ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 Apex Encore Motherboard Review

A Closer Look

When it comes to aesthetics, ASUS rarely miss the mark, so it’s no surprise that the ROG MAXIMUS Z790 APEX Encore is one seriously cool-looking motherboard. There are significantly sized heatsinks on all the major components, and while this does make this a significantly heavy motherboard, it’s all there to ensure we get the best performance possible.

There are three heatsinks surrounding the processor, with an incredibly thick heatpipe linking them all to create on unified cooling solution for the VRM as well as the primary PCIe 5.0 M.2 slot that sits below the CPU socket.

The lower section features multiple heatsinks for the chipset, as well as two for the PCIe 4.0 slots. There are 2 x PCIe 4.0 x4 Slots, as well as two fully-armoured PCIe 5.0 slots, and it’s uncommon to see a pair of those, but then again, very few people will need such robust I/O. However, if you’re running two workstation GPUs or want a super-fast PCIe RAID card, this is perfect for you.

For high-end CPUs, you need a lot of power, so I’m glad to see a pair of 8-pin PROCOOL II Power Connectors, which feature thicker pins, more robust soldering and metal reinforcement that also provides additional heat protection.

Do you love onboard controls? I know I do, as they’re perfect for problem-solving and use on a test bench. There’s power, Flex Key, safe boot, BCLK, retry mode, pause mode, LN2 mode and more, all available at the press of a button and flick of a switch; if you’re overclocking, this is a powerful tool kit to have.

Another cool feature is that there’s an additional 8-pin power connector on the side of the board, allowing you to deliver more power, and more importantly more power stability, to the motherboard, which is great when you consider this board can overclock just about any hardware that’s attached to it.

ASUS never skip the audio hardware too, so you’ll find their latest SupremeFX chipset, with an impressive bank of audiograde gold capacitors.

The only thing I’m surprised not to see is a backplate, at least at this price range. Sure, they’re not really needed, but I honestly was just expecting to see one included.

With the heatsinks taken away, it’s now easy to see just how monstrous that VRM configuration is. Premium quality capacitors and chokes are flanking three sides of the CPU, and honestly, it’s pretty rare to see this many, or any below the CPU, but make no mistake, if you want big power and rock-solid stability, this is how you get the job done.

The VRMs look massive too, much larger than what we usually see with those huge MicroFine Alloy Chokes, and there’s a bank of SMD capacitors next to the CPU providing input and output filtering, and that 24+0+2 105A Power Stage is as good as it gets.

The heatsink is significant, with premium quality thermal pads on all sections and large contact plates for each part of the CPU power delivery and filtering system to ensure optimal performance.