Reviewed in the United States on January 13, 2019
This review is for the Z390 AORUS PRO Gaming Motherboard by GIGABYTE.
Summary:
Part of a very stable and fast PC build. The features I've used seem to work great, I like the features available, although they are a bit over the top for my needs, and the software is OK. Just don't install your CPU air cooler before connecting cables and installing RAM!
Primary PC Build Components:
* Case:
Antec Gaming Series Three Hundred Two Mid-Tower PC/Gaming Computer Case with 9 Tool-Less Drive Bays, 2 SSD, 120/140mm Fans x 2 Pre-Installed, 4 Fan Mounts for ATX, M-ATX and Mini-ITX
* Processor:
Intel Core i5-9600K
* CPU Cooler:
Noctua NH-D15, Premium CPU Cooler with 2x NF-A15 PWM 140mm Fans (Brown) <-- this thing is huge
* PSU:
Rosewill Photon 750 (Gold)
* RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 2x16GB 3200MHz (the 2x8GB version of this package was on the compatiblity list, but not the 2x16GB, so I took a chance. It seems to run fine. No memory blue screens or anything.)
* Drives:
1 x SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD 2TB (main drive)
1 x Samsung 970 EVO NVMe M.2
* Video Card:
EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB SC GAMING, ACX 2.0 (Single Fan), 3GB GDDR5, DX12 OSD Support (PXOC), 03G-P4-6162-KR
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Full Review:
The motherboard's fancy built-in heatsinks are probably overkill, and I suspect are actually worse at heat dissipation than a simple fin design, but the components stay well within their operational range with a room temp around 70 deg F. I had almost settled on Gigabyte's Z390 UD, which had a great black friday sale going on it, but after comparing models on Gigabyte's site, I decided this one had a few extra features I preferred, especially some additional ports, and the upgraded audio chip -- there were some pretty negative comments online about the Realtek ALC887, which is on the UD.
The built in motherboard LEDs weren't necessary for me, either, but since they are there, I set the color to a pleasing deep purple, instead of the pinkish-purple color many RGB devices have. The board looks great, so for anyone that wants to show off a fancy gaming rig, this is a superb board for show.
The documentation that came with the motherboard was good, for the most part. Just read it thoroughly before you begin your build, and be careful of your installation order.
The main issue I had was the layout and/or lack of installation step suggestions. The last PC I built was over 5 years ago, and at that time I didn't have so many problems with the layout of the motherboard and components. I realize all the Intel-based motherboards are pretty standard now, so to get around the inherent design issue of the current standard, it would have been nice to have some advice in the documentation on how best to proceed. I think the tech writers for the user's manual were going on the assumption that you will use a liquid CPU cooler with this motherboard, which would leave plenty of room to manuver in the case. However, I made the decision not to, after noticing that 10-20% of reviewers of every popular water cooler model had issues with them leaking at the CPU, which destroyed at least their video card, if not the entire PC. Instead, I planned on air cooling, but quietly, yet able to handle overclocking needs in the future, which meant a large cooler.
So, I installed the motherboard, then the PSU, then the CPU, then the thermal grease, and then the CPU cooler. Then I went to connect the cables. Pretty standard, as far as past builds went. However, with the large CPU cooler, top fan, and rear fans, I was left with an inch or less of clearance at the top of the motherboard, where I had to connect the CPU power cables, case fan, and CPU fan. I found it very difficult and frustrating to get those cables connected, especially the CPU power headers. With so little room to work with, it was difficult to keep the area well lit, I had to carefully straighten & repeatedly re-straighten the cables, getting them into place with a steady hand and much patience, then push them onto their headers with a screwdriver. It was like surgery! If they'd just recommended to connect those cables before the CPU cooler, all would have been good. And it was a good thing there was no room for my 2nd CPU fan that came with my cooler, because the CPU-OPT header was completely covered. There was also very little space between the CPU cooler and the rear case fan. It was also a bit difficult to get those top-rear cables situated in such a way that they didn't hit the fan blades for the top or rear fans.
Installing the RAM for dual-channel mode after the CPU Cooler was on was a bit more difficult than I'd have expected, with DDR4-B2 slightly under my heat sink. DDR4-B1 was totally inaccessible, so its a good thing I had gone with 2x16 instead of 4x8.
My modular PSU came with 2 sets of 4+4 pin CPU power cables, but I could find no advice with their documentation, or the motherboard documentation, or on general PC build forums, on exactly how I should connect these to the 8+4 pin CPU power headers on the motherboard. After a couple hours of searching, the closest thing I found was a comment in a forum post to someone else to "connect them both", whatever that was supposed to mean. I ended up doing my surgical procedure to get 3 of the 4 pin connectors plugged in, and everything works without any alarms, crashes, overheating, or smoke, so I assume I did the right thing, or the motherboard regulates the input if you connect too many cables.
Another con is that there is only a single fan header at the top back of the motherboard, despite the fact that when air cooling, most people will have 1-2 rear fans toward the top, a top facing fan in the rear of the case, and possibly an additional fan on the back side of the motherboard, behind the CPU. Those speed control headers aren't designed to handle multiple fans, so you'll be connecting them either to PSU cables, or run them to the CPU-OPT and bottom case fan headers. In my case, I connected the top fan (came with case) to the rear-top case fan header, while the rear fans that came with the case have their own speed control connected to the case itself, although it is only slow/fast switch. There's no temperature sensor in that corner of the motherboard, either. The closest one is for the capacitors, which in this case are underneath my air cooler, so I don't know how useful that is for controlling the top and rear fans.
There are dual control modes for fans. There's the more traditional mode of changing the current to control the speed, and apparently there are fancier fans now with built in electronics for speed control. I don't have any of those fans, though.
The audio seems fine to my undiscerning ears.
I haven't tried overclocking yet; no need to so far.
I've only got a single video card right now, that doesn't support SLI, but I like having the option for SLI in the future. I plan to upgrade my video card some time in the next year or two, and if then-current SLI performance gains are significant enough, I might splurge for two cards.
I really like the idea of the DualBIOS. I've never had a BIOS flash failure, and I've got a UPS, so I never missed it, but its a great peace of mind to have that backup available.
This comes with two M.2 slots, with optional heatsinks. FYI, I read that the M.2 heatsinks tend to make your SSDs either run hotter, or about the same temp, instead of cooler. Plus to work effectively, you'd have to remove the non-conductive manufacturer's label from the top of your SSD, which manufacturers claim voids your warranty (the legality of that probably varies from state to state, but who wants to fight about it if not necessary?). After reading many comments online, I decided not to use the M.2 heatsink that came with the motherboard.
