Asus Maximus VI Impact Schematic, Manual, Driver & Bios || Asus Maximus VI Impact Motherboard Review

The ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) line-up in previous generations was divided into three models: the micro-ATX Gene, the gaming-focused Formula, and the more overclocker-friendly Extreme. The family now includes the affordable Hero and the tiny Impact, thanks to Haswell and the Z87 Chipset. Today we explore the Impact, a 17 cm × 17 cm PCB that adheres to the ROG ideology.

Asus Maximus VI Impact Motherboard Overview

The Impact costs more than comparable mini-ITX boards and is priced competitively with its full-sized ATX and micro-ATX siblings. One may claim that putting the hardware on a smaller PCB for a compact form factor motherboard results in a price premium and that there is a chance it will have fewer features than full-sized ATX motherboards. ASUS attempted to develop the Maximus VI Impact to remove misconceptions like these.

This board is comparable to others in this price range because it has 10K black caps and Blackwing 60A chokes. The audio codec is provided on a custom-built PCB to allow for filter caps and suitable DACs in line with the SupremeFX audio philosophy. In our tests, it registered a 107.8 dBA SNR. On a mPCIe Combo II card with support for M.2 NGFF SSDs, the integrated 802.11ac WiFi, a feature on a few ATX boards around this price range, is merged. Four SATA 6 Gbps ports (PCH driven), one eSATA port, six USB 3.0 ports, six USB 2.0 ports, four 4-pin fan headers, an "Impact Control" PCB on the RearIO to enable ROG Connect, USB BIOS Flashback, MemOK, and a clear CMOS button are all included in addition to an Intel i217 Ethernet controller. On a mini-ITX, four 4-pin fan headers are practically unheard of.

You would find it difficult to find components of this sort on a motherboard for less money than the Impact, aside from the ASUS Maximus VI Hero. In addition to the hardware, we also receive the software: ASUS' Dual Intelligent Processors, which are back, enable overclocking, power management, and fan control optimization. Additionally, there are two new additions: Sonic Radar and RAMDisk, which join dependable programs like BIOS Flashback, USB 3.0 Boost, WiFi Go, and GameFirst II. With Sonic Radar, first-person shooter gamers may use an onscreen 7.1 to hear where their foes are coming from. By designating up to 75% of your machine's entire RAM as a RAMDisk and configuring folder mirroring, RAMDisk effectively gets around all the $15–30 utilities you can purchase online. This speeds up loading times for games. The Secure Erase option in the BIOS also enables customers to restart their SSD performance without needing a Linux distribution or other in-OS utilities.

The ASUS ROG Maximus VI Impact, taken as a whole, describes and achieves the objectives most people would anticipate from a high-end mini-ITX motherboard. There are other mITX models in the mid-range and below, but if you want the maximum amount from mini-ITX, the cream will eventually rise to the top. Future Impact adjustments are something I look forward to.

Visual Inspection

The audio is an add-on PCB, the WiFi/mPCIe Combo II card is an add-on PCB, and the extra buttons of BIOS Flashback, ROG Connect, MemOK, ClearCMOS, and a two-digit debug are another PCB on the rear IO.

As part of ASUS' PR Pack with the motherboard, the socket area has been engineered to enable various mini-ITX-based CPU coolers. Options from Thermalright, Noctua, Prolimatech, and Scythe are among those offered. Numerous mini-ITX-based CPU coolers may be supported by the socket area, which has been built to do so. Other coolers are not required because we are close to meeting Intel's minimal requirements in two directions (top and toward the DIMMs) and almost at one another. The Impact motherboard has four 4-pin fan headers, something I have never seen on a mini-ITX motherboard before. The CPU fan header uses ASUS' pin-detect for PWM-enabled fans, and the other two are found in the upper left corner of the above picture.

Asus Maximus VI Impact Spces

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