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
ASRock Z390 Taichi Ultimate
Much of what the ASRock Z390 Taichi Ultimate offers has been outlined above with the 'regular' Z390 Taichi model. The Z390 Taichi Ultimate is also based on the ATX form factor with what from a visual perspective looks like the same 12-phase power delivery and same PCIe layout which consists of three full-length PCIe 3.0 lanes (x16, x8, x4) and has an additional PCIe 3.0 x1 slots. The Z390 Taichi and Z390 Taichi Ultimate share the same memory support with four slots supporting up to 64 GB of DDR4, with support extending up to DDR4-4200. In regards to storage connections, there are three M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4/SATA slots and a total of eight SATA ports.
The main differences between the two Taichi branded models come in terms of controllers as the Z390 Taichi Ultimate adds an additional LAN port to the already inclusive dual Intel-based LAN, an Aquantia 10 G NIC which is one of the only Z390 motherboards to include one. The rest of the rear panel is much of the same with three USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-A, one USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C and four USB 3.0 Type-A ports. A Realtek ALC1220 codec handles the onboard audio and ASRock has included a pair of video outputs which consist of a DisplayPort and HDMI 1.4 port. The Z390 Taichi Ultimate keeps eight 4-pin fan headers which makes it one of the most cooling focused ATX boards alongside its younger brother, the Z390 Taichi. To add more, ASRock has included a pair of separate power/reset buttons and has upgraded the Wi-Fi to support 2T2R Wave 2 802.11ac.
The ASRock Z390 Taichi Ultimate at launch costs $300 and is the most expensive Z390 models. Everything about this board has flagship status including a proper triple NIC (unlike the MSI MEG Z390 GODLIKE) with the inclusion of an Aquantia controlled 10 G LAN port, 2T2R 802.11ac Wi-Fi, triple M.2 and plenty of USB 3.1 Gen2 to keep professional users, enthusiasts and gamers satisfied. The board is more targeted towards the enthusiast rather than the gamer, but ASRock makes this clear with the inclusion of the similar spec and closely priced Z390 Phantom Gaming 9 motherboard.
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di4b0liko - Tuesday, November 20, 2018 - link
Asus ROG STRIX Z390-F or asrock taichi ?pradeep.ramalingam - Friday, November 23, 2018 - link
Hi,I was wondering whether "MSI MPG Z390M Gaming Edge AC" with processor "Intel i5-9600K" will it work with onboard graphics (Intel® UHD Graphics 630) without a GPU from nvidia/amd?
Tigrou - Tuesday, January 15, 2019 - link
"Z390 Motherboard Audio" panel in conclusion is incorrect. For example the MSI Z-390 A PRO has ALC892 but it is not in the list.Faslane - Wednesday, February 27, 2019 - link
Can you do a more in-depth overclocking guide for this board or is there one? if so may I please have a link to just a basic overclocking guide for this board? I have the board and loved it and I know I can go into the phantom gaming 4 app of course but I would rather do it at the BIOS level and save various profiles for testing but I'm a little new to some of the overclocking stuff but I do have a water cooled system with an 8th gen i5 9706 core so I know I can push it quite a bit :-)lb1966 - Thursday, April 11, 2019 - link
Just bought an IBuyPower with this MB init.Anybody able to hook it up to a home theater receiver?
7.1 sounds great on the headphones but I gotta take them off every once in while. Can I use the rear audio panel?
electricjedi - Thursday, January 9, 2020 - link
re: Asrock z390 gaming 4I know this does have a thunderbolt 5 pin header on the board, is this for thunderbolt 3?
Will the Asrock Thunderbolt 3 AIC R2.0 pci-e card work with this board?
or would I be smarter to get the GIGABYTE GC-ALPINE RIDGE (Rev 2.0) Thunderbolt3 Certified PCI-E Expansion card (since I know the z390 is "alpine ridge").
catminister - Saturday, November 28, 2020 - link
Also keep in mind that this board has no support for PCIe 4.0 or WIFI 6 802.11 AX in fact, it seems that Gigabyte abandons this board once purchased. If you want PCIe 4.0 to get the most out of the new Gen 4 NVMe M.2 drives or 802.11 AX support you are going to have to spend up and buy the X570 and a new CPU because socket 1151 is finished. A huge disappointment after recently upgrading to an Gigabyte Aorus Pro Wifi only this year...Turon - Saturday, December 25, 2021 - link
i can’t find the second ssd slot for the life of me, plz help.