ASUS ROG Maximus XI Apex Motherboard Review

ASUS Maximus XI Apex – Z390 Chipset
Intel Core i9 9900k (3.6Ghz) Octo Core 8 x 256KB L2 Cache 16MB L3 Cache
Thermaltake Water 2.0 Performer
1x nVidia GTX 980Ti
2x GSKill TridentZ PC4-27700 8GB DDR4 (16-18-18-38)
Crucial MX500 500GB SSD
HP dvd1260i Multiformat 24x Writer
Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1050 Watt PSU
Windows 10 Professional 64bit

EVGA Z390 Dark – Z390 Chipset
Intel Core i7 8700k (3.7Ghz) Hex Core 6 x 256KB L2 Cache 12MB L3 Cache
Thermaltake Water 2.0 Extreme
1x nVidia GTX 980Ti
2x GSKill TridentZ PC4-27700 8GB DDR4 (16-18-18-38)
Crucial BX300 240GB SSD
HP dvd1260i Multiformat 24x Writer
Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1050 Watt PSU
Windows 10 Professional 64bit

ASUS Maximus X Formula – Z370 Chipset
Intel Core i7 8700k (3.7Ghz) Hex Core 6 x 256KB L2 Cache 12MB L3 Cache
Thermaltake Water 2.0 Extreme
1x nVidia GTX 980Ti
2x GSKill TridentZ PC4-27700 8GB DDR4 (16-18-18-38)
Crucial MX500 500GB SSD
HP dvd1260i Multiformat 24x Writer
Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1050 Watt PSU
Windows 10 Pro 64bit

ASUS Maximus IX Apex - Z270 Chipset
Intel Core i7 7700K (4.2Ghz) Quad Core 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache
Thermaltake Water 2.0 Performer
1x nVidia GTX 980Ti
2x GSKill TridentZ PC4-33000 16GB DDR4 (19-19-19-39)
Micron C300 128GB SSD
HP dvd1260i Multiformat 24x Writer
Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1050 Watt PSU
Windows 10 Professional 64bit

Our motherboard testing suite has been compiled to subject the system to a variety of different scenarios that help uncover some of the subtle differences in motherboard design.  Normally these differences are driven by the processor and BIOS programming but with the advent of an IMC and PCI Express moving to the CPU we have discovered that raw performance numbers are virtually identical across the systems.  

Our approach is to look at total system performance and minimize the variances.  The results will tell us how the system responded as a total package and also give us something to use in our comparisons. 

You will notice that the systems used in this review are not the same platform or using the same processor.  It was discovered that the Maximus XI Apex was an amazing motherboard and not very different from the other Z390's in terms of out of box performance.  So, I decided to make this a look at the different CPU options and roll some overclocking in for good measure.