With a price of around $650, the Apex Encore is a premium motherboard focused on overclocking and pushing your hardware to its limits. It also looks good, performed well in our tests, and is a solid, albeit expensive, daily driver even if you don’t overclock.
At a bit above $700, the Asus ROG Maximus Z790 Formula offers high-end hardware like 40 Gbps USB ports, hybrid cooling for the robust VRMs, flagship-class audio, a premium moonlight white appearance, and many DIY-friendly features.
The Z790 Nova is a new mid-range SKU that comes with six M.2 sockets, a unique black-on-blue/purple design, and all of the features you’d want, including Wi-Fi 7, a quality audio solution, robust power delivery and good all-around performance for under $300.