reason I did not rate this board for 5 stars is because of an unlucky issue unrelated to how the product performs (Check to make sure the "New" board you ordered is, indeed, new.)

Decided on this motherboard due to having owed multiple Asus laptops and always being impressed with their products. A big selling point for me was the built in wifi, which is running at about 80 Mbps down and 5 Mbps up. Running this with an i5 6500, 15% overclocked using the native bios setup. It was very easy to use, just ran the wizard and let it do its thing. I'm using the corsair h100v2 liquid cooler, under stress holding the cpu to around 34 degrees. Also running 16gb G.skill ddr4 3200 ram, no issues. As well as an evga gtx 970 card. All in all this is a great product that has performed as promised by Asus. Would absolutely recommend it to anyone thinking about purchasing.

Scheda madre dotata di innumerevoli funzionalitá, sia direttamente su essa (con i vari pulsanti dedicati) che nel bios o nel software installabile su windows. Il manuale in dotazione é scritto molto bene con tutti i dettagli che possono servire (in inglese). Attenzione quando infilate la scheda madre nel case, il pannello con i connettori sul retro del PC ha una linguetta che tende a infilarsi in una delle prese USB, con un cacciavite fate si che questa si sposti mentre mettete in posizione la scheda. Al primo avvio il QCode interno alla scheda madre ha dato dei codici di errore, seguito le istruzioni sul sito web Asus per aggiornare il bios all'ultima versione, contattata anche la Asus in chat mi ha supportato e sono stati risolti i problemi. www asusqcodes com L'aggiornamento Bios si puo' fare con una chiavetta in cui caricate il file di aggiornamento nella root, con un nome ben definito (scritto nel manuale), poi collegate la chiavetta ad una particolare presa USB sul retro e premete il tasto apposito di aggiornamento del bios. In generale ottima fattura! Non ho usato la scheda video integrata perché ne avevo presa una a parte. Una persona l'ha trovato utile

Everything about the Hero and Hero Alpha screams "quality". Attention had been paid to ever square cm of the board to make sure it looks good and performs perfectly. The alpha version features wireless connectivity, Bluetooth and supports DDR4 at speeds from 2133 - 3800mhz (as I have tested, I don't have any 4000). The BIOS also allows extended overclocking functionality beyond that of the Hero. Concentrating mainly on the RAM voltages and timings. The clear CMOS button has also been moved to the rear IO, so you don't need to keep opening your case to clear the CMOS on a bad overclock. The board features 4 buttons, 1 for "RAM OK" and the other three are power, restart and safe boot. Power and restart are fairly common but the safe reboot button allows you to keep your OC settings, rather than clearing the whole CMOS, and get into the BIOS to adjust the setting you think is causing the problem. Very handy when you're going for the tightest possible timings on your RAM or trying to find the absolute minimum voltage needed to post at your chosen frequency. I really am trying to think of something negative about the board but I honestly can't think of anything. If you're an overclocker and don't want to spend money on the socket 2011 CPUs then the VIII Hero Alpha is perfect for you. Depending on your chip, 4.9ghz or maybe even 5ghz is easily possible on a 6700k with this board and the right cooling.

Very good

While I've only started building the system (and I'm yet to turn it on), this product oozes quality, and thoughtful design. From a system builder perspective, it has an M.2 slot for SSDs, U2 slots, on-board wifi with an included antenna/amplifier and other goodies, but more than that, it has a CPU insertion tool (a plastic frame to help you place the CPU without touching anything or damaging any parts). The board is thick, and quality printed, with great connectors and shields, and fits as well as any ATX board into an ATX case. The I/O plate at the back is padded to prevent any gaps forming between the plate and motherboard, and includes an "easy adapter" for your case pins (a small grouping connector to gather your reset/power/etc cables and connect them to the board in one move). The software features are amazing, from full UEFI control through to tweaking software, heavy optimisation (filling all memory slots increases maximum speed), LED control (set your own case colours if you build a lighting system), and best of all (to me) - the RAM drive - the ability to forsake a little RAM to almost instantly load apps or even cache parts of frequently used files (game data?) from RAM. I'm already amazed and I'm looking forward to using it fully with an i7 6700K and corsair DDR4 3000MHZ RAM (the board takes up to 32GB).

Nach langer Zeit habe ich mich für ein neues System entschieden und nun nach "langen 2 Wochen warten auf die Komponenten" ist er fertig gestellt. Ziel war es, ein leistungsstarkes, leises und ansehnliches System zu bauen. Endstanden ist folgendes System: - Core i7 - 6700K Skylake, 4 (8 Threads) x 4,00 GHz Standart - 16 GB G.Skill, DDR4, 3200 MHz - Asus Maximus VIII Hero Alpha, Sockel 1151,ROG - Asus ROG STRIX-GTX1070-8G-GAMING - Corsair Hydro H80iV2, AIO Wasserkühlung - Samsung 950 Pro Series M.2 2280 SSD, 256 GB, Systemplatte - Samsung 840 Pro Series SSD-Festplatte, 512GB, Spieleplatte - Seagate Desktop HDD 3TB, SATA 6Gb/s (Datengrab) - Samsung EcoGreen F4 2TB, SATA 3Gb/s (Sicherung), extern - Corsair CC-9011081-WW Carbide, Series 400C, Seitenfenster - Corsair RMi Series RM650i, 650W, ATX 2.4, voll modular - 2 x Thermaltake Riing 12 LED, RGB, 3er Set Gehäuselüfter - 1 x Thermaltake Riing 12 LED Gehäuselüfter schwarz/rot - Sleeved Kabel, BitFenix 24-Pin 30cm rot / schwarz ATX - Sleeved Kabel, BitFenix Alchemy PCI-E, 8-polig, rot / schwarz - Sleeved Kabel, Phanteks, 8-Pin EPS12V, rot / schwarz - Sleeved Kabel, Nanoxia Frontpanel, 30cm, roter Einzelsleeve Dieses o.a. System hat meinen alten i7-4790K mit 4,4 GHz abgelöst und hat meine doch anfangs sehr skeptischen Erwarten in Bezug auf Leistung und Geschwindigkeit ohne Einschränkungen übertroffen. Nach ersten Tests mit den werksseitigen OC Tools des o.a. Mainboards lief die CPU stabil (Test: 2 Stunden Prime95) auf 4,7 GHz. Dabei wurde eine "Last" Temperatur von 68 Grad erreicht. Unter normaler "Last" (nicht Prime) wird die CPU nicht wärmer wie 56 Grad. Im Idle gerade mal 29 Grad. Über die Anschlussmöglichkeiten des Mainboards muss ich nicht näher eingehen außer den Unterschied zu dem "normalen" Maximus VIII Hero: - 2 x RGB Anschüsse für LED Stripes, einstellbare RGB Hintergrundbeleuchtung des ROG Logos Ich würde mich wieder für dieses Mainboard entscheiden, auch wenn es ein wenig teurer ist.