Gadgetory

so there I was finishing up our CES 2017 coverage and after looking through the last of the footage the team realized that there were some really stunning ASUS motherboards that simply needed to be covered you see in many ways asus has been leading the motherboard market when it comes to innovation with features like or sync automatic overclocking and many other items this year they're really moving things towards the next level with a whole new class of motherboards but before we move on quick shout out from our sponsors the show coverage is possible thanks to Nvidia gigabyte fantex and NCIX Asus is actually introducing a whole new brand of high-end motherboards which will eventually sit above the Republic of gamers extreme series and focus exclusively on achieving the highest possible all clocks say hello to the ROG Maximus 9 apex I mean just look at this thing asus has been working with case manufacturers in an effort to think outside the typical box like ATX form factor and this is their first attempt without getting too crazy basically the apex keeps to a slightly enlarged ATX size but it's PCB certainly isn't a square since it has several areas that just cutout to house additional components it is an interesting look that's for sure another distinguishing feature of this board is it's three memory slots the first two are used exclusively for memory and by eliminating the other two typical slots asus has been able to cut down on traces between the CPU and DIMM slots which should in theory at least boost potential memory overclocks past the 4266 megahertz mark supposedly overclockers have already taken this board past 4500 makers in dual channel mode that third slot isn't used for memory at all rather it's wired directly to the PCH and it's used for an add-in card with dual m2 SSD mounts it's really an interesting design since it moves the m-dot 2 drives away from the GPM mounting areas while also allowing for mounting memory coolers for additional SSD cooling there are ton of other overclocking friendly features on this board but I don't see no other RG boards are missing there's a ps/2 connector in place of two USB ports and the onboard audio is a more cut-down solution when compared against many of a chooses other motherboards this is all done an effort to achieve overclocking greatness rather than the mass-market appeal while the apex main target cockers asus hasn't forgotten about their people who want everything but the kitchen sink common motherboards for them the rog Maximus extreme 9 may be a perfect fit since asus has moved the extreme series of the market in an effort to make it appealing for water cooling enthusiasts with that in mind this boards most distinctive feature is the massive bitch power monoblock that incorporates liquid cooling to the boards PWM and CPU and even the top m2 SSD along with a healthy Bills of RGB lighting hey it's 2017 expect RGB in everything there's more to this water blog than what first meets the eye - since the monoblock incorporates full-rate water leak and temperature sensors which communicate directly with the h2s panic spread utility this will allow for continual monitoring of your custom water cooling loop that's pretty amazing we also noticed a few other interesting features here there is an integrated backplate with hard wire connectors for decreased interference right-angled USB and ATX 12-volt connectors and even a grouping 4 for fan headers in the upper corner for convenient connection to radiator and water cooling pumps the Maximus 9 extreme looks like a very well thought out board and we can't wait to get one in hand for testing after those last two motherboards this one might seem a bit of a downer but I personally think this one is a much more realistic purchase for most of you say hello to the Strix Z 270 a gaming it's small but hugely capable IX motherboard the amount of things Asus has managed to cram onto this little thing boggles my mind it has features like 5 USB 3.1 gen2 which is a rarity even our extremely expensive full-size boards and the ability to sustain 5 gigahertz on higher overclock on an i7 77k processor there's also a reinforced PCIe slot for extra safety if you transport your system a lot a strip for RGB on the white side and a 50/50 header that's compatible with the Asus Ora RGB LED control software if you want Wireless the z2 7 TI gaming has recovered - since it incorporates wireless AC connectivity finally there are two end or two slots one on the back of the board and one on the front which also has a unique test of heatsink that can be installed all in all aces showed a ton of interesting stuff but if you we're buying a new motherboard which one would it be the overclocker water cooler or the small ITX let us know in the comments down below I mean bar with harbor connects thank you so much for watching and we'll see you in the next one