Asus ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme review: Luxurious motherboard excess

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Intel has lastly rejoined the aggressive panorama in opposition to AMD with its Z690 platform, matching high-end muscle with the ferocious Core i9-12900K CPU. With nice energy comes not-so-great pricing, nevertheless. The Asus ROG Maximus Z690 Excessive’s $1,099 price ticket eclipses the $649 worth of previous juggernaut motherboards just like the X299 Asus Rampage VI Excessive, recasting what a high-end motherboard ought to value.

We’ll focus on the specs, options, and efficiency you must count on from a motherboard of this caliber, and whether or not it delivers sufficient to justify your buy.

The specs

The Asus ROG Maximus Z690 Excessive is filled with varied options and a formidable spec record, together with DDR5 reminiscence help and Thunderbolt 4. Remember that it’s an prolonged measurement, or E-ATX, which means it’s bigger than a typical ATX motherboard and will not slot in all instances. You’ll get an built-in I/O defend, too—no worries about forgetting this step of the construct course of!

You’ll discover Wi-Fi 6E together with 10GB ethernet. Thunderbolt 4 accompanies the numerous USB Gen 2 ports on the again. You’ll have 5 slots for M.2, and two of them are on the included ROG Dimn2 card that attaches subsequent to the RAM.

Listed here are some essential specs to concentrate on:

• E-ATX 12×13 inches, or 305x330mm (wider than an ATX motherboard)
• Intel Twelfth-gen Alder Lake CPU help with 24+1 energy levels  (LGA 1700)
• DDR5 RAM solely, 4 slots
• PCI-E 5.0
• 5 M.2 slots
• Thunderbolt 4
• USB-C Gen 2
• Wi-Fi 6E
• 10GB LAN (Marvel AQtion and an Intel 2.5GB LAN)
• ROG SupremeFX ALC4082 With ESS ES9018QC2 DAC
• 2-inch OLED Reside Sprint, and AniMe Matrix show
• 3- and 4-pin RGB headers
• Clear CMOS and BIOS flashbacks buttons
• ROG Dimn2 M.2 adapter card
• A number of fan and water cooling headers
• HDMI port for built-in graphics (when GPU not out there)
• Six SATA 6GB/S ports
• M.2 latch, and PCI-E button for releasing GPUs
• CPU cooler backwards compatibility with LGA 1200 or 1700

Thiago Trevisan / IDG

Design

Excessive. That phrase describes why many would love this motherboard, proper? Minimalist, RGB-agnostic afficionados needn’t apply; this motherboard packs some severe “Instances-Sq.-Degree” lights. With a 2-inch OLED and animated Matrix show, it may be configured to indicate something from CPU stats to animations. Whenever you’re paying for further options, that features eye sweet.

Thiago Trevisan / IDG

Additionally, it’s heavy. Like, actually heavy, however in a great way. Weighing in at over six kilos, it’s mighty to carry. The construct high quality is spectacular, with an armor again plate and loads of cowl for the entrance areas. The VRM heatsinks are big too, and naturally you’ll get loads of M.2 cooling with the coated plates a properly.

It’s a really engaging motherboard general, with nice management over the RGB lighting by way of Asus Aura software program, so it may be personalized nevertheless you’d like.

One essential factor to remember is that the highest M.2 cowl does keep barely raised, so in the event you’re doing a water-cooled graphics card with a thick backplate, akin to these with energetic cooling, be aware of clearance points. Likewise, in the event you’re doing a GPU on the underside PCI-E slot, a thick GPU cooler can intervene with a few of the cables, stopping a stable connection. (This occurred to me with an Asus Strix GPU cooler and the RGB and USB ports on the underside of the motherboard.)

Thiago Trevisan / IDG

Distinctive options

Many motherboards have distinctive options, however what units aside a board at this degree, and worth, is the sheer quantity and mixture of options. Let’s break down a few of the most attractive:

1. Robust networking choices with 10GB, 2.5GB LAN, and Wi-Fi 6E for optimum flexibility
2. Connectivity choices proceed to impress, with Thunderbolt 4 and lots of USB ports, together with sort C, and 60W charging potential
3. Unbelievable M.2 SSD help, though remember solely the highest M.2 is PCI-E Gen 5, however that may include some restrictions
4. DDR5 is right here, however remember it’s dearer than DDR4 for minimal efficiency beneficial properties. There’s additionally an enormous situation with working quad RAM sticks—they gained’t do XMP profiles—so you might need to follow two RAM sticks of upper capability
5. M.2 latch and PCI-E slot straightforward launch/entry—we hope to see this on much more motherboards sooner or later!
6. Nice VRM and CPU efficiency, however you may get related or higher with some cheaper motherboards such because the Asus Z690 Apex (it gained’t be as characteristic packed, nevertheless)
7. Wish to do two GPUs, for both higher spacing to enhance thermals when doing content material creation, and even…gasp…the already defunct SLI/NV Hyperlink? You are able to do that right here, with 4-slot NVlink help
8. OLED show may be very cool (PC fans will respect it!)
9. Asus software program has a formidable suite with Armoury Crate, permitting fan management, Ai overclocking, and RGB customization
10. LGA 1700 would require a brand new bracket for many coolers, however Asus motherboards are appropriate with LGA 1200 out of the field, too
11. You’ll get some neat objects within the field, like an RGB controller that may show helpful in trendy builds

Efficiency and BIOS

With a robust CPU such because the Intel Core i9-12900K, you’ll need to be sure to’re maximizing its potential with a board like this.

The Asus BIOS continues to be one of the nice and intuitive to make use of, and in the event you’re doing any overclocking, you’ll actually spend quite a lot of time right here. You possibly can tweak many CPU settings, and your RAM has large potential as properly.

Let’s get the DDR5 situation out of the way in which—you’ll need to stick to 2 RAM modules if you wish to use the XMP profile and get the utmost rated velocity. It could be a good suggestion to get larger capability in the event you want it, as going to 4 RAM sticks will restrict your DDR5 speeds to the bottom 4800Mhz. That is…not excessive, but it surely’s how it’s at current. Reminiscence is at all times Twin Channel, in fact.

Asus

VRM temperatures with the ability stage elements are greater than satisfactory for even a robust, hot-running 12900K.

It looks like a lot of contemporary overclocking is extra CPU restricted, as they arrive working fairly scorching from the manufacturing facility as is—so any minor enhancements with handbook tinkering may have diminishing returns.

Asus has a wonderful suite of AI overclocking and optimization instruments, as properly. You could find these each within the BIOS, in addition to the Armoury Crate Software program.

Clear CMOS and BIOS flashback can be out there, making overclocking makes an attempt simpler to get well from. You’ll even get LN2 Mode swap for customers desirous to push it additional with liquid nitrogen; plus a retry button, thermal headers, and so forth. (Don’t really feel neglected; we’re not doing any liquid-nitrogen cooling both!)

Backside line

Are there cheaper options available on the market for Z690, such because the Asus ROG Strix or Gigabyte Aorus Grasp? Positive, they usually even pack most of the similar options because the ROG Maximus Z690 Excessive. The magic is within the particulars in the event you can abdomen the value, nevertheless. Right here, you’ll get the entire options packed collectively—to not point out a really spectacular and premium design. You may additionally need to take a look at the Asus ROG Apex or Components motherboards, which have many of the options, however much less of a worth premium. (Try Alaina Yee’s tips about what to search for in a motherboard in your Twelfth-gen CPU.)

It’s not even the most costly possibility available on the market, both. If you would like a water-cooled resolution, yow will discover the liquid cooling-focused Glacial model of this motherboard for far more—and MSI’s luxurious Godlike not too long ago made an look for Z690 as properly.

This motherboard is for the one that desires a particularly high-end construct and to tick the entire efficiency and aesthetic choices. With PC elements all skyrocketing in worth the previous few years, it was solely a matter of time earlier than motherboards obtained an increasing number of costly, too.

It’s going to go well with each content material creators, with its large connectivity suite, in addition to fanatic PC builders and avid gamers, with a plethora of efficiency and aesthetic niceties.

Small quirks and the excessive price ticket preserve it from being a 5-star product and extremely really useful motherboard, particularly when contemplating that another motherboards with related (however not all) options are available at tons of of {dollars} much less. If you happen to love the design and should have all of its many options, nevertheless, it’s a tremendous product for the discerning high-end fanatic who doesn’t thoughts shelling out the money.

Editor’s observe: This text was printed on March 22, however was up to date so as to add the video evaluation.