ASUS Announces Z490 Series Motherboards

Latest motherboards leverage extreme speed and cutting-edge technologies to maximize the power of 10th Gen Intel® Core™ processors

TAIWAN, Taipei, April 30, 2020 ASUS today announced a new range of Z490 motherboards designed to showcase the full potential of the latest 10th Generation Intel® Core™ processors. Ideal for gamers, enthusiasts and professionals, every ASUS and Republic of Gamers (ROG) Z490 motherboard features improvements and enhancements to take clock speeds to the next level.

The 10th Gen Intel Core processors offer a combination of high thread counts and superfast single-core clocks. The Z490 chipset offers plenty of cutting-edge connectivity options, including a built-in WiFi controller, numerous USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, Intel Optane™ memory and chipset RAID support. ASUS OptiMem III technology ensures better signal integrity, and AI Overclocking technology utilizes a proprietary algorithm to predict optimal clock speed and voltage settings for the motherboard, enabling users to push their CPU’s performance to the limit with a click of a button.

The ASUS Z490 series motherboards will soon be joined by ASUS and ROG H470, B460, and H410 motherboards, giving users more choices to suit their requirements and budgets. For more details about the complete ASUS Z490 lineup, please visit the ASUS Z490 landing page. A guide with specifications and images for the entire lineup of ASUS Z490 series motherboards can be found in the Edge Up Buying Guide.

ROG Maximus XII Extreme

ROG Maximus XII Extreme tops the Z490 lineup and should appeal to builders using top-end CPUs, multiple graphics cards, fast storage and peripherals. A set of MicroFine Alloy chokes works with teamed power stages and ASUS ProCool solid pins to deliver stable power to the Intel Core CPU. Highly conductive thermal pads conduct heat away from the VRM, effectively transferring it to a massive heatsink array. A solid aluminum plate provides additional cooling, dissipating heat from the NVMe storage drives. Maximus XII Extreme also takes advantage of ASUS OptiMem III technology and its daisy-chain topology for improved signal integrity.

Maximus XII Extreme gives builders access to memory clocks of 4800 MHz and beyond, allowing them to explore the upper limits of overclocking. It features out-of-the-box compatibility with over 80% of 4600 MHz DDR4 kits and has an onboard POST code LED display next to the Power-on, Retry and Safe Boot buttons.

Four M.2 slots allow for builds with fast, ample storage, with two situated underneath the main body armor in the middle of the board, and another two on the DIMM.2 card with accompanying heatsinks to ensure sustained and reliable storage performance.

An assortment of USB ports is available, including a next-generation USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Type-C® port capable of speeds of up to 20 Gbps. Three additional USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports — one Type-C and two Type-A — deliver speeds of up to 10 Gbps. Wired connections come by way of an Intel Ethernet I225-V controller that provides 2.5 Gb Ethernet and a Marvell® 10 GbE controller. Those who prefer a cord-free solution can take advantage of WiFi 6 and Bluetooth® 5.1 connectivity.

Maximus XII Extreme has a bundled ThunderboltEX 3-TR card, an Intel‑certified Thunderbolt™ 3 add-on card that provides bi-directional speeds of up to 40 Gbps via a single cable. Additionally, an integrated Thunderbolt 3 header can support up to six devices in a daisy-chain and provide up to 100 watts of power to fast-charge devices.

ROG Maximus XII Apex

ROG Maximus XII Apex has an overclocking-optimized six-layer PCB and shares the same 16