Asus' Maximus V Formula to be available in two SKUs

So far Asus has been very secretive about one feature of its upcoming Maximums V Formula R.O.G. motherboard and even covered up part of the motherboard when showing off the board at various events. VR-Zone can now exclusively reveal what the hidden feature is and weve also found out that Asus will be offering two slightly different SKUs of the motherboard in question.

Beyond what we reported back in March, not that much appear to have change with the board itself, but it looks like Asus will be bundling a dual band mini PCI Express 802.1a/b/g/n Wi-Fi/Bluetooth 4.0 card with the board, something that wasnt clear at the press event.

Sadly this is the best picture weve managed to dig up of the two SKUs

The big secret that Asus was hiding on the boards with a small cardboard cover with an R.O.G. logo on it is a headphone amplifier. Sadly we dont have a picture of it, but its using a Texas Instruments 6120A2 amplifier, an amplifier Asus has used in some of its higher-end sound cards like the Xonar Essence STX. Were still not sure about the audio codec for this motherboard, so well have to wait and see, as Asus is simply using its SupremeFX IV branding which doesnt really give away a lot of details, as the company has used various audio controllers with the SupremeFX branding.

As we mentioned, Asus will be offering two SKUs of the Maximus V Formula, one with and one without the ThunderFX USB sound card and amplifier. Were still not sure we get the point of the ThunderFX as a motherboard bundle, as this C-Media 6631 powered USB sound card appears to have been designed more for console use as a headset amplifier and noise cancelling solution. Wed rather have had the noise cancelling built into the motherboard audio in this case via some external microphone array, but then again, a pair of noise cancelling headphones ought to do the job just as well.

Asus should be unveiling the Maximus V Formula at Computex next week, alongside a range of other new R.O.G. products at a special press event. We would expect the Maximus V Formula to be yet another expensive model from Asus, but it should be less than the P8Z77-V Premium at least.