A couple of new unannounced Asus ROG Maximus motherboards have been spotted on Twitter, leaked by user @harukaze5719. The leaked images feature the Asus ROG Maximus VIII Hero and the ROG Maximus VIII Extreme Glacial, a motherboard equipped with an EK monoblock. Given the proximity to CES 2021, we expect Asus to officially announce these boards during the event.
The Extreme Glacial appears to be Asus' liquid-cooled variant of the Maximus Extreme. The Glacial features an EK monoblock that cools both the power delivery system and CPU, plus there's liquid cooling for the chipset. It appears that one of the M.2 slots could also be liquid-cooled, but we can't be sure.
If you've heard of the Extreme Glacial name before, it's because there were rumors that a Maximus Z490 XII Glacial was in the works. A few sites, including Anandtech, reported that a Z490 Glacial was indeed coming, but Asus apparently dropped the board completely from its lineup. Hopefully, the Z590 Extreme Glacial variant is real and won't succumb to the same fate.
The Maximus XIII Hero looks very similar to the older XII model, with a minor facelift. The chipset heatsink cover is now a greyish-silver instead of matte black, and the VRM heatsinks now have RGB illumination. It appears the Maximus XIII Hero might have an upgraded power delivery system, as the board gets upgraded CPU EPS power from an 8-pin plus 4-pin to dual 8-pin EPS power.
Hopefully, we'll learn more about these boards during CES 2021. The Maximus Extreme Glacial, specifically, looks amazing for enthusiasts who want to build a liquid-cooled Rocket Lake system.
