The ASUS ROG Maximus XII Extreme is the quintessential top-tier motherboard. Name a feature and the ASUS ROG Maximus XII Extreme has it: Thunderbolt, optional active VRM cooling, even an OLED screen. Even the standard features are taken a step further with four M.2 slots, extra USB ports inside and out, and no less than 20 fan headers (14 onboard and 6 on the Fan Extension Card II). When it comes to looks, the ASUS ROG Maximus XII Extreme is classically ASUS by featuring an excellent RGB implementation as well as a design that is neutral enough to make for easy parts matching—all while looking interesting enough to still catch the eye.

Out of the box performance was excellent for the ASUS ROG Maximus XII Extreme in our testing. Memory overclocking was top-tier as well, as I reached 4000 MHz CL16 stable with my Trident Z Neo kit. For CPU overclocking, I was able to achieve 5.2 GHz on all cores. The largest limitation to overclocking with Z490 is going to come down to dealing with the heat produced by the incredibly dense Intel Core i9-10900K. VRM thermals were very good as well, barely exceeding 55 °C even during my VRM torture testing.

The ASUS ROG Maximus XII Extreme has it all, with top-tier features and aesthetics, performance, and overclocking. Of course, with top-tier features comes a top-tier price. At US$749.99, the ASUS ROG Maximus XII Extreme could be a great choice for extreme overclockers or those for whom money is no object. But for most users, the ASUS ROG Maximus XII Hero would be a more sensible option with the same great aesthetic at almost half the price.