The ASUS ROG Maximus X Apex Review: X Marks the Spot, Literally
by Joe Shields on May 11, 2018 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- Intel
- Asus
- ROG
- Aquantia
- 5G
- Coffee Lake
- Z370
BIOS
The BIOS on the ASUS ROG Maximus X Apex looks the same as what we have seen in the X299 reviews of any ASUS ROG board. Upon first boot, we are greeted by a red background with the important parts on a grey backing with white and yellow letters. The ASUS BIOS is one of the more robust and well laid out in general and this one won't be any different.
The EZMode screen displays information on the CPU, DRAM, fans and pumps, boot priority, and even has a one-touch system tuning button. Users are able to swap boot order and get access to QFan control to adjust fan/pump speeds. Much more than that and the user will need to move into the advanced BIOS.
The Main screen offers limited info beyond EZ Mode, giving details such as BIOS and Processor information. The only option on is able to change here is the System Language.
The Extreme Tweaker section is where those overclocking will spend the majority of their time. All the options to overclock will be found somewhere within this section - and there are a bunch. Any power or current limits will be found, LLC, primary/secondary/tertiary memory timings, CPU overclock profiles and Memory overclocking profiles. It's all in here. One of the most complete OC sections around is found on these ASUS ROG BIOSes.
Above the DRAM section is displayed in a bit more detail (above are 3 of 5 screens in total). There are dozens of memory timings and options in this section.
The Advanced section of the BIOS is where users are able to adjust CPU and Platform configurations, chipset and storage options, RGB LEDs, and more under the Advanced header.
The monitoring section is home to the QFan functionality which will learn how the fans adjust to power, and users are able to set up the parameters for them. It also displays critical information such as CPU, Motherboard, VRM and PCH temperatures, as well as fan speeds and voltages. In the screenshot above, we are able to see the Water IN/OUT sensors as well. Not many motherboards have that ability integrated.
The Boot heading is where all things boot related are found. Boot configurations, boot order, and very importantly boot override is in this section.
The Tools section hosts several different tools useful to users including ASUS EZ Flash 3 Utility used to update the BIOS, Secure Erase to wipe drives, overclocking profiles, and options for the ROG OC panel can all be found here.
Software
ASUS, like all major board partners, includes a driver disk to get things started as well as several pieces of software that are helpful to the user.
The picture above is from the included driver disk that contains the drivers and major utilities ASUS offers with their motherboards. The drivers include the chipset, management engine, and network drivers. The Utilities tab gives users access to the software from AI Suite 3, Aura, Overwolf, and several others. The disk also has a copy of the manual as well.
ASUS EZ Update software is used to keep up with the latest software from ASUS. Once the software is loaded, it will check the website for new software and notify the user if there is an update available.
ASUS' main piece of software is AI Suite 3. AIS3 is a Windows-based application used to monitor and control the system. Within AI SUite users are able to read temperatures and voltages off critical components, overclock, adjust fan speed and create custom curves, as well as update the system, and is one of the more comprehensive software suites available.
ASUS' Aura software is used to control the integrated and attached RGB headers. It gives users 12 options for RGB LED patterns as well as control over the color and brightness of each. The software can also be used in conjunction with other ASUS products using RGB LEDs and controlled through this central application.
ASUS uses a modified version of the Realtek ALC1220 codecs on the hardware side and integrates its own ROG skin on top of the Realtek Audio panel for sound control. It offers the same features with environmental controls, sound effects, as well as a graphic equalizer to shape the sound.
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PhrogChief - Saturday, May 12, 2018 - link
LOL...Dragonstongue - Saturday, May 12, 2018 - link
IMO they really should have similar spec non LED/RGB bs motherboards for AMD as well as Intel because there are many (such as myself) that have ZERO need or want for RGB anything taking up the BOM for things that are far more useful.such as put the $ towards giving the best most stable VRM or ensuring the m.2 slots have the best cooling possible without having to resort to liquid (would not hurt them to move them away from right underneath the hottest parts in most computers such as graphics cards/cpu)
why can they not maybe figure out a way to place them right behind the sata/motherboard mains power where there tends to be a nice "hole" that is very rarely occupied with anything)
X shaped LMAO, I was expecting a significant X, but it barely cut the motherboard to give a very slight impression of this (and only if you look really closely)
I very much feel the same though, when you call everything X this or X that, Gaming this or Gaming that, Ultra this or Ultra that, the words lose all meaning, because "everyone is doing it"
ROG is a fine branding, and Hero or Formula or Maximus is also fine, they really do not need to add an even longer name on top of this to try to draw extra attention to it IMO ^.^
mapesdhs - Monday, May 14, 2018 - link
Years ago, the ASUS Sriker II Extreme turned heads, as did the Maximus IV Extreme, and definitely the Rampage IV Extreme. These days, the whole notion of such boards has been rather diluted. Fun stuff like PLX chips has largely gone, while the oc headroom of the latest mainstream Intel chip is garbage (why anyone cares about a 6% bump over the official max turbo is beyond me; at least with SB one could easily reach a 28% bump over the official max turbo, and without the need for Iceland airflow to keep it cool). Oc'ing back in the days of S775, X58, P55 and SB was fun, one could relaly push the hw and see some great gains (sooo many delighted 2500K users out there), but now it's just a giant yawn fest. The CPUs are doing a lot of the oc work automatically, and they're getting good at it.mapesdhs - Monday, May 14, 2018 - link
I meant to add, even outside the ROG line ASUS was doing funky things, eg. the P7P55 WS Supercomputer, x8/x8/x8/x8 on a P55 board! :D I hold most of the P55 3DMark records by plonking three 980s on that whacko board. The P9X79-E WS was similarly and usefully OTT, great for compute yet it has most of the same oc potential of the equiavent ROG board (R4E). Modern mbds have gone RGB bling mad because that's all they have left to tout.Dug - Wednesday, May 16, 2018 - link
I agree with the VRM and m.2 slots.I would really like to know why m.2 slots are in such a hot location.
I'd also like to know why Intel won't increase the lanes needed for more bandwidth to devices.
PhrogChief - Saturday, May 12, 2018 - link
COMING SOON: Asus Republic of Maximus GamerX Type R Ultra Rev 2.0 Extreme X599 MASTER EDITION w-Aura Link LightFlow by Strixm16 - Sunday, May 13, 2018 - link
Interesting, I don't know why this high density RAM was not more of a thing back in the DDR3 days, although I could understand the desire to Overclock and those 16GB DIMMs don't allow that in DDR3 (not to mention that most were also ECC applications).I hope the prices go down, because a 16GB DIMM although not a hard thing to find now, it is still very expensive.
Otherwise, this is an amazing board indeed.
Aikouka - Monday, May 14, 2018 - link
Seems a bit odd to go with a 5Gbps port on an expensive motherboard when ASRock is offering a 10Gbps port on their higher-end board (Z370 Professional Gaming i7). Heck, ASUS even releases stand-alone cards with the same chip that ASRock uses, which is the same company that makes the chip for this board.nimi - Tuesday, May 15, 2018 - link
ASUS be like:A: Guys, slapping on RGB just isn't cutting it anymore, we need something new to stand out.
B: *looks up from his fruit X phone* Notches are all the rage these days, what if we added a NOTCH to our board?
A: I think you're on to something! Hey, why not go one step further, let's do FOUR notches!!! I'll bet it'll sell 4 times as fast!
B: Yes! And add "X" to the name for good measure.
A: BRILLIANT