There are many clever ways to riff on this motherboard’s name, but we’ll spare you the puns and metaphors and dive right in to see if this is the “Hero” motherboard that we’ve been looking for. (Okay, we couldn’t resist.)
Both gamers and content creators will find a lot to like in the Asus ROG Maximus Z790 Hero. It’s well designed and has all of the next-gen features both parties need, such as PCIe Gen 5, Thunderbolt 4 and USB ports, and plenty of M.2 slots. It lacks 10GbE networking, which you would expect with a premium board like this, but that’s far from a deal breaker. Overall this is a fantastic next-gen motherboard with a relatively affordable price tag that will appeal to a wide audience.
Great for both gamers and content creators; Excellent I/O, M.2 drive options, and USB ports; Attractive design and robust build quality;
10GbE networking would be welcomed; Gamer-only PC builds may be better off with the cheaper Strix models;