Component Analysis

One of the benefits with Z890 compared to X870E is that there's just a single chip to deal with. The PCH here has its own heatsink that's certainly large enough to keep things in check.


As usual, we have a pair of JHL9040R Thunderbolt 4 redrivers linked to the rear Type-C 40 Gbps ports. We also have an ASMedia ASM2074 hub controller contributing to the impressive array of seven USB 3.2 Gen 2 10 Gbps Type-A ports on the rear I/O panel.


To handle bandwidth sharing between the PCIe slot devices and M.2 ports we have two pairs of PCIe Gen 5 JYS13008MF01 Linear Equalizers.


For power to the front Type-C header, we have a Realtek RTS5439 power delivery controller, which sits alongside a USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 20 Gbps RTS5464 USB controller.


As is common on high-end ASUS boards, the two USB 3.0 headers are powered by a pair of Realtek RTS5411S USB 3.0 hub controllers. We also have a Nuvoton NCT6701D super I/O series chip used for hardware monitoring


For the 5 Gbps Ethernet we have Realtek's RTL8126 controller and for the onboard audio, hidden under a soldered cap is Realtek's ALC4080 codec paired with a Savitech SV3H712 AMP.


For RGB lighting control we have an AURA 32UA0 chip while ASUS AI overclocking is powered by an ENE KB1724QA chip.


The Wi-Fi 7 module is Intel's BE200. Internally this uses standard micro connectors, but externally it only has ASUS Q-Antenna connectors. The module itself can be removed, but requires removing the entire VRM heatsink array as well as unclipping the rear I/O shield.