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

Rating: 9.0.

When we reviewed the Intel Core i9-9900K launch back in October 2018 we used the Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Master motherboard. We did a video review of the Z390 Aorus Master a few weeks later and now, finally we have the written pages on KitGuru that wrap up the whole thing.

There is plenty of good stuff to discuss about the Z390 Aorus Master so let’s start with the VRMs as power delivery hardware is a major focus for Gigabyte with their Z390 motherboards. Gigabyte has gone out of their way to spell out the number of power phases, the makes and models of the various chips and also their current ratings so we are crystal clear there are 12x 60A phases using a doubling scheme. Gigabyte has also worked hard on the VRM coolers, the construction of the PCB and the thermal shielding on the back of the board. You also get a great many ports and connectors and yes, you get RGB.

In fact we struggled to see any gaps in the specification as Gigabyte has pretty much thrown everything it has at the Z390 Aorus Master to such an extent we feel they may have gone too far when they installed four graphics slots. No gamer requires this feature and we would have welcomed a bit more space around the headers and connectors at the foot of this motherboard. This was the level of relatively minor detail we had to consider because when it comes to the major design choices Gigabyte has things absolutely nailed.

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Key features:

• Supports 9th and 8th Gen Intel Core Processors
• Dual Channel Non-ECC Unbuffered DDR4, 4 DIMMs
• Intel Optane Memory Ready
• 12 Phases IR Digital VRM Solution with PowIRstage
• Advanced Thermal Design with Fins-Array Heatsink and Direct Touch Heatpipe
• Onboard Intel CNVi 802.11ac 2×2 Wave 2 Wi-Fi
• 125dB SNR AMP-UP Audio with ALC1220 & High-End ESS Sabre 9118 DAC with WIMA audio capacitors
• USB TurboCharger for Mobile Device Fast Charge Support
• Intel Gigabit LAN with cFosSpeed
• RGB Fusion with Multi-Zone Addressable LED Light Show Design, Supports Addressable LED & RGB LED Strips
• Smart Fan 5 features Multiple Temperature Sensors and Hybrid Fan Headers with Fan Stop
• Front USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C Header
• Triple Ultra-Fast NVMe PCIe Gen3 x4 M.2 with Triple Thermal Guard
• USB DAC-UP 2 with Adjustable Voltage

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