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.
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DanTMWTMP - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
Are they ALL made in China? What happened to the ones made in Taiwan from a few gens ago? :/gavbon - Friday, October 12, 2018 - link
Unfortunately, I cannot confirm this. The ASRock Z390 Taichi I have in my hands says 'designed in Taipei', but that's about it.Nagorak - Sunday, October 14, 2018 - link
Gigabyte apparently has a factory in Taiwan. It seems all the rest moved production to China.WickedMONK3Y - Friday, October 12, 2018 - link
The MEG Z390 Godlike looked like such an interesting board until I checked the MSI Specifications page and realised it actually does not have the PLX chip as suspected. The PCI Express slots on the board are configured as 16x / 4x / 8x / 4x instead of 16x / 16x / 8x / 4x or 16x / 8x / 16x / 4x. It seems after PLX sold to whomever owns them now, that the price hike stopped their usage on consumer boards completely.I really really hope somebody comes out with a board that has a PLX chip on board.
gavbon - Friday, October 12, 2018 - link
The Supermicro C9Z390-PGW has a Broadcom 8747 PLX PCIe switch :)ZioTom - Friday, October 12, 2018 - link
It would be a nice touch including in next MB review what pheriferals stop funcioning when too much PCI-E lanes are used. Some motherboards disable SATA ports when M.2 slot are used; others may require limiting bandwith to one PCI-E slot... etc. Before byuing a motherboard I would like to be warned that is not possibile to use all the features they are advertising.happyfirst - Friday, October 12, 2018 - link
I wish we would get better thunderbolt support. Only one board has it built in? I'm thinking of a Taichi board and see a Thunberbolt AIC connector in the manual, but then I can't really find enough good quality posts of people having success putting it to use. I'd like to get a new external nvme ssd thunderbolt drive to run my vms off of so I can more easily take them on the road with me and use from my notebook.ddcc - Saturday, October 13, 2018 - link
Certain Gigabyte boards, e.g. Z390 Aorus Pro WiFi, seem to be using Intel's Z390 CNVi, but aren't listed in the article.gavbon - Monday, October 15, 2018 - link
I'm going to be updating tomorrow with more information; been working on getting one of the board reviews ready for the end of the week :)gavbon - Sunday, October 21, 2018 - link
Will be adding these in tomorrow (not at a PC currently) - We didn't have the information available prior to writing