THE Z890 ICRAFT VERTEX

For the Z890 iCraft VERTEX MAXSUN has chosen a black and silver color theme.

There seems to be sufficient cooling for the VRMs so nothing new here.

What steals the show with this particular model is the real time information color display placed just over the rear I/O.

Using just two UDIMM slots improves compatibility and performance, so it does make sense MAXSUN took this route (even though total RAM is reduced to 128GB from 256GB).

Typically, the two 8-pin motherboard/CPU power ports are located on the top left.

The debug port along with the power on/off and reset buttons are placed on the top right.

The primary PCIe 5.0 M.2 port is located next to the DIMM slots.

MAXSUN has also used a quick-release button for the primary PCIe 5.0 x16 slot.

SAS ports are not something we see a lot, so it was nice to see that MAXSUN has placed two here.

At the bottom we find a button from where you can quickly switch between ARGB effects.

All three PCIe slots are reinforced and shielded (again something we don't see a lot).

Removing the large heatsink reveals three M.2 PCIe slots.

Most of the rear of the motherboard is protected by a metal plate.

Moving to the I/O we find a single HDMI v2.1 video out, DP v1.4 video out, BIOS flash button, clear CMOS button, two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, nine USB-A 10Gbps ports, two quick release Antenna ports, 5Gbps RJ45 port and the Realtek ALC1220 High Definition onboard audio ports.

Just like with previous Z890 reviews I'll be using the Intel Core Ultra 285k, Kingston FURY Renegade Limited Edition 48GB 8GHz CL36 dual-channel kit and the Gainward GeForce RTX 4080 Phantom (short clip is available on YouTube and TikTok).