The ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero Motherboard Review: A Solid Option For Alder Lake
by Gavin Bonshor on June 15, 2022 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- Intel
- Asus
- ROG
- DDR5
- PCIe 5.0
- Alder Lake
- 12th Gen Core
- Z690
- LGA1700
Board Features
The ROG Maximus Z690 Hero is a premium ATX motherboard that represents one of ASUS's most premium models based on Intel's Z690 chipset. For storage, there's the capacity to install up to five M.2 drives, including two PCIe 4.0 x4 and one PCIe 3.0 x4 integrated onto the PCB, with one PCIe 5.0 x4 and one PCIe 4.0 x4 coming via an included ROG Hyper M.2 add-on card. Other storage options include six SATA ports with support for RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays.
As with most premium Z690 models, the ROG Maximus Z690 Hero has support for up to DDR5-6400 memory, with capacities of up to 128 GB across four available memory slots. On the lower portion of the board are two full-length PCIe 5.0 slots that can operate at x16 or x8/x8, while a half-length PCIe 4.0 x4 slot allows users to install additional devices such as networking, storage, and other controllers.
In terms of cooling support, ASUS includes a total of eight 4-pin headers, with two designated for CPU fans, one for an AIO cooler, one for a water pump, and four for chassis fans.
| ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Motherboard | |||
| Warranty Period | 3 Years | ||
| Product Page | Link | ||
| Price | $600 | ||
| Size | ATX | ||
| CPU Interface | LGA1700 | ||
| Chipset | Intel Z690 | ||
| Memory Slots (DDR4) | Four DDR5 Supporting 128 GB Dual-Channel Up to DDR5-6400 |
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| Video Outputs | 1 x HDMI 2.1 2 x Thunderbolt 4 (DP 1.4) |
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| Network Connectivity | 1 x Intel I225-V 2.5 GbE Intel AX211 Wi-Fi 6E |
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| Onboard Audio | SupremeFX ALC4082 ESS Sabre ES9018Q2C |
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| PCIe Slots for Graphics (from CPU) | 2 x PCIe 5.0 x16 (x16, x8/x8) | ||
| PCIe Slots for Other (from PCH) | 1 x PCIe 4.0 (x4) | ||
| Onboard SATA | Six, RAID 0/1/5/10 (Z690) | ||
| Onboard M.2 | 1 x PCIe 5.0 x4 (ROG Hyper M.2) 1 x PCIe 4.0 x4 (ROG Hyper M.2) 1 x PCIe 4.0 x4 1 x PCIe 4.0 x4/SATA 1 x PCIe 3.0 x4 |
||
| Onboard U.2 | N/A | ||
| Thunderbolt 4 (40 Gbps) | 2 x Type-C (Rear panel) | ||
| USB 3.2 (20 Gbps) | 1 x USB Type-C (One header) | ||
| USB 3.2 (10 Gbps) | 6 x USB Type-A (Rear panel) 1 x USB Type-C (Rear panel) |
||
| USB 3.1 (5 Gbps) | 4 x USB Type-A (Two headers) | ||
| USB 2.0 | 2 x USB Type-A (Rear panel) 4 x USB Type-A (Two headers) |
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| Power Connectors | 1 x 24-pin Motherboard 2 x 8-pin CPU 1 x 6-pin PCIe |
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| Fan Headers | 2 x 4-pin CPU 1 x 4-pin AIO pump 1 x 4-pin Water pump 4 x 4-pin Chassis |
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| IO Panel | 2 x Antenna Ports (Intel) 2 x Thunderbolt 4 Type-C 1 x USB 3.2 G2 Type-C 6 x USB 3.2 G2 Type-A 2 x USB 2.0 Type-A 1 x RJ45 (Intel) 1 x HDMI 2.1 Output 5 x 3.5 mm Audio jacks (Realtek) 1 x S/PDIF Optical output (Realtek) 1 x Clear CMOS button 1 x BIOS Flashback button |
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The Z690 Hero is using lots of the Z690 chipset's native features, including an Intel AX211 Wi-Fi 6E CNVi, a single Intel I225-V 2.5 GbE controller, as well as including dual Thunderbolt 4 Type-C ports on the rear panel. There is also a front-panel USB 3.2 G2x2 Type-C header. In addition to this, there are also six USB 3.2 G2 Type-A, two USB 2.0 Type-A, and one USB 3.2 G2 Type-C port on the rear. Powering the onboard audio is a SupremeFX ALC4082 HD audio codec and ESS Sabre ESS9018Q2C DAC that controls five 3.5 mm audio jacks and one S/PDIF optical output.
Test Bed
With some of the nuances with Intel's Alder Lake processors including the new P and E-cores, our policy is to see if the system gives an automatic option to increase the power limits of the processor. If it does, we select the liquid cooling option. If it does not, we do not change the defaults.
| Test Setup | |||
| Processor | Intel Core i9-12900K, 125 W, $589 8P + 8E Cores, 24 Threads 3.2 GHz (5.2 GHz P-Core Turbo) |
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| Motherboard | ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero (BIOS ..) | ||
| Cooling | ASUS ROG Ryujin II 360mm AIO | ||
| Power Supply | Corsair HX850 80Plus Platinum 850 W | ||
| Memory | Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB DDR5-4800 CL 14-14-14-34 2T (2 x 16 GB) | ||
| Video Card | MSI GTX 1080 (1178/1279 Boost) | ||
| Hard Drive | Crucial MX300 1TB | ||
| Case | Corsair Crystal 680X | ||
| Operating System | Windows 10 Pro 64-bit: Build 21H2 | ||
We must also thank the following:
| Hardware Providers for CPU and Motherboard Reviews | |||
| Sapphire RX 460 Nitro | MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X OC | Crucial MX200 + MX500 SSDs |
Corsair AX860i + AX1200i PSUs |
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| G.Skill RipjawsV, SniperX, FlareX |
Crucial Ballistix DDR4 |
Silverstone Coolers |
Noctua Coolers |
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meacupla - Wednesday, June 15, 2022 - link
People who want thunderbolt ports.NaterGator - Wednesday, June 15, 2022 - link
"Insert audio caps details." Yes, please. ;)Kevin G - Wednesday, June 15, 2022 - link
I wish Windows would properly support AVB as that’d enable the I-225 NIC to output audio to say a PoE based speaker.erotomania - Wednesday, June 15, 2022 - link
My audio caps details could really use some insertion.James5mith - Sunday, June 19, 2022 - link
Same.DBW49 - Wednesday, June 15, 2022 - link
You might want to discuss the memory power supply capacitor issues with early versions of this board. Short version: some boards had a surface mount electrolytic capacitor installed with reverse polarity. In some cases, there would be a fire. ASUS recognized the issue and provided repair services for the boards, at the cost of about 2 weeks down time (transportation and repair). That said, I am very pleased with the board.Silver5urfer - Wednesday, June 15, 2022 - link
I would suggest every single DDR5 owner to skip 4DIMM mobos. They are slower, get 2DIMM ones like APEX or Unify X or Tachyon (I think GB is worst when it's about DRAM speed with Z590).Also I hate ASUS on how their QC is absolute trash. I had to order a lot of boards to get the board which didn't have a chip on the mobo edges. All the boards brand new in box, even box condition is super neat had some or other chips on the edges of the boards. And no it's not some basic mobo I'm talking about Maximus line - Hero, Apex class. Even then I had to settle with one which had a small scratch on the Chipset heatsink to the brushed metal finish. Because I do not want to swap this and get another chipped board, some boards had the DIMM slot plastic having a hazy finish too.
Tilmitt - Thursday, June 16, 2022 - link
Will there ever be a CPU or GPU review on this site again?PeachNCream - Thursday, June 16, 2022 - link
Non0x1ous - Thursday, June 16, 2022 - link
Its the weirdest thing ever. #1 GPU review site on earth forever, then miss 1 gpu launch then miss them all and haven't had one since. All without any explanation. It's mind boggling @ryansmith