GIGABYTE Z590 Aorus Master Review: Soaring High With Rocket Lake
by Gavin Bonshor on April 28, 2021 1:00 PM ESTSystem Performance
Not all motherboards are created equal. On the face of it, they should all perform the same and differ only in the functionality they provide - however, this is not the case. The obvious pointers are power consumption, POST time and latency. This can come down to the manufacturing process and prowess, so these are tested.
For Z590 we are running using Windows 10 64-bit with the 20H2 update.
Power Consumption
Power consumption was tested on the system while in a single MSI GTX 1080 Gaming configuration with a wall meter connected to the power supply. Our power supply has ~75% efficiency > 50W, and 90%+ efficiency at 250W, suitable for both idle and multi-GPU loading. This method of power reading allows us to compare the power management of the UEFI and the board to supply components with power under load, and includes typical PSU losses due to efficiency. These are the real-world values that consumers may expect from a typical system (minus the monitor) using this motherboard.
While this method for power measurement may not be ideal, and you feel these numbers are not representative due to the high wattage power supply being used (we use the same PSU to remain consistent over a series of reviews, and the fact that some boards on our testbed get tested with three or four high powered GPUs), the important point to take away is the relationship between the numbers. These boards are all under the same conditions, and thus the differences between them should be easy to spot.
Non-UEFI POST Time
Different motherboards have different POST sequences before an operating system is initialized. A lot of this is dependent on the board itself, and POST boot time is determined by the controllers on board (and the sequence of how those extras are organized). As part of our testing, we look at the POST Boot Time using a stopwatch. This is the time from pressing the ON button on the computer to when Windows starts loading. (We discount Windows loading as it is highly variable given Windows-specific features.)
DPC Latency
Deferred Procedure Call latency is a way in which Windows handles interrupt servicing. In order to wait for a processor to acknowledge the request, the system will queue all interrupt requests by priority. Critical interrupts will be handled as soon as possible, whereas lesser priority requests such as audio will be further down the line. If the audio device requires data, it will have to wait until the request is processed before the buffer is filled.
If the device drivers of higher priority components in a system are poorly implemented, this can cause delays in request scheduling and process time. This can lead to an empty audio buffer and characteristic audible pauses, pops and clicks. The DPC latency checker measures how much time is taken processing DPCs from driver invocation. The lower the value will result in better audio transfer at smaller buffer sizes. Results are measured in microseconds.
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Richy65 - Sunday, June 6, 2021 - link
Not sure if this is normal (never seen it with anything from ASUS) but when the board is powered on and you press DEL to enter BIOS it takes up to 35 seconds before it actually opens the BIOS application. Then, unless I enable "Fastboot (Not Ultra Fast) it can take 38 seconds before Windows starts loading. something seems amiss here.meacupla - Thursday, April 29, 2021 - link
If I understand this correctly, if Gigabyte had chosen not to go with the plastic cover over the I/O and VRM area, they could have gone with passive cooling for the 10Gbe NIC?:thonk:
abufrejoval - Thursday, April 29, 2021 - link
While a cover without a fan is probably a bad idea, a cover with a fan is likely to make cooling more efficient.The PHY part of the AQC-107 needs quite a bit of power when it operates at 10GBit/s speeds sustained across a 100m CAT7 cable without EEE or green Ethernet coming to the rescue. I've never been able to find a number, only that Aquantia was proud to use significantly less then the >10Watts that the 10Gbase-T competition required at the time.
Their PCIe NICs have a significant passive heat sink which does get hot under load.
I guess I'd also prefer a large passive heat sink because I use big slow fans on my cases to create airflow. But with these Rocket Lake aberrations gamers may resort to water cooling and that would leave too little of an airflow around the AQC107 to work properly... A variable speed fan might just keep things safe... until it's clogged by dust. But by then the warranty has most likely expired.
gizmo23 - Thursday, April 29, 2021 - link
"users looking to overclock Rocket Lake ... will need ... premium cooling"Understatement of the year!
Linustechtips12#6900xt - Thursday, April 29, 2021 - link
I do have to ask, do you think you could get the same power draw/ clocks on something like a 9900k compared to a 10900k or 11900k "ik the 11900k is a new achritecture" cause frankly I don't see the point to buy a 11900k over something like a 9900k other than PCIe gen 4 and maybe integrated 10gb lan but I can get a 60$ adapter anyway.Oxford Guy - Thursday, April 29, 2021 - link
Premium tinnitus.Linustechtips12#6900xt - Wednesday, May 19, 2021 - link
makes senseOxford Guy - Thursday, April 29, 2021 - link
'When we overclocked the GIGABYTE Z590 Aorus Master'1) Intel just recently eliminated its overclocking warranty program.
2) Overclocking an already inefficient CPU (Rocket Lake, given its 14nm construction) seems even more unwise than overclocking in the first place (given today's sophisticated boost algorithms and the lack of headroom).
Richy65 - Sunday, June 6, 2021 - link
The App Centre software is riddled with Trojans (28 found by MBAM), it is a piece of garbage and will disable Windows Update and totally screw up your system. Starting SIV for whatever reason invokes Windows Update, then disables it, you can no longer get updates and the process - windowsupdate is no longer visible under services. It has so much bloated malware running in the background that my i7 11700K is at 14% CPU load when I am doing nothing. Temperatures for the CPU sit at high 60C- mid 70C. Uninstall all Gigabyte software . malware and my PC is back and running at 40-50C. Also, the BIOS, unless Fastboot is enabled, it will sit there for at the POST screen for 38 seconds before even attempting to start Windows, I thought Asus made some junk, but Gigabyte leave them way behind, the worst garbage bundled with a motherboard ever, they even have the APP CENTRE configured to be downloaded and installed by default via the BIOS, never seen anything like it with any other motherboard. Disgusting for a product costing this much.