Intel 11th Gen and Z590 Launch Day Roundup

Z590 Motherboards

We’ve reviewed six Z590 motherboards for launch. We were expecting it to be nine, and we’ll explain on the next page why it isn’t. For now, let’s cast our eye over the six we have tested.

ASUS Z590 Maximus XIII Hero – https://geni.us/Maximus_Hero_XIII

The Maximus XIII Hero is the latest in a long line of ASUS ROG Maximus motherboards and the most expensive of the six we have reviewed, costing twenty quid more than the MSI MEG Ace. It’s fully featured with all the important parts of the Z590 – PCIe 4.0, Thunderbolt 4, umpteen M.2 slots – as well as having all the elements that make a Republic of Gamers motherboard stand out from the rest of the ASUS Z590 range.

ASUS Z590 Strix-E – https://geni.us/Strix_Z590-E

In popularity terms it’s difficult to look much past the ASUS Strix range. Since it’s launch it’s sold in the gazillions in every format, combining many of the high end Republic Of Gamers elements with lots of RGB centric features for the gamers, and usually costing a little less than its pure ROG brethren. In Strix-E format it’s a full ATX, with PCIe 4.0, M.2 and plenty of USB connections.

ASUS Z590 Strix-I – https://geni.us/Strix_ITX

If you want all of the Strix fun and games but have to have it in the ITX format then the Strix-I will happily tick those boxes for you. It is also, as we’ve seen in our full review and will see in a moment when we show you our graphs, a performance powerhouse, giving scores far beyond those you might expect from a compact package.

ASUS Z590-Plus TUF – https://geni.us/TUF_Z590

At the lowest end of the ASUS motherboards we have in the office, price wise, is the ASUS TUF. The TUF range has taken the direction recently of being the physical embodiment of this roundup, namely it’s all the key highlights and little else. Thus it supports PCIe 4.0 both slot and M.2, has enough power delivery to keep the Core i9-11900K happy and.. that’s about it. It’s the most affordable way of getting a Z590 PCIe 4.0 motherboard in your system.

MSI Z590 Gaming Carbon – https://geni.us/MSI_Z590_Carbon

Like the TUF, the MSI Gaming Carbon is their more affordable motherboard of the two we have in for launch. The Carbon is famous for that Carbon effect to the heatsinks and on the latest generation it looks better than ever. The featureset is robust too, with all the elements you have to have for a Z590 motherboard whilst still having plenty of performance tricks and connectivity options too.

MSI Z590 MEG Ace – https://geni.us/MSI_Z590_Ace

 

Lastly of our reviewed motherboards is the MSI MEG Ace. It’s their equivalent of the Maximus XIII Hero both in price terms and feature set. Whilst the Strix ITX was an unexpected star in performance ability, the MEG Ace was a star, but for a £400 motherboard it performs exactly as you would hope. All the bells and whistles and performance to match, it’s… ahem.. ace.