Intel Z390 Motherboard Overview: 50+ Motherboards Analyzed

ASUS ROG Maximus XI Gene

The last time the market has seen a high-performance mATX motherboard on a mainstream desktop chipset from ASUS was back in 2015 with the Z170 chipset Maximus VIII Gene. Since then loyal ASUS users looking for a replacement of sorts has had to opt for a gaming-focused Strix branded mATX model, until now. The Gene is back and it's back with a slightly different approach as the new ROG Maximus XI Gene drops four RAM slots and opts for two which has support for DDR4-4600 which is the fastest rated out of the box from any Z390 at launch. ; this is news that will please enthusiasts and extreme overclockers who favor two slot memory configurations for better latency thanks to shorter memory tracks. Touching more on the memory, one of the biggest features is official support for the brand new double height, double capacity 32 GB SO-DIMMs that are expected to come to the market very soon; we reported on this a week or so ago. This means the board will have support for up to 64 GB of system memory over the two available RAM slots. Another enthusiast level feature is an LED debug, set of dip switches which will most certainly be related to LN2 and sub-zero cooling with what seemingly looks like a reset CMOS button, reset switch and a start button.

On the tightly packed PCB of the mATX Maximus XI Gene, ASUS has included the ROG DIMM.2 M.2 slot which supports PCIe 3.0 x4 directly from the CPU. There are two internal M.2 slots on the board with support for PCIe 3.0 x4 drives with bandwidth coming from the PCH; the official specification does not mention SATA M.2 SSD support, so unless these will change as the board is released, it remains unknown. We know the Z390 ROG Gene will have four SATA ports and support for RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10 will feature. The board visually looks as if it might house a 10+2 phase power delivery and is supported by two 8-pin 12 V ATX CPU power inputs making this one of the most powerful non-ATX motherboards on the entire platform; especially enticing for extreme overclockers to sink their teeth into.

While we don't have any other images available as of yet other than the one VideoCardz leaked out, we can confirm the ROG Maximus XI Gene is on, we can confirm it's in the ASUS Z390 product stack and the specifications noted above are directly from ASUS; it is coming and it's nice to see the Gene make a return after three years out. Like a mini-ITX board would, the mATX Gene has only one full-length PCIe 3.0 x16 slot with a smaller PCIe 3.0 x4 slot located just above this which is believed to be for M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4.

On the rear panel will include plenty of USB connectivity including three USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-A, one USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C, and two USB 3.0 Type-A ports. A single HDMI video output is present along with a single Intel I219V Gigabit powered LAN port and onboard audio selection consisting of five 3.5 mm audio jacks and S/DPIF optical output controlled by a gaming-focused Supreme FX S1220 audio codec. The Maximus XI Gene also includes an Intel 9560 Wi-Fi adapter which supports Wave 2 1.73 Gbps wireless connectivity as well as Bluetooth 5 support. That's all we currently know about the rear panel.

There is currently no pricing or information on the availability as of yet for the mATX sized ROG Maximus XI Gene, but we expect ASUS will look to release this towards the end of October or early November.