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 MAG Z390 Tomahawk
The MSI MAG or 'Arsenal' range is somewhat unchained and features the more militaristic sounding boards such as this one, the MAG Z390 Tomahawk. The Tomahawk has an overall black and silver theme throughout with a very solid looking silver grey for the heatsinks and rear panel cover. The board does utilize basic RGB LED lighting across the chipset heatsink and the underneath of the 24-pin motherboard power connector and can be customized with MSI's Mystic Light RGB software.
The board has a total of three full-length PCIe 3.0 slots with the slots running at x16, x4 and x4; only the top slot gets MSI's Steel Slot reinforcement. In addition to this is a pair of PCIe 3.0 x1 slots. The Z390 Tomahawk has four RAM slots with support for DDR4-4400 with a total capacity of up to 64 GB. Featured for storage are six SATA ports and two M.2 slots which both have support for PCIe and SATA drives; the bottom slot includes an M.2 heatshield.
On the rear panel is three USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-A ports and a single USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C, which also includes two USB 2.0 ports. Users looking to increase the number of USB ports can do so through the use of internal headers which opens up to an additional four USB 3.0 and four USB 2.0 ports. The MAG Z390 Tomahawk has dual NIC with a pairing if Intel Gigabit controllers (I219V and I211AT), with the five 3.5 mm audio jacks and single S/PDIF optical output taking its orders from a Realtek ALC892 HD audio codec. Users looking to utilize the iGPU on the 8th and new 9th generation Intel processors can do so thanks to the inclusion of a DisplayPort and HDMI video output.
The MAG Z390 Tomahawk represents a more modest offering from MSI and while the inclusion of dual NIC is a clear intent that MSI is going all out with their low to mid-range boards at present, users looking to make use of two-way SLI configurations will have to opt for one of the more expensive MPG range boards. The MAG Z390 Tomahawk is priced at $160 which kind of defeats the purpose of an entry range of boards especially when pricing is above the model such as the MPG Z390 Gaming Plus.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
79 Comments
View All Comments
pawinda8 - Monday, October 15, 2018 - link
Still no mention of any Z390 boards with native Thunderbolt 3 (not AIC)! Has Intel given up on Thunderbolt for the PC world?gavbon - Monday, October 15, 2018 - link
If it's not integrated into the chipset, it's not really native as such. The ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming-ITX/ac has a Thunderbolt 3 port on the rear panel, but that's the only one I'm afraidHikariWS - Monday, October 15, 2018 - link
Oculus Rift requires 3 USB3 ports and doesn't accept any of them being connected to a hub, they all need to be connected directly into a raw port. I had to buy a dedicated 3GIO USB 3 board that added 6 useful extra ports. In my (yes, old) Gigabyte z87 mobo I also had issues using keyboard and mouse on USB 3 ports inside UEFI and some recovery softwares, so I had to buy a USB 2 mirror to connect them.Because of that, having USB 2 ports on front panel and nice quantity of USB 3 is what most differs mobos for me, given that all other features are nearly the same.
ASUS Z390-A seems to be the best option. It has the important double USB2 ports, 5 USB3 ports and still has HDMI and DP for emergencies.
just4U - Monday, October 15, 2018 - link
I wish MSI had released a "godlike" board for the Ryzen series.ThugEsquire - Tuesday, October 16, 2018 - link
You list the ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming-ITX/ac above as an ATX board, but it's actually mITX. FYIgavbon - Friday, October 19, 2018 - link
I have gone through every page where the Phantom Gaming-ITX/ac is listed, but I can't see where it says it's an ATX board? Could you please be more specific? Are you viewing on mobile or desktop?Galcobar - Tuesday, October 16, 2018 - link
It would be really helpful to break out one more criteria into a table: Type-C header for case-front ports.Helping a friend put together an i5 system and, knowing he'll keep it for a long time, am trying to get even with peripheral connectors (already has a monitor, so no using that as a hub). It's relatively easy to identify cases with a Type-C port, but that's pointless without a motherboard header. Having to go into each board's page to check is time-consuming.
jjnam - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link
6 months later and I'm here for EXACTLY this reason. I've gone through probably 50 manuals over the past few days squinting to find this information. What a pain.Synomenon - Thursday, October 18, 2018 - link
So on the ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming-ITX/ac, is the TB3 port on the rear using up lanes from CPU (making the only 16x slot, 8x only)?If it's not using lanes from the CPU, how will using that TB3 port (say with a USB3.1 Gen2 hub OR TB3 hub) affect all the other ports / IO on the board?
repoman27 - Thursday, October 18, 2018 - link
Going off of what TweakTown published, it's a single-port Intel JHL6240 "Alpine Ridge" controller with a PCI 3.0 x2 connection to the PCH. So it won't affect the PEG lanes from the CPU. I'm amazed it's not Titan Ridge at this point though.