CONCLUSION

    MAXSUN is certainly not as established as for example MSI or ASRock but if their Z890 iCraft VERTEX is any indication they should grow quite fast in the years to come. Build quality is very good across the board, there are more features available compared to even the top models by other manufacturers (with the information screen leading) and as for performance, well, whether it’s due to the motherboard itself or the new 114 microcode this is the fastest model in my charts currently. That’s not to say that everything Is perfect and so where the Z890 iCraft VERTEX falls back is product support. Last BIOS release was in late December and even though I did wait for a new one until a few days ago that didn’t happen. Overall, the BIOS is easy to navigate but it tends to send more voltage to the CPU than needed, whether that’s on auto or manual. This has happened with other motherboard models of course but usually not to this extend and well, I hope MAXSUN comes forward to resolve this. Needless to say, I don’t expect any issues from this but again, MAXSUN should optimize voltage delivery more. Another issue is the lack of USB-C ports. Yes, two USB-C TB4 ports at the rear I/O and another USB-C 20G port via internal header should be enough for most people but some require more and well, they won’t find them here.

    No matter how much a product stands out if it’s not available anywhere that’s a serious problem and this seems to be the case with the Z890 iCraft VERTEX by MAXSUN. I was able to find it around Asia for around USD350/320Euros but nothing in the USA or the EU, at least none that I could find. At the end of the day even though availability issues will make it very hard for someone to get their hands onto the Z890 iCraft VERTEX it’s still a very good motherboard deserving of our Golden Award.

PROS

- Good OC Potential (20+1+1 Phase Digital VRM / Sufficient Cooling)
- Overall Performance
- Reinforced & EMI Shielded PCIe x16 Slots
- 2 UDIMM DDR5 Slots (Up To 9200MHz+ / 128GB Total / CUDIMM Support)
- 4 M.2 PCIe Slots (1x5.0 / 3x4.0)
- Two Thunderbolt 4 Ports
- HDMI v2.1 & DP v1.4 Video Outputs
- 5GbE RJ45 Port
- WiFi 7 / Bluetooth v5.4
- Available BIOS Settings

CONS

- Availability (USA/EU)
- Only 3 USB Type C Ports
- CPU Voltage Delivery