ASUS Crosshair II Formula Review

Closer Look:

Like I mentioned before, the accessories that come with a motherboard can make a big difference, and the Crosshair II comes with a wealth of them. Starting off, we have the basics that come with any motherboard I have seen on the market. This includes the manual, driver CDs, an ROG sticker, six, SATA cables with 90 degree connectors, a molex to SATA power adapter, a backplate, an IDE cable and a floppy cable. Then for extras, ASUS threw in an HDMI to DVI connector, its unique Q Connectors for the motherboard headers, and a two port USB / one port Firewire bracket.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many of you who have seen the first Crosshair ASUS produced might have liked having the POST LCD showing you important information for debugging if you ran into problems. Well, ASUS has improved this feature on the Crosshair II, making it an external LCD. Also included with the Crosshair II to aid in overclocking is a small fan, which when connected to the heatsink over the voltage regulators, actively cools the heatsink link to keep operating temperatures lower.

 

 

Since the ASUS Crosshair II supports a multi-GPU configuration, included is a dual SLI bridge and a triple SLI bridge. With more and more cards coming out that are supporting triple SLI, you will be able to push your system to the maximum gaming potential. The dual SLI bridge is flexible whereas the triple SLI bridge is a solid design.

 

 

 

Another unique feature with the Crosshair II is that ASUS takes the sound card off of the board and converts it into the SupremeFX II PCI Express X1 audio card. This cards supports ADI 1988B 8-channel High Definition Audio and has a noise filter to keep out any unwanted interference from disrupting your gaming experience.

 

 

Now that we have seen what complements the Crosshair II, let's take a look at the board.