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
Z390 Power Delivery Specifications & Comparison
Prior to the launch of the new Z390 chipset, we reached out to all of the motherboard vendors to ask what power deliveries each board is equipped with. The setup and capabilities of the power delivery system on a motherboard are becoming an ever popular buying requirement, and manufacturers have taken notice of this. Especially as we have reported in a couple of our reviews now, that some boards are being embellished with claims above and beyond what they can actually support.
As it's been one of the most requested aspects of our Z390 content, we compiled as much information as we currently have in hand. This is what we've been able to pull from manufacturers in terms of specification sheets (directly from source), as well as other board information. In the below table a question mark (?) denotes that we don't currently have this information available. We don't want to speculate on what might be there, but when we get more information we will keep this table updated.
| Z390 Power Delivery Comparison | |||||
| Motherboard | Controller | H-Side | L-Side | Chokes | Doubler |
| ASRock Z390 Taichi | IR35201 (5+2) |
TI 87350D (12) ON FDPC5939SG (2) |
14 | IR3598 (6) |
|
| ASRock Z390 Taichi Ultimate | IR35201 (5+2) |
TI 87350D (12) ON FDPC5939SG (2) |
14 | IR3598 (6) |
|
| ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming 9 | IR35201 (5+2) |
TI 87350D (12) ON FDPC5939SG (2) |
14 | IR3598 (6) |
|
| ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming 6 | UPI9521 (?) |
SN Dual N-MOS (?) |
14 | ? (?) |
|
| ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming 4 | UPI9521 (?) |
(?) (?) |
(?) (?) |
11 | ? (?) |
| ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming-ITX/ac | ISL69138 (?) |
ISL Smart Power Stage (?) |
7 | ? (?) |
|
| ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming SLI/ac | UPI9521 (?) |
(?) (?) |
(?) (?) |
11 | ? (?) |
| ASRock Z390M ITX/ac | UPI9521 (?) |
FC/SN Dual N-MOS (?) |
6 | ? (?) |
|
| ASRock Z390 Extreme4 | UPI9521 (?) |
SN Dual N-MOS (?) |
14 | ? (?) |
|
| ASRock Z390 Pro4 | UPI9521 (?) |
(?) (?) |
(?) (?) |
11 | ? (?) |
| ASRock Z390M Pro4 | ISL95866C (?) |
(?) (?) |
(?) (?) |
11 | ? (?) |
| GIGABYTE Z390 Aorus Master | IR35201 (6+2) |
IR3553 (12) |
14 | IR3599 (6) |
|
| GIGABYTE Z390 Aorus Ultra | ISL69138 (6+1) |
SiC634 (12) |
13 | ISL6617A (6) |
|
| GIGABYTE Z390 Aorus Pro WiFi | ISL69138 (6+1) |
SiC634 (12) |
13 | ISL6617A (6) |
|
| GIGABYTE Z390 Aorus Pro | ISL69138 (6+1) |
SiC634 (12) |
13 | ISL6617A (6) |
|
| GIGABYTE Z390 Aorus Elite | ISL69138 (6+1) |
SiC634 (12) |
13 | ISL6617A (6) |
|
| GIGABYTE Z390 I Aorus Pro WiFi | IR35201 (6+2) |
IR3553 (6) |
8 | - | |
| GIGABYTE Z390 Gaming SLI | ISL69138 (5+2) |
PPak (10) |
12 | ISL6617A (5) |
|
| GIGABYTE Z390 Gaming X | ISL69138 (5+2) |
PPak (10) |
12 | ISL6617A (5) |
|
| GIGABYTE Z390 UD | ISL69138 (5+2) |
PPak (10) |
12 | ISL6617A (5) |
|
| MSI MEG Z390 GODLIKE | IR35201 (?) |
TDA21462 (16) |
18 | IR3598 (8) |
|
| MSI MEG Z390 ACE | IR35201 (6+0) |
ON4C929N (12) |
ON4C024N (12) |
12 | IR3598 (6) |
| MSI MPG Z390 Gaming Pro Carbon AC | UPI9521 (?) |
ON4C929N (?) |
ON4C024N (?) |
10 | ? (?) |
| MSI MPG Z390 Gaming Pro Carbon | UPI9521 (?) |
ON4C929N (12) |
ON4C024N (?) |
10 | ? (?) |
| MSI MPG Z390 Gaming Edge AC | UPI9521 (?) |
ON4C929N (?) |
ON4C024N (?) |
10 | ? (?) |
| MSI MPG Z390M Gaming Edge AC | UPI9521 (?) |
ON4C929N (?) |
ON4C024N (?) |
8 | ? (?) |
| MSI MPG Z390I Gaming Edge AC | UPI9521 (?) |
TI87350D (6) |
6 | ? (?) |
|
| MSI MPG Z390 Gaming Plus | UPI9521 (?) |
ON4C929N (?) |
ON4C024N (?) |
8 | ? (?) |
| MSI MAG Z390 Tomahawk | UPI9521 (?) |
ON4C929N (?) |
ON4C024N (?) |
8 | ? (?) |
| MSI MAG Z390M Mortar | UPI9521 (?) |
ON4C929N (?) |
ON4C024N (?) |
? | ? (?) |
| MSI Z390-A PRO | UPI9521 (?) |
SM4337 (?) |
SM4503 (?) |
8 | ? (?) |
| Supermicro C9Z390-PGW | PXE1610C (6+1) PXM1310C (3+1) |
TDA2132 (?) |
9 |
- |
|
| Supermicro C9Z390-CG-IW | PXE1520 (5+2) |
TDA2132 (?) |
7 | - | |
| Supermicro C9Z390-CG | MP2949A (6) MP2940A (2) |
MP86945 (6) MP86908 (2) |
8 | - | |
As we get more information, we will update the table. We also have some motherboards in for review, so we can go into a deeper analysis on each individual article over the next few months.
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eastcoast_pete - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
Yes, you are correct, at least for H310c chipsets, maybe more (all?). I looked at the digitimes report on Intel outsourcing to TSMC, and that, if correct, would be about chipsets fabbed in 14nm. I wonder if Anadtech could check the 390s from the newest MoBos and sleuth out if they are also a case of "back to the future - 22 is the new 14 at Intel".peterfares - Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - link
Still waiting for someone to make a mini-ITX board with 4x SODIMM slots. The X299 one is interesting combined with a 9800X but I'd rather have the newer architecture with better IPC and clocks.gavbon - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
4 x SODIMMs has no performance benefit on Z370/Z390 other than a capacity increase because of the dual channel memory controller. The ASUS Z390 Maximus Gene and Strix Z390-I support the new 32GB double capacity SODIMMs to give more options for mini-ITX users needing more capacity.The X299 ASRock board put 4 x RAM slots on it so it could benefit from the quad channel memory controller
gamingkingx - Friday, October 12, 2018 - link
Gavon understands it..On ITX its all about how you use the space.. It would be sille to have 4 slots for dual channel.
BUT! It would interesting to use only 2x SO-DIMM..
cyrilp - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
Some of the asrock boards have 8 SATA3, 3 Ultra M.2 but it's a bit misleading as they share lanes. so you can't use 8 sata3 drivers and 3 m2 ones at the same timegavbon - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
Yeah, it's a bit of a pain, but one of the drawbacks of a chipset designed for the desktop. Unfortunately, in that situation, it's one or the other. If I was going to use 8 x SATA drives and 3 x M.2, I would probably be using a HEDT chipset such as X299 or TR4 anywayballsystemlord - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
Spelling and grammar corrections. I did not read this whole article. You 2 goofed this one up pretty badly."In the below table a question mark (?) denotes that we currently don't currently have this information available."
Too many currentlys.
"In the below table a question mark (?) denotes that we don't currently have this information available."
"My take on it is that it could be easier to mount a CPU pot for extreme overclockers for some reason, as I'm sure this board is all about the performance marbles and nothing else."
Sound bytes as a sentence (SBAAS). I've very little idea what you were trying to say. Maybe:
"My take on it is that it could be easier to mount a CPU pot for extreme overclockers. For some reason they insist on pots. Or maybe not, as I'm sure this board is all about the performance and nothing else."
"The new gaming themed naming structure consists of three different ranges which make a lot of sense when they deciphered; the MEG is the enthusiast gaming, MPG is performance gaming and the MAG is the arsenal gaming."
Missing "are".
"The new gaming themed naming structure consists of three different ranges which make a lot of sense when they're deciphered; the MEG is the enthusiast gaming, MPG is performance gaming and the MAG is the arsenal gaming."
"The MAG essentially renames the original arsenal range of boards with a name which seems fitting etc rifle mag, a happy coincidence perhaps."
Stray "etc".
"The MAG essentially renames the original arsenal range of boards with a name which seems fitting i.e. rifle mag, a happy coincidence perhaps."
gavbon - Friday, October 12, 2018 - link
Appreciated, updated :)ballsystemlord - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
I love your table on "Power Delivery Comparison".But how do you tell how many phases each board has from your table?
E.g. "GIGABYTE Z390 Gaming SLI" has 5+2 ISL69138 but then has 5 ISL6617A doublers leading me to the conclusion that it is a 25 + 2 phase design.
Thanks!
gavbon - Friday, October 12, 2018 - link
I've updated the table to make it more clear :) - The PPaks are dual channel MOSFETs so each of the GIGABYTE boards is running 10 phases, with 5 doublers = 2 phases per channel. This is the data we received directly from GIGABYTE.