difference between asus maximus VIII hero and hero alpha

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Raybeze Jan 10, 2016 @ 4:35pm

as the title says, whats the difference?

i can't seem to find comparisons online, nor do i even see the mobo on the asus store.

i've only found newegg.ca to sell it.

is it worth the extra price?

thanks

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Showing 1-10 of 10 comments

Spider Pig Jan 10, 2016 @ 5:10pm

Hero alpha supports higher speed DDR4 memory. It also has pin headers for RGB LED color strips.

It is worth it if you want RGB LED strips, and don't want to use a 3.5" drive bay to house the controller.

Don't bother getting the alpha for the faster memory support. Faster memory speeds don't give you any faster real world performance. As in zero, zilch, Nada. Computers are not bottlenecked by memory transfer speeds, so increasing memory transfer speeds don't do anything for you.

76561198146916803 Jan 10, 2016 @ 5:16pm

{LINK REMOVED}

"World's first Z170 gaming motherboard with integrated RGB headers"

It has some improvements. Get it if the price doesn't bother you. It's an amazing motherboard.

Raybeze Jan 10, 2016 @ 5:18pm

Originally posted by Spider Pig:
Hero alpha supports higher speed DDR4 memory. It also has pin headers for RGB LED color strips.

It is worth it if you want RGB LED strips, and don't want to use a 3.5" drive bay to house the controller.

Don't bother getting the alpha for the faster memory support. Faster memory speeds don't give you any faster real world performance. As in zero, zilch, Nada. Computers are not bottlenecked by memory transfer speeds, so increasing memory transfer speeds don't do anything for you.

ah, if that's all it adds, then its not worth the extra $100 for me.

i'd rather get a RGB controller later down the line.

thanks!

Azza ☠ Jan 10, 2016 @ 5:18pm

The ROG Maximus VIII Hero Alpha is a new member of the Skylake Z170 motherboards with "significant upgrades".

5-Way Optimization auto-tuning technology:
- It will adjust and balance between performance, ultra-quiet, and/or power-saving modes.

Pro Clock technology with TurboV Processing Unit (TPU) to turbo-charge the base clock (BCLK) frequency on your skylake CPU.

Supports up to DDR4 3800+ memory.

Dual NVM Express (NVMe) U.2 sockets.
- It allows combination with the SSD (Solid State Drive) M.2 slots to allow insane 3-way RAID setups and data transfer speeds of up to 32Gbps.

Thunderbolt 3 Type-C port.

Wi-Fi with multi-user MIMO.
- This improves the performance of your wireless by allowing multiple connections in and out at the same time.

Bluetooth V4.1.

Aura RGB Strip headers.
- 4-pin extension cable to facilitate RGB LED lighting around your motherboard with animations (static, strobe, breathing, colour-cycle, music effect, or CPU temperature indicator).

Last edited by Azza ☠; Jan 10, 2016 @ 5:21pm

Raybeze Jan 10, 2016 @ 5:21pm

Originally posted by Azza ☠:
The ROG Maximus VIII Hero Alpha is a new member of the Skylake Z170 motherboards with "significant upgrades".

5-Way Optimization auto-tuning technology:
- It will adjust and balance between performance, ultra-quiet, and/or power-saving modes.

Pro Clock technology with TurboV Processing Unit (TPU) to turbo-charge the base clock (BCLK) frequency on your skylake CPU.

Supports up to DDR4 3800+ memory.

Dual NVM Express (NVMe) U.2 sockets.
- It allows combination with the SSD (Solid State Drive) M.2 slots to allow insane 3-way RAID setups and data transfer speeds of up to 32Gbps.

Thunderbolt 3 Type-C port.

Wi-Fi with multi-user MIMO.

Bluetooth V4.1.

Aura RGB Strip headers.
- 4-pin extension cable to facilitate RGB LED lighting around your motherboard with animations (static, strobe, breathing, colour-cycle, music effect, or CPU temperature indicator).

are those all features it has over the original VIII hero?
if so, then the bluetooth, and wifif are worth the extra price IMO.

thanks

五美元吮吸 Oct 19, 2016 @ 11:41pm

Hey there, I know this is a kind of old post but I was wondering if the Wi-Fi MIMO is an actual module or just some upgrade thing?
I'm not close enough to my home's router in my room and I was wondering if I got the alpha if I would still need to buy a wifi module or not?'
Thanks in advance!

rotNdude Oct 20, 2016 @ 8:35am

It appears to me the Wi-Fi is an included feature with the antenna included with the Alpha.

http://www.asus.com/ROG-Republic-Of-Gamers/ROG-MAXIMUS-VIII-HERO-ALPHA/specifications/

五美元吮吸 Oct 20, 2016 @ 2:28pm

Originally posted by rotNdude:
It appears to me the Wi-Fi is an included feature with the antenna included with the Alpha.

http://www.asus.com/ROG-Republic-Of-Gamers/ROG-MAXIMUS-VIII-HERO-ALPHA/specifications/

Thanks mate!