GIGABYTE Z490 AORUS
MASTER/£372 inc VAT
SUPPLIER cclonline.com
SPEC
ChipsetIntelZ490
CPUsocketIntelLGA1200
Memorysupport4 slots:max128GB
DDR4(upto5000MHz)
ExpansionslotsThree16xPCI-E3,two1xPCI-E 3
Sound8-channelRealtekALC1220
Networking1 x Intel2.5Gigabit
LAN,802.11axWi-Fi
OverclockingBaseclock100-
200MHz,CPUmultiplier23-63x;max
voltages:CPU1.55V,RAM2V
Ports6 x SATA6Gbps2 x M.2PCI-E3,
2 x USB3.1Type-A,1 x USB3.1Type-C,
3 x USB3,3 x surroundaudioout
Dimensions(mm) 305 x 244VERDICT
Asuperbsetoffeatures,decentoverclocking
performanceanda competitiveprice
maketheZ490AorusMasterourZ490
motherboardofchoice.MASTERMIND
Excellentfeatures
GoodVRMs
andcooling
Cheaperthan
thecompetition
MASTEROFNONE- Expensive
- Lacksaggressive
stockspeedboost - AwkwardM.2heatsink
PERFORMANCE
32 / 35FEATURES
33 / 35
VALUE
24 / 30OVERALLSCORE
89 %
U
p there with MSI’s hefty MEG
Z490 Ace in terms of weight and
premium feel is Gigabyte’s Z490
Aorus Master. It not only has huge finned
heatsinks for its 14-phase 90A VRMs, but it
also sports a large backplate to cool them
from the rear. As you’d expect for the price,
it’s bristling with features and boasts one of
the best spec lists on test.
As well as eight fan headers, you get
two thermal probe inputs, with two probes
included in the box. You can also use coolant
probes here, so you can control your radiator
fans based on coolant temperature, making
for an efficient and quiet
cooling system.
Gigabyte is the only
manufacturer to allow this
arrangement to be setupby
visiting its snazzy EFI fanco
suite, although Asus doesa
offer this function, albeitwi
more EFI tweaks neededto
working. Like it’s cheapersi
the Z490 Aorus Masterinc
three M.2 ports, but oneoft
disabled for the moment,a
a future Intel CPU to offerPCI-E4 support.
All the ports include heatsinksandthere
are thermal pads above and below the SSD to
cool both sides. We saw a peak temperature
of 49°C with our Samsung 960 Evo, which
was 9°C cooler than without the heatsink.
However, the single-piece heatsink for the
PCI-E 3 M.2 slots requires you to remove your
graphics card to access it, which isn’t ideal,
especially if you water-cool your PC.
Meanwhile, there’s dual-BIOS support
and an LED POST code display, plus power
and reset buttons, USB BIOS Flashback and
a clear-CMOS button, which you’d expect at
this price. The RGB lighting is restrained, but
there are splashes of illumination across the
I/O shroud and PCH heatsink; you also get
four RGB headers – both 3-pin and 4-pin –
for you to hook up your own LED strips.
Move to the back, and the rear I/O panel
sports connectors for the 802.11ax Wi-Fi,
with a desktop aerial included. There are also
nine Type-A USB ports, five of which are USB
3 or faster, as well as a single 2.5 Gigabit LAN
port and USB 3.1 Type-C port, all embedded
in an integrated I/O shield.
The Realtek ALC1220 audio benefits
from an ESS Sabre DAC as well, although its
dynamic range and noise levels of 110.4dBA
and -110.9dBA aren’t quite the best we
recorded, with both the Asus ROG Strix
Z490-E Gaming and MSI MEG Z490 Ace
managing better results.The Z490 Aorus Master lacked the
aggressive boosting of the Asus boards
on test, and that of the MSI Z490 Ace, only
hitting a single-core Cinebench result of- However, once overclocked, it matched
other boards that managed 5.1GHz across
all 10 cores, which it achieved with little fuss
at a 1.3V vcore. Power consumption was
reasonable at stock speed as well, at 323W
under load for the system at stock speed,
and 355W once overclocked.
Conclusion
With a great set of features, some of which
are absent from the competition, as well as
solid overclocking and scope for use at the
heart of a water-cooled PC, the Gigabyte
Z490 Aorus Master is our Z490 motherboard
of choice if you can afford it.yonly
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