ROG Maximus Z790 Extreme:
With each new generation of Maximus motherboards, Asus offers us an EXTREME model which represents the “ultimate” board and has all the best features. This model can be considered as a showcase for Asus. The price is of course higher than all other models in the range except the Glacial.
The idea of Asus is to incorporate on this model new technologies that in the future will be incorporated on more affordable cards such as the Q-Release button.
The bundle:
A small tour through the bundle of this ROG Maximus Z790 Extreme to see if it has “special accessories”. And the least we can say is that there is a lot to present you with an ultra complete bundle!
First of all, we find the ” ROG True Voltician “. This is a USB format oscilloscope which is in the suite of the V-Latch always integrated on the PCB of the motherboard. We will come back in more details on this module which is plugged into a USB port. We have received the management software and the user guide. We’ll have to take a closer look at it as there is a lot of information and details. You should also know that the mini-USB port allows the software to run on a separate PC.
We then find a series of accessories always very useful as a Phillips screwdriver Asus, a ROG FAN controller and the ROG Dimm 2.
The architecture very close to the Z790 chipset:
This is already the fifteenth version of the Maximus, one of the most famous models of the Asus brand. This one is of course part of the ROG (Republic Of Gamers) series. It seems that Asus no longer names the number of the series since the title on the box is ROG Maximus Z790 Extreme. We have no reference to the number “XV”.
The ROG Maximus Extreme is built around Intel’s new Z790 chipset, and this motherboard retains the socket of the previous generation with the LGA-1700 since the processor has seen its size increased.
The Z790 chipset supports PCIe 5.0 offering higher storage performance than the previous generation as well as DDR5 support.
The different heat sinks :
The dimensions of the board are 305 mm x 277 mm, which corresponds to the E-ATX format. The dominant color on the PCB is black. This is a choice made by Asus to keep the color neutral in order to fit in any kind of installation. The design is partly based on the previous generation with a card that has an “armor”. And the least we can say is that it is heavy with its 3.180 kg! The cooling should follow.
Let’s start the tour with the radiators, of which there are four! First of all, the three radiators located on the top of the motherboard and surrounding the socket. The two largest ones cover the power supply stage. These two radiators are connected by a heat pipe. As you can see, it has many cutouts to increase the contact surface and therefore the heat dissipation.
A third, smaller, and also connected through a heat pipe is responsible for keeping the stage cool a part of the power stage. We are here on a completely passive system. However, Asus provides in its bundle an adapter allowing to include a fan whose width can reach 60 mm.
Finally, the fourth is the one that covers the chipset. It is not really a radiator since it is the location of part of the RGB backlight. The height is low in order to allow easy placement of the graphics cards. As I said, there is a part of the ROG logo that has been pixelated and provided with an RGB backlight.
The socket and PCIe:
The space around the socket is quite clear and will be easy enough to isolate with rubber for testing under LN2. Moreover, Asus offers two mounting holes on the ROG models. One of them is compatible with LGA-1700 but also LGA-115x coolers! A very good point for Asus.
This Maximus Z790 Extreme can accommodate a maximum of four DDR5 memory sticks. Who says new processors says at Intel new chipsets . At first, it is the Z790 chipset which will be available. Good news because this one keeps the LGA-1700 socket as well as the backward compatibility. In other words, you will be able to use an i9-12900K on the Z790 chipset and conversely, an i9-13900K on the Z690 chipset. Intel will continue to support DDR4 on this chipset but this should be the last time since the switch will be made definitively to DDR5 in 2024.
Like the APEX, this Extreme has a button called Q-Release. When a card is plugged into the first PCIe slot , pressing this button opens the retention system and releases your graphics card. This was a concern we had with the previous generation when a heatsink was too close to the first PCIe slot. Good job Asus!
This Extreme supports dual channel memory kits up to 7800 MHz+ (OC) and for a maximum quantity of 128 GB. There are two PCIe 5.0 16x slots that will work in x8/x8 if you opt for SLI or CrossfireX. A third PCIe 4.0 x4 slot is also available. To power all this, the card has a 24-pin flat connector and two 8-pin connectors next to the power stages.
Five M.2 SSD slots:
A black aluminum plate with a cutout that matches perfectly with the one on the chipset covers two M.2 SSD slots on the PCB. You also have the option of using the vertical bracket (ROG DIMM2), which is included in the bundle and can also accommodate two M.2 SSDs. This brings the total number of M.2 SSDs to five.
As a reminder, the one under the OLED screen is a 2242/2260/2280/22110 M.2 SSD slot in PCIe 5.0. The other two as well as the two available on the ROG DIMM2 are PCIe 4.0 x4.
An OLED display but also the AniMe Matrix display :
The most attentive among you will have noticed the presence of the OLED screen. This is located just below the small heatsink that tops part of the power stage. Below this OLED screen is a PCIe 5.0 M.2 SSD slot, but we’ll talk about that below. This one can be set up but displays the motherboard’s boot sequence by default.
And that’s not all! On the top of the heatsink positioned on the top of the motherboard, there is an “Anime Matrix” screen that has no less than 222 LEDs! It can be configured to play custom animations, images, animations and audio visualization. It can also display the system time and date.
As is the case for a large part of the ROG range, it has the AURA system with LEDs present on the PCB at the level of the radiator covering the connectors and the logo placed on the chipset. The management of these lights is set via the AURA software but it is possible to disable them, quite easily, via the BIOS if you wish.
