Asus Maximus VIII Extreme Sub-Zero Overclocking Review

Testing & Methodology

Hardware

• Asus Maximus VIII Extreme
• Intel 6700K
• Kingpincooling Venom 6.66 and Dragon F1 Extreme Dark Anodized CPU pot
• Be Quiet 1200W Dark Power Pro
• Crucial MX200 250GB SSD
• G.Skill Ripjaws V 3200 C16 4x4GB
• XFX 8800GTS 320MB
• Dry Ice/Acetone and LN2
• TES 1310 Type-K thermometer (great budget choice)

Software

• Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit / Win 10 64 bit  – stock install
• Geekbench – available here
• PiFast – available here
• HWBot Prime – available here
• Super Pi / mod 1.5 XS – available here
• Intel XTU -available here
• AIDA 64 Engineer – available here
• CPU-Z – available here
• wPrime – available here

The motherboard itself was insulated with conformal coating and around the socket area with kneaded rubber eraser. I also use, in the socket and in the memory sockets, a bit of silicone spray to help with moisture control. It is all about moisture control when you insulate for subzero. Kneaded rubber eraser is one of my favorite insulation styles since it is reusable, although it does take a long time to apply. You can obtain the kneaded rubber eraser from your local art store in small blocks, and you will need quite a few. On top of that is a gasket that is made out of blue paper towel that will soak up water and hold its form. Blue paper towels are the bencher’s best friend. In the picture below the red rags were used around the foam rubber that I was using to hold dry ice that was cooling the memory. LN2 was used as well as dry ice for the testing and I still prefer the use of dry ice as it is super cheap for me ($20 for 55lbs), and with an average 6700K using ln2 barely gets any more benching headroom.