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
EVGA Z390 FTW
The second board we know that is in existence from EVGA is their slightly remodelled Z390 FTW. From a design point of view, all that seems to have changed aesthetically is the audio PCB now features a quintuplet of gold audio capacitors, the removal of some branding on the power delivery heatsink and the placement of the M.2 slots was moved around. The Z390 FTW has rather 'basic' look with an all-black PCB complemented with brushed aluminium styled VRM heatsinks and a black ridged chipset heatsink.
On the PCB of the Z390 FTW, the PCIe layout looks identical with two full-length PCIe 3.0 slots running at x16 and x8, with a PCIe 3.0 x4 slot located at the bottom. An additional two PCIe 3.0 x1 are featured and the board looks to feature two M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 slots with a Key-E slot present which is more an inclusion for users looking to add Wi-Fi capability to the board. The Z390 FTW also features six SATA ports with native support for RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10 arrays.
While the extent of the componentry and controller set is currently unknown due to a lack of specification from EVGA at present, from what we can see we know the rear panel includes a total of eight USB Type-A ports, a combo PS/2 port, a single LAN port, what looks like either a clear CMOS or BIOS Flashback button and a set of onboard audio connectors; most likely powered by a Realtek ALC1220 HD audio codec which the Z370 FTW features.
We do not currently know what EVGA plans with its Z390 FTW model or when it will be available if it's not already available at the time of reading. The Z390 has a near identical feature set to the previous Z370 FTW from a visual once-over, but once the official specifications and availability are known, we will update this section.
Update 10/09:
We now know the EVGA Z390 FTW has an 11-phase power delivery as stated by EVGA themselves and offers support for both Intel's 8th generation and 9th generation Core i3/i5/i7/i9 processors. The PCB includes an onboard clear CMOS switch, a power button, a reset switch and an onboard CPU temperature monitor. The Z390 FTW will have a 3-year warranty and will also include an SPI flashing port which allows users to flash the BIOS with a USB stick without requiring a CPU. The EVGA Z390 FTW also features a Realtek 7.1-channel HD audio codec with EVGA NU audio support and an Intel-based Gigabit NIC.
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Smell This - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
Much.Of.
The.
Same.
2 HSIO lanes per Gen 2 port and WiFi. Wow (rolling I-eyeballs) ...
MadAd - Tuesday, October 9, 2018 - link
58 motherboards, only 13 of which are smaller than ATX. When on earth are we going to move off this outdated oversized format? Its just more of the same every time, so depressing.gavbon - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
13 is better than 0, or 12 :DMadAd - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
Considering very small form formats (ITX) are harder to build for and only 7 are uATX, a size which is the most useful to transition away from ATX then no, it feels like an afterthought from a lazy industry. I mean who uses more than 1 main video card and 2-4 sticks of ram in a gaming PC these days? Even water builds into uATX isnt that hard to accomplish.After literally decades ATX should be a choice for edge cases not a mainstream build.
shaolin95 - Monday, October 22, 2018 - link
who cares about midge boards!Edkiefer - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
All these MB with 2x 8 pin power inputs, is both mandatory and if so I guess new PSU will need 2x 8pin now.entity279 - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
so it's ok to just buy SM motherboards now with them being involved in a security scandal?gavbon - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
I currently have the Supermicro C9Z390-PGW awaiting to go on the test bench next week, so from a consumers standpoint, I could potentially shed light on that board. As far as the Chinese/Supermicro/Spy scandal goes, I don't want to speculate without the finer details.eastcoast_pete - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
Ian & Gavin, thanks for the overview.@ both - Question: I've read that Intel, to deal with its bad planning/capacity problems on 14 nm, has contracted the fabbing of some of its chipsets out to TSMC, specifically in TSMC's 22 nm tech. Is that correct, and did you have a chance to confirm that the new 390s used by these boards are indeed made by Intel on their 14 nm FinFET tech, or are they made by a contractor (TSMC)?
DanNeely - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
AFAIK the chipsets being reverted to 22nm are using Intel's 22nm process in old unupgraded fabs. Doing so would be far less work than porting to a process from a different company; the latter would require massive rework to follow a completely different set of design rules.