The Asus ROG Maximus XII Extreme is not only one hell of a mouthful, but also one of the best Intel Z490 motherboards released for the new 10th generation Comet Lake processors. But it is also one of the most expensive motherboards. Really expensive. In other words, you can build a perfectly respectable gaming rig for the amount of money Asus is expecting to spend on the Max XII.

However, modest motherboards are often the fringes of a PC gaming setup. Sure, it's an essential component of any build, but by itself it rarely has a direct impact on a machine's gaming performance. With the chipset's functionality ported to the processor, besides powering valuable components and patrolling the system's I/O, Mobo is quickly becoming the superstar component's place.

Graphics cards, and CPUs, are what drive frame rates. [But the Asus Z490 Maximus XII Extreme is no humble motherboard. This motherboard is a superstar component in its own right and comes with a ridiculous bundle. But there's something you don't get with a Z490 board that costs only a quarter of the price.

Let's start with the basics: the Intel Z490 chipset. This is the highest-specification version of the 400 series chipset designed specifically for Comet Lake processors and is the ideal companion for the flagship Core i9 10900K processor. The 10th generation chips are not backward compatible thanks to the new LGA 1200 socket, so if you opt for a new Intel CPU, you will also need a new motherboard.

A potential bright spot, however, is the Z490's expected compatibility with the next-generation Intel chips, currently codenamed "Rocket Lake." But that's another story for another time. After all, those are not expected until next year.

There are also lower-spec chipsets like the B460, and they are more affordable than the Z490 boards - especially this unusually expensive ROG mobo, but you'll miss out on the overclocking fun. This basically means forgetting about K-series CPUs as well.

However, this is as iterative a chipset update as possible from the previous generation Z390; the PCIe revision is the same, without the PCIe 4.0 fun of the mainstream and high-end AMD AM4 chipsets. What is new is support for USB 3.2 instead of USB 3.1 and WiFi 6.

Otherwise, it's the same as before.

Perhaps that is why Asus feels compelled to go all out with the Maximus XII Extreme. Or maybe it's because MSI has degrassified its ultra-expensive, ultra-enthusiast boards for the new chipset generation. After all, last year's 777-pound figure for the X570 Godlike was all arbitrary pricing. It was more about marketing the first 7nm generation of AMD processors than actual value.

The Max XII Extreme is the pinnacle of motherboard extremes. It is an event board, and taking it out of the box is an experience. And it is also a bit hard. This motherboard is heavy, beautifully crafted, rugged, and packed with everything Asus engineers can throw at it.

But the Thunderbolt expansion board, DIMM.2 risers with extra-long M.2 sockets, sturdy heatspreaders, 16-phase power design, a bevy of fan connectors (and extenders), and a glittering array of RGB bling, the Max XII Extreme's selling point is the included interchangeable headed screwdriver. Oh, and a braided SATA cable.

While anachronistic now that NVMe SSDs with 4TB and 8TB of super-fast storage have arrived, these braided cables are truly satisfying.

Frankly, it's a pretty underwhelming bundle and feels like a pure premium motherboard package. I won't say that this motherboard is a bargain for all the extra equipment that comes with this powerful motherboard, but it is well worth what you paid.

And it is a powerful motherboard. However, when compared to the Z490 MSI Godlike, it is, generally speaking, a slightly underperforming board. That goes for both CPU and game metrics as well. However, where it falls short of expectations is in the longer video encoding test, X264, where the MSI board performs much better than the Maximus XII Extreme.

However, if you are going to do serious overclocking with the new Intel processors, you want this board on your side. While I'm no pro at OCing with LN2, the Max XII got the most out of my 10900K chip, and with HyperThreading disabled, I was able to push 5.4 GHz on 10 cores, but all my sample CPU could do was to push 5.4 GHz with all the bells and 5.3GHz with Whistley on is the limit.

On a lower spec Z490 board, this is still not 100% possible; I also tested the MSI Z490 Gaming Carbon WiFi and found the chip throttling thermally even when undervolted to below 100°C. MSI Godlike and Asus Maximus XII Extreme did not, and the Asus board remained much cooler.

Given that Intel Comet Lake CPUs are some of the most demanding chips we have seen in terms of power consumption, the extreme power components on the top of the Z490 board will make it worthwhile. But only if you are obsessed with overclocking the silicon nut when it comes to the top K-series CPUs. This is a Core i9 motherboard; for other 10th generation chips, you'll be looking further down the stack.

That's because this kind of motherboard cannot help but talk about price. Sure, this is the kind of motherboard that screams "money is no object," but for the majority of us PC gamers, that's not possible, and it's definitely only going to get tougher.

The MaxXII Extreme has a huge amount of additional parts, and these are parts that will help you build super high-end, not just stuffed into a box to make you feel heavy.

The same issue applies to MSI's Z490 Godlike, which is slightly more powerful and has a similarly brazen price. Both are borderline ridiculous products, and the extra performance you might squeeze out of either is nowhere near the amount of money you'd have to spend extra over a more standard Z490 board. Personally, if I had to buy one or the other, it would be for overclocking, and for the simple reason that the Maximus XII Extreme has the advantage over the Asus.

I am still trying to apply some logic to a possible purchase, even though these are purely halo products. They are range-topping examples of what is possible when the highest spec components are used and all the features a user needs are included. one could argue that on the AM4 platform, Godlike at £777 does not make much sense, but the Comet Lake chip could use all the help it can get based on platform, thermal, and power.

However, you won't be buying a Maximus XII Extreme. Even if you choose the Core i9 10900K as your CPU, it makes no financial sense for anyone.