ASUS Z390 ROG Maximus XI Apex Motherboard Review

Test System and Testing Procedures

As with all reviews, we try to keep the ambient temperature as close to 20°c (68°f) as possible. When the system was first turned on, it sat idles for about 20 minutes or so before any benchmarks were run or results recorded. We waited in between each benchmark no less than 20 minutes to give the system time to cool down a bit. We test everything from CPU and memory performance to gaming, audio, and networking. All benchmarks were run with both the CPU and GPU at their stock speeds. The Intel I9 9900k we used, on average, boosted to 4.7 GHz. The test results from the Z390 Maximus XI Apex were compared to the results from the Z390 Aorus Xtreme Waterforce and boards were tested with the same i9 9900k. For full disclosure, the I9 9900k used in this review is an engineering sample provided by Intel, not a retail CPU.  Both had G. Skill Trident Z memory running at 3200 MHz and used the same power supply. Both systems used open-air cases. Each benchmark was run three times and we went with the best overall results.