ASUS Maximus VII Hero Review
Introduction and Technical Specifications
Published: 12th May 2014 | Source: ASUS | Price: £169.99 |

Introduction
Our next Z97 review is of the ASUS Maximus VII Hero. A motherboard that's part of the ROG stable we all dream of owning, yet with a price tag that is more in keeping with the mid-range boards that everyone actually buys. It's like staring at a Lamborghini but knowing you'll buy a Focus.
Whilst the regular Z97s might be the overall volume sellers because of the pre-built system market, the majority of motherboards that ASUS sell as separate hardware items from an emporium of your choice come from their Republic of Gamers range. Until the last generation these were broadly split into three main types. The Gene, for those who want an iTX board; the Extreme for everyone who was determined to have the very best regardless of cost; and the Formula for everyone else.
With the release of the Z87 Maximus VI Hero ASUS brought a new variation to the marketplace. Tightly focussed upon the needs of gamers the Hero proved extremely popular and so it's no surprise to see it that it has returned as an option on the Maximus VII. Indeed the Formula and the Extreme have, for the moment at least, seemingly been replaced by the Maximus VII Ranger aimed at the gamer on a budget, and by today's review item the Maximus VII Hero. This has all the bells and whistles a gamer could need, without piling on frivolous features for the sake of it which only bump up the cost whilst gathering dust in our system.
With such a tight focus, and a £170 price tag, the Hero could be the first ROG board that is both good enough for that weighty brand name and yet affordable to those of us with tight purse-strings in these difficult financial times. A motherboard for everyone? Let's find out.
Specifications
ASUS have helpfully compared the Maximus VII Hero to their preceding Maximus VI Hero, which was certainly one of the better Z87 motherboards around. By putting the major changes in red it allows at 'at a glance' checklist of what is new. Which, as you can see by casting your eyes through the list, is support for the forthcoming 5th Generation Intel CPUs, higher memory overclocking (up from 3000MHz to 3200MHz), improved network hardware and configuration and superior audio options.
Everything else has, as you'd expect, been tweaked and refined with more upto-date ROG Gamefirst and better fan control options, alongside the M.2 Socket 3 support.
PREVIEW Video & Specifications
You're wanting to see how it looks, so let's move on to the having a look at the design of the ASUS Maximus VII Hero motherboard.
Most Recent Comments
Cracking board.... your move Gigabyte..
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Love it, Thank you so much for the review Tom. I have mine and am starting on the build. I really hope you get to M.2 reviews soon. The thought of a self contained bootable system that performs great is a big one for me. After seeing this review, I need to buy some better memory than I have to do this board justice.
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Just to speculate how do you think the VII Gene will perform compared to this??
Planning an MATX build with the VI Gene at the moment but wondering whether to get the Z97 board with a Haswell CPU and just upgrade later?
Was planning on using my 16GB Dominator Platinum memory too but it's the 1600mhz sticks. Would you recommend higher??
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Great stuff, nice review Tom. Loving the new camera too, the detail is nice and focussed
![]() Just to speculate how do you think the VII Gene will perform compared to this?? Planning an MATX build with the VI Gene at the moment but wondering whether to get the Z97 board with a Haswell CPU and just upgrade later? Was planning on using my 16GB Dominator Platinum memory too but it's the 1600mhz sticks. Would you recommend higher?? |
Not really going to get into that, its only ever going to be a guess....
Reading it again, it was a bit of a loaded question to ask you lol. Just got the cogs turning after watching the Hero review, made Z97 allot more exciting.
I'll wait for the reviews.

Still a good motherboard with good performance, we just need to see what the Devils Canyon chips are like on these Z97 boards.
, Oh well only another 2-3 weeks 
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Tom that card in your rig in the video, Are you purposely staying focused on it ? You git !
, Oh well only another 2-3 weeks ![]() |
It's just been one long giggle on here today, certainly has made a long dull day very bright indeed.
It's just been one long giggle on here today, certainly has made a long dull day very bright indeed. |

Would love to see how it stacks up against its older brother, need to decide whether the extra £30 is worth it as my build is on a fairly tight budget! Thanks





The first of the Z97 ROG boards is the Maximus VII Hero. An affordable Z97 option with all the ROG bells and whistles. How does it perform?
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