GIGABYTE Z590 Aorus Master Review: Soaring High With Rocket Lake
by Gavin Bonshor on April 28, 2021 1:00 PM ESTBoard Features
The GIGABYTE Z590 Aorus Master is an ATX motherboard and it represents a bridge between the mid-range and the flagship models. It's based on the Aorus series which is primarily targeted at gamers, but it also includes plenty of premium controllers and features for multiple areas of users such as content creators and enthusiasts. It uses a lot of Intel's 11th generation Rocket Lake and Z590 features, including two full-length PCIe 4.0 slots that can operate at x16/x0 and x8/x8, with a third full-length slot locked down to PCIe 3.0 x4. In regards to storage options, the Z590 Aorus Master has three M.2 slots, including one with support for PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe and two with support for PCIe 3.0 x4/SATA drives, as well as six SATA ports that include support for RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays. Memory support is also impressive with supported speeds of up to DDR4-5400 when combined with Rocket Lake, with a combined total of 128 GB available across four memory slots. There's also plenty of options for cooling including ten 4-pin headers, with one dedicated to a CPU fan, one for an optional CPU fan and water cooling device, four for chassis fans, and four additional 4-pin headers for chassis fans or water pumps.
| GIGABYTE Z590 Aorus Master ATX Motherboard | |||
| Warranty Period | 3 Years | ||
| Product Page | Link | ||
| Price | $410 | ||
| Size | ATX | ||
| CPU Interface | LGA1200 | ||
| Chipset | Intel Z590 | ||
| Memory Slots (DDR4) | Four DDR4 Supporting 128 GB Dual-Channel Up to DDR4-5400 |
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| Video Outputs | 1 x DisplayPort 1.2 | ||
| Network Connectivity | Aquantia AQC107 10 GbE Intel AX210 Wi-Fi 6E |
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| Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC1220-VB ESS Sabre ES9118 DAC |
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| PCIe Slots for Graphics (from CPU) | 2 x PCIe 4.0 (x16, x8/x8) | ||
| PCIe Slots for Other (from PCH) | 1 x PCIe 3.0 x4 | ||
| Onboard SATA | Six, RAID 0/1/5/10 (Z590) | ||
| Onboard M.2 | 1 x PCIe 4.0 x4 2 x PCIe 3.0 x4/SATA |
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| Thunderbolt 4 (40 Gbps) | N/A | ||
| USB 3.2 (20 Gbps) | 1 x USB Type-C (Rear panel) | ||
| USB 3.2 (10 Gbps) | 5 x USB Type-A (Rear panel) 1 x USB Type-C (One header) |
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| USB 3.1 (5 Gbps) | 4 x USB Type-A (Rear panel) 4 x USB Type-A (Two headers) |
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| USB 2.0 | 4 x USB Type-A (Two headers) | ||
| Power Connectors | 1 x 24-pin Motherboard 2 x 8-pin CPU |
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| Fan Headers | 1 x 4-pin CPU 1 x 4-pin Water Pump/chassis 4 x 4-pin Chassis 4 x 4-pin Chassis/Water pump |
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| IO Panel | 2 x Antenna Ports (Intel AX210) 1 x DisplayPort 1.2 Output 1 x USB 3.2 G2x2 Type-C 5 x USB 3.2 G2 Type-A 4 x USB 3.2 G1 Type-A 1 x RJ45 (Aquantia) 1 x Q-Flash BIOS Flashback button 1 x Clear CMOS button 5 x 3.5 mm audio jacks (Realtek) 1 x S/PDIF Optical output (Realtek) |
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The Z590 Aorus Master has one of the best-equipped rear panels on Z590. This includes one USB 3.2 G2x2 Type-C, five USB 3.2 G2 Type-A, and four USB 3.2 G1 Type-A ports. Networking support is premium with one Aquantia AQC107 10 GbE controller, with an Intel AX210 Wi-Fi 6E CNVi offering both wireless and BT 5.2 connectivity. Looking at the onboard audio solution, GIGABYTE includes a Realtek ALC1220-VB HD audio codec and an ESS Sabre ES9118 DAC pairing which drives five 3.5 mm audio jacks and S/PDIF optical output, while a DisplayPort 1.2 video output allows users to run a system from Intel's integrated UHD graphics.
Test Bed
With some of the nuances with Intel's Rocket Lake processors, our policy is to see if the system gives an automatic option to increase the power limits of the processor. If it does, we select the liquid cooling option. If it does not, we do not change the defaults. Adaptive Boost Technology is disabled by default.
| Test Setup | |||
| Processor | Intel Core i9-11900K, 125 W, $374 8 Cores, 16 Threads 3.5 GHz (5.3 GHz Turbo) |
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| Motherboard | GIGABYTE Z590 Aorus Master (BIOS F4) | ||
| Cooling | Corsair iCue H150i Elite Capellix 360 mm AIO | ||
| Power Supply | Corsair HX850 80Plus Platinum 850 W | ||
| Memory | G.Skill TridentZ DDR4-3200 CL 14-14-14-34 2T (2 x 8 GB) | ||
| Video Card | MSI GTX 1080 (1178/1279 Boost) | ||
| Hard Drive | Crucial MX300 1TB | ||
| Case | Corsair Crystal 680X | ||
| Operating System | Windows 10 Pro 64-bit: Build 20H2 | ||
We must also thank the following:
| Hardware Providers for CPU and Motherboard Reviews | |||
| Sapphire RX 460 Nitro | MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X OC | Crucial MX200 + MX500 SSDs |
Corsair AX860i + AX1200i PSUs |
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| G.Skill RipjawsV, SniperX, FlareX |
Crucial Ballistix DDR4 |
Silverstone Coolers |
Noctua Coolers |
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39 Comments
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Oxford Guy - Thursday, May 6, 2021 - link
'well just because they eliminated a warranty option may just mean no one was buying it'I'll buy that for a dollar.
JVC8bal - Wednesday, April 28, 2021 - link
Overall, I am happy with this product. DDR-4400, overclocked 11900k at 5.1ghz all cores, gen4 NVMe SSD, 3080 running 16x gen4.However, there was an issue that x570 PCIE gen4 users encountered, that they seem to be correcting. If you had a gen4 NVMe + gen4 graphics card, every 300ms you would get a WHEA-LOGGER event and the computer would BSOD every 1-2 hours. After many responsive emails from their customer support, BIOS version f5d now allows a NVMe gen4 + graphics gen4 without crashing. There is still a WHEA-LOGGER message every 300ms which is noise, but that should be fixed with a future Intel Chipset update.
skaurus - Thursday, April 29, 2021 - link
You talking about AMD chipset issue, but this motherboard is based on Intel chipset. Completely another story.JVC8bal - Friday, April 30, 2021 - link
Yet the issue was the same: an implementation problem of the PCIE 4.0 specs for first-generation platforms. But thank you for feeling it necessary to respond with the simplistic obviology.Spunjji - Thursday, April 29, 2021 - link
Given how none of that second paragraph was relevant to this article, you look suspiciously like you're repeating keywords to maintain the prevalence of specific, already-resolved issues pertaining to Intel's competitors in search-engine rankings. What a mess.JVC8bal - Friday, April 30, 2021 - link
Actually, after doing a RMA on 3 of these boards to find the problem, I felt inclined to respond to the review. Others might be having this same issue. They will just need to update to the latest BIOS to avoid crashes with that combination of hardware. I don't why people like you feel the need to respond with conspiracy theories.WaltC - Thursday, April 29, 2021 - link
Sorry, man--but I installed a PCIe4 5700XT into my x570 Aorus Master back in July 2019--about 21 months or so. And I've never--not even once--had any of the problems you allude to...;) It's been solid as a rock. Someone has badly misled you--it's just common old anti-AMD FUD. Very immature hogwash.JVC8bal - Friday, April 30, 2021 - link
Google "whea-logger and pcie 4". x570 was the first platform to experience this manifestation of the problems This was helpful in identifying the problem of specific gen4 NVMe drives conflicting with gen4 graphics cards. Speaking of immature, what a response... not just words, but the logic: somehow your 1-off, personal experience is indicative over broader reality? It's anti-AMD propaganda?TheinsanegamerN - Friday, April 30, 2021 - link
"I dont have a problem therefore the problem does not exist and anyone who says otherwise is immature, look how mature and sohpisticated i am! My farts smell like cinnamon!"silverblue - Friday, April 30, 2021 - link
Is that with all the necessary security patches applied? AMD processors are more secure than their Intel competitors right now. AMD also offered PCIe 4.0 for nearly two years before Intel got in on the act. Finally, AMD CPUs are simply more efficient.Three for the search engines to chew on.