Over the past year I have reviewed quite a few really great Z390 motherboards from the Aorus Z390 Waterforce Xtreme to the EVGA Z390 Dark and MSI MEG Z290 ACE. All of these boards were designed with Extreme Overclocking in mind and all except one responded well to casual overclocking and basic system tuning.

In this review we’ll be looking at one of the Apex predators when it comes to overclocking who is docile out of the box and can unleash the fury when it is time to shine. The ASUS Republic of Gamers Maximus XI APEX is the latest version of APEX motherboards designed to be the top of the line when it comes to performance potential. The motherboard comes with the features we have come to expect including Aura RGB Lighting, large VRM heatsinks and great sound. However, it is missing many of the “retail” features that you might find on more mainstream ROG motherboards like the Formula and Extreme. These other boards are still feature packed but with tweaks designed for special retail builds where looks and cooling options might be more important.