ASUS ROG Maximus XIII Hero Review: Everything for Rocket Lake
by Gavin Bonshor on July 9, 2021 9:00 AM ESTBoard Features
The ASUS ROG Maximus XIII Hero is a premium ATX motherboard that sits as the entry point to the premium Republic of Gamers options series. Designed primarily for gamers, content creators, and all-round users, it includes plenty of premium specifications, including four memory slots with support for up to 128 GB of DDR4-5333 memory, as well as a premium audio solution consisting of a Supreme (Realtek) ALC4082 HD audio codec and ESS Sabre ESS9018Q2C DAC.
ASUS includes plenty of PCIe 4.0 support in conjunction with Rocket Lake, including two full-length PCIe 4.0 slots operating at x16 and x8/x8, with a third full-length slot electronically locked down to PCIe 3.0 x4 and one smaller PCIe 3.0 x1 slot. For storage, there's a total of four M.2 slots, including one PCIe 4.0 x4, one PCIe 3.0 x4, and two PCIe 3.0 x4/SATA M.2 slots. Looking at SATA support, ASUS includes six SATA ports which are all controlled by the chipset, and as such, include support for RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays.
Cooling options consist of eight 4-pin headers, which include two for CPU fans, one for an AIO pump, one for a water pump, and three for chassis fans (all can be used for chassis fans, however).
| ASUS ROG Maximus XIII Hero ATX Motherboard | |||
| Warranty Period | 3 Years | ||
| Product Page | Link | ||
| Price | $500 ($470 at Amazon) | ||
| Size | ATX | ||
| CPU Interface | LGA1200 | ||
| Chipset | Intel Z590 | ||
| Memory Slots (DDR4) | Four DDR4 Supporting 128 GB Dual-Channel Up to DDR4-5333 |
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| Video Outputs | 1 x HDMI 2.0 | ||
| Network Connectivity | 2 x Intel I225-V 2.5 GbE Intel AX210 Wi-Fi 6E |
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| Onboard Audio | SupremeFX ALC4082 ESS Sabre 9018Q2C DAC |
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| PCIe Slots for Graphics (from CPU) | 2 x PCIe 4.0 (x16, x8/x8) | ||
| PCIe Slots for Other (from PCH) | 1 x PCIe 3.0 x4 1 x PCIe 3.0 x1 |
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| Onboard SATA | Six, RAID 0/1/5/10 (Z590) | ||
| Onboard M.2 | 1 x PCIe 4.0 x4 1 x PCIe 3.0 x4 2 x PCIe 3.0 x4/SATA |
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| Thunderbolt 4 (40 Gbps) | 2 x Type-C (Rear panel) | ||
| USB 3.2 (20 Gbps) | 1 x Type-C (One header) | ||
| USB 3.2 (10 Gbps) | 6 x USB Type-A (Rear panel) | ||
| USB 3.1 (5 Gbps) | 4 x USB Type-A (Two headers) | ||
| USB 2.0 | 2 x USB Type-A (Rear panel) 4 x USB Type-A (Two headers) |
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| Power Connectors | 1 x 24-pin Motherboard 2 x 8-pin CPU |
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| Fan Headers | 2 x 4-pin CPU 1 x 4-pin Water Pump/chassis 1 x 4-pin AIO Pump/chassis 1 x 4-pin High Amp Fan 3 x 4-pin Chassis |
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| IO Panel | 2 x Antenna Ports (Intel AX210) 1 x HDMI 2.0 output 2 x Thunderbolt 4 Type-C 6 x USB 3.2 G2 Type-A 2 x USB 2.0 Type-A 2 x RJ45 (Intel) 1 x BIOS Flashback button 1 x Clear CMOS button 5 x 3.5 mm audio jacks (SupremeFX) 1 x S/PDIF Optical output (SupremeFX) |
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Other inclusions include a pair of premium and high-spec Thunderbolt 4 Type-C ports on the rear panel, which support DisplayPort video input too for users with compatible monitors. ASUS also decks out the rear panel with six USB 3.2 G2 Type-A, and two USB 2.0 ports, with options for expanding on this with one USB 3.2 G2x2 Type-C (one port), two USB 3.2 G1 Type-A (four ports), and two USB 2.0 (four ports) front panel headers.
Networking options are also premium and consist of dual Intel I225-V 2.5 Gb Ethernet, as well as Intel's AX210 Wi-Fi 6E CNVi which also adds support for BT 5.2 connectivity. Users looking to use Intel's integrated UHD graphics can do so via a single HDMI 2.0 video output. There is also a pair of buttons, with one for clearing the CMOS, and one for using BIOS Flashback.
Test Bed
With some of the nuances with Intel's Rocket Lake processors, our policy is to see if the system gives an automatic option to increase the power limits of the processor. If it does, we select the liquid cooling option. If it does not, we do not change the defaults. Adaptive Boost Technology is disabled by default.
| Test Setup | |||
| Processor | Intel Core i9-11900K, 125 W, $374 8 Cores, 16 Threads 3.5 GHz (5.3 GHz Turbo) |
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| Motherboard | ASUS ROG Maximus XIII Hero (BIOS 0902) | ||
| Cooling | Corsair iCue H150i Elite Capellix 360 mm AIO | ||
| Power Supply | Corsair HX850 80Plus Platinum 850 W | ||
| Memory | G.Skill TridentZ DDR4-3200 CL 14-14-14-34 2T (2 x 8 GB) | ||
| Video Card | MSI GTX 1080 (1178/1279 Boost) | ||
| Hard Drive | Crucial MX300 1TB | ||
| Case | Corsair Crystal 680X | ||
| Operating System | Windows 10 Pro 64-bit: Build 20H2 | ||
We must also thank the following:
| Hardware Providers for CPU and Motherboard Reviews | |||
| Sapphire RX 460 Nitro | MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X OC | Crucial MX200 + MX500 SSDs |
Corsair AX860i + AX1200i PSUs |
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| G.Skill RipjawsV, SniperX, FlareX |
Crucial Ballistix DDR4 |
Silverstone Coolers |
Noctua Coolers |
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28 Comments
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A5 - Friday, July 9, 2021 - link
$500 isn't mid-range by any stretch of the imagination, except in the wildest dreams of ASUS' CFO.shabby - Friday, July 9, 2021 - link
Lol indeed, wake up Gavin.Ian Cutress - Friday, July 9, 2021 - link
It's in ASUS' 'mid-range' 😉eastcoast_pete - Friday, July 9, 2021 - link
Which keeps many of us looking at manufacturers who haven't lost touch with reality. Now, if they'd throw in a 3060 for $ 1, I'd buy one in a heartbeat.shabby - Saturday, July 10, 2021 - link
Oh ok, guess my asus x570 gaming plus wifi is in the poor range section...$100 homeless range
$200 poor range
$300 low end
$500 mid range
$800 high end
$1000 baller range
lilkwarrior - Monday, July 12, 2021 - link
That's actually a pretty accurate scale. $500 being mid-range more than makes sense–especially with 4K-oriented workflows these motherboards are increasingly catering too. All prices of PC components are rising to also account for increased tariffs, demand, & so on.If you want a motherboard with Thunderbolt 4, multiple M.2 slots, & Wifi6E, you should absolutely expect a price around $500 these days.
Makaveli - Friday, July 9, 2021 - link
The AMD Hero's boards also in the same price range so not surprised. But I choose to be a hero to my wallet and choose a board in the $300-$350 price range. For me if i'm spending $500 on a motherboard it will be for a build using ECC memory.Exodite - Saturday, July 10, 2021 - link
Just got myself a Gigabyte B550 Vision D-P for that reason (ECC support) and it was half that. :)Looking at the current Intel and AMD platforms I see little reason to choose X570 over B550, you pretty much have to need the chipset PCIe 4.0, and none to choose Z590 over B560.
Pricing seem more out of hand on Intel than AMD though, generally speaking. There are decently priced X570 boards here in Sweden but Z590 is hard to get with reasonable specs sub-$500.
Destoya - Sunday, July 11, 2021 - link
I bought my Crosshair VI Hero for $249 new. It's only in the last couple of generations that these companies have decided to inflate the prices to ludicrous amounts.Spunjji - Monday, July 12, 2021 - link
They've cottoned on to that segment of users that think something is inherently better just because they spent more money on it 🤷♂️