CONCLUSION
When building an ITX system, it’s usually a 2-way street: you either build an HTPC for multimedia, light browsing or torrenting or you build a powerhouse gaming rig you can easily carry between rooms in your house. The path you choose primarily dictates the components you choose and in today’s market there’s really no low-end ITX board and high-end. That ends today, with ASUS clearly defining what a high-end ITX board should be. This board should put enough pressure on GIGABYTE to follow-through with a G1.Killer ITX solution for the Z87 platform as MSI has already done so already. This should open-up a new league of competition for these board vendors to battle in which should benefit us consumers, especially ITX builders, in the future.
Going back to the Maximus VI Impact, let’s break down the score:
Performance. You’d certainly expect desktop-level performance from an ROG board, regardless of form factor, and the Maximus VI Impact does just that. Providing excellent performance that won’t disappoint and overclocking to elevate it further, this ITX board is everything a powerful ITX build could want.
Build Quality. ROGÂ standards has been set pretty high and this board already scores highly just by being an ROG board. ASUS didn’t just slap the ROG name on an existing board, they designed one from the ground up. We still have to point out a few design concerns like the placement of SATA ports being behind the RAM slots which makes cable management another nightmare and also the SupremeFX Impact daughterboard not fixed to the board by default. We don’t see any reason for having it removable. Also worth noting is the x1 bus on the M.2 slot which is a bit lacking.
Functionality. The Maximus VI Impact trades in multi-card functionality for size. That’s pretty much just about everything you need for a powerful computing system that you could at least carry around.
Bundle. ASUS is a bit more giving when it comes to their ROG products. The Maximus VI Impact already includes a built-in WIFI/BT solution as well as discrete audio. Add to that the software extras and you’re saving nearly 80$ from additional purchases.
Value. ASUS is asking for ₱12,850 for the Maximus VI Impact. Quite a lot of change for an ITX board, but in a world where portability puts a premium on everything, its already predictable. It is worth noting that only the size of the board is in ITX but the majority of the features as well as performance are true full-ATX caliber. Add to that the pre-included features and software extras and you’re already made your money’s worth.
As we’ve said in the beginning of this article, there is no clear high-end for the ITX market. With the ASUS ROG now setting foot in this field, we expect more board makers to follow-suit. The ASUS Maximus VI Impact, may not spew record-breaking performance figures but it can surely compete neck-to-neck with most full-sized performance boards. With a ton of features and engineering crammed in such a small space, the board is just incredible.
Whether you’re going for your first ITX gaming build or will be stepping down from a monster tower, there is no going around it: the ASUS ROG Maximus VI Impact is the ITX board of choice for a high-performance, no-compromise build.
The ASUS MAXIMUS VI IMPACT is backed by a 3-year warranty. We award it our B2G Recommended seal and Bronze Award.
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