ASUS Z590 ROG Maximus XIII Hero Review

Up Close

The Maximus XIII Hero box is now in the familiar ROG black with red accents. Maybe our misty-eyed selves miss the bright red boxes that stood out from the pack and denoted that this was a Republic of Gamers box with all the kudos that entailed, but the black is nice too. Hopefully the left hand side of the box isn’t indicative that this “glitch” style text design ASUS seem so keen on hasn’t translated to the PCB itself. We hate it.

  
  

Inside the box we find largely the same collection of accessories as there were in the Z590 Strix-E box. Stickers, SATA cables, M.2 screws, and a GPU stand sit alongside the revamped WiFi antenna that now clips onto your case and can be angled in a number of directions. Whilst a little less showy than the Strix the Maximus will appeal to those of you who want the purity of the old black and red ROG designs.

  
  

We’ll be going over the Maximus XIII Hero in more detail on the next page. However, we know that like a good Seurat if you look too closely you’re in danger of seeing nothing at all, and so getting a nice overview helps with the big picture. Our primary take away is “phew, ASUS haven’t needlessly sheared the text”.

  

Obvious elements are the gigantic heatsink modules which thankfully seem devoid of the blurry logo we saw on the Strix, as well as the sheer amount that ASUS have managed to squeeze on to the PCB. There is barely a millimetre wasted. 

  

The bottom half, with it’s four M.2 sockets and PCI Express 4.0 slots are the main event on the newest Intel chipset, and where the majority of our focus on the next page will be. Enjoy casting your eye over the Maximus XIII Hero and we’ll meet you on the next page for our patented tour of the board.