On our check bench right this moment is considered one of ASUS ROG’s fanatic fashions designed for Intel’s Rocket Lake processors. The ASUS ROG Maximus XIII Hero brings loads of premium controllers and connectivity to the desk together with twin 2.5 GbE, twin Thunderbolt 4 Type-C, Wi-Fi 6E, 4 M.2 slots, and a strong 14-phase energy supply able to pushing Rocket Lake above its capabilities. We have put the Z590 Hero by means of its paces to see whether it is the champion mannequin within the sub $500 Z590 market.
ASUS ROG Maximus XIII Hero Overview
It might be the final desktop processor on Intel’s 14nm structure, however Rocket Lake comes a bunch of refinements together with PCIe 4.Zero connectivity by means of the CPU, assist for native USB 3.2 G2x2 on the chipset, and double bandwidth to that chipset enabling deeper IO connectivity. But if each journey wants a Hero, and ASUS believes it has the one motherboard to rule all of them.
Looking on the design, the ASUS ROG Maximus XIII Hero is utilizing a typical ROG premium theme, with predominately black heatsinks, with some areas laden with shiny gun-metal gray. The Hero has two major zones with built-in RGB LEDs, together with the rear panel cowl, and the chipset heatsink. Aiming for customers searching for a premium expertise, ASUS features a stable all-round choice of options, together with 4 M.2 ports, with one PCIe 4.Zero x4, one PCIe 3.Zero x4, two with PCIe 3.Zero x/Four SATA assist, in addition to six SATA ports with RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 array assist.
The Hero’s growth functionality is geared for PCIe 4.Zero connectivity, with two full-length PCIe 4.Zero slots working at x16, and x8/x8 when each full-length slots are populated. There are two different PCIe slots, albeit each at PCIe 3.Zero because of being pushed by the chipset, which incorporates one full-length slot working at x4, and a small x1 slot. Memory assist is one other premium component that consists of supported speeds of DDR4-5333, with a mixed whole of 128 GB supported throughout 4 reminiscence slots.
In line with different premium Z590 choices, the Maximus XIII Hero consists of an Intel Maple Ridge Thunderbolt Four controller, which provides 40 Gbps Type-C ports on the rear panel. The board does profit from one USB 3.2 G2x2 port, however this comes through the best way of a entrance panel header. ASUS appears to be like to be utilizing as a lot of Intel’s Z590 chipset options as it may well, which is sweet to see. When it involves onboard audio, ASUS features a premium HD audio codec with a separate DAC. Other notable mentions embody a stacked USB 3.2 G2 array on the rear panel, with a complete of six for customers to attach up USB units with. ASUS additionally features a stable networking array, with two Intel 2.5 GbE controllers and likewise makes use of Intel’s newest Wi-Fi 6E CNVi.
Focusing on efficiency, the ASUS ROG Maximus XIII Hero did nicely in our system exams, with stable and environment friendly energy consumption figures, middle-of-the-road POST occasions, and distinctive DPC latency efficiency. In our compute and gaming exams, the Hero remained aggressive.
The ASUS ROG Maximus XIII Hero present process our VRM thermal testing
When it involves overclocking, the Maximus XIII Hero carried out very nicely with our i9-11900Okay and confirmed exceptionally tight VDroop efficiency at default loadline calibration and energy settings. We managed to get 5.Three GHz secure all-cores at 1.45 V, though we did expertise some thermal throttling. With extra aggressive cooling strategies employed, the Hero is greater than able to pushing Rocket Lake clock speeds. Power consumption when overclocked was additionally bearable, which is right down to the standard of the ability supply, with ASUS utilizing premium Texas Instruments 90 A Smart Power Stages. Our VRM thermal testing additionally yielded very constructive outcomes with the best working temperatures from all Z590 boards examined so…
