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.
79 Comments
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DanTMWTMP - Thursday, October 11, 2018 - link
Are they ALL made in China? What happened to the ones made in Taiwan from a few gens ago? :/gavbon - Friday, October 12, 2018 - link
Unfortunately, I cannot confirm this. The ASRock Z390 Taichi I have in my hands says 'designed in Taipei', but that's about it.Nagorak - Sunday, October 14, 2018 - link
Gigabyte apparently has a factory in Taiwan. It seems all the rest moved production to China.WickedMONK3Y - Friday, October 12, 2018 - link
The MEG Z390 Godlike looked like such an interesting board until I checked the MSI Specifications page and realised it actually does not have the PLX chip as suspected. The PCI Express slots on the board are configured as 16x / 4x / 8x / 4x instead of 16x / 16x / 8x / 4x or 16x / 8x / 16x / 4x. It seems after PLX sold to whomever owns them now, that the price hike stopped their usage on consumer boards completely.I really really hope somebody comes out with a board that has a PLX chip on board.
gavbon - Friday, October 12, 2018 - link
The Supermicro C9Z390-PGW has a Broadcom 8747 PLX PCIe switch :)ZioTom - Friday, October 12, 2018 - link
It would be a nice touch including in next MB review what pheriferals stop funcioning when too much PCI-E lanes are used. Some motherboards disable SATA ports when M.2 slot are used; others may require limiting bandwith to one PCI-E slot... etc. Before byuing a motherboard I would like to be warned that is not possibile to use all the features they are advertising.happyfirst - Friday, October 12, 2018 - link
I wish we would get better thunderbolt support. Only one board has it built in? I'm thinking of a Taichi board and see a Thunberbolt AIC connector in the manual, but then I can't really find enough good quality posts of people having success putting it to use. I'd like to get a new external nvme ssd thunderbolt drive to run my vms off of so I can more easily take them on the road with me and use from my notebook.ddcc - Saturday, October 13, 2018 - link
Certain Gigabyte boards, e.g. Z390 Aorus Pro WiFi, seem to be using Intel's Z390 CNVi, but aren't listed in the article.gavbon - Monday, October 15, 2018 - link
I'm going to be updating tomorrow with more information; been working on getting one of the board reviews ready for the end of the week :)gavbon - Sunday, October 21, 2018 - link
Will be adding these in tomorrow (not at a PC currently) - We didn't have the information available prior to writing