I've been using Asus ROG motherboards for several years when I build a computer and all have been of the highest quality, the ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 Formula is no exception!
It is one of the heaviest motherboards I have ever put into a computer build but I am not complaining. I mounted the Formula into a Corsair 5000D case, so I had plenty of room, mounting the MB was easy, standoffs matched the MB screw holes perfectly. Installing the 2 M.2 2TB SSDs was easy (Samsung 2TB 990 Pro), make sure to remove all of the protective tape on the M.2 heatsinks. First SSD I forgot to remove the protective tape; second SSD I did then realized I did not remove it from the first SSD I installed so I had to go back and remove the SSD, and the protective tape. If you are wondering why I used 2, 2TB SSDs instead of one 4TB, well it was price, the 4TB cost more than 2 2TB SSDs combined. I also prefer to keep data files on the D drive and programs on the C drive.
For cooling, I used a CORSAIR H150i RGB Elite Liquid CPU Cooler. Many times, the CPU cooler that mounts on top of the CPU is a bit cumbersome to mount because of there not being enough space due to the MBs design; this was not the case with this MB, cooler mounted easily with plenty of space for the water lines to route to the radiator.
It's nice to have the extra PCIe 4 M.2 slots (4 total) plus one PCIe 5 slot. As I am sure the reader knows that PCIe 5 is new technology and is pretty pricey, so, because it's new tech, and pricey, I'm going to hold off on that for now.
For memory, I installed 64GB of Corsair Vengeance 6400MHz DDR5 RAM.
I am referencing the components I used in this build because too many people go high-end on some components and cheap on other components in the same build. If you are going to build a high-end machine and spend this kind of money, do it right, spend the extra money for the good stuff!
I'm not go into all the specs of the new machine I built, but suffice it to say, it is fast!! My old machine, i9 9900K with a ROG Formula XI MB, and 2 Samsung SSD 860s, its fast but the new machine is super-fast. I copied files to a flash drive on the old machine, took about 6 minutes, I copied the same files from the flash drive to the new machine, they transferred in less than 15 seconds.
That's it for now, I hope this helps others if they are considering this motherboard.
| Processor | core_i5 |
|---|---|
| RAM | DDR5 |
| Memory Speed | 2133 MHz |
| Wireless Type | 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth, 802.11ax |
| Number of USB 2.0 Ports | 8 |
