ASUS's upcoming ROG Maximus Z790 motherboards which include the ultra-enthusiast APEX Encore & Formula have been pictured.
ASUS Preps Two Enthusiast-Grade ROG Maximus Z790 Motherboards For Intel's 14th Gen CPUs, The Formula & APEX Encore, New ROG STRIX Models Also Pictured
It was already known that ASUS was preparing new ROG Z790 additions to coincide with the launch of Intel 14th Gen Raptor Lake Refresh desktop CPUs. Now, we have pictures of these motherboards courtesy of leaker, Momomo_US. These motherboards that have been pictured include the brand new ROG Maximus and ROG STRIX offerings.
ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 Formula Motherboard
Starting with the ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 Formula, we are getting a white and black color scheme which looks great. The primary feature of this motherboard is the addition of the ROG Water-Cooling Zone water block on the motherboard, which users can attach to their existing custom-loop setups for better thermal performance on the VRMs. Besides that, users also get some handy buttons on the board to power, reset, and use the Flexkey feature of the Formula motherboards.
Moving to the specifications, the ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 Formula retains its ATX form factor and gets a dual 8-pin connector configuration for the CPU. There are four DDR5 DIMM slots which will be able to support over 8000 MT/s speeds and up to 192 GB capacities. The motherboard has the entirety of the front covered in a white shield which also houses the M.2 heatsinks underneath it.
As for expansion, the board offers two PCIe x16 slots and a wide variety of I/O ports including WIFI 7 support, two Thunderbolt 4 Type-C ports, a USB 3.2 Gen 2 10 Gbps Type-C port, 5 GbE LAN, lots of USB 3.2 ports and BIOS Flashback/Clear CMOS switches. The motherboard should easily cost in the $700-$800 US range since that's also where the ROG Maximus Z690 Formula was priced.
ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 APEX Encore Motherboard
Next up is the ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 APEX Encore which is going to be the company's top OC motherboard and the last of the LGA 1700 series. This motherboard features a VRM that is made for pushing Intel's latest 14th-gen CPUs to the max and is powered by dual 8-pin connectors. The motherboard features dual DDR5 DIMM slots to push memory overclocks over 10,000 MT/s and it also supports a single DIMM.2 slot which can house up to two M.2 devices. For expansion, you are getting two PCIe x16 slots and two PCIe x4 slots. M.2 slots include four standard ports including a single Gen 5x4 connected to the CPU lanes. There are four SATA III ports too.
The motherboard also comes with an attachable fan accessory that can be used as an active fan-cooler for the DDR5 DIMMs. This might be particularly useful for memory stability when running them at higher clock speeds.
The motherboard features an auxiliary 8-pin connector to feed the motherboard with more power and you can also find a range of overclocking and tuning switches near the Debug LED. I/O includes 9 USB 3.2 ports, a single USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Type-C port, WIFI 7 support, 2.5 GbE LAN, BIOS flashback, and clear CMOS buttons alongside two PS/2 connectors which come in handy for overclockers. The motherboard should also hit a retail price of around $700-$800 US as it replaces the current APEX.
ASUS ROG STRIX Z790-F Gaming WIFI II Motherboard
Lastly, we have the ASUS ROG STRIX Z790-F Gaming WIFI II which is a full-on update to the existing ROG Z790-F Gaming WIFI with lots of incremental changes such as better I/O, better cooling, better aesthetics, and a VRM that is fine-tuned for 14th Gen CPUs.
Expect the pricing of this board to be on the slightly higher side versus the existing ROG STRIX-F variant which is around $400 US. All four ROG Z790 refreshed motherboards should hit retail in the coming week which is also when Intel is going to launch its 14th Gen Raptor Lake refresh desktop CPUs.
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