ASUS has announced a new series of motherboards aimed at the entry-level sector. The brand is unveiling its Max Gaming range, a series that will come between the Prime and TUF Gaming models. The brand is therefore targeting the entry-level market, while seeking to offer a minimum of equipment.
MAX Gaming: new ASUS X870 motherboards!
With this series, the brand is announcing a series of ATX format boards, each equipped with an X870 chipset and available in white or black. As you can see, the visual aspect is fairly simple: no RGB, just a few borders and an ASUS logo on the solid aluminium VRM heatsink. Incidentally, only one M.2 benefits from a dedicated heatsink, and that’s it.
The connectivity, as you can see, is comprehensive, but despite the numerous PCIe x16 slots, only the first will work in x16 at standard 5.0. The other three are a mixture of PCIe 4.0, 3.0 in x1 or x4. In short, they’re handy for adding expansion cards, but nothing more.
The storage section features an M.2 slot for SSDs equipped with an interface up to PCIe 5.0 x4. The other two slots will be limited to PCIe 4.0 x4. Finally, four SATAs round off the list.
Despite this, ASUS has included some welcome DIY features, such as a button for easy removal of the graphics card. Last but not least, the WiFi antennas are easy to fit.
At the rear we’ll have 2.5 GbE networking, complemented by WiFi 7, 7.1 audio and ten USB ports, including two USB4Type C and four USB 2.0.
In short, it’s a card that promises to be complete and functional, as well as being discreet. It gives you everything you need to set up a configuration without getting bogged down. In terms of price, this model is listed at €422 on Amazon via a third-party retailer. It remains to be seen what the actual price will be once the card is more widely available.
Read the ASUS product sheet here!
