It may seem crazy to start 2018 with talk of a Kaby Lake motherboard but Asus Maximus IX Extreme proves the Z270 platform is not yet dead and buried. Asus has used its entire bag of ROG tricks to ensure that Maximus IX Extreme is the ultimate Z270 motherboard not only in terms of performance and overclocking, and also styling. This E-ATX motherboard is supplied with a Bitspower monoblock that cools the CPU, VRMS and also the primary M.2 slot. Naturally the monoblock matches the styling of the Maximus IX Extreme and when the hardware is installed you are ready to connect a custom loop cooling system with the minimum of trouble.