Is there any *real* benefit to the "armor?" On a scale from one to tacky, the thing is a total eyesore.
I have never liked the Sabertooth boards, and I'm disappointed to see it here. I guess it must be making ASUS money, though. Thank goodness it's removable, I guess.
If there were an actual performance benefit to it, like being an effective passive cooling solution, I'd consider keeping it. Preventing board warp is not something I'm concerned about, though.
It is a heatsink. So, yes it does serve a purpose, other then the added rigidity. The idea is that it supplies additional cooling for all the components on the motherboard that don't have separate heatsinks.
The "armor" on this motherboard has nothing to do with supporting graphics card weight. Your case should support the bulk of the weight. Since the motherboard is secured to the case with so many screws it would not bend even if it was supporting the entire video card. The pci express connector would just snap off the motherboard.
Actually, I have seen the PCB on some GPUs flex and bend from the weight. You have to remember you only have the PCIe and one little screw, basically suspending it in mid air. And as for weight, lets look at the GTX Titan which is roughly 3lbs. Weight of a gtx 690 was roughly 4lbs. Weight of a gtx 780 is roughly the same as a Titan. May not seem like much, but in terms of being suspended like that, it is.
The armor is on the rear as well as a steel plate, designed to stop the board from warping when using a large GPU. The motherboard will start to warp from the weight before the PCIe connector snaps.
I'm not sure whether it's just me and I may be wrong but from what I see the armor is lacking the fan like they did to the Sabertooth armor. So, the question is do they design Maximus VI Formula strictly for water cooling? Or a good airflow is sufficient as long as you don't oc the mobo? I'm not a fan of water cooling. What's your opinion on this?
What your saying is true logically, but just to throw in my own experience here, I have actually had 2 Motherboards bend on me in the past 10 years. When I was a kid my parents bought a Dell, back when internet was brand new, 97 or 98 as I recall, and it came with one of those rinkydink 1/2 pound voodoo cards installed. over the course of 4 years it did somehow actually cause my mobo to bend a noticeable amount, perhaps 1/4" at the apex. Another one being my computer i built in 2010 using an old HP computer I had, I put a gtx480 inside and the same thing happened, about 1/4" bend.
Having said that, the bend had zero affect on the performance of my PC, and didnt bother me at all because I couldnt see it. Also whose to say it was cause by the GPU? could have been manufacturing defects I just didnt notice until then. Regardless the armor looks pretty dope and it helps keep the Mobo cooler, assuming a cooler mobo even increases performance by a nominal ammount, so i vote +1 on the formula, I'm personally getting it over the hero for my next build, as well as a second Titan for 2xSLI
WIMA MKS2 and ELNA Cerafine, which are the caps they use here, and widely considered some of the best audio-grade caps you can put in at those capacitance values. While the marketing may be off, the engineering behind it isn't.
Can any one tell me from where are those motherboard manufacturers getting PCIe 3.0 lanes for all those slots? Last time I checked , the Haswell CPU offers ONLY 16 PCIe3.0 lanes.
This translates into only ONE 16X slot , or 2X8 , or 1x8 and 2x4
There is no room for anything if you are using high end Card.
Thats why I allways get the Xeon Based CPU which has 40 Lanes .. the real thing.
Make some of these mobos AMD and I would snatch one up in a heartbeat. I like Intel and all but AMD seems to be lacking in choices right now. Take that Armor for example. No AMD mobo has it as of yet. They are all on Intel mobo's. I personally like the look of the Armor. But I really want it for the cooling features it offer's. I will say that I personally like the look of the Tuf series a bit better. But I do like the look of the ROG series as well and I have a Red Phantom case that would go great with one. It is just that I am wanting more choices in AMD at the moment. I have made enough Intel systems already and am currently working on making AMD systems. I personally think ASUS is just not spreading the features out among all there series enough and as well as balancing out the choices between AMD and Intel. They need to spread the wealth a bit more sort of speak. :)
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457R4LDR34DKN07 - Tuesday, June 4, 2013 - link
That is one sexy mitx board.steve_rogers42 - Tuesday, June 4, 2013 - link
Hoping to spot ASRock's itx entry, but this one has blown the Z87 Stinger from EVGA out of the water... i may have to convert to ROG...IlllI - Tuesday, June 4, 2013 - link
evga motherboards are trash anyways. by the time they get a half decent bios their boards will be obsolete.457R4LDR34DKN07 - Tuesday, June 4, 2013 - link
http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z87E-ITX/index.us.a... It was featured in the haswell review.rakunSA - Tuesday, June 4, 2013 - link
looks like the improved the formula to allow WC-ers to use any barbs they want and not limiting them to one size of ID tubingHomeles - Tuesday, June 4, 2013 - link
Is there any *real* benefit to the "armor?" On a scale from one to tacky, the thing is a total eyesore.I have never liked the Sabertooth boards, and I'm disappointed to see it here. I guess it must be making ASUS money, though. Thank goodness it's removable, I guess.
If there were an actual performance benefit to it, like being an effective passive cooling solution, I'd consider keeping it. Preventing board warp is not something I'm concerned about, though.
danjw - Tuesday, June 4, 2013 - link
It is a heatsink. So, yes it does serve a purpose, other then the added rigidity. The idea is that it supplies additional cooling for all the components on the motherboard that don't have separate heatsinks.Parablooper - Tuesday, June 4, 2013 - link
Jesus just look at the surface area on the NB heatsink.daos - Friday, July 19, 2013 - link
ummm northbridge? and where would that be?ffiarpg - Tuesday, June 4, 2013 - link
The "armor" on this motherboard has nothing to do with supporting graphics card weight. Your case should support the bulk of the weight. Since the motherboard is secured to the case with so many screws it would not bend even if it was supporting the entire video card. The pci express connector would just snap off the motherboard.sherlockwing - Tuesday, June 4, 2013 - link
The "armor" is for protecting the board from dust & hot exhaust from Dual or Triple Fan cooled GPU.stargater1 - Tuesday, June 4, 2013 - link
Actually, I have seen the PCB on some GPUs flex and bend from the weight. You have to remember you only have the PCIe and one little screw, basically suspending it in mid air. And as for weight, lets look at the GTX Titan which is roughly 3lbs. Weight of a gtx 690 was roughly 4lbs. Weight of a gtx 780 is roughly the same as a Titan. May not seem like much, but in terms of being suspended like that, it is.IanCutress - Tuesday, June 4, 2013 - link
The armor is on the rear as well as a steel plate, designed to stop the board from warping when using a large GPU. The motherboard will start to warp from the weight before the PCIe connector snaps.Emad - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - link
Hi Ian,I'm not sure whether it's just me and I may be wrong but from what I see the armor is lacking the fan like they did to the Sabertooth armor. So, the question is do they design Maximus VI Formula strictly for water cooling? Or a good airflow is sufficient as long as you don't oc the mobo? I'm not a fan of water cooling. What's your opinion on this?
JeremyHill - Sunday, July 28, 2013 - link
What your saying is true logically, but just to throw in my own experience here, I have actually had 2 Motherboards bend on me in the past 10 years. When I was a kid my parents bought a Dell, back when internet was brand new, 97 or 98 as I recall, and it came with one of those rinkydink 1/2 pound voodoo cards installed. over the course of 4 years it did somehow actually cause my mobo to bend a noticeable amount, perhaps 1/4" at the apex. Another one being my computer i built in 2010 using an old HP computer I had, I put a gtx480 inside and the same thing happened, about 1/4" bend.Having said that, the bend had zero affect on the performance of my PC, and didnt bother me at all because I couldnt see it. Also whose to say it was cause by the GPU? could have been manufacturing defects I just didnt notice until then. Regardless the armor looks pretty dope and it helps keep the Mobo cooler, assuming a cooler mobo even increases performance by a nominal ammount, so i vote +1 on the formula, I'm personally getting it over the hero for my next build, as well as a second Titan for 2xSLI
Brian Klug - Tuesday, June 4, 2013 - link
Was this supposed to be a pipeline post?-Brian
dishayu - Tuesday, June 4, 2013 - link
Since when are sounds like engine sound, footsteps and gunshots high frequency? :\A5 - Tuesday, June 4, 2013 - link
Shhhhh. Don't let facts get in the way of their pig lipstick.iamkyle - Friday, June 7, 2013 - link
WIMA MKS2 and ELNA Cerafine, which are the caps they use here, and widely considered some of the best audio-grade caps you can put in at those capacitance values. While the marketing may be off, the engineering behind it isn't.daos - Friday, July 19, 2013 - link
Thank you!danjw - Tuesday, June 4, 2013 - link
So can the Formula do 3-way SLI or only 2-way?dwade123 - Tuesday, June 4, 2013 - link
Pretty pointless to save a couple of inches just for it to function like any other desktops out there. Well, that's for the niche market to decide.DarkStryke - Tuesday, June 4, 2013 - link
Hello my name is dwade123, and I have no clue why people build mITX systems.sullrosh - Tuesday, June 4, 2013 - link
I would really like to see someone build a mini-dtx board that would work as a htpc/ fileserver.sna1970 - Friday, June 21, 2013 - link
Can any one tell me from where are those motherboard manufacturers getting PCIe 3.0 lanes for all those slots? Last time I checked , the Haswell CPU offers ONLY 16 PCIe3.0 lanes.This translates into only ONE 16X slot , or 2X8 , or 1x8 and 2x4
There is no room for anything if you are using high end Card.
Thats why I allways get the Xeon Based CPU which has 40 Lanes .. the real thing.
waiting till Sept for Ivy-E
VectorRoll - Wednesday, June 26, 2013 - link
Make some of these mobos AMD and I would snatch one up in a heartbeat. I like Intel and all but AMD seems to be lacking in choices right now. Take that Armor for example. No AMD mobo has it as of yet. They are all on Intel mobo's. I personally like the look of the Armor. But I really want it for the cooling features it offer's.I will say that I personally like the look of the Tuf series a bit better. But I do like the look of the ROG series as well and I have a Red Phantom case that would go great with one. It is just that I am wanting more choices in AMD at the moment. I have made enough Intel systems already and am currently working on making AMD systems.
I personally think ASUS is just not spreading the features out among all there series enough and as well as balancing out the choices between AMD and Intel. They need to spread the wealth a bit more sort of speak. :)
daos - Friday, July 19, 2013 - link
Can anyone tell me when this board is expected to be released? Geez