Asus ROG MAXIMUS Z790 APEX ENCORE (90MB1FX0-M0EAY0)

The Asus ROG MAXIMUS Z790 APEX ENCORE is a rare example of a true extreme overclocking board that is ready to set gigahertz records when paired with the latest versions of Intel Core i9 processors. A key feature of the device is its ultra-powerful 26-phase power subsystem, equipped with aluminum radiators and active cooling of the power circuits, which guarantees stability and reliability even under extreme loads in an open test bench and cooling with liquid nitrogen.

It is equally important that the board comes with an impressive set of tools for optimizing and overclocking the system. The so-called ROG Overclocker’s Toolkit includes Safe BOOT, BCLK, RETRY buttons, Slow Mode, Pause, RSVD and BIOS switches, as well as the proprietary ASUS AI Overclocking AI “optimizer”. The latter provides broad control over system performance for both experienced veterans and beginners, giving the opportunity to choose the optimal configuration for the processor and cooling system.

Asus ROG MAXIMUS Z790 APEX ENCORE operates under the strict guidance of the Hi-End Intel Z790 chipset. It guarantees support for DDR5 memory and the latest PCI-E 5.0 interface, which is actively used by modern video cards and SSD drives. The four available DIMM slots can accommodate up to 4 DDR5-8000 sticks of 48 GB each, resulting in a huge 192 GB of memory, which significantly exceeds the requirements of modern games.

And support for XMP and AMP II ensures ease of configuration and memory optimization. The board is designed for use with the most powerful Intel Core processors of the 12th, 13th and 14th generations (Alder Lake, Raptor Lake and Raptor Lake Refresh). Other features of the device include an Intel LAN controller with a bandwidth of 2.5 Gbps and a wireless module that supports the new Wi-Fi 7 standard and is backward compatible with earlier versions of Wi-Fi.

As is traditional for the ROG Strix series, the board is equipped with a high-quality ROG SupremeFX audio chip based on the Realtek ALC4080 audio path with a built-in Savitech SV3H712 amplifier and support for virtual multi-channel audio. And on the rear panel there are USB ports of various types, including USB 4 and Thunderbolt 4. And along the perimeter of the board there are generously scattered connectors for liquid cooling systems and LED strips that can be connected to the Asus Aura Sync backlighting system.