ASUS ROG Z390 Maximus XI Extreme Review

Up Close Continued

The Extreme has front panel USB 3.1, USB 3.0 as well as six SATA 3 ports supporting up to 6Gb/s. Although the M.2 drives are the unquestioned reigning speed champions, most of us still have plenty of SATA drives hanging around with our media collections on them. 

  

The bottom right hand corner of the Maximus XI Extreme is positively stuffed with cooling based fun and games. There are Bitspower Meter supporting flow and temperature sensor headers, umpteen fan and pump connectors as well as the front panel pins.

  

At the bottom edge next to the fan headers we find both the RGB header and addressable headers alongside the new ASUS Node, which supports data transfer between compatible hardware allowing you to control PSUs and the like from the AI Suite software, or simply send system information to a front panel display.

  

Either our grasp of the English language is poor, or “well place this cover” doesn’t make a lot of sense. Ahem. Anyway, built into the combined heatsink and IO shield is the LiveDash display, which you can see in action on the next page.

  

Onboard sound is so good that few of us run a dedicated sound card these days unless we have very specific requirements that can only be met by hardcore hardware. The Maximus XI Extreme is equipped with the SupremeFX S1220 8 Channel sound and ESS ES9023P DAC. These are backed up by revised versions of the Sonic Studio and Sonic Radar, both now in version 3.

  

One of the new elements ASUS have introduced is screenprinting the relevant connections onto the PCB. Want to know which PCI Express slots are controlled by the CPU rather than some external chip? Glance at the PCB. No manual required.

  

We didn’t expect to see the day when there is so much connectivity on the rear panel that having an IO shield was almost needless as there is so little space not taken up by holes. From top to bottom we have the Clear CMOS and BIOS Flashback buttons to recover from overclocks that have pushed a little too far. 6 USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports alongside an HDMI 1.4b display out. The RJ45 ports for both the Intel I219-V Gigabit and Aquantia AOC-111C 5G LAN as well as the 2×2 AC Intel WiFi. 4 superspeed USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports and LED illuminated jacks for the SupremeFX S1220 8 channel audio.