Gaming connectivity: Dual M.2 and USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A connectors. Gaming audio: SupremeFX S1220A teams with Sonic Studio III to create an aural landscape that draws you deeper into the action. 5-Way Optimisation: Automated system-wide tuning, providing overclocking and cooling profiles that are tailor-made for your rig.
Aura Sync RGB: Synchronise LED lighting with a vast portfolio of compatible PC gear. The DDR5, PCIe 5.0, and other top-level features are like icing on a very tasty cake.- LGA1151 socket for 8th-gen Intel Core desktop processors. For 12th Gen Intel processors, especially the Core i7 12700K and Core i9-12900K, this board will let you push these already very powerful CPUs even further with excellent power delivery and BIOS support. You should shortlist the ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero if you can afford it. If you'd rather not splash out on new RAM as well as a motherboard for Intel Alder Lake, you'll need to look elsewhere. This motherboard requires DDR5 RAM and you won't be able to use DDR4 modules. You can find great options at between $100 and $200 so you can really drive home some savings. $600 isn't "budget-friendly" when spent on any one component and the motherboard is no exception. Even an Intel Core i9-12900K can comfortably run on motherboards with less capable Intel chipsets. Ī more affordable Z690 motherboard or Intel chipset would be a better option if you won't be doing any overclocking. It's pricier, but you'll be able to enjoy some ridiculous clock speeds.
Want the very latest memory technology? DDR4 will be a thing of the past soon enough with the emergence of DDR5 RAM kits. The impressive 20+1 power stage delivery design and rock-solid UEFI BIOS allow you to really push the limits. Simply slot it into the ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero with DDR5 RAM and you're good to go.ĪSUS provides numerous tools and features to help make overclocking your PC a seamless process with stable results. So long as you have already purchased (or plan to) a 12th Gen Intel processor, you're already set to build a PC with the latest Intel processors. ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero: Overclocking & performance There's very little to complain about for the design and features of the ROG Maximus Z690 Hero. Then there are the water-cooling headers for providing power or taking flow readings so the motherboard knows exactly how the loop is performing. Sure, there's the usual USB 2.0, front panel, audio, and a few fan headers, but there's an additional three headers dedicated to RGB connections. At the bottom of the ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero, you'll find this board is kitted out with all the headers you'll need for a powerful PC build. In the lower half of the motherboard are the three M.2 slots underneath metal plates, three PCIe x16 slots, two USB 3.0 front panel ports, and the array of six SATA ports. Simply push it and the GPU can be safely removed once the bracket screws have been extracted.ĪSUS included an easy PCIe slot release button for removing a GPU and it works like magic.
Have you ever found removing your GPU to be a little tedious? That's no longer the case on the ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero thanks to this very small button. You may have noticed a small button next to this internal USB-C port and that would be the PCIe slot release. Both AMD and NVIDIA GPUs can be configured into a dual-GPU configuration. There are three full-size x16 PCIe slots with two at 5.0, and one additional slot at 4.0. It's capable of handling up to 128GB of DDR5 RAM at speeds of up to 6.4GHz (3.2GHz x2).
Since this is a Z690 motherboard, there's full support for 12th Gen Intel processors. There's also a USB drive that can be used for storing UEFI BIOS updates or other files, an antenna for Wi-Fi 6E, and various cables for hooking up other components inside the PC. The ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero is one good-looking motherboard.Īlong with the board inside the packaging, you'll find an M.2 PCIe card that offers one PCIe 5.0 and one PCIe 4.0 slot. The ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero is one good-looking motherboard. It's an all-black PCB with a mirror finish plate atop the I/O shroud. The ROG Maximus Z690 Hero is no exception. ASUS motherboards generally sport clean designs with little aggressive styling, at least compared to other brands with their "gamer" themes.