The GIGABYTE Z390 Aorus Pro WIFI Motherboard Review: A Sturdy $200 Surprise

Board Features

For a sub $200 option, the GIGABYTE Z390 Aorus Pro WIFI offers a good variety of features and a decent controller set. The Realtek ALC1220-VB HD audio codec is a premium controller and the board also includes a 1.73 Gbps capable Intel 9560 802.11ac Wi-Fi adapter which is this model's main marketed feature. A slightly cheaper variant of this model is available without the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5 features, but given the $15 difference GIGABYTE gives users the option to save a little bit of cash if they aren't intending on using it. GIGABYTE has also included an HDMI 1.4 video output on the rear panel to allow users to use the onboard graphics capabilities of compatible 8th and 9th generation Intel processors.

The rear panel offers a total of three USB 3.1 G2 ports including two Type-A and a single Type-C. This isn't exactly comprehensive, but GIGABYTE does include a USB 3.1 G1 Type-C header for users requiring more of this port type. A further two USB 3.1 G2 Type-A ports and three USB 2.0 ports are present on the rear panel, with the option to expand upon this with a single USB 3.1 G1 Type-A header (two ports) and two USB 2.0 (four ports) headers. Storage options are also basic with two M.2 slots each with their own individual M.2 heatsinks and six SATA ports supporting RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10 arrays.

Test Bed

As per our testing policy, we take a high-end CPU suitable for the motherboard that was released during the socket’s initial launch, and equip the system with a suitable amount of memory running at the processor maximum supported frequency. This is also typically run at JEDEC subtimings where possible. It is noted that some users are not keen on this policy, stating that sometimes the maximum supported frequency is quite low, or faster memory is available at a similar price, or that the JEDEC speeds can be prohibitive for performance. While these comments make sense, ultimately very few users apply memory profiles (either XMP or other) as they require interaction with the BIOS, and most users will fall back on JEDEC supported speeds - this includes home users as well as industry who might want to shave off a cent or two from the cost or stay within the margins set by the manufacturer. Where possible, we will extend out testing to include faster memory modules either at the same time as the review or a later date.

While we have been able to measure audio performance from previous Z370 motherboards, the task has been made even harder with the roll-out of the Z390 chipset and none of the boards tested so far has played ball. It seems all USB support for Windows 7 is now extinct so until we can find a reliable way of measuring audio performance on Windows 10 or until a workaround can be found, audio testing will have to be done at a later date.

Readers of our motherboard review section will have noted the trend in modern motherboards to implement a form of MultiCore Enhancement / Acceleration / Turbo (read our report here) on their motherboards. This does several things, including better benchmark results at stock settings (not entirely needed if overclocking is an end-user goal) at the expense of heat and temperature. It also gives, in essence, an automatic overclock which may be against what the user wants. Our testing methodology is ‘out-of-the-box’, with the latest public BIOS installed and XMP enabled, and thus subject to the whims of this feature. It is ultimately up to the motherboard manufacturer to take this risk – and manufacturers taking risks in the setup is something they do on every product (think C-state settings, USB priority, DPC Latency / monitoring priority, overriding memory sub-timings at JEDEC). Processor speed change is part of that risk, and ultimately if no overclocking is planned, some motherboards will affect how fast that shiny new processor goes and can be an important factor in the system build.

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