Maxsun Terminator H770 YTX D5 Wi-Fi review: A dream for cable management

YTX form factor with rear cable management at an affordable price.

Maxsun Terminator H770 D5 Wi-Fi YTX
(Image: © Tom's Hardware)

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Firmware

Maxsun’s BIOS is a bit of a blast from the past. While it’s 100% functional, it doesn’t have an Easy Mode and isn’t quite as refined (good looking) as others. The BIOS screen has the major headings across the top (Main, Advanced, Power, Turbo, Startup, Security, and Exit) with detailed information on the left and system information (including CPU temp/speed, fan speed, vcore, memory frequency, and more) on the right. You can overclock the system in the Turbo section, but since it’s H770, you are limited to overclocking the RAM or using up to the stock turbo multiplier. Again, it has all the functionality you’re looking for, including overclocking and tweaking memory, but it just doesn’t look the part compared to most other UEFI BIOS.

Software

Maxsun’s only Windows-based software is Maxsun Sync, which controls the integrated and any attached RGBs. I can’t find any other application on the website for Windows-based overclocking and fan control, which is lacking compared to most other board partners. The Maxsun Sync app does offer several different RGB lighting modes, a couple of which you can tweak even further. It’s a functional application. I’d just like to see more functionality or another program for adjusting CPU parameters and fan control.

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

Test System / Comparison Products

We’ve updated our test system to Windows 11 64-bit OS with all updates applied as of mid-October 2023. We kept the same Asus TUF RTX 3070 video card from our previous testing platforms but have updated the driver to the latest, keeping our games, F1 22 and Far Cry 6, the same. Unless otherwise noted, we use the latest non-beta motherboard BIOS available to the public using ‘optimized default’ settings except for the memory (XMP). The hardware and drivers we used are as follows:

Test System Components

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

Benchmark Settings

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Row 0 - Cell 0 ▪ SYNTHETIC BENCHMARKS AND SETTINGS ▪
ProcyonVersion 2.6.848 64
Row 2 - Cell 0 Office Suite (Office 365), Video Editing (Premiere Pro 23.6), Photo Editing (Photoshop 25.0, Lightroom Classic 12.5)
3DMarkVersion 2.27.8177 64
Row 4 - Cell 0 Firestrike Extreme (v1.1) and Time Spy (v1.2) Default Presets
Cinebench R24Version ‘build unknown’
Row 6 - Cell 0 Open GL Benchmark - Single and Multi-threaded
BlenderVersion 3.6.0
Row 8 - Cell 0 Full benchmark (all 3 tests)
Row 9 - Cell 0 ▪ APPLICATION TESTS AND SETTINGS ▪
LAME MP3Version SSE2_2019
Row 11 - Cell 0 Mixed 271MB WAV to mp3: Command: -b 160 --nores (160Kb/s)
HandBrake CLIVersion: 1.2.2
Row 13 - Cell 0 Sintel Open Movie Project: 4.19GB 4K mkv to x264 (light AVX) and x265 (heavy AVX)
Corona 1.4Version 1.4
Row 15 - Cell 0 Custom benchmark
7-ZipVersion 21.03-beta
Row 17 - Cell 0 Integrated benchmark (Command Line)
Row 18 - Cell 0 ▪ GAME TESTS AND SETTINGS ▪
Far Cry 6Ultra Preset - 1920 x 1080, HD Textures ON
F1 2022Ultra Preset - 1920 x 1080, Ultra High (default) Bahrain (Clear/Dry), FPS Counter ON

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Joe Shields
Motherboard Reviewer

Joe Shields is a Freelance writer for Tom’s Hardware US. He reviews motherboards.

  • frogr
    a Typo - something got truncated "
    Power travels from the EPS connector(s) on the rear to the Richtek RT3628AE controller chip, then onto ???"

    "
    Reply
  • BillyBuerger
    I still really like that idea of a wider motherboard where things like M.2 drives sit out front there instead of between the CPU, GPU and other expansion slots. Room for more of them and they're not in the middle of all those hot components.

    I go back and forth on the rear connectors. It does look nice but there are drawbacks. I feel like more edge connectors would be better. As long as the case has openings along the edges of the board they are barely visible and have fewer compatibility issues.
    Reply
  • vanadiel007
    I prefer to see all my connectors, because this way I can easily spot any loose connector rather than waiting until it causes a fire.
    That is just my opinion.
    Reply
  • peachpuff
    vanadiel007 said:
    I prefer to see all my connectors, because this way I can easily spot any loose connector rather than waiting until it causes a fire.
    That is just my opinion.
    Your case is on your table at eye level?
    Which loose connector will cause a fire? Sata? The dreaded hd led one?
    Reply
  • vanadiel007
    peachpuff said:
    Your case is on your table at eye level?
    Which loose connector will cause a fire? Sata? The dreaded hd led one?

    It sits next to me at elbow level, with clear glass side panels.
    Has RGB power cables. I enjoy looking at it and set all the RGB colors and patterns with RGB software.
    It's why I have it setup like that, and it also allows me to see all main power cables just in case one would wiggle loose from my dog jumping up and down on the floor.
    Reply
  • HideOut
    Why is THG recomending so many motherboards with a nearly 10 year old audio codec?
    Reply
  • Amdlova
    vanadiel007 said:
    I prefer to see all my connectors, because this way I can easily spot any loose connector rather than waiting until it causes a fire.
    That is just my opinion.
    It's virtually impossible to catch fire( this only happens with Nvidia) and first you will feel will be the smell of something burn.
    Reply
  • The Historical Fidelity
    Please spell and grammar check your articles before release. There are 3 errors in just the first paragraph. Where are the editors???
    Reply
  • peachpuff
    vanadiel007 said:
    It sits next to me at elbow level, with clear glass side panels.
    Has RGB power cables. I enjoy looking at it and set all the RGB colors and patterns with RGB software.
    It's why I have it setup like that, and it also allows me to see all main power cables just in case one would wiggle loose from my dog jumping up and down on the floor.
    What kind of a dog do you have?
    Reply
  • vanadiel007
    peachpuff said:
    What kind of a dog do you have?

    I have 3, but the largest of them is 180 pounds. I call him the little guy.
    Reply