ASUS ROG Maximus Z890 Extreme Motherboard Review

It pains me to admit that it is nice to review a proper motherboard again.  Sure, plenty of boards have come through the Hardware Asylum Labs and many of them were flagship models worthy enough to power any enthusiast build.  But, there are high-end motherboards and then there is something like the ROG Maximus Z890 Extreme.

As the name would suggest the Extreme takes things to the next level.  Where some motherboards feature lighted logos, the Z890 Extreme includes a 5inch LCD.  When motherboards claim they can overclock the Maximus Z890 Extreme delivers voltage test points, slow mode and pause buttons to give serious overclockers the edge they need to set records.

This was my first time using the Intel Ultra processor ands while the architecture is very different from previous editions it is still rather speedy and offers some amazing memory overclocking potential.  The jury is still out on LN2 overclocking though, if the convoluted way to overclock the Intel Ultra series is any indication, it is not going to be pretty.

With that being said.  Performance for the Ultra 7 was less than desirable indicating that it was slower than a 14900K and yet faster than a 13900K.  Those numbers quickly became small once I dialed in a healthy memory overclock and enabled the ASUS AI Overclocking feature.  This option tweaks the individual core performance to provide a much-needed boost over what Intel has coded into their silicon.

One of the final items I wanted to mention is the ASUS Armoury Crate.  This is the software package that allows you access to many of the onboard lighting and performance features found on the Maximus Z890 Extreme including the 5inch LCD.

As of this review the software comes with several animated and static images to choose from with an option to upload your own graphics.  I’m still using one of the factory animations but plan to create some custom Hardware Asylum graphics to finish off the build.

Overall, I found the Maximus Z890 Extreme a product worthy of the name.  It will cost you a pretty penny and will likely match performance with many of the more affordable motherboards on the market but, none of them have the same clout or dedication to the craft of high-end computing, gaming and overclocking.  Some would ague that the Maximux Apex is the true overclocker, and I would tend to agree which makes the decision a polarizing juxtaposition between Light and Dark on which product is actually better.

I vote for the board with the 5” LCD

Next Generation Design
Solid Performance
Unlocked CPU Support
DDR5 Loves to Overclock
Extremely Large M.2 Heatsink
PCI Express 5.0
Excellent Industrial Design
Great Gaming Platform
5 inch LCD
DIMM.2 NVME Drive Card

Intel Ultra performance steps backwards
Overclocking is quite the challenge
Almost too many memory controls in UEFI