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

Manual CPU Overclocking:

To test the ASUS ROG Maximus XI Hero (Wi-Fi) motherboard’s CPU overclocking potential, we set the CPU VCore to 1.30V and applied the Level 8 LLC setting.

We maintained the DRAM frequency at 3600MHz to take its stability out of the overclocking equation. Cache frequency was maintained at its stock value of 4.3GHz.

We were able to hit a stable frequency of 5GHz using 1.30V. The ASUS motherboard forced us to apply the Level 8 load-line calibration setting in order to keep close to 1.3V under load. Lower LLC settings would cause a significant voltage drop to values that could potentially cause instability.

Motherboard Sensors

Despite the questionable VRM solution for a motherboard of this calibre, ASUS' ROG Maximus XI Hero (Wi-Fi) kept the voltage regulation system adequately cool when running with our dual-fan CPU cooler (not that the screenshot does not show load temperatures).

CPU temperatures remained in check, too, with the worrying point of 90°C not quite being touched during our testing.

System Power Consumption

We leave the system to idle on the Windows 10 desktop for 10 minutes before taking a reading. For CPU load results we run AIDA64 CPU, FPU, and Cache stress tests and take a reading. The power consumption of our entire test system (at the wall) is shown in the chart.

There's a hefty power increase assigned to the CPU when it is overclocked. We didn't hear any coil whine and VRM temperatures remained in check even when overclocked with our Core i7-9700K, though that's not to say i9-9900K users will deliver similar feedback.

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