Features and Specifications:
The features of the ASUS Crosshair IV Formula simply longer than any other motherboard TechwareLabs has ever listed to date. This list would take up several pages of this review to just list them all, so to spare your attention span, you can check out the features and specification for the ASUS Crosshair IV Formula on ASUS’s page here. So for those of you who want to see if the Crosshair IV Formula includes something you are specifically looking for, it very likely this board includes it.
The Crosshair IV Formula is the first motherboard that comes with a manual that is nearly 3/8 of an inch thick, which covers the features and capabilities of the board. The thickness of this manual while unpacking the motherboard was a little intimidating. So, if you’re a beginner when it comes to overclocking, don’t let the manual intimidate you, the Crosshair IV Formula is user friendly enough for the average beginner to get into overclocking, but if you are, a beginner, it would be best to stay away from the advanced features until you fully understand what that advanced feature can possibly damage if you adjust the setting too high. Of course, the Crosshair IV Formula has the advanced features for those of us who have been over clocking their systems for years. What set this Crosshair IV Formula motherboard apart from the competitors and other ASUS board prior is inclusion of such features the ROG have compiled and shoe horned into this board like ROG Connect and CPU Level Up. These two features are just scratching the surface of what this board can do, but overclocking your system can’t be any easier than with CPU Level Up which allows you to select from a list of CPU that you would like your system to run as the motherboard does the rest. When testing this feature be skeptics of such claims, the simplicity was just that, simple. The performance difference was noticed and benchmarked. The results were not huge, but there was a recorded positive increase in performance. Nice! ROG connect is a feature that the advanced overclocker’s really enjoy. ROG Connect is the “Plug and Overclock – Tweak it the hardcore way!” as the manual titles it. ROG Connect is explained as
| “Monitor the status of your desktop PC and tweak its parameters in real-time via a notebook –just like a rice care engine – with ROG connect. ROG connect links your main system to a notebook through a USB cable, allowing you to view real-time POST code and hardware status readouts on your notebook, as well as make on-the-fly parameter adjustments at a purely hardware level.” |
ROG Connect
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| We loaded the RC TweakIT software on our HP mini and connected the USB cable to the ROG port of the crosshair IV Formula board | Closer look at the RC TreakIT GUI. All these settings can be adjusted on the fly. |
ROG connect is very simple and addictive for those of us with time our hands tweaking for hours. Since you can make adjustments to the Crosshair IV Formula via your notebook/netbook, you are able continue to adjust the settings of your system to the ends of the envelope without the risk of losing your settings if the system goes into a failed state.
Closer look:
The Crosshair IV Formula came in a not so usual shipping box. The box which held the motherboard was designed to show off the board through a window which is revealed when you unclasp the one side of the box. This little extra give you the ability to take a real good look at the board before you purchase or un-box the board. This feature is actually saving you the possible grief of opening the board after you get it home to find out it is damaged during shipping etc. Also for the price you will pay for the board this gives you insight into what kind of quality of construction the board is.
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| The board displayed through a clear plastic window, which is on top of the box which contains the SATA cables, manual and q-Shield. | The extra bits included the q-shield, SATA cables ROG USB cable, manual, CrossFire Cable (jumper). 2-port USB 2.0 and 1-eSATA port. |
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| The Box was quite a display case which held the board to the bottom of the box and the high walls of the box protected the multiple heatsinks from damage during shipping. | The Crosshair IV Formula comes with four PCI Express 2.0 X 16 and two PCI slots which are CrossfireX capable. |
An awesome board with an amazing laundry list of features for ~$230. I need one!