Gigabyte Z390 AORUS Master review - Product Showcase

by Hilbert Hagedoorn on: 10/22/2018 08:21 AM [

] 4 comment(s)

Product Showcase

The motherboard follows a standard ATX form factor (30.5 x 24.4cm). The motherboard is located in the high-end range of the Core 9000 desktop processor product stack. Of course, it is Core 8000 series compatible as well.


Size	ATX
Chipset	Intel Z390
Memory	4 x DDR4 up to 4266 (OC)
Multi-GPU	CrossFireX, 2 x SLI
Expansion	PCIe 3.0 x16 (CPU): 2 (x16/x0, x8/x8) PCIe 3.0 x16 (Chipset): 1 (up to x4) PCIe 2.0 x1 (Chipset): 3
Storage	3 x M.2 (NVMe x4 or SATA 6Gbps) 6 x SATA 6Gbps
Networking	Intel Gigabit Ethernet 2x2 AC Wi-Fi
Audio	Realtek 1220

The board is built using the proper components, assuring high reliability and a long life-span. Some interesting features are 802.11ac Wi-Fi, triple M.2 as well as an intricate LED system and three PCIe Express x16 slots.

The I/O back panel reveals 3.1/3.0/2.0 ports. The audio unit has special noise-reducing capacitors and shielding on top of that Realtek ALC1220 chip . You will spot one 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet jack (unfortunately Gigabyte did not opt the new 2.5 Gbps Realtek NIC). Lacking is a PS/2 keyboard/mouse combo port. Included are optical S/PDIF out port and five analog audio jacks. The two buttons to the left are clear CMOS and power button.

1 x Power/Reset button
1 x Clear CMOS button
2 x SMA antenna connectors (2T2R)
1 x HDMI port
1 x USB Type-C port, with USB 3.1 Gen 2 support
3 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A ports (red)
2 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports
4 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
1 x RJ-45 port
1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector
5 x audio jacks

Included with the motherboard are the regulars including; manuals, driver CDs, SATA cables and a rear I/O plate. We received the WIFI version, and you probably guessed it, it has WIFI, 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, MU-MIMO Rx, 2.4GHz/ 5GHz (160MHz) up to 1.73Gbps Supports Bluetooth 2.1, 2.1+EDR, 3.0, 4.0, 5 which is nice.

The board has 3 x PCIe 3.0 x16 slots which can be arranged in these slot configurations with graphics cards:

1-way mode - x16 / x0 / x4
2-way mode - x8 / x8 / x0
3-way mode - x8 / x4 / x4

As you can see, these are PCI Express Gen 3.0 configurations, that's okay for regular graphics card setups up-to 2-way SLI/Crossfire. The motherboard comes with two 8-pin power connectors (metal shield actually). You'll get four DIMM slots that can be used for dual-channel memory. Up to 4266 MHz supported in OC mode. Please do check compatible memory and thus the QVL (Qualified Vendors Lists).

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