ASUS MAXIMUS VII FORMULA/WATCH DOGS Motherboard

Conclusions

The ASUS MAXIMUS VII FORMULA/WATCH DOGS is an excellent top mid-range (or entry high-end, depending on your point of view) motherboard, targeted to the user who is building a computer using a “Haswell” CPU (fourth-generation Core i3, Core i5, or Core i7 processors) and wants it to be compatible with “Devil’s Canyon” (enhanced fourth-generation) and “Broadwell” (fifth-generation) “Core i” processors, and wants a little more than typical mid-range motherboards have to offer.

The highlights of this motherboard include the extra SATA-600 and USB 3.0 ports, a professional-grade, high-end audio interface, support for two video cards in SLI or CrossFireX, the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth module, and the support for M.2 modules and SATA Express devices.

The Watch Dogs game bundled with the model we analyzed is a good marketing move, since it is one of the most recent “blockbuster” game launches.

However, the MAXIMUS VII FORMULA is not that much different from the ASUS Z97-DELUXE we analyzed recently. The main differences are the frame that covers the motherboard, and the audio codec that has a little more impressive characteristics. But both lack a true high-end slot configuration, which needs a switching chip to support up to four video cards with no drop in performance.

In short, the MAXIMUS VII FORMULA/WATCH DOGS is an excellent motherboard if you do not intend to install more than two video cards, but there are other models available that provies a better bang for the buck.