Ok, i finally got myself an Asus Pro WS W790-ACE and tried all my available processors on it. Bottom line: the E3 stepping processors do not work with any of the available BIOS. Tested processors:
Q16Z Xeon Platinum 8461V stepping E3 - stops at code 00
Q0MN Xeon Platinum 8468 stepping E3 - stops at code 00
QY36 Xeon Platinum 8480+ stepping C2 - stops at code 04
Looks like only D stepping processors working with this motherboard. Will have to return Asus - which is quite sad, the deal was good and the motherboard is in an new open box condition. And i really like the layout and features. Such a bummer
Not sure i want to spend money buying D0 version of processor - will probably just stick with the tested and tried Supermicro board for now.