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ASUS ROG Maximus VIII Formula Owner`s Thread!

59K views 328 replies 65 participants last post by  scgt1 
#1 ·


Hey OCN, now that the Asus Maximus VIII Formula is available for pre-order, I thought I would start a thread to support it! I don`t intend this to be an owners thread as such, but more of a place for us to discuss and ask questions and post up some pictures of your rig if you would like! Enjoy!!!

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OC3D.net Review: 
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fy-1wzwQCP4
OC3D.net Full Review: http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/cpu_mainboard/asus_z170_maximus_viii_formula_review/1

Pre-ordered: January 7th
 
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#2 ·
#3 ·
I have the Maximus VII Formula.
That MOBO pretty much restricts the builder to a red/black theme or at least a theme with red in it.

Now the VIII is one sexy beast! It's monochromatic colour scheme with RGB lighting make your rig's colour scheme options endless!

I am DEFINITELY getting the VIII once it is released in Singapore! Call me an idiot but I fell for ASUS's marketing strategy!
 
#4 ·
This is my first Asus and ROG board, I must say it looks EPIC!
But I do have some questions, I am using the AURA software to control the LED's but when my PC restarts the LED's go back to breathing until I configure them to static red again... It's something simple but It annoys me a bit.
Secondly, the keybot software disables my mediakeys (pause, volume wheel,...) on my Corsair K70 anyone a solution?
And last thing, It is a bit slow to boot, the bios time is around 20 seconds when my MSI Z87 was under 10 sec...
 
#5 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Archang3l View Post

This is my first Asus and ROG board, I must say it looks EPIC!
But I do have some questions, I am using the AURA software to control the LED's but when my PC restarts the LED's go back to breathing until I configure them to static red again... It's something simple but It annoys me a bit.
Secondly, the keybot software disables my mediakeys (pause, volume wheel,...) on my Corsair K70 anyone a solution?
And last thing, It is a bit slow to boot, the bios time is around 20 seconds when my MSI Z87 was under 10 sec...
Honestly, mine just arrived today so haven't tried anything yet. I will check mine once I get it all hooked up. Have you tried the ROG forums yet for help?
 
#6 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Archang3l View Post

This is my first Asus and ROG board, I must say it looks EPIC!
But I do have some questions, I am using the AURA software to control the LED's but when my PC restarts the LED's go back to breathing until I configure them to static red again... It's something simple but It annoys me a bit.
Secondly, the keybot software disables my mediakeys (pause, volume wheel,...) on my Corsair K70 anyone a solution?
And last thing, It is a bit slow to boot, the bios time is around 20 seconds when my MSI Z87 was under 10 sec...
I can't say anything about the Keybot software as I am not using it and have not installed it but the other two things I do not see.... LEDs have been configured in Aura and stay the same even through a reboot or a complete power off. Never had to reconfigure them yet.
Boot speed is much faster on my end as well.

Which BIOS are you on? Did you install the software from CD or did you download it?
 
#7 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by DtheM View Post

I can't say anything about the Keybot software as I am not using it and have not installed it but the other two things I do not see.... LEDs have been configured in Aura and stay the same even through a reboot or a complete power off. Never had to reconfigure them yet.
Boot speed is much faster on my end as well.

Which BIOS are you on? Did you install the software from CD or did you download it?
I am using the latest BIOS from the ASUS website: MAXIMUS VIII FORMULA BIOS 0403
As for software I downloaded everything from the site too.
Do you have set things in the bios for fast boot or something?
 
#8 ·
Alright, Bios is same as mine.. I enabled VT-d, and disabled the SATA controller as I am only using a NVME drive. Everything else is pretty much default as I didn't start to overclock it yet.. I also downloaded the software from the web (don't have a drive that can read CDs/DVDs) and did a fresh install of Win 10 after I completed the build.. Then just started the Aura thing, set the profile and it's been working perfectly fine since then..
 
#9 ·
I had Aura 1.something 9 now I have the 7 version hope it works.
Also for BIOS i will take a look, i have an nvme boot drive, ssd for games and HDD for storage so I can't disable SATA.
I dit noticed this: the ROG logo shows, goes away shows again and then goes to Windows is thuis normal? With my MSI i just had msi screen and Windows boot.
Also did not overclock, I want to read a bit about ASUS bios and settings first and spend some time there
 
#10 ·
I just got to replicate the reset back to pulsing red.. Happens to me if I completely disconnect power from the board meaning power switch on the power supply off or something.. As long as the board has power even if the machine is powered off everything stays as configured..
 
#11 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Archang3l View Post

I dit noticed this: the ROG logo shows, goes away shows again and then goes to Windows is thuis normal?
Same here, I come from a Z77 Sabertooth that never had this kind of behavior.

Quote:
Originally Posted by DtheM View Post

I just got to replicate the reset back to pulsing red.. Happens to me if I completely disconnect power from the board meaning power switch on the power supply off or something.. As long as the board has power even if the machine is powered off everything stays as configured..
This is annoying and definitely has to be a bug. How can they force us to reconfigure the color everytime we power on the PC?!
mad.gif


BTW do you guys consider the behaviour of your SSDs correct? I made a fresh install of Windows 10 on a new 256 GB Samsung 850 Evo and I'm getting Read/Write speeds of less than 400 MB/s, where both should be above 500...
 
#12 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by seanbarkley View Post

Same here, I come from a Z77 Sabertooth that never had this kind of behavior.
This is annoying and definitely has to be a bug. How can they force us to reconfigure the color everytime we power on the PC?!
mad.gif


BTW do you guys consider the behaviour of your SSDs correct? I made a fresh install of Windows 10 on a new 256 GB Samsung 850 Evo and I'm getting Read/Write speeds of less than 400 MB/s, where both should be above 500...
I was really hyped on this motherboard, but it's not the way I imagined it, slow bios boot, Aura software you need to configure the whole time,...
I'd better saved my 150 euro's by buying the hero or something.
SSD speed, my Samsung magician software shows my 950 pro really good speeds, but again windows boot is not as fast as my msi Z87 with 850 evo...
 
#13 ·
All in all I am quite happy with mine.. It's stable so far, pretty and survived being soaked in water because I was stupid.

As long as you don't disconnect power from the power supply the LEDs stay the colour you want (I have no idea what Aura is doing exactly and where the settings are saved). As my machine is never powerless in a normal state I couldn't care less. Boot time with my 950Pro is extremely fast and I do not see the Asus logo twice (maybe something to do with the CSM? I turned that off...). Hooked up a 1TB 840Evo and a 1TB Crucial MX200 (port 1 and 3 SATA) and do see normal read and write speeds at around 500MB/sec without rapid mode for the Samsung 840Evo enabled..

Power delivery seems fine and stable as well
 
#14 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by DtheM View Post

All in all I am quite happy with mine.. It's stable so far, pretty and survived being soaked in water because I was stupid.

As long as you don't disconnect power from the power supply the LEDs stay the colour you want (I have no idea what Aura is doing exactly and where the settings are saved). As my machine is never powerless in a normal state I couldn't care less. Boot time with my 950Pro is extremely fast and I do not see the Asus logo twice (maybe something to do with the CSM? I turned that off...). Hooked up a 1TB 840Evo and a 1TB Crucial MX200 (port 1 and 3 SATA) and do see normal read and write speeds at around 500MB/sec without rapid mode for the Samsung 840Evo enabled..

Power delivery seems fine and stable as well
Lol how did you soak it in water?
tongue.gif

I do power of my system because I HATE light when I try to sleep
tongue.gif
, if I enable Erp state it shuts down and lights go out but then I need to reconfigure them, My H100i GTX led stays even when I remove the link software...
I have my 950Pro 250 as boot drive, 500gb 850 evo for games and stuff and a 4TB Seagate for storage, but I am disappointed by the boot speed. taksmanager shows "last BIOS-time 27.5 seconds" My Haswell system was around 8.5 I think. The 2 ROG logo's I think the first is just normal BIOS one and the second replaces the windows logo cause there is a loading ring thing under.

As for overclocking I did not test it but I do expect a really good board as it costs a lot.
 
#15 ·
Thanks for ur answers guys! dealing with SSD speed I had connected it to the Asmedia Sata by mistake, so I've already fixed that.

What I find annoying is the Asus Aura Software, how can they leave it that way? I mean, I remember I configured the led color of my Corsair H100i pump the first time I used and it has kept that way from then on, even deleting the software...but this...

I mean, if the purpose of these leds is match the mobo with the rest of components, so it's a nonsense. My case has an acrylic side panel, and me and my wife usually study there, so all those leds turned on all the time is not the best when you are studying, but I guess it's the only way to keep the led colors set up.

Hopefully they realease a fix for this soon.
 
#16 ·
Ah, alright then.. My machine is in a different room so no issues there
wink.gif


Soaking it in water was the easy part
wink.gif
Forgot to tighten one fitting and when I turned the pump on to start filling the loop I had water everywhere.. Had to take everything apart, soaked everything in Isopropanol and rebuild the whole thing after it dried.. At least I got to delid my 6700K while everything was taken apart as I was bored..

Last BIOS time is 15,5 on my end and now I also understand your 2 Asus logos.. Dunno why your machine takes twice as long as mine to boot...
 
#17 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by DtheM View Post

Ah, alright then.. My machine is in a different room so no issues there
wink.gif


Soaking it in water was the easy part
wink.gif
Forgot to tighten one fitting and when I turned the pump on to start filling the loop I had water everywhere.. Had to take everything apart, soaked everything in Isopropanol and rebuild the whole thing after it dried.. At least I got to delid my 6700K while everything was taken apart as I was bored..

Last BIOS time is 15,5 on my end and now I also understand your 2 Asus logos.. Dunno why your machine takes twice as long as mine to boot...
:'( I WANT TO BOOT FAST
mad.gif
 
#18 ·
So far I've really liked my Formula. One of the first Z170 boards I bought was a gigabyte gaming G1 and I loved the light effects. Mostly it was the fact that I could set it to beat mode and have a nice light show when I played music. The only thing was in the case the light was fairly muted because it was behind things. Went through various motherboards and when I saw the Formula I knew I'd have to get one (even tho I posted that it was over priced in my opinion). On its own the Formula LED's kind of remind me of the G1 in that they would be very muted behind a bunch of hardware on their own (aka without a strip light as well). The "plus" with the Formula and other Asus boards with lighting effects is... they work with add on sound cards (I have a Creative card) and the G1 effects only seemed to work with the onboard sound (but it has really good onboard lol).

I picked up a relatively cheap LED kit off of Amazon which included two strips. So when I got the Formula, I set one of the strips up on the header and kept the other one for backup. This is all in a Corsair 600c case currently and I finally got to set up a purple theme build.

In regards to some things in the thread... Currently I have two Samsung 950 Pro's in raid. One in the M.2 slot and one on an Adapter and I haven't noticed slow boot times. I am likely going to set that up a bit differently as there isn't really a point to raid them currently.

The Aura software... well I like the fact that my LED strip matches the board color when I have them in sync. That is for most of the effect settings... I don't like that my strip goes into a more varied color pattern on the music setting. Sometimes I like it better because its a little variation to the theme. However, this likely isn't to do with the Aura software and is mostly related to the strip. When I shut down and boot up the next day ... I have to set it up again if I was using music effect. My lighting will either be "off" or set to a different effect and/or color <- that part is very random and I haven't found a pattern to explain why one or the other happens.

Turning off the power supply kind of has the same effect but for me once again... it mostly only really happens if I was using the music effect. If I have it set to strobe or breathing... it seems to stick pretty well as an example.

Beyond that I could say I've had a really positive experience with the board... but then I could say the same about every Z170 board I have (too many). For me it was all about the lights... sad I guess.. but its what I like.
 
#19 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Digitalwolf View Post

For me it was all about the lights... sad I guess.. but its what I like.
I was going to buy the Maximus VIII Hero, but when I saw this baby I was just sold, the armor, LED's covered M.2,... It was a lot of money but this time I try to keep my platform (CPU, MOBO and RAM) for at least 5 years, I sold my Hawell after 2.5 years
tongue.gif
 
#22 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by djchup View Post

Loving everything about this board <3

wow man LOVE that case! I'm seriously thinking of getting the silver model.

Wold you do me the favor to check if a regular SATA cable is enough to reach an SSD mounted in the front (where you can see those 4 holes) with ease? and can you tell me what's the lighting system you are using?

Thanks a lot!
 
#24 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by seanbarkley View Post

wow man LOVE that case! I'm seriously thinking of getting the silver model.

Wold you do me the favor to check if a regular SATA cable is enough to reach an SSD mounted in the front (where you can see those 4 holes) with ease? and can you tell me what's the lighting system you are using?

Thanks a lot!
I can check on the cable length for you when I get home form work today. The only lights I added to the case are these cathodes [link] mounted behind the reservoir, and about 5 feet of this RGB LED strip[link] mounted around the sides and bottom of the case, and connected to the Formula's RGB Header. I can take a picture of how I mounted the LED strip after work as well.

Here are a few more pictures that I took earlier this week. (the RGB strip is red in half of them, white in the other half)
[imgur album]
 
#25 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by djchup View Post

I can check on the cable length for you when I get home form work today. The only lights I added to the case are these cathodes [link] mounted behind the reservoir, and about 5 feet of this RGB LED strip[link] mounted around the sides and bottom of the case, and connected to the Formula's RGB Header. I can take a picture of how I mounted the LED strip after work as well.

Here are a few more pictures that I took earlier this week. (the RGB strip is red in half of them, white in the other half)
[imgur album]
djchup, did that RGB LED strip you linked from Amazon work with the RGB header and do the colors match?
 
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