ASUS ROG Z890 Maximus Hero Review
Introduction
Introduction
A strong brand is the corner stone to strong sales. However much we might like to imagine things like brand loyalty or a cult following are important, that a company is our friend, at the end of the day its a business. There can’t be many brands on the market stronger than the pairing we have for you today.
On the one hand we have Intel, the people who have been in the CPU business longer than any other. We’re old enough to remember Cyrix too, and the fact only we can – and therefore our back hurts – shows how dominant Intel and then AMD became in the processor world. The other is the Republic of Gamers arm of ASUS. ASUS have a portfolio bigger than any other company we can think of. If you want it, and it’s to do with computing, you can probably get an ASUS version of it. ROG became a sub-brand in 2006 and since then has come to define high end products.
Never more so than with the name that is resplendent upon today’s model, the ASUS ROG Z890 Maximus Hero. ASUS might have moved on from merely using ‘Formula’ and ‘Extreme’ nomenclature, but Hero has been around long enough it’s famous too. Maximus certainly is. Husband to a murdered wife etc. Ahem. Apropos of nothing, that’s not coincidental is it? That Maximus name. At least we don’t think so.
Anyway, if you fancy getting onboard with the new Intel Arrow Lake CPUs then you’ll need a new LGA1851 motherboard. Whether you should or not is very much a matter of personal preference, dependant upon what you current have and your financial situation. However, if you are grabbing a Z890 motherboard then ASUS are hoping the Maximus Hero will be your choice. Let’s take a look.
Technical Specifications
ASUS ROG Z890 Maximus Hero Up Close
ASUS ROG Z890 Maximus Hero Up Close
We adore the bold branding of the Z890 Maximus Hero. A huge ROG Eye logo dominates the lower half, whilst the typeface for both Maximus and Hero is bold and clear. If you like to shout about your purchase choice on the ‘Gram then this is the motherboard for you.
A big Hero – not Big Hero 6, just large Hero – branded backplate helps keep the heat spread across the whole PCB. Additionally more surface area is always good, even if it’s not really attached to the high heat generating hardware.
Two 8pin 12V CPU power headers start us off as always. There must have been a job lot of grey ones produced as we saw a lot with the AMD X870s. Odd.
All The Fan Headers
The top right hand corner of the Maximus Hero hints at its high performance expectations. Four fans, including a AIO Pump header, are enough for even the most demanding user. We’ve already seen that the new Intel Core Ultra processors have hit Intels thermal targets, so we thankfully won’t need a fan in every header here.
We can’t think of any cases off the top of our heads which have dual front panel USB Type-C ports. Futureproofed.
We said about the sudden appearance of the SAS drive port on the ASUS X870E chipset models, and here it is again. Thankfully it isn’t taking up any lanes from M.2 slots – as you’ll see below – nor SATA ones. All four present and correct.
If you ever feel that your rig hasn’t enough fan headers, the Maximus Hero has you covered. 4 more to be found at the bottom, as well as two USB 2.0 front panel connectors and another USB 3 Type-A.
Can I just say that actually it’s “work first, game second”? This is review number 6 of the last 24 hours and I’ve still one more after this.
The ROG AM5 motherboards we’ve reviewed at the end of September showed a move by ASUS to mainly Addressable RGB headers, and the Maximus Hero continues this. Given how much of our cooling uses ARGB these days, that’s not a bad thing. Anything that allows us to cut down on the number of software packages we use is a good thing.
Power and Connection
We haven’t got the full VRM specifications on hand at time of writing. Judging from the huge heatsinks, and indeed the fact they’re tied together with a heat pipe, makes us think they are 110A minimum. It does give us a chance to show you it in this amphitheatre view though. DIMM A1, you’re on stage.
The Maximus Hero has six M.2 slots, with four of them having thermal pads. The naked ones are on the right below the chipset. The keen eyed amongst you will note that the main M.2 slot has ASUS adjustable bracket we first saw on the X870 Crosshair Hero.
Around the back you can see the amount of connectivity offered up on the Z890 Maximus Hero. Two different LAN speeds sit alongside the WiFi 7 wireless option. There are two Thunderbolt 4 ports, and four 10G USB ports. It’s not the most USB ports we’ve seen on a Z890 motherboard so far, but neither are you left wanting.