Gigabyte's range of motherboards based on the Intel Z390 Express is represented by fifteen models at once: from the budget Z390 UD to the uncompromising Aorus Xtreme Waterforce 5G. The backbone of this set is made up of Aorus series boards, and for less demanding and wealthy players, three Gaming series boards are offered. Pay is separate , representing a compromise between functionality and cost.
At first, it was not clear to us at all why to release Designare, if there is already a product close to it in terms of capabilities and cost. . But upon closer examination, it turns out that these are still different boards, so there is definitely a point in studying and testing Designare. In addition, the board gave us a pleasant surprise. We will tell you about all this in today's material.
Specifications and cost
| Supported processors | Intel Core i9 / Core i7 / Core i5 / Core i3 / Pentium / Celeron processors performed by LGA1151 of the eighth and ninth generation of the Core microarchitecture |
| Chipset | Intel Z390 Express |
| Memory subsystem | 4 × DIMM DDR4 unbuffered memory up to 128 GB; dual-channel memory mode; support for modules with frequency 4266(OC)/4133(OC)/4000(OC)/3866(OC)/3800(OC)/ 3733(O.C.)/3666(O.C.)/3600(O.C.)/3466(O.C.)/3400(O.C.)/3333(O.C.)/3300(O.C.)/3200(O.C.)/ 3000(O.C.)/2800(O.C.)/2666/2400/2133 МГц; support for 1Rx8/2Rx8 DIMMs without ECC and buffering (operate in non-ECC mode); support for non-ECC DIMMs without buffering 1Rx8/2Rx8/1Rx16; support for Intel XMP (Extreme Memory Profile) |
| Graphical interface | The integrated graphics core of the processor allows the use of HDMI version 1.4 and Display Port version 1.2 ports (input only); Intel Thunderbolt™ 3 controller; resolutions up to and including 4K (4096 × 2304 at 60 Hz) are supported; the maximum amount of shared memory is 1 GB |
| Connectors for expansion cards | 3 PCI Express x16 3.0 slots, x16, x8/x8, x8/x4/x4 operating modes; 2 x PCI Express x1, Gen 3 |
| Video subsystem scalability | NVIDIA 2-way SLI Technology; AMD 2-way/3-way CrossFireX Technology |
| Drive interfaces | Chipset Intel Z390 Express: – 6 × SATA 3, throughput up to 6 Gb / s; – support for RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10, Intel Rapid Storage, Intel Smart Connect Technology and Intel Smart Response, NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug; – 2 × M.2, each with a throughput of up to 32 Gb / s (both connectors support SATA and PCI Express drives from 42 to 110 mm long); - support for Intel Optane Memory technology |
| Network interfaces |
2 gigabit network controllers: Intel I219-V (10/100/1000 Mbit) and Intel I211-AT; Intel CNVi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac 2×2 Wave 2 Wireless Controller: 2,4GHz and 5GHz bands, support for Bluetooth 5, 11ac wireless standard (160MHz band, bandwidth up to 1,73 Gbps) |
| Audio subsystem | Realtek ALC7.1-VB shielded 1220-channel HD audio codec; the signal-to-noise ratio at the linear audio output is 114 dB, and at the linear input - 110 dB; audio capacitors Nichicon fine gold (7 pcs.) and WIMA (4 pcs.); USB DAC-UP 2 support; PCB-isolated sound card |
| USB interface | Chipset Intel Z390 Express: – 4 USB 2.0/1.1 ports (2 on the rear panel, 2 connected to connectors on the system board); – 6 USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports (4 on the rear panel, 2 connected to the connectors on the motherboard); – 2 USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports (on the back of the board, Type-A); – 1 USB 3.1 Gen 2 port (connects to a connector on the system board). Intel Z390 Express Chipset + Intel Thunderbolt 3 Controller: – 2 USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports (on the back of the board, both Type-C) |
| Connectors and buttons on the rear panel | Two USB 2.0/1.1 ports and PS/2 combo port; HDMI and DisplayPort video outputs; two connectors for antennas of the wireless communication module (2T2R); two USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A ports and two USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C ports; two USB DAC-UP 2 ports and an RJ-45 network LAN socket; two USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A ports and an RJ-45 network LAN socket; 1 optical output S/PDIF-interface; 5 3,5mm audio jacks |
| Internal connectors on textolite | 24-pin ATX power connector; 8-pin ATX 12V power connector; 4-pin ATX 12V power connector; 6-pin OC PEG power connector; 6 SATA3; 2 M.2; 4-pin CPU fan header with PWM support; 4-pin connector for the SJO pump; 3 4-pin headers for case fans with PWM support; connector for connecting RGB LED-lines; a group of connectors for the front panel; front panel audio jack; USB 2.0/1.1 connector for connecting 2 ports; USB 3.1 Gen 1 connector for connecting 2 ports; USB 3.1 Gen 2 connector for connecting 1 Type-C port; Clear CMOS jumper; S/PDIF connector |
| BIOS | 2 × 128 Mbit AMI UEFI BIOS with multilingual interface and graphical shell; support for DualBIOS technology; ACPI 5.0 compliant; PnP 1.0a support; support for SM BIOS 2.7; DMI 2.7 support; WfM 2.0 support |
| I / O controller | iTE I/O Controller Chip IT8688E |
| Proprietary functions, technologies and features | APP Center: – 3D OSD; – @BIOS; – Ambient LED; – Auto Green; – Cloud Station; – Easy Tunes; – Easy RAID; – Fast Boot; – Game Boost; – Platform Power Management; – RGB Fusion; – Smart Backup; – Smart Keyboard; – Smart Time Lock; – Smart HUD; – System Information Viewer; – Smart Survey; – USB Blocker; – USB DAC-UP 2; Q-Flash; Xpress Install |
| Form factor, dimensions (mm) | ATX, 305×244 |
| Operating system support | Windows 10 x64 |
| Warranty manufacturer, years | 3 |
| minimum retail price, RUB | 18 500 |
Packaging equipment
The box that comes with the Gigabyte Z390 Designare has its own exclusive style. You will not find another such package in the series of motherboards based on Intel Z390 from Gigabyte. Clearly, since the board is special, then the packaging for it should be unusual. It looks stylish and provides the user with comprehensive information about the product.
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In the main box, the board is placed on an additional cardboard pallet and sealed in an antistatic bag. Under this tray are two compartments for accessories. In the first one, you can find two pairs of SATA cables, a cable for the Thunderbolt 3 interface, an antenna for a wireless communication module, screws for fixing drives in M.2 ports, and a block for conveniently connecting cables from the front panel of the case to the board.
In addition, the board's package includes full and brief operating instructions, a guide to installing video cards, and a disk with drivers and utilities.
The board's country of manufacture is Taiwan (the company has two factories there). The cost of Gigabyte Z390 Designare in Russian stores starts from 18,5 thousand rubles. The board comes with a proprietary three-year warranty.
Design and features
The design of the Gigabyte Z390 Designare is made in calm and restrained colors. A plastic casing and radiators are fixed on an almost black textolite.
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The latter are made in a single "chopped" style and make the board visually interesting and modern. The name of the board model is printed on the chipset heatsink and is highlighted.
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The dimensions of the Gigabyte Z390 Designare are 305 × 244 mm, the standard is ATX. Features of the components of the new motherboard are shown in the following diagram.
For a more detailed acquaintance with them, we will also give a circuit board from .
The interface panel plate is built-in here, and due to the abundance of connectors, there is practically no free space left on it.
It has two connectors for antennas of the wireless communication module, ten different types of USB ports, a combined PS / 2 port, HDMI and Display Port video outputs, two RJ-45 network jacks, an optical output and five audio connectors.
Like the Gigabyte Aorus series, the Designare PCB uses double-thickness copper layers, and a double-sized copper substrate is used in the CPU power circuit area, due to which increased stability and more comfortable temperature conditions of the components are achieved. All this is included in the proprietary Ultra Durable concept.
The processor socket LGA1151-v2 does not have any features, and it any XNUMXth and XNUMXth generation Intel Core microarchitecture processors.
The power supply system on the board is implemented according to the 12 + 1 scheme and consists of DrMOS assemblies. The twelve components are based on the elements manufactured by Vishay Intertechnology, and one more phase dedicated to the graphics core built into the processor, to .
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Doublers soldered on the reverse side . Power management implemented by PWM controller .
That is, in general, we can say that the Gigabyte Z390 Designare received a very powerful processor power system, although the board is not positioned as an overclocking device.
The board and its components are powered through three connectors with 24 and 8 + 4 pins.
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All connectors are equipped with high-density needles, but only the eight-pin power connector received a metallized sheath.
chipset crystal on the Gigabyte board, it contacts its heatsink through a thermal pad. I know that some users replace these thermal pads on chipsets with thermal paste, but in this case it is pointless.
The board has four DIMM slots for DDR4 RAM. All of them have an Ultra Durable Memory Armor stainless steel shell, which not only strengthens these connectors mechanically, but also protects the contacts in them from electromagnetic interference.
The total amount of RAM installed in the Gigabyte Z390 Designare can reach an impressive 128 gigabytes. The maximum supported frequency is declared at 4266 MHz, but you can select higher values in the board's BIOS, if such memory were available. XMP profiles are supported and produced modules and sets of them. Let's add here that the memory power system is dual-channel.
Gigabyte Z390 Designare is equipped with five PCI-Express slots. Three of them are made in x16 design and have an Ultra Durable PCIe Shield metal shell, which strengthens them by 1,7 times for breaking and 3,2 times for pulling out.
The first slot is connected to the processor and can provide the video card with all 16 PCI-Express lanes. The second and third slots can only work in x8 and x4 modes, respectively, so NVIDIA 2-way SLI or AMD 2-way / 3-way CrossFireX is supported from multiprocessor graphics technologies. Multiplexers are responsible for switching the operating modes of the slots. produced by ASMedia.
We add that Designare has two PCI Express x1 slots with closed ends for expansion cards.
The board is equipped with six standard SATA ports with a bandwidth of up to 6 Gb / s, which are implemented with the capabilities of the Intel Z390 system logic set and soldered in a horizontal orientation.
To the left of them you can see a six-pin power connector, which is recommended to be used when using three video cards on the board.
Unlike the flagship boards in the Aorus series, the Z390 Designare has only two, not three, M.2 ports with up to 32Gbps of bandwidth. However, drives up to 110 mm long (22110) with both PCI-E and SATA interfaces can be installed in each port.
Both ports are equipped with Thermal Guard heatsink plates with thermal pads, which eliminate the effects of SSD throttling under prolonged loads.
Unfortunately, the limitations of the Intel Z390 system logic set will not allow using all ports for drives at the same time. The drive sharing capabilities of the Gigabyte Z390 Designare board are summarized in the following two tables.
As you can see, if PCI-Express drives are installed in both M.2 ports at once, then the SATA3 0, SATA3 4 and SATA3 5 ports will be disabled by hardware. However, the three remaining SATA3 ports, in our opinion, are quite enough for any working or game station. Although, in future chipsets, Intel would like to no longer face such restrictions.
The total number of USB ports on the Gigabyte Z390 Designare is 15. 10 ports are immediately displayed on the rear panel, including two USB 2.0, four USB 3.1 Gen 1 and four USB 3.1 Gen 2. Internal ports are represented by a pair of USB 2.0, two USB 3.1 Gen 1 and one USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C for the front panel of the system unit case.
All USB ports are implemented with the capabilities of the Intel Z390 chipset and hub manufactured by Realtec.
A distinctive feature of the Gigabyte Z390 Designare is the presence of a Thunderbolt 3 interface with a bandwidth of 40 Gb / s. It is implemented by a controller chip .
With two microchips manufactured by Texas Instruments and a short adapter cable included in the kit, this controller organizes video output from the video card to USB 3.1 Type C ports with a resolution of up to 4K.
Gigabyte Z390 Designare equipped with two wired network controllers at once: gigabit и with support for cFosSpeed technology.
In addition to them, a controller is installed on the board with support for 802.11a/b/g/n/ac and Bluetooth 5 wireless interfaces.
The controller supports frequencies of 2,4 GHz, 5 GHz and the communication standard 2 × 2 802.11ac Wave 2, when the network bandwidth can reach 160 Gbps in the 1,73 MHz band.
The board's audio path is based on a 7.1-channel HD codec , shielded by a metal cover.
He is accompanied by two types of Japanese-made audiophile capacitors: Nichicon Fine Gold (7 pcs.) And (4 pcs.).
In addition, the audio zone is isolated from other elements on the textolite with non-conductive strips, and the left and right channels are separated in different layers of the textolite. However, unlike the older boards in the Aorus series, Designare does not have an ESS SABER DAC and gold-plated audio jacks.
The Super I/O and monitoring functions on the board are implemented by the IT8688E controller.
Monitoring and fan control options on the Gigabyte Z390 Designare are relatively modest: only 5 PWM fan connectors and 6 temperature sensors.
There is no POST code indicator on the board; its role is partially played by four CPU/DRAM/VGA/BOOT LEDs in the lower right corner of the PCB.
The area of the casing of the interface panel, the delimiting strips of the audio path and the chipset heatsink are endowed with illumination.
To connect LED backlight strips, there is only one connector without addressing with a power of up to 2A. The length of the tape should not exceed 2 meters. Adjusting the color of the backlight and its modes of operation is available both through the BIOS and through the Gigabyte RGB Fusion application.
Gigabyte Z390 Designare received two 128-bit BIOS chips.
The technology of automatic recovery of a damaged chip from a backup is supported - DualBIOS.
From the connectors on the lower edge of the board's textolite, it is hardly possible to note anything special.
Despite the fact that the board is not positioned as an overclocker, its cooling system is quite well thought out. The VRM circuits have two aluminum heatsinks connected by a 6mm heat pipe, and the chipset is cooled by a large flat heatsink.
We have already mentioned the heatsink plates for drives in M.2 ports above. Let's add that in the process of getting acquainted with the Gigabyte Z390 Designare, we did not reveal even frivolous shortcomings in terms of quality or layout. Everything is convenient, thoughtful and reliable. Now let's move on to its software component.
Source: 3dnews.ru