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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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