Maximum PC - USA (2019-06)

9

VERDICT EVGA Z390 Dark

THANOS Impressive design;

overclocking heaven; industry

best BIOS; looks incredible; no RGB.

DC UNIVERSE Price.

$500, http://www.evga.com

SPECIFICATIONS

Chipset/Socket Z390/LGA1151

Form Factor E-ATX

Memory Support 32GB (2x 16GB) @ 4,600MHz

M.2/U.2 Support 2x M.2, 1x U.2

SATA Support 8x SATA 6Gb/s

Max PCIe Support 3x 16 (x8x4x4)

Rear I/O 7x USB 3.1 Type A,

1x USB 3.1 Type C,

Mini DisplayPort, 2x Intel

Gigabit Ethernet, wireless

A/C, PS/2 combi port,

5.1 audio out, optical

audio out

EVGA Z390 Dark Asus Maximus XI Gene

Tech ARP’s X264 (fps) 29.19 29.68

Cinebench R15 Multi (Index) 1,369 1,389

Fry Render (m:s) 2:23 2:23

AIDA64 Memory Latency (ns) 49 47

CrystalDisk QD32 Sequential Read (MB/s) 546 550

CrystalDisk QD32 Sequential Write (MB/s) 375 495

Power Draw Idle/Load (Watts) 47/ 301 42 /307

Total War: Warhammer II (Avg fps) 56 56

Lowest Voltage @ 5.0GHz (Volts) 1.26 1.22

Maximum OC Achieved (GHz @ V) 5.1 @ 1.34 5.1 @ 1.32

BENCHMARKS

Best scores are in bold. Our test bed consists of an Intel Core i7-8700K, 16GB of Corsair Dominator Platinum

DDR4 @ 3,200MT/s, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080, and a 250GB Samsung 850 Evo. Total War: Warhammer II was

performed on the ultra preset at 1440p.

competition. In our overclocking tests,
there’s a ton of room to really work a
solid OC on your chip. We couldn’t quite
match the frequencies and voltages we’ve
achieved on some Asus motherboards
in the past, but it’s not a BIOS we’re
particularly familiar with. Given time
(we’re talking months here), there’s
plenty in it, so we’re sure we could coax
out better voltages and a higher clock.
Speaking of BIOS, the Z390 Dark’s
version is nothing but stunning. It looks
incredibly clean, especially for base-

level software, and even comes with

an AI overclocking feature on the main

home screen after you mash Delete. It

overclocked our chip to 4.9GHz on auto,

with 1.25V, and maintained a 70 C figure

on it, too—more than comfortable for

everyday work on a Core i7-8700K.

Ultimately, the Z390 Dark is a truly

impressive motherboard, and an

incredible departure from what we’ve

come to expect from that almost-carved-

in-stone formula we’ve seen from

every other manufacturer. Its BIOS is

impeccable, and on the whole, its feature

set is rich enough for those willing to lay

down the cash for it. It’s expensive, and

we get that it’s not for everyone, but if

you need the absolute best that Z390 can

offer, we’d argue there’s little out there

that competes with the EVGA Z390 Dark

right now. –ZAK STOREY

maximumpc.com JUN 2019 MAXIMUMPC 81