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 Hero
Out of all the manufacturers releasing Z390 motherboards to the market, ASUS has the most with a total of nineteen different models across multiple of their core motherboard ranges. These include the performance inspired and enthusiast-focused ROG Maximus XI series, the gaming and mid-range gaming-inspired Strix range, the more rugged and more recently gaming-centric TUF boards. ASUS has also released a trio of professional-fixated PRIME motherboards.
The gaming range of boards which stretches from the top (ROG Maximus XI Extreme) down through to entirety of the Strix range and down to the bottom (TUF Z390-Plus Gaming) seems pretty comprehensive, with the Maximus XI boards offering comprehensive power deliveries designed to push the new Intel 9th generation (8th generation too) processors up to and beyond their limitations. A lot of the ASUS Z390 boards aimed at gamers include Intel Gigabit LAN with Realtek based ROG Supreme-FX S1220 HD audio codecs on the mid-range and higher-end offerings scattered across the different price points.
One of the major points to note on the Maximus XI Hero, Code and Formula boards is they share a very similar PCB which leads us to think the main differences separating them comes through the aesthetic and the inclusion of better quality controllers as the range goes up in price. Also similar is that each of the ROG Maximus XI Hero, Code and Formula all have an 8-pin + 4-pin ATX 12 V CPU power inputs with a similar looking power delivery on the surface; we did reach out to ASUS for more information and if we receive it, we will provide an update.
ASUS ROG Maximus XI Hero, WIFI & Black Ops 4 Edition
The ASUS ROG Maximus XI Hero (Z390) represents the lowest of the higher tier Maximus range of motherboards and since their introduction to ASUS's motherboard arsenal back on the Z87 chipset, the ROG Maximus VI Hero. Five iterations of the Hero later and we're at the XI which includes a Supreme-FX S1220 8-channel HD audio codec and includes a single Intel I219V Gigabit LAN.
One thing the ASUS Z390 gaming boards has plenty of is RGB and the Maximus XI Hero does have it with two key areas featuring integrated LEDs; the rear panel cover and the chipset heatsink. The Maximus XI Hero also features two addressable RGB headers along with two regular RGB headers. The power delivery from the surface looks like it may be a 10-phase setup operating at 8+2 or 6+4, with a nice sized black colored finned heatsink. The front of the PCB has two PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slots with only one of these supporting SATA too. Both M.2 slots have heatsinks and in addition, the board has a total of six SATA ports with support for RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10 arrays also present.
The PCIe on the ROG Maximus XI Hero consists of three full-length PCIe 3.0 slots which operate at x16, x8 and x4 (x8/x8 or x8/x4/x4) with the top two slots having ASUS Safe Slot protection to strength them up; also included are three PCIe 3.0 x1 slots. There's a total of four RAM slots with support for DDR4-4400 with a total capacity of up to 64 GB.
ASUS ROG Maximus XI Hero WiFI Rear Panel IO
On the rear panel is a combined total of eight USB ports which are comprised of three USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-A, one USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C and four USB 3.0 Type-A ports. The Wi-Fi enabled model has an Intel 9560 2T2R Wave 2 802.11 Wi-Fi adapter with Bluetooth 5 support and both models make use of a single Intel I219V Gigabit powered LAN port, with five 3.5 mm audio jacks and S/PDIF optical output powered by the SupremeFX S1220 HD audio codec. Also included is a pair of video connectors for the integrated graphics which consists of an HDMI 1.4b and DisplayPort 1.2 output.
The ASUS ROG Maximus XI Hero's MRSP is currently unknown and is the base model for the higher end Maximus models. The board is targeted at gamers with features such as an S1220 HD audio codec. ASUS also offers a ROG Maximus XI Hero (Wi-Fi) which is likely to cost between $10 and $20 more, with the only difference being the inclusion of an 802.11ac Wi-Fi adapter.
ASUS has also released a Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 themed model called the ROG Maximus XI Hero Black Ops 4 edition which has the exact same feature set as the above Hero (Wi-Fi) model, but with military COD BO4 inspired RGB logos on the rear panel and chipset heatsink. The special edition ROG Maximus XI Hero Black Ops 4 motherboard availability and pricing is currently unknown.
79 Comments
View All Comments
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.