For those of you wanting to jump over to Intel’s new 11th Gen. Processors, lining yourself up with an Intel Z590 motherboard may not be an absolute necessity but it is highly recommended to utilise all the very latest technology – including PCIe 4.0 support.
As part of ASUS ROG’s design evolution, the aesthetics have had a slight adjustment for this generation of the Maximus lineup. The overall look is pleasing to the eye and with engaging RGB lighting it will be ideal to tie all of your hardware together into a cohesive theme – especially if you have other ASUS hardware.
There is no denying that Hero is feature-rich. Some features may not be strictly essential for every user (Such as the Q-Code and Debug LED) but this motherboard does an excellent job in providing a well-rounded platform for a move to Rocket Lake. There is an abundance of USB connectivity, a total of four M.2 SSD slots, and compatibility for the likes of DDR4-5333MHz.
Adoption of Thunderbolt 4 – and two ports at that, is very encouraging. While this technology may not be high up on every user’s list of requirements, it future proofs the system and it will be one specific feature which will sway some folks over to Intel since AMD’s support for TR is lacking.
As anticipated, Hero provides some great results when we applied our benchmarks. The cooling design for both the VRM and chipset configurations are very good. Overall, this board is a great performer.
Our Intel Core i9-11900K struggles with stability once we exceed 5GHz on all cores, but Hero wasn’t able to achieve 5GHz across all cores – instead, we had to settle for 4.9GHz with substantial CPU voltage of 1.39v. This surprised us, cheaper boards managed to squeeze out higher frequency with less voltage.
ROG motherboards are never on the cheap side, so as expected, Hero sits at GBP £459 | USD $500 | AUD $800. This marks Hero as one of the more expensive models available. Is it worth it? From a performance standpoint, no. But, if you require the advanced features/ports and favour the design, then it is something to consider.
Maximus XIII Hero is laden with features and is a solid option if you want to get the most out of Intel’s 11th Gen.
Pros
+ Pleasing design
+ Equipped with plenty of RGB lighting
+ Offers solid performance
+ Offers plenty of USB 3.2 Gen1/2 on back panel
+ Great selection of fan headers/sensors
+ Features two PCIe 4.0 X16 slots
+ Dual Thunderbolt 4 ports
+ Includes WiFi 6E
+ Support for up to 5333MHz DDR4 memory
+ Benefits from a protective backplate
+ Offers four M.2 slots (including PCIe 4.0)
+ VRM/chipset cooling is good
Cons
- Still being supplied with USB 2.0 ports
- Expensive!
+ Pleasing design
+ Equipped with plenty of RGB lighting
+ Offers solid performance
+ Offers plenty of USB 3.2 Gen1/2 on back panel
+ Great selection of fan headers/sensors
+ Features two PCIe 4.0 X16 slots
+ Dual Thunderbolt 4 ports
+ Includes WiFi 6E
+ Support for up to 5333MHz DDR4 memory
+ Benefits from a protective backplate
+ Offers four M.2 slots (including PCIe 4.0)
+ VRM/chipset cooling is good
Cons
- Still being supplied with USB 2.0 ports
- Expensive!
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