Asus Maximus VII Hero + 4790K good idea?

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xorbe

Supreme [H]ardness
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Sep 26, 2008
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update: ordered Hero already

Basically the motherboard is the only part I'm worried about. How's that Asus VII Hero motherboard panning out for people? It looks like the popular choice. Asus has 20 (!) atx z97 motherboards on their site to choose from. Won't be running SLI. Or maybe Sabertooth? Or one of the Z97-* models?

Hmm, I sort of like the Z97-A (non-USB3.1) because it lacks any add-on ASMEDIA controllers.
 
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Well, what features are you looking for in a motherboard?
Will you be overclocking?

The Asus Maximus VII Hero is a good motherboard but generally not a good purchase unless you're a heavy overclocker, don't care that much about money, and/or can take advantage of most of its extra features.
 
I plan to do "minor" overclocking, whatever I can get easily. 4x8GB ram (programmer with multiple vbox running, large compiles, etc). 1 video card for when gaming. Two ssd, one hdd, one optical. Have good 650W psu already.

I have been perusing reviews as much as I can, yeah the take is that the Hero is not a great value (and has some cheesy lighting). But, it turns in up to 6% more cpu performance than the Z97-A for whatever reason, possibly the better power section.

Looking for Z97 roundups now. Maybe Gigabyte also.
 
I did try: "1 video card for when gaming. Two ssd, one hdd, one optical. Have good 650W psu already." So I guess that means 4 mem slots, 4 sata ports, 1 x16 pcie 3.0 slot, some usb3 and a couple usb2 slots, stereo audio, 1 wired lan port, and a classic kb/mouse plug for my N-rollover keyboard. Prefer standard audio / lan / sata controllers for best Linux compatibility. Nothing not too typical.
 
Then the Z97-A is more than enough for your needs.
 
The Asus Z97-a is a very good motherboard for the price, I have one my self. They did release a bios update last month adding USB 3.1 support and support for the upcoming broadwell processors.
 
I looked at all the other junk I have, and ordered the Hero. I seem to have expensive hardware addition.

According to Sin's HW, the Z97-A is actually 4-phase power with a doubler, but the Hero is true 8-phase.
 
My goodness, the OnTrac dude could not have slammed the NewEgg box on the ground any harder, it was like a sonic boom inside the living room outside the front door.
 
I have the VII Hero and a 4790K, had it operating for 5-6 months not one problem.
 
Oh man I like this thing. CL10 2400 Trident X ram 32GB at 36-38GB/s 42.7ns latency, and 102.3 BCLK bounces between 4.4-4.5 GHz in Prime95 blend using large amounts of memory. That's a significant uplift over my 4.0 SB system. I tried setting the multi to 45 then 46, but the auto voltage jacks the voltage up way too much, and the manual controls are totally cryptic to me, they are completely different than what I'm used too. I just want to see how far it goes with 1.30v

edit: wow, that article @ Tom's today shows ddr4 at 50GB/s and 25ns latency. Yikes, ~$400 for 4x4GB DDR4, do they not make 2x8GB sticks.
 
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