Over the past six months since Intel launched its twelfth Gen Core collection of processors, we have checked out a number of Alder Lake desktop CPUs and seen how aggressive they’re from prime to backside – not simply in efficiency however worth too. To harness the ability of Alder Lake, nevertheless, there are lots of choices by way of Z690 motherboards, and at the moment we’re looking at one in all ASUS’s extra premium fashions, the ROG Maximus Z690 Hero.
They are saying arduous occasions do not create heroes, however ASUS has finished for a few years with good outcomes. Geared up with loads of top-tier options equivalent to Thunderbolt 4, Intel’s Wi-Fi 6E CNVi, and assist for as much as DDR5-6400 reminiscence, it has sufficient to make it a strong selection for players and fans. It is time to see if the Z690 Hero choice stacks up towards the competitors and if it might sparkle in a really aggressive LGA1700 market.
ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero Overview
Because it stands, ASUS has a reasonably large stack of Z690 motherboards catering to a number of markets. This contains its Prime collection for its entry-level customers trying to construct an reasonably priced but nonetheless adept system. In distinction, the ASUS Republic of Avid gamers (ROG) collection primarily targets players and fans. The ASUS ROG motherboard collection is break up into two major areas, the ROG Strix collection for players, and the high-end ROG Maximus collection for fans in search of one of the best efficiency, one of the best characteristic units, and, as we have seen all through the years, some fairly modernized and RGB impressed aesthetics.
To maintain issues extra accessible to customers, for Z690, ASUS has opted to make its naming schemes simpler for its Maximus collection. It could use Roman numerals to depict the mannequin up to now, such because the ASUS ROG Maximus X for Z370 and the Maximus XII for Z490. Changing the Roman numerals, a minimum of for now and hopefully going ahead, they’ve reverted it to the chipset to make issues simpler to differentiate.
The ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero and the earlier ROG Maximus XIII (Z590) Hero aren’t too dissimilar in fashion, however ASUS has gone ahead and jazzed up the design a bit for Alder Lake. This contains a big I/O Polymo rear panel cowl, pixellated with ASUS’s Aura RGB LED lighting, which provides a bit extra of a contemporary taste to the general design. ASUS has unified the design additional down the board, with a cool-looking pixelated ROG brand embedded into the shiny black part of the chipset heatsink. The vast majority of the board has a matte black end which makes it suitable with most coloration schemes, and for customers trying so as to add extra fashion, there are three 3-pin and one 4-pin Addressable Gen2 RGB headers.
Specializing in the center of what makes the ROG Maximus Z690 Hero tick, it has loads of options to speak about, together with a strong array of assist and performance. Dominating the decrease portion of the board are three full-length PCIe lanes, together with the highest two coated in steel armor reinforcement with assist for PCIe 5.0 x16 and x8/x8, and the underside full-length slot that’s electronically locked right down to PCIe 4.0 x4.
For storage, the ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero has many choices to capitalize on, together with assist for as much as 5 PCIe M.2 drives and as much as six SATA ports. There may be one PCIe 5.0 x4 and PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slot pairing made accessible through an included ROG Hyper M.2 add-in card and one built-in PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slot powered by the processor. ASUS additionally has an extra two PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots, with one in all them supporting SATA drives, and this pairing is powered immediately by the chipset. The six SATA ports within the backside right-hand nook embrace assist for RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays.
One of the important components fans search for on motherboards is the ability supply, and the ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero has a sturdy and well-laid-out design. The facility supply consists of a 21-phase design, with a Renesas RAA229131 20-channel PWM controller doing the grunt of the workload. For the CPU part, the Z690 Hero has twenty Intersil ISL99390 90 A wise energy phases for a complete output of as much as 1800 A, which is spectacular for a non-flagship mannequin, whereas the SoC part has a single Intersil ISL99390 90 An influence stage dealing with the VCCGT voltage.
Protecting the ability supply cool is a big pair of cumbersome VRM heatsinks with loads of channels to direct airflow via them. A single warmth pipe interconnects these, and it covers the entire board’s energy supply, with the longest part sitting snuggly below the massive ASUS Polymo-enabled rear panel cowl.
As we usually discover on premium fashions equivalent to this one, ASUS features a premium built-in audio answer consisting of a ROG SupremeFX ALC4082 HD audio codec, with an helping ESS Sabre 9018Q2C DAC and headphone amplifier. Insert audio caps particulars.
An honest array of connectivity choices is on the rear panel of the ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero. That is spearheaded by two Thunderbolt 4 Sort-C ports, with an extra USB 3.2 G2 Sort-C port. Different USB choices embrace six USB 3.2 G2 Sort-A and two USB 2.0 ports, whereas customers can add extra via entrance panel headers, with one USB 3.2 G2x2 header (one port), two USB 3.2 G1 Sort-A headers (4 ports), and two USB 2.0 headers (4 ports).
ASUS features a single HDMI 2.1 video output, though customers can use DisplayPort 1.4 via the Thunderbolt 4 Sort-C ports, whereas onboard audio is introduced through 5 3.5 mm audio jacks and a single S/PDIF optical output powered by a SupremeFX ALC4082 and ESS Sabre 9018Q2C DAC pairing. For networking, ASUS contains one Intel I225-V 2.5 GbE controller and makes use of an Intel AX211 Wi-Fi 6E CNVi, together with assist for each the most recent 6 GHz band and BT 5.2 gadgets.
The equipment bundle features a different number of ROG-themed stickers and the standard suspects, together with 4 braided SATA cables, M.2 set up screws, an RGB extension cable, and an Intel AX211 Wi-Fi 6E antenna package, in addition to a entrance panel Q-connector. There’s additionally a consumer guide and a supporting USB drive if customers aren’t eager on utilizing ASUS’s built-in Armory Crate software program to put in drivers.
Maybe probably the most important inclusion throughout the equipment bundle is the ROG Hyper M.2 PCIe card which customers can set up into the second full-length PCIe slot so as to add two PCIe M.2 slots. Considered one of these helps PCIe 5.0 x4 drives, albeit nothing but available on the market to capitalize on the additional bandwidth, and one at PCIe 4.0 x4 speeds.
The ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero has an MSRP of $600 and is available at Newegg for a similar worth. The Z690 Hero represents a strong number of fashions from ASUS on Z690, together with each DDR5 and DDR4 supported fashions. When it comes to the competitors on the higher echelon of mid-range to premium LGA1700 fashions available on the market, there’s the ASRock Z690 Taichi ($590) which has a variety of related options equivalent to Thunderbolt 4 and Wi-Fi 6E, and there is additionally the GIGABYTE Z690 Aorus Grasp ($470) which we beforehand reviewed. It’s finally cheaper, but it surely would not embrace Thunderbolt 4, however as an alternative, it contains 10 GbE, which does give it a definite profit over the Z690 Hero by way of networking functionality.
The largest query in regards to the ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero with its lofty $600 price ticket is easy, can it carry out as powerfully because it seems to be? That is what we purpose to search out out. We have seen what the Z690 Hero affords on the floor, however what in regards to the insides and the supporting package deal? It is time to have a look at the BIOS and bundled software program, after which we’ll see the way it performs in numerous assessments. Can the ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero proceed the earlier pattern in a profitable collection of Hero branded ROG boards, or is $600 a scoundrel’s approach of consuming your pockets? Let’s discover out.
