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We received five different motherboards from ASUS for the debut of Intel’s 11th Generation CPU, and we are about to examine the fifth and likely finest motherboard of them all. Check out all of our Z590 motherboard reviews to discover all the available models and more. With its large selection of products, ASUS often has something for everyone. ASUS has a product line for you whether you’re searching for more entry-level/mid-range or genuine enthusiast-grade hardware. As we progress through this study, it will become clear why the MAXIMUS series is one of their top motherboard lines, as we will see in the near future.

Aside from its Glacial variation, the ASUS ROG Maximus XIII Extreme is one of the company’s most costly flagship boards. We’ll be looking at it in this review. Is the ROG Maximus XIII Extreme overkill or merely outrageous on the wallet with its extensive feature set and high asking price?

We have the BIG DADDY of ASUS’s motherboards in front of us. A motherboard with an absurd amount of features like the MAXIMUS XIII EXTREME will give you the best of the Z590 Chipset and the i9-11900K from Intel. The main drawback is that there isn’t much to compare it to right now, but hey, let’s see what this beast can accomplish!

The Rocket Lake-S CPUs from Intel are a hybrid of the two. It retrofits the Sunny Cove architecture found in 10nm Ice Lake processors from mobile devices that are now known as Cypress Cove while it is still at a 14nm node. Intel claims that its new cores can produce up to 19% more IPC than Rocket Lake-S from a year ago, yet the top i9 offering loses 2 cores while maintaining parity with the core count and thread count on other SKUs.

In addition to increasing the number of instructions per clock, Intel is also officially supporting DDR4-3200 memory with a few restrictions. Only the i9-11900K guarantees 3200MHz compatibility with Gear 1, whereas other processors are only officially supported at 2933MHz. The memory controller will essentially operate at 1:1 under Gear 1 and 1:2 under Gear 2, according to gears. The company warns that Gear 2 could result in a slight performance hit and increase in latency.

Additionally, Rocket Lake-S will now support PCIe 4.0 lanes directly through the CPU. Although the 500 series chipsets itself can only support PCIe 3.0 lanes, up to 20 PCIe 4.0 lanes are set aside for use. After that, more about the chipset.

Additionally, these CPUs will feature the original Tiger Lake processors’ Intel Xe graphics. Additionally, AVX-512 workloads and Intel Deep Learning Boost, which boosts VNNI for better AI performance, are now supported.

A Closer Examine of ASUS ROG Maximus XIII Extreme Z590 

This is not only the priciest Z590 board we have examined, but it is also the only EATX board we have come across. Big, heavy, and massive are insufficient adjectives to adequately describe this beast; we require a completely new word! Go big or go home, as they say in America, but ASUS is definitely not going home! Now is the time to take a closer look at all the ASUS ROG Maximus XIII Extreme Z590 has to offer, which is crammed with more features than one could possibly think.

On this board, ASUS really had no alternative but to use dual 8-pin EPS power connectors. Personally, I can see how they could have wanted to add a third but were unable to do so. Observe how they are also separated from one another rather being placed close to one another as is customary. We have a WB SENSOR and a single chassis fan header in between them. You can track temperature, flow rate, and leak detection using this sensor for water blocks. The EXTREME features on this board don’t even begin to scratch the surface yet.

Now let’s move on to the CPU fan headers, where we can also make out around half of the DeBug LED output.

We have 4 DIMM slots for RAM, which can accommodate up to 128GB of DDR4 RAM running at 5,333MHz in OC mode. Now, this is common to the majority of Z590 boards that we have observed and is likely caused by RAM and CPU resource constraints.

This is when things once again get fascinating! The DIMM.2 slot resembles a RAM slot, although it is made specifically for M.2 SSDs. There are a total of FIVE M.2 drives on the MAXIMUS XIII EXTREME thanks to the adaptor that ASUS has provided for this slot and which can fit two M.2 drives on it.

With 18+2 paired power stages, each of which is rated at 100 Amps, ASUS is once more operating in beast mode. This is completely insane and will enable you to test the limits of any CPU and board, even when using LN2 for benching!

As part of the overall EXTREME motif, ASUS placed a few buttons next to the DIMM.2 slot. One will let you operate the motherboard without having to attach a conventional power button. It will be simple for you to restart your system if you press the FLEX KEY button. The AURA illumination may be turned on or off, and you can program the FLEX key to boot into safe mode, among other things.

A huge cover spans the whole bottom half of the board, leaving only the PCIe slots and the very bottom exposed. You may access three of the M.2 drives by taking off this cover. When using an 11th Gen CPU, all three of these M.2 slots are PCIe 4.0 compatible. While the top slot only supports PCIe 4.0, the lower two slots also accept PCIe 3 M.2 SSDs. You’ll need to use the wonderful DIMM.2 extension card if you want to use a SATA-based M.2!

CABLES

1-to-3 ARGB splitter cable	1
1-to-4 fan splitter cable	2
RGB extension cable	1
ROG weave SATA 6G cables	3
3-in-1 Thermistor cables pack	1

ROG FAN CONTROLLER

ROG Fan Controller	1
Fan EXT PWR cable	1
ARGB input cable	1
USB input cable	1
ROG Fan Controller 3M Mounting tape	1
Fan Controller manual	1

MISCELLANEOUS

ASUS Wi-Fi moving antennas	1
Q-connector	1
ROG CLAVIS DAC	1
ROG logo plate stickers	1
ROG screwdriver	1
ROG stickers	1
ROG thank you card	1
ROG Graphics card holder	1

Conclusion on ASUS ROG Maximus XIII Extreme Z590

This board is not intended for regular users, as I’ve already stated. It’s made for expert overclockers who want to make their 11th generation CPUs bleed and wail! You can control the board precisely how you want and push your components to their limits thanks to ASUS’ addition of all the hardware and customizability required. To ensure that you are getting every last bit of performance from your 11th Gen CPU, ASUS has also added software and AI improvements. Although pricey, this board will enable you to push your components to the point of death, just millimeters away!

The quality was evident as soon as I removed the board from the packaging. It must be the heaviest motherboard I’ve ever had the pleasure of using, literally. Although I am aware that size doesn’t always indicate quality, in this instance it does! A free-range LN2 dispenser could be the only thing ASUS could have added to this board. The board performs just as well as it looks and feels wonderful! This Z590 board, I’m forced to admit, is the highest quality one I’ve had on my test bench in recent weeks.

For the MAXIMUS XIII EXTREME, I nearly feel as though I should eliminate this category. This board doesn’t receive a fair shake because, although performing on par with the majority of other Z590 boards, it wasn’t made to operate at stock settings. When it comes to reviewing motherboards for a launch, I simply don’t have the time or room for the ASUS ROG Maximus XIII Extreme Z590, which is built for tweaking, configuring, and a ton of LN2, which I just don’t have! What I will say is that it will serve you quite fine even if you occasionally use it for simple gaming; there is no reason to believe differently.

For this board, there is simply too much to write, so I’ll just include a few of the examples that are still fresh in my mind. The DIMM.2, which is effectively a RAM slot that holds two M.2 drives, is one of the features I loved. This is a fantastic method to add more space to your board! Although I never have the chance to use the FLEX KEY button correctly, I think it might have a significant influence if you used this board on a regular basis. I am also a huge lover of this button.

Are you only looking to play games on a regular basis? If so, don’t; instead, look into the MAXIMUS XIII HERO. Do you NEED to maximize the overclocking capabilities of your brand-new Intel 11th Generation CPU? Then, sure, you should get the ASUS ROG Maximus XIII Extreme Z590, but if this is the case, I’m also assuming that the cost won’t deter you too much because you’re probably used to paying top dollar for the gear you need to accomplish your goals!