Intel’s latest Z790 series motherboards were announced yesterday. This article will highlight some of the major manufacturers’ recent news releases. Included are snippets of press releases from ASRock, ASUS, Gigabyte, and MSI. Links are also added if you would like additional information about individual products or the entire series.
Intel Z790 Series Motherboard Announcement Roundup
ASRock
ASRock Z790 Series
ASRock’s Z790 series includes premium Z790 Taichi, including a new Special Edition Z790 Taichi Carrara, in addition to Z790 Steel Legend WiFi targeting high-end users, Z790 PRO RS, Z790 PG Lightning and Z790 PG Riptide designed for mainstream users, and also the Z790 PG-ITX/TB4, a powerful mini ITX motherboard with Thunderbolt 4 for small form factor lovers.
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ASUS
ASUS Z790 Series
ASUS today announced a comprehensive lineup of Intel® Z790 motherboards across the ROG Maximus, ROG Strix, TUF Gaming, and Prime product families―all built to support the latest 13th Gen Intel Core™ processors. Thanks to exclusive technologies like AEMP II, AI Overclocking and AI Cooling II, plus user-friendly features such as Q-Design, ASUS Z790 motherboards are ideal solutions for users aiming to build a next-gen machine or upgrade their existing system.
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Gigabyte
Gigabyte Z790 Series
GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and hardware solutions, today announced the Z790 AORUS gaming motherboards which are exclusively designed for the latest 13th Gen Intel® Core™ processors. Featuring up to 20+1+2 phases of digital power VRM design with each phase holding up to 105 amps Fins-Array III heatsink design, GIGABYTE’s Z790 AORUS lineup is geared with the best power design and thermal management to unleash the extreme performance and optimized overclocking experience on the new generation multi-core K series Intel® Core™ processors. The exclusive SMD memory slots with a metal shielding mask for anti-interference and the BIOS setting of DDR5 memory overclocking offer more stable signals to memory, which enable users to easily boost XMP and overclocking performance. GIGABYTE Z790 AORUS motherboards are completely next-gen ready and are engineered for PCIe® 5.0 graphics cards and SSDs. In addition to strengthening the durability and signal stability by enhanced SMD slots, PCIe® and M.2 EZ-Latch technology are implemented to make it easier for users to upgrade graphics cards and M.2 SSDs, simplifying ease of access and avoiding accidental damage to the surrounding components. Select GIGABYTE Z790 AORUS motherboards to offer users feature-rich I/O as well as the innovative Thermal Guard III design, and much more. Equipped with the all-around features of performance, power management, thermals, and audio, GIGABYTE Z790 AORUS motherboards definitively push computing firepower to the next level.
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MSI
MSI Z790 Series
September, 2022 MSI is announcing today the brand-new 13th Gen Intel® Core™ Processors will bring along a whole new series of Z790 chipset motherboards, which include the MEG Series, MPG Series, MAG Series, and PRO Series as well. MSI’s Z790 motherboards paired with 13th Gen Intel® Core™ Processors are here to bring more efficient computing and fine-tuning on the success of the last generation of CPUs. As a world-leading motherboard brand MSI’s Z790 motherboards are designed to provide the very best performance for gamers, creators, and users.
John started writing and reviewing PC components for Overclockers.com in 2015, but his passion for PCs dates all the way back to the early 1980s. His first personal computer was a Commodore 64 with a cassette drive. As a dedicated member of the news team, he focuses his articles on new product releases and software updates. He reviews a wide variety of PC components including chassis, storage drives, keyboards, and more. John works in technology as a C.A.D. designer for a major automotive manufacturer. His other passions in life include motorcycles, hunting, guns, and football.
Without further delay, we are finally introducing Intel’s newest process node, Intel 7, for mainstream consumers. Intel has had a rocky road transitioning from their 14 nm process and is now introducing a CPU that has had significant changes. The Intel i9-12900K and i5-12600K we have here today are part of Intel’s Alder Lake CPU line-up and bring with it some radical changes over its predecessors. These changes and improvements are covered in-depth in our specifications and features section below.
Today, Biostar International annouced its latest product, the A32M2 MicroATX PCIe M.2 motherboard. Targeted at the budget minded consumer, the A32M2 motherboard is designed to suit casual users as well as most workstation applications.
So it looks like the Asus Hero only gets Gen 5 M.2 if you use their add in PCIE card, which would rob you of half your GPU lanes. Hrmm....maybe the Strix is where it's at on that lineup.
Hopefully Asrock's PG ITX won't suck this time (Z690 had inadequate VRM cooling and poor analog audio implementation from at least one review I read).
A little bummed Gigabyte dropped the full gold plated surround sound audio on the Aorus Master. Rather small niche now but something I look for.
MSI's Z790 Edge ITX looks interesting, and their Carbon is maybe where I would go for ATX.
I think there will be MSI Unify series with probably better ITX mobo. I see that MSI is not really trying with the design of ITX mobos. The Edge uses nearly the same heatsinks as Z590I Unify and Z690I Unify.
I expect something good from ASUS as there are still no top series like APEX or Impact. I dislike ASUS for some reason (mainly RMA support), but I always end with one of their mobos as BIOS support and RAM overclocking is generally the best. In the last years, MSI is great too, but Z690 Unify/X was somehow disappointing. Maybe I just expect too much.
Gigabyte had great audio in Z690 Master. I literally could hear the difference compared to some other mobos or previous generations and I don't even have any special speakers.
If I'm reading this correctly, the only way we're going to get Gen.5 M.2 is to cut down the GPU to 8x lanes.
Getting a ton more lanes through the chipset itself though.
PCIe 5.0 are from the CPU and both 12th and 13th gen support PCIe 5.0. It only depends on the motherboard if there are any M.2 PCIe 5.0 sockets while the main PCIe 5.0 slot is on higher Z690 mobos too. Both AMD and Intel support almost the same, what is weird considering that both also went up with significantly higher frequencies in the new gen. Not even all Z790 motherboards have M.2 PCIe 5.0 socket. I guess it looks better on the AMD side and their E chipsets, as there is support for 20-24 PCIe 5.0 lanes (depends on the motherboard).
You are right with cutting down the GPU to x8 when M.2 PCIe 5.0 is in use. It's already described on some motherboards that support M.2 PCIe 5.0 SSD.
So in real, we get M.2 PCIe 5.0 sockets (optional) and some more PCIe lanes. Most users don't need more PCIe lanes and never use them. PCIe 5.0 graphics cards or other cards are not available yet. M.2 PCIe 5.0 SSD will appear in 1-2 months or maybe later, but the performance gain will be almost only in synthetic benchmarks (the first gen of PCIe 5.0 SSD is expected to have higher sequential bandwidth and that's all).
If someone has a Z690 motherboard then there is no real reason to switch it to Z790, especially considering prices. You may want Z790 for better and much higher RAM support (that gives barely anything) and possible support with future devices. You may switch to the next-gen CPU and motherboard faster than upgrade all other devices.
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