The ASUS ROG Zenith II Extreme is a true sight to behold, with a sophisticated black and chrome finish. The RGB LEDs are the best I have seen on any board, and that is before accounting for the OLED display, which is both pretty and practical. While boards of this caliber garner certain expectations of quality and attention to detail, the ASUS ROG Zenith II Extreme goes above and beyond. ASUS pulled out all the stops when designing this new HEDT flagship, and it shows no matter where you look. Of course, its looks are not what make the ASUS ROG Zenith II "Extreme."

Performance and overclocking are the real backbone of the ASUS ROG Zenith II Extreme. Performance out of the box was good, on par with my other TRX40 sample. Memory overclocking was excellent, I reached 4000 MHz CL16 stable with my Trident Z Neo quad-channel kit. CPU overclocking is hard to judge on a new CPU sample. However, I was able to achieve some good results; 4.4 GHz on all cores for short tests and 4.0 GHz for longer runs. The capability of the ASUS ROG Zenith II Extreme far outclasses my own or that of my test bench. To see what the ASUS ROG Zenith II Extreme was really designed for, LN2 would need to be involved. Thermal performance on the ASUS ROG Zenith II Extreme was good, although I wasn't able to really push the board hard with "only" 24 cores on my Ryzen 3960X sample.

The ASUS ROG Zenith II Extreme boasts 10 Gb/s LAN as well as WiFi 6, offering excellent networking options. The USB options are stellar as well. With no less than six USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A ports, a USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C port, a USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Type-C port, and four USB 3.2 Gen1 ports, the ASUS ROG Zenith II Extreme feels like a true workstation board. Internal storage is just as good, with a total of five M.2 slots (three on the board and two on the DIMM.2 card), four PCIe 4.0 x16 slots, and even two more USB 3.2 Gen2 headers.

The ASUS ROG Zenith II Extreme comes in at US$849.99, a high price even for the already expensive TRX40 platform. The ASUS ROG Zenith II Extreme features some genuine innovation; the OLED display is a large step forward with improved postcode functionality and easy hardware monitoring, the DIMM.2 card offers more M.2 slots without sacrificing valuable PCIe space, and the relocated EPS power connectors make for a cleaner heatsink design and easier cable management.

The ASUS ROG Zenith II Extreme is more than an expensive fashion statement, it's a declaration of what ASUS is capable of. While I certainly wouldn't say it is for everyone, I like the direction ASUS is taking. If you are in the market for an ultra-high-end Threadripper motherboard and don't mind the E-ATX form factor or steep price tag, the ASUS ROG Zenith II Extreme won't disappoint.