The Z490 Mini-ITX Showdown: GIGABYTE's Z490I Aorus Ultra and MSI's MEG Z490I Unify Reviewed
by Gavin Bonshor on August 4, 2020 10:30 AM ESTTest 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.
| Test Setup | |||
| Processor | Intel Core i7-10700K, 125 W, $374 8 Cores, 16 Threads 3.8 GHz (5.1 GHz Turbo) |
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| Motherboard | GIGABYTE Z490I Aorus Ultra (BIOS F5c) MSI MEG Z490 Unify (BIOS 7C77v11) |
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| Cooling | NZXT Kraken Z63 280 mm AIO | ||
| Power Supply | Corsair HX850 850 W 80 PLUS Platinum | ||
| Memory | G.Skill TridentZ DDR4-2933 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 1909 inc. Spectre/Meltdown Patches | ||
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.
| 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 |
Silverstone Fans |
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realbabilu - Tuesday, August 4, 2020 - link
Max fan size?Mr Perfect - Tuesday, August 4, 2020 - link
So the MSI trades two USB 3 ports for a weedy little VRM fan that doesn't beat a passively cooled board? A poor trade.nerd1 - Tuesday, August 4, 2020 - link
Single GBE for $270 board?shabby - Tuesday, August 4, 2020 - link
Less is more...drexnx - Tuesday, August 4, 2020 - link
no space on the PCB or back panel for moree1jones - Tuesday, August 4, 2020 - link
Don't they both have a single 2.5G connector?Luminar - Tuesday, August 4, 2020 - link
I would only buy with 10G ethernet.firewrath9 - Wednesday, August 5, 2020 - link
I would only buy with 400gbe infinibandAdditionalPylons - Wednesday, August 5, 2020 - link
At least 2.5 GbE is finally becoming standard with this generation of motherboards!Personally, on bigger boards I don't mind the integrated NIC because I can easily add a 25 GbE SFP28 PCIe card for less than $100 used (or 10 GbE SFP+ for ~$30).
On smaller boards like mITX however, with only one PCIe slot available, I would also prefer 10 GbE integrated.
Of course these are personal preferences. I don't see 10GbE ever going mainstream because the need simply isn't there for the vast majority of people. Even most tech geeks at AT and similar sites are still fine with 1 GbE (or slower wifi). Also, because we who want faster don't mind different cables and connectors (SFP+) and therefore can buy cheap used enterprise gear, there is simply a very small market left.
On a related note, while switches are getting cheaper (e.g. Netgear MS510TX, QNAP QSW-308-1C / QSW-1105T, Mikrotik CRS305 etc.) it would be nice to see some cheaper 5/10G external USB NIC options to cater to the laptop crowd. ($79 5GbE QNAP QNA-UC5G1T is getting close, but 10G options are all $150+.)
henkhilti - Tuesday, August 4, 2020 - link
Identical vrm components, both have proper vrm heatsinks.One vrm runs hotter and that board consumes more power (and has hotter cpu).
Better check what the real Vcore voltage is during load with a multimeter on the back of the cpu socket and you will know why!!!!
Always check real voltages with a multimeter when overclocking. Use Loadline calibration settings in bios (with more Vdroop) to increase stability (during transients).
If both boards run identical Vcore during load, power consumption and cpu heat will be very similar.