Asus Blitz Extreme Motherboard Review - PAGE 3

Asus would seem to be one of the better manufacturers for abundant hardware/software bundles. The Blitz Extreme is no exception. There's tonnes of little goodies here, most of which are the standard for any motherboard, others which make the Blitz bundle unique.

We'll start with the box.

A pseudo military theme, common to all 'Republic of Gamers' branded Asus motherboards.

Pictures and a list of features.

Time to look inside. Here's what we get with the Asus Blitz motherboard.

• Asus Optional Fan
• DIY Pedestal
• 3 in 1 Asus Q-connector kit
• 8 spring clamps (2x 1/2" and 6x 3/8)
• 2 3/8" by 3/8" fittings
• 2 1/2" by 3/8" fittings
• 2 3/8" i.d. (inside diameter) tubing samples
• 1 UltraDMA 133/100/66 cable
• 1 Floppy disk drive cable
• 6 Serial ATA cables
• 1 Serial ATA power adapter
• USB2.0/IEEE1394 D-bracket
• EL (Electrolumenesemt) I/O shield
• 3 Thermal sesor cables
• LCD Poster
• 7 Cable ties
• Quick Connect pin header blocks
• User manual
• Quick Start guide
• Asus case badge

I'll dift over all of these extra components in the briefest of manner, perhaps touching further on the more notable of the bunch.

Just a little added cooling.

These two 48mm fans are optional, simply clipping onto the Voltage Controller Module heatsink behind the rear I/O ports and the secondary VCM heatsink next to the CPU socket. In my experience, they offer little more than a 1-2 degree Celsius drop for temperatures, a dip so insignificant it's not really worth it, Again, purely optional.

Little rubber feet in place of a case?

The DIY Pedestal feet are in all respects the same type of rubber feet you can buy at the hardware store for say the bottom of a lamp or anything else you don't want sliding across the table. Just slap these on the bottom of your motherboard (under the mounting point holes) and let your rig live on your desk for some better ventilation. However, there's nothing particularly special about these little feet, and though I can't be certain, the adhesive used may be of some non-conductive electrical grade, but most likely isn't. Conversely, you could always do as I have been doing for the past year and let your computer live on top of a small cardboard box.

A few plumbing fittings for some water cooling and some cable ties too.

Though it is a nice addition, fittings like these are easy enough to get at either the hardware store, some on-line computer shop or your local brick and mortar PC parts outlet.

IDE and Floppy cables will never go out of style, unfortunate as it is.

6 SATA cables and a power adapter are standard.

The USB2.0 and IEEE1394 FireWire bracket is again standard.

A nice little I/O shield.

And it glows. Ohhh!

3 temperature probes that plug into the motherboard.

These Thermisitor type temp probes measure electrical resistance, translating it into temperatures.

An LCD Poster to read POST code messages and motherboard status.

If you read back to my review of the Asus Striker Extreme motherboard, you will notice that Asus incorporated this type of LCD Poster into that board, but placed it with the rear I/O's, right where you can't read it. This LCD Poster can live on top of your case or next to your monitor or where ever you can read it best.

And it glows too.

These blocks are handy making the front panel button connectors a breeze.

These buttons glow, as do a host of surface mounted LED's.

A series of LED's that glow different colors depending on memory, FSB, PCI-e and Memory speed. Green for low, yellow means medium and red is high speed.

Documentation is important. Asus included a very thorough manual for our reading pleasure.

A DVD full of drivers and the full version PC game 'Stalker'. Very cool!

A substantial bundle thus far, but I should see what ones and zeros come on that DVD.

• ASUS InstAll - Installation Wizard for Drivers
• Intel(R) Chipset Inf Update Program
• SoundMAX ADI1988 Audio Driver
• Marvell Yukon Gigabit Ethernet Driver
• USB 2.0 Driver

• ASUS InstAll - Installation Wizard for Utilities
• Marvell Yukon VCT Application
• ASUS PC Probe II
• ASUS AI Suite
• ASUS Update
• Adobe Acrobat Reader V7.0
• Microsoft DirectX 9.0c
• (Kaspersky)Anti-Virus Utility
• 3DMark06 Software
• WinDVD Copy5 Trial
• InterVideo MediaOne Gallery
• Ulead PhotoImpact 12 SE
• CyberLink PowerBackup
• Corel Snapfire Plus SE

• Make Intel(R) ICH9R AHCI/RAID 32bit Driver
• Make Intel(R) ICH9R AHCI/RAID 64bit Driver
• JMicron JMB36X 32bit SATA/RAID Driver
• JMicron JMB36X 64bit SATA/RAID Driver

• Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager User's Manual

• Contact Information for Asus

Hold on, there's more. We still have to take a quick look at some of the Asus exclusive utilities that were provided with the Blitz Extreme motherboard.

Monitor your system with Asus PC Probe II.

Asus Update allows you to flash to the latest BIOS right from the desktop via the Internet or downloaded file.

Use the MyLogo utility to hack the BIOS file and add your own custom boot image.

The AI Booster allows for one click overclocking and profiling.

The AI Booster in Auto mode.

We can use the AI Booster to overclock the CPU.

Overclock the memory too.

Now all of these desktop overclocking utilities are fun to play with and do function quite well, however, some do require a system restart to allow the new setting to be written to the CMOS before taking full effect. Where I did fine this AI Booster/ AI Suite tool useful was in making a rough determination of what I might be able to O.C. the Asus Blitz Extreme to. Of course, the extra tweeks and settings in the BIOS would allow me to push the Blitz further.

So it can be said with little doubt that the Asus Blitz Extreme motherboard has quite the impressive bundle of hardware and software to play with.

Time to look at the board itself.