With the echoes of Intel’s 9th generation CPUs launch still in the air, Asus doesn’t miss a beat as they launch their new motherboards series for the Z390 chipset.
A year after the six cores Coffee Lake generation launch, Intel is back again with more cores, higher frequencies, and the new Z390 chipset. Intel’s 9th generation CPU will support up to 8 cores and 16 Threads with a clock speed of 5GHz (i9-9900k).
Asus promises to help us push these specs to the limit.
The new line of motherboards is supposed to fit all market segments of 9th generation users, ranging from boards designed for radical overclocking, through boards suited for the casual gamer and up to boards for powerful workstations and servers.
Maximus XI Series
The Maximus XI series stands as the jewel in Asus’s crown. The motherboards in this series deliver high quality without compromising performance and the quality of the hardware components. These are the most expansive motherboards Asus has to offer.
The Asus Maximus XI Extreme stands above them all as the board that promises to push your new 9th generation processors to their limit. The Maximus XI Extreme is targeting all you hardcore overclockers out there.
The Maximus XI series share the same black-colored PBC and a lot of space for passive and active cooling arrays. For the first time, we will be able to get a Maximus motherboard in the micro-ATX form factor, which will bring the same uncompromising performance and quality of the larger form factors to mini PCs.
STRIX Series
The STRIX series of motherboards is targeting the mid-level market, with a cheaper and more affordable selection then the Maximus series. The STRIX is designed to give the best bang for the buck of everyday verage gamers or beginner overclockers.
Although not as capable as the Maximus XI, the STRIX series motherboards will offer excellent cooling and overclocking options, and has most of the same features as that of its more expensive and powerful counterpart. It’s also worth mentioning that among Asus Z390 motherboards series the STRIX is the only one to support the mini-ATX form factor.
Both the STRIX and Maximus XI series are great news for compact computer builds. Asus raises the bar and brings uncompromising performance to the small form factors, with support for up to 64Gb of DDR4 in 32Gb slots and a frequency of 4600MHz and above, built-in WiFi and more features. It’s absolutely awesome to have all this goodness in a mini-pc.
TUF series
The TUF series is targeting the low-end hardware market, offering five very similar flavors of motherboards. The TUF boards are less about overclocking and more about affordable hardware.
These motherboards are the product of a collaboration between Asus and other hardware vendors such as Corsair, Antec, etc. The goal is to simplify the process of building a desktop PC by having compatible hardware gathered all under the same brand. The TUF collaboration is not only about hardware compatibility but also about matching design lines, as the parts under this brand share similar design characteristics.
WS and Prime series
The Prime and WS series divert a bit from the gaming market and appeal more to the professional market.
The WS series is specifically targeting the higher end of the professional market and is designed for servers and workstations, while the Prime series targets the lower end and brings the cheapest solution from Asus to support the Z390 Chipset.
Asus comes out with a wide variety of motherboards models and no segment of the market is left unattended. Its really nice to see the high-end boards reach the small form factors segment, and I’m intrigued by how far can we take them.
There’s still no release date for the new Asus Z390 motherboards, though Intel’s 9th gen CPUs are set to hit store shelves on October 19.
Some of our posts include links to online retail stores. We get a small cut if you buy something through one of our links. Don't worry, it doesn't cost you anything extra.
