ASUS Z890 Motherboards for Upcoming Intel "Arrow Lake" Processors Leak

[AleksandarK]

Yesterday, we got a leak about Intel's "Arrow Lake" Core Ultra 200 series CPUs official public announcement on October 10 and the review embargo and official retail launch on October 24. However, today, we are able to look at some of the upcoming motherboards powering Core Ultra 200 CPUs, based on the Z890 chipset. Thanks to VideoCardz, we can look at ASUS high-end motherboard pictures and decipher some of the common features that will be present on high-end boards, like a hefty VRM configuration, along with some new color schemes. We notice that there are new GPU slot reinforcement and M.2 release mechanisms, alongside WiFi 7 and Thunderbolt 4. Some leaked pricing also suggests that ASUS ROG Maximus boards could be retailing for more than the highest-end Core Ultra 9 285K SKU, while there are more budget "Prime" series of motherboards present as well. Here are all leaked ASUS boards:

ASUS ROG Maximus Z890 Extreme:



ASUS ROG Maximus Z890 Hero:

ASUS ROG Maximus Z890 Apex:

ASUS ROG Strix Z890-A Gaming WiFi:

ASUS ROG Strix Z890-E Gaming WiFi:

ASUS TUF Gaming Z890-Plus WiFi:

ASUS Prime Z890-P WiFi:

ASUS Prime Z890M-Plus WiFi CSM:


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[Chaitanya]

Meh, also on Strix E which idiot designed that M.2 "heatsink"?

 

[TheLostSwede]

Meh, also on Strix E which idiot designed that M.2 "heatsink"?

Seems to be for 2+2 drives?

The Prime board should be perfect for those here complaining about not enough slots.

 

[persondb]

The prime is the only micro ATX option?
That is kinda sad, matx builds are underrated as they combine the ease of build of ATX with a smaller size.

 

[Upgrayedd]

The prime is the only micro ATX option?
That is kinda sad, matx builds are underrated as they combine the ease of build of ATX with a smaller size.

I agree, especially since SLI/CF is gone now.
They really should make the Gene again.

 

[natr0n]

Asus doesnt fool around with vrm's

Probably why they are so expensive.

 

[KLMR]

Asus doesnt fool around with vrm's

Probably why they are so expensive.

Yes because their VRM technology hasn't been there for a decade or so.

Less pcie, moar price, good move.


The state of consumer motherboards is a scandal.

 

[phints]

I agree, especially since SLI/CF is gone now.
They really should make the Gene again.

Same, ATX builds are so silly these days, I don't see the point of building something so large. I'd only even consider ITX or mATX. A case the size of like an AP201 is 'about right'.

 

[Vincero]

Same, ATX builds are so silly these days, I don't see the point of building something so large. I'd only even consider ITX or mATX. A case the size of like an AP201 is 'about right'.

I semi-agree - if you are designing an ATX board to only have 2 PCIe slots then it doesn't leave a lot of room for the more exotic use cases, be it people with multiple GPUs for actual productivity / rendering / other uses so might as well just stop at mATX - if they run out of space on one side they can always do the rick of putting sockets on the other or wire the additional lanes to a breakout connector (e.g. U.2 style).
But where I disagee is if you had a proper ATX board and a proper use for all those slots - then fair play to you.

Dare I say that some of these boards are designed to go in to cases that look more like:
this:View attachment 1727978242987.webp rather than this: View attachment 1727978326643.webp

I guess partly for the board makers it's easier to manage the PCIe signal traces a short distance to M.2 sockets and maintain PCIe4/5 speed vs the larger PCIe sockets and boards and fill out an ATX board without doing anything too exotic in terms of component choice or circuit arrangement - but still want $400+.
All those additional M.2 sockets could be normal PCIe connectors (maybe with just 4 lanes wired) so that they can be used for M.2 adapater cards, additional xGb/s LAN NICs, other types of HBA, or hell even a sound card or any other devices - those options are now limited on some of the upper end boards (which is kind of ridiculous).

Asus doesnt fool around with vrm's

Yeah they do.... and they regularly attach the 'prime' branding to junk at the low end.

 

[kapone32]

Confirmed Asus have given up on 8X8 Pcie lanes for the Strix board.

 

[RJIX69]

Who care about this when DDR6 RAM coming early 2025???

 

[Chaitanya]

Seems to be for 2+2 drives?

The Prime board should be perfect for those here complaining about not enough slots.

One about the 2 slot heatsink(which actually looks properly designed heatsink to cool SSDs).

 

[N/A]

Who care about this when DDR6 RAM coming early 2025???

That's at least one year away for server, and two for desktop with exorbitantly high prices at launch but yeah. this socket is dead. One gen only, no refresh.

Stop gap solution for people that can't wait or getting ultra 9 later.

 

[Gmr_Chick]

I keep saying it whenever ASUS releases new ROG boards, but I'll say it again: That eye just keeps getting bigger and bigger on these damn things, more obnoxious. They should just release a board in the shape of the damn thing and be done with it already.

 

[Minus Infinity]

I keep saying it whenever ASUS releases new ROG boards, but I'll say it again: That eye just keeps getting bigger and bigger on these damn things, more obnoxious. They should just release a board in the shape of the damn thing and be done with it already.

Wait for the Asrock Taichi Lite. Will be the most minimalist of the high-end boards based on the X870E releases so far.