Introduction

After months of rumors and bits of leaked information along the way, the new Intel LGA 1700 Socket is upon us. The first chipset to use this new socket is Z690, which also holds the privilege of being the first to bring PCIe Gen 5.0 and DDR5 to the consumer market. With a recent lukewarm reception that accompanied Intel's 11th Generation Core processors, fans of Intel are ready to see the company shine bright once again.

Ever since AMD presented the Zen processor CPU roadmap in 2017, Intel has been slowly losing ground in the multi-thread and production workloads prosumer and professionals are looking for in a work environment. Nothing currently comes close to AMD's Threadripper lineup, but the entry price point is equally high. AMD continues to lead with a more consumer-oriented processor under the Ryzen brand. Over multiple generations, these Ryzen CPU have slowly pushed Intel out of the gaming beltway with a cheaper entry point relative to overall performance.

That is now a thing of the past! Intel has put money, time, and effort into getting back to its roots and providing innovation where it is needed most. The Z690 chipset not only has set the stage for what is to come, but allows motherboard manufactures to showcase what makes a complete experience instead of just watching from the sidelines as Intel and AMD continue to battle it out.

The first big addition is that Intel's 12th Gen Core processors offers native PCIe 5.0 support, which means future support in products that have just now reached the enterprise market. The Z690 chipset has also been given a connection speed boost with a change to the DMI 4.0 interference at 16 GT/s, a doubling over DMI 3.0 found on the previous LGA 1200 Socket. The next-biggest change is dual support for either DDR4 or DDR5 memory modules by the CPU. In theory, a motherboard can have both as long as it is not populated at the same time. In addition to PCIe 5.0 and DDR5 support, the Z690 chipset offers native USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 connectivity. USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 bandwidth offers speeds of up to 20 Gb/s. Overall, on paper, the 12th Gen Core CPU and Z690 chipset show Intel is ready to push their products to a whole new level and leave AMD in the dust.


The Maximus family serves as ASUS's flagship line for Intel motherboards, with premium looks, premium features, blazing performance, and broad overclocking support. The Maximus lineup typically comprises four models, the Hero, Apex, Formula, and Extreme. Intel's Z690 chipset is no exception. The ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero serves as the mainstream entry for the Maximus family, providing many of the extreme features and benefits of the lineup while maintaining an attainable price tag.

The ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero features a robust VRM cooling solution paired with twenty 90 A power stages for a rounded CPU overclocking experience. A BIOS flashback has also been included, as well as ASUS's stress-free overclocking with AI Optimized. The ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero also offers great connectivity with the newest WiFi 6E technology, Thunderbolt 4, and three onboard M.2 slots. There is a lot to cover in this review, so let's take a closer look at what the ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero has to offer.

Specifications

Packaging and Contents

The front of the ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero box has a matte black finish with red accents in the truest of ROG fashion statements. The product name is in embossed foil to give it that extra premium look. Across the bottom, some important tidbits are shown, such as Windows 11, WiFi 6E, PCIe 5.0, and DDR5 logos. Even mention of LGA 1700 is made, which refers to the Intel socket, a nice bonus for those who leave confused between all the ROG Maximus products.

On the back of the box, a few features are highlighted, such as the included Hyper M.2 Card, USB 3.2 2x2 Type-E header for the case, and Polymo Lighting. Below the depiction of the motherboard is a list of specifications, which is always welcome. However, nothing about PCIe 5.0 and the slot configurations is mentioned at all on the back, which means you will need to visit the ASUS website to get the details if you are in a store.


The accessories are on point. Once you have removed the motherboard, two sections are presented. The left holds all the screws, manual, WiFi antenna, anti-sag graphics card adapter, and other goodies. The right has the Hyper M.2 PCIe card and a USB flash drive that is used for driver and software installation. Gone is the CD. When is the last time you had a DVD/CD drive? Better yet, what was the last computer case you used that came with a 5.25" bay? It isn't as common as it once was.

The full list of accessories includes:

• ARGB RGB extension cable
• 4x Braided SATA 6 Gb/s cables
• ASUS Wi-Fi moving antennas
• M.2 SSD screw package(s)
• Spare Q-connector
• ROG Hyper M.2 PCIe card
• ROG key chain
• ROG graphics card holder
• ROG stickers
• ROG thank you card
• User manual and Support USB drive

Board Layout

The ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero continues to use the tried and true classic ASUS design, a black PCB matched with black heat sinks and dark, but polished sliver accents over the chipset and rear I/O cover.


With this new LGA 1700 socket used for the Z690, new and old CPU coolers will need a new retention bracket if the mounting holes do not line up. At a glance, the area around the socket has capacitors strutted along all sides, which could interfere with cooler mounts. Along with the tall VRM heatsink, this is something to take note of for air-coolers.



There are three M.2 slots on the ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero, all featuring full-coverage heatsinks. The two slots with a Gen4 x4 interface have thermal tape on both sides. The second M.2 socket between the PCIe slots is Gen3 x4, and the only one lacking thermal tape on the socket itself.

Included with the motherboard is the ROG Hyper M.2 PCIe card. When placed in the second PCIe slot, it will support PCIe Gen5 x4 on the first M.2 socket of the card. While no Gen5 M.2 sockets are on the motherboard itself, this will provide future support as Gen5 is set to appear among consumer products in 2022.

Note that the ROG Hyper M.2 card will operate in Gen4 mode if placed in the first PCIe slot as stated in the manual even though it is also a PCIe Gen5 slot. The manual also states that both M.2 sockets are only operational when placed in the third PCIE Gen4 slot. After testing this for myself, both drives indeed only show up in the PCIe Gen4 slot and must be manually enabled in the BIOS.


The three M.2 Sockets have ASUS Q-Latch, which is a screwless design. It makes swapping of M.2 drives without worrying about the loss of screws or needing to dig into the box a reality.


The ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero offers three PCI Express x16 slots, with the top two reinforced for extra stress support. PCIe slot one and two are PCIe Gen5 with a total of x16 lanes coming from the CPU. Slot one can either operate at x16 or x8. Slot 2 is wired for PCIe Gen5 x8 and will split the available lanes with the first slot if populated. These are backwards compatible, allowing older PCIe devices to work without issues. The third slot is also physically x16, but internally wired for x8 PCIe Gen4.


The board has a total of six SATA 6 Gb/s ports on the side, angled 90 degrees from the board. Raid configuration does not support ports 5 and 6, which are officially designated as E-Ports 1/2.


ASUS has added a PCIe release button for the first slot. This is something I have been hoping to see for a number of years now. With everything in such close proximity, just swapping out a video card requires either a poking stick for the pressure on the latch or removing the upper M.2 heatsink and sometimes even the CPU air cooler.


The ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero has a great I/O offering that includes an optical S/PDIF Out port, Wi-Fi 6E, 2.5 Gb LAN, and a pair of Type-C Thunderbolt 4 ports. It also has a Clear CMOS button, which makes recovering from tinkering with BIOS settings extremely easy.

• 2x Thunderbolt™ 4 USB Type-C® ports
• 7x USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports
• 2x USB 2.0 ports
• HDMI port
• ASUS Wi-Fi module
• 1x Intel 2.5Gb Ethernet
• 5x Gold-plated audio jacks
• Optical S/PDIF Out port
• BIOS FlashBack™ button
• Clear CMOS button

VRM Overview