Gigabyte z390 aorus master review in Spanish (full analysis)

Gigabyte Z390 AORUS Master technical characteristics

Unboxing and design

The presentation of this Gigabyte Z390 AORUS Master is nothing new, since most of us have already got used to the design of the boxes of the prestigious brand. The most notable feature we can see is the 12 + 2 Phase Digital IR VRM, with PowIRstage to provide enough power. On the back of the box we see details of the appearance of this great motherboard, along with the most important features and specifications.

Once we open the box we find the motherboard in the first place, inside an antistatic bag to avoid any type of energy discharge that could damage its delicate electronic components.

As for the accessories, they come in a second department and we find a drivers CD, the user manual, some SATA 3 cables, an HB bridge for SLI, a wireless antenna, a thermal probe, velcro straps, ARGB extension cables, stickers and an AORUS badge.

As for looks, Gigabyte Z390 AORUS Master inherits the black-silver color scheme of the Z370 AORUS Gaming 7. The most noticeable difference here is the less exaggerated design, and you no longer have the customizable acrylic piece located right next to the DIMM slots. The look of this motherboard is truly formidable, and will improve further once your Gigabyte RGB Fusion lighting system is turned on. Gigabyte has included RGB lights in the heatsinks, a trend that is becoming more common in the industry. In this case we do not see a multitude of lights in all the slots, something that happened in the previous generation and that looked excessive.

At the back we see its full armor, which will give it more rigidity when supporting a heavy heatsink. This armor is finished in carbon to improve cooling.

As it could not be otherwise, the Gigabyte Z390 AORUS Master has an LGA 1151 socket and an Intel Z390 chipset, thus it is fully compatible with the eighth and ninth generation Intel Core processors.

Gigabyte Z390 AORUS Master has a 24-pin ATX connector and two 8-pin EPS connectors, to power the CPU with enough power for its overclocking needs, especially considering the 12 + 2 phase power phase design. For this design, Gigabyte uses the PWM controller IR35201 for its 6 + 2 power phase, while the 6 phases for the core are duplicated using the IR3599 phase duplicator to compensate for what they say is the real 12 phase.

This is an IR3553 PowIRstage rated at 40A, which in theory should be able to handle an Intel i9-9900K at 5.0GHz or higher. The heatsink above the VRM looks quite promising as it is not just a chunk of metal, but includes a multitude of additional fins to dissipate heat more efficiently, it is a combination of a suitable and very cool looking heatsink. Elegant. Z390 Aorus Master strikes a perfect balance of style and performance by combining the acclaimed Fins-Array heatsink, copper heatpipe, and thermal baseplate to deliver 30% lower MOSFET temperatures.

Gigabyte Z390 AORUS Master includes four DRR4 DIMM slots, with support for speeds up to 4133MHz. In total we can mount a maximum of 64 GB in dual channel configuration to improve the performance of the processor.

At the bottom of the Gigabyte Z390 AORUS Master we find some very useful elements such as the debug LED to troubleshoot, switches to access the Dual UEFI backup BIOS in case things go wrong, a reset switch, an RGB header for an addressable digital RGB LED strip. However, the power button and the CMOS button have been relocated to the I / O area.

We also appreciate the 3 M.2 slots, with included heatsinks to prevent the NVMe SSDs from overheating. Two of these slots are type 22110 and are compatible with both PCIe and SATA, while the other is type 2280 and only PCIe compatible. Also included are six SATA III 6Gb / s ports that support RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10. Gigabyte Z390 AORUS Master is fully compatible with Intel Optane.

We continue with the 3 PCIe 3.0 slots (from top to bottom x16, x8 and x4) that will allow us to design a team with great potential in video games thanks to the Nvidia SLI 2-way and AMD CrossFireX 3-way configurations. These slots are steel reinforced, so you won't have trouble supporting the heaviest and most powerful cards.

As for the integrated audio, we find the Realtek ALC1220-B codec and the ESS SABER DAC, which adopts the concept of a high-end audiophile sound system design in a microsystem inside the motherboard, which is enough to offer a very good audio quality. This sound system includes the best quality Nichicon capacitors, headphone amplifier and independent section of the PCB to avoid interference. ALC1220 with Smart Headphone Amp automatically detects the impedance of your head worn audio device, avoiding problems like low volume and distortion.

Let's not forget about the network, with the presence of an Intel GbE LAN controller and Intel CNVi 802.11a / b / g / n / ac Dual-Band and Bluetooth 5 wireless technologies .

On the rear panel we find the following connections:

1 x Power / Reset Button 1 x Clear CMOS Button 2 x SMA Antenna Connectors (2T2R) 1 x HDMI Port 1 x USB Type-C Port, Compatible with USB 3.1 Gen 23 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type A Ports (Red) 2 x Ports USB 3.1 Gen 14 x USB 2.0 / 1.11 ports x RJ-45 port 1 x Optical S / PDIF out connector 5 x Audio connectors

Test bench and tests

TESTING BENCH
Processor:	Intel Core i7-9700k
Base plate:	Gigabyte Z390 AORUS Master
Memory:	Corsair Vengeance 32GB DDR4
Heatsink	Corsair H100i V2
HDD	Samsung 850 EVO 500 GB.
Graphic card	Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti
Power supply	Corsair AX860i.

To check the stability of the Intel Core i7-9700K processor at stock values and the motherboard we have stressed with Prime 95 Custom and air cooling. The graphics we have used is an Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti, without further delay, let's see the results obtained in our tests with a 1920 x 1080 monitor.

BIOS

Gigabyte continues to make rock solid and very stable BIOSes for overclocking. Perhaps it is touching the change to a more modern interface, and that it fills the audience much more visually.

Final words and conclusion about Gigabyte Z390 AORUS Master

The Gigabyte Z390 AORUS Master is an ATX format motherboard, 14 high quality power phases, a sound card and a large overclocking capacity for the latest generation Intel Core i7 and Intel Core i9 processors.

We really liked triple cooling for M.2 NVMe SSDs. Being able to lower temperatures by up to 10 ºC. Also the cooling of the VRM that keeps them very cool both at rest and at maximum performance.

We recommend you read the best motherboards on the market

At the connectivity level we have a multitude of USB 3.0, USB Type-C connections, a Wifi 802.11 Ac connection and a Gigabit network card signed by Intel.

We finally found a high-end motherboard at a much more normal price. We currently have it at 299.90 euros in Spanish stores. Reviewing the competition, they do not drop below 400 euros. Good job and well seen by the Aorus marketing team!

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ DESIGN AND QUALITY	- WE EXPECT A FACE WASH OF THE BIOS INTERFACE
+ 12 + 2 FEEDING PHASES
+ GOOD PERFORMANCE
+ IMPROVED SOUND
+ WIFI