ASUS Maximus VI HERO Motherboard

On Board Peripherals

The Intel Z87 chipset is a single-chip solution, which is also known as a PCH (Platform Controller Hub). This chip has six SATA-600 ports, supporting RAID (0, 1, 10, and 5). This motherboard has two additional SATA-600 ports, controlled by an ASMedia ASM1061 chip (no RAID support). Unfortunately, the manufacturer didn’t use different colors on the SATA ports to identify which ports are controlled by which chip. The ports controlled by the ASMedia chip are the ones labeled “SATA6G_E12.”

The SATA ports are installed on the motherboard edge and rotated 90°, so the installation of video cards won’t block them.

Figure 4: The two SATA-600 ports controlled by the ASMedia chip and the six SATA-600 ports controlled by the chipset

The Intel Z87 chipset supports 14 USB 2.0 ports and six USB 3.0 ports. The ASUS Maximus VI HERO offers eight USB 2.0 ports, four located on the motherboard rear panel and four available through two headers located on the motherboard. The portrayed motherboard comes with six USB 3.0 ports, four available on the motherboard rear panel and two available through a header.

The ASUS Maximus VI HERO doesn’t support FireWire ports.

This motherboard supports 7.1+2 audio format, i.e., eight channels plus two independent channels for audio streaming. On this motherboard, the audio is generated by the chipset using the new Realtek ALC1150 codec, which is the best audio codec available today, providing an impressive 115 dB signal-to-noise ratio for the analog outputs, 104 dB signal-to-noise ratio for the analog inputs, and up to 192 kHz sampling rate for both inputs and outputs, with 24-bit resolution. This means you are able to capture and edit analog audio (e.g., converting LPs to CDs or MP3, converting VHS to DVDs or any other digital format, etc.) with this motherboard without adding any background noise.

Besides having a high-end audio codec, the audio section of the ASUS Maximus VI Hero is physically separated from the rest of the motherboard, there is a metallic shield around the audio section, and it uses premium Japanese audio capacitors, from ELNA. This ensures that the theoretical signal-to-noise ratios can be achieved.

Figure 5: The high-end audio section

The analog audio outputs are independent and the motherboard also comes with an on-board optical SPDIF output. It also has a two-pin header labeled “SPDIF_OUT” where you can install an adapter to have a coaxial SPDIF output or to connect a cable to older video cards that require a physical connection to have audio on their HDMI outputs.

The portrayed motherboard has one Gigabit Ethernet port, controlled by an Intel I217-V chip.

In Figure 6, you can see the rear panel of the motherboard with a shared PS/2 connector for keyboard and mouse, four USB 2.0 ports, the “BIOS Flashback” button (more detail on next page), optical SPDIF output, HDMI output, four USB 3.0 ports, one Gigabit Ethernet port, and the analog audio jacks.

Figure 6: Motherboard rear panel