ASUS ROG Maximus Z890 Hero Review – Almost Great, Almost

Here’s ASUS’s latest challenger for the best motherboard in the business, the ROG Maximus Z890 Hero, launching alongside Intel’s new Core Ultra 200S series processors. As one of the highest-end motherboards, expect no less than all the features packed in it and then some – let’s see what it’s capable of, in this deep-dive.

Unboxing

Like its AMD counterpart, the ROG Maximus Z890 Hero comes in the classic black-red packaging that reveals the motherboard once you lift open the box and removes the plastic cover. You’re also greeted with a brief introduction of the new Q-designs ASUS has implemented into this motherboard.

Plenty of accessories included, too, including a fan bracket for mounting RAM coolers, USB drive for driver installation, and lots of M.2 accessories as well. Like the X870E Hero, you’re also given a completely unrelated accessory: a bottle opener. Go get a bottle if you do own one of these motherboards in the future, and have yourself a drink as you see fit. Additionally, The ROG Hyper M.2 card is also no longer present (since the Z790 Dark Hero), but you do get six SSD slots onboard in exchange.

Walkaround

Cosmetic changes aside, one of the design changes is the VRM heatsink layout to accommodate the massive 22+1+2+2-stage setup. As a result, the heatsink now takes up three sides around the CPU socket. Design-wise, it retains the sharp angles that ROG are known for; the primary SSD heatsink is also a lot bigger to accommodate PCIe 5.0 SSDs, while the secondary heatsink is one massive unit that covers five SSDs underneath.

There certainly isn’t any lack of thermal pads being used throughout the motherboard, including double-sided thermal pads for SSDs (via Q-Slide base plates), and a massive VRM heatsink that also includes an internal heatpipe to keep the heat spread out, and even more thermal pads for the MOSFETs (which we’ll discuss in a bit).

Some of the notable accessories include a fan bracket for RAM coolers, thermal pad extension for M.2 22110 modules, the M.2 Q-Slide and Q-Latch, Q-Antenna, and the front panel connector that combines all the single-pin connectors all at once, so you don’t have to fiddle with the pins in the cramped space inside the PC case.

Rear I/O ports includes an HDMI output connected to integrated graphics, while the DisplayPort has been replaced with two Thunderbolt 4 ports (which is integrated directly into Core Ultra processors). Besides that, you get one additional USB-C port, 8 USB-A ports, and dual LAN ports, along with Wi-Fi 7 and a simplified audio output that jettisoned rear channel outputs.

As usual, the Polymo Lighting gets a new look, though a bigger change lies on the socket aside from the fact that it is now LGA1851 – the cooler bracket is now exclusively 78x78mm, meaning you’ll need a cooler that at least supports LGA1700 to work. LGA1200 or earlier uses 75x75mm brackets, which will no longer work with this motherboard.

Speaking of which, the three-sided VRM has caused clearance issues for our Cooler Master AIO, meaning we have to install it sideways – somewhat luckily, it barely scraped through the small gap right above RAM slot A1, but this means installing a 4-stick layout is going to be problematic if your AIO pump is too large to fit normally. That being said, ASUS did provide us with their new Ryujin III 360 ARGB Extreme AIO which can be fit through a normal orientation, so your mileage will certainly vary here.

Specifications

ASUS ROG Maximus Z890 Hero

Full specifications available on product page.

CPU Support	LGA1851 (Intel Core Ultra 200S series)
Form Factor	ATX (12 x 9.6 in / 305 x 244 mm)
Chipset	Intel Z890
Power & VRM	2x EPS 8-pin 22+1+2+2 stage (Vcore+GT+SA+VNNAON) Vcore (CPU): Infineon PMC41430 (110A per powerstage) Auxiliary: MPS MP87681, Vishay SiRA14BDP, Infineon PMC41420 PWM Controller: ASUS DIGI+ EPU ASP2412* + ASP2414* (*) Denotes undocumented part as of this writing.
Memory	4-slot Max. 192GB DDR5-6400 unbuffered Overclocking support up to DDR5-9200+ NitroPath DRAM technology CUDIMM support
PCIe Expansion Slots	1x PCIe 5.0 x16 (CPU) Fallback to x8 mode when either M.2_3 or M.2_4 are active 1x PCIe 4.0 x4 (PCH, x16 slot) 1x PCIe 4.0 x1 (PCH)
Storage	4x SATA 6Gb/s 1x SlimSAS (PCIe 4.0 x4) 6x M.2 slots: – 3x PCIe 5.0 x4 (CPU) – 1x PCIe 4.0 x4 (CPU) – 2x PCIe 4.0 x4 (PCH)
Networking	Intel BE200 Wi-Fi 7 (320MHz) module* (M.2 2230) Bluetooth 5.4 Intel I226-V 2.5GbE LAN Realtek RTL8126 5GbE LAN *Wi-Fi 7 support requires Windows 11 24H2 and later
USB Outputs	Rear: 2x Thunderbolt 4 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) Type-C 4x USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) Type-A 4x USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5Gbps) Type-A Front (headers): 1x Thunderbolt 4 (add-in card) 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 (20Gbps) with 60W PD 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5Gbps) (splitting to 4x USB 3.2 Gen 1) 2x USB 2.0 (splitting to 4x USB 2.0)
Onboard Display	1x HDMI 2.1 @ 8K 60Hz (DSC) 2x Thunderbolt 4 (DisplayPort 2.1 UHBR20 @ 4K 120Hz / 8K 60Hz)
Audio	Realtek ALC4082 codec ESS ES9219 Quad-DAC 120dB output / 110dB input SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) 32-bit/384kHz output Auto impedance sensing
Peripheral Headers	Fan and Cooling 1x 4-pin CPU Fan header 1x 4-pin CPU OPT Fan header 1x 4-pin AIO Pump header 4x 4-pin Chassis Fan headers 1x W_PUMP+ header Power 1x 8-pin PCIe power connector Miscellaneous 3x Addressable ARGB Gen 2 headers 1x Alteration PCIe mode switch 1x FlexKey button 1x Front Panel Audio header (F_AUDIO) 1x ReTry button 1x Start button 1x 10-1 pin System Panel header 1x Thermal Sensor header
Accessories	Cables 1x ARGB RGB extension cable 4x SATA 6Gb/s cables Additional Cooling Kit 1x DDR5 fan holder 1x Thermal pad for M.2 22110 Miscellaneous 1x ASUS WiFi Q-Antenna 1x Q-connector 1x M.2 Q-Latch package 3x M.2 Q-Slide package 6x M.2 rubber package 1x ROG stickers 1x ROG thank you card 1x ROG Bottle Opener 1x USB drive with utilities and drivers Documentation 1x Quick start guide

Test System

CPU	Intel Core Ultra 9 285K
Cooling	Cooler Master MasterLiquid PL360 Flux 30th Anniversary Edition Cooler Master MasterGel Maker
Motherboard	ASUS ROG Maximus Z890 Hero
GPU	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition
Memory	Kingston FURY RENEGADE DDR5 RGB (DDR5-6400 CL32, 2x16GB)
Storage	ADATA LEGEND 960 MAX 1TB
Power Supply	GameMax Rampage GX-1050 PRO (ATX 3.1) 1050W
Case	VECTOR Bench Case (Open-air chassis)
Operating System	Windows 11 Home 23H2

Teardown

VRM

This 22+1+2+2-stage VRM of the ROG Maximus Z890 Hero is responsible for supplying all the power to the Core Ultra processors, and they are powered by the chips shown above. It looks like this motherboard uses two of ASUS’s own DIGI+ EPU PWM controllers for the entire VRM setup, though as far as we can tell the system only reads from one sensor (labeled as ‘VRM’ in HWiNFO64).

Storage & Expansion

The Z890 Hero is jam-packed with M.2 expansion slots, packing a whopping six available slots from top to bottom. According to ASUS, this is possible thanks to what it calls “ROG M.2 PowerBoost”, which helps supply stable power to all six SSDs simultaneously. Besides that, you also get SATA ports and a new SlimSAS connector supporting PCIe 4.0 x4 or another four SATA devices. Talk about storage galore.

LAN & Wi-Fi

In this motherboard, you get two LAN connections – one Realtek RTL8126 chip responsible for 5GbE LAN, while the other is the well-known Intel I226-V 2.5GbE LAN controller found in many motherboards before this one. Both are the same used in the X870E counterpart as well, though this is not the case with the Wi-Fi 7 module, which is naturally an Intel BE200 module that supports full 320Hz channel for up to 5.8Gbps of speed. (Unlike the MT7927 found in X870E Hero, this has no thermal material pre-applied.)

I/O

The chips we found powering the I/O is mainly Realtek, plus some ASMedia chips and Intel’s own for Thunderbolt 4 ports. Unlike previous generations, we didn’t find a lot of discrete chips – it’s possible that some of the functionality has been directly integrated into the chipset, or even the CPU itself.

Audio

ASUS has adopted the same audio setup as the X870E Hero – meaning, you get the Realtek ALC4082 codec paired with ESS Sabre ES9129 Quad DAC, with the same amount of capacitors as the AMD counterpart as well.

Other Features

Some interesting features we’ve found during testing: when no RAM is present, the motherboard will warn you with the amber LED even when the PC is off, which is a pretty useful feature to tell if RAM has slipped out of the slot or failed entirely. Another warning light is located next to the PCIe supplemental power connector, which is used to supply USB Power Delivery through one of its USB-C headers.

We also have several M.2 design improvements, including a new Q-Release mechanism on the primary SSD slot. Simply unlatch the hook and it can be removed from the slot; hidden under the heatsink is a Q-Slide module that can be used to secure a typical M.2 2280 SSD. Additionally, the PCIe slot has now been simplified to use a slim version of the Q-Release, which only requires you to tilt the card at a rightward angle to unlock it.

The motherboard also features a single Thunderbolt 4 header, though no Thunderbolt 5 header is present. Quite surprising given that this is a high-end motherboard after all, though the new standard is still very rare right now, so you aren’t necessarily missing much today (bad news if you intend to future-proof, however).

Thermals

For VRM testing, we gave the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K all available power to see how it handles, and the result is extremely good. 15 minutes of ~320W sent to the socket and the VRM made light work of it despite having zero active cooling, and we think it’s almost impossible to overheat the VRM even under the worst conditions.

BIOS & Software

As per Intel’s new requirements, new BIOS versions now will feature default Intel settings, which can be manually selected if you want to overclock beyond stock power limits (it’s about as trivial as enabling XMP). You can also configure fan speeds and overclocking directly in BIOS, along with the Q-Dashboard that helps you assess if all parts are properly connected.

Side note, if you intend to overclock your unlocked Core Ultra processors via Intel Extreme Tuning Utility (XTU), be sure to enable the Intel Innovation Platform Framework (IPF) in the BIOS. The new version 10 of XTU requires this component to work, which is designed only for the aforementioned chips.

In Windows, the ASUS Armoury Crate is responsible for system tuning and various other functions – in this case, the feature set is largely unchanged. ASUS has included a new DriverHub software for driver updates, though it’s mostly redundant as it simply opens a website that detects your hardware and start from there (something that Armoury Crate already does).

Verdict

The ASUS ROG Maximus Z890 Hero is priced at RM3,650 – a tad bit cheaper than before, but with the major flaw that is the AIO clearance, you might need to double check before clicking on that purchase button. Other than that though, this motherboard is packing as many features as you would ask for a high-end gaming motherboard, at which point the question becomes: are you willing to get a motherboard that cranks everything up to 11?

Our special thanks to ASUS Malaysia for providing us the ROG Maximus Z890 Hero motherboard for this review.