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 Z390M ITX/ac
The ASRock is the only manufacturer to release two mini-ITX motherboards at the launch of the Z390 chipset and the Z390M ITX/ac stands out for quite a number of reasons. First of all the Z390M ITX/ac has dual Gigabit NIC with two LAN ports on the rear panel. Secondly, ASRock has managed to cram six SATA ports onto this board with every port featuring straight angled connectors. Memory support on the Z390M ITX/ac is provided from two RAM slots with a capacity of up to 32 GB and support for up to DDR4-4000.
Design wise the Z390M ITX/ac is very simplistic with what seems like a 6-phase power delivery which looks to be running in a 4+2 configuration. The heatsink doesn't look up to much, but the board does feature a single 8-pin 12 V ATX input which does show that the board is more than capable of running the new 9th generation Intel Core i9-9900K, but perhaps not with an overly aggressive overclock applied. There is no RGB LEDs integrated into the board which says this board is more aimed towards professional users and power users looking to build a high spec small form factor system without too much fluff. The board also features a single PCIe 3.0 full-length slot with ASRock Steel Slot reinforcement and just above is a single PCIe 3.0 x4/SATA M.2 slot.
On the rear panel are a pair of USB 3.1 Gen2 (Type-A and Type-C), four USB 3.0 Type-A and two USB 2.0 ports. Users running processors for the integrated graphics capabilities of the 8th and 9th generation Intel CPUs will be pleased to know the Z390M ITX/ac has dual HDMI outputs along with a single DisplayPort. A combo PS/2 keyboard/mouse port is ever present and the board uses a cheaper Realtek ALC887 HD audio codec which is supplemented by three 3.5 mm audio jacks. Wireless networking is supported through an Intel-based 802.11ac Wi-Fi adapter.
While the ASRock Z390M-ITX/ac shares similar traits as the Z390 Phantom Gaming-ITX/ac, the latter is aimed at gamers while the Z390M-ITX/ac is aimed more towards professional users. This is characterized by the inclusion of dual Intel LAN and a lower quality ALC892 audio codec. The price of the ASRock Z390M-ITX/ac is also another indicator with a recommended retail price of $150 along with the lack of gaming-themed stylings as the board features a basic, yet subtle aesthetic.
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Chaitanya - Monday, October 8, 2018 - link
That video advert on pages is stupid pain in rear side to say the least when reading through all those pages.Mr Perfect - Monday, October 8, 2018 - link
The "How to pick a CPU" video? If you pay close attention to it, it's actually Anandtech content.That being said, they'll probably be fine with you ad-blocking it. Blocking content doesn't affect ad revenue, right? ;)
leexgx - Monday, October 8, 2018 - link
I just opened the site in edge now so I could block them as very distracting and annoying (as well as the scam ads between the article and comments section that I have to scroll past )edwpang - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
I tried not to block ads, but I cannot bear the sight of some pictures and videos.imaheadcase - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
I don't understand how anandtech would allow the scam ads to appear on here, its prob the #1 reason i use a adblock in the first place. The only reason i know about it is from phone, when i first saw them i was like "wtf is this shit".I guess anandtech doesn't think its ads reflect its site.
Ryan Smith - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
If you guys are encountering issues with the ads, please reach out to me and let me know. Ads fall under a different department in Future, but if there are specific problems then I can at least pass those along to get them addressed.Ananke - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
The ads /the video/ are super annoying - its the same style as Tom's Hardware, apparently as business has been merged. The slotted video, or the minimized video screen upon changing the tab size for example makes me avoiding Anandtech and Tom's alltogether, after reading it for 20 years /yeah, since Anand was a teenager and started it as a blog/. I am multitasking, and I can't read when screen is smaller, and I use smaller screen at work, because you know, I work.hoohoo - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
Hi Ryan,The Choose a CPU video is auto-play. On a phone or mobile device this is obnoxious for two reasons: (1) it uses a lot of bandwidth and mobile plans usually have a cap on data above which the reader must pay extra; (2) when the video plays it either pauses any already playing media (mp3 player on the phone) or just plays in addition to the existing media, both are irritating.
Please explain to your ad people that auto-play video is not nice.
Valantar - Monday, October 8, 2018 - link
It's likely the camera/render angle playing tricks on me, but the VRM heatsink/rear I/O shroud on the ROG Strix Z390-I Gaming looks like it'll interfere with GPUs with backplates ...The Chill Blueberry - Monday, October 8, 2018 - link
It's most likely just the camera angle. see how the top of the rear I/O is sticking out over the board. A big company like Asus couldn't forget about such an important detail.