Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Master Review — Tom’s Hardware
Tom’s Hardware Verdict
Gigabyte’s Z390 Aorus Gaming Master has the features and CPU overclocking to warrant being on a high-end buyer’s Core i9-companion short list. But we’ll need to see more competing products before we can make specific recommendations.
Pros
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Great CPU overclocking
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Good voltage regulator cooling and feature set
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Comprehensive software suite
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Features & Layout
Gigabyte’s Z390 Aorus Master replaces its previous-generation Z370 Aorus Gaming 7 in the high-end mainstream platform market, with an array of new features that closely match those of the older board. Buyers get a product designed to support eight-core processors, where the older model supported six. But the increased price has us triple-checking our bank balances and bills before we’ll consider plunking down the $290 asking price.
Specifications
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| Socket | LGA 1151 |
| Chipset | Intel Z390 |
| Form Factor | ATX |
| Voltage Regulator | 14 Phases |
| Video Ports | HDMI 1.4 |
| USB Ports | 10Gbps: (1) Type-C, (3) Type A 5Gb/s: (2) Type A; (4) USB 2.0 |
| Network Jacks | Gigabit Ethernet, (2) Wi-Fi Antenna |
| Audio Jacks | (5) Analog, (1) Digital Out |
| Legacy Ports/Jacks | ✗ |
| Other Ports/Jack | Power, CLR_CMOS Buttons |
| PCIe x16 | (3) v3. 4-5) |
| U.2 Ports | ✗ |
| SATA Ports | (6) 6Gb/s (M.2-1 takes pts 4-5, SATA M.2-2 pt 1) |
| USB Headers | (1) 10Gb/s Type-C, (1) v3.0, (2) v2.0 |
| Fan Headers | (8) 4-Pin |
| Legacy Interfaces | ✗ |
| Other Interfaces | FP-Audio,(2)RGBW-LED, (2) D-LED, TPM, (2)Thermistor Header, Thunderbolt AIC |
| Diagnostics Panel | Numeric |
| Internal Button/Switch | Reset / BIOS ROM, BIOS Mode |
| SATA Controllers | Integrated (0/1/5/10) |
| Ethernet Controllers | WGI219V PHY |
| Wi-Fi / Bluetooth | Intel 9560 802. 11ac 2×2 (1.73Gb/s) / BT 5 Combo |
| USB Controllers | ✗ |
| HD Audio Codec | ALC1220 |
| DDL/DTS Connect | ✗ |
| Warranty | 3 Years |
It may have the proper feature set to be the market replacement for its Aorus Gaming 7, but the Z390 Aorus Master’s optimizations for hotter hardware are easily visible from the promotional image: A stacked-fin heat sink replaces the machined design to increase cooling surface area over a larger 14-phase voltage regulator, and the two M.2 slots that normally reside beneath graphics cards now have heat spreaders.
A closer look at the I/O panel shows other conspicuous changes: Even though there’s less empty space, some of that space has been filled with power and Clear CMOS buttons.
The Z370 version’s second Gigabit Ethernet port has been replaced with two Wi-Fi antenna jacks that are fed by Intel’s 1.73Gb/s integrated CNVi network hardware. The older board’s PS/2 jack has been replaced with two USB 2.0 ports, and even though the total number of Gen2 USB 3.1 ports has been doubled (to four), the total number of USB three-point-anything ports is down by one jack, from seven to six. In the USB total, buyers lose one 5Gb/s port, get two 5Gb/s ports upgraded to 10Gb/s, and gain four USB 2.0 ports. Whether that’s good or bad could depend upon whether you have more than just a keyboard and mouse to fill those USB 2.0 ports.
DisplayPort has also been removed, which may be excusable for most enthusiasts since they rarely use integrated graphics. But there’s no DVI here either, only HDMI. So those who use a monitor for diagnostics may have to buy an adapter, or just plug into any recent flat-panel TV.
Most of the generational changes to the I/O panel can be credited or blamed to the Z390 chipset, which by integrating USB 3.
1 Gen2 without any additional HSIO pathways has given Gigabyte the opportunity to substitute direct connections for the previous board’s multiport PCIe-based controllers. The integrated CNVi interface gave Gigabyte the opportunity to swap in ultra-fast Wi-Fi on the cheap, and users who plug in via Ethernet can still use it as an access point for other devices.
The lower half of the Z390 Aorus Master follows the theme of its predecessor, offering three PCIe 3.0 M.2 slots (two with SATA compatibility), and three x16-length slots that operate in either x16-x0-x4 or x8/x8/x4 mode, with the third slot sharing the PCH’s limited bandwidth with storage, networking, USB and three x1 slots. We see two fewer audio capacitors above the front-panel connector versus the Z370 model. We still get an ESS Sabre DAC, but this time it’s a 9118 (with integrated headphone amplifier) rather than the famed 9018 (which required a separate headphone amplifier).
The front-panel USB 3.1 Gen2 header has been moved to a spot between the PCH heat sink and the DIMM slots, where its cable could hinder opening the second slot’s lower latch, but that cable is easy to get out of the way.
Gigabyte adds firmware IC selector and dual-BIOS-mode switches to the bottom edge, while keeping the digital LED, RGB, dual USB 2.0 headers, Port 80 code display, and triple fan headers from the previous board. The internal reset button, which was located at the top corner of its predecessor, now resides between the Port 80 display and trio of fan headers.
With the power and CLR_CMOS onboard buttons moved to the I/O panel, only Gigabyte’s OC button remains in the top-front corner—that’s the right front corner when the board’s turned sideways as in the image above. Another Digital LED and RGB LED connector pair live next to the OC button, and a row of voltage check points (VCCIO, VAXG, VSA, VCRORE, DDRVTT, PCHIO, VPP_25V, VDIMM) are located between the DIMM slots and the top edge.
Those of you paying close attention may have noticed that the Z390 Aorus Master has many fan headers (eight) and two black screws. The screws hold the forward edge of the board’s steel back shield which, along with the metal-reinforced slots, are supposed to help the board survive the occasional rough handling that may occur when transporting a gaming rig between events.
The Z390 Aorus Master includes documentation, a driver and application disc, four SATA cables, and an SLI bridge. Also in the box: two digital LED adapters and one RGB extension cable, two thermistor leads, two Velcro cable ties, a Wi-Fi antenna, a G-Connector cable bundler for the front-panel button/LED group, and a sheet of stickers. As boxed accessories go, it’s a substantial collection, but in line with what we would expect from a board in this price range.
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Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom’s Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.
GIGABYTE Z390 Aorus Master Motherboard Review
GIGABYTE Z390 Aorus Master Motherboard Review
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I may not have cared much about what type of onboard audio card a motherboard had (although onboard audio cards didn’t start appearing until many years later) or about its overclocking capabilities (at least not until that actually mattered) but i did care about quality and stability so as far back as i can remember I’ve always preferred using all the top of the line models. GIGABYTE has probably manufactured most of the models I’ve used to date and so since i just got back to reviewing motherboards today on our test bench is one of their best Z390 models to date (and probably for good since they are throwing their resources to the design, development and manufacture of Z490 models), the Z390 Aorus Master.
As a perennial developer in PC and server hardware and solutions, GIGABYTE is poised to extend our scope in business servers and cloud systems with hardware and software solutions that integrate AI and AloT applications to allow customers to capture, analyze, and transform digital information into economic data, accelerating businesses’ success from edge to cloud.
In terms of onboard peripherals GIGABYTE equipped the Z390 Aorus Master with the Realtek ALC1220-VB HD 5.1/7.1 audio codec (which they paired with the ESS Sabre 9118 DAC — integrated headphone amplifier), Intel Wireless-AC 9560 adapter (2×2 antenna based 802.11ac with speeds up to 1.73Gb/s and Bluetooth v5.0) and the Intel I219-V 1 Gigabit LAN adapter complete with cFosSpeed internet acceleration software. As for connectivity the Z390 Aorus Master sports two USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 ports (one internal and one on the rear I/O), three USB-A 3.1 Gen 2 ports (rear I/O), four USB-A 3.1 Gen 1 ports (two internal and two on the rear I/O), 8 USB-A 3.0 ports (4 internal and 4 on the rear I/O) and an HDMI v1.4 port.
GIGABYTE Z390 AORUS MASTER review: the work of the master is afraid
Intel recently introduced the Coffee Lake Refresh family of desktop processors.
You probably already know everything about the new chips. For the first time, 8-core models appeared in the line of mass CPUs for the LGA1151 platform. Clock frequencies have grown again, cache memory has increased, which means that a performance increase is possible without changing the process technology, funnyly designated by Intel as 14++ nm. Along with the new processors, the company also introduced the top chipset — Intel Z390. Based on it, motherboard manufacturers presented a whole bunch of models that quickly appeared in retail. We used the GIGABYTE Z390 AORUS MASTER board for our first look at the devices on the updated PCH.
Help
ZMIST
- 1 Chipset Intel Z390
- 2 Supply set
- 3 Design and layout
- 4 in the work
Intel Z390
Up to this moment for all entuzic maternity Intel Z370 chipsets were used. These are the first microcircuits in the Intel 300 series, which are manufactured using 22 nm technology and appeared last fall, simultaneously with the launch of Coffee Lake processors.
The Intel h410/B360/h470 chipsets presented later were already manufactured using a more advanced technology (14 nm), and also had a number of functional improvements that distinguish them from the Intel Z370. The latter, of course, did not turn into a pumpkin with the release of new PCHs, but the status of the flagship obliges to be the best in all respects. Offering the new Intel Z39 chipset0, the developers remove the issue of the functionality of the older PCH.
Despite the lack of production capacity, these chips are manufactured according to 14 nm standards. In terms of equipment, the Intel Z390 largely repeats the capabilities of the Intel Z370. Key differences include an integrated USB 3.1 Gen2 controller and Intel Wireless-AC 802.11ac compute logic to support wireless networks. Otherwise, the functionality of the novelty is similar to that of its predecessor.
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| Intel Z390 | Intel Z370 | Intel h470 | Intel B360 | Intel h410 | |
| Manufacturing technology | 14 nm | 22 nm | 14 nm | 14 nm | |
| CPU/memory overclock | + | + | — | — | — |
| Intel ME Firmware | 12 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12 |
| CPU PCI-E | 1×16; 2×8; 8+2×4 | 1×16; 2×8; 8+2×4 | 1×16 | 1×16 | 1×16 |
| HSIO lines | 30 | 30 | 30 | 24 | 14 |
PCI-E 3. 0 lanes |
24 | 24 | 20 | 12 | 6 (2.0) |
| SATA 6Gb/s | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 4 |
| USB total | 14 | 14 | 12 | 10 | |
| USB 3.1 Gen2 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| USB 3.1 Gen1 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 4 |
| Max. RST for PCI-E | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Support for Intel Optane | + | + | + | + | — |
| Intel Wireless-AC | + | — | + | + | + |
| Intel Smart Sound | + | + | + | + | — |
| TDP | 6W | 6W | 6W | 6W |
The chipset offers a total of 30 HSIO, 24 PCI Express 3.
0 lanes, allows you to separate PCI-E processor lanes, overclock the platform, use high-speed RAM modules. In general — a full-fledged top-end chipset within the LGA1151-v2 without any omissions. Motherboard manufacturers are not without pleasure offering a wide range of devices on the new PCH. GIGABYTE presented ten diverse models at once. Today we take a closer look at the most equipped board of the new line — GIGABYTE Z390 AORUS MASTER.
Package Contents
The board comes in a medium-sized dark-colored box with a large logo on the top panel. Already by the weight of the package, one can assume an extended scope of supply and a reinforced body kit for the cooling system of the board elements.
Includes user manual, installation instructions, driver CD, four SATA interface cables, three RGB strip adapters, remote antenna for Wi-Fi module, set of mounting screws for M.2 drives, and panel G-Connector for easy connection of all controls and indicators. nine0003
In addition, an SLI bridge is offered with the motherboard to connect a pair of NVIDIA video cards with Pascal architecture.
Recall that adapters for a bunch of top Turing generation adapters (RTX 2080/2080 Ti) cost about $80-90, so such devices are unlikely to be offered bundled with motherboards.
As for the GIGABYTE Z390 AORUS MASTER, in the box with the device it was also nice to find two external temperature sensors with conductors about 90 cm, as well as a pair of reusable cable ties for cable management inside the case. A set of branded stickers and a branded hard label on the case with the AORUS logo can also come in handy.
Design and layout
As you can easily identify by the name GIGABYTE Z390 AORUS MASTER, the model is based on the Intel Z390 chipset. The model can work with all available range of 8th and 9th generation Intel Core processors. The board has dimensions 305×244 mm, classic for the ATX format, and is externally decorated in dark colors. nine0003
The printed circuit board of a device of this level, as expected, received a matte finish. Against the general background, the silver elements of the VRM cooling system and the chipset, as well as large bars of radiators for M.
2 drives, contrast well. The area of the interface panel and the area of the audio subsystem are covered with a decorative plastic cover.
The power subsystem of the board has a 14-phase (6×2+2) configuration. For the stabilization unit, elements from International Rectifier are used. In particular, power assemblies IR3553 (40A), doublers IR3599 and the control controller IR35201. A very representative set, especially for a gaming motherboard model.
The developers were very attentive to the additional cooling of MOSFET assemblies. To remove heat, rather large radiator blocks are used, consisting of a set of aluminum plates. In this case, the heat dissipation area increases significantly. Such a composite design is generally very rare for motherboards, especially if we consider more or less modern models. However, in this case, in addition to stacked radiators, a heat pipe is also used that combines both cooling units. Moreover, direct contact of the tube with power elements is provided.
Of course, through a thermally conductive sticker. In this case, these are 1.5 mm LIARD plates with a thermal conductivity of 5 W/(m K). In general, with the cooling of the VRM this time they got confused more than usual. nine0003
GIGABYTE’s developers are so severe that even a couple of 8-pin auxiliary power connectors are dressed in a metal casing. You will not have a single chance to damage these connectors.
As a more practical feature, the manufacturer notes that the ATX and EPS12V use one-piece rather than composite pin legs.
Four DIMM slots support up to 64 GB of DDR4 RAM. The manufacturer claims support for DDR4-4266 modes. The long list of validated kits includes kits up to DDR4-4133, which means that higher frequencies are the lot of the board owner’s experiments. nine0003
The connectors are sheathed in metal casings to increase strength and protect against deflection of the printed circuit board when attaching the cooling system.
The slots require two-sided fixation of modules, which is more convenient if there is enough space between the bottom bracket and the video card installed in the PCI-E x16 slot.
Of course, the board supports XMP, and when the corresponding profile is activated, the corresponding area is highlighted in the corner of the PCB.
GIGABYTE Z390 AORUS MASTER offers six expansion slots. These are three full-format PCI Express x16 and the same number of PCI Express x1. All full-size connectors have a metal frame. Here, amplification is really appropriate, unlike DIMM slots, where there is still more marketing.
Despite the dimensions of full-format connectors, their capabilities depend on the allocated number of PCI Express lanes of the processor and chipset. The first slot can work in x16 mode. If there are two video cards, the first and second will offer the x8 + x8 scheme, while the third is serviced by the chipset and initially works in x4 mode. GIGABYTE Z390 AORUS MASTER supports SLI and CrossFireX bundles, and in the latter case, you can hypothetically use even a combination with three video cards based on AMD chips.
In the case of the GIGABYTE Z390 AORUS MASTER, the manufacturer clearly focuses on using the board as the basis for a powerful gaming platform. At the same time, the model has the makings of a device for active experiments with overclocking. We have already mentioned the enhanced processor power subsystem and its cooling. The board also has a typical set of options for enthusiast models. nine0003
Illuminated buttons for turning on the system and clearing the CMOS memory are displayed on the interface panel.
In the upper right corner is the OC key, which starts the mechanism for overclocking the processor to a level predetermined by the manufacturer. When activated, the key is illuminated from the inside.
The upper edge of the board also has a group of contacts for measuring voltages at various nodes of the system.
In the lower corner there is a group of status indicators reflecting possible problems during platform launch.
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For more detailed diagnostics, a segment indicator is provided at the bottom edge of the board. By the error code, you can first determine the source of potential problems at the start. Next to the LED indicator is a miniature system reset button (Reset).
GIGABYTE has been using DualBIOS technology for a long time and has no plans to abandon the base firmware backup mechanism. The board under consideration, in addition to using two BIOS chips, one of them is installed in a removable panel that allows you to replace the chip without soldering. There are also two control switches on the PCB. One allows you to manually change the active BIOS chip, the second one enables / disables the DualBIOS mechanism. The currently active chip is additionally highlighted by a separate LED. nine0003
The board offers eight 4-pin connectors for configuring the cooling system. Some of them are reinforced to work with powerful CBO pumps.
The GIGABYTE Z390 AORUS MASTER is literally dotted with internal thermal sensors that allow you to monitor the temperatures of various components.
In addition, there are two connectors for connecting external thermocouples, which, we recall, are initially offered with the board.
The values of all temperature sensors can be used to set up the algorithm of the cooling system. nine0003
Without what now no motherboard can be considered a gaming one? Of course, without RGB lighting. It must be said that the developers did not become zealous in this and did not use the once familiar massive light attack for the GIGABYTE Z390 AORUS MASTER. In this case, the LEDs are located in the VRM area, under the decorative cover in the audio path area and in the upper right corner on the back of the motherboard.
The light guide plate covering the chipset heatsink with a large AORUS logo is effectively illuminated. In such a rather restrained design, the motherboard looks interesting. The unbridled riot of color and «working in areas» do not add to the attractiveness of the devices, unless the owners have to flood the entire interior of the system unit with light.
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However, just for such purposes, the board provides two connectors for connecting RGB strips with 5050 elements (12 V) and a pair of connectors for addressable LED garlands. In the latter case, you can use versions of tapes with a voltage of 5 V or 12 V. There are jumpers with switching power modes near both connectors (D_LED).
The RGB Fusion app is available for customizing lighting settings. The new version of the utility has a changed interface, some additional modes have been added, as well as the ability to synchronize the backlight of several devices. nine0003
In addition to the secondary body kit, great attention is paid to the main components. The board has six SATA ports. The block with connectors is moved to the right edge of the printed circuit board.
In addition, the GIGABYTE Z390 AORUS MASTER is equipped with three M.2 ports. There are two universal landing pads for drives up to 110 mm long and one for 2280 format devices.
As you can see, additional cooling is provided for all M.2 drives. In this case, these are rather weighty aluminum bars with heat-conducting tapes. Good protection against overheating of high-speed storage controllers. nine0003
Two of the three ports are universal. They can install both productive PCI-E x4 NVMe SSDs and M.2 drives with SATA data transfer interface. The bottom slot only supports PCI-E devices and shares bandwidth with the PCI Express x4 chipset slot. We also note that the board is ready to work with caching Intel Optane Memory accelerators.
In general, the Intel Z390 has enough I / O ports and PCI Express lanes to create complex combinations of drives, but there are still some minimal limitations in this case. But this won’t be a problem for typical home configurations. nine0003
An interesting option is that M.2 connectors also have a metal frame.
Continuing the theme of peripherals, we note that the GIGABYTE Z390 AORUS MASTER has an internal USB connector for outputting one USB Type-C port to the case wall, and in this case we are talking about high-speed USB 3.
1 Gen2 with a bandwidth of up to 10 Gb / s .
The board also offers one internal USB 3.0 for two ports. The connector is notable for the implementation of USB TurboCharger technology for accelerated charging of mobile devices that support Quick Charge. nine0003
The wired network connection uses the Intel i219-V controller. In addition, the board uses the new Intel Z390 resources for high-speed wireless connection. Recall that the chipset received support for the Intel Wireless-AC MAC, but in order to use these PCH capabilities, an additional CRF companion module is needed, which implements the radio part of the controller. In this case, the fastest dual-band (2.4 / 5 GHz) Intel Wireless-AC 9650 module is used, which supports Wi-Fi 802.11ac Wave 2 networks with a 160 MHz channel and a maximum data transfer rate of up to 1733 Mb / s. Support for Bluetooth 5.0 is also announced. nine0003
The module is installed in the area of the interface connectors. The panel has two connectors for connecting an external amplifying antenna (available in the board kit).
The manufacturer thoroughly worked out the network part of the platform, leaving no questions here.
The GIGABYTE Z390 AORUS MASTER audio subsystem uses the Realtek ALC1220-VB 8-channel codec. According to the manufacturer, the modification with the “VB” index has improved characteristics of the microphone input. In addition, the circuit uses a high-quality discrete DAC ESS Saber 9118, separate frequency generator and WIMA audiophile capacitances.
The audio path zone is partially separated from the main PCB array and covered with a plastic panel with an illuminated ESS Saber HiFi inscription. Subjectively, the sound quality is at a very decent level for a solution of this class. A good power reserve is provided for the buildup of headphones with increased input impedance.
Considering the composition of the interface connectors, we immediately note the permanently fixed metal panel. In this version, you definitely won’t forget to install a plug during PC assembly.
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There is a minimum of free space on the panel itself, although there was a small free area for the already recognizable eagle profile. As we have already noted, two keys are displayed on the stub — Power and Clear CMOS. Nearby are threaded connectors for attaching the antennas of the wireless module. Unexpectedly, a line of four USB 2.0 is also lined up on the panel. Taking into account a couple of internal connectors for four more ports, some of them are implemented using an additional hub bridge.
Two USB 3.0 with yellow inserts — reinforced ports with the ability to increase the supply voltage (up to +0.3 V) to compensate for drawdowns when using long conductors. nine0003
You can adjust the supplied voltage directly from the BIOS.
Four USB 3.1 Gen2 are also placed on the panel. The three high-speed Type-A connectors are easily identified by their red internals, while the single Type-C also conforms to the latest USB standard. The presence of a large number of available USB 3.
1 will be useful, the benefits of accelerated ports are already easy to experience in practice, for example, when connecting portable SSDs.
One digital HDMI is provided for connecting screens. One could complain about a modest set of outputs, but for sure a discrete video card will be used for a platform with such a motherboard. Universal HDMI in this case looks like insurance. nine0003
Five audio connectors and an optical S/PDIF are provided for connecting acoustics.
On the reverse side, the board is covered by a metal plate. Moreover, a massive plate is used not only to strengthen the structure and protect against damage, but also improves the temperature regime of the power stabilizer. Pressed-out segments are provided in the area where the VRM elements are located, which contact the printed circuit board through heat-conducting spacers, taking and dissipating part of the heat from the high-heat zone. nine0003
In progress
An updated version of the UEFI shell is available for the board.
Visually, the application now looks more strict, tooltips for various parameters have been added, although there are not so many fundamental changes in the structure.
Grouping some parameters takes some getting used to, especially if you’ve used boards from other manufacturers before.
More than enough options to customize the system. A whole set is available for fine-tuning the operation of the stabilization subsystem. The supply voltage on the processor can be adjusted in the range of 1.1–1.8 V in steps of 0.005 V. On the memory modules, the voltage varies within 1.0–2.0 with a resolution of 0.01 V.
All conditions are created for those who want to experiment with overclocking. It may not be a world-record-equipped model, but the board has a very decent power block with good cooling and offers a decent set of processor/memory boosts.
Available presets for automatic overclocking CPU Upgrade do not yet offer profiles for Core 9th generation chips.
But if you need a quick result, you can try the turbo mode by pressing the «OS» button in the upper right corner of the board
We tested the platform with the new Core i7-9700K processor. In this case, the OS mode involves accelerating the processor up to 5100 MHz with a load on all computing cores. During the AIDA64 stability test, the voltage on the computing units of the chip increased to 1.44–1.452 V. This is a fairly high value, considering the stock values for such 1.2–1.25 V.
Under load, the temperature of individual cores increased to 90– 95C even with the efficient Thermalright Archon Rev.A air cooler. That is, the chip, although it remained stable during the stress test, was one step away from overheating and activating the throttling mechanism. Obviously, the supply voltage is a bit high, but you need to change the parameters yourself.
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The manufacturer will probably optimize the settings in the future. Although, at the start of the platform, while the initial run-in is underway, not very pleasant surprises are possible.
For example, after replacing the initial BIOS version F4 with a newer F5, the visual style of the UEFI shell changed, but when auto-overclocking was activated for the Core i7-9700K processor, the voltage increased to prohibitive 1.5+ V. Under load, the chip instantly overheated. This element of the firmware still needs to be worked on.
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If we talk about the mode of the motherboard, it coped well with the increased load. As you can see in the screenshot, the temperature in the VRM area only increased to 47C. The support protective plate also heated up, which means that it also removed some of the heat, participating in the cooling of the VRM area.
Manually managed to get 5200 MHz using 1.4 V and Turbo mode for CPU LoadLine Calibration to compensate for drawdowns under load. Absolute stability requires thorough testing, but in this case we were more interested in the potential of new processors in general. Under these conditions, at 5300 MHz, the processor began to fail, and at 5400 MHz, our processor instance was no longer able to load the operating system.
The study of the frequency capabilities of Coffee Lake Refresh deserves a separate article, but for now we can note that 5+ GHz is quite within the power of the new Intel chips.
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In normal mode, under load on all cores, the Core i7-9700K worked at 4600 MHz at 1.224 V. Let’s pay attention to the temperature indicators of the chip. Individual processor cores heated up to 60-65C. And this is when using an air cooler. We have not seen such results for a long time, and here we are also talking about an 8-core processor, albeit without Hyper-Threading support. Solder under the lid works wonders. Finally, the owners of Intel chips once again have the opportunity to influence the temperature regime of processors without scalping, using a cooler of a suitable efficiency.
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The motherboard sensor in the VRM area reports temperatures as low as 38C. This is even somehow indecently small, even taking into account + 20-22C in the room. We have already lost the habit of such values.
Commendable.
4.5
ITC.UA score
Pros:
Extended functionality; neat design with discreet RGB lighting; powerful VRM unit with excellent cooling; three bays with separate heatsinks for M.2 drives; audio subsystem with Realtek ALC1220-VB and DAC ESS Saber 9118; set of USB 3.1 Gen2 ports; USB DAC-UP connectors with voltage regulation; fast charging support for case USB 3.0; SLI/CrossFireX support; protective plate with heat dissipation function; a set of controls and diagnostics; metal cladding for many connectors; the ability to customize the cooling system; options with connecting additional RGB tapes; extended delivery set
Cons:
Price at the start of sales; nuances of auto-acceleration; one HDMI 1.4 video output
Output:
GIGABYTE Z390 AORUS MASTER is an Intel Z390 based motherboard for 8th/9th generation Intel Core processors. The top model allows you to use all the functional features of the new chipset, offering a whole bunch of USB 3.
1 Gen2 ports, high-speed Wi-Fi 802.11ac, three M.2 drive bays with cooling elements, and an improved audio subsystem with a discrete DAC. It’s nice to see that the manufacturer did not take the model based on Intel Z370 as a basis, but offered a new improved platform, taking into account the capabilities of the flagship PCH. A powerful power module with an efficient cooling system deserves special mention, which will be very useful for those who want to conquer the 5+ GHz frequency boundaries. In general, attention to detail is felt in the equipment of the device, although the auto-overclocking mechanism still requires software revision of the BIOS. nine0003
Specifications
GIGABYTE Z390 AORUS MASTER (rev. 1.0) price, specifications, video review, reviews
- supported processors intel 8th gen.
- support sli/crossfire sli/crossfirex
- bios ami with disaster recovery
- maximum memory 64 GB
- ddr4 dimm memory, 2133-4266 MHz
- Number of memory slots 4
- Memory Type ECC/Non-ECC
- Slots M.
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GIGABYTE Z390 AORUS Master (Rev. 1.0)
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- Unpacking 24
- Setup 4
- Tests 15
Specifications GIGABYTE Z390 AORUS MASTER (rev. 1.0)
processor
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| multi-core support | is | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Supported processors | Intel 8th Gen.core i7/Core i5/Core i3/Pentium/Celeron | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| LGA1151 V2 V2 V2 V2 9 *
expansion slots
audio/video
network
connection
|
2 
1ch, hda, based on realtek alc1220-vb 
1 (6 on the rear panel), s/pdif output, hdmi, ethernet 
An attempt to overclock the memory to 3400 resulted in a freeze, for me these procedures were the first time, so I was a little scared, after a reboot everything worked, the memory was 3400 18-20-20-**))))