Performance
When it comes to performance testing, typically motherboard to motherboard we aren’t going to see any big performance difference when running the same components and clock speeds. The exception to that is when boards are auto overclocking of course and there are a few areas where components can make a difference like with ethernet and USB controllers. For our Z690 testing I previously had tested the MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WiFi and I did the same tests with the Maximus Z690 Extreme of course. Both boards were in line with each other in most of my tests. The Maximus Z690 Extreme was a little higher in PCMark but there was a gap between the tests. I was most curious how the Maximus Z690 Extreme did on the network tests which like I said can sometimes be different. The Maximus Z690 Extreme does have WiFi 6E but our office only has WiFi 6 so we weren’t able to see any of the benefits of the 6Ghz range here but the Maximus Z690 Extreme came in a little lower than the MSI on that test. That has been my experience with all of the Asus’s with this current antenna design. It works well enough, but it tests a little slower than the competition even when they both have the same wireless NIC. Then for wired the Maximus Z690 Extreme has both 2.5Gbps and 10Gbps NICs. Testing on the 1Gbps network didn’t show any difference but when we moved to the 10G network both performed well.
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3DMark – Fire Strike |
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Motherboard |
Overall Score |
Graphics Score |
Physics Score |
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MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WiFi |
36688 |
42430 |
38900 |
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Asus ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme |
36062 |
42774 |
38703 |
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3DMark – Time Spy |
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Motherboard |
Overall Score |
Graphics Score |
CPU Score |
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MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WiFi |
17887 |
17715 |
18932 |
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Asus ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme |
17732 |
17577 |
18666 |
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PCMark 10 Score |
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Motherboard |
Overall Score |
Essentials |
Productivity |
Content Creation |
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MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WiFi |
8783 |
11240 |
10725 |
15251 |
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Asus ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme |
9066 |
11462 |
11399 |
15476 |
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Passmark PerformanceTest 10.0 - Overall Score |
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MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WiFi |
8254.4 |
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Asus ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme |
8242.8 |
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World War Z: Aftermath – Ultra Detail – Average FPS |
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MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WiFi |
279 FPS |
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Asus ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme |
279 FPS |
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Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands – High Detail - Average FPS |
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MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WiFi |
156.5 FPS |
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Asus ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme |
158.8 FPS |
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Shadow of the Tomb Raider – High Detail - Average FPS |
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MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WiFi |
209 FPS |
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Asus ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme |
208 FPS |
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Far Cry 6 – Ultra Detail - Average FPS |
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MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WiFi |
141 FPS |
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Asus ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme |
143 FPS |
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Average Network Speed- Wired on a 1G Network - Mbits/Sec |
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MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WiFi - Intel I225V 2.5G NIC |
942.5 Mbits/sec |
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Asus ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme - Intel I225V 2.5G NIC |
927.1 Mbits/sec |
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Asus ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme – Marvell FastLinQ Edge 10Gb |
934.7 Mbits/sec |
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Average Network Speed – WiFi 6 - Mbits/Sec |
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MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WiFi – Intel WiFi 6E Module |
448.8 Mbits/sec |
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Asus ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme - Intel WiFi 6E Module |
340.6 Mbits/sec |
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Average Network Speed – wired on 10G Network - Mbits/Sec |
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MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WiFi – Intel I225V 2.5G NIC |
2356 |
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Asus ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme - Intel I225V 2.5G NIC |
2321 |
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Asus ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme – Marvell FastLinQ Edge 10Gb |
9542 |
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I hate to consider RGB lighting part of the performance, but it is a component of the Maximus Z690 Extreme so I did take a look at it. The Maximus Z690 Extreme has lighting built into multiple areas starting up over top of the rear I/O with the LED Pixel Matrix. I originally didn’t think much of this design but once I saw it in action I dig the look that the matrix gives you. You can program this to scroll low pixel images or animations or program things down to the individual pixel to match your build. By default, it scrolls this ROG logo which almost looks like flames.
The ROG lighting over top of the chipset doesn’t have the same control but does still look sharp when lit up.
The full right side of the Maximus Z690 Extreme has addressable RGB lighting running under the PCB with the diffuser sitting between the PCB and the backplate and this gives the board a cool underglow look.
The Maximus Z690 Extreme does have a standard LED display in the top right corner for diagnostics, but it also has a livedash screen up under the CPU socket which shows more detailed information when booting and then once booted flips through information like CPU temperature and voltages.
