I'm afraid to use my own phrasing, but Hero is the hero of Asus' Republic of Gamers motherboard series. It is the "entry level" board that most often gets the most user attention and is almost always the first to be released. It joins the ranks of the top-of-the-line Extreme and the overclocking-focused Apex.

The Asus ROG Maximus Z790 Hero (opens in new tab) is similar to its predecessor, the Z690, and shares a similar feature set. However, the Z790 has more PCIe 4.0 lanes and a second-generation optimized electrical design, including faster memory support. For example, the Z690 Hero supports DDR5-6400+, while the Z790 Hero supports DDR5-7800+.

Along with faster memory and out-of-the-box 13th generation CPU support, the Maximus Z790 Hero features exceptional connectivity support, high-quality VRM, and the best of Asus' hardware and firmware engineering expertise.

At $629 / £649 / $1,199 AUD, it seems odd to call the Z790 Hero an entry-level Maximus board. Whether it's the electrical complexity, the engineering challenges, the component cost, or the profit being made somewhere in the retail chain, it's the reality. High-end motherboards from any manufacturer are no longer available inexpensively.

Let's see if Hero has what it takes to win people's hearts, minds, and dollars.

The Maximus Z790 Hero has a mirror-like finish, at least once all the protective plastic is removed. There is a nice looking RGB section above the rear I/O section. It is very tastefully done. We have reached peak RGB and the days of retina-burning disco light shows are behind us. However, there are three ARGB headers and one non-addressable RGB header available.

The board has 8 x 4-pin fan/pump headers, 2 x USB 3.2 Gen2 headers (supporting up to 60W charging), plus headers for four 3.2 Gen1 ports and four 2.0 ports. There is also an onboard power/reset button.

The Z790 Hero has five M.2 slots along with six SATA ports. The layout of the onboard slots is excellent. I've never been a fan of M.2 slots under the primary PCIe slot because they absorb heat from the graphics card, and the Hero overcomes that with aplomb; Asus has done well, and the Z790 Hero is a great example of this.

The two additional M.2 slots are courtesy of a high-quality PCIe add-in card with its own sturdy, heavy heatsink; one slot supports PCIe 5.0, while the other slot supports up to PCIe 4.0.

The VRM heatsink is large and has a large surface area; it fits Intel's "stay-out" socket area, but note that it is sufficiently eroded to potentially interfere with larger coolers. In my case, it's the AIO cooler tube. The only way to install it was to put the tube on the memory slot side. If you have a large cooler, say one with heatpipes sticking out, it is worth doing a little research to see if you can install it.

Speaking of coolers, the Z790 Hero again features holes for mounting legacy LGA1200/LGA115x coolers.

There are top-notch connectivity options on the back. The inclusion of dual Thunderbolt 4 Type-C ports is a nice addition, and this alone accounts for a portion of the board's price. In addition, the addition of six USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports and four Gen 1 ports should suffice for the next few years.

The TB4 port can carry a DP 1.4 signal, and when added to one HDMI 2.1 port, provides the option to support triple displays.

Asus has included a high-class audio solution including ALC4082 audio and ESS Quad DAC; Wi-Fi 6E is expected and 2.5G Intel LAN is basic. It is unfortunate that 5G or 10G LAN is omitted at this price point, but we'll let you decide if that matters to you. With the advent of faster Wi-Fi 6 and 6E, is LAN as important as it once was?" While this is certainly true for NAS users, there are many gamers who no longer use Ethernet.

System Performance

Gaming Performance

Benchmark boards are not as simple as they once were. Motherboard manufacturers tend to be more flexible with power limits. Manually setting baseline parameters means that turbo levels for all cores are removed.

In system benchmarks, the Z790 Hero performed well, sitting at or near the top of the rankings. In gaming, it also compares favorably with other test boards. [but as is often the case, the differences are very small and often within the margin of error. That's not surprising given that the architecture and BIOS microcode of the 13th generation is not much different from the 12th generation Alder Lake and Z690.

When it comes to overclocking, CPU cooling is typically limited before the motherboard is overloaded. Even a high-quality 360mm AIO will approach its limits with a Core i9 13900K (open in new tab) in normal use. As for memory overclocking, the BIOS separates the good boards from the not-so-good ones.

I have a shiny set of G.Skill Trident Z5 DDR5-7200's (stay tuned for a review). Not all boards can reliably run at that speed. In my case, I needed a higher level of IMC voltage to do so, but the Hero certainly can. With a better CPU, I think the Hero will be able to do much more, and in fact, it supports DDR5-7800+. It is the best 4-slot DDR5 board I have ever tested.

ROG boards always carry high expectations, and they rarely disappoint. If you like ROG, and there are millions of you out there, you'll feel right at home with the Asus Maximus Z790 Hero, which reliably overclocks K-series CPUs with DDR5 7000+ memory. Add a fast graphics card and a future PCIe 5.0 SSD and you have a rig that will be ready for 2024 and beyond.

This is a true high-end product that doesn't look so bad compared to very expensive top-end boards. Price-wise, the Z790 Hero is a relative bargain compared to the Maximus Extreme and MSI Godlike. In the real world, however, it is an expensive proposition for an entry-level Maximus; an Asus Strix or TUF board may provide what you need at a more attractive price point.

There is nothing to complain about the feature set, except for the omission of high-speed LAN; forward-looking features such as Thunderbolt 4 and add-in cards with PCIe 5.0 no doubt add to the cost and complexity, but it is still a $600+ motherboard. Building a high-end system with an RTX 4080 (open in new tab) or RX 7900 (open in new tab) GPU will become very expensive as we approach 2023. Inflation sucks.

But ROG products will always be in the premium tier and have an acceptable cost associated with them, and if Asus continues to make well-designed boards with reliable BIOS, fast memory support, and a future-proof feature set, buyers will appear. And you won't be sorry.