Asus ROG Maximus IX Hero Intel Z270 ATX Motherboard Review

Designed for gamers who overclock and show system builders who want to look like gamers who overclock, how well does the Maximus IX Hero actually overclock?

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Early Verdict

Overclockers willing to look past a slight features-to-price deficit may be rewarded with an overclocking victory in the ROG Maximus IX Hero.

Pros

  • +

    Excellent basic overclocking

  • +

    Several additional features for advanced overclocking

  • +

    Eight 4-pin fan headers, plus a breakout header for a four-fan adapter

  • +

    Supports next-gen USB 3.1 front-panel connections

Cons

  • -

    High price-to-features ratio

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Introducing The Maximus IX Hero

Not quite the hero of the common man, the Maximus IX Hero is still priced just slightly above what we’ve thought of as the typical high-end segment. It’s still cheaper than even the cheapest premium-market Z270 motherboard we’ve tested, so perhaps Asus is creating its own niche?

Rather than load up the Maximus IX Hero with a 40 Gb/s ThunderBolt 3 controller sharing the same 40 Gb/s chipset link with every other onboard device, Asus loads this ROG-series board with two 10 Gb/s USB 3.1 controllers and a bunch of overclocking-friendly features. The top of the overview image above shows the MemOK button which temporarily limits memory speed to allow booting if you’ve configured memory poorly (without forcing CLR_CMOS), several buttons on the lower edge to assist tuners who use open platforms, and two buttons on the I/O panel that make it easy to reset your firmware configuration (CLR_CMOS) and program the firmware IC without the need for a compatible CPU or DRAM (USB BIOS Flashback). We also see an obvious gap next to the I/O panel buttons, where it appears Asus left out the intended Wi-Fi module to justify the Maximus IX Hero’s sub-premium pricing.

The previously mentioned internal buttons and switches include Power, Reset, Safe Boot, Retry, the Slow Mode switch, and the LN2 jumper. Retry forces a hard reset, and Safe Boot allows users to boot up using default settings while retaining their custom settings in the firmware GUI. The manual says Slow Mode clocks the CPU down to allow LN2 overclockers to manually overcome the “cold bug” phenomena, and LN2 mode switches from slow to user-configured clock settings automatically following POST. The sole USB 2.0 front-panel header combines with four propriety control pins when using an accessory Asus OC/Panel overclocking controller.

The Maximus IX Hero includes an incredible number of fan headers, though Asus doesn’t list them all that way. Two of the eight PWM-capable headers are designated “High Amp” for pumps and extremely large fans up to 3A. Asus recommends using only PWM mode for fans greater than 1A, and no speed control for pumps greater than 1A. Another five-pin header connects to Asus’ accessory Fan Extension Card, which can be purchased separately and used to add another four fans.

The top front corner’s MemOK button resides next to a 2-digit POST code display and four activity LEDs that indicate CPU detection, DRAM detection, VGA detection, and Boot (POST completion). The LEDs help users who can’t easily decipher POST codes figure out which device stalled the boot process, should anything (such as an overclock) go wrong. Beneath the MemOK button, the threaded 3D Mount secures optional covers (aesthetic components) that users can 3D print from model files available on the Maximus IX Hero micro-site.

The Maximus IX Hero has three x16-length PCIe 3.0 slots, but you’re only going to want to put two graphics cards in the system. The expected LGA-1151 options of x16-x0-x4 or x8-x8-x4 pathways are still in play, where the PCH-fed x4 slot doesn’t support SLI. However, the best reason not to use a graphics card in the bottom slot is that the  USB 3.0 is the solitary USB 3.0 front-panel header is found beneath it. The cables that connect to these aren’t flexible. Alternatively, the bottom slot could be a good place to put a PCIe SSD.

Reinforced with through pins and metal-encased sides, the two graphics card slots are separated by two extra spaces so that extra-thick graphics coolers can fit. The PCIe x1 slots are open ended to allow longer cards, such as x4, to be installed and operate in x1 mode. The long bottom slot operates with two pathways by default, but x4 mode can be enabled by disabling the x1 slot above it in BIOS. This arrangement makes sense if you assume two graphics cards will be installed in the reinforced slots, since even traditionally-sized performance graphics card coolers are so thick that they block the slot directly beneath.

Cable clearance for front-panel USB headers won’t be a problem if you can find a case with the new USB 3.1 connector, for which the interface is found above the slots, right next to the 24-pin power header. Confounding your search is the fact that many companies were already calling cases with Type-C front-panel connectors “USB 3.1” last year, even though those cases use the motherboard’s USB 3.0 header. Many case manufacturers have relied on the technical verbiage of “USB 3.1 Gen 1” to describe what we’ve come to know as USB 3.0. The only way to confirm that the newer “USB 3.1 Gen 2” standard has been employed is to look at the case specs, or at photos of its cables. Buyer beware, as we have not yet seen any of the new generation cases in our labs.

Moving on to storage, we find six SATA 6Gb/s headers facing forward at the Maximus IX Hero’s front edge. One of these is shared with the upper M.2 interface, but only when an SATA-based M.2 card is employed there. The lower M.2 interface relies on Intel’s flexible HSIO scheme to steal resources from two SATA ports and employ those resources towards two PCIe pathways. Users who want three NVMe drives to all operate in PCIe 3.0 x4 mode can use both M.2 slots along with the bottom PCIe slot, while sacrificing only two SATA ports and one PCIe x1 slot.

The Maximus IX Hero includes a vast sticker kit, beverage coaster, and a CPU holder to ease installation, in addition to the traditional four SATA cables and I/O shield, a thermal probe lead, an HB-style SLI bridge, a driver disk, bracket and M.2 screws, and a complete user’s manual.


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Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.
16 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Tannerleo
    EKWB just released a monoblock for this mobo.
    Reply
  • falchard
    Garbage board. They should have been working on their x370 bios instead of producing another z270 mobo.
    Reply
  • FD2Raptor
    "Today that award is Editor Recommended, as this editor recommends the Maximus IX Gene to serious overclockers."

    And then the last sentence...
    Reply
  • Crashman
    19407964 said:
    "Today that award is Editor Recommended, as this editor recommends the Maximus IX Gene to serious overclockers."

    And then the last sentence...
    LOL, it's fixed now. This was not an official "unofficial leak" :D

    I'm just sad that I now need to retain both motherboards in case the other one is ever needed for a graphics scaling update.
    Reply
  • mapesdhs
    "stunner"
    "serious overclockers"

    I have to say, here we have a CPU that can reach 4.5 anyway, and all it gets up to on these boards is 4.8? That's less than 7%. Ho hum, not exactly the days of SB anymore. Struggling to see the relevance of overclocking these days.

    Ian.
    Reply
  • Dunlop0078
    19410411 said:
    "stunner"
    "serious overclockers"

    I have to say, here we have a CPU that can reach 4.5 anyway, and all it gets up to on these boards is 4.8? That's less than 7%. Ho hum, not exactly the days of SB anymore. Struggling to see the relevance of overclocking these days.

    Ian.

    Thats likely all there U12S cooler was capable of not the mobo, not sure why they would use that. I can easily hit 5ghz on my 7700k with a Z270 strix mobo which has a less robust VRM, most 7700k's will if you can keep them cool.
    Reply
  • FD2Raptor
    It definitely have to do with that cooler as even when: "The ROG Maximus IX Hero uses less power at full load with all processor defaults enabled (like all the competing samples). It also produces less heat with these features."

    It still produces 47 degrees over ambient with the 7700k at "Motherboard Defaults" with the U12S at full fanspeed.
    Reply
  • Crashman
    19410655 said:
    19410411 said:
    "stunner"
    "serious overclockers"

    I have to say, here we have a CPU that can reach 4.5 anyway, and all it gets up to on these boards is 4.8? That's less than 7%. Ho hum, not exactly the days of SB anymore. Struggling to see the relevance of overclocking these days.

    Ian.

    Thats likely all there U12S cooler was capable of not the mobo, not sure why they would use that. I can easily hit 5ghz on my 7700k with a Z270 strix mobo which has a less robust VRM, most 7700k's will if you can keep them cool.
    We tried "brigging up" the cooling. Under ideal conditions where we could hold a 100% load at 100% AVX optimization and at 1.35V, this processor would still not hold 4.9 GHz for more than about an hour.

    I see lots of guys saying "I have 100% stable at 5 GHz" and then we see that they have a -2 or -3 AVX offset. Well, that's not 100% stable at 5 GHz, it's 100% stable at 4.8 or 4.7 GHz. We get that. It's exactly what we have in this CPU.
    Reply
  • Crashman
    19411216 said:
    It definitely have to do with that cooler as even when: "The ROG Maximus IX Hero uses less power at full load with all processor defaults enabled (like all the competing samples). It also produces less heat with these features."

    It still produces 47 degrees over ambient with the 7700k at "Motherboard Defaults" with the U12S at full fanspeed.
    It's a lot easier to use an award-winning board in our memory reviews, and this thing had a big accomplishment there.You'll see even greater accomplishments in that area as the new serious of memory reviews are published. And it's not like I could split the "Editor's Choice" award once given: The IX Hero deserved some kind of recognition so it got the closest matching award.

    Reply
  • akula2
    Hello Thomas,

    Regd. 'Asus left out the intended Wi-Fi module to justify the Maximus IX Hero’s sub-premium pricing.'

    I've bought over a dozen ROG boards ever since the brand was launched. I also recommended this board to most contacts and friends who are interested in Gaming (relaxation, not 'Gamers') too. To many of them (if not me), this board is not "sub-premium" because they would never care for any other high-end ROG boards like Formula. Making sense?

    Point is, I'm somewhat disappointed with Asus' pricing of this board, i.e stuck with, say $230. I thought given the hardware evolution, it shouldn't cost more than $180 or so. $230 sounds OK with Wi-Fi module.

    Also, I do not know what is the status on Hero Alpha board? Perhaps dropped in favor of Maximus IX Code or re-branded it? I think that might cost $300 or so with Wi-Fi and other goodies.

    The biggest disappointment: they dropped RANGER board.

    I reckon it is a stupid and arrogant move by Asus because RANGER is the best single GPU board for its price, features and performance. No wonder why I bought four boards, and made many pals and relatives to buy it too!.

    Anyway, Asus made a similar aggressive move with Zenfone 3 series after Zenfone 2 phones met with quite a success. But it fell flat on their faces! This is what happens when a big company takes its customers for granted and milks them heavily under the disguise of brand power.

    It works for certain period of time, hence I'm not buy this board unless I see drop in prices or Code becomes less premium. It's not worth to invest in heavily depreciating computer components such as CPUs, Boards, GPUs and more.

    But which 'competitive' board to buy with Wi-Fi? I did not do a single Kaby Lake personal build until now. Perhaps I might give it a pass or wait for some more time (Ryzen + Vega performance results).
    Reply