Intel Z390 Motherboard Overview: 50+ Motherboards Analyzed
by Ian Cutress & Gavin Bonshor on October 8, 2018 10:53 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- Intel
- MSI
- Gigabyte
- ASRock
- EVGA
- Asus
- NZXT
- Supermicro
- Z390
MSI MAG Z390M Mortar
The MSI MAG Z390M Mortar is a mATX sized offering from the arsenal gamin range and on paper, is a slightly cut-down version of the Z390 Tomahawk. There are currently no visuals of the MAG Z390M Mortar as MSI doesn't intend to release the board until late October/early November, although there have released its official specifications and expected launch pricing.
As far as rear panels go, the MAG Z390M Mortar is the only of MSI's boards to have a trio of video outputs which includes a DVI-D, HDMI and DisplayPort. USB wise there is a USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-A and Type-C port, as well as four USB 2.0 ports. MSI has opted to disregard USB 3.0 ports from the rear panel, but users looking to expand on what's available can do so through internal headers with up to four USB 2.0 and just two USB 3.0 ports available. The Z390M Mortar offers users five 3.5 mm audio jacks and an optical S/PDIF output thanks to a Realtek ALC892 HD audio codec and the single LAN port is powered by an Intel I219V Gigabit controller.
Storage capability on the MAG Z390M Mortar consists of four SATA ports and has two M.2 slots capable of supporting both PCIe and SATA drives. The Mortar also has two full-length PCIe 3.0 slots with the top receiving a coating of MSI's Steel Slot armor and operating at x16, whereas the bottom slot operates at x4 and is bare; MSI also includes a single PCIe 3.0 x1 slot. The lack of an x8 full-length slot means SLI is out of the question, but the Tomahawk does support 2-way CrossFire. Both of MSI's Z390 mATX sized boards have four RAM slots and the Z390M Mortar supports (INSERT MEMORY SUPPORT) and has room for a total capacity of up to 64 GB.
The MAG Z390M Mortar has a recommended MSRP of $145 and puts it as the cheapest gaming themed board from MSI; that's $35 cheaper than the MSI's other mATX option, the MSI MPGM Gaming Edge AC. Of course, the latter has integrated Wi-Fi all the while the Z390M Tomahawk does not and users looking to build a more wallet-friendly mATX gaming system is more likely to opt for this option.
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Smell This - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
Much.Of.
The.
Same.
2 HSIO lanes per Gen 2 port and WiFi. Wow (rolling I-eyeballs) ...
MadAd - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
58 motherboards, only 13 of which are smaller than ATX. When on earth are we going to move off this outdated oversized format? Its just more of the same every time, so depressing.gavbon - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
13 is better than 0, or 12 :DMadAd - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
Considering very small form formats (ITX) are harder to build for and only 7 are uATX, a size which is the most useful to transition away from ATX then no, it feels like an afterthought from a lazy industry. I mean who uses more than 1 main video card and 2-4 sticks of ram in a gaming PC these days? Even water builds into uATX isnt that hard to accomplish.After literally decades ATX should be a choice for edge cases not a mainstream build.
shaolin95 - Monday, October 22, 2018 - link
who cares about midge boards!Edkiefer - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
All these MB with 2x 8 pin power inputs, is both mandatory and if so I guess new PSU will need 2x 8pin now.entity279 - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
so it's ok to just buy SM motherboards now with them being involved in a security scandal?gavbon - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
I currently have the Supermicro C9Z390-PGW awaiting to go on the test bench next week, so from a consumers standpoint, I could potentially shed light on that board. As far as the Chinese/Supermicro/Spy scandal goes, I don't want to speculate without the finer details.eastcoast_pete - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
Ian & Gavin, thanks for the overview.@ both - Question: I've read that Intel, to deal with its bad planning/capacity problems on 14 nm, has contracted the fabbing of some of its chipsets out to TSMC, specifically in TSMC's 22 nm tech. Is that correct, and did you have a chance to confirm that the new 390s used by these boards are indeed made by Intel on their 14 nm FinFET tech, or are they made by a contractor (TSMC)?
DanNeely - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
AFAIK the chipsets being reverted to 22nm are using Intel's 22nm process in old unupgraded fabs. Doing so would be far less work than porting to a process from a different company; the latter would require massive rework to follow a completely different set of design rules.