ASUS Maximus XII Formula Motherboard Review

ASUS Maximux XII Formula – Z490 Chipset
Intel Core i9 10900k (3.7Ghz) Deca Core 10 x 32KB L2 Cache 10 x 256KB L3 Cache 20MB 
Thermaltake Water 2.0 Extreme
1x nVidia RTX 2080 Super
2x GSKill TridentZ PC4-330000 8GB DDR4 (19-19-19-39)
Crucial  MX500 500GB SSD
HP dvd1260i Multiformat 24x Writer
Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1050 Watt PSU
Windows 10 Pro 64bit 

ASUS Maximux XII Hero – Z490 Chipset
Intel Core i9 10900k (3.7Ghz) Deca Core 10 x 32KB L2 Cache 10 x 256KB L3 Cache 20MB 
Thermaltake Water 2.0 Extreme
1x nVidia RTX 2080 Super
2x GSKill TridentZ PC4-330000 8GB DDR4 (19-19-19-39)
Crucial  MX500 500GB SSD
HP dvd1260i Multiformat 24x Writer
Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1050 Watt PSU
Windows 10 Pro 64bit 

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

Aorus X299X Xtreme Waterforce – X299 Chipset
Intel Core i9 7900x (3.0Ghz) Ten Core 10 x 1MB L2 Cache 13MB L3 Cache
XSPC Custom Water Loop 240mm Radiator D5 Pump
1x nVidia GTX 980Ti
4x Corsair Vengeance LPX  PC4-21300 16GB DDR4 (15-17-17-35)
Crucial MX500 500GB SSD
HP dvd1260i Multiformat 24x Writer
Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1050 Watt PSU
Windows 10 Pro 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 most systems using the same processor.  

Our new 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.

As with most new processor and chipset releases we will be comparing the current system to previous products not only to see how they stack up but to better understand how much of an increase we are getting by upgrading.