There’s a lot to take in here and it’s going to take a couple more motherboard reviews to really squeeze out everything and standardize my opinion on the platform. As of right now, Intel’s 12th-gen CPU has given Intel the lead once again in some performance test which is enough to test AMD’s lead and for the majority of those covering Intel to give them the gaming performance crown. I’m proud enough to proclaim the same claim as well and I play enough games on all platforms to appreciate what’s a meaningful performance increase. Back to our motherboard, the ASUS ROG MAXIMUS Z690 HERO is the gateway model the Z690 ROG products. It serves as a sampler to what ROG offers and a lot of what we cover earlier in this article doesn’t begin to describe the excellent quality-of-life additions that ASUS has included in their new motherboards.
The PCI-E Q-Release button, the M.2 Q-Latch, the backwards compatibility mounting holes, a 20-phase power delivery design, these are just some of the items you normally don’t add to your checklist but the MAXIMUS Z690 HERO checks them off right off the bat. Little things like will probably not be included with other brands’ boards in this generation but by the arrival of B660 or Z790, expect them to be commonplace.
So let’s focus more than the strengths of this board aside from what we’ve mentioned already. As mentioned, the board’s strength in DIY is fairly strong but add to that the BIOS FlashBack function and Clear CMOS buttons readily available from the back along with onboard buttons, make it an excellent board when troubleshooting. I/O and connectivity is rich when it comes to USB and Thunderbolt is a nice option to have as well but won’t really see much action given the amount of TB devices available in the market right now. I do have to point out that it is such a disappointment to see only 2.5GbE on this board rather than 10GbE. As the interface becomes more prevalent, ASUS should stick with one LAN option instead of varying them across products. Still, this is a company that puts single 2.5GbE ports on switches for whatever reason they them a 2.5GbE uplink would mean anything.
In that same vein, ROG’s Hyper M.2 card seems pretty straightforward but some little quirks that some may not find out until they use up all the slots. I do feel the board alone has plenty of M.2 slots and the card is more of a novelty but for those that want to use it, do know that it has toggles in the BIOS options that you need to setup to make it work.
Speaking of BIOS, overclocking options are rich in this board. Far richer than any previous HERO class boards we’ve seen from ASUS. This may be primarily due to Intel’s large assortment of tweakability options like individual AVX offsets, specific voltages, core disabling options, etc. A lot of this settings you would expect from an Extreme or APEX-class board but its to see ASUS going all out with this board.
Special mention to ASUS’ AI features that made my overclocking discovery quite less challenging especially as I went into boards that lacked those features for this review series.
Wrapping everything up, the ASUS ROG MAXIMUS Z690 HERO is a vast improvement over previous HERO-class motherboards and for a good reason; at its current asking price, it has make a compelling argument for it to standout as the ROG STRIX presents a compelling case for Z690 motherboard especially if you just want a gaming rig. ASUS smartly made the distinction quite clearer with the large different in overall build and component quality. While the ROG Strix is a very high-quality board, the ROG Z690 lineup sits on a class of their own. So much so that even AORUS Z690 MASTER which is practically an AORUS XTREME Lite Version barely ties it for build quality.
And before I end this review, I did not mention the Polymo Lighting in this review. That’s the lighting array in the I/O shroud of the HERO. This is the only lighting on this board and while some may like it, its a rather gimmicky concept in lighting, something a proper LCD could’ve taken done better with. Still, its decent enough if you want a Vegas strip billboard for ASUS on your board. Personally, it lacks customization option, something the dotted AnimeMetrix-inspired look suggests.
In a time where components and raw materials are rare and other components are extortionately high, a product has to have a compelling enough reason to really justify its cost. At $700, the ROG MAXIMUS Z690 HERO, despite its entry-level distinction, has some big shoes to fill and its well-rounded feature set and excellent build quality make it the go-to starter board if you want a foundation that matches the asking price of the Core i7-12700K or Core i9-12900K.
ASUS backs the ROG MAXIMUS Z690 HERO with a 3-year warranty. It receives our B2G Recommended Seal and B2G Gold Award for ease-of-use.