ASUS Maximus VII Hero Review

Performance Analysis

In our Media Benchmarks, the overall score of 2,465 was just 12 points behind the fastest Z97 chipset result on test, highlighting a fairly close running of most of the boards at stock speed. Gaming at stock speeds is on par with most of the other boards, though the ASRock is ahead a little in Skyrim. At out maximum overclock of 4.8GHz, the Hero managed the fastest overall score on test in our media benchmarks, with a score of 2,970, although this was only 64 points ahead of the ASRock Fatal1ty Z97 Killer.


Overclocked, the Hero is joint fastest in Skyrim too and has a higher average frame rate than most other boards in Shogun 2 as well. Z97 SATA speeds are a few MB/sec behind some other contenders, but it's nothing to be concerned about. The ASMedia ports lag behind significantly, with read and write speeds of 388MB/sec and 385MB/sec respectively. That said, this is typically always the case with third party SATA controllers – the MSI Gaming 7 uses an ASMedia controller to and has very similar speeds on those ports. Finally, idle power consumption is a little high at 57W, but conversely under load the Hero is one of the best. Only the Ranger has a lower stock speed power consumption under load, and when overclocked the two boards are tied for the joint lowest wattage of 180W, 14W less than ASRock's board.

Conclusion

In the end, the difference that is most obvious between the Ranger and the Hero is still the £35 one. The extra LEDs, power circuitry and SATA ports are all valid additions, but in terms of performance and functionality the two are still vastly similar. The boosted power circuitry may be responsible for the slightly better overclock, but this is an advantage on paper only given that performance and power consumption are virtually identical.

The Hero is by no means a bad motherboard, and it may show its differences more with Devil's Canyon or Broadwell CPUs, but for now, at least, we'd suggest saving yourself some cash and opting for the Ranger. Meanwhile, if you need the extra SATA ports, then MSI's Gaming 7 is an excellent purchase, especially as it can be had for £135.


*Edit* We welcome comments from manufacturers in reply to our reviews and we've spoken at length to Asus about the Maximus VII Hero as it had concerns over our portrayal of the additional features it has over the cheaper Maximus VII Ranger. The Hero now costs just £156 which is barely £20 more than the Ranger.

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Our initial concerns are still true in that if you're not fussed about the lighting, beefed up power circuitry and SATA ports, then the Ranger will save some cash, however, at time of writing the difference was a more significant £35. At just £20, there's clearly a stronger argument for opting for the Hero's extensive lighting (this is bit-tech after all!) and additional power circuitry. The latter didn't seem to make much difference with our Core i7-4770K but you can now see for yourself if the lighting is worth the extra dosh.