ASUS ROG Strix Z890-E Gaming WiFi Intel® Z890 LGA 1851 ATX Motherboard, Advanced AI PC-Ready, 18+2+1+2 Stages, DDR5, WiFi 7, 7X M.2, Thunderbolt™ 4, USB Type-C®, AI Overclocking, Cooling & Networking

This is a fantastic motherboard! An LGA1851 board with SEVEN M.2 drive slots, with THREE of them being PCIe 5.0 for under $400? Tremendous value from a brand that has never failed me before, ASUS.My primary need for my new LGA1851 board was the number of M.2 slots and this one did not disappoint. It has the most ports, and the most 5.0 ports that I could find under $500. Most only had 4 ports total with only one or two 5.0 ports. This board's PCIe 5.0 performance is outstanding when you are running a proper compatible 5.0 M.2 drive, like from Samsung, as long as it is properly cooled. The drive cooling is a challenge on this board and I found the built-in heatsinks to be inadequate to cool that many M.2 drives, especially the 5.0 speed drives that get over 10,000MB/s read/write when they are kept cool.My solution was to use third party heatsinks with fans on them for my hottest M.2 drives, including the two 5.0 drives I have. I use both Thermalright HR10 2280 PRO Black SSD Coolers and EZDIY-FAB Shield M.2 SSD Heatsinks with Build-in 20mm PWM Fan on my drives. Both do a great job of lowering the temps on the drives enough for them not to throttle speeds down due to heat. My drives rarely get over 50C under typical stress loads on the drives with these coolers. But with seven M.2 slots, this motherboard doesn't have a lot of room to spare, and you'll find that it is impossible to use third-party heatsinks on ALL seven of the M.2 drives because they are just too close together. So be strategic about which drives to use them on: the ones that will get the hottest (usually the fastest) and the most usage.Other than the plethora of M.2 drive ports on this motherboard. there is also a huge amount of USB and Thunderbolt 4 ports... another huge plus for me considering how many USB accessories I have, including two portable monitors attached to Thunderbolt 4 hubs that supplement my four full-sized monitors plugged into my Nvidia 3060ti video card. With this motherboard, everything just works, fast and beautifully. Just make sure your RAM and CPU are compatible.I highly suggest going to the ASUS website in advance and downloading the latest BIOS onto a USB drive and installing that BIOS first before you set up Windows. Also, make sure you download all of the drivers onto your Windows boot USB drive. When I was building my PC and installing Windows 11, it did not find the Wi-Fi drivers on its own and I had to point to the files I downloaded from ASUS on the USB drive. Oh, yeah, the Wi-Fi speeds on this motherboard are incredible, too!This motherboard is a great value if you can get it under $375 around the time of my review. It's so worth the extra $100 or so you may be tempted to skimp out and get a cheaper one... just invest and get this one, you won't regret it! Have fun.Here are some of my recent components in this build, in case you are interested:ASUS ROG Strix Z890-E Gaming WiFi Intel® Z890 LGA 1851 ATX MotherboardIntel Core Ultra 7 Desktop Processor 265K - 20 cores (8 P-cores + 12 E-cores) up to 5.5 GHzCORSAIR VENGEANCE DDR5 RAM 64GB (2x32GB) 5600MHz CL40-40-40-77 1.25V Intel XMP Desktop Computer MemorySamsung SSD 9100 PRO 4TB, PCIe 5.0x4 M.2 2280, Seq. Read Speeds Up to 14,800MB/sThermalright HR10 2280 PRO Black SSD CoolerEZDIY-FAB Shield M.2 SSD Heatsink with Build-in 20mm PWM FanThermaltake CT120 EX ARGB Sync PC Cooling Fan (3-Fan Pack)Thermalright Assassin Spirit 120 Vision ARGB Black CPU Cooler with LCD screenThermalright Lga1851 BCF Black CPU Holder,CPU Anti Bending Fixed BracketHYTE Y70 Upgraded Modern Aesthetic Dual Chamber Panoramic Tempered Glass Mid-Tower ATX Computer Gaming Case

After 30 years of building PCs, this MB was excellent to work with and fun at times. Clear and easy to read manual, easy to connect the front panel and more. Lots of extras.Can't go wrong with ASUS, with their reliability. Id did have one ASUS build turn into a nightmare, but they got redeemed with this Z790-E. Dropped a simple reliable i7 in and off we went. Avoided the problems of 13th and 14th Gen chips. BIOS is stable out the box, and easy to work with, again, right out of the box, with a notable exception of a minor hiccup recognizing a overpowered M2 Drive, that was my mistake.This board stands out for several reasons:Cool looking. Yeah, MB used to be beige and green, and smell like feet, now these designs & quality, woow! The back panel and ports feel incredibly solid and well-built. I also love the new tool-less M.2 slots and the two front panel USB 3.1 connectors.Performance: It works flawlessly with Windows 11, yeah WIN 10 is not longer supported come OCT 2025! Did I mention BIOS has been stable, requiring no crazy tweaks to get it working right. Has lots of things you may not need now a days, like sound ports for speakers.Wifi, cool, Bluetooth nice!Okay, it's expensive, and yeah a significant amount of bloatware. ASUS's "Armory Crate of $h" software is deeply rooted and can be difficult to uninstall, good lord, why can't they make that optional, which is a major frustration for me.Overall, despite the initial bloatware, this motherboard is a solid performer. I would buy it again, but, high cost and intrusive software are scratching at taking a single star off, but who am I to judge, ASUS did well on this one. 5 *****

Used this motherboard for an Intel Core Ultra 7 build primarily for gaming with an ASUS 5080. Very pleased with it so far. Installation went smoothly. The quick start guide with numbered steps and its corresponding diagram on the front cover was very helpful as a visual aid to keep me from accidentally plugging something in the wrong slot. Fits well in Antec Flux Wood Mid-Tower E-ATX case. No issues with installation. Error code display was very helpful in diagnosing initial boot issues. Oddly, BIOS does not seem to detect the graphics card or give any GPU options, but the graphics card works just fine and was detected by Windows 11.Overall very happy with my purchase. The build has been complete for about a month and I have had no problems with it so far. It controls the Noctua air cooler and the fans that came with the Antec case just fine. Computer turns on normally and all ports appear to function properly, including ports on the GPU and the case.I would recommend using the built-in heat sinks for the SSDs. Don't buy an SSD with it's own heat sink because you'll either have to remove it (a pain) or leave the heat sink on the motherboard off. I'm pretty happy with the heat sink included with the motherboard, and you won't need a separate heat sink for an SSD. (You WILL need one for the CPU.)The motherboard is a bit pricey, but I specifically wanted an ASUS product for quality and longevity. My last build using an ASUS PRO motherboard with an ASUS GPU lasted for 10 years and only needed to be replaced due to components growing obsolete (it won't run Windows 11 or certain games I want to play). The only components I needed to replace on that build were the CMOS battery, mice and keyboards, and a monitor I broke in a feat of deep personal stupidity. I never had any problems with the ASUS components on my old build, and I expect the same longevity from my new build with this motherboard.So far, I am very pleased with the product and would recommend it for your Intel Core Ultra build. I was looking to use high quality components without necessarily using elite best of the best equipment that would have thrown the build out of my price range, and this fit comfortably within my budget, even if it is pricier compared to some other options. With computer components, a lot of times, you get what you pay for, and this is a high quality product.