Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Pro X: White for Raptor Lake Refresh

Gigabyte Aorus Z790 Aorus Pro X in detail

We tested the first Z790 motherboard primarily designed for use with the 14th generation Intel Core (Raptor Lake) processors. The chipset’s features haven’t changed, but there’s a lot of new, noteworthy stuff around it. That includes upgraded network connectivity headed by WiFi 7 and, finally, 5-gigabit Ethernet. And in the year that it’s been at it, Gigabyte has worked on a lot of details too. Some were more successful, others less so.

As an exception, Intel Lake processors did not come accompanied by motherboards with a new chipset, but new models came out with the old one. The Intel Z790 chipset is the most feature-rich option even now (as it was in the Raptor Lake generation). However, there are differences, some of them quite significant. Not at the level of the chipset, but outside it, within the “external” part. In this article, we’ll look at how and what was reflected in the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Pro X motherboard.

Gigabyte Aorus Z790 Aorus Pro X

Although this motherboard was released simultaneously with Intel Raptor Lake Refresh processors, older Raptor Lake and Alder Lake processor generations are also supported. That is, all with support for the LGA 1700 platform.

The PCB format is ATX (305 × 244 mm) and its design is specific with a white finish. The contrast maps (spots), which occur on dark surfaces due to temperature reactions around the CPU socket, VRM, etc., are not visible on the PCB. With the PCB design, or component mounting, it is worth mentioning the “back drilling” technology. Its benefit is supposed to be in using less tin for soldering DIMM slots to improve the data signal. The latter deteriorates due to excess tin, and it is the quality characteristics in this regard that are ultimately how far you can stretch the bandwidth of the fastest memory. On Gigabyte’s site there is also a nice illustration of the PCB profile with the depth of immersion of the contacts.

   

On the back of the PCB there is one more new feature, namely a backplate of the first PCI Express ×16 slot. Thanks to it, the load capacity of the slot should be up to 56 kilograms. Of course, heavy graphics cards are also lightened by side brackets, but such additional robustness can be useful, for example, during transportation, where various shocks occur, with which the load that the slot has to withstand is multiplied.

On SSD coolers: since last time, Gigabyte has resolved the looser cooler mount on the first M.2 slot (with PCIe 5.0 support, by the way), which greatly improves contact and heat transfer. Combined with the greater surface area and weight, top-notch results are achieved.

It’s worse for the cooler below, which is shared for four M.2 slots. Its mounting is in turn a bit faster, because it only slides in from the right side (into the grooves of the vertical brackets) and you just click it in from the right with the EZ-Latch Click mechanism. It’s a very comfortable installation, but with weaker pressure in the back of the SSD, as you can see in the thermal pad imprint. This means that the contact with the SSD and therefore the heat transfer is weaker and the temperatures are higher.

For such a large cooler weighing approximately 190 grams, the cooling performance is inadequately low. In the rightmost position, closest to the chipset, the contact is still quite decent, but in the second to fourth M.2 slot, expect worse cooling of the SSD memory. To what extent, it is, of course, individual, each SSD is different. It also depends on the height of the memory itself and how it sinks into the cooler’s thermal pads. We test with Samsung 980 Pro SSDs with memory whose packages are 1.6 mm tall.

The VRM cooler is really robust, weighing in at 463 grams. The two heatsinks are connected by a single heatpipe to ensure more even heat distribution. The aluminum heatsink design is quite nicely articulated (finned), both longitudinally and transversally. Thus, the cooling performance is likely to be above average. When combined with the increased demands of the Raptor Lake Refresh processors, this will come in handy. Especially with models like the Core i7-14700K and Core i7-14900K. Their power draw without power limits is really high and this motherboard will not be a bottleneck.

   

The power delivery to the processor (and IGPU) has as many as 21 phases. With the exception of one (with the Renesas ILS99360, up to 60 A), all are 90-amp ones with Renesas ILS99390 voltage regulators. The VRM controller is the Renesas 229130 integrated circuit. In other words, the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Pro X won’t melt down even with CPU power draw well above 300W, but you’ll typically run into a lack of cooling performance from the CPU cooler, or the thermal interface (TIM) of the CPUs itself.

   

As mentioned in the introduction, the big improvement over the previous generation (of older boards) is the mass deployment of more advanced network connectivity. Ethernet is built on a 5-gigabit Realtek RTL8126 chip, which allows for about double the bandwidth of what was on the Z790 boards from last year. And there’s also WiFi 7, the MediaTek MT7927 chipset (you’ll run into Qualcomm QCNCM865 in the 1.2 revision) is on a card in M.2 format. It’s connected to the Z790’s south bridge via a PCIe lane. The location of this module is between the PCI Express ×16 slots, so there are quite long wires leading to the SMA antennas. A more convenient position would be in their closer proximity in the typically vertical M.2 slot between the external I/O connectors on the rear panel. Why Gigabyte opted for this placement we don’t know. It’s not even that the wireless module would depend on the CNVio interface (it doesn’t use that) and would need to be closer to the chipset for optimal results. Long wires could theoretically be more susceptible to interference, but whether this would somehow manifest itself in practice…

   

The rear I/O panel is packed with USB ports, as many as ten of them. Of these, eight are standard 3.2. Four in gen. 1 (5-gigabit), three in gen. 2 (with 10 Gb/s) and there’s one 20-gigabit (3.2 gen. 2×2), type C. One USB-C connector is then also in between the 10-gigabit ones. Gigabyte also traditionally retains the older USB 2.0, and although it’s slow, you don’t usually need the higher bandwidth for a keyboard and mouse, that is unless the keyboard has a USB hub, but that usually has a separate connector that can be plugged into a faster port.

There are two video outputs, with their own HDMI and DisplayPort connectors. Then there’s the three-port audio output, with two 3.5mm jacks and one S/PDIF optical output. The fewer jacks than other motherboard manufacturers have can also be explained by the fact that multi-channel speakers, for which more analogue connectors are needed, are used by very few people nowadays. But yes, there will always be someone for whom such a configuration (of jacks) will be inconvenient. For completeness, it should be noted that the sound chip is the Realtek ALC1220(-VB).

Lighting is only on the cover of the external I/O ports. In the same price class, Gigabyte used to take a more aggressive approach to ARGB LEDs, which is also a thing that some may welcome, some may not.

Please note: The article continues with following chapters.

We tested the first Z790 motherboard primarily designed for use with the 14th generation Intel Core (Raptor Lake) processors. The chipset’s features haven’t changed, but there’s a lot of new, noteworthy stuff around it. That includes upgraded network connectivity headed by WiFi 7 and, finally, 5-gigabit Ethernet. And in the year that it’s been at it, Gigabyte has worked on a lot of details too. Some were more successful, others less so.

What it looks like in the BIOS

The user interface has undergone a pretty big makeover (relative to how slow these things usually progress and more or less stagnate). Gigabyte talks about a “UC BIOS” with upgraded “quick access” to key settings.

There are many EZ Mode options, and apparently more intuitive ones too, once you get used to the new layout of the individual buttons. Among them, there are already Gigabyte PerfDrive switches, i.e. different CPU management modes. In addition to the default settings, you can, for example, enforce 6 GHz on all cores (if the CPU and cooler can handle it) or disable E cores if needed. The button to enter the fan management interface is also more prominent (than it used to be). The information panel has stayed the same, although some items have been shifted around a bit, but you’ll find everything you are used to.

The advanced mode, which you enter by pressing the F2 key, traditionally consists of six tabs, where the first one (Favorites) can be used to set the memory profile or, for example, the LLC.

   

The window with the CPU preset profiles is also on the “Tweaker” tab, the very first option. Different profiles approach the CPU multiplier and power draw differently.

Also in this environment (Advanced Mode/Tweaker), you activate the memory profile beyond JEDEC for the bandwidth your modules are sold with. Then there are also advanced options such as memory controller bandwidth selection (Gear 4 means half bandwidth, Gear 2 means maximum bandwidth) or detailed timing settings. Only dabble in these things if you know what you’re doing, though. Otherwise, the result can be an unstable system.

      

To manage CPU power supply, you need to go to “Advanced CPU Settings” and unlock (enable) “Turbo Power Limits”. You can then set the power limits for both PL1 and PL2 by typing in the exact numeric values, and assign an arbitrary Tau timeout to them as well.

The management of CPU core clock speeds in reduced power draw modes can be quite strange, atypical. At least with the test CPU (Intel Core i9-13900K), it gives higher priority to the E cores, where higher clock speeds are also achieved compared to other boards. However, this is at the expense of the clock speeds of the P cores. These are, on the contrary, unusually low. This will be discussed in more detail in the evaluation in the final chapter. However, it is also worth noting that the BIOS version has no influence on this behaviour. With F4f, the behavior is the same as with all older versions. However, it cannot be ruled out that with a different processor, the “redistribution of forces” between the P/E cores will already be more reasonable with respect to the highest possible speed and efficiency.

   

For users whose application or game performance depends on ReSizable BAR, the “Settings” tab will be interesting, where it is possible to regulate this function (enable or disable). By default, ReBAR is disabled similar to Z690/B660 boards. The ReBAR toggle is, by the way, also included within EZ Mode, which is actually also one of the extensions of the new user (or graphical) interface.

And finally a little analysis of Smart Fan 6. Gigabyte’s fan management environment is second to none. There are up to six temperature sensors (including one for a custom probe), which is definitely above average compared to competing solutions.

You can create a progress curve for each of the eight connectors, and there is support for both PWM and DC control. This is already fairly common, but in turn the precision setting by entering the numerical values down into the table is super easy. This system is more convenient compared to dragging points directly on the graph.

   

We tested the first Z790 motherboard primarily designed for use with the 14th generation Intel Core (Raptor Lake) processors. The chipset’s features haven’t changed, but there’s a lot of new, noteworthy stuff around it. That includes upgraded network connectivity headed by WiFi 7 and, finally, 5-gigabit Ethernet. And in the year that it’s been at it, Gigabyte has worked on a lot of details too. Some were more successful, others less so.

Gaming tests…

The vast majority of tests is based on the methodology for processors and graphics cards. The choice of games is narrower with motherboards, but for this purpose there is no need for more of them. We always use the powerful Core i9-13900K processor, which will highlight the strengths and weaknesses of any motherboard well. In the past we have tested with two processors, including a cheaper, more low-power model, but we don’t do that anymore. The hypothesis that more expensive motherboards might “advantage” cheaper processors in performance has not been confirmed, so it’s rather pointless.

We’ve selected five titles from games we’re testing in two resolutions. There are significantly fewer games than in the CPU or graphics card tests, but these are just enough for the motherboard tests. Few people consider performance in a particular game when choosing a motherboard. But an indicative overview of which motherboard shapes gaming performance in what way (compared to another motherboard) is necessary. To avoid significant discrepancies over time, we’ve reached for relatively older titles that no longer receive significant updates.

These are Borderlands 3, F1 2020, Metro Exodus, Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Total War Saga: Troy. With newer games, there might be some performance changes over time (updates) and especially in high resolutions with high details. This is one of the test setups (2160p and Ultra, or the highest visual detail but without ray-tracing graphics) that focuses on comparing performance, for which the bottleneck is the graphics card. In other words, it will be clear from these tests which motherboard can affect the performance of which graphics card to what extent for any reasons. In contrast, a setup with Full HD resolution and with graphical details reduced to “High” will also reflect the CPU’s contribution to the final gaming performance.

We use OCAT to record fps, or the times of individual frames, which are then used to calculate fps, and FLAT to analyze the CSV. The developer and author of articles (and videos) for the GPUreport.cz website is behind both.
For the highest accuracy, all runs are repeated three times and average values of average and minimum fps are displayed in the graphs. These multiple repetitions also apply to non-game tests.

… Computing tests, SSD tests, USB ports and network tests

We test application performance in a very similar way to the processor tests. Almost all tests are included, from the easier ones (such as those in a web environment) to those that push the CPU or graphics card to the limit. These are typically tests such as 3D rendering, video encoding (x264, x265, SVT-AV1) or other performance-intensive computing tasks. As with processors or graphics cards, we have a wide range of applications – users editing video (Adobe Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve Studio), graphic effects creators (Adobe Premiere Pro), graphic designers or photographers (Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom, Affinity Photo, AI applications Topaz Labs, …) will find their own in the results, and there are also tests of (de)encryption, (de)compression, numerical calculations, simulations and, of course, tests of memory.

SSD performance tests are also important for motherboards. Therefore we test the maximum sequential read and write speeds on an empty Samsung 980 Pro SSD (1 TB) in the well distributed CrystalDiskMark, in all slots. We approach the USB port tests in the same way. We use a WD Black P50 external SSD to test them. It supports fast USB 3.2 gen. 2×2, so it won’t be a bottleneck for even the fastest USB controllers. We report only one result for each USB standard. This is calculated from the average of all available ports.

We won’t deprive you of network bandwidth tests either. We move large files in both directions within a local network between the motherboard network adapters and the Sonnet Solo10G 10-gigabit PCIe card. This from the aforementioned Samsung 980 Pro SSD to the Patriot Hellfire (480 GB), which is still fast enough to not slow down even the 10 Gb adapter.

   

The results of all performance tests are averaged over three repeated measurements for best accuracy.

CPU settings…

We primarily test processors without power limits, the way most motherboards have it in factory settings. For tests that have an overlap with power, temperature and CPU clock speed measurements, we also observe the behavior of boards with a power limit according to Intel’s recommendations, where we set PL1 to the TDP level (125 W) while respecting the Tau timeout (56 s). The upper limit of the power supply (PL2/PTT) is set in the BIOS according to the official values. For Core i9-13900K it is 253 W, for Core i9-12900K it is 241 W. Aggressive overclocking technologies such as PBO2 (AMD) or MCE (Asus) and similar are not covered in standard motherboard tests.

… and application updates

Tests should also take into account that over time, individual updates may skew performance comparisons. Some applications we use in portable versions that do not update or can be kept on a stable version, but for some this is not the case. Typically games get updated over time, which is natural, and keeping them on old versions out of reality would also be questionable.

In short, just count on the fact that the accuracy of the results you are comparing with each other decreases a bit as time goes on. To make this analysis easier, we’ve listed when each board was tested. You can find this out in the dialog box, where you can find information about the date of testing. This dialog is displayed in the interactive graphs, next to any result bar. Just hover over it.

We tested the first Z790 motherboard primarily designed for use with the 14th generation Intel Core (Raptor Lake) processors. The chipset’s features haven’t changed, but there’s a lot of new, noteworthy stuff around it. That includes upgraded network connectivity headed by WiFi 7 and, finally, 5-gigabit Ethernet. And in the year that it’s been at it, Gigabyte has worked on a lot of details too. Some were more successful, others less so.

Methodology: How we measure power draw

In contrast to the Z690/B660 tests, we’ll simplify it a bit and measure only the CPU power draw on the EPS cables. This means that (also for the sake of best possible clarity) we omit the 24-pin measurements. We have already analysed it thoroughly and the power draw on it doesn’t change much across boards. Of the ten boards tested with an Alder Lake processor (Core i9-12900K), the power draw at 12 volts of the 24-pin connector ranges from 37.3–40.4 W (gaming load, graphics card power supply via PCI Express ×16 slot), at 5V (memory, ARGB LEDs and some external controllers) then between 13.9–22.3 W and finally at the weakest, 3.3-volt branch, the power draw of our test setup tends to be 2.2–3.6 W.

On top of the CPU power draw, which also takes into account the efficiency of the power delivery, this adds up to some 53–66 W under gaming/graphics load and only 15–25 W outside of it, with the graphics card idle. We already know all this from older tests, and it will be no different on the new boards, and as the number of measurements increases, reducing measurements that worsen orientation is beneficial. But from the text above, you know how much to add for the total power draw of the motherboard components to the CPU’s majority power draw.

The situation will be a bit different on AMD platforms, for those we will deal with what is the power draw on which branch of the 24-pin, but already in a separate article that will better highlight this topic. In a large comprehensive motherboard test, these measurements disappear, they do not attract enough attention.

We measure the power draw of the CPU (and its VRM) on the power supply cables, with calibrated Prova 15 current clamps and a calibrated Keysight U1231A multimeter. The clamps measure the electric current, the multimeter measures the electric voltage. In the union of these two electrical quantities, we finally obtain the exact power draw. We measure this in different loads on the CPU. The maximum multithreaded load is represented by Cinebench R23.

   

Lower, gaming load by Shadow of the Tomb Raider (1080p@high), single-threaded load by audio encoding (reference encoder 1.3.2, FLAC with bitrate 200 kbps) and idle power draw is measured on the Windows 10 desktop when only basic operating system processes and launchers of some test applications are running in the background.

We tested the first Z790 motherboard primarily designed for use with the 14th generation Intel Core (Raptor Lake) processors. The chipset’s features haven’t changed, but there’s a lot of new, noteworthy stuff around it. That includes upgraded network connectivity headed by WiFi 7 and, finally, 5-gigabit Ethernet. And in the year that it’s been at it, Gigabyte has worked on a lot of details too. Some were more successful, others less so.

Methodology: Temperature and frequency measurements

By far the most critical part in terms of temperatures on the motherboard is the power delivery (VRM) for the CPU. This is where we return to the Fluke Ti125 thermal imager, which produces temperature maps that can be used to locate the average temperature, as well as the hottest point. We record both these values (average and maximum temperature on the Vcore) in graphs, and we will later evaluate the efficiency of the VRM heatsinks based on the maximum one. However, we lack a suitable thermometer for that yet. Of course, the thermovision is implemented without a heatsink, and a thermocouple needs to be installed on the hottest MOSFET to detect the reduction of temperature with a heatsink. This will be added soon.

Thermal imaging always relates to operating with the more powerful of the pair of test processors. With it, the differences and possible limitations or impending risks (for example, even from thermal throttling) become more apparent. In order to have a good view of the VRM, we use an Alphacool Eisbaer 360 liquid cooler with the fans fixed at full power (12 V) instead of a tower cooler (from the CPU tests). The temperature tests also include CPU temperatures for completeness, and we also test the efficiency of the supplied SSD heatsinks as part of the motherboard tests. These are already included with virtually all better motherboards, and so the question naturally arises whether to use them or replace them with other, more finned ones. We will test these heatsinks on a Samsung 980 Pro SSD during ten minutes of intense load in CrystalDiskMark. Finally, the temperature of the chipset’s southbridge and the cooling efficiency in this direction is noteworthy as well.

All tests are conducted in a wind tunnel, so full system cooling is provided. This consists of three Noctua NF-S12A PWMs@5V (~550 rpm) . Two of which are intake, one is exhaust. But the three fast AIO fans also function as exhaust fans, so there is a vacuum in the case.

The temperature at the entrance to the tunnel is properly controlled and ranges between 21-21.3 °C. Maintaining a constant temperature at all times during testing is important not only for the accuracy of the temperature measurements, but also because a higher or lower ambient temperature also affects the eventual behaviour of the processors’ boost. And we also properly monitor and compare the clock speeds, whether under all-core load or even single-threaded tasks. We use the HWiNFO application to record the clock speeds and temperatures of the cores (sampling is set to two seconds).

Maintaining a constant temperature at the intake is necessary not only for a proper comparison of processor temperatures, but especially for objective performance comparisons. The clock speed development, and specially the single core boost, is precisely based on the temperature. Typically in summer, at higher temperatures than is normal in living quarters in winter, processors can be slower.

Temperatures are always read as maximum (both from the VRM thermovision and average, but still from the local maximum values at the end of Cinebench R23). For Intel processors, for each test we read the maximum temperature of the cores, usually all of them. These maxima are then averaged and the result represents the final value in the graph. From the single-threaded workload outputs, we extract only the recorded values from the active cores (there are usually two of these, and they alternate between each other during the test). For AMD processors it is a bit different. They don’t have temperature sensors for each core. In order to make the procedure methodically as similar as possible to the one we apply on Intel processors, we define the average temperature of all cores by the highest value reported by the CPU Tdie (average) sensor. However, for single-core workloads we already use the CPU sensor (Tctl/Tdie), which usually reports a slightly higher value that better corresponds to hotspots of one or two cores. However, these values as well as the values from all internal sensors should be taken with a grain of salt, the accuracy of sensors across CPUs varies.

Clock speed evaluation is more accurate, each core has its own sensor even on AMD processors. However, unlike the temperatures, we write the average values of the clock speeds during the tests in the graphs. We monitor the temperatures and clock speed of the CPU cores in the same tests in which we also measure power draw. Thus, sequentially from the lowest desktop idle load in Windows 10, through audio encoding (single-threaded load), gaming load in Shadow of the Tomb Raider to Cinebench R23.

We tested the first Z790 motherboard primarily designed for use with the 14th generation Intel Core (Raptor Lake) processors. The chipset’s features haven’t changed, but there’s a lot of new, noteworthy stuff around it. That includes upgraded network connectivity headed by WiFi 7 and, finally, 5-gigabit Ethernet. And in the year that it’s been at it, Gigabyte has worked on a lot of details too. Some were more successful, others less so.

Test setup

Note.: Graphics drivers used at the time of testing: Nvidia GeForce 466.77 and OS Windows 10 build 19045.

We tested the first Z790 motherboard primarily designed for use with the 14th generation Intel Core (Raptor Lake) processors. The chipset’s features haven’t changed, but there’s a lot of new, noteworthy stuff around it. That includes upgraded network connectivity headed by WiFi 7 and, finally, 5-gigabit Ethernet. And in the year that it’s been at it, Gigabyte has worked on a lot of details too. Some were more successful, others less so.

3DMark

We use 3DMark Professional for our tests and from the tests, Night Raid (DirectX 12), Fire Strike (DirectX 11) and Time Spy (DirectX 12). In the graphs you will find the CPU sub-scores, the combined scores, as well as the graphics scores. From this you can see to what extent a given CPU is limiting the graphics card.

---

---

We tested the first Z790 motherboard primarily designed for use with the 14th generation Intel Core (Raptor Lake) processors. The chipset’s features haven’t changed, but there’s a lot of new, noteworthy stuff around it. That includes upgraded network connectivity headed by WiFi 7 and, finally, 5-gigabit Ethernet. And in the year that it’s been at it, Gigabyte has worked on a lot of details too. Some were more successful, others less so.

Borderlands 3

Test environment: resolution 1920 × 1080 px; graphics settings preset High; API DirectX 12; extra settings Anti-Aliasing: None; test scene: built-in benchmark.

---

Test environment: resolution 3840 × 2160 px; graphics settings preset Ultra; API DirectX 12; no extra settings; test scene: built-in benchmark.

   

We tested the first Z790 motherboard primarily designed for use with the 14th generation Intel Core (Raptor Lake) processors. The chipset’s features haven’t changed, but there’s a lot of new, noteworthy stuff around it. That includes upgraded network connectivity headed by WiFi 7 and, finally, 5-gigabit Ethernet. And in the year that it’s been at it, Gigabyte has worked on a lot of details too. Some were more successful, others less so.

F1 2020

Test environment: resolution 1920 × 1080 px; graphics settings preset High; API DirectX 12; extra settings Anti-Aliasing: off, Skidmarks Blending: off; test scene: built-in benchmark (Australia, Clear/Dry, Cycle).

   

---

Test environment: resolution 3840 × 2160 px; graphics settings preset Ultra High; API DirectX 12; extra settings Anti-Aliasing: TAA, Skidmarks Blending: off; test scene: built-in benchmark (Australia, Clear/Dry, Cycle).

We tested the first Z790 motherboard primarily designed for use with the 14th generation Intel Core (Raptor Lake) processors. The chipset’s features haven’t changed, but there’s a lot of new, noteworthy stuff around it. That includes upgraded network connectivity headed by WiFi 7 and, finally, 5-gigabit Ethernet. And in the year that it’s been at it, Gigabyte has worked on a lot of details too. Some were more successful, others less so.

Metro Exodus

Test environment: resolution 1920 × 1080 px; graphics settings preset High; API DirectX 12; no extra settings; test scene: built-in benchmark.

---

Test environment: resolution 3840 × 2160 px; graphics settings preset Extreme; API DirectX 12; no extra settings; test scene: built-in benchmark.

We tested the first Z790 motherboard primarily designed for use with the 14th generation Intel Core (Raptor Lake) processors. The chipset’s features haven’t changed, but there’s a lot of new, noteworthy stuff around it. That includes upgraded network connectivity headed by WiFi 7 and, finally, 5-gigabit Ethernet. And in the year that it’s been at it, Gigabyte has worked on a lot of details too. Some were more successful, others less so.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Test environment: resolution 1920 × 1080 px; graphics settings preset High; API DirectX 12; extra settings Anti-Aliasing: off; test scene: built-in benchmark.

   

---

Test environment: resolution 3840 × 2160 px; graphics settings preset Highest; API DirectX 12; extra settings Anti-Aliasing: TAA; test scene: built-in benchmark.

We tested the first Z790 motherboard primarily designed for use with the 14th generation Intel Core (Raptor Lake) processors. The chipset’s features haven’t changed, but there’s a lot of new, noteworthy stuff around it. That includes upgraded network connectivity headed by WiFi 7 and, finally, 5-gigabit Ethernet. And in the year that it’s been at it, Gigabyte has worked on a lot of details too. Some were more successful, others less so.

Total War Saga: Troy

Test environment: resolution 1920 × 1080 px; graphics settings preset High; API DirectX 11; no extra settings; test scene: built-in benchmark.

---

Test environment: resolution 3840 × 2160 px; graphics settings preset Ultra; API DirectX 11; no extra settings; test scene: built-in benchmark.

We tested the first Z790 motherboard primarily designed for use with the 14th generation Intel Core (Raptor Lake) processors. The chipset’s features haven’t changed, but there’s a lot of new, noteworthy stuff around it. That includes upgraded network connectivity headed by WiFi 7 and, finally, 5-gigabit Ethernet. And in the year that it’s been at it, Gigabyte has worked on a lot of details too. Some were more successful, others less so.

PCMark

Geekbench

We tested the first Z790 motherboard primarily designed for use with the 14th generation Intel Core (Raptor Lake) processors. The chipset’s features haven’t changed, but there’s a lot of new, noteworthy stuff around it. That includes upgraded network connectivity headed by WiFi 7 and, finally, 5-gigabit Ethernet. And in the year that it’s been at it, Gigabyte has worked on a lot of details too. Some were more successful, others less so.

Speedometer (2.0) and Octane (2.0)

Test environment: To ensure that results are not affected by web browser updates over time, we use a portable version of Google Chrome (91.0.472.101), a 64-bit build. Hardware GPU acceleration is enabled as well, as it is by default for every user.

---

Note: The values in the graphs represent the average of the scores obtained in the subtasks, which are grouped according to their nature into seven categories (Core language features, Memory and GC, Strings and arrays, Virtual machine and GC, Loading and Parsing, Bit and Math operations, and Compiler and GC latency).

---

We tested the first Z790 motherboard primarily designed for use with the 14th generation Intel Core (Raptor Lake) processors. The chipset’s features haven’t changed, but there’s a lot of new, noteworthy stuff around it. That includes upgraded network connectivity headed by WiFi 7 and, finally, 5-gigabit Ethernet. And in the year that it’s been at it, Gigabyte has worked on a lot of details too. Some were more successful, others less so.

Cinebench R20

Cinebench R23

---

Blender@Cycles

Test environment: We use well distributed projects BMW (510 tiles) and Classroom (2040 tiles) and the renderer Cycles. Render settings are set to None, with which all the work falls on the CPU.

---

LuxRender (SPECworkstation 3.1)

We tested the first Z790 motherboard primarily designed for use with the 14th generation Intel Core (Raptor Lake) processors. The chipset’s features haven’t changed, but there’s a lot of new, noteworthy stuff around it. That includes upgraded network connectivity headed by WiFi 7 and, finally, 5-gigabit Ethernet. And in the year that it’s been at it, Gigabyte has worked on a lot of details too. Some were more successful, others less so.

Adobe Premiere Pro (PugetBench)

Test environment: PugetBench tests set. We keep the version of the application (Adobe Premiere Pro) at 15.2.

---

---

---

---

We tested the first Z790 motherboard primarily designed for use with the 14th generation Intel Core (Raptor Lake) processors. The chipset’s features haven’t changed, but there’s a lot of new, noteworthy stuff around it. That includes upgraded network connectivity headed by WiFi 7 and, finally, 5-gigabit Ethernet. And in the year that it’s been at it, Gigabyte has worked on a lot of details too. Some were more successful, others less so.

DaVinci Resolve Studio (PugetBench)

Test environment: set of PugetBench tests, test type: standard. App version of DaVinci Resolve Studio is 17.2.1 (build 12).

---

---

We tested the first Z790 motherboard primarily designed for use with the 14th generation Intel Core (Raptor Lake) processors. The chipset’s features haven’t changed, but there’s a lot of new, noteworthy stuff around it. That includes upgraded network connectivity headed by WiFi 7 and, finally, 5-gigabit Ethernet. And in the year that it’s been at it, Gigabyte has worked on a lot of details too. Some were more successful, others less so.

Graphics effects: Adobe After Effects

Test environment: set of PugetBench tests. App version of Adobe After Effects is 18.2.1.

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

---

We tested the first Z790 motherboard primarily designed for use with the 14th generation Intel Core (Raptor Lake) processors. The chipset’s features haven’t changed, but there’s a lot of new, noteworthy stuff around it. That includes upgraded network connectivity headed by WiFi 7 and, finally, 5-gigabit Ethernet. And in the year that it’s been at it, Gigabyte has worked on a lot of details too. Some were more successful, others less so.

HandBrake

Test environment: For video conversion we’re using a 4K video LG Demo Snowboard with a 43,9 Mb/s bitrate. AVC (x264) and HEVC (x265) profiles are set for high quality and encoder profiles are “slow”. HandBrake version is 1.3.3 (2020061300).

x264 and x265 benchmarks

---

Naposledy sme sa zaoberali základnou doskou, ktorá, ktorá je aj vďaka nižšej cene vhodná najmä na použitie s lacnejšími procesormi. Teraz tu máme o zhruba 50 eur drahšiu Gigabyte B660 Aorus Master DDR4. Príplatok tu má jasné opodstatnenie a odzkadľuje sa na lepších vlastnostiach. Napájacia kaskáda je výrazne efektívnejšia, chladiče sú účinnejšie a výbava je celkovo bohatšia, vrátane svetielok.

Audio encoding

Test environment: Audio encoding is done using command line encoders, we measure the time it takes for the conversion to finish. The same 42-minute long 16-bit WAV file (stereo) with 44.1 kHz is always used (Love Over Gold by Dire Straits album rip in a single audio file).

Encoder settings are selected to achieve maximum or near maximum compression. The bitrate is relatively high, with the exception of lossless FLAC of about 200 kb/s.

Note: These tests measure single-thread performance.

FLAC: reference encoder 1.3.2, 64-bit build. Launch options: flac.exe -s -8 -m -e -p -f

MP3: encoder lame3.100.1, 64-bit build (Intel 19 Compiler) from RareWares. Launch options: lame.exe -S -V 0 -q 0

AAC: uses Apple QuickTime libraries, invoked through the application from the command line, QAAC 2.72, 64-bit build, Intel 19 Compiler (does not require installation of the whole Apple package). Launch options: qaac64.exe -V 100 -s -q 2

Opus: reference encoder 1.3.1, Launch options: opusenc.exe –comp 10 –quiet –vbr –bitrate 192

We tested the first Z790 motherboard primarily designed for use with the 14th generation Intel Core (Raptor Lake) processors. The chipset’s features haven’t changed, but there’s a lot of new, noteworthy stuff around it. That includes upgraded network connectivity headed by WiFi 7 and, finally, 5-gigabit Ethernet. And in the year that it’s been at it, Gigabyte has worked on a lot of details too. Some were more successful, others less so.

Adobe Photoshop (PugetBench)

Test environment: set of PugetBench tests. App version of Adobe Photoshop is 22.4.2.

---

---

---

Affinity Photo (benchmark)

Test environment: built-in benchmark.

---

Topaz Labs AI apps

Topaz DeNoise AI, Gigapixel AI and Sharpen AI. These single-purpose applications are used for restoration of low-quality photos. Whether it is high noise (caused by higher ISO), raster level (typically after cropping) or when something needs extra focus. The AI performance is always used.

Test environment: As part of batch editing, 42 photos with a lower resolution of 1920 × 1280 px are processed, with the settings from the images above. DeNoise AI is in version 3.1.2, Gigapixel in 5.5.2 and Sharpen AI in 3.1.2.

We tested the first Z790 motherboard primarily designed for use with the 14th generation Intel Core (Raptor Lake) processors. The chipset’s features haven’t changed, but there’s a lot of new, noteworthy stuff around it. That includes upgraded network connectivity headed by WiFi 7 and, finally, 5-gigabit Ethernet. And in the year that it’s been at it, Gigabyte has worked on a lot of details too. Some were more successful, others less so.

WinRAR 6.01

7-Zip 19.00

---

We tested the first Z790 motherboard primarily designed for use with the 14th generation Intel Core (Raptor Lake) processors. The chipset’s features haven’t changed, but there’s a lot of new, noteworthy stuff around it. That includes upgraded network connectivity headed by WiFi 7 and, finally, 5-gigabit Ethernet. And in the year that it’s been at it, Gigabyte has worked on a lot of details too. Some were more successful, others less so.

TrueCrypt 7.1a

Aida64 (AES, SHA3)

We tested the first Z790 motherboard primarily designed for use with the 14th generation Intel Core (Raptor Lake) processors. The chipset’s features haven’t changed, but there’s a lot of new, noteworthy stuff around it. That includes upgraded network connectivity headed by WiFi 7 and, finally, 5-gigabit Ethernet. And in the year that it’s been at it, Gigabyte has worked on a lot of details too. Some were more successful, others less so.

Aida64, FPU tests

---

FSI (SPECworkstation 3.1)

Kirchhoff migration (SPECworkstation 3.1)

Python36 (SPECworkstation 3.1)

SRMP (SPECworkstation 3.1)

Octave (SPECworkstation 3.1)

FFTW (SPECworkstation 3.1)

Convolution (SPECworkstation 3.1)

CalculiX (SPECworkstation 3.1)

We tested the first Z790 motherboard primarily designed for use with the 14th generation Intel Core (Raptor Lake) processors. The chipset’s features haven’t changed, but there’s a lot of new, noteworthy stuff around it. That includes upgraded network connectivity headed by WiFi 7 and, finally, 5-gigabit Ethernet. And in the year that it’s been at it, Gigabyte has worked on a lot of details too. Some were more successful, others less so.

RodiniaLifeSci (SPECworkstation 3.1)

WPCcfd (SPECworkstation 3.1)

Poisson (SPECworkstation 3.1)

LAMMPS (SPECworkstation 3.1)

NAMD (SPECworkstation 3.1)

We tested the first Z790 motherboard primarily designed for use with the 14th generation Intel Core (Raptor Lake) processors. The chipset’s features haven’t changed, but there’s a lot of new, noteworthy stuff around it. That includes upgraded network connectivity headed by WiFi 7 and, finally, 5-gigabit Ethernet. And in the year that it’s been at it, Gigabyte has worked on a lot of details too. Some were more successful, others less so.

Memory tests…

… and cache (L1, L2, L3)

---

---

We tested the first Z790 motherboard primarily designed for use with the 14th generation Intel Core (Raptor Lake) processors. The chipset’s features haven’t changed, but there’s a lot of new, noteworthy stuff around it. That includes upgraded network connectivity headed by WiFi 7 and, finally, 5-gigabit Ethernet. And in the year that it’s been at it, Gigabyte has worked on a lot of details too. Some were more successful, others less so.

M.2 (SSD) slots speed

---

---

---

---

We tested the first Z790 motherboard primarily designed for use with the 14th generation Intel Core (Raptor Lake) processors. The chipset’s features haven’t changed, but there’s a lot of new, noteworthy stuff around it. That includes upgraded network connectivity headed by WiFi 7 and, finally, 5-gigabit Ethernet. And in the year that it’s been at it, Gigabyte has worked on a lot of details too. Some were more successful, others less so.

USB ports speed

---

---

---

We tested the first Z790 motherboard primarily designed for use with the 14th generation Intel Core (Raptor Lake) processors. The chipset’s features haven’t changed, but there’s a lot of new, noteworthy stuff around it. That includes upgraded network connectivity headed by WiFi 7 and, finally, 5-gigabit Ethernet. And in the year that it’s been at it, Gigabyte has worked on a lot of details too. Some were more successful, others less so.

Ethernet speed

---

---

---

We tested the first Z790 motherboard primarily designed for use with the 14th generation Intel Core (Raptor Lake) processors. The chipset’s features haven’t changed, but there’s a lot of new, noteworthy stuff around it. That includes upgraded network connectivity headed by WiFi 7 and, finally, 5-gigabit Ethernet. And in the year that it’s been at it, Gigabyte has worked on a lot of details too. Some were more successful, others less so.

Analysis of power draw without power limits

---

---

---

We tested the first Z790 motherboard primarily designed for use with the 14th generation Intel Core (Raptor Lake) processors. The chipset’s features haven’t changed, but there’s a lot of new, noteworthy stuff around it. That includes upgraded network connectivity headed by WiFi 7 and, finally, 5-gigabit Ethernet. And in the year that it’s been at it, Gigabyte has worked on a lot of details too. Some were more successful, others less so.

Analysis of power draw with power limits

---

---

---

We tested the first Z790 motherboard primarily designed for use with the 14th generation Intel Core (Raptor Lake) processors. The chipset’s features haven’t changed, but there’s a lot of new, noteworthy stuff around it. That includes upgraded network connectivity headed by WiFi 7 and, finally, 5-gigabit Ethernet. And in the year that it’s been at it, Gigabyte has worked on a lot of details too. Some were more successful, others less so.

Achieved CPU clock speed w/o power limits…

… and with power limits

We tested the first Z790 motherboard primarily designed for use with the 14th generation Intel Core (Raptor Lake) processors. The chipset’s features haven’t changed, but there’s a lot of new, noteworthy stuff around it. That includes upgraded network connectivity headed by WiFi 7 and, finally, 5-gigabit Ethernet. And in the year that it’s been at it, Gigabyte has worked on a lot of details too. Some were more successful, others less so.

… and with power limits

We tested the first Z790 motherboard primarily designed for use with the 14th generation Intel Core (Raptor Lake) processors. The chipset’s features haven’t changed, but there’s a lot of new, noteworthy stuff around it. That includes upgraded network connectivity headed by WiFi 7 and, finally, 5-gigabit Ethernet. And in the year that it’s been at it, Gigabyte has worked on a lot of details too. Some were more successful, others less so.

VRM temperature w/o power limits…

… and with power limits

We tested the first Z790 motherboard primarily designed for use with the 14th generation Intel Core (Raptor Lake) processors. The chipset’s features haven’t changed, but there’s a lot of new, noteworthy stuff around it. That includes upgraded network connectivity headed by WiFi 7 and, finally, 5-gigabit Ethernet. And in the year that it’s been at it, Gigabyte has worked on a lot of details too. Some were more successful, others less so.

SSD temperature

---

---

---

We tested the first Z790 motherboard primarily designed for use with the 14th generation Intel Core (Raptor Lake) processors. The chipset’s features haven’t changed, but there’s a lot of new, noteworthy stuff around it. That includes upgraded network connectivity headed by WiFi 7 and, finally, 5-gigabit Ethernet. And in the year that it’s been at it, Gigabyte has worked on a lot of details too. Some were more successful, others less so.

Chipset temperature (south bridge)

---

We tested the first Z790 motherboard primarily designed for use with the 14th generation Intel Core (Raptor Lake) processors. The chipset’s features haven’t changed, but there’s a lot of new, noteworthy stuff around it. That includes upgraded network connectivity headed by WiFi 7 and, finally, 5-gigabit Ethernet. And in the year that it’s been at it, Gigabyte has worked on a lot of details too. Some were more successful, others less so.

Conclusion

It’s not just a board that is attractive with an unusual, white PCB. The range of things that make the Aorus Z790 Aorus Pro X board worth paying attention to is quite wide. First of all, it’s the robust VRM for which it’s possible to run processors with very high power output (i.e. over 300W) while at the same time being highly efficient as far as the LGA 1700 platform is concerned. Three of the five Z790 boards tested so far are worse, and with comparable computing performance they achieve slightly higher power draw. And that’s the case even with lighter gaming or single-threaded workloads. Only the idle power draw is relatively higher, average compared to the other boards.

With settings with limited input power, the Aorus Z790 Aorus Pro X can behave a little strangely. With power draw (154,17 W) comparable to, for example the Asus ROG Strix Z790-E Gaming WiFi (154,13 W) significantly lower computational performance is achieved under high load. By the optics of Cinebench R23, it’s 22,931 points versus 32,205. The reason for this is that the board pushes more performance to weaker E cores (their clock speeds are significantly higher than on competing boards) and there’s not much left for P cores (with very low clock speeds). However, it is possible that with a different processor (than the Core i9-13900K), such as some Raptor Lake Refresh model, the behavior will be different. Anyway, keep this situation in mind and check if your build performance is as expected.

The above “detriment” was observed only under high load. Gaming performance is already comparable to other boards in the tested mode (with the PL1 at 125 watts and the 253-watt PL2 with the Tau time-limited). In this case, in fact, the processor no longer hits the power limit and is safely below it. The achieved CPU clock speeds are thus the same and the power draw scales virtually 100 percent as well.

The reason to prefer this board over older Z790 models may also lie in the more modern network connectivity with WiFi 7 and 5-gigabit Ethernet. We measured speeds of over 500 MB/s in both directions. In practice, although many devices on the network will be slower and will “slow down” the board, if you are building a computer with a view to using it for a long time, several years, the network will not get old so quickly. Disk connectivity is also plentiful, the Aorus Z790 Aorus Pro X has as many as five fast M.2 slots for SSDs, which is not commonplace for all boards with this chipset. On the other hand, it should also be added that there are only four SATA ports (instead of six, which we see less and less commonly).

The first M.2 slot also counts on a fast SSD with PCIe 5.0 support, and it really is serious. This is evidenced by the perfect cooler, which made it to the very top of our charts in terms of efficiency. But the results of the shared cooler for four slots are already weaker. Although even that one doesn’t look bad in the charts, that’s because it captures the best result in the outermost position, next to the chipset. In the latter, cooling is still good and efficiency drops only in the positions of the second to fourth slots. This is due to worse contact with the thermal pad.

The cooling of the SSD controller is still fine, but the contact with the memory is already insufficient and more than a cooler, this heatsink acts as a thermal insulator. This state of affairs is somewhat the result of simplifying the mounting system, which works only on the basis of snapping mechanisms without the necessary pressure. With different SSDs the results can be different. And they are also influenced by the way you screw the board to a case. Also, different PCB deformation of the motherboard affects the cooler’s pressure to the SSD. Anyway, Gigabyte should provide such conditions here that it is tight enough at all times and that all SSD chips only more or less (but always enough) sink into the thermal pad of the cooler.

Otherwise, the Aorus Z790 Aorus Pro X is a great board from a cooling perspective. The VRM also reaches lower temperatures than on competing, even more expensive boards at comparable power draws. We have not yet tested a board that, at three hundred watts, has a surface temperature of the voltage regulators below 70°C. And take into account that the thermal imaging tests are done without a cooler, and this board has a really powerful one. So again, the Aorus Z790 Aorus Pro X can handle the most powerful processors without the slightest difficulty. Are you waiting for the Core i9-14900KS? It’ll do just fine. However, for a CPU cooler, such a processor will naturally be a bigger nut to crack.

The Gigabyte Aorus Z790 Aorus Pro X, at a price of around four hundred euros, seems to be an extremely attractive motherboard for powerful builds, which are expected to have above-standard networking and connectivity in general. And that rare white design… Visually, it would also look good in the build we did in November.

English translation and edit by Jozef Dudáš

* With newer BIOSes, the situation may change over time. And maybe it is already different for Raptor Lake Refresh processors (tests were performed with Core i9-13900K of the Raptor Lake generation).

Some of the tested boards are also available in the Datacomp e-store

Special thanks to Blackmagic Design (for licenses for DeNoise AI, Gigapixel AI and Sharpen AI) and Topaz Labs (for licenses for DeNoise AI, Gigapixel AI and Sharpen AI)

• Contents
• Gigabyte Aorus Z790 Aorus Pro X in detail
• What it looks like in the BIOS
• Methodology: Performance tests
• Methodology: How we measure power draw
• Methodology: Temperature and frequency measurements
• Test setup
• 3DMark
• Borderlands 3
• F1 2020
• Metro Exodus
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider
• Total War Saga: Troy
• PCMark and Geekbench
• Web performance
• 3D rendering: Cinebench, Blender, ...
• Video 1/2: Adobe Premiere Pro
• Video 2/2: DaVinci Resolve Studio
• Graphics effects: Adobe After Effects
• Video encoding
• Audio encoding
• Photos: Adobe Photoshop, Affinity Photo, ...
• (De)compression
• (De)encryption
• Numerical computing
• Simulations
• Memory and cache tests
• M.2 (SSD) slots speed
• USB ports speed
• Ethernet speed
• Power draw without power limits
• Power draw with power limits
• Achieved CPU clock speed
• CPU temperature
• VRM temperature – thermal imaging of Vcore and SOC
• SSD temperature
• Chipset temperature (south bridge)
• Conclusion