ASUS Z390

The ASUS ROG MAXIMUS XI HERO (WiFi) has an attractive, subtle, and complex design. While it may not have every bell and whistle, ASUS truly put some thought into what to include. The VRM is more than adequate for any of Intel's current or future mainstream CPUs. Even if it lacks the complexity and sophistication of some of its competitors, it has the current output to get the job done. The integrated rear I/O shield is an excellent touch, adding a little bit of luxury that lends itself perfectly to the ASUS ROG MAXIMUS XI HERO (WiFi) refined gamer aesthetic.

We're pretty impressed with the ROG Maximus XI Hero, in particular, Asus' AI overclocking tool, which is a revolutionary new feature that will definitely appeal to those that are still overclocking novices or maybe haven't even ventured into the world of voltages and multipliers yet. The board is slightly better rounded than the previous two Z390 boards we've seen although both also pip Asus to the post in a couple of areas. The MSI MEG Z390 Ace has excellent power delivery, a better M.2 heatsink, and a couple of extra bells and whistles while the Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Master is better looking and has a more advanced fan control suite. However, we feel the Hero strikes the best balance in terms of features, and it also has an excellent EFI and slightly more polished software along with its AI overclocking tool. It's worth going for the non-Wi-Fi version if you won't be needing it, as you can save around £20. Otherwise, it's a close call, but ultimately it just does enough to grab our top award.

ASUS is spot on with the new Maximum XI HERO. it is a very enjoyable motherboard with a refined BIOS. We like new VRM design and heatsinks that go along with it. A bit of a miss is that ASUS stuck towards 1 Gbps Ethernet. Realtek now has 2.5 Gbps available and Aquantia 10 Gbps Ethernet. The Z390 Maximus XI Hero certainly is a nice looking product, the board kicks in nicely with exactly the right amount of RGB LEDs, and once activated it's just a completely different board to look at. The LEDs give the product really nice looks. Connectivity wise in terms of your PCIe slots for your graphics subsystem you are looking at a full x16 Gen 3 lanes for one graphics cards. The second and PCIe slot shares its lanes with the first one, ergo you'd end up at a configuration like x8/x8. The third x16 slot, in fact, is an x4 slot which draws its lanes from the chipset. We expect Coffee lake to be able to manage the 5 GHz domain on all cores with exceptions running up towards 5.2 GHz (all-core). I base this metric on high-perf air coolers or decent enough liquid cooling. From there onwards you are looking at proc ASIC quality and cooling being the more important denominator. There's little else to say other than this is a great motherboard in the mainstream segment. Highly recommended, but at the time of writing we did not have the final pricing available just yet, we expect it to be the 250 USD/EUR domain.

Das ASUS ROG Strix Z390-I Gaming ist ab 222 € gelistet. Dafür erhalten wir ein hochwertiges Mainboard, das optisch zu überzeugen weiß. Aber nicht nur das Äußere überzeugt uns, sondern auch die zahlreichen Anschlüsse, die sich intern & an der I/O-Blende befinden. Sehr positiv finden wir, ob der geringen Größe des Mainboards, die gute Spannungsversorgung, die in unserem Test kühl geblieben ist.

The ROG Maximus XI Formula board is a sample of ASUS at their best. The board is almost perfect design-wise and aesthetically, engineered for superior performance as well as to easily integrate into almost any gamer build. The old adage "you get what you pay for" applies here. The price of the ROG Maximus XI Formula is bordering on unapproachable for all but the top-tier enthusiasts, but ASUS did integrate several features to justify the price - full board armor, the custom designed EK Crosschill copper VRM cooling block, integrated LiveDash OLED display panel, and the Aquantia AQC111C 5G LAN port and Intel 802.11AC 2.2 WiFi ports integrated into the rear panel. ASUS also took an innovative approach to the integrated RGB LEDs, embedding them into the armored panels covering the board's surface and giving the board a very futuristic Matrix-like quality. The board's performance speaks for itself with high levels in both stock and overclocked configurations.

Das Asus ROG Maximus XI Hero ist eines der ersten Mainboards mit Intels neuem Z390-Chipsatz. Doch profitieren aktuelle Prozessoren wie der Intel Core i7-8700K von dem neuen Chipsatz? Und welche Neuerungen bietet das Maximus XI Hero gegenüber seinem Vorgänger? Wir haben für euch den Test gemacht.

Das ASUS TUF Z-390 PRO Gaming ist derzeit ab 183,92 Euro in Handel erhältlich. Damit ist es preislich etwas unterhalb der Republic of Gamers (ROG) Serie untergebracht. Dabei ist die Ausstattung sowohl an Einstellungsmöglichkeiten als auch an Anschlüssen sehr ordentlich. Einzig ein USB 3.1 Header fehlt uns auf dem Mainboard. Wir vergeben 9 von 10 Punkten und unsere Empfehlung.

A focused, no nonsense addition to the Z390 roster, the ASUS TUF Z390-Pro Gaming promises performance, stability, and a classic TUF Gaming Alliance aesthetic. What does this motherboard have to offer beyond the ASUS and TUF branding?

Das Asus ROG Strix Z390-F Gaming soll einen hohen Funktionsumfang zu einem vergleichsweisen moderaten Preis bieten. In diesem Beitrag erfahrt ihr, ob es eine gute und günstige Alternative zu den Mainboards der Maximus XI-Serie darstellt.