ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 Dark Hero Review
ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 Dark Hero In Detail
ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 Dark Hero In Detail
See. We told you it was reflective. The 12V CPU power inputs are braced to help ensure a long lifespan on the connectors that are furthest from your power supply. Especially important as all PSUs come with too little cable for a comfortable fit.
Four fan headers ensure that even a monster AIO has enough places to plug it in with some left over. For those of you who love an overclock the Z790 Dark Hero has ASUS Retry button on the PCB too, along with a onboard start. Perfect for dialing things in before you commit to a system build.
The placement of the extra 8pin PCIe power input is handy for cable routing. We’re also pleased to see ASUS sticking with their quick release PCI Express button. It really makes removing your GPU a cinch. Front panel USB are perfect to save you fiddling about at the back of your case too.
Nearly all of us own SSDs or even old HDDs, so having four SATA ports on the Z790 Dark Hero assists migration to this new platform. Even if you plan to update all your drives to M.2, you have to get the data off the old ones some how. This helps us do that.
Like you’d expect on a Maximus motherboard there are water flow monitoring points as well as pump headers. This sit alongside the USB 2.0 front panel connectors and an easily removeable CMOS battery for if the worst happens.
Three more fan headers complete the cooling set. They sit alongside the ARGB connectors for the AURA Sync lighting ecosystem.
Removing that gorgeous Dark Hero heatspreader reveals the M.2 ports. We love that a running theme on these updated Z790 motherboards is the new latch system for retaining M.2 drives. Anything is better than the small standoff and tiny screw system of before.
Beneath the heatsink above the top PCI Express 5.0 slot is the slot for the Gen5 M.2.
Beneath this huge stack of VRM heatsinks is the Z790 Dark Hero power stage. As you’ve 20+1+2 Teamed 90A power phases the Dark Hero should never leave you wanting more.
Lastly around the back we find all the high speed elements we want from a Maximus motherboard. Two Thunderbolt ports and three 10G USB should be enough for all you heavy use cases. You can also see the WiFi 7 antenna connectors we mentioned the redesign of earlier.
