Asus has made available its gaming-oriented Maximus VII Formula motherboard, which is based on the Intel Z97 chipset and features a hybrid cooling solution, SupremeFX audio, the ROG Armor, TrueVolt 5V, GameFirst III and Extreme Engine DIGI+ III. The ATX gaming motherboard are ready for the latest 4th-, new 4th- and 5th-generation Intel Core processors - codenamed 'Haswell', 'Haswell Refresh', 'Haswell Refresh K-Series' ('Devil's Canyo') and 'Broadwell'.

The series supports dual-channel up to DDR 3300+ (OC) memory, and quad-GPU SLI and 3-way CrossFireX for gaming rigs with multiple graphics-processing units. It also includes two SATA Express and ten SATA 3.0 connectors, as well as eight USB 3.0 and six USB 2.0 ports.

Maximus VII Formula features a hybrid-cooling solution with CrossChill Copper, SupremeFX Formula 2014 and Intel Gigabit Ethernet, GameFirst III and LANGuard. Extreme Engine DIGI+ III and TrueVolt 5V, and gaming protection with ROG Armor complete the series' features list.

The series is pre-fitted with mPCIe Combo III + 802.11ac / Bluetooth 4.0, a compact connectivity module that delivers the latest wireless technologies along with mini PCI Express (mPCIe) and M.2 (10Gbit/s PCIe x2 and 6Gbit/s SATA) slots.

CrossChill Copper is engineered around a conductive, corrosion-resistant copper cooling channel that?s effective at removing heat. Whether using air or liquid, CrossChill Copper's broad array of internal fins maximize the cooling channel?s heat-dissipation surface area. With liquid, MOSFET temperatures are lowered by up to 23°C and the G1/4-inch threaded fittings mean that Maximus VII Formula offers compatibility for existing cooling setups.

Asus integrated-audio solution SupremeFX Formula 2014 features isolation technologies to minimize electromagnetic interference (EMI) and premium components to deliver audio with a 120dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and Cirrus Logic CS4398 digital-to-analog converter (DAC) available via the rear output.

SupremeFX Formula 2014 also includes exclusive Sonic SenseAmp technology to automatically detect analog-audio front-panel (AAFP) headphone impedance and adjust the built-in amp, while Sonic SoundStage applies the best audio settings for popular game genres and Sonic Studio enables 7.1-channel virtual surround sound with one click.

The new motherboard's networking capabilities benefit from ROG-exclusive GameFirst III technology for no-delay gameplay. This network-optimization software assigns top priority to game-data packets, allocating them more bandwidth.

Two packages will be available - Maximus VII Formula and Maximus VII Formula/Watch Dogs. The latter includes the full version of Watch Dogs.

Initially the Formula will be available from Newegg and Tiger Direct for $369 from next week, with a standard edition available shortly after for around $319.