Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Master – Best VRM Cooling We Have Ever Seen

1. Introduction to Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Master2. Specification and hardware close-ups3. Testing:CPU4. Testing: Graphics and Games5. Performance and Overclocking6. Temperatures, Cooling and Power7. Closing Thoughts8. View All Pages

Closing Thoughts.

The Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Master is an impressive motherboard that performs well, looks good and is based on solid engineering. While the price is fairly high it falls below the £300 level where things start to get painful. With this motherboard you get a decent list of features and VRM hardware that sets new standards for excellence.

There are areas where you can see the influence of the marketing people and the cosmetic side of things is emphasised. We are perfectly happy with the RGB side of things but would much prefer to see the shrouding over the I/O panel cut back so the VRMs heat sinks have the opportunity to breathe.

One area that causes us confusion is the positioning of the Power and Clear CMOS micro buttons on the I/O panel. Apart from the obvious point that these buttons take up space that might be better used for more USB ports, we do not understand their function.

When you build a PC on a flat test bench it is useful to have micro buttons on the board that are either down the bottom or, on E-ATX models, up the side near the main power connector. Buttons on the I/O panel may be useful during development but they are pretty much irrelevant once the PC has been built as they are completely our of sight, around the back.

We know the hardcore tech fans among our readership will pretty much choose ignore the RGB side of things but the fact of the matter is that Gigabyte has done a good job. The board looks good and the various lighting zones work together in a very pleasing manner. Our sole gripe here is that the plastic shroud on the I/O panel extends further than we like and covers the heat sinks to an unnecessary extent.

But enough nit picking, let’s talk about those VRMs. Gigabyte has used an IR35201 controller in 6+2 mode with six doublers and 12 Digital VRMs which delivers a massive amount of power for the Intel 9th Gen CPU. You can make the case this level of hardware is overkill as the limitation with Intel overclocking tends to be the CPU, rather than the motherboard. The difference with Gigabyte’s approach is that the motherboard is barely stressed even while the CPU is working its socks off at 5GHz on all cores. Gigabyte has built on that solid foundation with a set of VRM heat sinks that are among the best we have ever seen and has even extended its attentions to the aluminium backplate to remove yet more heat from the motherboard.

We have every confidence this devotion to detail means the hardware should lead a long and healthy life. This is obviously welcome if it simply extends the life of your investment but it also means the overclocking settings you dial in today should continue working well into the future.

Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Master read more on Gigabytes website HERE

Buy from Overclockers UK for £274.99 inc vat HERE

Pros:

• Excellent VRM hardware. Really good approach to power delivery.
• Plenty of attention paid to cooling, especially for VRMs.
• Good number of USB ports including type C.
• Metal support for expansion slots and EPS power connectors.

Cons:

• Power and Reset buttons are located on the I/O panel
• Plastic shroud on the I/O panel extends over the VRM heatsinks.
• We do not need four graphics slots.

KitGuru says: The Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Master is a stellar motherboard and one of the best we have tested so far in 2019.

 

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