ASUS ROG Maximus Z890 Extreme Motherboard Review

It still amazes me how simple a motherboard can be and yet look extremely elaborate due to the various heatsinks, covers and removable panels.  Of course, when you remove all of those items the modern motherboard is really quite simple.

This is a bit of a role reversal from the way things started but, meshes well with modern builds.

The back of the motherboard used to be able to tell you everything that you needed to know about the motherboard.  However, as you can see the Z890 Extreme comes with a full coverage backplate to not only reinforce the PCB but to dress up and protect the delicate electronics.  I especially like the screened graphics and detailed embossing.

This time around I didn’t bother to strip the board down but, rest assured the construction is very similar to the ROG Crosshair X870e Hero that I reviewed.

The VRM found on the Maximus Z890 Extreme is not for the faint of heart.  There are a total of 29 power phases shown around the CPU socket which match the 24+1+2+2 teamed power solution supporting up to 110A of power delivery.  The first 24 are dedicated to the CPU VCORE, 1 for VCCGT, 2 for VCCSA and 2 for VNNAON. 

You will find two 8-pin CPU power connectors located in the upper left of the PCB with a special cut out in the heatsink allowing easy access to connect and remove the cables.    It should also be noted that these connectors are the only grey ones on the board and are metal reinforced for added strength.