Review: Asus ROG Maximus XII Hero WiFi

Conclusion

Asus knows that many eyeing up the Core i9-10900K chip will look towards its premium line as go-to motherboard support. The XII Hero WiFi is important as it's the entry point to the Maximus club also comprising the Apex, Formula and Extreme.

There's more cooling compared to its XI predecessor; a third M.2 slot gets the heatsink treatment, and upgraded cooling means a new heatpipe-connected heatsink around the CPU section. Temperatures show the enhanced cooling works well with new 10th Gen chips that draw more power when under the pump.

Asus also takes the opportunity to improve networking by implementing faster WiFi and a second 5G LAN from Marvell. There's also more USB - 10 on the back is generous - but we're surprised to not see Asus jump on the latest 3.2 Gen 2x2 bandwagon, like MSI.

The sum of these improvements comes at a definite cost, however, as the board fetches £430 at retail, which is over £100 dearer than the Z390 version. Appreciating the extra features, that is still a hefty price to pay, and is above the MSI MEG Z490 Ace and Aorus Z490 Master it naturally competes against. Each has its own benefits. If you happen to be an Asus fan, the latest Maximus Hero doesn't disappoint. The addition of the latest USB speeds and dual BIOSes would move it from being good to excellent.

Asus ROG Maximus XII Hero WiFi

HEXUS.where2buy*

The Asus ROG Maximus XII Hero WiFi motherboard is available to purchase from Scan Computers.

HEXUS.right2reply

At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.