[Hardware] ASUS ROG Maximus XIII Z590 Motherboards Leak Out, ROG Maximus XIII Extreme Glacial & ROG Maximus XIII HERO

[_Happy boy]

 

ASUS's next-generation ROG Maximus XIII motherboards based on the Z590 chipset and designed for Intel's Rocket Lake Desktop CPUs have leaked out. The pictures were posted by Twitter Fellow, Harukaze5719, and include the ROG Maximus XIII Extreme Glacial and the ROG Maximus XIII HERO motherboards.

ASUS's ROG Maximus XIII Z590 Motherboards For Intel's 11th Gen Rocket Lake Desktop CPUs Leak Out, Include ROG Maximus XIII Extreme Glacial & ROG Maximus XIII HERO
The two motherboards that have been pictured art part of the ASUS ROG Maximus XIII family and will feature the Z590 chipset which offers full support for Intel Rocket Lake Desktop CPUs and also carries PCIe Gen 4.0 support. There are two motherboards that have leaked out, the ROG Maximus XIII Extreme Glacial and the ROG Maximus XIII HERO. Both of these motherboards will be priced at very different price points so let's start by talking about their looks and features.

ASUS ROG Maximus XIII Extreme Glacial Z590 Motherboard
The ASUS ROG Maximus XIII Extreme Glacial is as high-end as ASUS's Z590 motherboard lineup can get. The main difference between this and the standard Extreme variant is that the Glacial includes a pre-installed water block and is primarily aimed at custom-loop cooled PCs.

The board features a dual 8-pin connector configuration to power the CPU socket, has four DDR4 DIMM slots which will be able to support up to 128 GB capacities at some really fast speeds There also seems to be a new version of the DIMM.2 expander slot which features a silver metallic color instead of the matte black colors it used before. There are several buttons for overclocking & fine-tuning the board and even voltage measurement points that are right next to the DIMM.2 slot that is essential for enthusiasts and overclockers.

Expansion slots include two PCIe 4.0 x16 and a single PCIe 4.0 x4 slot. The motherboard itself has two M.2 slots, both of which sit beneath the aluminum front cover while the PCH also gets cooled by the custom-loop water block. The DIMM.2 slot will allow for two additional M.2 slots though we don't know if they will operate at Gen 3 or Gen 4 speeds. Storage includes 6 SATA III ports and dual USB 3.0/3.2 front panel headers.

ASUS ROG Maximus XIII HERO Z590 Motherboard
Moving over to the ASUS ROG Maximus XIII HERO, this mainstream ROG Z590 motherboard will be priced at around $400 US. The motherboard seems to carry WiFi so it looks like we won't see a non WiFi implementation of this motherboard within the Z590 generation and only one model will exist. The CPU is once again powered by dual 8-pin connectors but the power delivery is not comparable to that of the Extreme variant. The memory design is similar and we see large aluminum heatsinks with embedded RGB LEDs over the VRMs and underneath the I/O plate. The VRM heatsink includes a metallic Heatpipe for faster and efficient heat dissipation.

Expansion on the motherboard includes three PCIe 4.0 x16 slots (x16/x8/x4 electrical). There are also two M.2 slots while additional storage options include 6 SATA III ports. I/O includes dual USB 3.0 and a single USB 3.2 front panel header. There is power, reset, and flex key buttons alongside a DEBUG LED on the motherboard. The motherboard also carries the SUPREMEFX Audio solution.

Expect these two and several other ASUS Z590 motherboards to be announced next week at CES 2021.