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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DanTMWTMP - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
Are they ALL made in China? What happened to the ones made in Taiwan from a few gens ago? :/gavbon - Friday, October 12, 2018 - link
Unfortunately, I cannot confirm this. The ASRock Z390 Taichi I have in my hands says 'designed in Taipei', but that's about it.Nagorak - Sunday, October 14, 2018 - link
Gigabyte apparently has a factory in Taiwan. It seems all the rest moved production to China.WickedMONK3Y - Friday, October 12, 2018 - link
The MEG Z390 Godlike looked like such an interesting board until I checked the MSI Specifications page and realised it actually does not have the PLX chip as suspected. The PCI Express slots on the board are configured as 16x / 4x / 8x / 4x instead of 16x / 16x / 8x / 4x or 16x / 8x / 16x / 4x. It seems after PLX sold to whomever owns them now, that the price hike stopped their usage on consumer boards completely.I really really hope somebody comes out with a board that has a PLX chip on board.
gavbon - Friday, October 12, 2018 - link
The Supermicro C9Z390-PGW has a Broadcom 8747 PLX PCIe switch :)ZioTom - Friday, October 12, 2018 - link
It would be a nice touch including in next MB review what pheriferals stop funcioning when too much PCI-E lanes are used. Some motherboards disable SATA ports when M.2 slot are used; others may require limiting bandwith to one PCI-E slot... etc. Before byuing a motherboard I would like to be warned that is not possibile to use all the features they are advertising.happyfirst - Friday, October 12, 2018 - link
I wish we would get better thunderbolt support. Only one board has it built in? I'm thinking of a Taichi board and see a Thunberbolt AIC connector in the manual, but then I can't really find enough good quality posts of people having success putting it to use. I'd like to get a new external nvme ssd thunderbolt drive to run my vms off of so I can more easily take them on the road with me and use from my notebook.ddcc - Saturday, October 13, 2018 - link
Certain Gigabyte boards, e.g. Z390 Aorus Pro WiFi, seem to be using Intel's Z390 CNVi, but aren't listed in the article.gavbon - Monday, October 15, 2018 - link
I'm going to be updating tomorrow with more information; been working on getting one of the board reviews ready for the end of the week :)gavbon - Sunday, October 21, 2018 - link
Will be adding these in tomorrow (not at a PC currently) - We didn't have the information available prior to writing