Maxsun Terminator Z790M D5 Ice Review: White Micro ATX with five M.2 sockets

Sub-$190 Micro ATX board sports an icy appearance, five M.2 sockets, and dual 20 Gbps USB-C

Maxsun Terminator Z790M D5 Ice
(Image credit: © Tom's Hardware)

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Firmware

Maxsun’s BIOS is a bit of a blast from the past. While it’s 100% functional, it doesn’t have an Easy Mode and isn’t quite as refined (good-looking) as others. The BIOS screen has the major headings across the top (Main, Advanced, Power, Turbo, Startup, Security, and Exit) with detailed information on the left and system information (including CPU temp/speed, fan speed, vcore, memory frequency, and more) on the right. You can overclock the system in the Turbo section, and there are plenty of options to tweak. Again, it has all the functionality you’re looking for, including overclocking and tweaking memory, but it just doesn’t look as good compared to most competing brands.

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Joe Shields
Staff Writer, Components

Joe Shields is a staff writer at Tom’s Hardware. He reviews motherboards and PC components.

  • 8086
    The disappearing connectivity on modern motherboards is very disappointing.

    Come on people. I want my pci-express slots back. And If I need 5 NVME drives, then I'll get one daughter pci-e card to run them off of. This also frees up motherboard space for other components you and I might desire and makes installing NVME drives much easier since you can just remove the daughterboard vs removing your gpu and everything else to get at the drive location..

    https://www.msi.com/PC-Component/M.2-XPANDER-AERO/Specification
    Reply
  • Amdlova
    5 nvme will make you better at gaming...
    If you need a 10g ethernet or a capture card or other thing you can put on your @ email
    Reply
  • HideOut
    The lack of M2 5th gen is a bummer, but using badwidth to put put 5 x m2 is cool, especially with 2 x 110mm. But the trend of crappy sound codecs is sad.
    Reply
  • Gu3sts
    Shame the chipset does not support 36+ pci express lane's so all m.2 & gpu can run at full speed, assuming x4 lanes per m.2 drive
    Reply