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
MSI MPG Z390 Gaming Pro Carbon AC
The MSI MPG Z390 Gaming Pro Carbon AC as it stands is the premier model from the MPG (performance gaming) range and as such, encompasses some of the higher end controllers such as an Intel I219V Gigabit LAN and 2T2R supported Intel 9560 802.11ac wireless networking adapter. The aesthetic has that famed carbon styled look across the board's heatsinks and rear IO cover, which also has built-in RGB LED lighting too. The board has an all-black PCB and the bottom M.2 slot has an integrated heatsink which lines up alongside the chipset heatsink.
With a very similar PCB layout to the MPG Z390 Gaming Edge AC, the MPG Z390 Gaming Pro Carbon AC has a total of three PCIe 3.0 full-length slots which operates (top to bottom) at x16, x8 and x4. This means that 3-way CrossFire and two-way SLI multi-graphics card configurations; also present is three PCIe 3.0 x1 slots. Storage wise the top MPG model has a pair of PCIe and SATA compatible M.2 slots, while the bottom slot gets paired up with a heatsink which integrates itself into the chipset heatsink. As with all of MSI's Z390 launch ATX motherboard lineup, MSI has opted to use all of the available six SATA ports provided from the Z390 chipset itself. Memory support is limited to DDR4-4400 and has the capacity for a total of up to 64 GB across all of the four available memory slots.
The rear panel as expected accommodates a larger number of USB real estate than other MPG series models with the Z390 Gaming Pro Carbon AC making the most of the USB 3.1 Gen2 integration with the chipset as three Type-A and a single Type-C are present. Rounding off the rear panel USB is two USB 2.0 ports while an additional four USB 3.0 and four USB 2.0 ports through the use of internal headers. Also present is a pair of video outputs which consist of a single HDMI and DisplayPort. The onboard audio and five 3.5 mm audio jacks take their direction from a Realtek ALC1220 HD audio codec while the single LAN port is controlled by an Intel I219V Gigabit networking chip.
MSI's suggested pricing of the MPG Z390 Gaming Pro Carbon is $230 which seems very reasonable considering this is basically a cut-down version of the MEG Z390 ACE. Users looking to make use of the super fast 1.73 Gbps wireless network can do so thanks to the inclusion of an Intel 9560 2T2R Wave 2 capable WiFi adapter. Users who don't want to spend extra money on the wireless networking can save themselves $30 as MSI also lists a non-AC version of this board, the MPG Z390 Gaming Pro Carbon for $200.
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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.