Z390 - Gigabyte/Aorus - Xtreme Waterforce

[orbitalwalsh]

https://videocardz.com/77792/gigabytes-z390-aorus-elite-motherboard-pictured

pictured board is the ENTRY model....

12+1 VRM phase design - guessing this is 6 Phase doubled and Gigabyte has learnt its lesson with no 'Hybrid' wording in site .
Either 8 Core needs some juice or Gigabyte has jumped into the pool at the deep end



wonder if Xtreme might push the VRM count and either do 8 true phases doubled like Z270 boards or like the MEG, 16 true phased paired together due to controllers handling max 8 Phases...

VRM set up on the old Z270 G9

https://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/7998/aorus-z270x-gaming-9-motherboard-review/index3.html

Interesting to see how the ITX Z390 looks, since the B450 has 4 True Digital phase count, and room was tight , could 6 have been squeezed in or doubled etc

 

[orbitalwalsh]

Im still waiting to find out and get full clarification on whether all z370 boards will support 9th gen cpus (with a bios revision), i think all features so far that has been disclosed for z390, are so close to z370 that it maybe an option to go that route and save some cash, however it is a nice looking board and it does start to play with my enthusiast side and makes me question myself.

Yeah they will pretty sure Gigabyte along with the rest have stated Z370 will have Bios update .

Key difference are, like B360/H370 they are true coffeelake chipsets so everything is in house and no 3rd party controller etc and made on smaller node .
VRM have been beefed up to. Z370 isn't EOL as well and guessing will be budgeted for lower end of the market

 

[orbitalwalsh]

Yeah bit worried though as was gonna jump on one to save some money but upon researching what little there is out there, I've seen that z370 likely will but there's bits of information suggesting that this will only be for 6 core cpus and the i9 and 8 cores will require z390, i would hate to pull the trigger and find out I lose that potential upgrade path down the line.

Get flagship Aorus 7 or Asus hero or asrock taichi personally .
Might land good deals come week 40-42

 

[orbitalwalsh]

Gigabyte board spotted, see.s to feature less ports/IO/sound quality but sporting same VRM set up as entry Aorus



https://videocardz.com/newz/gigabyte-z390-gaming-sli-motherboard-pictured#disqus_thread

 

[orbitalwalsh]

ITX

6 Phase Digital

 

[orbitalwalsh]

https://videocardz.com/newz/gigabytes-z390-aorus-master-and-ultra-leaked

XTREME STILL NOT LISTED

GIGABYTE Z390 AORUS Series
VideoCardz.com
VRM PCIe (x16/x1) WIFI M.2
Z390 AORUS MASTER 12+2 3 / 3 yes 3
Z390 AORUS ULTRA 12+1 3 / 3 yes 3
Z390 AORUS PRO 12+1 3 / 3 – 2
Z390 AORUS ELITE 12+1 2 / 4 – 2

MASTER







ULTRA - have heard this board hits 5ghz on 9900k just fine and no toasty VRM



PRO

 

[orbitalwalsh]

If the ultra hits 5g with the 9900k then surely the master will too?

A reasonable assumption.

seems 5.3 ghz - guessing these are the good chips but they are out there - you need really good cooling still though so under water .

seems rumor mill is Masters audio is 125dB SNR , take around 470-500 amps across the VCore and long milled BIOS re-haul will finally show up - fingers crossed

 

[orbitalwalsh]

Ah yeah. I meant if the ultra can hit 5ghz then assuming the master will do at least 5 is not unreasonable.

We'll all know soon.

Not soon enough, but soon.

marketing media is out for all i believe, wont be too long before they are leaked, all displaying about 5ghz for most of the range though - then again, they have to push a hard sale haha

 

[orbitalwalsh]

It would be really good if Intel gave consumers some confidence that what they are buying is going to last.

The same way Amd has with their promise of compatibility for however many generations.

true, AMD could have gone on longer if not for DDR5 , which will be interesting as that lands on the last year of AMD's 4th gen or Zen2 refresh plan

 

[orbitalwalsh]

Hope so, it's the master I have my eye on. I'm due an upgrade to the 9900k from my 5930k

looks like it will follow the x470 Gaming 7 design but 2 extra phases

 

[orbitalwalsh]

They need to seriously look at there efficiency levels and memory speed optimization in these new boards, cause there z370 boards SUCK in comparison to other board vendors....
cause im not falling for the same mistake again.....

i did over 4000hz just fine , ITX Z390 pulls 4122hz with 5.3ghz on the i9. Elite hits 5.3ghz with 4000hz from leaked media slides - think their Social Media now showing this as they got out

 

[orbitalwalsh]

I agree the board's phases look a lot better this time around.

Not had time to watch this yet. But here's Buildzoid going over the boards on Youtube.

basically, its the X470, but in 6+2 phase set up and not 5+2 - if i can recalled the IR units arent 50A like the AMD version but are 40A but have more to spread the heat across and both are 480Amps Vcore

Thanks! This guys seems to know his stuff. Going to shortlist the Elite based on his recommendations. Sounds like Asrock will be just reskins so that leaves MSI and Asus in the running.

should be 6 doubled , not Fancy IR units as in the Master but not like the X470 Ultra with 'big 4/hybrid' that caught them with pants down

The hardware on these boards is undoubtedly solid and the looks of Aorus are really fine tuned now.

Let's see how the bios and efficiency clock for clock is.

5.3ghz 24-7 8c 16t I massively doubt.

seems prime gets toasty on these chips at 5ghz


seems rough prices so far

Master = £288

Ultra = £250

Pro Wifi = £205

Pro = £195

Elite £184

Gigabyte SLi £165

Gigabyte Gaming X £144

did warn that Z370 isn't EOL and Z390 are higher end boards

All Gigabyte/Aorus Boards seem to be at least 4+8 CPU Pin

 

[orbitalwalsh]

Yeah, still in design phase, might not be out on a trial board release , but a bios update.

Hopefully they'll get there, eventual. Just need the boArd to perform well off the bat

 

[orbitalwalsh]

https://www.anandtech.com/show/13407/intel-z390-motherboard-overview-every-motherboard-analyzed/2


Motherboard Controller H-Side L-Side Chokes Doubler



Master / ITX controller
http://www.irf.com/product-info/datasheets/data/pb-ir35201.pdf

Rest
https://www.intersil.com/content/dam/Intersil/documents/isl6/isl69138.pdf

Master/ITX Mosfet - 480Amps/240Amps (Master/ITX )

https://www.infineon.com/dgdl/ir3553.pdf?fileId=5546d462533600a4015355cd94ee1767

Rest of Aorus boards Mosfet - 600Amps

https://www.vishay.com/docs/76784/sic634.pdf

- their doubler
https://www.renesas.com/cn/zh/www/doc/datasheet/isl6617a.pdf

 

[orbitalwalsh]

Gigabyte VRM specs shared by hardware rep GBT-MatthewH. Contains a couple more boards and a little more detail than the Anand list.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1l2FHTvye2cYp6D2lfUqHJLqMltR0Z2dQkqGDDz119AQ/edit#gid=0

HOLY S*** THE XTREME!

960amps across vcore potentially - but looks like have to be dual Controller design with two taken way for VCC - 14 Phase Vcore maybe ?

 

[orbitalwalsh]

Any idea on release dates of the Apex XI? Seems to be mentioned a hell of a lot but no pics/specs so assume late to the party...

Seems like the Aorus Xtreme , guessing they'll be handed to record breakers first for promo then filter down .
Both MSI and Aorus now packing 16 phases so hopefully apex follows suit

 

[orbitalwalsh]

Does this mean 10 phases will be sub par for the 9900k cpu?

Depends on how you look at design, lessor Gigabyte z390 are in theory able to take 650 amps across VCore but flagship is 480amp . Guessing it's more about the quality, lower cheaper components you'll need more of , higher quality should need lower but cost is high. Flagship z370 should eaisly be fine .
Just can't help but feel they have all designed boards like the x470 with 'extra head room'. All of gigabytes has 4+8 pins , whilst Asus it's only top end and then flagship for 8+8 . Or maybe they found out it spreads the load better giving entry boards the extra 4 pin

 

[orbitalwalsh]

I was reading that the z370 taichi vrms which were well received for 8700k ocs, gets super hot for 9900k.

9900k is reminding me of prescott

Master Aorus comes with 3.5 kwm pads - this is meant to be marketed as premium thermal pads, so you get the feeling most run 2.5 rated thermal pads.
You also some 8 kwm rated thermal frilly pads and VRM will drop 10c easily. Heat sink temp will go up , but good airflow and it'll be fine .

Seems asrock and Asus have taken their foot off the pedal.
MSI has blasted the Meg ! And Aorus is playing ball - bios slowly getting there .
I want to see an apex monster . Even evga dliuppi their socket 90 degrees

 

[orbitalwalsh]

So replacing the stock pads with some fujipolys might be an expensive option to better control vrm temps.

Could be specially if you/someone owns a damn good z370 and worries about running 9900k through it. Naturally good airflow /case would help as well.
Had my z370 gigabyte itx hitting 116c when benching, alphacool 17 kwm pads at £50 a pop and dropped to 80c... Though exhaust and top fan was near it as heatsink was VERY hot to touch

 

[orbitalwalsh]

Planning a Z390 Gigabyte Aorus Pro with Wifi to couple with a 8086k. See any issue with that combo?

What RAM would you recommend? 16gb only.

Spoiler: This bundle but board isn't as strong !

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Promo Bundle - Intel Core i7 8086K, Gigabyte Z370 Ultra Gaming Wifi, 16GB RGB RAM **FREE 512GB SSD**= £799.99

Total: £810.49 (includes shipping: £10.50)​

​

I

I'm biased towards Team Group and 8 pack ram . Personally 3 choices

• Cheap and does the job
• RGB 4 sticks and cheapest Samsung B Die
• @8 Pack 4000hz kit which is a damn good price !!

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Team Group Vulcan T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C16 3000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (TLGD416G30= £128.99
• 1 x Gigabyte Aorus RGB 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit= £199.99
• 1 x Team Group Xtreem "8Pack Edition" 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-32000C18 4000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black= £229.99

Total: £567.67 (includes shipping: £8.70)​

​