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
ASUS Prime Z390M Plus
The ASUS Prime Z390M Plus is the cheapest of three mATX ASUS Z390 motherboards and visually looks similar to the Prime Z390-P in terms of aesthetics with the white patterning on a black PCB. The Prime Z390M Plus features the same set of white and black slim heatsinks on the power delivery and has a full-length PCIe 3.0 x16 with a second full-length PCIe 3.0 x4 slot offering up to two-way CrossFire multi-graphics card support. This board like the Prime Z390-A has two M.2 slots with both supporting PCIe 3.0 x4, but only one offering SATA compatibility. Also included are four SATA ports offering support for RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10 arrays.
On the Prime Z390M Plus, memory compatibility stretches to DDR4-4266 which is impressive for an entry-level offering and ASUS has really upped their game in the memory speed stakes. This is provided over four available RAM slots with a maximum supported capacity of up to 64 GB.
The rear panel has two USB 3.1 Type-A ports and four USB 3.0 Type-A ports and features a pair of video outputs which consists of a DVI-D and HDMI connector. A separate PS/2 keyboard and mouse port are located on the left side, with an Intel I219V Gigabit networking controller powering the single LAN port and older Realtek ALC887 HD audio codec controlling the available 3.5 mm audio jacks.
The ASUS Prime Z390M Plus pricing and availability is currently unknown but this model is likely to be the cheapest of the ASUS mATX sized options with a complete focus on offering value over premium chipset features such as the TUF gaming series offers, and this particular model looks to offer users a more value-focused mATX sized entry point onto the Z390 chipset.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
79 Comments
View All Comments
pawinda8 - Monday, October 15, 2018 - link
Still no mention of any Z390 boards with native Thunderbolt 3 (not AIC)! Has Intel given up on Thunderbolt for the PC world?gavbon - Monday, October 15, 2018 - link
If it's not integrated into the chipset, it's not really native as such. The ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming-ITX/ac has a Thunderbolt 3 port on the rear panel, but that's the only one I'm afraidHikariWS - Monday, October 15, 2018 - link
Oculus Rift requires 3 USB3 ports and doesn't accept any of them being connected to a hub, they all need to be connected directly into a raw port. I had to buy a dedicated 3GIO USB 3 board that added 6 useful extra ports. In my (yes, old) Gigabyte z87 mobo I also had issues using keyboard and mouse on USB 3 ports inside UEFI and some recovery softwares, so I had to buy a USB 2 mirror to connect them.Because of that, having USB 2 ports on front panel and nice quantity of USB 3 is what most differs mobos for me, given that all other features are nearly the same.
ASUS Z390-A seems to be the best option. It has the important double USB2 ports, 5 USB3 ports and still has HDMI and DP for emergencies.
just4U - Monday, October 15, 2018 - link
I wish MSI had released a "godlike" board for the Ryzen series.ThugEsquire - Tuesday, October 16, 2018 - link
You list the ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming-ITX/ac above as an ATX board, but it's actually mITX. FYIgavbon - Friday, October 19, 2018 - link
I have gone through every page where the Phantom Gaming-ITX/ac is listed, but I can't see where it says it's an ATX board? Could you please be more specific? Are you viewing on mobile or desktop?Galcobar - Tuesday, October 16, 2018 - link
It would be really helpful to break out one more criteria into a table: Type-C header for case-front ports.Helping a friend put together an i5 system and, knowing he'll keep it for a long time, am trying to get even with peripheral connectors (already has a monitor, so no using that as a hub). It's relatively easy to identify cases with a Type-C port, but that's pointless without a motherboard header. Having to go into each board's page to check is time-consuming.
jjnam - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link
6 months later and I'm here for EXACTLY this reason. I've gone through probably 50 manuals over the past few days squinting to find this information. What a pain.Synomenon - Thursday, October 18, 2018 - link
So on the ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming-ITX/ac, is the TB3 port on the rear using up lanes from CPU (making the only 16x slot, 8x only)?If it's not using lanes from the CPU, how will using that TB3 port (say with a USB3.1 Gen2 hub OR TB3 hub) affect all the other ports / IO on the board?
repoman27 - Thursday, October 18, 2018 - link
Going off of what TweakTown published, it's a single-port Intel JHL6240 "Alpine Ridge" controller with a PCI 3.0 x2 connection to the PCH. So it won't affect the PEG lanes from the CPU. I'm amazed it's not Titan Ridge at this point though.