During the CES launch of the Kaby Lake and Z270 Chipset there were a lot of motherboards to be seen. Most were focused on gaming with gaming LED effects and gaming graphics and gaming heatsinks however there was one motherboard that really caught my attention. Not because of the fancy heatsinks or stylish IO shield or even RGB LED lighting effects. No, this motherboard was interesting because it was dedicated to overclocking.

We aren't talking the reddit ?is this voltage safe, what kind of cooler should I use? style of overclocking but, real person overclocking with sub ambient cooling solutions, excessive voltage adjustments and world record breaking performance.

In this review I'll be looking at the ASUS Maximus IX Apex. This is a motherboard I saw at CES and which has become a common topic on both the Hardware Asylum Podcast and the post CES chat I did with Techgage. Simply put this motherboard is marketed as an overclocking monster and so far is has delivered on every one of them.