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 ROG Maximus XI Extreme
The flagship ASUS board always has been and always will be the Extreme models and the ROG Maximus XI Extreme is no different in this regard. Often considered as one of the flagship models when one does surface itself, the ROG Maximus XI Extreme offers one of the most unique aesthetical features on the Z390 chipset comes through a cleverly placed LiveDash OLED display which in the below image is displaying a 5.0 GHz overclock on the CPU. The board has tons of integrated RGB with a rear panel integrated with LEDs, with a chipset heatsink focused around the ROG logo also allowing users to customize it and an array of right-edge mounted underside RGB LEDs.
Not everything is about the aesthetic as the Extreme Z390 offers dual 8-pin 12 V ATX CPU power inputs and a dedicated ROG DIMM.2 slot for use with the included M.2 riser card which also includes a uniquely designed ROG heatsink. A total of four RAM slots with support for DDR4-4400 memory and up to a maximum capacity of 64 GB can be installed onto the board. The right-hand side of the board has an overclockers toolkit with a variety of DIP switches designed specifically for overclocking, with a dedicated start and reset switch just below the LED debug. There are rumours of a ROG Maximus XI Apex in the works which will offer much of the same in the way of extreme cooling capabilities, but with support for faster memory. Nothing is confirmed thus far and if the Apex does eventually show its X-shaped PCB on the market, expect me to jump for joy.
A total of six SATA ports and a trio of M.2 slots are present with one having support for SATA drives; all three M.2 slots are PCIe 3.0 x4 capable with one of these being directly fed into the ROG DIMM.2 slot for better cooling support. The board also has three full-length PCIe 3.0 slots which run at x16, x8 and x4 (x8/x8 or x8/x4/x4) and supports two-way SLI or three-way CrossFire multi-graphics configurations as a result.
Like all of the other Z390 Maximus XI motherboards, a Supreme-FX S1220 8-channel HD audio codec and single Intel I219V Gigabit NIC is featured and in addition to this is a high-performance Aquantia AQC111C 5 Gigabit powered LAN port. A total of ten USB ports is located on the rear panel with these being split into three different flavors; three USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-A, one USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C and six USB 3.0 Type-A ports. The Extreme does include a standard HDMI video output and also features a BIOS Flashback button with a clear CMOS switch located next to it.
The ASUS ROG Maximus XI Extreme pricing and availablity is currently unknown, and this model represents the cream of the crop for the Z390 product stack from ASUS. The highly customizable ASUS AURA Sync RGB LED lighting is something which draws my eye and its combination of high-end components such as 5 Gigabit LAN and 2T2R Intel 9560 802.11ac Wi-Fi support as being more useful additions. Extreme overclockers will be looking around for the arrival of the Z390 Maximus XI Apex if ASUS has one in the works, primarily for the shorter memory traces to the CPU socket for unmatched memory performance when benchmarking.
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gavbon - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
Thank you Hickory, will update now; this information wasn't available to us at the timebill44 - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
All this boards, but only 1 with Thunderbolt 3. Looks like Thunderbolt 3 is dead (free or not).Type C ports and HDMI 2.0 is in short supply too.
Hopefully next year, we can have two or more USB C (maybe even 3.2), HDMI 2.1, PCIe 4/5 and Thunderbolt 3/4 (Titan Ridge?). Or maybe not, just the same old things hoping for 2020/21.
DanNeely - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
There's no licensing fee for TB, the controller chip itself still costs money (IIRC $20 or $30) and still eats 4 PCIe lanes. Worse, IIRC to make the video out feature work they need to be CPU lanes; meaning that adding it means your main GPU slot is an x8, and the secondary one only x4.gavbon - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
Yeah it's a case of certain vendors opting to dismiss including TB3 ports, which only seems sensible on mini-ITX boards where PCIe lanes aren't too much of an issue. Consumer choice is important though and I'm still glad ASRock has included it; it could be a key buying decision for some!gamingkingx - Friday, October 12, 2018 - link
Just too bad it is only wired as a x2.. And it is wired into the chipset as far as I am aware, so you are gonna max out your I/Os pretty fast.bill44 - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
Sure, anything you add will cost something. The are plenty of non-gamers who prefer TB3 vs x16.This also highlights how old current PC architecture is. Either we need more PCIe lanes, or faster lanes. Otherwise, all advances will be hindered.
Up to 6 USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports? You’ be lucky to get 4. Why can’t we have 6 Gen2 ports and the rest Gen1 an no antiquated USB 2.0? PCIe resources.
All new peripherals use Type C, but this boards generally give you only 1 (saving money on redrivers). USB 3.2 (20 Gbps)? When it comes around, ithis too will need more PCIe lanes. M.2. PCIe 3.0 x4? All lanes are maxed out; the only way forward is faster lanes.
In the past, Gigabyte was a TB3 champion including the functionality on many of their boards. Now, not a single one.
Cost saving by motherboard makers? Prioritising gamers? Or simply no demand for TB3.
The outcome is the same.
repoman27 - Thursday, October 18, 2018 - link
Intel merely said that they planned "to make the Thunderbolt protocol specification available to the industry under a nonexclusive, royalty-free license" sometime this year. This hasn't happened yet, and is referring to the protocol spec, not the silicon that Intel produces. If and when they decide to do this, ASMedia or whoever could then begin development of their own Thunderbolt controllers. This means that third-party controllers probably won't appear in shipping products until sometime in 2023.As for the currently available Thunderbolt 3 controllers, tray prices range from $6.45 to $9.10. But you also need a USB Type-C and PD controller, power switch, and high-speed mux which runs around $4.59, plus the connector and a few other bits. I don't believe Intel charges a royalty on finished Thunderbolt products, but they do require licensing and certification which are paid for by the OEM and may add significant cost to relatively low-volume products.
AFAIK, Windows PCs are still required to connect Thunderbolt controllers via the PCH. Apple is the only one using PEG lanes for Thunderbolt, and they don't do that on the 27-inch iMacs where it might adversely impact the GPU.
Dug - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
I hope it's not dead. Far more useful than USB C. I would be fine with USB C except there doesn't seem to be a good USB C to USB C hub, which really restricts how many devices you can use. I'm really glad to see it on ASRock itx board so I can attach a portable SSD array.imaheadcase - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
Tons of monitors of USB-C, anker sells USB-C hubs, I don't think i've seen thunderbolt in a desktop PC to date though. That best part of USB-C is being able to just plug phone into it and copy paste to desktop files (no Microsoft didn't invent that, it was always that way by default in windows)Valantar - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
TB3 is far from dead, it just has little use in desktop PCs. Have you looked at laptop lineups recently? TB3 is _everywhere_. My workplace (a major university here in Norway) has moved entirely to TB3 docking solutions as they're the only full-featured and universal(-ish) solution.eGPUs are useless on desktops. Desktops don't need docks. USB 3.1 is plenty fast for external storage, and if you need faster storage, desktops can fit that internally. The only real use cases for TB3 on a desktop are TB3 networking (for fast direct transfers between PCs) and adding things like extra NVMe or >GbE networking on ITX boards that don't have room for that and a GPU.