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) |
||
| 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 |
||
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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shabby - Thursday, June 16, 2022 - link
I'll bet there will be an intel gpu review though...erotomania - Thursday, June 16, 2022 - link
Intel GPU review before an Nvidia 3000 review?No Starfighter doesn't count!
shabby - Thursday, June 16, 2022 - link
Sponsored review, you can count on it.PlextorPro - Thursday, June 16, 2022 - link
Intel GPU.........WHAT???You sound like a real enthusiast.....NOT!
mode_13h - Thursday, June 23, 2022 - link
> #1 GPU review site on earth foreverThere have long been sites with comparable or even more comprehensive benchmarks, but the Deep Dives are what really set Anandtech apart.
I hope someone is going to cover Hot Chips, this year. Can't they at least find some grad student or post doc who's going anyway to just liveblog about it?
Byte - Sunday, July 17, 2022 - link
In all honestly all Nvidia does is enable another core complex and add 5% performance and charge 25% more.bug77 - Thursday, June 16, 2022 - link
I haven't read the review yet, but when the best you can say about a $600 board is that it's "a solid option", you know the board is a dud.PeachNCream - Thursday, June 16, 2022 - link
$600 huh? There must be a market for these moron-tier products, but it really would be nice if Anandtech reviewed something relevant to its dwindling community instead of just accepting whatever the OEMs dump onto them out of desperation to drum up hype and sales for fringe products almost none of us are interested in purchasing. Then again, who am I kidding? AT has had this sort of disconnect for quite a few years now.PlextorPro - Thursday, June 16, 2022 - link
Seriously, thank you for this review and in-depth evaluation!With the recent increase in popularity of MINI-ITX (SFF) systems, I would like to see an in-depth! review-comparison of the ASUS ROG Strix Z690-I with other MINI-ITX main boards. I have built a system with this MINI-ITX MB and am very pleased with the performance.
It has a custom loop for cooling both the i9 12900K and an AMD RX 6800 GPU.
PlextorPro - Thursday, June 16, 2022 - link
Seriously, thank you for this review and in-depth evaluation!With the recent increase in popularity of MINI-ITX (SFF) systems, I would like to see an in-depth review-comparison of the ASUS ROG Strix Z690-I with other MINI-ITX main boards. I have built a system with this MINI-ITX MB and am very pleased with the performance.
It has a custom loop for cooling both the i9 12900K and an AMD RX 6800 GPU.