Asus has been generously helping MKAU Gaming put together a dedicated benchmarking PC, and alongside the ASUS A21 Micro- ATX case, the ASUS TUF GAMING 1000W GOLD PSU White edition, an ROG STRIX LC III 360 Watercooler, and an ASUS ROG STRIX Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 OC Edition graphics card, they’ve sent an ASUS ROG STRIX Z790-I Gaming WIFI Mini-ITX Motherboard.

As a mini-ITX board, it measures 17cm by 17cm, so it looks somewhat lost inside the ASUS A21 case, but we all know that bigger doesn’t always mean better, and what it lacks in size, it makes up for in other ways. Two DIMM slots with Dual Channel Memory Architecture, Intel Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) support, and OptiMem II can run up to 96GB of DDR5 memory with speeds of up to 7600 MHZ(OC), while the Intel Socket LGA1700 will run anything from a Celeron to a 14th Generation Intel Core-I series processer, supporting both Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 and Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0.

Powered is delivered by the Extreme Engine Digi+, featuring 5K Black Metallic Capacitors cooled by the ASUS Thermal Solution VRM heatsink design that’s built into the stylish I/O panel on the back, emblazoned with the ROG Logo and STRIX stencilled across the venting system. Holographic-style pin lining splits over onto the M.2 heatsinks, where you can securely connect two M.2 SSDs – A type 2280 in either PCIe 5.0 x4 or PCIe 4.0 x4, and a type 2242/2260/2280 that supports PCIe 4.0 x4.

The I/O panel is quite simple in comparison, other than the stylised ROG Eye logo, and comes with the faceplate pre-installed for a slightly easier build. It houses two Thunderbolt 4 USB Type-C ports, a 3.2 Gen 2X2 USB Type-C, three 3.2 Gen 2 USB Type-A ports that also support the ROG STRIX HIVE, a USB 3.2 Type-A, two USB 2.0 Type-A, an HDMI 2.1 with 4K60 capabilities, a 2.5Gb Ethernet port, and the ever-important Wi-Fi 6E module, supporting 2.4, 5, and 6GHz frequencies. It’s also here that you’ll find the easy-to-access Clear CMOS button for those times you need to quickly reset the BIOS to factory settings, perfect for when you might accidentally push that overclock just a little too far.

Additional connectivity and control are delivered by the included ASUS ROG STRIX HIVE, offering additional USB ports in both Type-A and Type-C, as well as audio inputs and outputs, including a SPDIF port. It also provides an easy-access volume dial, a FlexKey that can be set up with a variety of quick access features, such as activating or deactivating Aura Sync, A BIOS FlashBack button for quickly updating your system BIOS, LEDs to more easily visualise power status, memory, graphics, boot devices, and the CPU, and the really exciting AI Overclocking button, where at the push of a button you can let Skynet take the wheel and maximise your PCs performance.

To maintain the smaller form of the ASUS ROG STRIX Z790-I Gaming WIFI Mini-ITX Motherboard, a vertically mounted ROG FPS-II Card is included in the packaging, giving you access to an additional two USB 2.0 headers that can support up to three USB 2.0 ports on the front panel of your system. It also houses the two SATA 6GB/s ports, allowing you to connect additional SATA storage solutions, or if you’re old-school, a couple of DVD-ROMs.

An Alteration Mode Switch allows you to switch the CPU’s PCIe signal between Gen3 and Gen4, as well as Auto, and a CPU Over Voltage Jumper lets you squeeze that little bit more juice into your CPU, allowing you to really push how far you can overclock your CPU.

A single PCIe 5.0 x16 expansion slot provides a location for your chosen graphics card, although you will have to decide how you’d like to spend the available Gen5 Bandwidth. One of the previously mentioned M.2 slots can run in either PCIe 5.0 or PCIe 4.0, and doing the former will have the expansion slot running as a PCIe 5.0 x8 as it shares the bandwidth across the two sockets. If you’re setting this up as a gaming system, as we are, you’ll want to make sure you run both M.2 sockets at 4.0. You want the best graphics performance after all.

Other, less exciting connections, such as power inputs, fan sockets and the like, are easily accessible and placed strategically around the remaining sides of the board, and this makes the ASUS ROG STRIX Z790-I Gaming WIFI Mini-ITX Motherboard a dream to install. Connections for all your cooling needs are located at what would be the top of the board once installed, including those ever-important ARGB sockets to connect your favourite Aura-Sync capable peripherals.

Of course, a Motherboard won’t do much without some kind of software, and fortunately, ASUS ROG supplies this in abundance.

The Armoury Crate gives us a one-stop shop for downloading drivers, manually controlling system fans, monitoring hardware, and setting up those gorgeous RGB elements in our system, while Sonic Studio III and DTS Sound Unbound give us all the options for setting our audio to give us an advantage on the battlefield. The ROG UEFI BIOS offers a simple way to fine-tune your system performance in EZ mode or take full control in the Advanced Mode, while MemTest86 will let you nail down any memory issues you might come across.

Alternatively, you can let AI take control. AI Suite 3 and AI Cooling II will help you balance the performance, cooling and stability of your system with nothing but a couple of clicks, while Two-Way AI Noise Cancelling uses a database of over five million types of background sound to deliver crisp communications during calls or intense gaming sessions, and although I never knew I needed it, GameFirst VI delivers AI Networking. Using real-time application usage and learning algorithms, this handy little system will allocate network bandwidth to deliver you the lowest possible latency, so you’ll know that those deaths were actually a skill issue, even if you won’t admit it.

Although small, the ASUS ROG STRIX Z790-I Gaming WIFI Mini-ITX Motherboard can perform just as well as any well-endowed motherboard, if not better, and it will fit comfortably into the tightest of cases. The PCIe 5.0 x16 expansion slot means you won’t have to resort to double-graphics card action to get the job done, and the two DIMM slots will give you all the staying power you could ever need, so remember; it’s not the size that counts. It’s how you use it.

Written by: Mathew Lindner