ASUS’ “Republic of Gamers” series is always nice to cross ways with, and just as sad to separate from. This ASUS motherboard, Maximus IV Extreme-Z, represents the ROG family in the segment of Intel’s Z68 controller logic. Just as any ROG model, this one has a rich accompanying bundle and a load of new and interesting technologies too. Of course, the price reflects all that just as well, but it somehow falls out from view when you have a look at all the things this model can do.

If you’ve been following our website recently, you’ve had the chance to read our review of Sapphire’s Pure Black X58 motherboard. At the time, we concluded that Sapphire might have just been a bit late with an X58-based model, although the product itself was of highest quality. This time, there’s no telling that Sapphire’s late, but the true question is whether the model at hand can cope with much more reputed motherboard manufacturers.

This January saw numerous steps forward with regard to Intel microarchitecture. Nowadays, while we’re preparing for the next step and further size decrease in the existing production process, it’s finally time for Intel to show the full potential of the platform intended for use with the second generation of Sandy Bridge Core CPUs. It’s our belief that Intel’s plans weren’t really the way they were originally presented, and we’re referring to P67 and H67 chipsets primarily. First and foremost, overclocking capabilities, afterwards unleashed on the P67 chipset together with multi-GPU configurations, weren’t initially intended to be a feature of this chipset, until the decision came stating that P67 should be the compromise solution until the appearance of Z68. Consequently, Z68 lost much of its intended splendour intended for the cream of the crop of the LGA 1155 platform, as there was a clear déjà vu effect stemming from P67 and H67 chipsets. One thing is for sure, though - the enormous potential of Sandy Bridge CPUs that caused raving reviews from the critics wasn’t reflected in motherboards used to run them. The new Z68 is finally here, and supposed to improve this image drastically, finally giving the aforementioned CPUs a worthy platform.

Sapphire first became a known brand due to its ATI graphics cards, and they were known for virtually no connections to the other camp. However, from time to time, this company happens to present a new motherboard every now and then. We say “happens to” because they are mainly focused on graphics cards in their production portfolio, while their motherboards are more of a one-off experiment (similarly to XFX back in the day). In the era of the P67 chipset and Sandy Bridge CPUs, as well as Intel’s hints at releasing the Extreme Z68 platform soon, Sapphire has opted to present a motherboard based on the X58 controller logic. Truth be told, Intel’s X58 is still the fastest available solution, especially since it’s able to house very fast hexa-core Intel CPUs, but this still feels like a risky move on Sapphire’s part. Either way, we found Sapphire’s Pure Black X58 in the mail and got down to work almost immediately.

Upper segment-motherboards have developed a tendency to look like space stations or Starcraft structures lately. If they don’t, the basic presumption is that they must be cheap. Therefore, it was with a great deal of relief that we received a top-notch motherboard that looks moderate, while being replete with features. ASUS’ WS series, which is shortened for Workstation, targets users who find quality and stability to be the key features to any PC, while enabling the same PC to use its performance to the max on said motherboard. As the new series of Sandy Bridge CPUs has recently been introduced, it was only logical to expect ASUS to send a new WS motherboard our way as well.

880GMA-E45 is made of high-quality components, including shielded capacitors, which gives an impression of robustness and reliability even before the motherboard is mounted into the case. On the other hand, the motherboard is truly packed, which caused a less-than-likeable layout.

We’ve received two representatives of the new AMD 880G chipset which should, unlike AMD’s 890GX, bring somewhat lower performance, but at a significant price decrease. Budget users are certainly going to appreciate this, especially those that have been perfectly happy with older AMD chipsets from the 7-series.