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
ASRock Z390 Pro4 & Z390M Pro4
The ASRock Z390 Pro 4 and Z390M Pro 4 are so similar in terms specification, design and aesthetic, the only real core differences between both models are the form factor, PCIe layout including M.2 compatibility and through the rear panel. Both Z390 Pro4 boards feature a black PCB with a similar grey colored patterning to the Z390 Phantom Gaming 4 model. Neither board has a rear panel cover and both also disregard a power delivery heatsink for the SoC sections; both boards seemingly incorporate the same 10-phase power delivery as per ASRock's marketing resources. Both models also include a total of four 4-pin fan headers, with the Z390 Pro4 offering one extra PCIe 3.0 x1 slot than the smaller mATX version.
ASRock Z390 Pro4 (left) and ASRock Z390M Pro4 (right)
On the ATX sized Z390 Pro4 and maTX Z390M Pro4, there are two full-length PCIe 3.0 slots with the top slot running at x16 and the bottom one at x4; this means two-way CrossFire is supported but no dice on SLI I'm afraid. The primary difference in PCIe which is a consequence to jumping from ATX to mATX is the Z390 Pro4 has three PCIe 3.0 x1 slots whereas the Z390M Pro4 has two.
With the storage, the Z390 Pro4 has a pair of PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA supported M.2 slots with a total of six SATA ports; the ports are split up into four right-angled and two straight-angled connectors. The Z390M Pro4 has a slightly different setup with one of the dual M.2 slots only offering PCIe 3.0 x4 with the other port allowing for both PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA drives to be used. The ASRock Z390M Pro4 also has six SATA ports with four featuring right-angled connectors and two with straight-angled connectors located between the right-angled ports and 24-pin ATX motherboard power input. Both boards have four RAM slots with a total capacity of up to 64 GB and have official support for DDR4-4300.
The rear panel on the ASRock Z390 Pro4 consists of two USB 3.1 Gen2 (Type-A and Type-C), two USB 3.0 Type-A and two USB 2.0 ports. A trio of video outputs including HDMI, DVI-D and D-sub, as well as a combo PS/2 port and thanks to an M.2 E-key socket, a compatible Wi-Fi adapter can be installed with a bracket currently sitting empty for this on the rear IO. The singe LAN port is controlled by an Intel I219V Gigabit chip and the three 3.5 mm audio jacks are powered by a Realtek ALC892 HD audio codec.
On the mATX sized ASRock Z390M Pro4 rear panel, a single USB 3.1 Gen2 Type and Type-C port are there, along with four additional USB 3.0 Type-A ports. Featured is a single Intel I219V Gigabit powered LAN port with the same Realtek ALC892 HD audio codec offering three 3.5 mm audio jacks, but the Z390M Pro4 drops the bracket and instead opts for two PS/2 ports; one for a mouse and the other for a keyboard. The same trifecta of video outputs is also featured which consist of a DVI-D, HDMI and D-Sub output.
Both the ASRock Z390 Pro4 and Z390M Pro4 have a suggested MSRP of $130 which are currently the cheapest boards ASRock offers so far on the Z390 chipset. The models trade off well with the extra PCB space on the Z390 Pro4 being used to include an extra PCIe 3.0 x1 slot and both M.2 slots on this model allow for both PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA drives to be used. The Z390M Pro4 marks itself as one of only a handful of mATX boards currently the on the Z390 chipset and on the whole, doesn't really lose anything of worth over the ATX model. Neither model supports RGB backlighting and there isn't even a single and basic 5050 RGB header in sight. The Pro4 boards as you would expect are more for professional users and although there are no obvious drawbacks for gaming, the lack of features means most will look elsewhere.
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eastcoast_pete - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
Yes, you are correct, at least for H310c chipsets, maybe more (all?). I looked at the digitimes report on Intel outsourcing to TSMC, and that, if correct, would be about chipsets fabbed in 14nm. I wonder if Anadtech could check the 390s from the newest MoBos and sleuth out if they are also a case of "back to the future - 22 is the new 14 at Intel".peterfares - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
Still waiting for someone to make a mini-ITX board with 4x SODIMM slots. The X299 one is interesting combined with a 9800X but I'd rather have the newer architecture with better IPC and clocks.gavbon - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
4 x SODIMMs has no performance benefit on Z370/Z390 other than a capacity increase because of the dual channel memory controller. The ASUS Z390 Maximus Gene and Strix Z390-I support the new 32GB double capacity SODIMMs to give more options for mini-ITX users needing more capacity.The X299 ASRock board put 4 x RAM slots on it so it could benefit from the quad channel memory controller
gamingkingx - Friday, October 12, 2018 - link
Gavon understands it..On ITX its all about how you use the space.. It would be sille to have 4 slots for dual channel.
BUT! It would interesting to use only 2x SO-DIMM..
cyrilp - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
Some of the asrock boards have 8 SATA3, 3 Ultra M.2 but it's a bit misleading as they share lanes. so you can't use 8 sata3 drivers and 3 m2 ones at the same timegavbon - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
Yeah, it's a bit of a pain, but one of the drawbacks of a chipset designed for the desktop. Unfortunately, in that situation, it's one or the other. If I was going to use 8 x SATA drives and 3 x M.2, I would probably be using a HEDT chipset such as X299 or TR4 anywayballsystemlord - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
Spelling and grammar corrections. I did not read this whole article. You 2 goofed this one up pretty badly."In the below table a question mark (?) denotes that we currently don't currently have this information available."
Too many currentlys.
"In the below table a question mark (?) denotes that we don't currently have this information available."
"My take on it is that it could be easier to mount a CPU pot for extreme overclockers for some reason, as I'm sure this board is all about the performance marbles and nothing else."
Sound bytes as a sentence (SBAAS). I've very little idea what you were trying to say. Maybe:
"My take on it is that it could be easier to mount a CPU pot for extreme overclockers. For some reason they insist on pots. Or maybe not, as I'm sure this board is all about the performance and nothing else."
"The new gaming themed naming structure consists of three different ranges which make a lot of sense when they deciphered; the MEG is the enthusiast gaming, MPG is performance gaming and the MAG is the arsenal gaming."
Missing "are".
"The new gaming themed naming structure consists of three different ranges which make a lot of sense when they're deciphered; the MEG is the enthusiast gaming, MPG is performance gaming and the MAG is the arsenal gaming."
"The MAG essentially renames the original arsenal range of boards with a name which seems fitting etc rifle mag, a happy coincidence perhaps."
Stray "etc".
"The MAG essentially renames the original arsenal range of boards with a name which seems fitting i.e. rifle mag, a happy coincidence perhaps."
gavbon - Friday, October 12, 2018 - link
Appreciated, updated :)ballsystemlord - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
I love your table on "Power Delivery Comparison".But how do you tell how many phases each board has from your table?
E.g. "GIGABYTE Z390 Gaming SLI" has 5+2 ISL69138 but then has 5 ISL6617A doublers leading me to the conclusion that it is a 25 + 2 phase design.
Thanks!
gavbon - Friday, October 12, 2018 - link
I've updated the table to make it more clear :) - The PPaks are dual channel MOSFETs so each of the GIGABYTE boards is running 10 phases, with 5 doublers = 2 phases per channel. This is the data we received directly from GIGABYTE.