ASUS Z490

Bei ASUS' ROG-Maximus-Mainboardserie sind wir inzwischen bei der 12. Generation angelangt, die für Intels Comet-Lake-S-Prozessoren auf Basis der LGA1200-Fassung konzipiert ist. Unverändert ist das uns vorliegende ROG Maximus XII Hero (Wi-Fi) in der Oberklasse positioniert worden, sodass der Anwender mit dieser Platine also einiges erwarten darf.

The ASUS ROG Maximus XII Hero (WiFi) is an exemplary high-end Z490 board. With WiFi 6, 5 Gb/s LAN, and an integrated I/O shield, as well as SLI support and plenty of storage support, all the feature boxes are checked. When it comes to looks, the ASUS ROG Maximus XII Hero (WiFi) is classically ASUS by featuring an excellent RGB implementation as well as a design that is neutral enough to make for easy parts matching—all while looking interesting enough to still catch the eye.

I simply can’t find any fault or reason not to recommend this, other than it’s expensive. It’s not the most expensive Z490 motherboard though, but it is still pricey. If you’re a water cooling enthusiasts, or plan to build a (gaming) system with a custom water cooling loop; consider this motherboard on the top of your list.

ASUS once again delivers with their Maximus line of high-end motherboards. The Maximus XII Extreme represents the best ASUS has to offer: top-tier connectivity, a massive VRM, great aesthetics, and a host of high-end accessories. Is there anything the Maximus XII Extreme does not offer?

Talking about performance, in terms of actual CPU performance, ASUS ships this board with power limits enabled, meaning your 10th-gen Comet Lake CPU will run on their rated TDP. In our case 125W for the Core i9 10900K and as you can see in the charts, this affects the CPU by limiting clock speeds to 4.1/4.0Ghz on all-core loads especially in prolonged CPU-only benchmarks.

We really don’t see too many mini-ITX motherboards these days, and mATX boards even less so. However, we’ve been lucky enough to receive the new ASUS ROG STRIX Z490-I Gaming motherboard, which looks perfect for those wanting big performance in a compact form factor. It’s part of their STRIX series, so you know it’s got to be pretty good to fit in with that range, and it’ll be tuned heavily towards the gaming market. It’s certainly one fantastic looking motherboard, and despite the compact form factor, it still promises a lot of features and big performance.

I've been writing a lot about the price level of Z490 boards, 299 USD is still a lot of money for a motherboard I think it's safe to say that for the Z490 STRIX this is a reasonable sum of money at best. You get that nice power delivery, awesome looks, and 90% of the features that a premium board offers. Platform wise you'll get added features like AX Wifi and an Ethernet configuration on the form of 2.5, but not 10 Gbit ethernet jacks. 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 card. While the platform is PCIe Gen 4.0 ready the reality remains that Z490 will only survive two generation s of processors, so Rocket Lake-S is the next series that will finally bring PCIe Gen 4.0. Going from Z390 to Z490 is not going to bring you massive differences platform wise other than a new series processor. We really do doubt that the upgrade from Coffee lake to Comet lake is worth this kind of money really, coming from older generations that might be different. But platform wise you'll get some added features like AX Wifi and a more luxurious Ethernet configuration on the form of that 2.5 ethernet jack. The ROG STRIX Z490-E Gaming offering 90% of the features of what the premium 400~500 USD boards offer. You get one 2.5 Gbps Ethernet jack but do still get AX WIFI6. Recommended? Sure, if you find it worth the pricetag of course.

While ASUS may have a lot of appeal in the enthusiast market with their mighty MAXIMUS and HERO boards, the STRIX boards are still firmly focused on the gamers. Make no mistake though, this is still a pretty serious motherboard, with a more advanced feature set and a bit more expensive vs their TUF series, but certainly not as expensive as its bigger brothers in the HERO and MAXIMUS series either. You still get big VRM heatsinks, a 14+2 Digital Power Stage, and a good chunk of armoured hardware overall, so it’s already ticking all the right boxes for us.

The ASUS ROG STRIX Z490-E Gaming is a great all-around board. It provides a rich feature set that includes WiFi 6, 2.5 Gb/s LAN, and an integrated I/O shield, as well as SLI support. When it comes to looks, the ASUS ROG STRIX Z490-E Gaming is quintessentially ASUS by featuring an excellent RGB implementation as well as a design that is neutral enough to make for easy parts matching—all while looking interesting enough to still catch the eye.

I’m a huge fan of the ASUS TUF series, it’s always been a byword for quality and value. It was once TUF as in TOUGH for their durable hard-wearing products, and that’s still true in many ways. However, with TUF Gaming Alliance, it’s also about support, stability and ease of use. If something is TUF Alliance, it’ll all be compatible, the aesthetics will match, and so on. Plus, this is set to be one of the boards for the wider gaming market, still offering a few enthusiast features, but keeping things such as the price a little more grounded and accessible.