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
Since TUF went not so TUF with the disregard of waves of thermal armor on their more rugged The Ultimate Force models, the TUF range was remodelled with a focus on offering gamers on a budget an entry route onto the key chipsets such as last year with the Z370 chipset and now with the new Z390 chipset. The rebadged and reskinned TUF Gaming range focus its attention on gaming-centric features such as a slightly cheaper Realtek S1200A HD audio codec, Intel I219V Gigabit LAN and a mix of black, grey and yellow accented visuals. The TUF Gaming Z390 models occupy the entry to mid-level of ASUS's Z390 product stack and slots between the professional series Prime and Strix gaming ranges.
ASUS TUF Z390 Pro Gaming
The ASUS TUF Z390 Pro Gaming represents the best and most feature rich of The Ultimate Force branded Z390 gaming based models with a similar visual design to that from the previous Z370 TUF Gaming motherboards. The TUF Z390 Gaming has a rear panel cover which houses the TUF Gaming branding and TUF logo, with the chipset heatsink featuring a similar design. There is no integrated RGB within this model but ASUS does include RGB headers for users looking to utilize the popular technology. There are four RAM slots with support for DDR4-4266 and up to 64 GB of system memory in total.
In terms of available PCIe capabilities, the TUF Z390 Pro Gaming has a total of three full-length PCIe 3.0 slots with only the top slot getting treated to the ASUS Safe Slot protection; these operate at x16, x8 and x4, with SLI supported with two NVIDIA cards installed forcing the PCIe to run at x8/x8. Users looking for PCIe 3.0 x1 slot support will be happy to find three on this model. A total of two PCIe 3.0 x4 supported M.2 slots are present with the bottom M.2 slot being complemented with an M.2 heatshield. In addition to this is a total of six SATA ports with two right-angled ports located below the 24-pin ATX motherboard power input and four straight-angled ports placed directly below the chipset heatsink.
The rear panel on the ASUS TUF Z390 Pro Gaming is what's expected from an entry-level model, but despite this, ASUS has utilized the integrated 10 Gbps USB from the Z390 chipset as the board has two USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-A ports in addition to four USB 3.0 Type-A ports. An HDMI 1.4b and DisplayPort video output make up the onboard graphics support, while an Intel I219V Gigabit LAN and Realtek S1200A HD audio codec drive the onboard audio connectors. Last but not least, ASUS has included a PS/2 combination keyboard and mouse port.
The ASUS TUF Z390 Pro Gaming's price is as it stands unknown and this model represents the best of the entry-level range of gaming boards with support for both two-way SLI and CrossFire multi-graphics card configurations. The rear panel isn't comprehensive and the ATX Pro Gaming offers no Wi-Fi capable model opposed to the TUF Z390 Plus Gaming (Wi-Fi).
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
79 Comments
View All Comments
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.