The Intel Z490 Overview: 44+ Motherboards Examined
by Gavin Bonshor on April 30, 2020 10:00 AM ESTASUS ROG Maximus XII Apex
Although extreme overclocking isn't as popular as it once was, ASUS has announced its enthusiast-grade Maximus XII Apex will at some point be making an appearance. Coming with just two memory slots on its ATX-sized frame, the ROG Maximus XII Apex will support up to 64 GB of fast DDR4-5000 memory, with eight SATA ports, and support for three PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slots; one on board, and two via an included ROG.DIMM2 add-on card.
Not just equipped for overclockers and enthusiasts to push memory and Intel's 10th gen desktop process to its limits, the ASUS ROG Maximus XII Apex also includes a Thunderbolt 3 header which adds variation to its uses, eg content creators. It has a varied selection of PCIe support too with two full-length PCIe 3.0 slots which operate at x16, and x8/x8, with a half-length PCIe 3.0 x4 and an additional PCIe 3.0 x1 slot. For networking, it is using Intel's I225-V 2.5 G Ethernet controller, with an Intel AX201 Wi-Fi 6 wireless interface which also adds support for BT 5.1 devices. It will include support for up to 18 x USB ports, but the current configuration isn't known at present.
With overclocking a main focus for the Apex in previous years, it has a 16-phase power delivery for the CPU with 70 A power stages and operates in a teamed configuration with an ASP1405I PWM controller running at 8+0. Providing power to the CPU is a pair of 12 V ATX CPU power inputs.
This page will be updated when more information becomes available to us.
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plonk420 - Sunday, May 3, 2020 - link
noice! thanks for the VRM information! amusingly (to myself), i look at VRM stuff before i look at I/O :Dkwinz - Monday, May 4, 2020 - link
I genuinely don't know why this new chipset exists. It bringa virtually nothing new. DMI 3.0 in a new chipset is a disgrace.Oxford Guy - Thursday, May 7, 2020 - link
"I genuinely don't know why this new chipset exists."Smoke and mirrors is fun?
Landfills are hungry?
mrvco - Monday, May 4, 2020 - link
Gotta keep those mobo mfgs busy I guess. Hopefully Intel’s Groundhog Day antics don’t distract them too much from the B550 boards I’m waiting patiently on.MadAd - Monday, May 4, 2020 - link
Not again, yet another tired selection of ATX clunkers, with a few mandatory ITX thrown in .When on earth are we/the industry going to move on from this prehistoric outdated form format!AdditionalPylons - Tuesday, May 5, 2020 - link
Very glad to see 2.5GbE finally becoming more common. Hopefully this convinces network switch manufacturers to get out some cheaper 2.5+ GbE switches soon.DarkAndHungryGod - Thursday, May 7, 2020 - link
The Intel Smart Sound support is duplicated in the first table, Intel Chipset Comparison, and there is one difference between both entries.duploxxx - Friday, May 8, 2020 - link
conclusion: an amazing high count of motherboards for a wasted CPU generation….who ever believes that this is a platform to buy think twice. Knowing Intel I would not fall into the Multi generationCPU / chipset support..... i am sure the super turbo will look nice from benchmark perspective….
nonoverclock - Thursday, May 21, 2020 - link
I'm upgrading from an i7 4770 and want to get the latest, so for me, I'm quite interested in this gen.joshw351 - Wednesday, May 13, 2020 - link
I like how these mobo manufacturers think they can charge 1k for a motherboard when you can throw a 150-200$ waterblock from EK on a regular mobo.