Product on Review: ASUS Maximus III Extreme
Manufacturer and Sponsor: ASUS
MSRP: Not mentioned on site
Street Price: From £269.62

Over the years, ASUS have been at the forefront of performance components and have diversified into a foray of other hardware departments to show their engineering talent and supremacy. But what we know ASUS for, are their motherboards, which they continue to improve and innovate. Their latest brainchild is their new flagship P55 based motherboard, the Maximus III Extreme, which has been inserted into the Republic Of Gamers line up. The board introduces new overclocking features, the NF200 chip and most importantly, if the conveniently named ‘III’ moniker wasn’t already a give-away, USB 3.0 and SATA III compatibility.

The main aim of this motherboard is to bring high end performance to the more limited mainstream market. A lot of people do not require the sheer performance of the x58 platform, which can come at a high cost and instead would prefer to settle with the cheaper i3/i5 alternatives. ASUS’s philosophy is that the cheaper option should not be limited in their features, hence the board’s ability to unlock every drop of performance at the platform’s disposal through overclocking and a rich feature list.

The board caters not only for the hardcore overclockers, with their LN2 specific modifications and voltage monitoring, but it also allows easy one touch overclocking profiles for the average users. Speaking of voltage monitoring, ASUS have gone out of their way to improve remote overclocking using their new ROG connect feature. We’ll talk more about it later but I’ll just say that ASUS are on their way to revolutionize overclocking!

A bit about ASUS: ASUS comes from the last four letters of Pegasus, the winged horse in Greek mythology that represents the inspiration of art and learning. ASUS embodies the strength, creative spirit and purity symbolized by this regal and agile mythical creature, soaring to new heights of quality and innovation with each product it introduces to the market. ASUS pursues technological and aesthetic perfection through continuous innovation. We place ourselves in our customers’ shoes to develop a deep understanding of, and genuine empathy for, their needs—enabling us to create user experiences that transcend the norm. ASUS Design Philosophy ASUS Design develops high-quality solutions our customers will enjoy. Our design process is built on thorough research, early anticipation and well-planned execution. We act with a global vision and a focus on local strengths, conditions and heritage.

In an ever competitive market, innovation is the key to success and the Maximus III Extreme is ASUS’s latest attempt at demonstrating why they are at the top of the game. So let’s see how the board really fares.