Our Verdict
Pros
- Widely available for hundreds less than its launch price
- Excellent cooling and dual Thunderbolt 4
- Strong VRM and six M.2 slots
- BIOS design and functionality
- 60W USB PD
Cons
- No upgrade path
- No 10G LAN
Should you buy it?
Introduction, Specifications, and Pricing
The launch of Intel's initial Core Ultra 200S CPU family was a bit lackluster. Though they offered excellent multithreading performance, the gaming performance was disappointing. The Core Ultra Plus refresh, led by the impressive Core Ultra 7 270K Plus, went a long way to rekindling interest in Arrow Lake. And as a result, there's been an uptick in demand for Intel Z890 motherboards. Z890 was always a feature-rich platform, and aside from longevity, it matches AMD X870E in capabilities (depending on the model, of course).
The ASUS ROG Maximus Z890 Hero was launched in late 2024. So, why are we reviewing it nearly two years later? Firstly, there are the aforementioned refresh CPUs. The second reason is the price. The Maximus Z890 Hero cost a whopping $699 at launch. It was always an excellent motherboard, but at that price, it was a tough sell. Now it is widely available for well under $450. That's game-changing, and it deserves a re-evaluation.
The ROG Maximus Z890 Hero might not be the newest board on the market, but its feature set shows it can compete with newer releases. It's pretty much got the lot. You get 320MHz Wi-Fi 7, plenty of fast USB ports including dual Thunderbolt 4, six M.2 slots, dual LAN, excellent cooling, and a typically refined and feature-rich ASUS BIOS. It also has 60W USB PD on the front 20Gbps port.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Model | ASUS ROG Maximus Z890 Hero |
| CPU Socket | LGA 1851 |
| Chipset | Intel Z890 |
| CPU Support | Intel Core Ultra 200 series |
| Memory | 4x DDR5 DIMM slots, up to 256GB, up to 9200+ MT/s (OC), Non-ECC, Clocked Unbuffered DIMM (CUDIMM) |
| Expansion slots | 2x PCIe x16, 1x PCIe x1 |
| Storage | 6x M.2, 4x SATA, 1x SlimSAS |
| Ethernet | Intel I226V 2.5G, Realtek RTL8126 5G |
| Wireless & Bluetooth | Intel BE200 Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 |
| USB | Up to 2x Thunderbolt 4, 1x 20Gbps, 6x 10Gbps, 8x 5Gbps, 4x USB 2.0 |
| Audio | Realtek ALC4082 |
| Form Factor | ATX |
| MSRP | $699 |
Other key features include a powerful 22-phase VRM with a large heatsink, three expansion slots, DDR5-9200+ support, an unusual SlimSAS connector, and an unmistakably ROG aesthetic.
The ASUS ROG Maximus Z890 Hero launched at $699. It's now available at Amazon for $413 and Newegg for as low as $428. And, in fact, it's been available for well under $400 recently. To be fair, other boards such as the GIGABYTE Z890 AORUS Master and MSI MEG Z890 Unify-X are available with similar discounts. It's a shame Z890 is nearing the end of its life, as the platform offers leading-edge features that won't improve dramatically when the next-gen arrives.
Packaging, Accessories, and Overview
Best Deals: ASUS ROG Maximus Z890 Hero ATX Motherboard
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After 20 years, the ASUS ROG brand is the most widely known in the component market, and its box designs are instantly recognizable.
As with all motherboard boxes, the back highlights the key features and provides a detailed spec rundown.
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The board comes with a comprehensive set of accessories. The Wi-Fi antenna is adjustable and well-built. It's nice to see a flash drive with drivers and utilities - a rarity these days. In this picture, you can see a bottle opener, a welcome card, a quick-start guide, and a set of stickers.
Frequently Asked Questions
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What current price ranges and retailers are mentioned for the ASUS ROG Maximus Z890 Hero in this review?
Which USB Type-C ports support 60W USB Power Delivery and what additional connection is required to enable that feature?
What form of onboard audio does the board use and what extra DAC/component does ASUS include?
What VRM phase and amperage configuration does the Maximus Z890 Hero employ, and how did its VRM temperatures fare in testing?
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Next up are the more regular accessories, including a full set of M.2 spacers, a thermal pad for a 22110 SSD, Q-Slide accessories, a front-panel connector, 4 SATA cables, and an RGB extension cable. The final accessory at the lower right is a bracket for installing an optional DDR5 cooling fan (not included).
Motherboard Overview
The Maximus Z890 Hero, like many ROG boards, has prominent ROG branding across the board. I really like the look of this board. It's a bit more subtle with much less silk-screening. It gives a more refined and less in-your-face impression. Even the ARGB section atop the I/O area looks classy. The board includes 3 ARGB headers. More than a few ASUS motherboards end up in showcase builds.
The USB header complement is excellent. The highlight is the Type-C 20Gbps port that supports an impressive 60W PD. To use it, you'll need to plug in an 8-pin power connector to the port located next to the 20Gbps header. The second Type-C port supports 10Gbps. It's joined by four additional 5Gbps ports and four USB 2.0 ports. That's plenty of flexibility for a wide range of cases.
The board includes an impressive 8 fan headers, a thermistor header, a PCIe mode switch, a debug LED readout, and a power button. The FlexKey is a button that can be set to reset the system, enter safe mode, or enter the BIOS. You can choose what it does in the BIOS.
The Maximus Z890 Hero doesn't go all-in on build-friendly features. The primary M.2 heatsink includes a quick-release mechanism, and the Wi-Fi antenna uses plugs, but the secondary M.2 heatsink relies on screws, and the PCIe slots are the traditional variety.
The rear of the board is covered with a backplate that helps to cool the rear of the VRM area.
The Z890 Hero has four DIMM slots that support up to DDR5-9200+ speeds and 256GB of memory. That speed isn't especially high, though I'm sure tweakers can reach more with a capable CUDIMM kit and memory controller. But with current RAM pricing, high-speed memory kits have become all but irrelevant.
We also see the pair of Type-C headers and the auxiliary power connector for PD support, the power and FlexKey buttons, and a bank of four fan headers.
The board offers two full-length PCIe x16 slots and a single PCIe x1 slot. The top slot supports PCIe 5.0 x16 via the CPU. The other x16 slots support PCIe 4.0 x4 electrically. The x1 slot supports PCIe 4.0. Both PCIe 4.0 slots are connected to the chipset.
The board supports up to six M.2 SSDs. The topmost slot supports PCIe 5.0 x4. Two others support PCIe 5.0 as well, but using either will reduce the primary PCIe slot from x16 to x8. The other three slots support PCIe 4.0.
On the right, we have four SATA ports. The connector adjacent to these is a SlimSAS port. These are rare on consumer motherboards, which is a shame because it's a flexible connector. It supports NVMe SSDs, or you can configure it to provide four additional SATA ports with an optional cable. The Z890 Hero doesn't include this cable, though. I think it's a real shame connectors such as SlimSAS or U.2 never caught on, because discrete drives solve some of the issues inherent to PCB-mounted M.2 drives. But that's a column idea for another day.
Of the two M.2 heatsinks, only the primary one features a quick-release mechanism. It's a real beauty that has a large surface area, and it attaches with a well-designed toolless mechanism. It performs very well in practice.
A single large plate cools up to five drives and is attached with screws. It should go without saying that you'll need good case airflow if you populate all five slots, particularly if you have a high-TDP graphics card.
The Z890 Hero's VRM is excellent. It includes a 22(110A)+1(90A)+2(90A)+2(80A) design for the VCCCORE, VCCGT, VCCSA, and VNNAON, respectively. That's easily enough to handle a fully loaded, LN2-cooled 285K, meaning it will handle anything a more worldly user will ever throw at it.
The accompanying cooling is just as impressive. Large metal heatsinks keep everything well in check. Core Ultra 200S processors aren't as demanding as their 14th Gen predecessors, and we recorded a peak VRM temperature of just 54 degrees.
The socket area is tight compared to some motherboard models. I'd recommend confirming with your cooler manufacturer to ensure that very large air coolers or AIOs with protruding pipes are compatible with the Maximus Z890 Hero.
The rear I/O of the Maximus Z890 Hero stands out thanks to its USB port complement. Dual Thunderbolt 4 Type-C ports both support DP 2.1. They are joined by five 10Gbps ports and four 5Gbps ports, for 11 total. One of the five 10Gbps ports is Type-C.
A Realtek RTL8126 controller provides the 5G LAN port, while an Intel I226-V controller provides 2.5G. I'd like to see 10G, but given the board is nearly 2 years old, I can forgive that. The Intel BE200 Wi-Fi 7 add-in card supports 320MHz connections with up to 5.8Gbps of bandwidth. It also supports Bluetooth 5.4.
Next are the audio ports, consisting of 3.5mm line-in and line-out ports and S/PDIF. A Realtek ALC4082 codec drives these. ASUS added an ESS Sabre ES9219 DAC and additional circuitry. It's about as good as onboard audio gets. To improve on it, you'll need to step up to an external audio solution.
Finally, there's a single HDMI port, CMOS clear, and BIOS flashback buttons.
UEFI and Test System
UEFI
Anyone familiar with tweaking ROG boards already knows that their BIOS is packed with functionality, from the basic to the esoteric. Though I am intimately familiar with ASUS BIOS, I've always found them to have a learning curve a little steeper than some competitors. That's only for users navigating the advanced section, though. Most set-and-forget users will find what they need on the EZ-Mode page. Such settings include fan controls, boot device priority, and XMP.
Like most ASUS boards, the fan control page is top-notch, while the Q-Dashboard page helps with troubleshooting. It lists the important headers and ports, which show a green light if they're populated. It's an easy way to troubleshoot a problematic component or peripheral.
Test System
- CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus - Buy from Amazon
- GPU: MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super Ventus 3X - Buy from Amazon
- RAM: G.Skill Trident Z Neo RGB 2x16GB DDR5-6000 CL30 - Buy from Amazon
- Cooler: Cooler Master MasterLiquid PL360 Flux - Buy from Amazon
- OS Storage: Teamgroup T-Force Z540 2TB - Buy from Amazon
- Power Supply: Super Flower Leadex Titanium 850W - Buy from Amazon
- OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro - Buy from Amazon
Benchmarks - Rendering and Encoding
Cinebench 2024
Cinebench 2024 is a reliable, widely used benchmark that measures both single- and multi-threaded performance. Note that all our benchmark testing used the latest available Windows updates.
We've switched over to the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus for ongoing Z890 motherboard reviews. It's a good start for the Maximus Z890 Hero.
Blender
Intel's Core Ultra CPUs perform well in this test thanks to their high core count. We use the Whitelands demo file and record how long it takes to render the image.
Blender is all about CPU grunt, and the margins here are small.
Handbrake
Handbrake is a simple-to-use video encoding and transcoding application. Here, we convert a 4K movie trailer to 1080p. The results below show the average FPS, with higher values indicating the task will take less time to complete.
Handbrake is more sensitive to memory performance. The Z890 Hero paired with a 270K Plus performs well in this test.
Benchmarks - File Compression and Memory Latency
7Zip
7Zip is a commonly used free file compression and decompression app. It's very sensitive to changes in memory speed and latency, and scales with the number of CPU threads.
Strong memory performance helps the Z890 Hero here. Also, note the significant uplift the 270K Plus achieves over the 285K. Not bad at all for a refresh.
AIDA64 Memory Latency
Memory latency has been an area where Intel has traditionally held an advantage. Chiplet architectures inevitably add some latency compared to monolithic chips. The real-world benefits aren't that important, though.
The 270K Plus owns the 285K! The Hero again performs well compared to other Z890 boards.
Benchmarks - 3DMark
3DMark Storage
UL's newest 3DMark SSD Gaming Test is the most comprehensive SSD gaming test ever devised. It is superior to testing against games themselves because, as a trace, it is much more consistent than variations that will occur between runs of the actual game.
It's in the top spot for the Z890 Hero.
3DMark Time Spy Extreme
Time Spy Extreme has lost favor as a graphics benchmark to Speed Way and Steel Nomad, but its CPU test is still a good measure of multi-core performance.
It's another strong result for the Maximus Z890 Hero, though the margins are small, with only a couple of hundred points separating the boards by CPU score.
Benchmarks - Gaming
Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077 is brutal on graphics cards, but when features like ray tracing are disabled, it becomes more sensitive to differences in CPU and memory performance.
Gaming was a weakness of the 285K, and it's impressive to see the uplift the 270K Plus achieves, particularly in minimum FPS. Also, it's no surprise that the motherboard makes little difference in graphically limited scenarios.
Horizon Zero Dawn
When using the 'favor performance' preset, Horizon Zero Dawn can achieve high frame rates with powerful graphics cards.
The differences here are negligible. But a win is a win. Again, these results show the boards with the 270K Plus easily outperform the more expensive 285K.
Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition
Metro Exodus received an update that added improved DLSS support, enhanced ray tracing features, and variable rate shading, among other things. Still, with a powerful graphics card, it is affected by CPU and memory performance at 1080p, though less so with a card like the RTX 4070 Ti Super.
Only a few frames cover the 270K-equipped boards in this test.
VRM and SSD Temperatures
These tests highlight the differences among each motherboard's cooling assemblies. Each board is subjected to a 20-minute Cinebench loop, while the SSD test records the peak temperature during the lengthy 3DMark Storage test.
A peak temperature of 54 degrees is an impressive result. A 270K Plus simply isn't as demanding as the nuclear 14900K was.
The Maximus Z890 Hero's primary SSD heatsink is top-notch. It's built well, and the retention mechanism is excellent. 54 degrees is well below the throttling point of a high-performance PCIe 5.0 SSD.
Final Thoughts
Two years back, the ASUS ROG Maximus Z890 Hero debuted as a very fine, but very expensive motherboard. The lackluster reception of first-generation Arrow Lake CPUs and strong competition from AMD alternatives didn't help. Fast forward to today, and the 200 Plus series has been well-received, thanks to performance improvements and excellent value for money. The Z890 Hero's eye-watering $700 price has also been slashed. I've seen it for under $400, meaning it's approaching half of its launch price. Combine the Hero's value for money, a feature-rich platform, and CPU performance improvements, and the ROG Maximus Z890 Hero has become something special.
Now, it's true that the Z890 platform is nearing the end of its life, and that has to factor into a purchase decision, but Z890 and a Core Ultra Plus CPU won't become irrelevant overnight. What will Z990 offer? DDR6? PCIe 6.0? Wi-Fi 8? That'll be a no to all three. Thunderbolt 5 is likely, and that may be the platform's biggest upgrade. Of course, you'll get support for faster (possibly much faster) CPUs, and an upgrade path, but if the Z890 Hero cost $700 at launch, then you just know the Z990 version will cost a lot more in this crazy market.
Horses for courses... If you're the kind of gamer playing on a GPU up to something like a 5060 Ti, or you're bringing an older card to your new build, do you need a super powerful CPU that won't magically boost FPS in graphically limited scenarios? In that case, Z890 is still relevant.
Anyway, enough about the platform; let's shift focus to the board itself. At its widely available price of between $400 and $450, the ASUS ROG Maximus Z890 Hero offers near flagship-tier features for a compelling price. You get a top-spec VRM with excellent cooling, support for up to six M.2 SSDs, 320MHz Wi-Fi 7, dual LAN, classy audio, Thunderbolt 4, 60W USB PD, and a typically refined and mature BIOS chock-full of settings to tweak. About the only thing missing is 10G LAN.
In fairness, many Z890 boards have seen major discounts over their lifetimes. The GIGABYTE Z890 AORUS Master is one example. Either board will give you flagship-tier features. Hefty discounts are no doubt an effort to reduce inventories as the launch of Nova Lake creeps closer.
The only thing stopping us from giving the ROG Maximus Z890 Hero a gold award is the lack of an upgrade path. It's a fine, mature, refined board with fantastic specs, strong performance, and great value for money. If you can not wait for Nova Lake and you prefer Intel over AMD, it's a board that deserves strong consideration.
