Asrock z390 phantom gaming 9 review in Spanish (complete analysis)

ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming 9 technical features

ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming 9
Socket	LGA 1151.
Chipset	Z390
Compatible processors	8th and 9th Generation Intel Coffe Lake. Intel Core, Pentium Gold and Celeron
RAM	4 DIMM sockets with a maximum of 64 GB. Speed up to 4266+ MHz Non-ECC in Dual Channel.
Graphic support	Compatible with 3 way SLI and AMD CrossfireX
Expansion slots	2 x PCIe 3.0 / 2.0 x16 (x16 or dual x8). 1 x PCIe 3.0 x163 x PCIe 3.0 / 2.0 x1.
Storage	Intel Z390 chipset: 6 x SATA Express Compatible port. 3 x M.2 x4 Socket 3, with M Key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 SATA or NVMe.
LAN / Networks	1 x 10/100/1000/2500 LAN + 2 Gigabit.
Sound card	1 x 2.5 Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000/2500
BIOS	UEFI BIOS.
Format	ATX 30.5 x 24.4 cm.

Unboxing and design

The ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming 9 motherboard comes packaged in a large cardboard box that matches the dimensions of the product. Features highlighted by the packaging are extensive network options, high-quality CPU VRM, M.2 heatsink, and USB 3.1 support.

Inside the box we find the motherboard perfectly protected inside an antistatic bag, to avoid accidental discharges. The accessory pack is compact and includes some documents, a driver / utility DVD, Nvidia SLI HB Bridge, four SATA cables, a labeled rear I / O board, WiFi antennas, and three M.2 screws.

ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming 9 is quite reminiscent of other Intel 300 series Fatal1ty products in appearance, such as the Fatal1ty H370 Performance. Its color scheme is a mix of black, gray and silver with a subtle red accent and it has a stylish rear I / O cover.

The motherboard is designed to bring out the best in 9th Gen Intel Core processors, the robust VRM design offers extreme overclocking potential, a lower gaming temperature, and enhanced system stability to take on all kinds of arduous tasks. IT. We leave you a picture of the back area, and we continue with explaining all the benefits of the motherboard.

This motherboard features a total of three main ASRock Polychrome SYNC RGB lighting zones, there is an LED strip inside the rear I / O cover, the audio sound card cover and inside the chipset heatsink.

ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming 9 comes with four DIMM slots with support for up to 64GB of dual chanel DDR4 memory and at a speed of 4266+ MHz, more than enough to meet the needs of all users.

An initial look at the CPU socket reveals a 10 + 2 phase VRM. A heatpipe cooling solution is placed over these components, which should keep temperatures low when overclocking, although airflow will be somewhat restricted due to the I / O cover.

To power the ninth generation processors, ASRock has decided on a classic in power: 8 + 4 pins for the CPU socket. Although we would have liked to see two 8 PIN EPS connections to be safe on the Intel Core i9.

ASRock has decided to use a VCore with 5 PWM of the IR35201y for the integrated 2-phase graphics card IR3598. It has Super Alloy technology that incorporates 60 Amp chocks, premium phases and quite robust heatsinks. Will it be enough to hold the famous eight-core i9-9900k?

We really like that ASRock has decided to use such high-end components. With this we gain stability, cooling and the security that everything will be in stock and overclocked. Its Nichicon capacitors have a 10, 000 hour durability and are 20% more durable than traditional capacitors.

The possibilities of the graphics subsystem go through three PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots, which are also reinforced in steel to make them more robust and have no problems in supporting the heaviest cards on the market. These slots allow us to mount Nvidia SLI 4-way and AMD CrossFireX 3-way configurations.

ASRock integrates a total of 8 SATA ports on this motherboard. Lately we have come across a total of 6 connections and they are disabled when we connect in the M.2 slots. Although we will talk about this connection in the next paragraph.

As expected on a high-end Z390 motherboard. It features a total of three M.2 slots for mounting high-speed M.2 NVMe solid state drives with the PCI Express 3.0 x4 interface. This will help us to have the maximum possible speed in writing and reading our data.

We are a little disappointed that it only incorporates a single passive heatsink M.2 slot. Although it is normal to mount 1 or 2 of these types of disk, other motherboards in this range take it more seriously and incorporate heatsinks in all their slots. Hopefully ASRock takes it into account for future reviews.

At the bottom of the motherboard are the three RGB heads, a DEBUG LED, a Dual BIOS labeled with the version pre-installed in its manufacture, the on and off buttons and the reset button.

To improve the internal lighting we find three expandable LED heads, all located after the last PCIe slot, for further customization.

The audio hardware is housed in an isolated PCB with Gold audio capacitors, a Realtek ALC1220 codec, and a Texas Instruments NE5532 entry-level amplifier. We really liked that ASRock decided to incorporate two LAn connections using a 2.5 Gigabit network.

Although the WiFi connection is signed by an Intel 9260NGW chip that is one of the most powerful integrated 2 x 2 clients that we can currently acquire. This module also offers us the possibility of activating the Bluetooth 5.0 connection to pair devices or transfer data as in the past.

As we have mentioned we also have a network connection at 2.5Gb / s. This solution will help us to have a greater bandwidth in our network, but it is of little use if we do not have a 10 GBe card in our switch or router, since we will be limited to the classic Gigabit. But if we have a good connection, we can get a good performance from our fiber optic or home network.

The rear panel is well-equipped with extensive network options, the red LAN port is the 2.5 Gigabit LAN connection, as well as extensive USB connectivity including Type-C and 10Gbps ports. The RTL8125AG chip underneath the motherboard is responsible for the 2.5 Gigabit LAN connection. ASRock has added a pair of 4K UHD-capable display ports, including DisplayPort 1.2 that can do 4K at 60Hz, though the HDMI port is only HDMI 1.4b, so it's limited to 30Hz at 4K. The small button is to clear the CMOS. The rear panel includes:

2 x Antenna Ports 1 x PS / 21 Port x HDMI Port 1 x DisplayPort 1.21 x Optical SPDIF Out Port 3 x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type Ports 1 x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type Port 4 USB 3.1 Gen1 Ports - 3 x RJ-45 LAN Ports with LEDs - 1 x CMOS button HD Audio connectors: Rear Speaker / Center / Bass / Line In / Front Speaker / Microphone (Gold Audio Connectors)

testing bench

TESTING BENCH
Processor:	Intel Core i9-9900K
Base plate:	ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming 9
Memory:	Corsair Vengeance PRO RGB 16 GB @ 3600 MHz
Heatsink	Corsair H100i V2
HDD	Ramsta SU800 480 GB
Graphic card	AORUS GeForce RTX 2080 Xtreme
Power supply	Corsair RM1000X

BIOS

When we started the BIOS for the first time, we came across a basic interface that in a simple glance quickly "sneaks up" on all the components that we have installed, without the need to enter the advanced options. Once we press F6, the good starts.

Now we are in advanced mode. In it we can overclock both the processor and the memories, enter the advanced settings to activate the multitude of options that the BIOS offers us, have access to the tools (Online BIOS update, flashing, etc…), monitoring the system, check the securing of the motherboard (password at startup), system startup and save and exit options.

Overclocking and temperatures

We changed our way of doing the analysis on motherboards. We discarded in-game performance, which really offers the highest percentage performance on the graphics card, and decided to overclock tests. In our case we have been able to reach 5 GHz stable 24/7 with a voltage of 1.31v. We think we have a good voltage for a CPU that is one of the most normal. Surely with a delid we get better temperatures and frequencies.

The marked temperatures are during 12 hours of stress with the processor in stock and PRIME95 in its long stress program. The zone of the feeding phases reaches 71 to 76 ºC (maximum). It is at a higher level than the ASRock Z390 Taichi that we analyzed not long ago, but it lacks that something to be in the TOP of the TOP.

Final words and conclusion about ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming 9

The ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming 9 is the company's flagship on the LGA 1151 platform with the Z390 chipset. It has 10 + 2 power phases (VRM), a very gaming design, great build quality, improved sound and a 2.5 Gigabit network card.

As we have been able to verify for a few weeks, this motherboard is capable of delighting any player. A good network card and an improved sound card enhance our experience.

We recommend reading the best motherboards on the market

What do we need to overclock? Don't worry, with the XMP profile we can quickly set the memories at the highest speed certified by the manufacturer. And overclocking is really easy, since we only have to activate 4 - 5 options to make it stable (manual voltage). If we want to adjust in offset it will take us a while longer to make it solid as a rock.

This motherboard can be found in different stores for a price of 330 euros. We believe it is a fair price, since high quality motherboards usually cost this price in this series. What do you think of the Phantom Gaming 9? We want to know your opinion!

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ AESTHETICS AND DESIGN	- TEMPERATURES ARE BETTER BUT NOTHING ALARMANTS.
+ COMPONENTS
+ OVERCLOCK CAPACITY
+ 2.5 GIGABIT LAN CONNECTION
+ EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE