ASUS ROG Maximus XI Hero (Wi-Fi) Z390 Motherboard Review

1. Introduction2. Packaging and Bundle3. Board Layout and Features4. UEFI5. Software6. Testing Methodology7. Overclocking & Power Consumption8. Tests: CPU Related9. Tests: Memory Related10. Tests: Gaming Related11. Tests: Motherboard Features Performance12. Closing Thoughts13. View All Pages

AI Suite 3 is the go-to point for any settings or information relating to system operations. Want to check temperatures and voltages or adjust multipliers for the CPU and speeds of fans? AI Suite 3. Want to speed up certain programs or reduce the amount of RAM-hogging operations on your system? AI Suite 3. Want to check for a BIOS update? AI Suite 3.

Automated system tuning conducted by the 5-way optimisation and AI Overclocking tools can also be selected inside AI Suite 3.

GameFirst V can be used to prioritise network traffic in a similar fashion to Killer’s Network Manager software, but whilst using an Intel I219V NIC. For example, higher priority can be set to Steam or a game than a web browser in order to prioritise traffic and minimise lag during gameplay.

Multi-Gate Teaming (a marketing term for adapter segregation) worked well in our testing, with a full Gigabit connection maintaining its saturation for file transfer whilst a speed test ran comfortably over Wi-Fi.

RAMCache III uses free system memory to act as a read/write cache on top of a storage drive (including NVMe SSD) that allows for faster access to frequently-used data. This can have a benefit of speeding up frequently-accessed programs. This is a smart tool which makes use of a user-determined amount of system memory that would otherwise be sat idle.

ASUS’ AURA RGB tool is a very comprehensive piece of software used for managing the colours and operating parameters of onboard and connected LEDs. LED operating modes can be synchronised with other compatible hardware, such as Patriot Viper DDR4 memory in our testing, or managed for the motherboard alone.

I particularly like the CPU temperature mode that changes the light colour based on processor thermals. The thresholds can be adjusted so that green stays present for longer or red is activated quicker. It was, however, noticeable how slow the LED colour would change when a load was applied. This is due to the lag in temperature readings through AI Suite 3 (the software tool that is used to drive AURA‘s temperature readings) and the hefty offset between it and third party tools such as HWiNFO64 and HWMonitor.

Integration with Philips Hue lighting is a particularly useful feature within AURA.

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