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
GIGABYTE Z390 Aorus Pro
The GIGABYTE Z390 Aorus Pro slots right in between the Z390 Aorus Ultra and Z390 Aorus Elite in terms of their SKU list. The Z390 Aorus Pro is available with and without Wi-Fi, with the Wi-Fi model including support for 2T2R Wave 2 802.11 wireless network connectivity with speeds of up to 1.73 Gbps. This is the only difference in terms of specifications between the two models. 
Both the Z390 Aorus Pro and Z390 Aorus Pro WIFI has four RAM slots which support DDR4-4133 and a combined capacity of up to 64 GB.
On the board is a total of three full-length PCIe 3.0 slots with the first and second slot getting a treatment of metal slot protection, while the third slot remains bare; each full-length slot from top to bottom operates at x16, x8 and x4 meaning two-way SLI and up to three-way CrossFire multi-graphics card configurations are supported. In addition to the full-length slots, there are three PCIe 3.0 x1 slots present. Storage wise there are two M.2 slots which both have support for PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA drives and both slots have M.2 heatsinks included; there are also a total of six SATA ports which allow for RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10 arrays to be utilized.
The bulk of rear panel connections are made of USB ports with a total of nine consisting of two USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-A, one USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C, three USB 3.0 Type-A and four USB 2.0 ports. A further two USB 3.0 and four additional ports can be made available through the board's internal headers. The Wi-Fi model benefits from a 2T2R Wave 2 802.11ac dual antennae Wi-Fi module, while both versions have an Intel I219V Gigabit networking controller powering the single LAN port. The Z390 Aorus Pro and Aorus Pro WIFI use a Realtek ALC1220-VB audio codec which powers the five 3.5 mm audio jacks and S/PDIF optical output, as well as a single HDMI video output also being present across both models.
As it stands the GIGABYTE Z390 Aorus Pro WIFI is set to retail for $200 and users not intending to use a wireless network can instead opt for the non-WiFi version for a slightly altered price of $190. It's up to the user to determine whether or not they need wireless capabilities as the difference between the two models sits at $10. The primary target market is gamers and as both Aorus Pro models sit between the more basic Z390 Aorus Elite and the relatively high-end Z390 Aorus Ultra, GIGABYTE is trying to occupy as much market segmentation as it possibly can.
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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.