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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GardenSausage - Monday, September 21, 2020 - link
Looking for any help. I just bought the Z490 Gaming X AX. 9/20/20. I got it up and running but can not figure out how to get any of my video cards to work. Have gotten it to post once but defaulted to the onboard. I have updated my BIOS of F3 I belive. Run threw many settings and still no life to my GPU. I get 5 Brapps then a power down. The MP gets to the GPU illumination boot light and cant get past it. I have tries my GTX 770sc and 980ftw with no luck. Both are EVGA. Please any ideas on how to get my BIOS stable.Win 10 Home
i5- 10400
16gb G.Skill @3200
M.2 1tb
800w PSU (Coolermaster I think)
Atty57 - Monday, June 28, 2021 - link
I liked the fact that the motherboard has more than one nvme (gen 4) slots. The capacitors used are of high quality and cooling material used is also of high grade. The RGB could have been better along the edges though it does the work well . There are multiple fan headers so you won't have any problems regarding that. And the water pump header is also a nice touch. Great ram frequency too.At this price point couldn't have asked for anything more.