ASUS Z390 ROG Maximus XI Apex Motherboard Review

Gaming Benchmarks

The GPU used in this review was the ASUS RTX 2080 TI Strix. For gaming, we tested four games out of our normal suite of games used for GPU reviews. However, games were only tested at 1080p. This puts less of a strain on the GPU, allowing the CPU to do more of the work. Both 1440p and 4k puts more of a strain on the GPU as opposed to the CPU. The games were benchmarked at the highest presets.  The three games we tested for this review were Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Far Cry 5, Ghost Recon: Wildlands and Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Each benchmark was run three times. We then averaged out the minimum, maximum and average frames per second. The results in the chart are the average of the three runs. As this isn’t a GPU review, we didn’t bother with RTX or DLSS testing.

Far Cry 5 is the latest in the far cry series. It takes place in the fictional Hope County Montana. You play the role of the un-names deputy who’s sent to arrest Joseph Seed, the leader of the dangerous Edens Gate Cult. However, things do not go as planned and you spend the game trapped in Hope County attempting to take out Joseph and the rest of his family as they attempt to take over the entire county. Far Cry 5 was released in 2018. Ubisoft has developed a beautiful open world with amazing visuals. However, the game is very demanding on even the most powerful systems. This game was tested with the in-game benchmark, as well as near the beginning of the game when you first leave the bunker owned by Dutch as you attempt to clear his island of cult members.

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands is a third-person tactical shooter game. You play as a member of the Delta Company, First Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group, also known as “Ghosts”, a fictional elite special operations unit of the United States Army under the Joint Special Operations Command. This game takes place in a modern-day setting and is the first in the Ghost Recon series to feature an open world with 9 different types of terrain. The benchmark was run at the beginning of the first mission in the game.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is set to be the third and final game of the rebooted trilogy developed by Eidos Montréal in conjunction with Crystal Dynamics and published by Square Enix. In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, you continue your journey as Lara Croft as she attempts to finish the life work of her father. Her in a journey that takes her from Central America to the hidden city of Paititi as she attempts to stop Trinity in their attempt to gain power. The section used for the benchmark was near the beginning of the first section that takes place in the hidden city. This was compared to the in-game benchmark which seems to be an accurate representation of the gameplay. Since they recently added in support for real-time ray tracing, we included the results for Ray Tracing set to Ultra.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is an action role-playing game with first-person shooter and stealth mechanics that released in 2016. Set two years after Human Revolution in 2029, the world is divided between normal humans and those with advanced, controversial artificial organs called augmentations. You take up the role of Adam Jensen, a double agent for the hacker group Juggernaut Collective, who are equipped with the latest and most advanced augmentation technology. This game is beautiful and still very demanding on your system. The section benchmarked was near the beginning of the game, after the tutorial.

Now I know it goes without saying, the 2080 ti is way overkill for testing 1080p gaming. However, as we mentioned earlier, we want to put more of a strain on the CPU, as opposed to the GPU. My one surprise is that not all games averaged over 100 FPS while testing. The lowest average of the four games we tested was Ghost Recon Wildlands with an average of 84 FPS. Next was Far Cry 5 with an average of 124 FPS. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided was slightly ahead of Far Cry 5 with an average of 125 FPS. This leaves Shadow of the Tomb Raider in the top spot with an average of 146 FPS.